Uh oh, just when you were feeling like spring couldn’t get any more fresh or inspiring, Anne Sportun had to go ahead and announce a Spring Sale Event and the Green Shag Accessories Team made a date with Holt Renfrew for a Trunk Show this Saturday.

Enjoy 40% off of Anne Sportun’s sale jewellery, which includes selections of her stunning rings, necklaces, bangles and earrings – all of which embody her spectacular ‘experimetal’ style until next Tuesday (March 16), after that, the sale continues but the deal is a little less sweet at 30%. Also taking place, for those who already have a piece or two, is the boutique’s Spring Cleaning Event, next weekend, March 19 & 20, bring your bling to the shop at 724 Queen west and let them return it to its former glory.

Green Shag, a great Queen Street boutique & bespoke clothier for men, has recently solidified their relationship with Canada’s haute Holts and it’s quite the coup for the local designers whose shag is now in the Bloor Street and Montreal locations.

Spring may be just around the corner, but for those of you getting a head start on planning a winter wedding for the 2010/11 season, here’s a little inspiration for a head start. Photographed by Erin Hearts Court, a husband and wife photo duo from LA, these American love birds, who have been known to fly north for that other Thanksgiving weekend, chose their fav Canadian respite for their wedding locale: Whistler, BC.

Both from big families, and therefore big celebrations and holidays, Sara and Reno spent their first vacation alone over Thanksgiving by escaping to the Great White North for a little skiing and alone time. It was where, Sara says, they really fell in love. Returning two years later they secured the spot as their ’special place’ on a second visit and then Reno proposed on a trip to Barcelona.

Despite some grievances, the couple chose to marry each other surrounded by the snow and the mountains where they’d always loved to escape together. Despite a little grief from family and friends (who were literally spread out across the US) an intimate group of about 30 people ended up attending the wedding for what Sara called, a “double elation” because it gave people and excuse to take a mini-break as well as celebrate the marriage.

This December, on their first anniversary, they plan to return again to the spot to re-live the memories of that special weekend.

Notes: Sara reported that finding the right professionals was easy – she’d known Erin (Erin Hearts Court) since her freshman year in university and the dress was the first one she tried on (the bridesmaids’ dresses were a little tougher however but came together beautifully with wraps from Anthropologie), they settled easily on the Fairmont’s Chateau Whistler for their location and from there, it was essentially word of mouth to find people like event planner Roxanne (Celebrate Events) and Rembrandt Designs Co. for flowers.

A few years ago, a crafty friend who was invited to a last minute birthday party whipped together a set of stunning napkins from a yard of material by cutting squares from it and hemming each of the squares on all four sides. A quick iron and the gift was good to go … and it’s one that’s turned up on many table settings since.

I love the idea of creating napkins for your tables at a wedding, especially when you come across that fabric that is so perfect it makes you smile. As we enter into spring and summer, outdoor, casual feasting becomes more and more common, and by making a set of colourful, fanciful napkins you can add a pretty dash of colour and a whack of personality to your party with this single décor element.

Use different fabrics to coordinate and identify different tables,  or mix and match from sets of 8 or 12 which you can use down the road on your kitchen table. You can even stamp your napkins with a monogram, date or image to make them even more personal and if you’re super keen, create a second set, tie them in pairs with matching ribbon and voilà, a darling token of the day for your guests.

Queen Street’s Designer Fabrics is a visual playground for established designers and newbies alike, check out their online selection and order some samples to test your colour choices with the rest of your décor, alternatively, there are Etsy sellers who produce original fabrics and retail vintage material, Sky Reve Fabrics is particularly good at putting collections of prints together.

Last summer, Doug Elliott and his partner of 31 years, Greg Lawrence, tied the knot at The Toronto Hunt Club in a spectacular Scottish affair.

Hardly the first gay couple in Canada to wed, their marriage is important to gay rights history in our country — Elliot is Canada’s “pre-eminant gay rights lawyer” Michael J. Law (Canadian Bar Association) said of him after his 10 year battle with the Supreme Court over the issue of same-sex marriage. What Melissa Haggerty, the couple’s event planner found so moving about their union was that it didn’t take place immediately after Elliott’s big win, but years later.  She quoted his comment to her regarding their choice to finally marry after 31 years, “[the fight] was never about us” rather it was a fight he took on for every other same-sex couple in the country. For many Canadians, Elliott is a hero of the finest sort, and we’re thrilled to be profiling his wedding from 2009.

