Milestone Events

Milestone Events is very sad to announce that after a summer of working on some pretty amazing Vancouver weddings and special events Laelia MacIntosh has completed her internship with us. 

We thank her for all of her extraordinary hard work and know that she will have a very bright future ahead of her.

 Thanks again, chickadee…you were a complete pleasure.  We’ll miss you around here!

So this post is so long overdue…must be wedding season!

Em and David were a super awesome couple and if there were ever two people more in love I would be hard pressed to find them.  The day was completely perfect: not a single thing went wrong, the weather cooperated, the food was outstanding and the details were to die for.  We had nothing but fun and good times and I miss them terribly. 

We did a really cute vintage birdie theme at the Diamond Alumni Center at SFU.  Here are some pics of the fabulous day taken by my pal, Erin Gilmore: www.eringilmorephotography.com

For my very first wedding at Brockhouse, I had the pleasure of working with Kristie and Jeff and what a fabulous day it was! The setting couldn’t have been better for a summer wedding. The sun was shining and everyone was glowing for the two’s special day! Kristie looked drop dead gorgeous and was such an elegant bride.  

We did a chocolate brown and apple green colour scheme that went perfect for an outdoor wedding with Jericho beach right in  the back ground. It had a very outdoor feel with curly willow being used throughout the wedding. But I still think about her centerpieces from time to time. They were tall fluted vases filled with curly willow, with orchids attached to the branching and draped in crystals!! One of my favourites so far for sure! It couldn’t have been more beautiful.

These guys also did a few things different for their wedding. First of all it was on a Tuesday evening which was a nice change of pace for us and they didn’t have a head table they had a little sweetheart table for just the two of them! Super cute wedding!

Here are some pictures from the very talented Dean Sanderson…..

Hugs,

Danica xo

It has been so busy around her that I have not had two seconds to blog about some of my fabulous couples over the last couple of months but we are getting so many wonderful thank you notes I just had to share.  I will definately get to those pictures as soon as I can.  My couples continue to inspire me and I am so greatful that they chose us to be a part of such an incredible journey for them!

I love it when my brides stick around after the wedding.  Julia and Neil have stuck around for a very long time.  They were my first bride and groom and I was very lucky to have them turn into very dear friends.  So when very dear friends need a favor I am happy to help out…so here goes: Julia & Neil have a really great basement suite (I’ve seen it so I can vouch for the greatness) for rent in Surrey.  I promised I would help her get the word out so here are are all the details.  E-mail me if you are interested and I will hook you up with them:

Available Sept 1st. 2 bedroom, full bathroom, washer/dryer, private entance. Cable & Internet (has to supply own router) no pets, no smoking on property, street front parking. $1000/month.

For all you brides out there that are in love with the whole vintage wedding concept or just can’t bear the thought of buying a bridemaid dress in a wedding dress store I found some wicked dresses that would be perfect for your ‘maids!  Prices range from $42 - $200 and all have quippy little names like  the “Paris at Dusk Dress” and the “Dancing in Manhattan Dress”.  “Cocktails at the Colosseum” was a definate favorite.  So hard to not to fill up my shopping cart, proceed to checkout and enter the visa number!  These little lovelies can be found on the fabulous www.modcloth.com.  Perfect for your mod, vintage or indie wedding!  Best news: they ship to Canada!

 Here are some pics of my favorites!  Happy shopping ladies!

My beautiful friend Jill from Edmonton sent me this today.  I thought it was so fabulous that I had to share!  Enjoy!

We are looking for a permanent full-time Event Management Assistant/Event Designer.  Qualified candidates will display the following attributes:

• motivated self starter with an eye for detail
• diploma in event management and/or display and design
• fast thinker in crisis situations
• knowledge of Microsoft Office and Quickbooks

Duties would include:

• updating and maintaining client files including budgets and itineraries
• assisting clients through the planning process
• decor team leader
• event assistant on event days
• answering phones and inquiries
• warehouse maintenance
• supporting the owners in day to day activities
• compiling orders 
• minor book keeping

 Please send your resume and cover letter to tanya@milestoneevents.ca.Â

So this past Thursday we were fortunate enough to work again with one of our favourite production companies in Vancouver, BrandLIVE, on an extraordinary event at my favorite place on earth, Terminal City Club.  The event did double duty as a graduation celebration for a corporate networking group as well as honour the groups 50th anniversary.   A vintage themed 1940s oscar party complete with vintage car (thank you Adrian Josef from A Stylish Arrival for the amazing gift!) in the foyer, red carpet, stunning golden flocked damask linens in the dining room…and the best part: PAPARAZZI!  I hired some actors so play 1940s press..complete with fedoras and vintage cameras (supplied by the ever lovely Erin Gilmore)…they were all wired up with radios and we fed them the guests names as they pulled into the valet and the red carpet.  The paprazzi called their names and asked them who they were wearing.  Completely fabulous!  More pictures to follow but here’s a sneak peak courtesy of Carrie Marshall:

When you are wedding planning it seems like everytime you turn around some one has their hand out for more moolah.  This installment of Diaries is going to help you figure out what is necessary and what is not.  There will be two installments of this one: I have an awful lot to say about this topic so be sure to check back next week for part two.

