Be prepared to feast your eyes!

As you may remember from my first blog post about my wedding - Mike and I wanted to create a reception where it felt like a dreamy destination. Read below on what inspired us as whole helped create the wedding reception of our dreams!

THE VIDEOGRAPHER

Happy with our photographer, we wanted to find a videographer who could give us a cinematic feel for our special day. Most Vancouver videographers were already booked for the date so we decided to expand our search. Mango Studios actually had a few suggestions and we stumbled upon Paul Voden Films through their referrals. It was this one wedding video he had that sold us - not to mention what an amazing storyteller he is! Paul & his second Moe were a delight to work with - and we had the best time having them over in Vancouver from Toronto!

Paul’s Instagram Here.

THE DECOR

As I had previously mentioned - we wanted to transform JW Marriott’s Kitsilano ballroom into a destination. See a few of my wedding inspo pictures below:

Photo credits: Pinterest

Kira looked over my Pinterest boards & wish list - she finally concluded that Evan & his team at Koncept Events would be our best fit to fulfill our magical day! Not only did him & his team execute - he also understood me in a creative level! It was so fun working with him & his upbeat, bubbly personality! We had his floral company, Flowerz Inc work on our flower arrangements, bouquets & so much more. For more info: https://koncepteventdesign.com/

IG: Koncept.Events | Flowerzinc

ALL IN THE DETAILS

Lele completed our wedding stationary & accessories by elevating the tablescape & assorted custom wedding decor.

THE CAKE & WEDDING FAVOURS

We were so excited to design a wedding cake as well as guest take home favours! Kira introduced us to Anna of AElizabeth Cakes. She married our florals & added an extra sparkle to the cake. She was extremely responsive & I loved her creative & design process! We chose a vanilla lemon cake & two macarons per guest - one lemon & the other mint chocolate! For more inspiration, check out her Instagram here.

THE ENTERTAINMENT

My sister-in-law mentioned how she had a band for her wedding and said they were a hit to keep guests entertained and on their feet dancing! I was so excited to hear that Side One is actually a sister company to our wedding planning company! We took advantage of that and even got a discount because we were a Filosophi wedding! They were even kind enough to take my request to learn a song for my bouquet toss! (Girls like you by Maroon 5) Needless to say, we were extremely happy with their performance and had everyone dancing till the end of the night!

Overall I am forever grateful for this day thanks to Kira from Filosophi events, as well as the team behind JW Marriott Parq Vancouver, who worked tirelessly to make sure the entire day (from 6:00 AM till 1:00 AM!) went smoothly and no details were overlooked.

JW Marriott’s service was beyond what I imagined. The food tasting experience alone was impeccable. We wanted to do a family style dinner, which was not on their marketing material at the time. So Ana, our personal Event Manager from JW Marriott and the head chef came to us and asked us what was our dream meal, how it would be served (plated, buffet, french style, family style, etc), the experience of dining with one another & how it was visually presented. We told them that we wanted our guests to come together as a family, eat healthy, delicious food and our wedding theme was a modern romance, with a bit of sparkle.

Ana & head chef took all our wishes to account.. and presented us with the most beautiful dishes, we were the most pleasantly surprised with the dessert! It was a trio of desserts (we couldn’t narrow it down to one)… and they added gold leaf & sparkle sugar gel to go with our theme! That was something we were never offered before in the hospitality industry.

I was also given one of the best surprises by the team at JW Marriott Parq Vancouver just days before my wedding. During the rehearsal, Ana pulled me aside and surprised me with a complimentary, massive room upgrade where I got to stay in the night before, and for me and my bridal party & family to get ready in on the big day. The value was more than double for what we had originally booked!

A word of advice

Brides! Your wedding day will be the best day, but also a very long and tiresome one. My best advice when choosing your vendors is to not only look at their portfolio, but to get to know the people behind the scenes. They will be your partner, assistant, cheerleader, mentor and inspiration. My vendors became more than just my vendors, because there are no words to describe how priceless the results of their labor meant to me and my husband. They are the ones who will run your day with everything planned out, with all contingencies in place. There were three instances I can remember, where the staff at JW took a notice that I was run down, or needed help (once right before the Tea ceremony, and the other right after the Wedding ceremony, also a hair emergency right before I walked down the aisle - they had a toolbox of emergency items!), and immediately came to our aid. Those gestures were not big, but they certainly helped me, as well as our guests, enjoy this milestone without any worry.

I hope you enjoyed reading my experiences in planning the most memorable day of my life. I am also excited to announce that I will be back at JW Marriott, Parq Vancouver for my upcoming birthday weekend celebration for January 12 - 13! Stay tuned on my Instagram for live updates! If you are planning a wedding in Vancouver, check out their offerings here, and perhaps, you’ll get just as a lasting, forever impression as I did.

WITH LOVE,

VERONICA