PERSIAN WEDDING AT FAIRMONT CHATEAU LAURIER

The Chateau Laurier feels like a second home to me. I’ve had the honor of planning weddings here since our first in 2012 and have been one of their preferred wedding planners for some time now. I love designing in this space as it’s a little slice of Europe. The construction of the Chateau dates back to 1909 with some of its furniture bound for Ottawa sinking to the depths of the ocean with the Titanic in 1912. As iconic as this building, we have equally designed some beautiful fairytale weddings here. This Persian weddings ceremony was held in the Laurier Room with the reception in the grand Ballroom. We incorporated a stately floor plan with long angled tables which stretched the length of the room. The details were simple and decadent.

Photography by Lace & Luce

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.

WEDDING DETAILS YOUR GUESTS WILL NOTICE

I always say it's all in the details, but there are those who decorate like a fabric bomb literally exploded in the reception room. Don't shake your head like you don't know what I'm talking about. It's almost like they have a mathematical equation that goes something like this:

Chair covers + Chair Bands + Crystal Broach + Satin linen + Sheer Lace Overlay + Satin Table Runner. And that's just the basic foundation. Then they add.... Gold Charger Plate, Bow-tie Napkin with a Crystal Napkin Ring +  Personal Table Menue + Place Card + Bonbonierre + a bedazzled mirror with a cylinder vase with glue gunned crystals........ and in that vase there are water beads and a tinny little florescent light glowing from within............ Then the ceiling swag fairy came and went to town.....

Layers upon layers of decor which will overwhelm your guest into a blur. The biggest and most costly mistake you can make is definitely within your decor budget, because it can start to look tacky reeeaaallllll fast.

My number one piece of advice, "Don't waste your money on trying to have everything while cheaping out along the way. Sacrifice, re-evaluate your priorities and shift the dollars you would have spent on mediocrity towards a larger element that will leave your guests with a lasting impression." 

I'll give you a few examples, and if your a client reading this, you might have already heard this story. Back in the day when ghost chairs were only coming out of Toronto with a  price tag of $20 per chair, I had a client who just simply had to have them, but couldn't make it work within her budget. So I said "No problem, we'll trick them!". We ordered 1/3 ghost chairs and 2/3 white flip chairs. We used the ghost chairs at square tables and the flips at round tables and strategically laid out our floor plan accordingly. A few months later I heard back from my newlyweds and they said every single guest thought that they were sitting on ghost chairs... they raved about it endlessly. Keep in mind we're talking 2010 when the thought of mixing table types weren't even a design thought in anyone's mind. - I'm actually pretty proud that I hit that before the curve :) 

That's just one example of how I design to be budget conscious with intention. In case your curious, here is where we think you should spend your money.

OUR 5 PICKS

Linen-less tables and chairs

Personal dinner menus 

Over-sized organic bouquets

Embellished wedding dresses

Handwritten calligraphy invites