What is your process when a couple first contacts you about planning their wedding?
Most of the time, the people contacting us are far away, so we try to have a conversation with them via phone or video chat right away to better understand what it is they are really looking for. After that, we are able to respond with a proposal that more closely matches what they expect.
What has been your biggest event planning challenge?
We’ve been fortunate to have designed and planned many beautiful weddings, but our favourite one has to be the most challenging one – a four-day celebration on the estate of the bride’s family’s chateau. All of the parties (welcome cocktail, activity day & rehearsal dinner, wedding day, brunch) took place in multiple reception tents on the grounds of the chateau. We constructed glamping accommodation in a “teepee village” and the nearby priory church which had fallen into disrepair was renovated especially for the wedding ceremony. We had had beautiful hot summer weather in the weeks leading up to the wedding, but the week of the wedding, the weather took a turn for the worse. Temperatures dropped by 20 degrees (35°F) from heatwave to summer chill and rain all weekend. Luckily, we had truly the best clients who listened and trusted our advice and were sanguine about the weather. We also had an amazing team of vendors, who all pulled together to make the plans B and C and D go as smoothly and enjoyably as the original plan A. We, as service providers, remember being soaking wet all weekend, but the guests have no memory of the rain – just a series of fabulous parties where everyone was on the dance floor.
What is your favourite wedding that you’ve designed and executed?
Our favourite one has to be the most challenging one mentioned above. The bride and her father came to the table with some great initial ideas but then let us run with how to bring the event to life. They totally trusted us and trusted that we understood the type of experience they wanted to create for the wedding. Entertainment was a big area, as was creating interesting and unique spaces for each of the events: a “White Nights” welcome cocktail inspired by the ‘80s movie; a Texas BBQ-themed rehearsal dinner; an elegant country chateau wedding day…
Tell us a bit about the concept of a “wedding weekend” - what sort of activities do you plan for out-of-town guests to enjoy over a multi-day event?
Typically we plan for an off-site excursion to a historic chateau, vineyard, or local museum. We also bring in activities to the venue, such as lawn games, archery, yoga, massage therapists, and wine and cheese tastings.
Where is your favourite place to travel?
There are the places we return to year after year for family reasons – for Anne, she always spends time over the summer in Maine and for Nancy, she spends time in Brittany, France. But there’s a special place in our hearts for travel to new countries we’ve never been to before, the exquisite sensation of being in a foreign place and learning your way around, seeing and experiencing new sights, sounds, flavours…
