Pink Lemonade and Tutus

 This past weekend we had a bit of fun setting up a sweets table for a special little girl's birthday party.  It was a labour of love.  Most of what we used where vintage items we had available, including the old sheets we startched up to use as table clothes and back drops.

We also had a alot fun playing up Cake-ology's cupcakes by putting them in mini mason jars and adding tiny flags.  It was an all around success! When the little one says it was her best day ever! You know you did well!

Our favourite part of the display was the balance of the frugal budget and pink sweetness of a young girl's birthday.  Not all decor has to be over the top and cost a fortune.  Sometimes using sentimental items in display make it more of a live snap shot in life vs. something from a magazine ad.  Simple, pure, sweetness.  This made the little ballerina birthday girl one happy young lady.

Enjoy!

Destinations With Style - Recap

We would like to thank everyone who came out to the show on April 22, 2012.  We couldn't have had a better time! Here are some highlights of the vendors.  More decor to come, but for now here is a little fun with vendors!

Distinctive Destination Weddings – Tips on Decor

Written By Jaime Valdes-Riench, owner of Travel & Events with Style

Destination weddings at resorts are can give couples mixed feelings. If it is important to the couple to find a way to set themselves apart from everyone else who has explored the path of the same wedding package, they may feel over whelmed. The question that is asked is, “How may I make our day, OUR day without looking like everyone else?” Also, where do you begin? A suggestion would be to work closely with your destination wedding professional and takethe base wedding package and make it so much more!

The base wedding packages for destination weddings, at most popular resorts, really cover the bare essentials for what a wedding should begin with. You may have the basic bridal bouquet, boutonnière for the groom, and a centerpiece plus one tier wedding cake for the reception. That is hardly wedding calibre of what a wedding should be if you where wanting more. So how do you obtain that without breaking the budget? Simple, work with someone from home and add on!

The basic wedding package is basically that, the base. There are 2 options available: 1. Adding on with the resort and not worrying that you have to bring anything with you but your clothes and love and 2. bringing the extras to make it yours! Both answers are perfect for the right couple. To have the piece of mind that you are taken care-of and nothing needs to me carried with you is peace of mind in itself. If you where planning to organise everything through the resort, the areas of compromise are that colours may not match through out the wedding, nor florals my not be cohesive or even be on the colour scheme you are requesting. Tropical countries offer natural flowers that are bold and vibrate in colour and they may not always keep with a theme. Example: many bouquets are filled with local tropical flowers, but you may end up with a bouquet of orange, yellow and vibrant fuchsia together. It is all in one’s taste on whether or not you embrace the location’s charm and what they have to offer. Now if you prefer to have more control on the over all look of the wedding it will take a little more planning.

As with any wedding choosing the base colour scheme is intrical. Next would be to find out what the resort can offer as far as guaranteeing that themed colour so it is cohesive. It is important to note that bouquets are not always the image of perfection as they are here. A great alternative is to have a local floral designer make up bouquets for your wedding party from high quality “real feel” flowers. The key with faux is that any colour is achievable and transportable. If quality faux flowers are chosen, they also can be taken home and remade into something you will see everyday in your future home. If packed correctly, they will travel impecitively and will look fresh even in intense heat. You also have the added bonus of using your bouquet again if you have planned your day after shoot.

Here are a few other tips on how to work with your resort to create your special look: Tiffany Chairs (what we locally call Chiavari chairs) are now available at most 4 – 5 star resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico. They add elegance to a room without a tremendous amount of fuss. Another tip is to add additional centerpieces to add to the look. One of the more standard centerpieces at resorts right now are the 24” cylinder vase with a floating candle. They are either trimmed with a colour ribbon or steamed faux flower submerged in the water. Depending on the size of the reception and number of guests, seating is more often long rectangle tables, with a family style set up. This usually is a result to not having enough guests for multiple circle banquet tables. One cylinder or tall rectangular vase can easily be lost on a table of that shape. Adding a few additional cube or smaller height vases filled with flowers gives texture, colour, and contrast. For those who want to add even more onto the look, bring long steamed faux orchids or exotic flowers and rent vases from the resort. Adding 3 tiers of height completely changes the look.

Another way to make the reception’s look more distinctive is adding linens and Tiffany chair covers as you would at a wedding locally. Most resorts offer a few options for linens. Overlays or runners are now being offered additionally as well, but are not always very affordable if rented threw the resort. But why not rent from home and add to the look? Locally we have amazing options, and thinking ahead will give a finishing touch. Elegant over-lays bring colour to the room, while custom tiffany chair covers as a final look of elegance to an already gorgeous look. Both pack small and light. Renting locally and bringing to the resort is a great way to combine the local charm with something more current and tailored. It is important to mention that there may be special deposits with local rental companies to make such arrangements.

The last fun item to consider for your destination wedding is practical fun items such as coloured parasols and fans. Giving fans to all attending guests at the ceremony gives a little touch of colour throughout the crowd and comfort to everyone. Parasols are a fun way to have as an alternative or addition to bouquets for bridesmaids and possibly attendees. They are both elegant and functional.

Destination Weddings do not have always have to have the look that they where chosen from a catalogue. It is always important to find an experienced professional who can make your wedding, your wedding. Travel and Events with Style has dedicated their services to find ways for couples to have a wedding abroad tailored to their individual tastes with quality and with style. Between offering services in house or finding the best possible suppliers, it comes down to planning your day and making it full of wonderful memories.

Sources:
Photography: Sugar and Soul Photography
Event Planner and Design: Travel & Events with Style
Floral Design & Rentals: The Little Flower Shop
Cakes & Pastries: Cake-ology
Linens: With Style Designs
Invitations & Stationary: With Style Designs
Venue: La Fiesta Cafecito

Kids Parties - Have some fun!

