what a door

On our way to drop off a Christmas present to our dear friend Pauline, Shayna Bloomer and I, as always, couldn't help but stop and marvel at her door. Oh what a fantastical door she has at her house - it's like the most solid, antique-looking door - the stuff we read about in fairy tales! It's like an enchanted forest Hansel and Gretel door...although with lots of love behind it...no scary ovens to bake kids in!

my vintage find!

A friend and I were shopping in Kensington Market last week looking at old crinoline skirts that might come in handy for the Practice Wedding. Little did I know, instead of crinoline, I was going to actually find my Practice Wedding Dress!! Hanging innocently in the window of a second-hand shop, my astute eye {the same snazzy one that also fell in love with Kate Hudson's wedding dress from You, Me and Dupree} noticed it from down the street. With single-minded focus I made a bee-line for the store just knowing this dress was mine. Its like it was just waiting for me to come along....a little Chrismukkah miracle!

No fuss or alterations....this is about ten minutes after I brought it home! I'm in love...

one of my favourite wintery projects...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmukkah! We definitely did, and our menorah stood proudly beside our gingerbread house {pics to come soon}. With even more celebrations next week, I just wanted to share one of my favourite winter decor projects - making lanterns {or wine chillers} out of ice!

It is quite simple: all you need are two plastic containers of different sizes. Place the smaller container into the larger container, and fill the space in between them with water. You may have to weigh the smaller container down with a few rocks so that it doesn't float. Stick it in your freezer {or outside if you live in a chilly winter climate like ours} and let it freeze. Once frozen, remove the ice from the containers - you may have to run the containers under warm water to loosen it up. Just add a votive candle and voila - an ice lantern! And how beautiful it is to add branches or berries into the water before it freezes, a la Kathryn Kleinman's creation above. Note that there are also some lantern molds available, like this star-shaped one from Lee Valley Tools.

I went to a New Year's Eve party one year where the entire walkway leading up to the house was lined with ice lanterns and it was stunning. An easy and cool way to decorate for a party!

christmas-y centerpieces

Over the past few weeks, I've been commissioned to do some Christmas centerpieces. Looking online for inspiration, I can hardly find anything without pine branches, tea lights and poinsettias in it. I just really REALLY wanted to do something different - a modern, stylish take on Christmas, if that's possible? So, daring to break out of the little box of pine needles and poinsettias, here's what I came up with. What do you think? I sure do love parrot tulips and red berries. I have to admit, I was feelin' the woes of Larry David while making these arrangements. Apparently, every time he embarked on writing an episode of Seinfeld, he would almost bawl his eyes out because he didn't know what to write about (hence the fact the show is about nothing). With the lack of modern Christmas flower inspiration, it took me some serious, and yes at times stressful, brainstorm and sketching sessions to come up with something I was happy with. I'm pleased with how they turned out. I'm sure Larry is also pleased with how Seinfeld turned out too!

on one side, parrot tulips, pin cushion and green orchid

and the other side...

i love the bare bones look of the red winter berry branches...

another arrangement for a dear family friend...

modern menorahs

{featured on Domino Magazine}

{featured on Domino Mag}

{on This Next.com}

{on This Next.com}

{Featured on Domino Mag}

{on This Next.com}

It seems to me that the topic of menorahs keep coming up lately in conversation! First with my friend Carly over lunch (she loves old ornate menorahs), and then with Shayna Bloomer the other day (she likes modern menorahs). Finding a nice menorah is NOT an easy feat, we've decided. Especially one to match your home! I personally like any menorah that is different and makes a statement either way, whether old and ornate and modern and sleek. Look at some of the different menorahs we've found! Happy Chanukah!!

happy chrismukkah to all!

For our blended family, ever since I can remember, we've had a combination-celebration that usually included Christmas dinner served with latkes and even a lit menorah as centrepiece if Hanukkah coincided that particular year. And somehow, way back then, I remember my mom miraculously finding holiday greeting cards with a picture of a menorah with christmas lights wrapped around it and these were our standards for years! My father always got his presents in a Hanukkah stocking completely covered with Stars of David and our Hannukah 'gelt' was hidden in the Christmas tree for us to find. It was always fun and quirky and we knew we were a bit odd but that made us all the prouder of our unique situation. A little difficult to explain sometimes, but we didn't care! I've excitedly noticed that blended families have started to become the norm and especially thanks to 'The OC' and their famous Chrismukkah episode, new traditions are on the rise. These days it seems like anything goes and as a lover of creative, odd, and innovative ideas, I was excited about what other families like ours were doing for this holiday season. I started to do some research and hands-down my favorite find was a whole website dedicated to Chrismukkah: The Merry Mish-Mash Holiday! There is so much on the site to giggle over but these are my personal faves:

Matzo House!

The latkes surrounding the Santa bowl is so awesome!

Funny "kosher fruitcake" artistically placed next to a menorah and Santa...fantastic!

And my favortist of favorites.....

