Before & After: A Ottawa Wedding Transformation Like No Other

I first met with Samantha and Amin back in the summer of 2013 at small coffee shop in New Edinburg. Little did I know this potential client was about to give me carte blanche for what would be the most amazing concept to creation a planner could have ever dreamed of at a super exclusive venue. A space which will only ever see one wedding. Samantha & Amin’s.

When I first walked into the reclaimed church Amin & Samantha has chosen for their wedding venue I could immediately see the space transforming in front of my eyes. I've been asked about my creative process, and it's something I can't quite put into words. The best I can explain, it's like walking into a space- closing your eyes, and reopening them to see the space completely transformed by my creative vision. As I walk through spaces I can see them transforming almost as if I am in the future present wedding day.

The church itself had been gutted with no immediate plans for any renovations or improvements. Patchy paint, green stained parliamentary looking carpets, 60 scattered unhinged pews, no washrooms or running water. The church in day-light looked weathered. But at night it emanated character of an age gone by and an old world ambiance almost as if you were in transported to little Italy. 

The opportunities this church in shambles provided were endless and by the time we walked out of the space I knew exactly every design element and the vendors needed to make this an absolutely gorgeous wedding. The work in front of me was tremendous. It would take painters, carpet cleaners, movers and a dedicated team of vendors to transform this space. And the parents of the Bride and Groom were skeptical, and I was up to the challenge!

CURATED DESIGN PROFILE

Before I take you on the journey of this wedding transformation and we delve into the before and after pictures, we should begin with the vision. Our Design Profile we created for Samantha & Amin in 2014. This was great way to provide a glimpse into the future of how our initial style boards come translate to "the day of". 

I do have a very specific process of how we plan and design a wedding. The very first thing we do is establish concept and priorities, solidify venue, then move into design, choose a photographer who will document the wedding according to the clients overall design and style, and lastly secure reputable vendors to ensure a strong cohesive look and feel based on intention and fore-thought can be brought to life. For this we need strong visuals to convey our thoughts. And that's just the beginning. Below is a small snippet of what our Design Profile looked like in 2013. As you can imagine- things are very different 10 years later in 2023.

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About our design

CHURCH PEWS

Since the "church" was now desacralized everything was fair game. This meant we could use the space however we wanted. During our meeting Samantha said something that really resonated with me which unintentionally became the driving force behind our design. She said, her grandmother always wanted her to have a church wedding, but that she herself did not want a traditional "churchy" wedding. It was almost like a light bulb when off inside my mind.......no nuptials inside the church.....we're going to bring all the pews outside on the lawn and we’ll mary on the steps leadings up to the church. She loved the idea! Little did I know the groom was a New Yorker and didn’t enjoy the outdoors and more specifically bugs.... good thing I'm a great convincer!

BANNERS

I tend to pride myself in incorporating a unique design element which I like to call the "Piece de Resistance" that will leave a lasting impression with guests. Something slightly extravagant and unlike anything else you've seen at a generic wedding. on the furthest right picture below you will see unsightly purple banners. I turned these into suspended waterfall florals with hanging candles. An ethereal floating element that would not only enhance the space but capture the guests attention in the evening with its glowing candlelight.

SUBTLE GRAND ENTRANCE

As our official altar and entrance to the venue was a bit baren. I didn’t want an extravagant floral arch as we too commonly see. So we created an asymmetrical climbing vine to soften and accentuate the doorway. It was so perfectly designed, guests thought it was part of the landscape and had been growing there for years.

LAST MINUTE SURPRISE 

Two weeks before the wedding the groom spontaneously requested some sort of entertainment.. “like maybe some fire dancers."

My reaction.... "Ummm what?!. lol let me ponder on that for a bit!". 

My thought process thereafter: fire + old church divided by insurance = what better options may we be able to incorporate… interpretive dancers in glow in the dark costumes- was that even a thing? Aerial Silks.

