High style + Luxury Weddings with one fine day event planning+design

Featuring...Lindsay+Matt

We love Muskoka weddings...see our featured wedding on Style Me Pretty! 

If ever there were a wedding so deserving of complete gushing, it’s this sweet as can be day shot by Ikonica. Equal parts rustic and romantic, it has us dreaming of a lakeside retreat in the wilds of Ontario and all the fabulous details crafted by One Fine Day Event Planning & Design Inc. are to blame. Handmade signs, breathtaking lake views, late night s’mores– it’s all making an appearance. The Bride and Groom also pitched in for a great mix of DIY which lends to the intimate, homespun feel that we can’t seem to get enough of....

From the Bride… Matt and I met during our first year of school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. We are both originally from Ontario and after a few years in Vancouver, we decided to make the move back to Ontario to be closer to our families. We were engaged on June 23rd, 2010 and the wedding planning began!

The selection of the location for our wedding was one of the most important aspects of the planning process for us. We knew we wanted to have it in a place that was significant to the both of us and somewhere that we felt reflected us as individuals and as a couple. We decided to choose my family cottage as it is a place where we have shared many unforgettable times with friends and family. As many guests had travelled from far distances, we extended the wedding celebrations over the weekend and held a casual bonfire and BBQ on the Friday night before the wedding. We were lucky to have gorgeous weather and guests enjoyed summertime patio drinks and food including “Smore Love” brown paper bags which contained all the fixings for roasted smores. We really enjoyed this extra time we spent visiting with our guests and it facilitated guests meeting before the actual wedding day.

Matt and I both agreed that we wanted to create an event that was as much “like us” as possible and we wanted all of our guests to genuinely feel our gratitude towards having them there. We decided to DIY as much as we could which included hand making all of the invitations, the programs, the table seating cards, the place cards as well as painting wooden signs that were displayed throughout the cottage property. We made our invitations from scratch and the illustration on the cover was inspired by our cat named Ernie who we had adopted together. The picture of the three of “us” naturally developed into our wedding logo which we incorporated into various other elements such as personalized water bottle labels and stickers that appeared on the guests welcome gifts. Having a “wedding logo” was an amusing way to further personalize our wedding and tie everything together. In keeping with a cottage themed wedding, we made the table seating cards from small pieces of wood that we engraved with a wood burner we had purchased at an art store. Each guests name appeared on one side and the table number they were seated at on the flipside. We also hand painted small rocks with guest’s names that were placed at each place setting together with the menu we had designed and printed ourselves. The wooden signs we made from wood we found on the cottage property and then painted them with various words such as “Ceremony”, “Lake” and “Dancing”. We loved how the wooden signs turned out and felt it was a simple, inexpensive and fun way to add creativity to the event.

Guests were served a signature welcome drink as they arrived and gathered at the ceremony location while upbeat summer music played in the background. My arrival to the wedding ceremony was a bit unconventional and something that my dad and I had been planning since the minute I got engaged! My entire family is passionate about aviation (my dad, my brother and I are all licensed pilots) and with some thoughtful planning my family and I were able to fly-in to the ceremony by floatplane with my brother as the pilot! It was such an incredible experience to see all of our guests below as we flew over and I know it is something we will never forget. Overall, I think we were able to incorporate many aspects into our wedding day that reflected our passions and interests in life which we believe helped to create lasting memories that we (and hopefully our guests!) will never forget. After it was all over, we both reflected and agreed that if our guests had left our wedding with a smile on their face having felt as much sincerity and love as we did that day, then we had truly accomplished what we set out to do in the first place. I know I can safely say that we are still smiling.  Thanks to Melissa Samborski of One Fine Day Event Planning & Design Inc. for her professionalism, commitment and incredible attention to detail. Also, thank you to Gillian Williamson and her team from Ikonica for their amazing photography work and to Sinful Treats for creating the delicious cupcakes.

Photography: Gillian Williamson of Ikonica Images  Ceremony and Reception Location: Muskoka Cottage 

Original post : Style Me Pretty

 

 

 

Featuring...Danielle+Glen

 

From the Bride… Glen and I are Torontonians through and through, and even though we loved the idea of going away to get married ultimately we knew that we wanted to be home with all of our friends and family. Nevertheless we really wanted our wedding to be different – to be casual yet elegant, to embrace the outdoors and the city that we love, and most of all to be a blast – for us and for everyone who shared our day with us. In the end it was all of those things and more… the word that we heard many people use to describe the day was “magical.”

The Toronto Islands are just that – magical. Its a bit of an adventure to get there – we ended up hiring a huge boat to take everyone over to the tiny church in the woods by the water. When you are there – even though you have a perfect view of the city skyline it feels like you are miles away. That’s exactly what we wanted. All of our guests got off the boat and crammed into the tiny church. It was amazing walking in and seeing the faces of all the people we love in one room! We had a string quartet play Ben Fold’s “The Luckiest” for the Processional and “Hoppipolla” by Sigur Ros as the Recessional.

After the ceremony we didn’t want to leave our guests and go off to take pictures, so instead we planned to board the boat with everyone for an hour tour of the harbor, complete with an amazing live band, oyster shucker and incredible views of the city. It was a great chance to have a cocktail, relax and mingle with everyone. We were dropped off on another island at The Island Yacht Club for our reception. It was the perfect setting – boats and trees and a beautiful wood and glass building just for us.

