In 2016 we had the pleasure of working with Shannon from Kennedy Event Planning to create an amazing Gatsby-themed holiday party. It was really just a little over a year ago but having to say that it was in 2016 makes it feel like it's been so much further away! 

The event was held at the Shaw Centre in the Trillium Ballroom so we had A LOT of space to fill! Shannon came up with a brilliant floor plan that mixed large and small tables and we decided to create  huge entrance structure which would both serve to fill the space and create a dramatic threshold for the guests. 

We packed the room with glitz and glam galore - as the Great Gatsby theme demands! 

Shannon had this crazy idea to hang gold and black foil from the ceilings. Sometimes Shannon can see things that even I can't see (which is really saying something!). I thought this move might cheapen the overall look and we had so many really stunning things going. But Shannon knew it would work and since I trust her judgement on these things I went ahead and ordered the foil and figured out the best way to go about installing it. 

As usual, Shannon was totally bang on! Look how amazing that foil looks!! It totally brought the room to life! I'm so glad I didn't try harder to talk her out of it, haha!

Thanks to the incredible Andrew Van Beek Photography for capturing this space so brilliantly.

​TIME FLIES!!! Oh my goodness... I can't believe how long it's been since this beautiful wedding we helped design for Cathy & Bobby. 

I absolutely adored the colour palette that Cathy chose. She loved the trend of blush and cream but she wanted to stir it up a bit and add a pop of lavender to the mix. The results were gorgeous!

Cathy's bouquet was packed with a careful selection of roses, carnations (yes carnations!!!), and super soft greens.

The centrepieces were tall arrangements of hydrangea and roses in that same beautiful palette. 

VENUE: The Gatineau Golf Club
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Joel & Justyna Bedford
FLOWERS & DECOR: Sage Designs 

​Working with Hannah & Phil was amazing. Honestly... they are two of the most sweet and kind humans I've ever had the pleasure to meet. Then again, most of our clients are pretty damn sweet! We've been really lucky. 

Hannah was referred to us by her mother, Peggy, who hired Sage to help design a Christmas party a few years back. Peggy works close to my home so I bump into her every now and then and we generally end up chatting for quite a while before we both realize we have to get back to whatever it was we were doing to begin with, haha!

The bouquets were composed of a mix of white blooms with pops and pale purples and lots of greenery to give that fun, freshly-picked look to the arrangements. 

Hannah and Phil chose the Infinity Convention Centre to host their wedding. Hannah really wanted to bring in a romantic garden feel to the space so we went with flowers and greenery for all of the centrepieces. We mixed high and low arrangements on the dynamic floor plan which was made up of both long and round tables. 

It was such a pleasure to work on this wedding! Wishing you guys all the very best on your new adventure!

xo

Sophie

Allie & Troy's wedding was set at the always stunning Museum of Nature. When Allexandra, Troy, and I met along with Joel-Marc Frappier from Gourmet Cuisine, the vision was clear... Ghost chairs. Candles everywhere. White fluffy flowers. Geometric shapes. White marble. GO! 

The day was captured by Janine Truelove from Intuition Photography. Have a look!

NAVY IS THE NEW BLACK!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to Part 2 of our 3-part serious on 2017 Event Design Trends. If you missed Part 1 you can check it out here: Event Design Trends: Part 1. 

Seriously. Forget the traditional black suit... navy is the new go to. Forget the black accent colours... navy is more sleek and modern. Navy goes with everything... it's flattering on everyone and it's not nearly as stark as black is. Navy is a deep .dramatic shade that is still soft enough to be romantic.

I am IN LOVE with this trend! Who's with me?!

xo

Sophie

​

Kristina & Cole's summer wedding at the Westin, Ottawa. We loved Kristna's decision to add pops of red into her bridal bouquets even though the rest of the design was golds, whites, and blushes. The flowers looked AMAZING paired with Kristina's stunning red lips and gorgeous hair.

​Photos courtesy of Urban Bent Studio.  

TAGS: Ottawa Wedding Flowers, Ottawa Wedding Decorator, Wedding Design, Event Design, Ottawa Events, Ottawa Special Events, Montreal Weddings, Montreal Wedding Decor, Luxury Event Design, Wedding Style, Geometric Wedding Decor, Geo Shapes, Gold and Blush Wedding

Each Friday, as a nod to #FollowFriday, we'll be highlighting a designer who inspires us to create ever more stunning installations for our clients. In many cases, this will be a fellow event designer and in other instances we may feature another type of visual artist... a painter, an interior designer, an architect, a sculptor, etc. There are so many inspiring creative minds out there and we're excited to share some of them with our readers. 