But this generated a new problem; space was tight and I needed to find a creative way to incorporate a 20ft structure into the venue without it looking like an eye-soar. It also had to be dismantled before the night was over with guests still milling about and I personally hate moving things while guests are using the same space as it’s disruptive. This structure was a couple hundred pounds and took 45 mins to set up and would equally take as long to be taken down. If you look closely in the picture to your right, you will see that I situated the acro structure at the back of the venue right in front of the main doors. I took a huge risk in its ultimate placement but I also felt like a genius when every guest walked into the space underneath this structure but only noticed it's presence when it was show time.

Below you can see more of the the space before and after our transformation.

FUTURE RECEPTION AREA

ALTER BEFORE DANCE FLOOR TRANSFORMATION

RECEPTION AREA WITH PEWS REMOVED

ALTER WE REMOVED FOR DANCE FLOOR

Fast forward to the wedding day, dinner is coming to a close and the skeptical parents I mentioned before presented themself at our vendor table graciously imploring our efforts as they could not believe their eyes and how we had transformed the space. They thanked us for making them feel as though they had taken a flight and were celebrating their children’s wedding in Europe.

Full gallery captured by Joel & Justyna below

THEIR STORY UNFOLDS

WEDDING PLANNER: Toast Events, Elise Schmitz, Madison Kelly, Victoria Denofrio, Allie Darwin

CONCEPT & DESIGN: Elise Schmitz Toast Events 

DECORATOR & FLORIST: Wedecor

PHOTOGRAPHER: Joel Bedford Photography

CATERER: Tulips & Maple

OFFICIANT: Exceptional Ceremonies

LIMOUSINE: East Coast Limos

INVITATION: Minted

TABLE STATIONARY: Wedecor

CAKE: Thimbles Cakes

MAKEUP: Natalie Peachy

DJ: Marco Ferri Entertainment

AERIAL SILKS: Quality Entertainment (Montreal Acrobats)

PRIVATE ROCKLIFF ESTATE WEDDING

In the middle of a Pandemic and we had huge plans. Plans for a unique botanical take of The Great Gatsby. Ceiling of greenery and twinkle lights, oversized chandeliers, and a midnight champagne tower…. but as we all say now, the world had other plans. Quickly we pivoted and pitched the idea of hosting Emilie & Simon’s private wedding at their family home in Rockliff with their reception still to be hosted for the date of their one year anniversary. As their petite wedding drew near, we were in official lockdown- yet again. Gatherings of 10 only. And thankfully their bubble was just that.

I have to say- a small wedding is almost- in my eyes, a styled shoot. We have time to capture every little detail of the day to truly string in the story line through photography. I can narrow my vision into the tiniest details on a scale I could never do for a 150 person wedding. I was even able to set and style the dinner table myself. One of my favourite things to do. Needless to say, I really hope the trend of smaller weddings continue.

Before their backyard wedding, we hopped in the car and drove a few streets over to the Rockcliffe Park lake for a first look and pictures with my dear friends and photographers Joel & Justyna.

Dinner for the evening required chopsticks and enough Chinese food for an army. Emilie & Simon ordered every single item from the take-out menu of their favourite restaurant and had custom bamboo chopsticks designed for the occasion.

And all you need to know is that at the end of the day, I left with egg rolls. The rest is history.

WHY DAY OF COORDINATION IS A SCAM

Planning a wedding can seem daunting, intimidating and downright confusing. It’s also as equally hard to gauge if you need help and when you think this help should begin. In the age of Pinterest, Instagram and blogs- it’s easy to think that you CAN plan your own wedding and it WILL look like all your inspiration pictures you’ve posted on your boards. Social media has a sneaky way of showing you the nice shiny end product, but not the technicalities, logistics and the people behind the scenes you require to get you there. So I’d like to shed some light on one of the biggest misconceptions brides have and why I feel the notion of having just a “day of coordinator” is pretty much in my eyes- a scam. A term that puts a veil over your eyes leading you to believe- I’ve booked all my vendors so I’m basically done my wedding planning because the “Day of Coordinator”will do the rest.

