Yaletown Wedding and Event Planning

Planning a wedding or big event soon? If so, take some advice from Yaletown’s own LeLe Chan and create something memorable.

Let’s be honest, weddings in general have become a bore. I have always dreaded weddings. They always seem to fall on long weekends and with the cookie-cutter approach to the day, weddings have simply become monotonous.

In planning for our wedding almost 3 years ago now, my wife and I looked high and low for a wedding planner that could put our ideas of a perfect day into action. The last thing we wanted was ‘just another wedding’. We wanted something over the top, but also wanted the creativity of the event to be the focal point- rather than the money spent. We wanted some formality to the day, but also wanted some whimsical fun as well where guests wouldn’t feel so stuffy, uncomfortable and bored.

After meeting with 5 wedding planners, we finally found one that was as excited about our day as we were. All the others simply did not understand what it was we were wanting. Our theme was the highly stylized interpretation of the film Marie Antoinette, directed by Sofia Coppola and heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick. As you can see, this is not the easiest of styles to pull off.

Anyone can spend money to attain a specified look, but it takes heaps of creativity to exceed expectations and still come in under, or at least within budget.

With the continued downturn of the economy, people want their dollars to go farther and in order for this to happen a good planner needs to be very resourceful. In the past weddings have been an over the top experience with no money being spared in order to create that out of this world WOW factor. According to LeLe Chan of Lé Soirées Wedding and Events, the wedding and event paradigm has been turned upside down in recent years and says the economy is to thank for it.

It would seem an unusual thing to be thankful for but after a mere 2 sips of my coffee with LeLe, I knew exactly what she was meaning. LeLe’s competitive advantage has always been her ability to think outside the box and with the recent shift in spending behaviour of her clients, this advantage has allowed her to stand tall amongst her competition. In the past LeLe has always sought clients that desired something a little unique, if not a lot out of the ordinary. Now, with the help of the economy her potential clients are seeking her out.

People still want an out of this world wedding or event; now they are just choosing to define what this means a little differently. Wedding photographers are seeing the shift as well. Newlyweds nowadays want their personality to show through and as such are choosing unconventional themes, costumes, and ideas to be prevalent throughout their big day.

It takes a special kind of event planner to take a loosely created concept and work it into a well thought-out cohesive event that potentially hundreds of guests will not only appreciate, but also understand.
Lé Soirées Wedding and Events Planning offers à la carte services including:

• complete hand-holding of entire event
• consulting / guidance
• ‘day of’ orchestrating

So if you have a big event coming up, keep this boutique wedding and event planner in mind, and sit back and enjoy.

Future Face of Yaletown of LeLe Chan is coming soon, so stay tuned.

(update: Face of Yaletown is now LIVE! Check it out)