Noteworthy's Update

It's true! Noteworthy Designs has moved. There are lots of changes for us in the near future and one of them has been moving back to Calgary! It was bittersweet - sad to leave Medicine Hat but also glad to be 'home' in Calgary.

Thank you to our Medicine Hat past clients and fabulous vendors that we had the privilege to work with. I appreciated your support and encouragement during our time in Medicine Hat.

Past clients - I do look forward to continuing to hear updates on your lives! If you are ever in Calgary, I do enjoy a coffee catch up!

Past vendors - I will continue to check your blogs (those that have them, of course) and see what is happening with your endeavors as well. I believe it is an exciting time for Medicine Hat's wedding industry and look forward to watching it grow from afar.

Another Noteworthy Designs update is a little more personal. My husband and I are expecting our first child in May. We cannot wait!

photo from duematernity.com. And no, it isn't me in that photo!

With that, things with Noteworthy Designs will be evolving and changing...for the better. Stay tuned for an announcement soon.

Contest for Christmas

My friend and fellow coordinator, Terra Law from Inspired Occasions is having a great contest on her blog! Seriously check it out - if I was getting married again, I would love to win it! The winner will be fortunate to have 16 customized Out of Town welcome bags (OOT). It is a nice touch to offer your out of town guests - a way to get them excited for your wedding, to thank them for travelling to your wedding and to welcome your guests in style.

The contest is open to residents of Canada and the U.S.A. and closes December 31, 2008 so be sure to get your entry in early. A winner will be selected by Inspired Occasions and announced by January 7, 2009.

To enter send an email to terra@inspiredoccasions.ca. Be sure to write CONTEST in the subject line. Include your wedding date along with a brief description of you and your fiancé, your vision for your upcoming wedding day and why it’s important for you to welcome your guests in style.

Photos taken from Inspired Occasions.

Natasha & Wayne

A beautiful September day marked the wedding of Natasha & Wayne. It was a beautiful day. Natasha was stunning in her gown, Wayne looked great all dressed up and their kidlets looked so cute in their wedding outfits too.

The ceremony was at the lovely Fifth Avenue United and reception at the fabulous Desert Blume Golf Club. The photographer for the day was Renee Michiel from Flare Photography. I have been looking forward to working with her for so long and it was great! Renee posted a great blog about the wedding here and here. I borrowed some photos from her (with her permission) and will post more when I get them.

Congratulations Wayne & Natasha. It was a joy working on your wedding with you and sharing in your day.

Stationery all provided by Noteworthy Designs
Wayne designed a great faux mantel to highlight the fireplace. With the monograms, candles and flowers it look phenomenal!
Here is the talented Renee and I at the end of a very long day!

Marina & Bruce

On a lovely, hot day in July, Noteworthy Designs was a part of the union between Marina & Bruce. They were a lovely couple that we started by doing their invitations and that leaded into a "Day Of" package.

The ceremony and reception were both held at the Shriners Center in Bowness in Calgary right along the river. They couldn't have asked for a better day and the guests were thankful for all the little touches - including bottled water, sunscreen and insect repellent.

I was able to get some photos of their day from their photographer Sarah Khalland. In addition to wedding photography, Sarah owns a fabulous business called "she was stunning". The concept is amazing and Sarah is doing very well! Keep it up! Love women entrepreneurs. Speaking of which, Marina is also an entrepreneur and wanted to support as many other women entrepreneurs (i.e Noteworthy Designs too!) as their wedding vendors. Marina owns Cadbury Banks - a personal shopping and creative gift giving business.

This is Marina and myself just before the ceremony!

Marina and her dad starting to walk down the aisle. Those lovely topiary's were made by a friend and they looked great!

Marina was so happy and looked beautiful!

And Bruce was so proud and handsome!

They preformed a hand binding ceremony and had a great use for the cloth at the reception (see the photo further down).

What a great location with a lovely waterfall in the river. The gazebo was great for such a hot day - the bridal party used it to their advantage!

Married! With rose petals showering them as they walked down the aisle.

Love the mood in this one!


And who can resist loving colored shoes! I love this trend!


