Cocktails and Cake // 5th Wedding Anniversary

This originally was a simple idea. Cake and cocktails to follow a surprise anniversary dinner out for our friends. It escalated quickly. We had 2 signature cocktails from their wedding. Easy. But then I added over 100 pink balloons (it's not a party without balloons...am I right or am I right?), gold confetti cannons and a disco ball in the bathroom. I special ordered edible flowers from Whole Foods to garnish the naked chocolate bourbon cake and each cocktail. I loved having the edible flowers in each cocktail because you knew which glass was yours because each flower was so different. I also grabbed a photo from the couples Instagram and made a poster for the wall (pictured below). It's said that Marie Antoinette whispered the words, "let them eat cake"... well guess what...I did for the next two days. 

Cheers,

Charysse

#thesnowshoedozen // Night Snowshoe Tour at Cypress Mountain

As a teenager I loved going up to Cypress Mountain. It's been almost 20 years since I've made the long 30 minute trek up the mountain. I'd like to blame being an adult and being way too busy as to why I haven't been up the mountain in so long. But there really is no excuse. Every winter as it starts to settle in, I find I start to dread the thought of another long wet winter. I wanted this year and the ones to follow to be different. Hence the snowshoe tour...and I can't wait till next winter!

From January to the end of March Cypress Mountain offers quite a few options for snowshoe tours.  The one I chose was the live music snowshoe tour. It's $75/person and it includes all your rentals, private tour guide (roughly 12 in a group, up to 3 groups), live music at the Hollyburn Lodge, hot apple cider and appetizers. It was the type of fun you have as a kid. Playing in snow, throwing snowballs and to finish it off (for the adult in us), live music in a cozy lodge from the 1920's. Thank you Cypress. We will be back.

Booking starts in the late fall:
https://www.cypressmountain.com/snowshoetours/

Cheers,

Charysse

The Dinner // #theteepeeten

I live in 640 sq ft with no dining room table, so any opportunity to have a sit down dinner party, I take. Our weekend in Golden, BC was to for sure provide us with some picnic tables. Along with my uber multiple talented friend, we started planning.

I wanted to do a mix and match feel with plates. We sourced 10 salad and 10 dinner plates from friends and thrift shops. I used mason jars for glasses and vintage silverware. I also bought white linen napkins which I pressed before we left.

I'm not a huge DIY person, but remember that multi talented friend I mentioned? Her name is Serena and I put her charge of this because I knew she'd knock it out of the park. Homemade citronella outdoor candle from empty alcohol bottles. She used three different alcohol bottles (the Hendricks bottle was my fave). You can find most of the supplies in the plumbing department. You will see three of these on our table. For instructions on how to do this click here.

My favourite parts about these evenings is the company it keeps. Good laughs, good music, good food and a warm summer night - those nights seem far and between, but when it comes together I'm so grateful.

Show my friend some love at her Etsy shop, Le Prism.

Cheers!

Charysse

Teepee's in Golden, BC // #theteepeeten

In August we drove 710km from Vancouver to Golden for 5 couples to stay in 4 teepee's. There's a risk involved getting 10 people to commit to driving that far...because it better pay off. This story is one of a happy ending which means it paid off...big time. 

This teepee camp is part of Goldenwood Lodge. The camp includes 7 teepees (some of them can sleep up to 5 people.) There is a common area with a full kitchen with everything you could possibly need and heated washrooms.

Behind the teepee camp is a man made pond. But this pond has a pump which circulates and filters the water which means it's basically a mini lake. Lots of fish, little toads and dragon flies to keep us company.

One huge bonus was the free firewood. This may seem like a small thing, but it saved us money and chopping wood became quite the activity for everyone to partake in. Firewood was very much needed. It would be so cold at night, but by 10am the weather would be up to 30 degrees. And with no fire ban, we had that fire roaring for coffee in the morning and for s'mores every night.

Below are some photos of our time there. Between the happy hours and spending the afternoon at Blaeberry river, I can't wait to go back. Is it summer yet?

Check out our Instagram video from the weekend here.

Cheers,

Charysse

Swan Lake Lingerie Shower // #swansoiree

This past December I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid for one of my closest friends! Along with the maid-of-honour we had the fun job of the lingerie/bachlorette. As you can tell by the title, our theme was Swan Lake. Here are some details that made this shower extra special:

• Five tier champagne tower (takes 55 coupe glasses);
• Custom champagne labels;
• A huge swan pool floaty that we named Swanson and took to dinner with us later that night;
• 100 clear helium balloons;
• Custom invitations and a poster for the wall;
• Rolling rack to display lingerie (we asked all guests to not wrap the gifts). We thought this gave the shower a "dress rehearsal" vibe;
• Voting cards to hang over the guests favourite pieces with the intended purpose of the soon to be bride to try on the top three;
• Custom handmade feather "Swan Lake" headpiece for the bride;
• A 2 hour Swan Lake ballet played on the projector;
• A request for the guests to dress in a ballet or swan inspired outfit and all in black. Making the bride the only white swan in the room.

Photography done by the one and only Three Knuckle Photography.

To see more photos click here.

Cheers,

Charysse

#TOURDETRON

What the heck is Tour de Tron? If it sounds made up, it's because it is. This year is the first year, since I was a kid, that I had a bike. Because of this new found love for spending time with my bike, I gave birth to Tour de Tron. I coupled this with my husbands love for sunsets. 

We had an amazing group of 30 people. We met at Science World at 7:45pm for a lift off time of 8pm. I had planned to have three speakers with the same playlist - front, middle and back of the group. I also made up screen savers with our Tour de Tron logo and handed out #TOURDETRON2015 stickers to everyone. Our route took us along the seawall, through English Bay and around Stanley Park to finish off in Third Beach.

Once we arrived at the beach, my friend let off a pink smoke bomb which was pretty smokin' awesome. A few rounds of glow in the dark bocce and at 11:30pm we all rode home in the pitch black with only our LED coloured lights leading the way - everyone ringing their bells in bliss. 

Photography: Three Knuckle Photography
Instagram Video of the night: Watch here

Cheers,

Charysse

#TENYEARSOFHIGHKICKS - The Party

Here is what I knew before the party: I knew there was a party for us. I did the invites. How? My parents decided to keep the location a secret until a couple hours before the party. That way it really would be a surprise for us, but also add anticipation for the event. Sure enough everyone (except us) got a text naming the location which was the second floor at the Georgia Hotel in the Tutor Room. I can say this as a statement: It was the best night of my life. The stress of a wedding and even the people who attend your wedding you might not ever see again as a married couple. But after ten years together, the people there have impacted both of our lives. I call it a love bubble.

Here are some of the details I loved about our party: My favourite movie Top Hat playing on a projector on the wall. The confetti. The take home favour gifts for the guests were chocolate chip mint macaron's made by my friend Serena. The confetti. The fact that you could order a mint julep and in fact get it in a julep cup. The confetti. Oh and did I mention confetti? It was mandatory to dance to the first song which was to Ain't no Mountain High Enough by Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye. The confetti went off at the perfect moment and that moment will forever be with me. EVERYTHING that night was courtesy of my parents and I can't say thank you enough! 

Why #TENYEARSOFHIGHKICKS? On our wedding invitation we have a photo of Dustin high kicking and thought it would express how we felt about our ten years together.

The Cake: Le Gateau Bakeshop
Photography: Three Knuckle Photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,
Charysse