Tpday, my husband and are celebrating our first wedding anniversary! Yes, we still love each other just as much after buying our house and spending our first year together as a family of six (we got married before living together, just like in the old days!). For the occasion, I want to share something I've wanted to do for a long time: the list of vendors who helped make our wedding so perfectly us—joyful, familial, festive, wonderful, and filled with music!
Planning: We did everything like adults... EXCEPT for the part where I panicked and called my wonderful friends at Crème Soda to solicit their invaluable advice. I know they no longer offer consultation services and they gave me a special deal (wink wink), but I can't ignore my love for their planning and design work. They helped me make decisions about the evening's rhythm, essential furniture, and the layout of our two rooms.
Venue: We got married at Espace du Carmel, located in the picturesque village of Danville in the Eastern Townships. Our criteria: we wanted to accommodate around sixty people from Friday to Sunday plus an additional fifty on the wedding day, have cozy and comfortable rooms, be able to use the space as we pleased, bring our own food and alcohol, choose our caterer, let the children play without fear of breaking crystal lamps, and have outdoor space to enjoy the winter weather. Located between Quebec City and Montreal, Espace du Carmel turned out to be the perfect place for us. With its fully equipped industrial kitchen, our catering teams were thrilled. The owners managed to preserve the charm and minimalist character of the former Carmelite convent while providing all the comforts expected of a modern inn. We received the warmest welcome from the person in charge, and our guests unanimously agreed: we chose an exceptional place to get married! We even promise to return to organize another event bringing together family and friends.
Catering: We were fortunate to have two teams to feed us over the weekend (not to mention the pizza from the village pizzeria that we enjoyed on Friday when we arrived): Pastissimo for the wedding reception and my parents for the Saturday and Sunday brunches. Let's start with my parents. They are two exceptional cooks who love to innovate in their kitchen. With them, we rarely eat the same thing twice! So when they offered to take care of the brunches, it was hard to refuse! Several people joined them to lend a hand, and it was a success!
For the reception, we wanted a cocktail-style dinner rather than a sit-down meal. We chose Pastissimo Catering, which offers casual street food cuisine of high quality. Once again, our guests were unanimous about the quality (and quantity!) of the food and the great service provided by Étienne and his team. Étienne was truly a highlight for us in organizing our wedding. He gave us good advice and even took care of subcontracting our dessert table (not making it himself) and bringing everything to the inn. Speaking of desserts, we opted for a varied table with baklava from Tannous, doughnuts from La Folle Tablée, and an incredibly delicious cake and madeleines from Babeurre et Délicatesse. We had planned grilled cheese as a late-night snack, but the dessert table ended up fulfilling that role because it was so abundant.
Flowers: For my winter wedding, I absolutely wanted it adorned with dried flowers. And I absolutely wanted it adorned with dried flowers from Fleurs la Garance floral farm. I met Geneviève, the owner, a few years ago at my neighborhood market and I had a huge crush on her, the entrepreneur, and of course, her flowers! Located in Neuville, Fleurs la Garance produces a wide variety of local flowers, and Geneviève, in addition to growing them with care, creates sublime works with her flowers. Combs, corsages, boutonnieres, arch decorations, table bouquets, and of course, my bouquet, which now sits in my living room, were all delicately colored and reflected the renewal that we start to feel in March after a long winter.
Makeup and hair for my daughters, my mother, and myself: The lovely Marjorie from Laurel Maquillage took care of our beauty preparations. I had already hired her for a photoshoot with our musicians and I had liked her a lot. When I work with someone, I trust them. So bye bye to the hair test, we'll chat on the big day! Marjorie is surprisingly calm even in the rush. Her kindness won us all over, and I can say she clearly played the role of my new best friend when stress hit me before the ceremony! I was really happy to spend the preparation time with Marjorie.
Music: For the ceremony, do I need to say that my wonderful colleagues from CdlC were tasked with moving us emotionally? My father and our musician children also contributed to making the moment unforgettable.
As we chose to spend some time outdoors for the cocktail hour, and since it's still too cold in March to have live music outside, our friend Jean-Marc, also known as Mr. Something, a specialist in musical ambiance, took charge of creating a customized playlist for us. In fact, we entrusted him with the task of curating the musical ambiance for our entire weekend, and it was PERFECT! And because we love him so much, we also entrusted him with officiating our wedding ceremony, and it was equally perfect!
Finally, we chose a HOT band to get the crowd dancing, a band made up of friends, but a band you can also choose for your perfect party, and I named them the Orchestra. They groove like nobody's business, Olyvia sings like a goddess, and the musicians are exceptional backing vocalists. I guarantee you that the dance floor was on fire for hours!
Our attire: we were concerned about not consuming too much for our wedding. So I thrifted my dress on Marketplace. I completed the look with a lovely merino jacket offered by Maison Robélie and made by the Perluette workshop in Montreal. I also found my sandals second-hand at Maison Robélie.
For the children, we also bought second-hand.
As for my husband, he completed an outfit he already had on the good advice of Peter from Sur Mesure.
