Minimalist Montreal Loft Wedding

Pre-pandemic a classic weddings began at around 120 guests upwards. But when the pandemic occurred we had no choice but to look into the future and re-image what a small intimate wedding would look and feel like. It was a lot of change in a small period of time, and at some points it challenged our industry to the breaking point.

It’s been three years now and we’re through the thick of it. The pandemic gave us small and intimate lavish affairs that burst with embellished details and weddings tailored to each couples own identity which made each wedding unique in its own right. Brides and Grooms invested in higher quality vendors and because of their smaller guest list embellished in gorgeous floralscapes, transformative event furniture and event strayed from the usual wedding format embracing rooftop cocktail parties, alfresco dining and estate events.

It doesn’t quite register with me that it’s now been 3 years since the pandemic. Enough of a time gap that it’s seriously changed the way brides and grooms plan and envision their weddings. I am sensing a new shift, but how it will materialize is still a mystery to me. Will it change our landscape forever? Or is this another transition into our new normal. All I know is that it’s 2023 and we’re here for the small intimate weddings and I want to see more creative weddings. And with that being said Im taking a look back at one of my favourite micro weddings from 7 years ago. It’s timeless and the location is still one of Montreal’s best kept secrets for small intimate loft-like weddings in the heart of Montreal. And I'm particularly proud to share it’s feature on Ruffled. 

Styling and Coordination: TOAST Events
Photography: Laura Kelly Photography 
Hair: Topknot 
Makeup: Klava Zykova 
Dress: The Handmade Bride 
Hairpiece: White Ribbon Accents
Earrings: Sarah Walsh Bridal Jewelry
Florals: Floralia 
Menswear: L'HEXAGONE
Rings: Stór by Margot 
Invitation Suite and Live Painting: LaFabère
Decor: Makin'It Lovely
Cake & Sweets: OSSO Sweet 
Videography: Up North Wedding Films
Models: Savanah and Kyle from Angie's Models 

TOP 5 PLACES TO ELOPE OR HOST YOUR MICRO WEDDING IN ONTARIO & QUEBEC

Yesterday on my Instagram Live I spoke about my top five places to elope or host a micro wedding in 2021. And to be honest I have a long list of adventurous niche spots that didn’t make the list but are amazing options for couples who crave that unique intimate wedding or ceremony spot. If you’d like to hear the full Live, click this link, select my profile and click the little IGTV button. There you will see all my recent lives including “Ontario Covid Restrictions for Weddings in 2021”, “Quebec Covid Restrictions for Weddings in 2021”, “My Predictions for Covid and Weddings in 2021” and so much more….

I absolutely love micro weddings. It allows us vendors to really create something truly unique and detailed to our clients which is unreplicable. There is no other experience like small micro weddings and elopements. It allows you to really slow down, live in the moment and truly enjoy being a guest at your own wedding. My hope, even without a pandemic, small intimate weddings are here to stay. So without delay, here are my personal top 5 places to elope or host your micro / petit wedding in Ontario and Quebec.

OTTAWA ART GALLERY": ALT/AR Luxury Wedding Ceremonies

IMAGE: Lace & Luce

YOU DESERVE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL You've found the love of your life, you're read to say "I Do". But the world had other plans. ALT/AR - is a new collaboration between Ottawa's top luxury wedding vendors, offering everything you need for the unique, intimate, wedding ceremony of your dreams. A complete wedding ceremony package for you and up to 20 guests. A stunning, award-winning venue, design and styling by with editorial-worthy photos are just the beginning. The best part? All you need to do is show up and let their dedicated team take care of the rest.