I like the sassy-ness of this photo - that is Marina for you!!


Having fun at Bowness Park.
Marina's florals were beautiful and I loved the feathers and the wire twists througout.


The hand binding cloth from the ceremony was filled with messages from their guests to hang in their home.


Very simple, yet effective centrepieces. Marina & Bruce named the tables by places they like to frequent - how unique!


Ummm, any local Calgarian would know where these are from! Crave Cupcakes always taste great.

I have a feeling this may have been the toast to the groom by the best man (his brother). Bruce looks worries and Marina looks like she is soaking it all in!


Marina and her dad had a wonderful dance. I think it is so cute!


Here are Marina and Bruce along with Terra (who assisted me from Inspired Occasions) and myself. Terra was an awesome help and I couldn't have done it without her. We had a lot of fun and I look forward to working with her some more! Check out her blog for some photos of another wedding that we worked together.

Wild Wedding

On the Sunday of the long weekend, I had the opportunity to assist Terra from Inspired Occasions with one of her weddings. Terra and I know each other through our Wedding Planners Institute of Canada alumni program and have worked together on one of my Noteworthy Designs weddings (which I still will blog about - I just got some great pictures to share!).

Back to the Wild Wedding. Check out Terra's blog for some pictures of the wedding and details. Terra was fabulous to work with and I wouldn't hesitate to refer couples in Calgary to her. She also does great stationery (who wouldn't love a gal who does weddings AND stationery - we are meant to be!). Terra helps me with a surprise for all my brides...but I don't want to give it away! Guess you'll just have to book me...hee hee.

Photo Shoot

On Friday I had the opportunity to get some photos done for my website. Rachel at Madchen Studios here in Medicine Hat has been doing some product photos for my stationery lines and also did some of myself for my site. I can't wait to see them!! I had a great time seeing her studio setup and chatting with her....until.... I got bit!!

We did our studio shots and then were heading to an outdoor location for a great background. We were all set up ready to go and a bee (or a wasp - I really have no clue and cannot tell the difference) went in Rachel's hair. We swatted it out then it went in mine and got it out right away too. Phew. Or so I thought. Then it bit me. Little bugger. Right on my upper arm on the inside. At first it hurt, but just like getting a needle. There were two stingers in my arm and I could get one out, then used my tweezers (from my wedding emergency kit - see - it always comes in handy!!) to get the other one out. It wasn't as bad as I remember...until later.

The next day I woke up to a great big red ball on my arm. Then as the day progressed - it got bigger (in covering my arm and in swollen-ness). It covered like half my arm and was so itchy. Anyways, it is now going back down (back to the size of Saturday morning) and feeling better (3 days later!). So yes, I felt bad for myself and got my husband too as well.

Here is my favorite part (I hope I can share this part!). Rachel's son came to the outdoor location with us to help hold the reflector (is that what it is called?!?). He informed me that he was getting paid to do this (he is six - did I mention that?? And so super cute!). Then after I got bit, I gave up and said we were done (and none of us wanted to stay around there any longer anyways). He asked his mom (Rachel) "umm, do I still get paid for this?" It was so cute. Loved it. Took a little bit of the pain away!

Can't wait to see Rachel's photos. Check out her blog too - love her work!!

I took some photos of my arm - wanna see? It probably looks quite lame, but it hurt!! And still does. I'll get back to our regular schedule this week - we were in Calgary for a Sunday wedding (great wedding, despite the bad weather - snow, rain and mud!).

The morning after the sting - not too bad.
This was the afternoon the day after the sting - but it got much bigger and wrapped around my arm and was really puffy.

Manners Monday

Today's question is:

There are some single friends/ family that we are inviting to our wedding. When do I have to allow them to invite a guest/ escort to our wedding? Can I just invite the person who I actually want to have at our wedding?

And the answer is there are a few times that it is etiquette to invite say "Jennifer & Guest". If Jennifer is married or engaged, then yes, you should invite both of them. If Jennifer and the significant other live together, they must be invited. Otherwise, it isn't necessary to invite an "and guest" unless you are able to in numbers and budget - as it is a nice gesture.