Another off-season month means another wedding show. This time we were able to participate in the Love, Handmade Wedding Show, which is a little different than other shows since it is held at night, is licensed, has a signature cocktail and held in a very unique venue.
This year the show was held at the St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts in the downtown area. This old church is absolutely stunning and although I never would have thought of it as a wedding show venue, it worked wonderfully! The combination of small booths on and in front of the main stage at the front of the church and the tabletop displays resting atop the pews of the church really created a fantastic feel. And of course, all of that nice soft light filtering through the stained glass windows was pretty special too.
Love, Handmade is also a smaller show, which we absolutely love as it gives us a bit more time with each couple as they walk around the venue. It also means we can actually chat with pretty much all of the other vendors, since there are only a handful of us. From a bride’s perspective it seems to be a lot less overwhelming to have a smaller selection of people to chat with about your wedding day, and of course this particular show offered some tasty beverages for everyone to enjoy.
As you likely saw in our Tie the Knot recap, our regular booth these days consists of a great big pink wall. I absolutely love that wall and the booth decor that goes along with it, but honestly this show just didn’t lend itself to the size or complexity of that booth design. And that of course meant that I spent the last few weeks going through my brain trying to find a new, smaller, simpler version of our show booth. Ultimately I was inspired by the amazing eucalyptus garland we still had from the previous show (made for us by Pollen Nation) and really just went looking for a way to highlight it since it dried so nicely after that show.
In short, the booth consisted of our background stand covered in some chiffon curtains I sewed up, the garland and some fairy lights. This was accented by some furniture and prints from our regular booth, a new table that I am so in love with and a floral arrangement that I whipped together the day before the show since I forgot to ask one of the florists to help us out with that. All in all, I think it turned out pretty well and flowed nicely with the other booths and decor at the show, which is always a plus.
I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to get shots of other vendors’ booths (apparently setting up a new booth design, even one as simple as the one we had, takes more time than you would guess), but I did get a chance to venture down the aisle of decor design atop the pews.
Opportunity Knocks Events did an absolutely fabulous job, as always, with their super colourful and fun tabletop design. Among the beautiful flowers (from Pollen Nation) and stationary (from Ink Blossom), the team had put together a really fresh design with pops of bold colour and tasty donuts. It really was a great use of colour without going too far over the top as they kept with neutral place settings and a tablecloth to keep everything grounded.
Cait from bourbon & Bloom had put together a truly elegant table top. The black, white and gold design really worked well with the venue and was accented wonderfully by the beautiful floral arrangement put together by Cait. I loved how she used a really great colour combination that I wouldn’t have thought of and that the arrangements were full of whimsy! The classically designed champagne flutes and wine glasses in a bold gold colour really added so much flair and class to the design, but I think my favourite aspect was actually the simple black candle sticks. I’m not entirely sure why, but I was really drawn to them.
Of course there were some amazing dresses to view there, including Arroh & Bow Infinity Dresses. These dresses are such a great option for bridesmaids as they come in what seems like a million colours and have virtually endless options for how they can be done up. But really the best thing about them is that when the wedding day is over, these are still such a great staple dress to have in your closet (added bonus, it’s not really a dress that screams bridesmaid either – which is always a plus for your entourage).
There were so many fantastic vendors at the show, but sadly I wasn’t able to get around to every booth with my camera. But hopefully you were able to attend the show and got to see them for yourself. This really was a super fun show, although I was super exhausted by the end of the night and by the time we got home, I pretty much just did a face-plant into my pillow and passed out.