THE ALT/AR ceremony package: INVESTMENT: $3600 + HST

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IMAGE: Joel & Justyna

FAIRMONT CHATEAU LAURIER

I’ve been planning weddings at the Chateau Laurier for over a decade and I am privileged to be one of their preferred wedding planners. During the pandemic I experienced the Chateau in a completely new light. With the halls empty and not a guest in sight, for an elopement- it felt as though our couple had the castle to themselves. We planned their elopement in Suite 458, which design wise has not been changed since the hotel was built. Dark wooden paneled walls, asian patterned wallpaper, deep burgundy curtains, antique furniture and a gorgeous fireplace gave way to a beautiful transformative Victorian Era experience for the bride and groom. The ceremony for two took place in the Suite’s living room with pictures in the seemingly abandoned ballroom and dinner back in their suites dining room. The Chateau also has The Karsh Suite which is more creamy colored and newly furnished, The Prime Minister’s Suite and also the Quebec Room which is perfect for a micro wedding. The presidential suites I have mentioned all have a living room and dining room which can seat up to 10-12ppl. Depending on restrictions you are able to order your dinner from Zoe’s and have the wait staff drop-of your f&b just outside your door. Currently they are not permitted to enter any guest rooms. Since I was already present, I set the dinner table for my couple. Another note to consider is that the hotel will always be open, so if we fall into a red or grey zone, though your service may be different- you likely will never need to cancel or postpone your elopement. If you are having a micro wedding with guests, additional restrictions would apply.

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FOREST & STREAM CLUB

For over 130 years, The Forest & Stream Club, one of Canada’s premier clubs invites both members and non-members to host their weddings on their beautiful property on Lake St. Louis in Dorval Quebec. The Club is a 20-minute drive from downtown Montreal. This Mansion was built in 1880 and offers the capability to have your wedding elfresco, tented or indoors with bridal suits for getting ready. I haven’t planned any events at this location, however it checks all the boxes for a private lakeside mansion elopement or petit wedding. All the english countryside charm is sure to transport you to feeling as though you’re in Europe.

IMAGE: cepstudio.com

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IMAGE: The Wander Resort Website

WANDER THE RESORT, PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY

Imagine it’s your wedding day, you’ve scheduled an early morning yoga session with your bridal party on the sandy beach. As the Club House prepares your breakfast charcuterie boards and mimosas you take your pup to their DOG PARK!!! Your private modern scandinavian cabin and beauty team awaits for you and your bridal party to get ready. Ceremony beach side, dinner alfresco, in your cabin or at the Club House, ending the night with a bonfire, live music and smores. Your weekend micro wedding retreat in Prince Edward County. This newly built resort is beautiful all season round. It’s the perfect setting for a modern alternative couple looking to escape the everyday.

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IMAGE: Julia Garciaprat

LE PONT COUVERT

I have fallen in love with this quaint boho wedding venue quite literally built atop a bridge. Nested in the heart of the Bucolic village of la Conception, Le Pont Couvert is located 10 minutes from the renowned Tremblant Resort. With a ceremony outside the venue or a quick flip inside, this venue would be perfect for a micro wedding under 30 ppl. Imagine all the possibilities. Hanging florals or twinkle lights… Le Pont Couvert also has a green policy in an effort conscious waste reduction, plastic straws, water bottles plastic , the confetti non-compostable , the floating & flying lanterns are prohibited. If you’re an eco-friendly bride, this might just be what you're looking for!

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IMAGE: The Wakefield Grand Website

THE WAKEFIELD GRAND

30 mins or so from the Ontario border, in Wakefield is a precious and unique boutique hotel owned by le Belvedere. It’s swiss and scandinavian aesthetic provides and intimate getaway in a charming village. It beautiful pergola lends itself for the perfect ceremony backdrop or outdoor dinner. Complete with a firepit and indoor dining space. The Grand is the perfect place for small weddings of 10 to 20 persons. This is the closest you’ll find to a close retreat like wedding within the Ottawa area.

Intimate Wedding Package Includes:

• Overnight Accommodation

• On-site Ceremony

• Complimentary Champagne Toast

• Post Ceremony Canapés

• 5-course Gourmet Plated Dinner

• Late night Fireside Snacks

• Complimentary espresso, coffee, tea and non-alcoholic drinks

• Price Includes 15% Service Charge

Price per person is $375 (+ tax)

IMAGE: Paul Sanderson Photography

OUR LATEST WEDDING DESIGNS

We’ve been so busy in the office as of late designing for 2020 and 2021 brides. To say this is my favourite part is an understatement. If you’ve been following our Instagram Stories lately you would have have see a few sneak peaks of what I’ve been working on. But I thought I would show you everything we’ve done since the Pandemic! The creativity doesn’t just stop.

