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       I’m not a big fan of traditional guest books, mainly because I find that many guests do not sign the guest book and after the wedding the guest book either gets thrown out or stays in your closet forever.  With such a wonderful keepsake to have that captures your wedding memories you want to have a guest book of some sort that you can proudly hang up and display in your home together.  Preferably something that fits your style.

       So I came across this wonderful alternative to the traditional guest book on www.polkadotbride.com.  Basically they had a tree painted and their guests thumbs were dipped in paint and used as the leaves to the tree.  They also had their guests sign their names underneath their thumbprint to identify who the person is.  Once it dries you can now take this wonderful decorative keepsake, get it framed and hang it up in your home.

Photos by Calli B Photography

     After you chose what your overall vision, style and theme is you need to take a look at creating your wedding atmosphere.  Here are a few examples of how these very different weddings have very different atmospheres.  For more tips on how  you can create atmosphere for your wedding, check out the latest issue of my biweekly e-magazine “Wedding Wishes By Stephanie Thompson”.

BLACK TIE AFFAIR

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CASUAL BACKYARD WEDDING

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The hybrid cousin…

RUSTIC CHIC WEDDING

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THE DESTINATION WEDDING

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Breanne & Brian are getting married on Thanksgiving Sunday- October 10, 2010

Their Engagement Photo shoot with Photographer Davide Greene www.davidegreene.com

How They Met:  “Bre & B” as they like to be referred to as by their friends and even their wedding planner actually used to date when they were younger .  But things happen and they ended up parting ways.  Luckily fate brought them back together as they reconnected in Mexico. 

The Engagement:  What I love about Bre & B is they have regular date nights every week.  Bre was waiting and waiting for Brian to come home for date night but he was late getting home from work.  She was starting to get a little upset.  What she didn’t know is on his way home from work Brian had stopped at Bre’s parents house to ask for their permission to propose.   He proposed when he got home and they went out for burritos and beer to celebrate!

Their Wedding Planning:  Bre connected with me because she was getting a little concerned at the fact they were having trouble finding a rustic farm venue to accommodate their guests, that had proper facilities for unpredictable weather in Oct and to find a venue that was still available for their date.  When I met them they were really concerned with everything being fun and casual for their day.  They wanted their guests to be comfortable, be able to eat and drink and just have a great time.

Stay tuned for their wedding design and details in October…

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      New to our STWD Signature Collection is our wooden log cake stands.  The wooden cake stand is great for rustic, eco-friendly, backyard, fall, nature and enchanted woods themed weddings.  The cake stand is 16″ round, and cut from refurbished trees and available for rent for only $25.

If you’re interested in renting one of our wooden log cake stands please e-mail us info@stephaniethompson.ca.

Steph

    Love junkfood?  Include your favs for your late night buffet.  Here are a few ideas for you.  Just make sure you customize it to junkfood that you love!

Late Night Popcorn Machine:  Source

Yummy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches: Source

Cheesecake Pops: Source

How’s about milkshakes?  Also pictured strawberry milk, candy, cupcakes, cake, macaroons & sweets:  Source

 How about coffee and donuts: Source

The sky is truly the limit as there’s so much junk food out there…   Tell me what your favourite junk food is?  I’m going to go and grab a snack.

Take care,

Steph

     As a wedding designer not only do I get the honour and pleasure of making clients wedding dreams come true, but I also get to meet some really great people.  Ashley, Jeff and the Thorn family are no exeception.  Ashley’s mom & dad (Char & Bob Thorn) really made me feel like part of the family and not just like a hired vendor.  I guess that happens naturally when you work with a client for many months planning their dream wedding day.

     Ashley and Jeff’s wedding was our first wedding design clients (meaning wedding decor, florals, rentals, lighting etc as well as wedding day coordination services).  Not only was decor one of Ash’s priorities but it was very important to the family that everything runs seamlessly on the day of and that they are truly able to enjoy themselves.  Well I’m confident that they were able to do just that.  It was a great weekend up in Alliston and I’m really going to miss the Thorn family and we wish Ashley & Jeff all the best of luck in the world!!!

     Now onto the design details:

     After the set up, I looked around the room and smiled!  It was Ashley’s vision, everything we had talked about in our previous conversations… from the lighting to the colour scheme, the head table, the centrepieces and the touches of crystals everywhere.  And all of this accomplished on the budget guidelines dad had given us. 

     Ashley had a few things she really wanted for her wedding decor:  lighting, blue hydrangea bouquets with rhinestone buckles and brown satin/pintuck for table linen

  We didn’t want to complete with the beautiful wedding garden at the Nottawasaga Inn, so we did simple ceremony decor which consisted of an aisle runner, rose petals and a crystal chain to tie it off.  Ashley had lovely fan programs and customized water containers which were a hit with her guests on a rainy, overcast and muggy day in Alliston.  For here head table we used some brown satin draping with crystal accents such as our NEW crystal candleholders, bouquet vases and clear rocks, our white pintuck hanging crystal backdrop with white swags and crystal bands as well as our silver manzanita trees with crystals and blue pendants.  The cake that was made by www.cakesbydesign.ca was a lovely four tier cake, with hydrangeas made from icing in the middle and ribbon consisting of teal and brown around the tiers (which complimented her invitations).  For the guests tables Ashley wanted submergered orchid centrepieces, and to be budget friendly we went with white dendrobium orchids and a floating candle in a cylinder vase, brown pintuck table linens and lots of candlelight.  The atmosphere was set with blue coloured LED lights for an evening of magic and fun!  Congrats Jeff & Ash!!!  Here are some of the pics taken by my wonderful husband Steve.

Photo Credit: Steve Thompson

   Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge for a decorator when you have to compete with a large portrait of the Queen of England, but I think we were able to transform the Acton Legion Hall into a vision fit for a princess bride.  Check out our before and after shots for this couple who wanted a fun and fabulous wedding featuring the bridesmaid’s dresses colour of “Alfred Angelo Jade”, which to the rest of the world is close to turquoise or a Tiffany blue.  The head and cake table were covered with white satin table linens and Tiffany blue (turquoise) table runners with a backdrop with Tiffany blue (turquoise) accents.  Our white mitsumata branches surrounded the table dripping in lots of crystal beads to add a bit of sparkle to this legion hall.  This couple had nearly 200 guests so in order to keep their decor budget in perspective we recommended one of our $25 dollar centrepieces, which consists of a fishbowl with some hand tied apricot (coral/ orange) gerbera daisies and bear grass, with some coloured rocks to punch it up (and look closely at the receiving table arrangement with features a cutsy little goldfish my 2 year old daughter has named “Orange”).  We surrounded some turquoise napkins with our orange polka-dot and floral napkin rings (available for rent $0.50 each).

BEFORE

AFTER

     So I’m very excited to announce my very first video post to you tube…the first of many more to come…I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFWiwEc1vRc