Margaret Corrigan and David Evans of Wild Thyme

A conversation with Yana Evlentieva of the Miller Lash House, a venue nestled into the Highland Creek Valley in the east end of Toronto, sparked an idea to design a new ceiling treatment for the tent which is permanently set-up for wedding season. The requirements – a flexible, cohesive and attractive design that didn’t infringe on the other décor elements.

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David and Margaret ended up designing a mobile – a simple wood structure holding a cluster of colour coordinated paper spheres that is easy to install and with a slight breeze dances above the party all night.

The mobile can be installed in any venue that meets the technical requirements. Installation at the Miller Lash House starts at $500.00 (what a deal!), quotes for other venues available on request.

For details and pricing contact Wild Thyme

We have had the great fortune of working with the Drake Hotel on a few occasions this past year and have been blown away by the high-quality of service, food and atmosphere.  A bridal shower hosted at the hippest hotel in the city would definitely make for some memorable moments for you and your guests.

Found on Mateus via Green Wedding Shoes

5 Questions with Dennis Mills, Balloon Trix

The Wedding Co.: What is your favorite thing about your job?

Dennis Mills: Meeting with a client who says, “I have a beach ball with a monkey on it, and that’s my centre piece. It needs work, what can you do?”  First I curse, then I question what the —- can I do with this, then usually on the drive home {down the Don Valley}, it all comes to me. It’s so rewarding to be able to create and have clients say, “Wow! I would never.” The other best thing is to have the bride cry as she walks into the room, I then call for make up.

TWC: Tell us a little about your company.

DM: Twenty years ago, I was already working in the event design industry and friends with the owner of a balloon company, when I eventually approached her for a job, she told me I should start my own company … and Balloon Trix was born. “Trix” because we do centre pieces, head table back drops, and sign-in boards. We go for the larger scale décor rather than balloon bouquets. Twenty years ago, the industry was stating to explode with balloon sculptures and centre pieces, balloons were turned into arches, clusters, pillars, or tied to a chair … we have never tied a balloon to a chair, that is the worst way to decorate a room.

With the movement in the industry, and better equipment to blow up balloons (instead of by mouth) and hang them, it was possible to do bigger and more creative designs. I started about ten years ago working with the 3′ balloons and soon started using 4′,6′ and 8′ balloons over dance floors or entire rooms. One of the first big events was at the AGO, and I covered the entire ceiling with different sized white balloons and then images were projected on to them.

When we do a function, either I am present, or one of my designers is there for the consulting, the set-up and the tear-down to ensure the vision is complete.

TWC: What’s the most popular balloon or product you have for weddings and do you see that changing or evolving?

DM: We have done in the past pink and white hearts, two locked hearts, arches, and pink and white clouds. Sometimes we do three balloons attached to the table centre, pink white and silver.  This all can be very nice and help add festive to the evening. The large balloons supply a wow factor: they’re fun, and make a large impact, especially when they’re flooded with colour lights. We now also have star shapes (not balloons) that inflate and light up, they also can be lit for different colour effects.

TWC: What’s the history behind these massive balloons? Where did they come from and how long have they been available?

DM: The large balloons have been around for a long time, but were first used as weather balloons. The industry has had 3′ balloons for over 20 years and they come in a large variety of colours. The 4′,6′, & 8′ come in only 7 colours: white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I get many requests for pink and black, but the ballon manufacturers sometimes take a long time to see potential.

TWC: What’s the average cost for your balloons at a wedding?

DM: We price the large balloons individually and we have a set-up and take-down service charge. Decorating a dance area would usually start at around $450 to $1000 but we have done functions for $20,000. I try to be flexible but I always want to make sure that it will look complete, with no gaps, and not like we just put up balloons at random. I want the balloons to give some feeling and meaning to the atmosphere of the function and in this way they’re not balloons, they’re art.

Hazel, an LA bride who also writes  I Do Budget Weddings and  her fiancé, Isaac, are also just over their halfway goal of making 1000 white cranes for their August 7^th wedding; they’ve made 600 to be exact.