Matzo Snow Man!

So in the words of the Chrismukkah gurus.....OY JOY!

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mac attack

These pretty French macarons have been popular at weddings as of late, as favours, snacks, or even in lieu of wedding cake! And how could they not be...they are so beautiful and delicate, and my guess - delicious! Which is why I was thrilled to hear of Bobbette & Belle - a bakery that recently opened in Toronto that will be offering these heavenly cookies exclusively. I think this calls for a taste test...

real wedding: julia + iain

Oh, what a beautiful wedding was Julia + Iain's. Using the colour palette of marigold and pewter, Julia and Iain asked inBloom to combine modern, vintage and Scottish elements for their autumn wedding at McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg. Not only was it a gorgeous wedding, but take a look at the couple themselves! Is Julia not the most beautiful bride you've ever seen? I think someone could have a back-up career as a bridal magazine model if you ask my opinion. Take a look at some of the details of Iain + Julia's wedding below {photos by Jocelyn Fisher Photography}. There are more pics on our gallery on our new website at www.inbloomeventdesign.com.

holy, gorgeous bride!

a scottish piper leads the bride at the ceremony

various sized glass mason jars with tea light candles inside line the log behind julia + iain as they say i do i do i do!

vintage pop shoppe with curly "tie the knot" straws were served to guests

julia wrote each guest's name on river stones, to be used as placecards

orange mokara orchids + dahlias in glass mason jars line the tables

iain's bouttoneire was a scottish thistle with yellow berries {made by Rosebuds + Blossoms}

the happy couple

tutu cute

I thought that Allie's tutu on her final solo of So You Think You Can Dance Canada was super cute! I wish I had a red sticky-outy tutu. I like how she paired it with that colourful scarf and her normal clothes.







I also liked her blue tutu in this youtube video too - I bet she's exactly the Tiny Dancer that Elton envisioned! Sigh, I love that song.

vintage inspirations

I forgot to post these images I found on Black*Eiffel a while back. The photographer Josh Goleman seems to have captured the same feeling I would like to convey in our Practice Wedding. I was so happy I stumbled across them again!

Also on Black*Eiffel I found this awesome pic! Vintage dress lanterns!! Now why didn't I think of that?!

fuschia and taupe

I have been in a couple of situations now as a wedding designer where a bride really wants a pink "girly girl" wedding, but her fiance isn't down with doing the whole feminine pink thing. Fair enough! You can't force a body to like a colour! Enter Fuschia and Taupe - the next fabulous colour palette from Martha Stewart Weddings (of course!) which I think could appease both parties, without making a sacrifice. I love this colour combo - it's absolutely fresh, modern and beautiful. I love the way the modern beige looks so crisp next to the vibrant fuschia.

funny thing happened on queen street...

I went for a jaunt on Queen Street yesterday to do a bit of holiday shopping when I noticed a bit of a crowd outside Much Music. Then I heard a VJ shout out "So maybe before you leave you can step out and say hi to all your fans..." and I thought...hmmm...I wonder who it could be? I stopped and waited thinking it was going to be some rapper I didn't know and low and behold, out stepped Tom Cruise!

I tried to grab some shots on my iPhone but unfortunately this is all I could get without a zoom. If you can't tell from the terrible picture, he is talking on a fan's cell! What a fun little moment!

imagine lighting obama?

One of our tasks in designing the stage for The Crystal Awards was to make it look good both in person AND on camera, and of course to honourably frame the presence of Catherine O'Hara (if anyone needs a flashback to my favourite Catherine O'Hara scene in Beetlejuice, Click here !). But afterwards, I couldn't help but wonder to myself...what would one do to light and design the stage for one of the world's most historical events...like, Barack Obama on his historical election night?

It seems that such a history-making event was truly an undertaking for some of the best lighting designers in the world! The monochromatic, muted blue stage was designed by Bruce Rodgers, and the lighting was designed by Bob Peterson. Apparently, Obama's team instructed that "the lighting was to be appropriately conservative with no celebratory effects. The brief was to elegantly transfer from the exuberance of the campaign to the seriousness of the presidency."

The challenges: apparently there was an important camera view to consider when lighting and designing (the "cut shot", which extended from the southwest corner of the park through the President-Elect into the crowd, and all the way to the city skyline in the background. See pic below...

In addition, they were worried that lights from the press cameras would be an "uncontrollable competitive light source", detracting from Obama's face as he made his speech.



In the end, they used the powerful lights extending from the audience to the treelines, hundreds of soft flood likes called Chimera's and Kinos and the world's biggest softlight, to compensate for all the media flash bulbs. The results? I think they did a great job of keeping it "un-glamorized," but still making Obama look incredibly humbled and important.

I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but there were two massive bulletproof pieces of glass framing Obama - kudos to them for keeping them inconspicuous on the stage!! I thought this was a neat shot of the backstage staff cleaning the bulletproof panels!



Photos and information from Time.com and the Lighting China blog.