Designing My Wedding

How does a wedding planner design and plan her own wedding? With many years of experience, and an amazing network of vendor friends! We got married in Vancouver at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia — choosing the venue was easy since Adam proposed to me at that venue the previous year (you can read about the proposal and surprise engagement party here). I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted for our wedding design: a blend of classic opulence borrowing from the art deco interior of the York Room, but also timeless and elegant in nature. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of colour (anyone who knows me, knows my closet is mostly composed of whites, greys, and shades of black lol), so a classic colour palette of ivory white and forest green was fitting. Gold accents added a luxury modern touch, and elevated the reception tablescape design. I worked with Maurelle to design a custom monogram that we incorporated into our letterpress invitations. The same monogram was featured in our cake design by Anna Elizabeth. Fun fact: I still use our bespoke wax seal stamp when mailing out holiday cards for a nice personal touch!

An Intimate Guest Experience

Before micro-weddings were a trend, we decided to keep our guest list intimate so that we could provide an elevated guest experience for our dear family and friends. We worked with Hawksworth restaurant to design an exquisite 4-course plated dinner featuring local organic ingredients. Instead of guest favours, we opted to provide a black and white guest portraiture experience for our loved ones — imagine our surprise to see The Collective You photographing at the Bieber wedding last year!

Truthfully, I didn’t love all the attention that comes with being a bride — I even found dress shopping to be a tedious task (my Rosa Clara gown was the first one I had tried on)! I much prefer to be behind-the-scenes, but it definitely gave me perspective to be on the other side. Fast forward a few years, even though I look back on my wedding images fondly, a small part of me wishes we had opted to do a destination wedding in France instead. Perhaps that’s why I am now so eager to help couples create their dream wedding or pre wedding shoot in France (if you are, be sure to check out my destination planning resource here). I guess that’s what a vow renewal is for, right?!