Behind The Scenes at Cynthia Martyn Events

My Sweet Valentine: Meringue Cones

2010-02-12T18:42:00.004-05:00

Better Homes & Gardens has the most marvelous little ideas for the holidays. These meringue cones that hold tiny valentine messages are adorable and so easy to make. These would be perfect for a Summer wedding, handed out after dinner wouldn't they? Find the instructions HERE and enjoy the eye candy below. Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Butterbean

2010-01-30T00:15:00.001-05:00

I heart these signs by Chocolate Butterbean.

Style Me Pretty: "Bohemian Romance" Photo Shoot | The Details

2010-01-26T00:57:00.003-05:00

Ok, my last post for the Style Me Pretty shoot at the Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District. Here are some of my final fave details! Again, amazing photography by Mimmo Galati at Mimmo + Naz, and thank you again to the stellar team of Toronto vendors that came together to make this shoot an inspirational reality.

Style Me Pretty: "Bohemian Romance" Photo Shoot | The Tablescape

2010-01-26T00:32:00.018-05:00

Here are few close-ups of our tablescape! Shot in the Fermenting Cellar, at Toronto's historical Distillery District. We wanted a lush, full, romantic look for the table, and the contrast with the gritty, industrial backdrop of the venue made for great photographs. Soft & feminine decor with a raw industrial space works so well!

Photography by Mimmo+Naz

Style Me Pretty: "Bohemian Romance" Photo Shoot | The Dress & Accessories

2010-01-22T20:32:00.006-05:00

The dress for our bride was one of my favorite elements of the Style Me Pretty photo shoot. I was searching for a dress that wasn’t obviously a wedding gown, and it had to be in a red/pink or similar tone. After searching high and low all over the city, Cabaret Vintage came through for us in a huge way! Cabaret is a charming boutique with some of the most beautiful vintage dresses in the city. Tao & Elizabeth are amazing, and big thanks to them for loaning us this beauty of a dress! This particular vintage dress is called the “Truffle Dress” in raspberry, and I fell in love with the ruching details which seemed perfect for our “bohemian” affair.

The shoes were one of my bargain finds; last season's shoes by Guess available at a local discount fashion store - $79.00 on sale and they were perfect!

The red rose hair accessory was one of my own do-it-yourself projects which was so easy! If you would like to try making your own, you can see my DIY notes at the bottom of this post on Style Me Pretty.

Tomorrow - I will post more details and shots of the tablescape!

Toronto Style Team Participants:
Concept Design & Styling: Cynthia Martyn Events Inc. www.cynthiamartyn.com
Photography: Mimmo+Naz www.mimmoandnaz.com
Cake & Sweet Table: Cake Opera Co. www.cakeoperaco.com
Stationery Design: Bella Invites www.bellainvites.com
Floral Design: Fuscia Designs www.fusciadesigns.ca
Vintage Gown: Cabaret Vintage www.cabaretvintage.com
Hair & Makeup Styling: Faces By Carla www.facesbycarla.com
Rentals: Chairman Mills www.chairmanmills.com
Linens & Chair Overlays: Susan Murray International www.susanmurray.com
Favor Boxes and Packaging: Liloo www.liloo.ca
Caramel Apples: Bruce Co. Nut & Fudge www.nutandfudge.com
Calligraphy: Calligraphy By Diane www.calligraphybydiane.com
Venue: Fermenting Cellar, The Distillery District, Toronto www.fermentingcellar.ca

Style Me Pretty: "Bohemian Romance" Photo Shoot | Cake & Sweets

2010-01-21T23:37:00.008-05:00

A stellar team of Toronto wedding professionals recently teamed up for a very special photo shoot for one of our fave online wedding resources: Style Me Pretty. I was thrilled to assemble such an amazing and inspiring team to bring one of SMP's beautiful inspiration boards to life, and since we have SO much eye candy (over 270 photos were available from the shoot), I thought I would write up a few individual posts spotlighting each element of the design. The shoot itself was staged at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto's historic Distillery District, and this industrial backdrop was a fabulous location to stage this "Bohemian Romance" themed wedding shoot.

First up in our feature is the INCREDIBLE cake and sweets that were provided by Alexandria and Jessica at Cake Opera Co. When they brought their items in for the photo shoot, my jaw dropped, literally! Have you ever seen a cake like this? Alexandria & Jessica's skills are out of this world, and what a display! Nougats, bon bons, macarons, cannelles, it was sweet sensory overload!

