This past summer we were privileged to have meticulously planned and designed Dana’s exclusive wedding in Montreal’s Old Port at the Theatre St.James’ Imperial Ballroom. The venue was like none I had ever seen before, formally being the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce built in 1907. The St James Theatre has been transformed into one of Montreal’s most prestigious event venues, complete with 70ft walls, marble floors and suspended stained-glass ceiling. My favourite feature includes the former bank vault where we hosted our champagne bar.
Owners Ezio Carosielle & Luisa Sassano have protected this heritage gem, restoring and impeccably maintaining it over the years. Among the St James, Ezio and Luisa also have Theatre Rialto and are currently renovating a gorgeous church- newly minted as the Theatre Cartier due to open sometime in the near future.
My first site visit was in winter of 2017, this gorgeous brunette arrived draped in a beautiful vintage fur coat. #Queen. We toured the property, looked at all possible event spaces, staging areas and chatted logistics on lighting such a large space and designing a proportionate floor plan. During our conversations she point to the balcony on the second floor overlooking the main reception space and said- “And that’s where we are going to do our thank you speech and bouquet toss.” #died #queenx2 #areyoumystwin? Suffice to say this venue was a blank canvas with endless possibilities. In the end we deiced to fill the entire space with only candles. In person it was a scene out of a 1940’s Vogue Magazine and was beautifully captured by Joel & Justyna Photography . To be honest I’m not sure any guests realized there wasn’t a flower in sight as our main objective was to highlight the architecture of the building through the twinkle of the light reflecting through our 100 crystal candelabras.
Logistically the design was challenging in terms of- we flipped the main event space in 45mins. It’s these types of weddings I live for…. and also almost die for lol…. since I typically have multiple mini heart attacks while planning a seamless transition. Only the best vendors can accomplish the tasks I set forth before them and Wedecor came through without skipping a beat. This all goes to show- we can plan, design, decorate etc literally anywhere, no matter the logistics or complexities. So if you’re planning a wedding in another city-if you have the right planning, design and installation team of vendors, anything is possible.
Dana’s wedding day was absolutely perfect. We arrived onsite at 10am to begin set-up for a 4pm ceremony. Our core planning team of 3 were on our toes until 1am while working with over 15 vendors with a total over 120 staff to manage throughout the day. I’d like to personally thank Wedecor, Brera Catering from Montreal, the wonderful tech & event specialist team at Theatre St.James, Joel & Justyna Photography, Reno Video, Makeup Artist Jaquie Pogue, Hair Stylist Tara Kieran and Primetime Entertainment for their commitment in making Dana’s dream come true. Your dedication for perfection does not go unnoticed and I am forever grateful for having worked with such a great team of vendors.
So without further ado, enjoy the collection of images bellow.
xo
Elise
