Lisa Hanslip
{ rustic chic }
Monday, July 18th, 2011 | trends, weddings | No Comments
We had a lovely tent wedding last weekend…very rustic chic…burlap is beautiful!
Although there were tornado warnings…and the weather was crazy & terrible during set up - mother nature came through and it was a beautiful day.
There was a delightful old claw-foot tub full of Jones soda & water on ice to greet the guests as they arrived for the ceremony.
We used 6000 white and cream rose petals to line the aisle. There was very little adornment for the ceremony…they had a (beautiful) bridal party of 20….so there wasn’t much more decoration needed!
After the ceremony the guests migrated over under the trees for cocktails. The bride tracked down some barrels and we covered a piece of plywood with burlap…it was such a cute setting. Her bridesmaids also wrapped almost 200 mason jars with lace for their signature cocktails….just lovely!
We went with 16′ tables draped with ivory linen + a burlap runner + sandalwood napkins. Each table had an assortment of different sizes of mason jars filled with little posies in whites, creams, pale yellows and soft peach, candelabras + vintage oil lamps. The bride & groom named their tables with names of places that are significant to them…the place he proposed, the place they’re going on honeymoon, etc.
All the vintage (or vintage looking) dishes used for the candy buffet were so sweet…this little dish with the bird was my favorite!
Stringing the tent with all the little lights in the gale-force winds proved quite challenging - but on the wedding day everything was twinkly & magical.
Congratulations Sasha + Pat!
Aloha!
Monday, July 11th, 2011 | testimonials | No Comments
We had a large tent wedding about 1/2 hr east of Red Deer on the weekend. We will post photos soon…
Got the following text from the newlyweds as they were sitting on the plane waiting to fly off to Hawaii for their honeymoon:
“Thank you Lisa! Everything turned out so beautiful because of you. Aloha!!”
You’re welcome Sasha & Pat…best wishes! xo
Peacock Paradise
Monday, July 11th, 2011 | media, testimonials, trends, weddings | No Comments
We’re thrilled to be featured again in Weddings in Alberta.
The Proposal
Erin and Devlin first met at a party, ten years ago. Seating was tight and they ended up sitting together. They hit it off, but Erin started to feel a bit under the weather. After he helped her to the bathroom throughout the evening, she knew that Devlin was a keeper. After dating for nearly 8 years, during which time Erin had lost her father, the couple knew it was time to tie the knot but a large, extravagant wedding was the last thing on their minds. Deciding to elope, they booked a trip to Vegas, Erin bought a little white dress at the mall, and they started telling people. Those reactions planted a little seed of doubt in the couple’s minds as to whether or not eloping was the right thing to do. After telling her best friend and seeing a mixture of happy and sad in her reaction, Erin and Devlin realized how important it was to have all their family and friends celebrate with them. They didn’t decide until the last minute possible whether they were going to go through with the wedding—but when they came across the perfect engagement ring at a store in Vegas, everything felt right. When they showed the engagement ring to family when they returned, without a matching wedding band, everyone was excited and relieved. And so, the planning for a wedding to take place two and a half years later began.
The Wedding
Drawn towards modern design and technology while sharing a love for classic architecture, Erin and Devlin knew they needed to have a mix of old and new in their wedding style. After selecting the Hotel Arts as their reception space, they found inspiration in the natural, modern elements the venue shows off. Selecting a peacock-inspired colour palette that prominently featured teal, brown, navy blue, and gold allowed some fun and whimsy to be introduced into their big day. With the help of The Wedding Planner, Inc, the wedding was perfectly designed and coordinated. The ceremony took place in an intimate photography studio, incorporating many personal touches. With a small wedding party consisting of just a best man, maid of honour, and bridesmaid, the couple was happy to share their day with the friends that have known them the longest.
The Wedding Planner, Inc. designed a fabulous reception, using copper pintuck linens, teal table runners, and green napkins to tie into the peacock feather colour scheme. Plus, peacock feathers were added throughout the room, resting at each place setting, added into Erin’s bouquet, and even used as the design for a custom gobo on the dance floor. The finishing touches were candelabras placed on each table, an iced martini bar, a four tiered cake decorated with damask-patterned fondant that matched the linens on the head table, and an elaborate candy buffet, complete with custom labels and glassine bags. The couple served food based on their culinary love, choosing appetizers that represented international flavours they had fallen in love with while traveling abroad, and made sure to serve classic Alberta beef tenderloin as a main course. Plans for a dance-filled reception were made to honour Erin’s Pakistani heritage. When they started their planning, the couple knew that her family really wanted to celebrate and all they could hope for was to uphold the family tradition of a memorable wedding—and although they froze up during their first dance and forgot everything they learned in their dance lessons, the party went on!
