Vanja and Kenji's Wedding

Vanja's Description of Their Special Day

The wedding was held at Accords Bistro in the Old Port of Montreal. The ceremony was held in the early afternoon in the bistro courtyard, followed by early evening cocktails and then a dinner and dance till 3:30am. Kenji and I wanted a very intimate wedding, so we decided to make it quite small - just over 50 people. Everything about the wedding was very personalized as we had zero limitations with the venue. More than half of the guests flew in from Calgary, and we also had guests from Japan, Vancouver and France. Prior to the wedding, we organized a rehearsal cocktail party (instead of the formal dinner) for all of the guests so that they could mingle and get to know each other before the wedding. This worked out really well, because by the time the wedding came everyone knew each other so it was like a big family gathering, which is exactly what we wanted. 

For the dinner and dance we decided to hire a Jazz vocalist accompanied by a piano, which set the tone for the evening. (Jazz vocalist: www.kimzombik.com) For the dance-party portion of the evening, Kenji and I spent months compiling a playlist of our favorite songs, including songs that reminded us of certain guests. Kenji organized all the music into a DJ set-list and all we had to do was hit PLAY and it took care of itself. Now we have a whole soundtrack to our wedding, which we are planning to send to some of our guests as a keepsake. 

As for the decorations, most of them were done by myself with the help of friends and family. The table flower arrangements were made of peach carnations which we bought wholesale and assembled ourselves in white ceramic bowls, purchased at a sort-of dollar store. I also designed and made all the name cards, table numbers, seating chart, guest-book, and the "love-tree" which was a little tree where people could write their marriage and love advice for us and hang it on the tree (super fun to read afterwards.) My sister designed and made the entire wedding cake from scratch, which was amazingly delicious.

As for our outfits, my dress and veil were purchased in Montreal at a store called Bella Di Sera. It was the 2nd dress I ever tried and it was one of those "love-at-first-sight" things. I dreamt about it for weeks and knew that I had to have it. It's by a company called Casablanca Bridal which in my opinion has the most beautiful dresses I've ever seen. Most of the details are done by hand! The bridesmaids dresses are by Kenzie. Our hair was done by my hair dresser Dave Landry, who is suuper talented. Kenji's outfit was put together in pieces but most of it was purchased at Zara at a steal-of-a-deal. It was the only place that we could find fitted clothes, that did not make him look like an old man. I wanted all of us to look really young and fresh, with a little bit of vintage because most of the wedding guests and party were all young people. So, for the groomsmen we chose not to go with jackets, but rather just with vests, and a skinny tie to keep it kind of fresh but still vintage. The colors of the wedding looked amazing against the stones in the Old Port. 

Our Photographer's name is Stephanie Lachance: http://www.lachancephoto.com/ 

Vanja's inspiration board (colors, look, etc.)

Her final wedding accessories (shoes purchased in Montreal, earrings purchased on PerfectDetails.com, purse is vintage 1940s hand-made)

Bridesmaid Jewelry - Custom made by Rosalind Lee (http://www.etsy.com/shop/rozzie)