Toronto Style Team Participants:
Concept Design & Styling: Cynthia Martyn Events Inc. www.cynthiamartyn.com
Photography: Mimmo+Naz www.mimmoandnaz.com
Cake & Sweet Table: Cake Opera Co. www.cakeoperaco.com
Stationery Design: Bella Invites www.bellainvites.com
Floral Design: Fuscia Designs www.fusciadesigns.ca
Vintage Gown: Cabaret Vintage www.cabaretvintage.com
Hair & Makeup Styling: Faces By Carla www.facesbycarla.com
Rentals: Chairman Mills www.chairmanmills.com
Linens & Chair Overlays: Susan Murray International www.susanmurray.com
Favor Boxes and Packaging: Liloo www.liloo.ca
Caramel Apples: Bruce Co. Nut & Fudge www.nutandfudge.com
Calligraphy: Calligraphy By Diane www.calligraphybydiane.com
Venue: Fermenting Cellar, The Distillery District, Toronto www.fermentingcellar.ca

Stay tuned tomorrow for more details from our shoot!

Winter Wedding in White & Turquoise

2010-01-18T00:05:00.005-05:00

Busy weekend! We just finished wrapping up our booth for Sash & Bustle at Toronto's most beautiful wedding show hosted by The Wedding Co. And, in addition, yesterday was wedding #3 of 2010! It is such a busy year for weddings, and we are loving every minute of it!

Here are a few pics I took of the this dreamy Winter wedding held at Toronto's Granite Club. Stemz provided the lovely florals, with stationery by Love The Design.

The Wish Tree:

Coral & Chocolate: A Love Story in the Fall (and a little dog named Phoebe)

2010-01-17T00:46:00.013-05:00

Fall is one of my favourite seasons for weddings, and I love it when we mix up the colours a bit like this warm, inviting affair at Toronto's Boulevard Club this past November. The room itself is in chocolate tones, so bringing in stunning coral & pink florals courtesy of our in-house design team really made the the room pop!

Amazing coral roses and dendrobium orchids in a Pave centerpiece arrangement.

I would call these centerpieces "Modern Woodsy", and they would look gorgeous in other colour schemes as well.

And, can you stand the cuteness? We asked the team to create a floral dog to emulate the couple's own mini schnauzer "Phoebe" who unfortunately had to miss the nuptials and stay at home. The "faux" Phoebe was also a tribute to the groom who is a Veterinarian.

Thank you to Laura Jane Petelko for the GORGEOUS photographs as always!

As Featured In WedLuxe Magazine!

2010-01-07T15:38:00.004-05:00

One of my super-cute 2009 couples was featured in WedLuxe magazine! Congrats Mike & Mel! Florals: Stemz and Photography: Rebecca Wood, Venue: Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner Museum. You can see all the images by CLICKING HERE.

Ice, Bubbles & Crystal: A Winter Wedding

2010-01-03T19:19:00.006-05:00

Happy New Year! Hope everyone has had an amazing holiday season with friends and family. Just posting a few images from a gorgeous Winter wedding we planned and designed for Nahla & Patrick at Toronto's Liberty Grand venue. We had two different moods, an icy lounge atmosphere in the Artifacts Room, followed by a Winter glam dinner reception in the Governor's Ballroom.

My fave design element - a stunning display of 8 carved ice vases topped with fresh florals.

Lovely calligraphy for the letterpress seating cards. Calligraphy by Barbara Kua. We placed the seating cards on 2 x 5 foot carnation beds that flanked the spectacular ice display.

Carnation spheres filled with pearlized glass baubles and mirror balls sat atop silver candleabras. Sweetheart table decor of lush florals and crystal candlesticks.

I love Winter weddings since we don't get to design for them as often as our Spring & Summer soirees. An abundance of white flowers, silver accents and a little bit of sparkle makes for a magical atmosphere.

From Inspiration to Reality: Style Me Pretty

2009-12-10T17:44:00.004-05:00

Cynthia Martyn Events is a proud member of Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book of Wedding Vendors. Abby, the founder, has created the most wonderful, all-encompassing wedding blogsite out there, and we are proud to be associated with this amazing resource for brides.