600 white cranes waiting to take flight

Hazel and Isaac decided early on that they wanted to work on a DIY project together for their wedding, as well as make a donation to a charity in lieu of favors. When Hazel read about our Crane Chandelier Project, she said she knew it would be a fun project for the both of them to work on, as well as nicely representing Isaac’s Chinese heritage at the wedding.

Hazel and Isaac

Once all their cranes are folded, they will be creating their own chandeliers for their wedding day when friends and family will be able to enjoy and share in their commitment. Then, after the wedding, the cranes will “migrate” north, to Canada, to become part of a larger family and have a permanent home in the massive chandelier we are constructing for The Wedding Show next January.

A huge thank you to Hazel and Isaac, and every single couple who has contributed to our worldwide DIY project! We are looking forward to your cranes landing here in Toronto.

via Design*Sponge

The very essence of romance is evident in this pretty bloom, and as Margaret Corrigan, florist and owner of Wild Thyme said: “wedding dresses are softer and flowers like this are just perfect with them.”

Corrigan, who lists ranunculus as one of her favourites to work with says the “artful collection” of a wilder looking bouquet suits the overall feel of the weddings she’s been working on. More and more brides, she reports, are going for longer tables with simpler flowers for an “organic yet urban chic look.” This woodsiness isn’t about creating a frumpy yanked-from-the-garden feel, but conjuring the sense of a deeply romantic, vintage, and almost magical look with a very sophisticated twist created by the expert layering of colours, textures and sizes of blooms and fillers.

via Saipua

via KaBloom

Peter Demarco, owner and designer at Demarco Perpich loves that the ranunculus can be random and multi-dimensional without being messy and complicated looking, “it’s distracting to have different textures” he says. A devout lover of all the romantic blooms, Demarco prefers a bunch of ranunculus without the distraction of other flowers for a bride’s bouquet. He’s also a strong believer in the less stem, the better style of designing.

via Affordable Utah Weddings, predominantly ranunculus bouquets in white

via Ruffled blog

Catherine found this awesome DIY yesterday and how brilliant because it fits so perfectly with this week’s theme — we love it so much, maybe we’ll paper one of the office walls with these oversized paper blooms…maybe not, but we adore the way the girls at Ruche, a modern boutique with a vintage touch, put together their seasonal lookbooks with the same eye for detail that they pick their clothing selections with. Here is their description of where this gorgeous wall came from:

Stephanie got a roll of butcher paper and we were debating what do to with it. The night before the photo shoot, the Ruche team decided to make paper flowers and taped it to the wall. It was inspired by the book “paper chains and garlands” by June Gilbank that my husband picked up from Barnes and Nobles weeks before, hoping to one day use it..indeed we did!

And without further ado, here’s the DIY:

Materials:

• 2 squares of same-sized coloured paper for each flower
• bone folder (optional)
• standard stapler
• mini stapler or tape
• ribbon
• scissors

If you’re walking the Queen Street East strip, start near the Don Valley bridge and visit Rebecca Wood and Samo Films on Davies Avenue. Continue east and you’ll come across Quince Flowers a little further along to Dark Horse Coffee for a fantastic latte and croissant that will fill you up before the tempting cakes at LPK and the catering offerings at Loic. Almost directly next door, discover Liloo at Home’s favour options and modern Indian decor ideas before strolling on to Stemz and Lea-Ann Belter to try the boutique’s super feminine gowns before hitting up Bonjour Brioche, a neighbourhood favourite for lunch. A little further east and you’ll find Flick and Company, a home decor store that has recently started a registry program. Turn north up Carlaw Avenue to discover Sash and Bustle, Ikonica and Wild Thyme. Slightly off the beaten path there are a number of other wedding related companies in the area: Contemporary Furniture Rentals, Laura K Designs and Reportage Photography to name a few.

A selection from the huge range of patterns, colours and prints from Designer Fabrics

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.

Butter coloured fabric swatches from

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.