For H&B’s Parisian Garden wedding in April, we looked to France for some inspiration and decided that since they had an intimate wedding of 70 guests, that two wine bottles of their favorite French Red wine would be a wonderful alternative.

{ guests signing wine bottles | photo: Picture That Photography }

The best part, is that my couple gets to open the wine on their one year anniversary – and save the bottle as a special keepsake of their Paris inspired wedding day!

This works best for smaller weddings, and you must be sure to use a paint based pen designed for glass. The pen does take a few minutes to try, so ensure you have someone to monitor your guestbook table to ensure no smudges occur.

What are you going to do to have a distinctive guestbook?

Jolyn | LIfestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Unique serving dishes can truly enhance a fun cocktail hors d’oeuvre!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

{ Nancy Lu Chin Design Showcase | Wedding 360 }

This style works best for short dinners – not eight course plated meals – as your guests may find it is a little hard on their back for too long.

Would you consider bench seating for your Edmonton wedding reception?

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Never fear, I’ll help you figure an easy way to create your seating chart. Start with a blank piece of paper for each table you have at your wedding. Then, put each guest’s name onto a sticky note. Start placing the sticky notes on each page, and move around as necessary (make sure you know if you need 8 or 10 seats at each table).

Once you have your seating figured out, add the table numbers to a Word or Excel spreadsheet.

Tiffanie and Daniel’s seating chart from their May wedding was created using a DIY seating chart template from DIY Party Designs – the colors of their names and wedding date was altered to suit their color scheme. The chart was printed on poster paper and placed in a black IKEA frame.

The guest names and table number were simply copied and pasted onto the already existing columns. Make a couple of amendments (add photos, change font choice, change font colors) and you are ready to send it to print. If you don’t know a poster printer, then simply send your finished seating chart to Staples online for printing.

Our blog readers are lucky today, DIY Party Designs is sharing a freebie seating chart template for a limited time…so get yours while you can!
DOWNLOAD FREE SEATING CHART TEMPLATE HERE – 4.1MB zip file for download

PS. You need photoshop or photoshop elements in order to edit/add names to this seating chart design

I hope these tips help you in creating your seating chart! I’d love to hear your seating chart tips!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

{ designed by La Piazza Dasee }

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

{ beef tenderloin with a lobster tail | Union Bank Inn | photo: Kelsy Nielson Photographer }

You can make this process a little easier by following some basic principles:

• make your rsvp date 2 weeks before you need to give final numbers. It gives you time to track down any tardy guests to determine if they can come & celebrate or not.
• remember your vendors in the final count. If your photographer, videographer, DJ and wedding planner are staying for the reception, it’s common courtesy to provide them with a meal
• if your venue allows you too, decrease your numbers for late lunch to 50% of your overall guests. Not everyone is going to partake in a late lunch (some guests leave, some guests are too busy partying!)

{ seating cards at entrance | color coded per their selected entree choice }

If you are providing a plated meal and your guests were able to rsvp in their choice, be sure to tell your venue/caterer the color codes you are using on your placecards to differentiate the guests’ meal selection.

A little bit of advanced planning will ensure you and your caterer are ready for the big day – with no unexpected surprises! Happy Planning!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

{ emerald underworld reception }

For a creative element, consider placing the band right in the center of the room and create a tent within your venue! Instantly make your live music part of the atmosphere for your reception.

I love using fabric and creating such fun & dramatic elements for your wedding reception!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

{ ribbon placecard frame | photo: Picture That Photography }

Start with an oversized picture frame – thrift stores are a great place to go looking for something large and relatively inexpensive. I was drawn to the structure of the frame, even if I wasn’t keen on the picture.

I removed the photo, sanded the frame and got it ready for painting.

I often use spray paint (prime it first if not wood) – I painted everything in a silver for our Parisian Garden wedding.

Now, because I want to use this frame for multiple weddings – I made an inner frame for attaching the ribbon that will sit inside the placecard frame. I added ribbon one line at a time. I like using a mix of ribbons and colors. Once the ribbon frame is complete and secure, it’s time to place it inside the frame.

On site on the wedding day, the placecards were arranged and ready to greet the guests!

PS. It took 165 feet of ribbon to create this ribbon frame and it was designed to hold up to 80 placecards

What unique elements are you creating for your wedding day?

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

As I was preparing for a Blush Magazine photoshoot…I needed to do a quick test of one of the lighting effects (one of my favorites I may add!)

{ Jolyn's livingroom turned lighting test central }

You’ll be seeing the final results in Blush Magazine next month and I’ll share with you some more behind the scenes from the actual photo shoot next month too!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Pose for a historic photograph with the wedding party and enjoy refreshments from the Arbour Restaurant and Tea Room.

Following the wedding get a glimpse of the Rutherford family’s life in Edmonton during the Great War.

Tour this post-Edwardian style home, its gracious Parlour, elegant dining room and library teeming with books.

The event is free but to ensure that we have enough food, please pre-register by July 5th by calling 780-422-2697 or emailing info@rutherfordhouse.ca.

Rutherford House is the historic 1911 mansion of Alberta’s first Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford. Today, it is operated as a provincial historic site and the home of the Friends of Rutherford House Society, who seek to open the house to the public through our Arbour Restaurant, Whatnot Gift Shop, and in hosting Private events like weddings.

It is a beautiful location for both indoor and outdoor wedding ceremonies, receptions, and photos for up to 75 guests.

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457