Bouquets of the Non-Blooming Variety

They do exist! Thanks to Forever Bouquets & Accessories, the recently-blossomed brainchild of Toronto local Emily Pike, brides can opt to carry stunning bouquets made of vintage jewellery and other bits and baubles if they’re not into the usual floral option.

Forever Bouquets & Accessories came to life when Emily wanted to forgo using flowers at her wedding and was thinking of other items to substitute in for the expected blossoms. Daring to be different after working in the bridal industry for years at Lift Beauty Boutique, she had her heart set on carrying a vintage jewelled clutch down the aisle - but decided she needed a compromise that would still give her the desired traditional vibe.

Enter her genius idea to combine the two for a bejewelled bouquet with a twist. Emily raided her own stash of costume  jewellery  for sentimental items such as her very first watch and a set of chandelier earrings that she wore to prom, and also asked her friends and family if they had anything that they could offer into the mix. After rounding out the various baubles with filler from crafts and antique stores, she had her very own custom meaningful bouquet that totally wowed her guests (including me) at the ceremony!

The overwhelmingly positive response from guests and other brides who saw her innovative creation has boomed into a new business, which also includes beautiful accessories.

Brides can work with Emily to customize the look and contents of their bouquets for their own unique bridal style statement or order headbands and other headpieces for their themselves or bridesmaids as well.

Check out Forever Bouquets & Accessories’s facebook page to get in touch with Emily and check out more of her creations.

(top two images by Storey Wilkins photography)

My CityLine Debut

One of the big things I worked on during my first two weeks at the magazine was the Style At Home episode of CityLine. Keeping in line with the content from the June issue, I did a taped walk through of my apartment as well as an in-studio segment on Style At Home’s trendspotting coloumn, which was all about zig-zags and chevrons! (not a stretch for a missoni maniac such as myself!)

My past job at THA had me assisting behind the scenes on putting together similar types of segments so I knew what I was signing up for, but standing in front of the camera solo was a whole new ballgame! Thankfully the awesome producer Anita and cameraman Scott gave me plenty of tips and our managing editor Tamara Robins Griffith gave me fab advice like the seasoned pro that she is.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out so please take a peek at the episode on the CityLine webpage to get a good look at my apartment and see some fabulous ways to inject some zig-zag’s into your own space!

PS- a special thanks to all the awesome suppliers that lent us product to show off in the studio and an even bigger thanks to the CityLine crew, including the super sweet Tracy Moore, who welcomed me with open arms :)

Full Article Up on StyleatHome.com

For those of you in the states who can’t pick up a copy from your local newsstand, the full article and large photos are now up on Styleathome.com

Happy Reading!

Engagement Party Cookie Favours

Our engagement party that my generous parents threw for us was last weekend and it was absolutely wonderful! Dave and I had smiles plastered across our faces the entire night and both of our families and friends had an amazing time.

In addition to making sure the soiree incorporated some of my favourite things, such as pink peonies and signature cocktails, I also dove headfirst into the Martha-inspired task of making homemade sugar cookie favours for an edible and memorable save the date treat to our guests.

Inspired by our silhouettes that we used on our invitations by Paper Ideas, I had custom cutters made by Victor Trading Co to match our eerily accurate profiles. My mother and I made 12 batches of my favourite sugar cookie dough, baked them up and then iced them over four very long nights. Rolling them all out took twice as long as anticipated (my pesky ponytail didn’t want to cooperate) and piping them first and then flooding later with the royal icing proved to be super time-consuming! We packaged them in cello bags with a scalloped card backing to help protect them from breaking and tied them up with black and white grosgrain and the little save the date card.

Despite my incessant borching throughout the lengthy process, the favours turned out great so here are some snaps I took of the cookies out of their packaging and next to our invite so you can get a closer look of our hard work:

PS- this weekend we also had our engagement portrait session with our wedding photographer Storey Wilkins!  We got dressed up and had some fun with nature and props, so I can’t wait to share some proofs when they come in :)

Decor Spotting in Bridal Fashion Ads

You can take the bride out of the decorator but you can’t take the decorator out of the bride!

As I flip through the pages of my endless pile of bridal mags, I can’t help but ooh and aah over the little decor moments I spot in the various fashion advertisements.

Take for instance the gallery wall hiding behind this Judd Waddell gown. You don’t always see a gallery wall aligned perfectly into a linear shape so it definitely caught my eye!

The Parisian parquet flooring and marshmallow and buttercream yellow painted panelled walls made me pause in this Ivy and Aster ad.

The princess and the pea vibe of this Lela Rose Bridesmaid for Dessy ad made me swoon with its pretty pink floral wallpaper and various fabrics used for the mattresses. The mix of ticking, various sheen levels and bold patterns would make any boho gal swoon with delight!

The stacked gold chiavari chairs and tone on tone paneled walls seen in this Liancarlo ad are very in tune with my own bridal vision.  Love the dress too!

It’s Arrived! Style At Home’s June Issue

The Style At Home spread of our apartment made its way to subscribers today as part of the June 2011 issue and it looks absolutely awesome! The entire editorial team did a magnificent job putting it together and of course, I cannot thank senior design editor Margot Austin and photographer Stacey Brandford enough!

I don’t want to give too much away, so make sure you buy the issue when it hits newsstands on the 9th and check out my blog posts, including before and after photos, on the Style At Home blog at styleathome.com/jessicawaks

I will also be filming a walk through of the apartment for CityLine so stay tuned for details of when that will air!