The invitation to the wedding suggested Scottish attire and Haggerty was amazed at how many men (and women) showed up in plaid… her blog post about the event “Plaid Explosion” says it all. However, under her guidance the two grooms, who both wore the Elliott family tartan, kept the event minimal and elegant. Bill Fulghum’s super-sized arrangements of red roses, Scottish thistle and magnolia leaves kept the colour scheme simple and masculine and the tables were dressed with splashes of the Elliott tartan to tie everything together.

Notes: Melissa Haggerty (SpectacularSpectacular) was the event planner, Bull Fulghum (formerly of Church Street Flowers) worked his magic on the blooms, and Storey Wilkins (Storey Wilkins Photography) worked her magic with the camera while the Toronto Hunt Club provided the perfect spot for a sophisticated and understated party.

We are so excited to be presenting a new format of show this spring in conjunction with Toronto’s super fab Drake Hotel on May 1.

The Spring Wedding Show is literally going to be a crossroads between couture and indie style: everything you’ve come to expect from a Wedding Co. event (think super amazing quality of people and products, the city’s best when it comes to weddings and a fun, relaxed, elegant event) but this time we’re blending it with our current obsession with ‘the independent spirit’ of design and the DIY inspiration for modern wedding creativity.

If you attended The Wedding Show and enjoyed the Handmade Stand, or you love our DIY projects on the blog, this is definitely the show for you.

Get a spot in the or (letterpress) workshops we’ve planned by calling The Wedding Co.: 416.597.0143, in the meantime, check our events page for a few more details.

What do Dufflet and Museum Studies have in common? Weddings of course, and each have an event this month that you might want to check into: the famous Toronto cake creator’s “Did Dufflet Make Your Wedding Cake” and “Beyond the White Wedding: Reinventing Tradition”.

Beyond the White Wedding

Just wondering … Did Dufflet Make Your Wedding Cake?

If your answer is yes, get your wedding picture (one that features your cake) to Dufflet … they never get to see their final product enjoyed, so to celebrate with their past clients they’re choosing one couple’s image to re-create the top tier of that cake for it to be enjoyed again.

Your names and your wedding date are required along with high resolution images by March 31, 2010 and you can submit them by email (where you can also get more information),  deliver them to one of the three locations, or mail them to:

787 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario M6J 1G1

Beyond the White Wedding: Reinventing Tradition

An exhibition of the history of the white wedding: opening at 7pm Thursday, March 25 and running to May 13, 2010 at Robarts Library, University of Toronto and curated by Museum Studies students Marla Dobson, Nicola Jago, Thomas Kessler.

The white wedding is a tradition practiced by many though its origins are known by few. Explore the modern interpretations of this tradition, told through the wedding stories of selected couples. Discover the history of the white wedding and uncover for yourself the significance behind the tradition.

For more information go to the exhibition’s webpage.

Click the links below to go directly to each of our DIY projects — pick one to do with a group of friends and put a personal touch on your wedding. Each one includes materials, instructions and an idea of the finished product or what to do with it, although we highly encourage experimentation and would love to see you use these projects as a starting point for something entirely your own. As always, we LOVE pictures and comments, let us know what works and what doesn’t, and always feel free to submit your own ideas, we always give credit to the creator.

Customized Tote

Custom Buttons

Ribbon & spool unravelling valentine

His & Hers Coffee Jackets

Ribbon Sachets for Trinkets

Love Doves

Origami Cranes Crane Place Card Holder

Paper Purses

Luminarias

Take The Cake

No matter what your budget is, there are many, many options for a spectacular and quality honeymoon. Creating a trip that provides high adventure in the wilds, serious R&R, or a taste of culture is all possible, but depending on your budget, may require a little creativity in terms of when and where and for how long you honeymoon. We asked two local travel experts, Shannon Coyle, senior travel consultant at New Wave Travel and Gilbert Manza, the owner of Executive Travel Services Ltd. to provide us with a spread of travel options, based on current honeymoon trends. Shannon had a $2,000 budget, while Gilbert’s was $20,000.

Shannon, who predicts the ongoing success of boutique and luxury hotels, in particular the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group, has said her most popular destinations requested this year by couples looking for both destination weddings and honeymoons have been Europe’s Greece and Croatia; Thailand, Cambodia and Laos and the South Pacific for Asia and Jamaica, Barbados and St Lucia in the Caribbean.