The Fashion
After she fell in love with a budget-busting dress and making the tough choice not to spend the money on it, Erin kept looking and looking. She lucked out when she found this sample dress from Pronovias at Mina’s Bridal and loved it. The sweetheart neckline gown featured lace appliqués on the bust and hem, and was perfect for her trash-the-dress session with f8 Photography in the hotel pool to morning after the wedding. She added bright blue heels, a birdcage veil, and a colourful bouquet with a small silver picture frame attached, holding a photo of her father who passed away a few years ago.
http://weddingsinalberta.com/realweddings.php?articleId=689&image=14
will you marry me?
Sunday, June 5th, 2011 | etiquette | No Comments
Thank you to Peter Post for these great tips for the perfect proposal!
Countdown to Proposing
Peter Post’s 10 Day Proposing Plan
From the ring and flowers to what to wear and how to ask, Peter gives men the advice they need to get through the big moment.
Day 10: Make a Plan
Decide on the who, what, when, where and why of how you will ask her to marry you. A public place or a private setting? First thing in the morning or late at night? Think about what suits your personalities and relationship. Keep in mind, this is a story she will be telling for the rest of her life and you want her to be proud to tell it. But at the same time, the more complex a plan you concoct, the more difficult to pull off.
Day 9: The Ring
You’ve got two options here: pick the ring you know she’ll love or go with something basic and let her choose the setting and band once she’s said yes. If you go with the latter, remember that this is not an insult to your jewelry selection capabilities. You want to make sure it’s the ring she wants.
Day 8: To Ask or Not to Ask - Permission from Her Dad
Individual circumstances determine whether you should ask permission from her father, either alone or with your intended, or if you should simply announce your plans together. Be respectful of the culture and traditions of your future wife’s family. This will help you decide the most appropriate course of action.
Day 7: Schedule Her In
Don’t forget to make plans with her for the big day. It would be pretty embarrassing to go through all this effort and then have her tell you “I’m not available that night, I have yoga class till 8:30 p.m.”
Day 6: Dress
Figure out what you’re going to wear. Make sure it’s clean and pressed. Shoes polished. Hole-free socks. Get a haircut. Shave. You want to look and feel your best.
Day 5: Flowers
There’s only one choice: red roses. Lots and lots of red roses. And remember, even if you think flowers don’t matter, they do.
Day 4: Food
To cook or go out? Don’t cook. Think about it. You want to focus on her, not on cooking. Make a reservation at the nicest restaurant you can afford. Try not to be a nervous wreck, hopefully you’ll enjoy the meal. If you’re planning to pop the question there, ask the maitre d’ for a quiet table.
Day 3: Wine
This is clearly a champagne occasion. Pop the question early and then order a bottle to celebrate. You can even call ahead and arrange to have the sommelier bring the champagne out once you’ve proposed.
Day 2: Practice
Think about what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. Decide if you’re a down-on-one-knee kind of guy. Visualize what’s going to happen. You’ve established a plan for the dinner, now think about how you’re going to actually pull this off. Make sure you know how to get to where you are going. Remember these could be some of the most important words she hears from you, so make them memorable.
Day 1: Just Do It!
Give yourself time to get ready. Don’t forget the ring. Do plan on having a night the two of you will always remember. Look her in the eye and speak from the heart. Enjoy the moment!
Financial Planning Leads to Marital Bliss
Monday, May 9th, 2011 | media | No Comments
Money is at the root of most breakups
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald May 8, 2011
The Wedding of the Century has come and gone, the cake has been cut and Will and Kate are man and wife.
It was an awesome spectacle of pomp and pageantry that took precision planning and the logistical skills of a tactician to pull off, in full view of the entire world.
But once the honeyoon’s over, what’s next?
That’s were the fairy tale ends and reality sets in.
Experts say most people put more thought into planning for one big day than the rest of their lives, with disastrous results. According to Statistics Canada figures, the sad fact is that one in two marriages in Canada are destined to fail by the 30th year. More often than not, the root of marital discord can be boiled down to a single cause: money.