Back 10 - 15 years ago clients either had a wedding planner for the duration of their planning or a day of coordinator, there wasn’t really an inbetween. This was also the time of match your table linens to the color of your bridesmaids dresses… Now, to help you visualize this period of time, this was back in the day when Facebook just started having business pages, Instagram wasn’t really a thing and Pinterest was just launched. Basically, weddings were very simple back then. So naturally a day of coordinator could be reasonably all you needed. But nowadays, perceptions and expectations of brides have completely changed. Now most weddings have complicated logistics, intricate tailored designs, jam packed schedules and twice the amount of vendors to manage than back in 2007. (the year I started planning weddings ;)

I should preface this by saying you DO need a wedding planner on your wedding day. What you DON’T need is someone flying in a week before your wedding to try and organize your details which they can’t completely grasp since they weren’t part of your planning process from the beginning. Here within, lays the problem, and the problem has real repercussions.

Imagine that……. you believe you’ve planned your wedding in full, have finally tied up all those loose ends and are ready to meet with your Day of Coordinator just 7 days shy of your wedding. What you’re not prepared for is your seasoned planner to audit your wedding and provide you a long list of things you need to correct or change before the wedding day- because you forgot this, didn’t consider that and was never told “x”. Now you have a long “to do” list that you can’t quite grasp, can’t understand nor have the time for. Or Even worse- a newbie planner smiles and says nothing and figures “It is what it is, whatever happens- happens, because, hey-I’m not really truly responsible anyways.” It’s sad, but this is a real thing and it can happen to you.

Now let’s keep imagining, because the narrative isn’t over yet……

It’s still the week before your wedding and you start getting messages from those vendors who have been ghosting your emails asking questions you’ve already confirmed, don’t know how to answer, can’t answer or questions regarding logistics you know nothing about. But how could you possibly know you needed to be informed of these things if you’ve never planned a wedding before? So to you, it almost feels like you’re re-planning your wedding all over again. Your vendors have forgotten your details and/or have confused you with another wedding. The anxiety is slowly creeping in because the wedding you worked so hard to plan seems like it’s fracturing. There are so many balls in the air that you don’t know where to start…… But wait, you have relatives flying in, appointments, a dress to pick up, a pending ceremony rehearsal…. and your brain literally stops working. Wait, was there something I was supposed to remember? ….. Where’s that to do list?……… Slowly when anyone asks you about your wedding, you dread the conversation because you just want the day to come and be over with.

Unfortunately what I am telling you is reality. Simply having a day of coordinator is not going to ensure your not stressed during your wedding planning or closer to the day, it does just the opposite- adds a layer of anxiety. A day of coordinator simply makes sure vendors show up and you’re running on time. There is no pre-organization with day of coordinators. I should also note that most planners that feature this service and not a Month Of or Partial Planning service in lieu is probably within their first year or two of business and is limited in their knowledge and aren’t fully equipped to plan a wedding from start to finish.

At the very least you should hire a planner to step in a month or so before your wedding to ensure they are properly briefed on your details while auditing your prior arrangements and take over management of all those final details before your wedding day. I always say- think of your brain like a chalkboard with all sorts of scrambled wedding scribbles. Now after your sit down with your planner a month before your wedding, you can wipe that chalkboard clean and NEVER have to scribble on it again!

Hiring a planner in advance is peace of mind. Priceless. And I can tell you, you’ll only completely understand the full benefits after your wedding day is complete.

Always here for you,

Eliza

xo

Photography by Joel & Justyna

K & M WEDDING CHATEAU LAURIER WEDDING

She’ll light up your life as soon as she walks into the room. Her inspiration and sunny outlook on life is infectious. But it has been a long and arduous road that led her here. But the path less taken is always one thousand times more fulfilling once you’ve finally arrived.

2016 was both the best and worst year of my life. I co-founded my second company, premiered a feature-length documentary film at the Obama White House, was named to Oprah Winfrey’s SuperSoul 100 list, moved to New York City and got engaged.

But behind the highlight reel, I was sick.

I had been diagnosed with cancer, and after my surgeries, just as I thought I was on the road to recovery, a neurological illness hit. I had to make the most difficult decision of my life. I left the company and I moved my life back home to Canada. I started from scratch.

