The Wedding Story: Happy 1st Anniversary + 1 month

White Cake to celebrate....



11th of 09 2011
Time flies...

One whole year plus one full month since we tied the knot last year.

Happy 1+1, Love!

I still feel like it just happened and I can't stop being grateful for all our lovely friends and families who's helped us get through the day. To plan and execute the biggest party we've ever hosted... with so much laughter even after sleeping for only 3 hours the night before :)

There are so many memorable things but the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about our wedding is always the bird. yes. the CRANES. not 10. not 100. not 1000. Two thousand and fifty one paper cranes folded by boys and girls who loved us THAT much. Nick folded paper cranes in the subway, at work, at home, and before sleep. I am pretty sure our friends also did....

Here are some pictures of our prepping process before they were glamorously placed inside and outside the tent on our wedding day....

Thought we'd figure out how many cranes we needed per string...
and how many strings to cover the head table area...

Lonely...



The day before the wedding - the cranes were assembled and strung onto lots and lots of twigs.
EVERYONE in action!!


Then there were these that were hand made by the girls...
I didn't even bother counting how many we had to cut, fold, trim, wire, and then SEPARATE. I'm sure our tongues were yellow and gray.

Yellow, gray and white tissue paper pompoms

These were lying on the grass at one point.... until...

Our dear friend and a wicked Wedding Planner HERE
cut these ribbons the night before and helped us set up for our Ceremony backdrop.


This photobooth was made from two sheets of plywood, pretty wall paper (two designs), and 2 ikea photo frames
(left frame was a black frame from Ikea that was transformed with a can of yellow spray).
This art is rubbed with my father-in-law and my husband's sweat and love :)

I thought of another "cool" idea. I wanted to truly thank all my guests by giving them something with a touch. So I decided to paint on each and every porcelaine cup.
They looked even better wrapped :p
But I'm sure my friends were scared when I asked them to come over and "hang out" (aka help moi)







Flowers by Apop Events. Gorgeous!

So many people loved our invitation. Beautiful job by Palettera




Us goofing around as soon as we sat down :)

And then something really exciting thing happened!! Thanks to our AWESOME SUPERDUPER photographers Vanessa and Jess from Boyfriend/Girlfriend Pictures we were featured in Fall/Winter 2011 issue of Wedding Bells! and not only that... we made the cover page for the Labour of Love Real Wedding Story in the print. If these photos weren't enough for ya, see our Wedding story HERE.

One long blog... thanks so much for reading :)

Cake: Pinked!

Hot pink shoe cake for you, Happy Birthday Eva!

Chicago Antique Market Part 2

The day that we decided to visit the Chicago Antique Market was very HOT. Scorching hot. I actually got my one and only "sunburn" that day and I gotta say it was WORTH it :)

The show had indoor and outdoor portions, and the indoor had many of the antique accessories and one of a kind, hand made accessories. Most of the furnitures were outside and even though it was a hot day there were so many people walking around...

me goofing around with this vintage "octopus" hat

SERIOUSLY considered renting a truck to ship this back to Canada. These steel cabinets are not just any regular furniture. These were found in a basement of a post office in Germany after the World War II. The building was bombed but these babies were still intact! They were then refurbished and only a limited number of them exist.

Another obsession of mine... Basket/Container Transformers (BCTs!)

just like the ones from here and here!

closing... and closing... and...

Tada!

Last but not least, these are bottle cap art furnitures.

I was a bit hesitant to post these photos up because I actually couldn't find my vendor and artist information that I have collected. Although I posted these up and sadly could not link to their website at this point, I will update as soon as I find them and hopefully you can track some of these awesome vendors down! Keep checking for updates :)

Chicago Antique Market Part 1

On a sunny day in June this year attended what I thought was the next best thing to my trip to Saint-Ouen Vernaison Market in Paris (see it HERE). We got to catch one of the 2011 season dates at the Chicago Antique Market at the Randolph Street Market.

When you visit their website here, this is the first thing you'll read:

"The Randolph Street Market Festival is home to the world-renowned Chicago Antique Market & Indie Designer Market. As seen in Travel & Leisure, the NY Times, Lucky Magazine and featured on TV news shows and web casts, the Randolph Street Market Festival is considered “a mecca of cool”, “the best hot spot for antiquing”, “the best Chicago venue for people watching”, and “the Barney’s of Vintage”. Celebrity designer Nate Berkus says, “I love this market…the quality is incredible!” As one of Chicago’s most happening monthly parties, Randolph Street Market has become the summer destination!"

Although I can't say I've been to Barney's enough and have followed the celebrity interior designer Nate Berkus, I must say, this antique market was quite IMPRESSIVE. It was BIG, with quality items and the prices were SO reasonable. I am pretty sure that next time I go, I'm going to plan it out so that I can take a U-Haul truck or some giant van to carry some of the lovely things I have found there. Unfortunately all the things I loved were too large to carry in our SUV this year so instead I brought home some pictures of my loves.

Here are some pictures that I brought home to share...

some lovely vintage frames... seen them too many times? Probably not with this price range! ($20-$60)

This painted chest caught my attention :) So adorable!!

This was the tent of GOODIES with the adorable chest.

As you've seen it here my obsession over drawers and containers never let me down.

These drawers were small enough to fit a few keys in each.

Now if I had a big house with over 90 doors to lock... or a small house with 90 doors

I would probably hang this by my front entrance.

If you're visiting Chicago and love antique shopping (or looking), you should take a look at some of the upcoming events here and check it out!

Check back for more goodies soon! Thanks for reading :)

Chicago Antique Market-teaser!

A small teaser of what's to come :)

I'll share many many pictures from one of the best antique markets we've been to!!

Cake: Thomas the ChooChoo Train!

Happy 1^st Birthday to Ryan!!!

Although I am unfamiliar with this popular icon amongst kids (and some adults I assume), it was a lot of fun carving out the chocolate cake and working with not-so-friendly fondant on a hot day.

I was curious about the show because I really have never seen an episode of it growing up. I grew up watching a show like THIS, so I thought I’d at least find out what it’s about.

The Railway Series, which the TV Show Thomas and Friends is based on, is written by Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry in UK. Of the 42 books in series, 26 were written by the Reverend and the rest were written by his son. Apparently the stories were based on real-life events and started with the Reverend’s passion for railway. The first book was published in 1945 and it was first broadcasted on the ITV british network in September 1984 as Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. I didn’t know this, but the show featured some big celebrity narrators including Ringo Starr Alec Baldwin and Pierce Brosnan! Kids do have good taste in their shows! To find out more look HERE and HERE

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Cake: Pink Love, Engagement Cake

Who needs a cherry on top when there’s a ring?

Pink and white square cake with a ring on top to celebrate a happy day!

Congratulations M & S!!