After the ponying up for the cost of the tux, gown and cake, many couples fail to think about the cost of mortgages, retirement savings and contingencies such as insurance to make sure ‘I Do’ doesn’t become ‘I Don’t’.
“In my opinion, I would like to see couples put more time into the marriage than the wedding,” says Lisa Hanslip, a Calgary-based wedding planner whose company, The Wedding Planner Inc., has been organizing nuptials for almost two decades.
Hanslip, who has organized weddings that cost as much as $500,000 or as little as $5,000, says you don’t always get what you pay for and that there is no correlation between the cost of the ceremony and the quality of everlasting bliss.
Hanslip says she can often tell beforehand which marriages are destined to fail based on the way couples approach small details such as floral arrangements, but more importantly, how they’re paid for. In that sense, the big day is the template for the marriage.
Jennifer French and her groom Colum Furey are a lot like other couples getting married these days. Both are in their mid-30s with professional jobs; she’s a human resources professional and he’s an engineer for a large oil company.
This weekend they tied the knot in front of 85 invited guests in an intimate ceremony that cost their parents almost $40,000.
Although they didn’t have to pay out of pocket, the future Mrs. Furey says both are keenly aware of keeping it in perspective. “It’s a down payment on a house,” she jokes. “Every time you take out the Visa you get that sense of panic, it creeps up on you.”
To get married in their church, both had to take wedding preparation classes that dealt with issues such as financial planning. They already own a home together and have retirement plans through their employers. They both like to spend money, but have taken steps to save as well.
Although they’re starting on solid ground, French agrees money is the big stressor in any relationship.
“It definitely breeds its own sense of pressure, it can tear people up,” she says.
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Financial+planning+leads+marital+bliss/4746936/story.html#ixzz1Lth7hXJb
Get the Look: Purple Perfection
Monday, May 2nd, 2011 | media, testimonials, trends, weddings | No Comments
We’re excited to be featured again in the May issue of Weddings in Alberta:
This wedding is also featured on their site with 10 gorgeous images:
Inspired by the royal wedding buzz? Steal this fabulously regal look with help from The Wedding Planner!
For a bride who simply said, “I like purple,” The Wedding Planner put together this stunning reception style. Choosing to use the whole spectrum of the royal hue, shades ranging from pale lilac to deep aubergine create a stunning look with a lot of depth. To start, the tent was draped and chandeliers were hung from the ceiling. The feminine look was anchored with touches of black to add masculinity and modernity: a wide black runner was laid down the centre of each table, chiavari chairs were tied with a black sash, and all the printed goods involved black papers. Three shades of purple table linens were alternated throughout the room, and varying arrangements of purple, blue, and pink flowers were placed on each table. Each vase was wrapped in a different shade of purple ribbon, and alternated between square and round shapes to add texture to the space.
The final details? 12,000 purple and lavender rose petals created a luscious ceremony aisle, half-pomanders in vibrant purple shades were strung from the sides of the ceremony chairs, glamorous candelabras were centered on the head table, and customized M&Ms were gifted to the guests (purple, of course!).
http://weddingsinalberta.com/articles.php?articleId=609&image=11
happiness…
Monday, April 25th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
The three components of happiness are:
* something to do
* someone to love
* something to look forward to
“Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now ” - Gordon Livingstone, MD
princess bride
Monday, April 18th, 2011 | etiquette, trends | No Comments
Over the last six weeks I’ve been interviewed on multiple occasions by writers and radio hosts from across Canada with questions relating to the impending royal nuptials of William & Kate. We don’t have any clients getting married on “that” day – but even if we did it would never occur to me to compare their wedding to the royal wedding.
There’s enough pressure on brides to feel like a princess, lose weight, look perfect, etc. I think the pressures for a wedding spectacle get bigger all the time. Even if a couple has a $25,000 budget they still feel a certain expectation to have their wedding look like all the six- and seven-figure celebrity weddings.
I received an email this morning from someone concerned that royal wedding comparisons can overshadow a bride…and she speaks from experience:
Dear Lisa
I had the misfortune of getting married two weeks after the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. My wedding was always being compared to the fairytale wedding and beautiful bride. No one spoke of my dress as they couldn’t stop talking about Lady Diana and how beautiful she was. If people only knew what a bummer that was to an already stressed out bride!
