EMBRACE THE COLD

Some couples choose to get married in the winter months, seeing it as an excuse to plan a destination wedding down south and get out of the cold. Other couples choose not only to embrace the cold weather our winter months are famous for, but head even further north to celebrate. If you're planning a winter wedding and fall into the 2nd category, Viva has the perfect place for you!

Since 2001 the Hôtel de Glace has wowed over half a million visitors. Open from the begining of January to the end of March, every year the hotel is redesigned and rebuilt in its entirety (which takes approximately five weeks). From the moment you enter the hotel, you'll be blown away by the amazing decor made entirely of ice and snow. Chandeliers (made of ice of course!) hang from 18 foot ceilings, artwork emerges from the walls of snow, and all the furniture is made of sheer ice.

There are 36 rooms and theme suites for guests to spend the night - yes, your bed is a block of ice but a wood boxspring and matress lie on top. There's an interior courtyard, an Ice Cafe, hot tubs, saunas, functional fireplaces, an ice slide (9 feet high and 53 feet long) and a reception room known as the Ice Bar - the perfect place to enjoy a little live entertainment and a cocktail or two.

And for those of you planning your wedding, there's the Chapel (pictured below) - a unique and simply beautiful place where couples exchange their vows each year. There are three wedding packages to choose from - The Romantic from $2199, the Exotic from $3899, and the Magical from $6199. Arrival in a horse drawn carriage, fireworks and open bar are all optional add-ons to help personalize your day.

The Hôtel de Glace is at Station touristique Duchesnay on the shores of Lac St-Joseph, just 30 minutes from Québec City.

TAKE ME TO THE BEACH!

Brrrr! While Viva loves winter weddings, we don't love winter. It's darn cold in Ottawa and after blogging about a hotel made of ice, we need a little something to warm us up! Lisa Vorce of Oh, How Charming! to the rescue!

Lisa was the creative mind behind this rustic beach wedding. Not the typical wedding we may invision when we think of a destination beach wedding but that's what got our attention. There isn't a detail here we don't love.

Photo Credits: Elizabeth Messina

SNEAK PEEK AT VÉRONIQUE & ANDREW'S WEDDING

Véronique & Andrew were the 1st place winners of Viva la wedding's Inspiration Board Contest back in July 2009. Details of their wedding to come but in the meantime, here is a teaser of the fab photobooth they created.

The photobooth was set up for guests to enjoy during the cocktail hour and throughout the night. Around the two framed cut-outs hung pictures of Véronique & Andrew's parents and grandparents on their own wedding days.

Needless to say, it was a big hit and made for some wonderfully unique photos!

TURQUOISE WEDDING

With Turquoise being declared the colour of the year by Pantone, we thought it was only right to provide you with a little inspiration.

The Schultzes took some amazing pictures of Jenn & Brad's wedding including this one of the gorgeous bride and her stylish groom in his turquoise blazer. Jenn's turquoise hair accessory provided the perfect touch of colour to complement Brad's blazer and complete their look.

Dying to see more? Here you go...

"Happy birthday to me"...

Yup today is my birthday, I won't say how old I am but they found my birth certificate with the dead sea scrolls.

Tonight I am having dinner at my favorite restaurant, Fore Street. If you ever have the chance to go please do and have the roast pork loin, if it's not the best meal you've ever had I will be more than just a little surprised.

For my gift my family is taking me to a Cirque du Soleil show on Wednesday night.

But the older I get the more I recognize my true gifts.

I give thanks every morning just for being alive, I am warm, dry, and well fed (maybe fed a little too well). I have family and friends that are far more valuable than any material thing I own (or could ever hope to own).

All these things (and more) make me feel like a very wealthy man.

Later tonight my mom will call exactly at my birth minute and the day will be complete.

After I apologize (yet again) for my teenage years I will have to give her a hard time though, when I scanned in this picture I realized (looking at the date) that it took her six months to develop the pictures from my first birthday.

Softbox & light tent for under $10!...

I was paroozing through IKEA and came across their white laundry bag ($9.99) and thought to myself "man, I can't believe it's 4 below zero, I wish I was somewhere warmer"... and then I thought "hey, this would make a cool light tent".


So off to Google to do a search and sure enough other people had the same idea.

Now if you really can't figure out how to actually use it as a light tent you can head over to instructables for the details.


But what I had not considered and Mikko Reinikainen did was using the IKEA hamper for a diffuser/soft box.

Below you will see his setup using a Nikon SB-24 to shoot through the hamper for soft portrait light and a sample of one of those portraits.

Click on any of the images to view larger and in a new window.

Unattainable beauty...

This video is both interesting and eerie, but mostly, it's sad.

Sad because the message is telling young women (my daughters) that this artificially created women is a standard to which they should aspire.

If this video does not appear in your email just follow this link.