There is a saying that my dad always said to me growing up: “take care of your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”.  Growing up, I always thought this was the most rediculous thing I had ever heard.  I mean, really, in this age of hedonistic entitlement and the ‘I have to have it all and I have to have it now’ attitude of our generation, do you really care about your pennies?   I sure didn’t.  I hope my dad doesn’t read this but I have a dirty little secret to admit: I used to throw my pennies in the garbage when my wallet got too full of them!  He would have a coronary if he knew that.

Now that I am in my early thirties, have a few kiddies running around and have been running a household and a business for years I have gained that all important and proverbial knowledge of time=prospective.  And here is something that just kills me to admit.  Dad was right.  (I was totally just choking there when I typed that, by the way).

So here is the point: when you are planning your wedding run it like a business.  Bottom Line = Top of Mind.  The wedding industry has done an incredible job of creating things for weddings, marketing them so well (thank you SLICE & TLC, wedding mags and celebrity weddings on TV) that brides are brainwashed into thinking they MUST have IT! 

Every bride has a different idea of what IT is: $10K+ for photography, invitations made of silk, phaelenopsis orchids, 16 piece band, 9 course plated choice menu, celebrity planner.  Really, being so inundated with so much wedding fabulousness who wouldn’t want the big celebrity day?

In the spirit of my dad’s sage advice the following is a list of things that you do not need.  They are inexpensive (in the grand scheme of all things bridal) but it all adds up. If you follow this advice you can probably trim a couple grand from your bottom line!

1. Favors.  You don’t need them.  Period.  I have cleaned up enough weddings in my life to know that I will pick up a tonne of favors that guests leave behind.  Guess where the delightful little chatchkas end up?  Answer: THE GARBAGE! Do something edible if you must have a favor; at least you will have a better chance of guests taking them or eating them.  The other issue that I have with favors is that it is often not just the favor you need to pay for.  Packaging, tags and ribbon all add up. 

2. Cake:  If your venue is serving you a dessert, why do you need a big cake?  Why would pay the cake cutting fee venues impose on cakes brought in if people are already full of the delicious dinner you just spent 50% of your budget on.  Alternatively, if must have cake for the photo op then have the cake for dessert and have the caterer or venue decrease the price per plate.  It is totally redundant to have both.

3. The Cocktail Hour:  In the last decade it has become very fashionable to have pre-dinner snacks and cocktails (I call it the sip and nibble hour).  I am a huge advocate for cocktail hour.  It allows guests to socialize before their bums are chained to their seats for three hours for dinner and speeches.  It also has likely been a considerable amount of time between the ceremony and the wedding reception and your guests will be hungry and thirsty.  I also enjoy the element of class this brings to your event.  It shows your guests that you care about their comfort.  So, yes, I believe you should absolutely have a cocktail hour.  But what to serve?  It is definately nicer to have passed hors d’oeurves but if you can’t swallow the $1000+ for 150 guests to have a nibble (and I have not even included the ’sip’ portion of this yet) then have destination platters.  Destination platters is the fancy way of saying big hunks of cheese on a platter with some fruit and maybe a veg tray all on a buffet.  This is considerably less expensive and still a good way to look after your guests.

For the ’sip’ bit of the cocktail hour have sparkling wine.  Do not open the bar.  People can throw back rum and cokes like nobody’s business (if your family is like mine you will know this to be true!).  You will be lucky to get 5 glasses of wine out of a bottle but you can get 6+ out of a bottle of sparkling and people drink it slower that they would a highball or even a martini.  And here is the best news: there are some very lovely bottles of sparkling on the market that are the same price as a bottle wine.

4. The Late Night Buffet: is just a waste.  You don’t need it.  People are full.  And that’s all I’ll say about that.

I have received a lot of positive response from this series of blogs.  Keep your comments and e-mails coming!  I love to hear about your trials, tribulations and your joys and snafoos as you plan your way to wedded (and hopefully financially solvent) bliss!