During my ceremony the preacher stated, “We know this can’t be as beautiful a site as the wedding of the royals, but the love is still there!”
Every bride should feel like a princess on her wedding day – just don’t worry about competing with “the” princess (unless the Queen is planning to pay for your wedding too). And to all you Officiants out there with weddings on April 29th – DON’T MENTION WILLIAM & KATE during the ceremony!
where they take the cake (pt 2)
Monday, April 18th, 2011 | media, trends | No Comments
The two women met in 2005 while studying at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts School. Pellegrino founded Cake Opera Co. soon after. “All my instructors said, ‘You should be making showpieces in Vegas,’” she says. The timing dovetailed with a growing cultural fixation on cake, evident in the emergence of the golden age of cake TV – a spawn of shows including Ace of Cakes, Wedding Cake Wars, Cake Boss, and Ultimate Cake Off. In 2009, Pellegrino asked Smith, then head pastry chef at Toronto’s Truffles restaurant, for help on a Food Network cake challenge. Within months, they were in a partnership. Grace Ormonde, editor-in-chief of the US magazine Wedding Style, was an early supporter. “I had worked with the best and thought I’d seen everything,” she says. “And here come these two women who blew me away.” Their cakes taste as delicious as they look, she notes: “That’s not always the case.”
Their custom design work, which begins at $300 and rises to $6,000, tends to focus on weddings, which isn’t surprising. Once cakes only had to be pretty, says Ormonde: “Now everyone wants their wedding to be unique. They want sculpture.”
When consulting with brides, Pellegrino asks for visuals – the dress, flowers, a brooch – then brings her imagination to bear. An opulent three-tiered, chocolate, 24K-gold and burgundy cake created for a Venetian-themed wedding last year took its cue from the invitation. “I was drawn to the envelope’s lining; it had a beautiful pattern,” she says. For the top, she created a sugar replica of the masks worn by the bride and groom.
They’ve made black and purple cakes, but Pellegrino says she loves all-white cakes, with a twist: “I like to recall that traditional wedding feeling and then there will be something on it like, ‘Whoa, where did that come from?’” Given the work required, their cakes can exist as a metaphor for the marriage to come: under the showy surface, there’s a carefully constructed infrastructure necessary to keep it all aloft. A black-and-white pirate-themed cake took 150 hours to build, says Pellegrino: “It requires the mind of an engineer.”
Creating fantasy can be a slog. Fourteen-hour workdays are common; Pellegrino and Smith do all of their own deliveries. “Street-car tracks are the bane of our existence,” says Smith, the driver. “She’s crapping her pants,” says Pellegrino, the navigator. They’re more laid-back about marketing. “We’ve taken a very non-aggressive approach,” says Smith. “The work speaks for itself.”
“Alexandria is brilliant,” says Catherine Lash, creative director of Toronto’s The Wedding Co., a wedding show producer. “You will not see anything recognizable in her designs – it’s not Martha Stewart magazine. She’s going to the opera, she’s going to art galleries.” Researching Madden’s tattoos in the tabloids offered rare lowbrow trolling, Pellegrino says: “I got to read all of these wonderful, smutty magazines.” Her favourite period is 17th century northern European still life “vanitas” paintings, whose shadowy compositions warn the viewer not to invest too much importance in mortal wealth and pleasures, a message that might be lost on people planning $100,000-plus weddings.
A playful irony percolates through Cake Opera Co.’s rococo-chic website and shop, one reminiscent of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, the 2006 movie that reinforced the link between sumptuous pastel pastries and the woman who never actually said “Let them eat cake.” Gilt abounds. In the front window, a French guillotine slices through a retro wedding cake bleeding edible 24-karat gold. Inside the shop, antique glass cabinets are filled with macarons, meringues, marshmallows and cupcakes with names like “The Lady Pompadour” and “The Musetta.” Pellegrino laughs at the mention of Coppola’s movie. “Never seen it,” she jokes. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” That movie fuelled the macaron trend – and resultant backlash – “a tragic story,” says Pellegrino. “It’s such a beautiful confection,” Smith explains. “But now wedding planners are saying, ‘We’re so over that.’ It’s a slap in the face.” “They’ve been around hundreds of years,” says Pellegrino. “Cupcakes have been around 50 years. So throw them to the curb!”