It was really important for us to personalize our wedding and make our guests feel like we had really thought about them when we were planning everything. We spent almost an entire year scouring vintage stores and the Internet for old postcards from the places everyone was either from or that meant something to them. We then hung them on a clothesline as place cards for guests to use to find their seat. Then we asked them to write us a note on them and we used them as our guest book as well. We loved watching as people realized that their postcards were really about them! Even our table numbers were framed on a background of locally printed maps of the Great Lakes.

We also spent months and months collecting dozens of vintage tea tins for our centerpieces. In the end we had over 100. It was a daunting task I’m sure for our dear florist – Allison from Coriander Girl to fill each and every one with beautiful and different bouquets and then lug them all over to the island. But boy did she step up to the task. They were amazing!

As we were getting ready to sit down for a delicious steak and lobster dinner it suddenly, out of nowhere, began literally snowing cotton from the cotton trees on the island. It was a totally unplanned, completely magical moment. Everyone got up and ran outside to take it all in. Our incredible photographer Christina Gapic managed to capture it all on film and its something we will never forget. The members of the yacht club told us a few days later that it happens every year but no one ever knows the day or the time!

Another highlight was our groomsmen’s speech. They ended up surprising us with a video that they made that completely blew us, and everyone there, away. By the end of the night everyone was dancing and singing to the song when the DJ played “our” version of it.

We had a dessert table instead of a traditional cake – with custom “nautical” cupcakes with our initials, along with lobster lollipops and gummies, salt water taffy and all sorts of fun candy. The day before the wedding my wonderfully sweet bridesmaids and I spent the day making trifle in little jars to give away to guests. We called them “Nana’s Trifle” in honor of my dear 93 year old Nana and her famous recipe. The trifle even managed to match our wedding colors! Talk about serendipitous!

In the end, to be alone on a beautiful island celebrating with our closest family and friends, with the lights from the city twinkling in the distance – not to mention a cotton blizzard of our very own, was about as magical as it gets!

Original Post as seen on Style Me Pretty Style Me Pretty

Wedding Photography: Christina Gapic Photography 

Featuring...Lauren+Kevin

Kevin and Lauren met at a restaurant on Queen Street in Toronto. As soon as Kevin saw Lauren, he grabbed her hand, spun her around and told her that she and her friends would be joining his friends for the night. They spent all night chatting and the rest is history.

 

On June 25, 2011, they were married at Westwater (Lauren's parents' farm)—a place which held very special memories for the couple—including the proposal!

 

(WedLuxe) Describe your proposal:

Lauren: "On the way to Collingwood, I received a call from my father. He explained that he left my mother's Christmas present in the barn and that I must go back and pick it up since he was already in Collingwood. When I asked him how he could have possibly made the mistake of leaving the iPad in the barn, he quickly responded, 'Your mother was going to get something out of the car (where the gift was), so I had to hide it quickly. Since we were down at the barn, I quickly grabbed it, hid it, and then forgot it.' I believed the story and we kept driving. We finally got to the barn and looked in the box where my father said he left the gift - it was NOT THERE! I turned around to tell Kevin and he was down on one knee..."

 

Was there a specific theme you tried to achieve on your wedding day?

"I have spent my whole life around horses in the country and my parents now live on a farm. We wanted the beauty and calmness of the country to mix with the elegant and stylish elements of the city."

 

What was your favourite design detail?

"The rustic tables that were placed between the couches matching with the three HUGE wood and crystal chandeliers overhead." 

 

What was the most luxurious aspect of your wedding?

"The tent itself and the draping that accompanied it. It was amazing that our wedding planner was able to take our outdoor riding ring and turn it into what looked like a lounge or bar. The draping made a world of difference and added a feeling of luxury to the event. We also felt that the lounge furniture that came in on the day gave the tent a very luxurious feel."

 

What was your favourite moment on the wedding day?

"Our favourite moment of our wedding day was taking two minutes to ourselves; we stood at the back of the room and watched all of our friends and family laugh and dance together. We really enjoyed watching everything that was happening around us. It was like, "Wow... all of these people are here for us". It was a special moment."

"I could not have imagined a more thorough, thoughtful and hard working wedding planner than Melissa Samborski of One Fine Day Event Planning and Design. She took care of every detail and was there every step of the way. She was available at any time, every day to answer questions and make appointments. In our initial meeting with her she asked the right questions to make sure that she had a good idea of what our vision was and she made it come to life. The entire set up began on a Wednesday and continued to Saturday and she was there all day, every day. The wedding ran so smoothly and not once did she let on any stress. She was better than we could have imagined and I would absolutely reccommend her to anyone (and already have)."

Original post as seen in Wedluxe - Wedluxe Photography by Circa Photography

 

 

Featuring...The Wedding Co. Show -This Weekend!

Stop by the show...you will love it! 

Featuring...The Wedding Co Show at the Carlu

If you are a couple with a unique vision for your wedding, and you’re looking for the city’s most experienced, trusted and talented professionals to make your vision a reality, you’ll find them at The Wedding Co. Show.

Date: January 13 to 15, 2012
Location: The Carlu, 444 Yonge St. at College
Times: Friday 5-9, Saturday 10-6, Sunday 10-5
Tickets: $20 

 

Featuring..The Wedluxe Show at the Ritz Carlton

Come by and say hello to our team!