Her first suggestion for a $2,000 honeymoon budget would be Costa Rica’s Hotel Punta Islita, which has been on Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List of destinations for the last four years and is a member of the SLH and the World Heritage Alliance for Sustainable Tourism. A “Surrender to a Storybook Escape” promotion is in effect at the hotel which includes: one Couple’s Tandem Massage and the choice of an eco-adventure (Canopy Zip-Lining, Hiking, Horseback Riding) for $989 USD per couple for three nights, add on about $800 for flights and you’re winging your way to a long weekend of bliss.

A second option is the Pink Beach Club in Bermuda, another Small Luxury Hotel and designed as a cottage colony. With their current promotions a three-night stay includes an Ocean View Junior Suite, and meals including a five-course gourmet dinner daily for $1185.00 USD per couple. Flights are approximately $350 each.

Shannon’s third option is the Inn at Manitou, a spot two hours north of Toronto, which she calls “our very own hidden secret.” For $1794 year-round, a couple can spend three nights with all meals including afternoon tea and have access to all facilities. All Meals (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Afternoon Tea) daily at the Winner of the 2009 World’s Best award from Travel & Leisure.

Gilbert estimates that the average honeymoon budget he works with is between $7,500 and $14,000 and that close to 15% of his honeymoon clientele plan to spend between $15,000 and $20,000 on their post-wedding travel. His European itinerary begins with flying business class to Paris for three nights at the left-bank Esprit St.Germain hotel before flying to Barcelona and staying another three nights at the Arts Hotel. From Barcelona, he’d recommend taking a Royal Caribbean 12 night Mediterranean cruise.

A second option Gilbert provided was 10 days at either The Veranda (an all inclusive resort which even includes international calls) or The Somerset in Turks and Caicos. While airfare and the resorts add up to $10,000+, this is a great spot to plan each day as you want, from shopping to adventure trips, sightseeing and lounging. Setting up camp for a nice stretch of time in one place can be relaxing and give you the opportunity to explore the place to its fullest (and squeeze in a little romance for good measure!)

Notes: These ideas were all based on current rates at the time of publishing this post, and while we suspect there will almost always be a special package for honeymooners, be sure to double check before counting on these ideas specifically when setting your budget. Images courtesy of The Veranda, Esprit St. Germain, Arts Hotel, L’Express & Hotel Punta Islita.

Yesterday, in Welcome to the Country, we posted a photo of our welcome bag idea for a wedding in Prince Edward County. Today, we’re dishing on just how easy it is to create something so pretty and personal (and how cheap).

To start, we’re going to presume you already have some kind of image you want to use, ours was a free online image that we added the word Picton and the date to complete it, but yours could be anything: your names, your monogram or an image of an icon which identifies those in the know with your big day. It can be created on any software from Illustrator to Word, whatever you have available to you but we suggest picking something with a solid border that’s easy to trim closely.

Materials:

-Canvas tote bag (ours is from Creative Bag $1.40).

-Iron-on Printer Transfer Sheets for Light Fabrics @ any local craft store (approximately $13.99 for 5 sheets).

-Tissue or shredded paper for packing (optional)

Steps:

-Run a tester of your image by printing it onto regular paper and testing to see if it’s the size you want.

-Set your printer’s options to Mirror Image or horizontally flip your image, and print it again on transfer sheet, there are instructions on the back of the package for correctly using the transfers.

-Allow ink to dry.

-Set iron to Cotton setting and turn any steam function off.

-Cut out design , leaving an even ¼ inch margin around image.

-Place transfer sheet on your bag with the print side facing downwards.

-Using a dry iron (with no steam) press transfer for 15-20 seconds on a hard surface.

-Allow it to cool completely, and then peel off the release paper on back.

-Stuff your bags with the tissue or shredded paper and add your gifts, a ribbon and a tag you’ve printed or handwritten.



When it comes to putting a wedding together at a distance, the lines of communication need to be open at all times. And you need to be as upfront and early as possible with guest-related information as possible. The earlier you can nail down your dates, recommend a hotel and suggest what activities people can plan for, the more likely you’ll get your full guest list ‘on-board.’

Hint: Hotel, flight and a rough idea of the events you’re planning should be made clear to your guests at the 6 month mark, either with the save the date or as a separate package!

Destination weddings to tend to be less formal than their at-home counterparts and there’s no better way to convey your lightness-of-heart and excitement for the big day than through your invitations — your official and easiest way of communicating with your guests. I just love this classic idea of the passport-style invitation, not only does it evoke the sense of travel (obviously) but it shouts ‘lets go have fun’ and also includes LOTS of space for important information, from hotels, to maps, to planned activities to flight numbers and dress codes. The boarding pass save-the-date is also fun, and again, can convey a whole bunch of important information in one {cute} fell swoop.