ROMANTIC INDUSTRIAL TOSCANO

This gorgeous client is getting married at the Horticulture Building. All her original inspiration came from on of our past wedding featured on Style Me Pretty. See the full wedding here. Because our brides wedding is this fall we decided to add burgundy and deep crimson pops of red/black. Our floor plan also changed quote a bit with multiple floating greenery halo’s throughout the whole building. We also included the DJ within a large bar, giving it that luxury vibe.

ECO LUXURY CLEAR TENT WEDDING

This gorgeous client planning for this September in Quebec at a private club had two variations of her design. At first she was thinking of a more luxe look with pops of black but opted for a softer look bringing in french Parisien wood elements with two large lounge areas to keep the vibe luxe but casual and comfy. She also pitched the idea of a Versace printed dance floor in a nude color… so I’m excited to see how that turns out. I LOVE it when clients take the leap in incorporating things they’ve never actually seen before!

BOTANICAL GATSBY RHAPSODY

Yes you heard me right! Gatsby esq design. This client is getting married on Halloween this year! To say i’m excited about this design is and understatement. Our design here is for the Ottawa Art Gallery for 200 guests. Because they’re wedding falls on Halloween, they wanted to play up the black tie costume aspect giving their guests and opportunity to really “zhuzh it up” to the max gatsby style! Everything needed to be larger than life for this wedding. The bride asked for an organic and mid century modern variation of Gatsby…. a challenge?!?! Never! I pushed my creativity to the limits. Our floor plan includes a FULL . ROOM . FLIP . …… Did you read that?!?! Yup from 200ppl for a ceremony to 200ppl cocktail in the Alma Duncan Room. Imagine this, walking down the herringbone patterned aisle with 5ft tall oversized crystal chandeliers floating above encompassed by floral halo’s and a ceiling of twinkly lights….. at the alter a large floral arch awaits with the twinkling lights waterfalling from the ceiling to the floor….. and that’s all you get to know! The client and I cameup with some super cool never done before concepts which I can’t wait to show you on the day of! It will blow your mind!

70’S NEW AGE ITALIANO RETRO

I had a lot of fun with this design. The Bride wanted a few key elements including pampas grasses, burnt orange and a tuscany 1970’s vibe. At first it was hard to imagine the combination and we had to be careful how we added the burnt orange so that it didn’t look too pumpkin Halloween. It’s hard to get burnt orange in the flowers I would typically request for a design, so i decided to add in the terracotta to balance the color and also the 70’s vibe were looking to achieve - keeping in mind the pampas grasses. I always like to have hints of a theme instead of theming it out completely because then it looks overdone and super intentional. The verdict is still out on this design…she may not like the terracotta element or decided to axe the pampas grass. We shall see.

UPDATE:

Since this email has been drafted we’ve had a mood board revision. Sometimes when you see all the elements on your wish list come together- it wasn’t as you had imagined. This being said our bride opted for a more tan inspired look.

DESIGN PROCESS

For every client we do Full Planning with, design is always included. But we do have many clients from other cities and countries that we design for which may of may not have their own planner. In that case with our Design Only, we also include a Technical Doc which you can see a bit of bellow. The imagery and the process allows us to design full weddings and leave the coordination and planning to the client or their planner.

We currently have a client getting married in Picton and she has hired us exclusively for design and partial planning and will have their own Day of Coordinator whom is local which we will work with in conjunction. This works great for clients who want to support local but also want a gorgeously design wedding.

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So that is all of what we have completed in design during this Pandemic. I purposely took what might have felt like a bleak day, tuned on some tunes and designed my little heart away!

If this has inspired or excited you feel free to send us a note and maybe we could be designing for you next!

xoxo Elise

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MORE INFORMATION

BEHIND THE SCENES

EXPECTATIONS

MONTREAL WEDDING THEATRE ST.JAMES

How do you design for a client that requests an androgynous no colour wedding? It's a tricky question to say the least and it made me rethink my usual creative approach. Because our planning style is very concept driven, our first step with clients is a request to provide 25 inspirational images of how they envision their wedding day. This gives us a glimpse of what they naturally gravitate towards and provides a jumping off point for our design work to begin. Essentially we take these design details and build upon them taking it to the next level in ways they may have not considered before. 