For regular SMP readers, you are likely familiar with the new "Inspiration To Reality" feature where readers get to design inspiration boards that they would like seen brought to life. It is a wonderful way for brides to assemble their favourite wedding and design elements, and have the pro's recreate their vision into a real-life tablescape. I recently partnered with a fabulous team of Toronto's wedding elite to choose a board that we will design and execute in a photo shoot later this month. We are all so excited about the winning board above, and can't wait to put together an amazing display for readers. Stay tuned for the results early in the New Year!

Style Me Pretty, Inspiration to Reality Toronto Style Team Members:

Design & Execution: Cynthia Martyn Events
Floral Design: Fuscia Designs
Cake: Cake Opera Co.
Stationery: Bella Invites
Photography & Cinematography: mimmo+naz
Hair & Makeup: Faces By Carla

Beth & John: Spring Awakening

2009-11-29T01:10:00.005-05:00

Beth & John were married in early Spring, during one of my fave months for weddings, April! The weather is usually just starting to warm up, and the most amazing Spring flowers are beginning to become available. The reception was held at the always popular Liberty Grand. Photography by the wonderful Anthony & Mike at 5ive 15ifteen and florals by Stemz.

Pat & Angela: Rustic Elegance in Muskoka

2009-11-20T00:50:00.005-05:00

I adore Muskoka weddings - lakeside ceremonies, casual atmosphere, great friends and family with you for not just one day, but typically the whole weekend! Pat & Ange got married up in Lake of Bays, Muskoka on a gorgeous September weekend. This wedding was all about the details - unique touches like miniature smores kits in each guest's cabin inviting them to a fireside welcome bonfire, hangover kits for everyone the day after, and in between, a gorgeous Fall wedding lakeside complete with haybales, brightly coloured pashminas, a mini pom pom toss and one amazingly well-behaved "Ring Dog" Ruben who played the part perfectly. Our photographer Jennifer Klementti took these beautiful images of the day.

There are not many places you can do a toss after a ceremony, so we took advantage of the opportunity with mini red, orange and chocolate poms.

When Pat & Angela determined they didn't really want a traditional wedding cake, we came up with a Muskoka version! The wood wedding cake was a great decor piece that held seating cards for dinner and was then re-purposed for after-dinner as a candlelit version guiding guests to the tent for dancing and more merriment!

Christine from Love The Card did an amazing job with all the printed elements from the booklet invitations, to the seating cards, labels for the smores kits, favour bags and hangover kits.

The mini smores kits waiting for each guest upon arrival on Friday night and a cheeky pose for the Hangover Kits that were needed on Sunday morning! We included mini packages of aspirin, stomach reliever, bottled water and granola bars.

Annie-Claude & Marcus: On the 54th Floor

2009-11-16T19:40:00.009-05:00

Annie-Claude & Marcus were an amazing couple that we worked with this past year to bring their Autumn glam nuptials together. The wedding reception was hosted at one of my favourite venues, Canoe Restaurant, on the 54th floor of the TD Tower. The sunsets are amazing at this spectacular restaurant!

Many people think that candy buffets are "done". I disagree, nothing is "done" if you love it. We designed a mini chocolate buffet for Annie-Claude and Marcus - lots of sweet treats including my fave pretzels and a unique candy shaped like small pebbles but with a yummy chocolate filling. And, who doesn't love rootbeer flavoured licorice sticks?!

Thank you so much to rockstar photographer Andrew Adams for such beautiful images of Annie-Claude & Marcus' special day.

New Beginnings for An Old Blog :)

2009-11-15T23:28:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the new blog home for Cynthia Martyn Events! I have been blogging since 2005, which was not too long after my event planning company was launched. After using the Typepad blogging platform for all this time, I wanted to change over to a new system that allowed me to have greater flexibility with blog features. Unfortunately I can't import my blog posts from the last 5 years, so if you would like to hop on over to my old blog and catch up on what has been happening all this time, feel free to VISIT THE OLD BLOG HERE!

I do have some gorgeous, fresh images of weddings this past Summer which I will upload to get us all back in the flow of things in my new blog home. I am also going to upload some of my personal faves from the past few years as well, so enjoy!

And, if you would like to read the shop blog for my bridal boutique in Toronto - you can find that over here: Sash & Bustle Shop Talk Blog.