Wednesday, October 13, 2010

FRD - All that Sparkles - Lisa and Cam

Welcome to Urban Vows' very first "Friday Real Deal" post! I figured, since I only actually conduct under 10 weddings per year for now (you know, since I work full time in oil and gas, work part time doing events at an art gallery, I am trying to finish up my event management certificate, have a child, boyfriend, friends etc. to attend to) I wanted to cover other weddings that are going on in and around the Calgary area. This is a great way to see what other couples are doing, especially for venue and vendor choice.

When I first chatted with Lisa about featuring her and Cam's wedding she was so willing and excited, and I can see why! A beautiful ceremony at St. Mary's Cathedral and a stunning and glamorous wedding hosted at the Calgary Zoo and photographed by the ever so talented Edward Ross (edwardrossphotography.com), no wonder she was ready to share!

Lisa had a few testing moments prior to the wedding, including a horror story with her dress - trust me brides, you may take back anything you have stressed about thus far in your planning after reading this!

Congratulations Lisa and Cam, all the best to you in your new life together!


Lisa and Cam’s Wedding
August 21, 2010

The overall theme/colour/feel for the wedding:
The colours were ivory and black with some bright pink and deep greens. Silver was also incorporated into the colour scheme. I wanted simple and elegant with some sparkle.

My dress was relatively simple with a sparkly brooch on the hip and one on the small of my back. Lea, the florist, added big chunky crystals to my bouquet to match the crystals on my shoes and Stacey, the designer, added sparkle to my birdcage veil to match the dress brooches and crystals to my garter to match the shoes. The groom wore a black suit, with an ivory vest and an ivory tie. He had a single ivory rose pinned to his jacket.

The bridesmaids wore fushia coloured dresses with silver shoes and ivory bouquets. The groomsman wore black suits, black vests and silver ties. They had three ivory spray roses on their jackets.

The linens were ivory and the chair covers were black with ivory sashes. The centre pieces were high cylindrical vases with ivory and green hydrangeas, green leaves and fuchsia roses at the bases with fern-like leaves, ivory roses and fuchsia flowers on stems jutting out of the top.

How we met:
Lisa and Cam met at Queen’s University in their second year of Chemical Engineering. Cam first saw Lisa in a chemical engineering lecture when he sat behind Lisa and her friends. Cam was instantly attracted to Lisa and, with the help of a friend, they met...first through msn...and then in class...
Lisa and Cam have been inseparable from that point on.

Proposal:
From Cam’s POV – It was a Saturday night and Lisa was out running some errands when I decided that it was the right night to propose. I started setting up the house; first I made a trail of rose pedals and candles from the front door to the top of the stairs where I placed one rose with a card which read “Past.” The card described how we had first met while at Queen’s University and some of the incredible memories I had from those first few months.

I continued the trail of rose pedals and candles to another rose and card which read “Present.” This card described how we moved from University to ‘Grown up’ life and all the amazing experiences and memories we had including the addition of our dog Tucker.

The trail of rose pedals and candles continued to outside our bedroom door where I placed the last rose and card which read “Future.” The card read, “I have no idea what the future holds but all I know is that I want you in it with me!” Inside the bedroom I made a giant heart shape with the remaining rose pedals.

I put on a suit making sure I had the ring and tried to get the dog into the bedroom with me to wait for Lisa. Unfortunately, this was the time I discovered Tucker was scared of candles and so I had to coax him into the room with a handful of cookies. He was more nervous in the room with the candles lit and nowhere to escape so he did what he always does when he gets nervous – drops himself to the ground with his bum in the air and rolls around. I heard the garage door open and desperately tried to re-create the heart shape while keeping the dog calm and by my side. I could hear Lisa getting close and when she finally opened the door Tucker and I were looking at her with the ring box between his paws.

Wedding Drama:
Stacey Roberts, designer and owner of Rose's Custom Sewing and Alterations in Ontario had sewn my dress to perfection back in May. I was told to get the dress steamed once back in Calgary to remove any wrinkles from the train of the dress that may have formed on the plane ride to Calgary. I took the dress to the Bridal Centre in Calgary and when I went to pick it up on the Thursday night before my wedding it was ruined!

The delicate, rounded shaped rouching in the bodice had been flattened by ironing it on a board - creating knife pleats and lines where there should not be lines. The stitches under the pleats holding up the rouching were now in plain site because they had been flattened and pulled out of the way so it looked like I had a row of buttons down the front of my dress. The rouching on the back of my dress was also flattened to knife pleats and seams were showing and some were seams were even ripped out. The most frustrating part was that the train was more wrinkled then when I brought the dress in (and removing the wrinkles from the train was the reason I brought it in).

I cried all night long and told everyone to start cancelling the wedding because my dress was not wearable. At 6:00am Friday morning, I called Stacey, (the perfectionist designer/sewer) told her what happened and begged to fly her from Ottawa to Calgary. She agreed to come and try to salvage the dress. Of course all the early and direct flights were booked so she did not get here until 9:00pm Friday night before the wedding. She took the whole dress apart, wet it down to remove the knife pleats, re-shaped the rouching and sewed it back together. It was not ready until 8am the morning of my wedding…….and I had not slept since Wednesday night. At least I had a dress!

Stacey stayed with me the entire day to ensure my dress was perfect all day long. It was amazing to have my own stylist at the photo shoot!

Lisa’s favorite part:
Since the wedding almost did not happen due to my dress being ruined, every part of the day was my favourite and I cherished every minute. I had the perfect dress, shoes, veil, garter, designer, florist/decorator, photographer and even perfect weather! Most of all I had the perfect groom to share the day with.

Cam’s favorite part:
Seeing Lisa enter the Church looking so beautiful and happy; it brought tears to my eyes instantly.

Ceremony Location: St. Mary's Cathedral
Reception Location: Tent at the Calgary Zoo

Dress: Rose's Custom Sewing & Alterations
http://www.rosescustomsewing.ca/

Custom veil and garter: Stiltskin's Spindle - Dresses Outside the Book
www.stiltskins.ca/

Shoes: Stuart Weitzman (Diamond Collection)

Rings: Tacori

Flowers/Decorations: Designing on the Edge
www.designingontheedge.com/

Photography: Edward Ross Photography
edwardrossphotography.com

1 comment:

  1. What a beautiful wedding! The first thing I noticed was her dress, by far my favourite thing. I'm glad it came to be!

    ReplyDelete