So here is a snap shot of our brides images.

HER DESIGN SPECIFICS

Here's what I see at first impression.

1. Bold metallics
2. Absence of colour
3. Stripes
4. Tight-knit flowers
5. No greenery in florals
6. Dark linens
7. Traditional design aesthetic
8. Layered elements
9. Geometry & symetry
10. All around visually heavy design

A challenge right!? How do we take this inspiration and transform it into a more luxurious and effortless look? It's actually an easy answer. Get to know your client. During our conversations together it was apparent that decor was obviously very important to the her. 

“Everything needs to be over the top. Just a little extra you know?”

— bride

Theatre St James photo via website

Number one on my list- we had to add colour and loosen up those tight-knit florals while keeping everything androgynous. So I thought to myself, what colour does she gravitate towards in her wardrobe subconsciously? Nude. Next hurtle, how do we move away from black? Answer- Midnight Aubergine. 

And so her perfect pallet emerged. Now- the challenge of making this unique palette pop with something of editorial quality.

I take great care in designing all our weddings in a style and form which could be publishable. This requires adding elements which aren't normally seen everyday. Needless to say, I try to set the bar high. For this wedding- gold dipped greenery and metallic misted ferns throughout her florals was that added element. 

To keep this wedding luxurious, we decided to put our whole floral budget into a floral canopy which will host not only the nuptials but then transforming to frame the head table during the reception. And here's the kicker- I look at it this way. What do the photographers photograph the most during the wedding? The bride & groom. And where will the b&g be for %80 of the time? - under this insanely gorgeous canopy. So in the end all their images will look ultra luxurious full of gorgeous blooms, candlelight and crystal. I know what your thinking? But what about everyone else. Well, they get nothing- jusssssstttt joking! Long estate tables with different heights of candelabras and hundreds of candles. Not one single bloom. And it's perfect. 

I think its needless to say that we'll be doing a before and after blog post on how we transformed the space with tons of detail pictures. So stay tuned ;) August is right around the corner!

        xox

Minimalist Montreal Loft Wedding

Pre-pandemic a classic weddings began at around 120 guests upwards. But when the pandemic occurred we had no choice but to look into the future and re-image what a small intimate wedding would look and feel like. It was a lot of change in a small period of time, and at some points it challenged our industry to the breaking point.

It’s been three years now and we’re through the thick of it. The pandemic gave us small and intimate lavish affairs that burst with embellished details and weddings tailored to each couples own identity which made each wedding unique in its own right. Brides and Grooms invested in higher quality vendors and because of their smaller guest list embellished in gorgeous floralscapes, transformative event furniture and event strayed from the usual wedding format embracing rooftop cocktail parties, alfresco dining and estate events.

It doesn’t quite register with me that it’s now been 3 years since the pandemic. Enough of a time gap that it’s seriously changed the way brides and grooms plan and envision their weddings. I am sensing a new shift, but how it will materialize is still a mystery to me. Will it change our landscape forever? Or is this another transition into our new normal. All I know is that it’s 2023 and we’re here for the small intimate weddings and I want to see more creative weddings. And with that being said Im taking a look back at one of my favourite micro weddings from 7 years ago. It’s timeless and the location is still one of Montreal’s best kept secrets for small intimate loft-like weddings in the heart of Montreal. And I'm particularly proud to share it’s feature on Ruffled. 

Styling and Coordination: TOAST Events
Photography: Laura Kelly Photography 
Hair: Topknot 
Makeup: Klava Zykova 
Dress: The Handmade Bride 
Hairpiece: White Ribbon Accents
Earrings: Sarah Walsh Bridal Jewelry
Florals: Floralia 
Menswear: L'HEXAGONE
Rings: Stór by Margot 
Invitation Suite and Live Painting: LaFabère
Decor: Makin'It Lovely
Cake & Sweets: OSSO Sweet 
Videography: Up North Wedding Films
Models: Savanah and Kyle from Angie's Models