Spring Wedding Favour Ideas

If you would like to give your guests a special thank you gift. You may want to consider one of these. Perennial flowers and plants make a wonderful gift that will continue to bloom year after year if cared for and watered properly. Just like your love, will continue to grow and be strengthened by your commitment to care for each other.

Photo credit: Martha Stewart weddings

Photo credit: Intimateweddings.com

Photo credit: Martha Stewart weddings

Photo credit: Favour affair

Photo credit: The Wedding Shop

A personal message can be written on the pot after it's painted with your wedding colours. This type of favour is perfect for the bride & groom that love to garden. Happy planting!


Till Next Time
Tracey

Have Fun In The Rain At Your Springtime Wedding

If you really love spring you probably won’t mind the rain. Spring is all about changes in nature. Flowers blooming, beautiful green grass and birds chirping. What makes spring possible is the rain, without it the flowers and grass wouldn’t grow and the birds would not find worms to feed their babies.

Planning a spring wedding can be a lot of fun. You can even poke fun at the weather by incorporating rubber ducks into your theme and even have them adorn your wedding cake. These make adorable cake toppers.

Photo credit: Heartshapedcreations

If it does rain or is still wet outside, have your bridal party wear rubber boots and carry beautiful coloured umbrellas. Imagine the fun you could have! Remember the musical Singing In The Rain? Oh the possibilities.

Photo credit: Beth Furgurson Photography via The Knot

Colourful umbrellas or parasols can also be used to decorate above your dance floor. They can be suspended in the air to appear like they are floating, or being blown away at different angles.

Photo credit: 100 Layer Cake

Be prepared with an assortment of colourful umbrellas for guests to share if you’re having an outdoor wedding ceremony.

Photo credit: KGoodPhoto

Serve cocktails with a personalized paper umbrella with your names and wedding date.

Photo credit: Etsy.com

Incorporate your favourite spring elements in your wedding and don’t be afraid to be creative. Leave your guests with a Wow expression.

Till Next Time
Tracey

Spring Centrepieces For Your Wedding

Spring Inspiration is all around us in the beauty of nature. Just looking outside I can see all the plants and flowers starting to peek out of the ground. I just love my flower garden and can't wait to see what will bloom from last year.

On the Easter weekend I was shopping for flowers for my mom when I came across some beautiful potted tulips, daffodils and hydrangeas. The potted flowers were placed in a container and wrapped in colored paper. I ended up buying a blue hydrangea plant and purple tulips. The flowers were for my mom, but when I got home I didn't want to leave them wrapped up, so I used the purple tulips as an Easter centrepiece when my parents came to dinner. Afterwards my mom was able to take them home. The table looked so beautiful I can't believe I forgot to take a picture!

I thought that these potted flowers would make beautiful arrangements for a spring wedding reception and a nice take home gift for one lucky guest. What's really special about this idea is that your guest will always have a flower from your wedding that will grow back every year in their flower garden. I think this is so sweet.

I also saw these very small orchids that would be perfect as wedding favours. If you can find a calla lily that is small enough to fit a very small pot it would be even better because it can be planted in our climate unlike the orchid. A few years ago I planted a small dark pink calla lily in my flowerbed and it grew back the following year white. It was a nice surprise.

If you are getting married in April or May keep an eye out for potted flowers. You would probably be able to find beautiful combinations as well, and arrange them yourself in a basket or decorated pot. You could even hand paint the pots with the table number or have different flowers at each table and name the table after the flower. This kind of centrepiece can be very simple and inexpensive or extravagant depending on your budget and your theme. What a wonderful way to bring the miracle of nature and make it a part of your wedding celebration.

Photos by Coordination Wedrose

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Tracey

When Choosing Wedding Vendors

What makes any wedding successful besides careful planning and execution are the people involved behind the scene, the vendors. As a wedding planner it is my job to coordinate all the vendors involved in a wedding. If I am hired to assist a bride to plan her entire wedding I would be involved in guiding her through vendor selection and attending meetings with such vendors. However, some brides choose to plan their wedding themselves and then hire a planner to manage their wedding day details. Recommending quality vendors is probably one of the most important jobs of a wedding planner. If you were planning to search out vendors for your wedding, a bridal show or bridal event would be the ideal place to start. You may also have friends or family that were recently married who could recommend a vendor to you. Word of mouth is still the best way to find wedding vendors. When you do meet with a vendor that you are interested in hiring, ask them if they could refer you to other wedding professionals such as a floral designer or photographer, Chances are they have worked with other wedding professionals and are familiar with their services. When you have a talented group of vendors amazing things happen. This is your wedding day after all. Invest in quality!

Till Next Time
Tracey

When Life Gets Busy

The month of February was exceptionally busy for me, with all the planning and preparation for the photo shoot at Montebello and the wedding gown showcase at Eternity Bridal. All my creative energy was channelled into these events, as a result the goals I had for my blog were not met.

