Pink Argyle meets EAD

It was recently announced that one of my favourite bloggers, Mo from Pink Argyle is the newest blogger to the Elizabeth Anne Designs team. If you aren't familiar with EAD or Pink Argyle, well now you can kill two birds with one stone! Mo will be chronicling her adventures in planning a San Diego vineyard wedding over at EAD. Check out Mo's first EAD post here. Congratulations Mo!

Random Tidbits from the Interwebs

Need a new messenger bag?

K @Blog Goggles is hosting her first giveaway!

Need a new bikini?

Need a new dress?

Need a free wedding map? www.weddingmapper.com

Toronto Pride

Toronto's 29th Pride Week ended in another awesome finale parade yesterday despite the rain. Us Canadians are lucky to live in a country which recognizes gay and lesbian marriages; but we continue to support those who continue fighting for the right. I want to congratulate The Alternative Bride, Dawn, and her wife on getting hitched this past weekend! (btw - Dawn wore such a cute and sassy white dress. Go to her blog and check it out!)

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Adrien Veczan via The Toronto Star

Happy Monday!

Hope you had a fantastic weekend.

This BBC News article made me laugh (and then feel old).

A What-Man? Giving up my iPod for a Walkman.

Frugal Fridays.....a day late.

Urban Outfitters

An Ordinary Day...

ends in infamy.

A Charlie's Angel, the King of Pop....busy day at the Pearly gates.

Crazy.

Chrissy and Andre's Old Hollywood Wedding: Part III

Now that you've seen photos (Part I and Part II) from Chrissy and Andre's big day, let's see which aspects of their wedding was "Do-It-Yourself ."

First up, the most challenging DIY project (but still a favourite) according to Chrissy, the wedding invitations. Here's what Chrissy had to say about her fabulous invites:

We were inspired by Art Deco invitations found online. Everything was printed on card stock that was purchased at Kinkos. We ordered the vertigo black tie pocket folds and envelopes from Cards & Pockets. We had our invites printed at Northern Artists (at St.Clair & Yonge). We decided to include a movie ticket to keep in line with our 'film premiere' theme which contained info that we didn't want on the actual invite. For the front of the invite, I ordered the feathers from Ostrich.com and used a glue gun to apply it to the ribbon (the ribbon was also glued together on the back - it just slides right off the invitation) and then added a crystal in the centre.

Chrissy also DIY'ed the flower girl's pomander.

Chrissy and Andrew decorated the ceremony room themselves including the 'altar.' The large patio mosquito net was purchased from IKEA for CDN $20!

The aisle runner was purchased from Michaels, and was scattered with flower petals from efavormart.com. Chrissy and Andre also place lace lanterns from IKEA along the aisle.

Chrissy and Andre designed, printed and assembled their 'film premiere' programs. The front of the program had their movie poster (which was also DIYed). I loved how they included a word search in their program.

For the gift box, Chrissy purchased boxes from Solutions, cut some holes in it, and added ribbon, jewels, and feathers. Apparently, it took about an hour or so to make!

Andre DIY'ed the cigarette box.

The menu cards, which complemented their invitations, were created and printed by the couple.

While the clapboard escort boards were purchased, Chrissy painstakingly wrote each guest's name and table number on them.

Chrissy and Andre also DIY'ed the table cards.

Chrissy used left over lace from her dress sleeves to creative three lace wrapped vases.

The instant digital photo booth was all DIY with the help of their photographer. Chrissy and Andre were lucky to use one of the venue's walls as a backdrop. Total cost including the equipment, the props and printed photos for their guests? CDN $125!

Each DIY favor bag contained a program, a 'soundtrack' CD and a clapboard key chain. The couple designed, printed and assembled all of it!

Last but not least, I wanted to show you Chrissy and Andre's retro-housewife shower invite, which was also DIY by them!

A big thank you to Chrissy for letting me feature her wedding. To read more about Chrissy and Andre's wedding, check out Chrissy's blog, and for more photos, check out the couple's Flickr stream. The talented Chrissy recently decided to go back to school to become a wedding/event planner, so all you Toronto area brides and grooms, host and hostesses out there - take note! Best of luck to you Chrissy!