It was the kindest thing I’ve ever done for myself. It was the first moment I fully took ownership of my life and health. I honoured the severity of my experiences, I investigated the stresses and traumas that contributed to my physical state, and I showed up for myself and for the healing. I began to transform my habits, and ultimately my future. I began to do the work I needed to do to realize my true potential — I was no longer chasing the external validation that New York and startup life gave me.

Sometimes I need to pinch myself. I am so honoured and grateful to have had such an amazing woman walk into my life. She gave more then she took and left me with immense gratitude and a new outlook on life. Ugh, why do I always get teary eyed when I write these posts!?! Pardon me while I grab a tissue.

Komal has a unique skill set of bringing purpose to peoples lives. She’s a cheerleader for your soul and sets fire to your passions leading you to discover unforeseen potential.

"What breaks your heart?" Glennon Doyle Melton asked this question at an event I attended a few years ago, and it's stuck with me ever since. She explained that what breaks our heart is the single best identifier of the work we’re meant to do in the world. She suggests that we should move toward the heartbreak, not away from it. 

What I realized throughout my year of healing is that what breaks my heart is unrealized potential. The unrealized potential of millions of girls and women around the world who don’t have access to the same privileges that lift me up as an Indo-Canadian woman. The unrealized potential of people of colour who struggle to navigate complex social, political, and economic systems built without them in mind. The unrealized potential of everyone who has been conditioned to view success in the most narrow and conventional of lenses. 

That question gave me the fire I needed to change my own life, and to devote my work to changing others’ lives in the same way. What broke my heart last year was my own unrealized potential, and the barriers that were in place in my mind keeping me from my destiny. Through this process, I realized that I’m here on this earth to remind you of your potential, and I’m here to reflect the excellence that’s already inside you.

I still remember the day this accomplished young entrepreneur sat in front of me as we chatted about her crazy plans for her luxurious Indian wedding(s). A two part celebration spanning cross-country with family coming from all corners of the world for one purpose- to honour the journey Komal and Mitch has shared and the new chapter in their lives together.

Planning her weddings was a huge undertaking. One you can never really fully comprehend until your in the midst of planning it. Komal had no problem throwing in a few curve balls leading to wonderful surprises. She told me once that there is no harm in asking, because you never fully know how far you can go unless you try. And let me tell you, she asked. I must say she gave our team the opportunity to accomplish tasks that at first glance seemed impossible. But she surrounded herself with vendors that went the extra mile and felt much more accomplished having done so. She literally unlocked our unforeseen potential ;)

Komal & Mitch’s first wedding was held in Grand Prairie, Alberta. A one week celebration with multiple events. Our set-up began at the beginning of the week remotely with myself and Madison in Ottawa communicating from afar with our team on the ground in GP, a 700 person wedding day.

We flew in 12 hours before her first wedding day event which started at 7:30am with a catered breakfast followed by the Milni. In the sikh culture the Milni begins the celebrations with Komal’s family greeting the groom and his bridal party at the gates of the venue, a gesture of welcoming Mitch into the family. There’s music, dancing and singing as they enter the venue.

Once inside the marriage ceremony begins an lasts about 1-2 hours. As the hymns are sang and the live instrumental music is played, a sense of transcendence filled the air literally transporting you to another place. Some of the words spoken during Komal’s ceremony - I’ll never forget.

There will be days, sad days…

There will be days, which we call, bad days in life…..

If there is sun and light out there, there will be night also….

So you must not live in an illusion that there is not ever going to be pain, or bad days in life….

You embrace those…

When you do this with love and attention…

No pain can remain in ones body…

Its just simple love.

With Komal’s struggles, these sentiments are all too fitting. (just grabbed another tissue). Here is a video of those exact words.

After the ceremony lunch is served and the grooms shoes are at some point stolen before the next set of traditions begin. Mitch literally had no shoes during his bridal party photos!

Once photos were completed, Komal returned home for a quick break and the “Doli and Vidaai”, the tradition of the bride formally leaving her parental home. The bride throws rice grains over her shoulders and into her mother’s outstretched hands, thus wishing her parent’s eternal prosperity. She gets into a beautifully decorated car with her husband and drives away towards her new home aka the hotel, where the ”welcoming of the bride” tradition takes place with the grooms parents and family before finally arriving at their reception.