This inaugural post features an incredible designer from New York: David Beahm from David Beahm Experiences.  In addition to having a brilliant talent for transforming spaces, David is also a creative business man, and a kind-hearted human-being with whom I had the pleasure to sit on my last visit to New York. He and his entire team are warm, energetic, lovely people. 

I was first introduced to David when he was a speaker at the Engage! summit I attended in Orlando in 2015. He started his session with a quiet guided meditation as a way to remind us all to take time for ourselves... to find some calm amidst the noise... and to give ourselves a chance to pause and recharge.  I fell in love with David from that moment on. Following his work and his travels on social media has made me love him all the more. 

What strikes me most about Team Beahm's work is their ability to take advantage of every piece of a space, floor to ceiling and wall to wall. I love that they can take a simple detail, like a votive candle, and with thoughtful placement and repetition, create a delicate and enchanting staircase.  

Below I've shared a few images of David's work as a teaser... but you'll want to follow all of his social pages to really get your fill. You can find more on Facebook, Instagram. and Pinterest. 

2016 has been an AMAZING year for event design and the styling trends just keep getting better! 2016 was the year of gold & blushes, the year of geo-shapes, and the year of explosive & organic greens. It's been STUNNING! 2017 promises to be just as creatively inspiring. We'll see the 2016 trends just mentioned holding strong through the upcoming year, but we've identified 3 MAJOR trends that will really explode in 2017.

In this 3-part series we'll discuss each of the trends in turn. Today, Let's talk about the first major trend for 2017. Trees!!!

Preston Bailey started the trend of bringing as much of the outdoors in as possible in his wedding designs. Many designers have followed suit and the art of incorporating trees into the wedding decor has been on the rise in brilliant forms for the past few years. In 2017, expect to see trees getting larger and more grand as they become an ever-greater feature of many couples' designs. We'll see designers adding flowers, chandeliers, and other opulent details to enhance the designs. 

The symbolism of the tree is beautiful and inspiring and I love the little-known tradition for couples to plant a tree together as a part of their wedding celebration. I don't know that many brides want to dig holes while wearing their brilliant white wedding gowns but this is something that could be done as part of an engagement celebration or, since many couples are opting to spend their wedding mornings together these days, before everyone changes into their formal-wear. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Event Design Trends 2017 series!!!

xo

​Sophie

'Tis the season of joy, and love, and gratitude. This year I am immensely grateful for all of the amazing clients, vendors, and venues that we had the privilege of working with. I can't stress enough what an enormous impact the vendor team has on the success of your big day. In addition to making sure that you hire professional companies you'll want to make sure that they're able to work well with the rest of the team. You can get hints of this in your communication with them... are they quick to respond? Do they answer your questions clearly? Do they point out potential issues and offer solutions on how to solve them? But I digress... all of this is information I'll be covering in greater detail in a post next year. Right now, let's focus on the incredible vendor team who worked together to bring Kaity & Corey's stunning vision to life. 

This particular event team was a DREAM composed of the some of the best talent in Ottawa and, indeed, in the world. Kaity and Corey's wedding was held at the stunning Museum of Nature, a national treasure of a venue, couples come from all over the globe to host their weddings in the Museum's beautiful contemporary spaces. The entire event was expertly planned and executed by the team at Kennedy Event Planning. Every detail of this wedding went off without a hitch. The day was brilliantly captured by Joel & Justyna from Joel Bedford photography, you just couldn't ask for a more amazing collaboration. 

Kaity had a very particular vision in mind and along with Shannon Kennedy and myself we crafted a stellar vision for the day including a 16ft hanging greenery garden adorned with candles stretched out along the length of the aisle... which would later be transformed into the dance floor space. We strung Edison lights over the head table which was dressed in luxurious bronze linens. 

We loved everything about this wedding; the clients, the venue, and the team! Wishing you all an AMAZING holiday season.

xoxo

​Sophie

It's been more than TWO YEARS since we gathered up a team of amazing Ottawa wedding talent and created this Hunger Games inspired style shoot. For six months after the shoot we submitted the images to magazines and blogs that we love... but the shoot was rejected over and over. It was a little to "edgy" and not quiet "the right look" for these publications. 

For my part, with two more years of events and experience to draw from, I see plenty of room for improvement and I have so many ideas for ways that this design could have been enhanced even more.

Still, the shoot was beautiful and these images have sat in our Dropbox, un-shared with the world, for far too long. So at long last, I'm publishing these photos myself to share the amazing talent and creativity of the team who made this happen.

The lesson here is simply this: sometimes you create a shoot that doesn't resonate with the people you hoped it would... but you do it anyway for the love of the work. We loved creating this shoot! We hope that some of you will too. 

Check out the full list of event pros below.