Photography by Martin McMahon Photography
Venue: Infinity Conference & Event Centre

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. 

I was lucky enough to be paired up with Nina and Christian through one of our 2014 clients, Erin & Morgan (click to check out the blog post from their big day).

Naturally, when one of your favourite clients sends us one of their best friends you expect there to be an instant connection... and that was definitely the case with Nina! We collaborated over months with emails flying back and forth, photos and inspiration woven into each and every message... it was a whirlwind of creative energy and we LOVED it!

Nina's instructions were clear... she wanted the wedding to have a warm fall feel but she didn't want to use a traditional fall pallet of oranges, yellows, and reds. Instead, we opted for a palette of navy, marsala, and ivory, with lots of greenery mixed in.  

The wedding took place at Chippawa Resort in Barry's Bay. This place is a hidden gem for destination weddings just outside ottawa. The surroundings are stunning, the lodge is warm and charming, and the owners were very kind and helpful. 

The wedding was beautifully captured by Theak Chhuom and many of his images are featured below (some are from my iPhone... I think you can figure out which are which, hahaha!). 

Nina & Christian, thank you for having Sage as a part of your big day! It was a wonderful experience for us.

xoxo

Sophie

Our 2014 bride, Erin, with our 2015 bride, Nina... love these ladies!!!

OHMYGOSH!!!! I LOVED (love love loved) working with Michelle and Matt on their wedding design. They knew exactly what they want and they were both involved and invested in creating the perfect look for their big day. 

The design was to have an open and airy feel set in the very fitting and gorgeous Le Belvedere wedding venue in Wakefield, QC. The palette was crisp whites and greys with pops of soft dusty purple tones. We filled the aisle with lanterns and the altar with flowers and added floral pieces and candle decor all over the reception space.  

Beautifully captured by the insanely talented Andrew Van Beek this day was just as magical as it looks. Thanks for sharing, Andrew!!!