Reading this now, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but we were on our toes from 7 am to 1 am without time to spare.

I even compiled a list of Komal’s statistics to help you see the bigger picture:

• 15 hair and makeup artists from 3 different salons

• Traditional musicians from England

• Videography team of 3 travelling from Winnipeg

• 2 separate photographers from Toronto

• 2 Caterers from Edmonton, serving 12+ events (3 fully catered meals on the wedding day alone)

• Brides personal makeup artist from New York

• 4 Transportation companies

• Decorator

• Cake baker

• DJ from Vancouver

• 3 Entertainment companies

• Traditional drummer form Toronto

• 3 Rental companies with one from Edmonton

• Over 10 flight bookings

That makes 34 separate vendors coming from across Canada and the States, amounting to a team of over 250ppl to manage, direct and assist for Komal’s weddingday. The lengths of detail we went through to ensure the logistics were tight- you won’t easily believe. We went as far as counting rentals from 3 different agencies while calculating the length of time it would take to wash specific items to be used again in a matter of just a few hours before they were needed again. In pre-planning we quickly found out through many discussions with the caterer that there are many menu items with sauces and Grand Prairie didn’t have enough bowls or spoons to meet our needs. On another level of logistics, our caterer from Vancouver only prepared the food, so we had a completely different company provide rentals and a third company manage the serving of the food, clearing and washing. Despite these logistics- we didn’t miss a beat:)

When I think back, it’s hard to believe we were only physically on the ground for 72hrs before flying home and preparing for her Ottawa wedding only 4 days later at the Chateau Laurier with a whole new set of vendors.

I must add that Madison took lead on logistics for the 700 person Alberta wedding, and I focused on overall project management of both weddings while taking the lead on the Ottawa wedding. With this being said, leading up to Komal’s wedding we met bi-weekly for a good year and 3 months before the festivities began, we were working 8am- 7pm daily on her weddings alone.

By the time we got back to Ottawa, it was like time didn’t even exist anymore and everything was a big blur. There was no time to revel in our huge accompaniments as we had so much more work ahead of us for Komal and her celebrity list of guests flying-in, in just a few days. Notable guests included Poet Rupi Kaur who read at her wedding and Tim Baker from Hey Rosetta, who sang at her ceremony and for her first dance. Needless to say this day started at 8 am with 3 hours of tech time debugging the Chateau Laurier of any of those screeching mic sounds preparing all technical requirements for Tim Baker and our filming team flying in from Winnipeg. We even went as far as adjusting our floor plans to accommodate their 20ft camera rig so that it could move freely around the event spaces.

And when the night came to a close, Komal with a bottle of Moet in her hand, said. “We did it! I can’t believe it’s the end!!!”. A bittersweet feeling that this was the end of our chapter with such an amazing couple. Withdrawal hit us hard the following days as the we archived her files and looked forward at the rest of our season.

The experiences we shared together will always be cherished in my heart.

Komal. Thank you for entrusting us in bringing your vision to light. Thank you for bringing me into your life and making me feel like family. It was truly a humbling experience and I feel so honoured for it. As you continue to shine light into the lives in others I hope you remember these days fondly.

xo

Elise

OTTAWA VENDORS:

Fairmont Chateau Laurier

Joel & Justyna Photography

Wedecor

Primetime Entertainment

Dj Shilpa of New York

Michael J Scott Productions of Winnipeg

MDRN Photobooth

Klava Zykova Makeup Artist

Showpony Hair

Priyanka Babriya Makeup Artist of New York

Tim Baker

Sannah Kahn Henna Artist

My Catering Group

Tim Baker of Hey Rosetta

Poet Rupi Kaur

Officiant: Meena Rajulu & Adam Miron

Tim Baker of Hey Rosetta Band singing for Komal’s first dance

D & B THEATRE ST JAMES MONTREAL WEDDING

This past summer we were privileged to have meticulously planned and designed Dana’s exclusive wedding in Montreal’s Old Port at the Theatre St.James’ Imperial Ballroom. The venue was like none I had ever seen before, formally being the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce built in 1907. The St James Theatre has been transformed into one of Montreal’s most prestigious event venues, complete with 70ft walls, marble floors and suspended stained-glass ceiling. My favourite feature includes the former bank vault where we hosted our champagne bar.