Chrissy and Andre's Vendors (in no particular order):

Venue and Catering - The Eglinton Grand
Decorators for the reception (table linens, chair covers, crystal votives, rose centrepieces, and lampshade centrepieces) - FOS Decor Center
Bride's bouquet & tossing bouquet, all bouts & corsages, 2 calla lily with feather arrangements (at altar), hydrangea & feather arrangement (signing table) - Pape Flower Market
Photographer & Videographer - Karl Andreson & his team (647 309 3686)
Paparazzi & cigarette girl - independent
Swing Dancers - refrred by Bees Knees Dance
Printing - Northeren Artists
Clapboard place cards - shindigz.com
Clapboard keychains - windycitynovelties.com
Bridesmaids lace fans - Asian Ideas
Tux rentals - Moores Formals
Groom's and Groomsmen's accessories - Malabars Costumes
Bridesmaids' dresses - daddyos.com & stopstaring.com
Bride's dress - bestbridalprices.com
Bride's fascinator & veil - Sussmans bridal on Queen St. West
Girls' facsinators - custom made from torturecouture.com
Hair - Hair by Miranda
Makeup - Sarah An

Toronto the Smelly v.s Toronto the Dry

Toronto the Smelly
Toronto City workers are currently on strike and among the many city services affected is garbage pickup. The mercury is going to hit 30C (86F) today, the ideal temperature for breeding rotting, smelly garbage. People have taken to illegally dumping garbage in our city parks, streets, lane ways etc. Not very neighbourly, T.dot.

Photo by Mark Blinch, Reuters via The National Post

I'm lucky enough to live in a condo so I know that I can't completely empathize with house dwellers (especially house dwellers with no garage or shed). However, there are a few things one can do before resorting to illegally dumping or crossing picket lines to designated dump sites:

* Freeze food waste (when the strike ends, you can just dump the frozen blocks)
* Use a composter
* Take a break from your gardening duties
* Practice your sorting skills - store recyclables at home as long as possible, separate from organic waste
* Minimize leftovers (i.e. eat everything off your plate!)
* Eat less meat (Not sure I can do this....I'll make sure I only buy/make what I can eat)

Toronto the Dry
For those of you non-Canucks, the sale of alcohol in Canada is heavily controlled by the government. Each province has its own liquor board and it is usually the first importer of alcohol into the province. There are very few private alcohol retailers. In my province, Ontario, we mostly rely on the good ol' LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) for our non-beer libations....i.e. they're my wine supplier. Anyways, long story short, LCBO employees are essentially government workers and thus unionized. They too had threaten to go on strike over their collective agreement. The news of LCBO workers poised to strike last night at midnight sent thousands on Monday and Tuesday to their local LCBO stores to stock up. I was one of them! I actually bought out the store's supply (well, what was on the shelves) of our favourite Chilean wine. The lines went to the back of the stores and people were leaving the store with dollies, carts, boxes. It was INSANE. Apparently, the LCBO made $17M in sales on Monday, compared to $7M on a normal June day. Crazy! The kicker, the strike is on hold due to the union and the LCBO making progress on negotiations. Hmmm...was it all a ploy? Regardless, I'm glad Toronto isn't going dry....at least for now.

Images via blogTO

Toronto the Smelly 1, Toronto the Dry 0

Chrissy and Andre's Old Hollywood Wedding: Part II

Hope you enjoyed the photo candy from Part I of Chrissy and Andre's wedding yesterday. Now for Part Deux!

Let's start with some photos from Chrissy and Andre's ceremony:

How smashing does Chrissy's BM look? The lace fan really makes the outfit.

The adorable flower girl, and ring bearer being escorted by another BM down the aisle, which is scattered with flower petals and lit with candles.

Chrissy with her father.

I love how soft the lighting is.

Signing the marriage license.

The first married kiss at the 'altar.'

After the ceremony, the newlyweds and their guests attend the 1940's film premiere-style reception at The Eglinton Grand.

Chrissy and Andre creatively arranged for 'paparazzi' to wait for them and their guests on the 'red carpet' at the venue. The 'papies' played the part by wearing trench coats, fedoras, and 'press passes.' Chrissy and Andre borrowed vintage cameras which the paparazzi used to 'take pictures' of the guests as they arrived. Guests were also 'interviewed' with the use of a 1940's mic. Talk about being detail-oriented!

During the cocktail hour, the cigarette girl handed out candy cigarettes & cigars.

The guest tables were named after actors from the 30's 40's & 50's.......
and decorated with lamp shade centrepieces filled with orchids, surrounded by crystal votive candle holders.

Mini clapboard escort cards led guests to the damask lined tables. Each place setting had an art deco menu card.

The wedding cake made by Chrissy's sister!

The head table.

Let the party begin!

Chrissy and Andre hired professional swing dancers to liven up the party!

Instead of renting a photo booth, Chrissy had her photographer set up an instant digital photo booth. Guests had their photos taken before dinner. Props such as hats, boas, cigarette holders, cigars, jewelry were given to the guests to wear/use in the photos. During dinner, the photos were printed. At the end of the night, guests could pick up their printed photos favours on their way out.

The happy groom and bride at the end of the night. (Well not quite, Chrissy and Andre also hosted an after party as well!)

Coming up tomorrow, Chrissy and Andre's DIY projects! I've purposely not mention which items Chrissy and Andre did themselves to see if you tell which items were DIY. Think you know which ones? Find out tomorrow! I'll also have a list of vendors Chrissy and Andre worked with.