Written By: Jaime Valdes-Riench, owner of Travel & Events with Style

We don't as often have the chance to do up kids parties, but I wanted to show some fun pics that I hope will inspire you a bit and give a deferent flavour to our blog. While everyone is buzzing about the royal wedding, I thought why not bring us back to the parties we all participate in EVERYDAY. Our kids, relatives and friends birthday parties. And how do we make them fun, look great and stay on a reasonable budget. (honestly, not all of us are all that crafty). I know most of us do not have the budget to make huge over the top kids parties, but a little spurge here and there and make for a fun success.

Here are a few tips to make the look on a tighter budget:

1. Create a theme and colour palette and continue the look a consistently as possible. When you keep the colour consistent everywhere it give the appearance you put more time into the party than you may have actually done. This also means that those of us who are not as crafty or simply do not have a lot of time can give the illusion that a lot of time went into the party.
(Secret: helium balloons are always keep the theme, they fill a lot of space, have minimal take down. Best of all, if you give a few to every child who attends you do not have anything to take down or store later!)

2. Create games and crafts around that theme and palette. We recently had our son’s birthday at Art Land Inc. It was a great place for all the kids to do a themed craft and have a ton of fun for 3 hours. The staff asked us our child’s like and what the theme was so every child did fun soccer themed craft and brought them home.

3. Make one focal point and focus a lot of the decorations in that one area. This is the biggest secret I can share if you want to make an impacting party on budget. Everyone always gravitate around the food, so why not bring the candy buffet and theme and focus around the table? We simply adore Cake-ology’s cakes and all the creations they make for us when we give them an idea. They always are my centerpiece for our kids parties and I just build and build around it! Keep the same colour palette again (monochromatic) and fill the area with balloons. We always get the wow, and it is completely enjoyed because it is based around the best part of party.. the food!

Well, I hope you enjoy the pics below. This was simply a labour of love. These types of parties are definitely the most fun to plan, but most importantly the most fun to attend!

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Thanks to Everyone Who Attended Our Destination Wedding Show

What a wonderful turnout we had at our destination wedding info session on Sunday, March 6, 2011! It was so great to visit with the new couples and hopefully give them a little guidance on their wedding planning in the near future. We feel very privileged to have had that time with them to chat and get to know them a little better.

We will have more to share soon on this subject and pictures to share. We just really wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all the vendors who came out, helped out, and most importantly participated in our show!

Special thanks to:

- La Fiesta Cafecito

- The Little Flower Shop

- Kamp Photography

- Sugar & Soul Photography

- Cakeology

- Bliss Bridal

- Sandman Winnipeg Airport

- Smock Paper

- And ALL my staff who work their tails off!

Stay tuned for more, coming very soon!

Wonderful Wedding Show in Winnipeg - Thanks for coming out and paying us a visit!

Writen by: Jaime Valdes-Riench
Images by: With Style Designs

We really wanted to say thank you to everyone who came out to visit us at the show. It was our first year there and it was with a warm welcome indeed! I feel confident that we showed you, our guests, that we truly believe weddings are about being distinctive and style infused. We also strive to be very different than any travel agency. We specialize in destination wedding planning and a local wedding coordinating as well as being a travel agency. We think weddings should reflect your personality and by bringing something different to the decor or theme. We want your guests talking to be about your event in an amazing way for years to come. Here are some pictures of our booth and a little bit of our inspiration!

Travel & Events with Style has always strived to go beyond what most think is what a wedding should look like whether it is here or abroad. The décor we chose was an infusion of a destination wedding in Thai Land, Bali and with a modern twist. The bubble décor theme was a fresh take on the typical jewel accents you currently see everywhere. The back drop included acrylic orbs that refracted the up-lighting with larger glass ornaments holding tea lights. Our table took the tropical theme of palms and Macara orchids and united them in a 4 foot elegant vase that gave a hint of a tropical palm tree. There where tiered demission accents with smaller hanging orbs. These smaller orbs held blue and orange orchids and tear drop jewels for a tropical rain forest yet glamorous feel. The linens where layered in the same colour scheme. A papaya coloured overlay with a golden shimmer and olive green linen under it grounded the look. Place settings where layers of Mahogany wood place mats, green chargers, royal blue table clothes and intricate satchels as party favour gifts. The table was finished off with Mahogany Chiavari Chairs that where left simple and clean, which allowed for all the other colours to come forth with out being over done.

Lastly, the cocktail tables where covered with Peacock blue linens with a royal blue shimmer, royal blue ties and bubble glass vases in tiered sizes. Inside the vases where blue/purple orchids wound with bear grass. It was a distinctive look and can be introduced anywhere and will be remembered. It was the show stopper that kept everyone interested. We added cultural accents whenever possible to give the exotic look. Metal urns and vases where introduced in varies areas which added different texture and supported the theme. We used the largest urn for our ballet draw, which would be perfect for any presentation collection at your wedding.

It is important not to be afraid of colour. If done correctly and grounded correctly, it can have an amazing impact and leave your guests wowed! Adding themed accents that are not usually considered wedding décor can make the impact that this day is a reflection of your personality! When we look for decor for a wedding, we really take the time to look off the beating path. Our firm doesn't believe you should have to choose from package A, B or C to have decor. You are an individual, thus so should your event be!

Cheers!
Jaime Valdes-Riench, WPICC, DWC, CSS
Owner, Certified Wedding Coordinator
Travel Agent & Destination Wedding Specialist
Licensed Marriage Commissioner