Owners Ezio Carosielle & Luisa Sassano have protected this heritage gem, restoring and impeccably maintaining it over the years. Among the St James, Ezio and Luisa also have Theatre Rialto and are currently renovating a gorgeous church- newly minted as the Theatre Cartier due to open sometime in the near future.

My first site visit was in winter of 2017, this gorgeous brunette arrived draped in a beautiful vintage fur coat. #Queen. We toured the property, looked at all possible event spaces, staging areas and chatted logistics on lighting such a large space and designing a proportionate floor plan. During our conversations she point to the balcony on the second floor overlooking the main reception space and said- “And that’s where we are going to do our thank you speech and bouquet toss.” #died #queenx2 #areyoumystwin? Suffice to say this venue was a blank canvas with endless possibilities. In the end we deiced to fill the entire space with only candles. In person it was a scene out of a 1940’s Vogue Magazine and was beautifully captured by Joel & Justyna Photography . To be honest I’m not sure any guests realized there wasn’t a flower in sight as our main objective was to highlight the architecture of the building through the twinkle of the light reflecting through our 100 crystal candelabras.

Logistically the design was challenging in terms of- we flipped the main event space in 45mins. It’s these types of weddings I live for…. and also almost die for lol…. since I typically have multiple mini heart attacks while planning a seamless transition. Only the best vendors can accomplish the tasks I set forth before them and Wedecor came through without skipping a beat. This all goes to show- we can plan, design, decorate etc literally anywhere, no matter the logistics or complexities. So if you’re planning a wedding in another city-if you have the right planning, design and installation team of vendors, anything is possible.

Dana’s wedding day was absolutely perfect. We arrived onsite at 10am to begin set-up for a 4pm ceremony. Our core planning team of 3 were on our toes until 1am while working with over 15 vendors with a total over 120 staff to manage throughout the day. I’d like to personally thank Wedecor, Brera Catering from Montreal, the wonderful tech & event specialist team at Theatre St.James, Joel & Justyna Photography, Reno Video, Makeup Artist Jaquie Pogue, Hair Stylist Tara Kieran and Primetime Entertainment for their commitment in making Dana’s dream come true. Your dedication for perfection does not go unnoticed and I am forever grateful for having worked with such a great team of vendors.

So without further ado, enjoy the collection of images bellow.

xo

Elise

Minimalist National Art Gallery Wedding

I'm going to hold this one dear to my heart for a very long time.

Even as I sit here in front of my computer, months later writing this, I still get a little teary eyed. It was so sooooo beautiful. It was such an honour working with Melanie & Charlie as we planned their Ukrainian wedding.

Weddings rich with culture and tradition always leave me with so many more meaningful memories. I'll never forget it when the priest, unscripted, sang grace.....with a choir. The building echoed. It was overwhelmingly magical. 

But instead of writing about this wonderful day, let me show you.

Photography by Joel & Justyna Bedford

MOMENTS WITH JOEL & JUSTYNA PHOTOGRAPHY

I've had the pleasure of working with Joel & Justyna for over 5 years on some of my most intricate weddings. Their work stands out above the rest with ultra moody and romantic undertones, capturing those small intimate gestures between couples, we, on the daily never really notice. 

LIKE IT'S 1950 VOGUE 

I'll never forget reading an article which referenced their work as- being shot as if their images would grace the pages of a 1950's Vogue magazine. And for me, this rings true. 

So I've decided, this time next year I'll be knocking at Joel & Justyna's door for our now annual wedding anniversary shoot. 

Thank you Justyna & Joel for capturing these special moments. 

Photographer: Joel & Justyna Bedford
Hair: Kylie Cheshire
Makeup: Faces By Noah
Dress: Norde Bridal
Mens Apparell: Hugo Boss