Cake Opera’s theatrical flair attracted Beverly Hills wedding planner Mindy Weiss, who organized Richie’s nuptials. She’d heard of them via Ormonde. Their website blew her away, she says. “I would stare at it in awe.” When Weiss learned Richie wanted a Versailles theme, she contacted them with only two weeks’ notice. “Before I knew it I received an email with the most fabulous drawing of the cake,” says Weiss. “I did not change a thing. And I always change something!” The finished cake was “amazing,” she says. “It was an art piece that the guests would walk up to and stare at.”
Gushy coverage of the wedding in People and Hello! resulted in a flurry of requests to ship, which they won’t do. “Most people can’t afford to fly us in,” says Smith.
Weiss, who plans events for people who can afford it, says she can’t wait to work with them again: “They’re perfection.” Predictably, there’s talk of a TV show. “We’re open to it,” says Smith. They’d be naturals – photogenic, funny, and smart enough to know that if Marie Antoinette were alive today, her apocryphal command would be “Let them watch cake.” ANNE KINGSTON
We’re definitely not in the same camp with the wedding planners that are over macarons…we’re a huge fan of the scrumptious French confectionary: they are delicious, come in a gorgeous array of colours, and are gluten free…what more can you ask for?!? Throw the cupcakes to the curb?…why not!
Re-reading this article makes me want to watch Marie Antoinette again…which will inevitably send to the patisserie for a wee box of macarons…YUM!
where they take the cake (pt 1)
Friday, April 15th, 2011 | media, trends | No Comments
We have long been fans of the amazing design esthetic of the Cake Opera Co. so we were thrilled to see them featured in Maclean’s Magazine.
Nicole Richie could have hired anyone to make her wedding cake. She chose Toronto’s Cake Opera Co.
LAST DECEMBER, business partners Alexandra Pellegrino and Jessica Smith flew from Toronto to Los Angeles with carry-on that was as fragile as it was weird: a sugar-modeling-paste sculpture depicting Nicole Richie, the daughter of singer Lionel, and her musician husband-to-be Joel Madden, as Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI-before the royals’ decadent reign came to its bloody, tumultuous end. Richie was decked out in a white wig, black mask and ruffly gown and splayed on a chaise longue; behind her, Madden, in a white wig and mask, presented his bride with arms out-stretched; through his jacket, the rocker’s famously inked arms could be seen, each tattoo replicated precisely.
The painstakingly detailed tableau could be seen as a biting social commentary on over-the-top celebrity culture, but wasn’t: it was the topper of the extravagant cake served at Richie’s and Madden’s Dec. 11 “Versailles”-themed nuptials.
Smith and Pellegrino, the pastry chef and designer, respectively, at Toronto’s Cake Opera Co., had transported surreal confectionary before. In February 2010, US Customs officials were bemused by a suitcase filled with sugar roses for a cake they’d be making for a Tim Burton-meets-Alice-in Wonderland-themed sweet 16 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
That party they were invited to. The closest they got to the high-security celebration at Lionel Richie’s Beverly Hills estate was the back entrance, where they delivered their five-tiered cake edged in edible 24-karat gold, created at a West Hollywood bakery taken over for the occasion.
The commission was a high point in their two-year collaboration, says the 29-year-old Pellegrino, who attended the Ontario College of Art and Design before turning to making ephemeral art with fondant and cake flour. “We still don’t believe it. It’s like, ‘We were at Lionel Richie’s house! With something that came out of this kitchen.’” It was all really hush-hush, says Smith, 28, who studied culinary arts at Toronto’s George Brown College and has worked at London’s Michelin-starred Yauatcha. “We weren’t even allowed to take pictures of our work.”
Sitting in their uptown Toronto shop in chef jackets and over-the-knee boots, Pellegrino and Smith present as confident patisserie swashbucklers. Samples of their couture cakes line one wall - one looks like blue Wedgwood china; on another, a glittery black lobster adorns an ivory tower festooned with black roses, oysters and pearls; their “ode to Canadiana” features deer and painted “birch bark” on pale green fondant. Inspiration ranges from Christian Lacroix’s 2008 collection to ‘60s chinoiserie wallpaper, which resulted in a cake painted with sumi-e style brushwork and topped with a Japanese crane. Clearly, Richie, a Tinseltown style-setter, played it conservatively.
to be continued…
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