I know that sometimes it's impossible to do everything but I like to push my limit. It's in my nature to try to be super woman. Realistically life will make us choose. I could have stayed up late at night, lost sleep to get the blog written and posted. But at what cost? My sleep is very important. As human beings we need a certain amount of sleep to function effectively. I want to be at my best for myself and everyone around me. This was not an option I could entertain. We need to have peace about the decisions we make, which is how we know it's the right choice for us. There is no guilt!

I was thinking about the brides I have met lately, how busy they are with their jobs, families, and friends. Where do you find the time? It's this simple, you have an amazing life and it will not slow down because you are planning your wedding. Don't stress yourself and feel guilty because you are behind in your planning and maybe the DJ hasn't been booked yet. Take a moment and breathe...

I could look at my lapse in blog posts and scold myself... Bad little blogger!... or I can get back on the horse, moving forward. I made a decision to grab the reins and ride this through.

Finding the time is not always easy you may need to give something up for a while until your back on track. I like to write down all my blog topics on a list then cross them off after they are written. Make a wedding to do list. Pick two items on that list to accomplish each day. Ask for help if you need it. Divide the list with your fiancé, chances are that he would love to hire a Dj and you can tackle something else. Before you know it you will be back on track!

I'm so happy to be able to blog again and looking forward to doing video soon.

Peace, Love & Happiness Always
Tracey

World's Best Chocolates

There’s a new line of fine chocolate product available to us in Canada thanks to World’s Best Chocolates (The Christophe Roussel Collection). World’s Best Chocolates is a company that specializes in fine cocoa products which it imports, exports and distributes. We are so lucky to have a location right here in the Ottawa\Gatineau region. World’s Best Chocolates is the only company authorized to distribute Roussel products in Canada.

These wonderful chocolates are a delight to the palette. The cream and cocoa are what makes for the best quality taste and flavour. There are many flavours to choose from: Fleurs Bleues: An earl tea ganache, Ginger: A ginger and lime ganache, Kisses From: A raspberry ganache with crunchy pearls, Lemon: Lemon juice and zest ganache, Marrackech: Crunchy praline and crispy honey, and Tainori: Pure dark Santo Domingo ganache.

Fleur Bleue

Ginger

Kisses from

Lemon

It was my pleasure to meet Melanie Grenon (World’s Best Chocolates) marketing & sales representative here in Ottawa. She has such a passion for chocolate and also very proud of her products. The Roussel Chocolate Collection was awarded with a prestigious four bars prize by France’s Club Des Croqueurs De Chocolat in its 2010 guide to top chocolate makers.
Depending on your needs and the size of your event, The Roussel Chocolates are available in a variety of flavours and quanties. You may even want to package your own wedding favours and buy in bulk, or have World’s Best Chocolates package the favours for you.

Photography by Patrick Gérard

Enjoy World's best chocolates for your event!

Till next Time
Tracey

Wedding Show Advice For The Bride

If your thinking of visiting a wedding show in the near future there are a few things that you should plan for. Depending on where you live and the size of the wedding show, being prepared will help you enjoy your experience. Larger shows will attract a lot of brides, which means possible crowding and excessive heat. Make sure to leave your coat at the coat check to avoid overheating and getting cranky. Most shows will provide you with a nice bag to carry with you as you collect business cards and brochures. Bring bottled water with you to keep hydrated and for all that tasting you maybe doing from caterers and cake designers.

Have a list of services that you haven’t booked and still need to investigate such as photographers, musicians, florists etc. This will help you stay on track and not get distracted by all the glam and glitter around you. It’s always nice to have the support of your fiancé or maid of honour as you work your way through all the many vendors. It is also helpful to create a list of important questions or concerns you have and ask the vendor what their policies are. This will give you an idea of their style and business practices. When looking for a vendor for your wedding day, it’s important that you find a professional who not only has an impressive body of work but also is personable and easy to communicate with. You will be placing your trust in that person to impact the most important day of your life. At some point during the show you may feel overwhelmed by other brides or vendors if you don’t have an idea of what you want to achieve. Don’t be intimidated by everything you see. If you need a break, get some air and clear your head.

After you meet all the vendors on your list, then you can browse through and be inspired by all that eye candy. Bring your camera or ipad to take pictures, so that way you won’t forget what you may see that inspires you. Bring a small note pad with you to take notes. You may want to enter draws that will require your e-mail address. Create an account specifically for the show, that way you minimize the flow of traffic to your personal account. Pre-print your name, address, phone number, wedding date and e-mail on small pieces of paper for the draws you may enter with vendors. This will keep you moving and out of a line-up for a pen. Last but not least… remember to have fun! Don't forget to visit The Ottawa Wedding show this weekend!

Till Next Time
Tracey