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vendor reviews: decorators
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Original designs from Decorating Dreams create elegance & breathtaking romance Reviewing Lori Lawrence and Mark Boshart, Owners, Decorating Dreams
Decorating Dreams is about personality and style. Their success revolves around designing countless wedding dreams each year without losing the personal attention that lets you know you're truly taken care of here.
Lori Lawrence and Mark Boshart, Owners of Decorating Dreams, offer the décor you've been dreaming of, the selection that only a huge inventory of options, themes, props and colours can provide, and the assurance of working with a company that is famous in the area for being among the best in their craft. Let us explain why we singled out Decorating Dreams as the experts they are...
A personal business You can see a Decorating Dreams display from any point of the room at a bridal show and their booth is always packed with brides. In fact, in the local wedding world, Decorating Dreams was the first decorator to catch our eye and be reviewed in The Ring. It may have been due in part to their open, outgoing personalities, or more because they made it obvious they knew how to make a statement with décor... Either way, it didn't take too long to find several more reasons to love this company.
Well-respected by local experts, and loved by local brides, Decorating Dreams is a family-run, small-town inspired company run by brother and sister design team, Mark Boshart and Lori Lawrence. And while the New Hamburg address might throw you at first, you can be assured that there's nothing small-town about their innovative designs, bright colours, and infinite number of stylish props you'll have to choose from when you meet with these decorating gurus.
Mark and Lori are now entering their fourteenth season of 'decorating dreams', having decorated well over a thousand weddings across the Kitchener-Waterloo area, and it's a unique combination of talents that brought them to this point. Mark’s background in graphic design and woodworking allows him to hand-craft many of the pieces that they use in their weddings. This allows Decorating Dreams to create original and unique backdrops, arches and specialty items that you won't see anywhere else.
Lori's background as a banquet manager for ten years entailed the designing and managing of weddings and other events. This experience made it easy for Lori to serve brides and grooms with the personal attention she knew they needed throughout their planning process.
For her August 8, 2008 wedding, Kate Poirier hired Decorating Dreams and told us, "... as someone who works in the service industry, I value exceptional customer service and attention to detail and Lori exemplified this. Lori was extremely patient, flexible and truly a pleasure to work with. She took the time to go over everything with me, which was so important because I was planning my wedding from Ottawa and couldn't get back to see everything. She sent me photos during the planning stages and was very flexible and accommodating with the rental return process. What stood out the most was her attention to detail, as well as her complete honesty. It was comforting and refreshing to feel that she truly cared about the look of my wedding day... She respected my budget and offered creative solutions. I would recommend her to anyone; in fact, my sister has hired Lori for her wedding this coming June and is thrilled with the service so far."
Between Mark and Lori, this company offers wedding day expertise, beautiful designs, and the ability to custom-manufacture just about anything.
Loving what they do Lori and Mark love creating weddings so they put their heart and soul into every one of them. Even with years of experience, Lori still talks about her work with passion, "After fourteen years in business, I still walk into one of our fully decorated halls and feel such gratification. I'm so proud of our business and of what it has become today. I treat every wedding like it is my own!"
Angie A. hired Lori and Mark for her outdoor ceremony and reception décor on September 26, 2008. What stood out for her about Lori was "such interest in my wedding and a referral that her things are in impeccable shape compared to other decorators."
With knowledge and experience behind them, Mark and Lori never stop learning and adding to what they can offer their brides.
Brides have the choice of a variety of elements involving rich satin, elegant chiffon and organza fabrics, faux flowers you have to touch to know they aren’t real, romantic lighting, and several matching elements of décor that you have to see to get the full picture. "She had samples of everything on hand and what she didn't have, she agreed to get in time for my wedding (which was only about three months away)," Angie told us. "When I called to check on her, she said, 'Oh those, I got those a long time ago for you. Don't you worry'."
Katie told us that her she remembers walking into her reception space and seeing Lori and her team transform the room, "Her team was working efficiently and did not waste any time. It was clear that Lori was taking pride in the set-up process and had rolled up her sleeves to make everything just right. I was so glad I got to witness this important moment."
Showing off Decorating Dreams have a newly renovated studio located in New Hamburg, where they show off hints of their work and offer portfolios of hundreds of options. Lori and Mark explain that by keeping their main office in-home, Decorating Dreams maintains a low overhead and thus their prices can remain lower too.
Pricing it out When you think of personal decorators, your first thought is that you can’t afford one! Lori and Mark can create wedding dreams of all sizes, within all budgets.
Decorating Dreams provides tons of options while offering the simplicity of a straight forward, detailed price list to each bride and groom that visit them. "The best part about their style is that it is customizable, as mentioned above - they can fit all tastes and styles," Katie told us. "There were many options for all different price ranges and tastes. Some decorators have a particular style that is either 'too funky' or 'too traditional' - Lori had a mix of both and was full of ideas on how to personalize our day."
For an idea on what to budget... a bride can have a fully decorated backdrop complete with lighting and fabrics for $300 to $450. A wrought iron arch wrapped in ivy and flowers of your choice and colour can mark the entrance of your church or banquet room for $195. Lori says that ninety percent of their brides ask for chair covers or ceiling treatments. A full ceiling treatment involves between four and eight billowing soft white canopy sleeves, draping the room end to end. Canopies transform a room into another world, for between $250 and $450. "Chair covers are also a very big request," says Lori. "They completely change the look of a room." They are washed and neatly stored for every event. You'll have many options to choose from including rich, organza sashes in pink, black, chocolate brown, navy blue, sky blue, ice purple, red, army green, burgundy, apple green, lime, copper, orange, fuschia, ocean blue, gold and yellow.
Married August 9, 2008, Jen Connolly told us that other than loving the fact Lori had the exact colour she was looking for, she loved that each item had a set price. "So you can add as many items to fit within your budget. We had our ceremony and reception locations decorated, they both looked amazing and we were able to stay within our budget. Also, since we were decorating both the ceremony and reception, it was so nice that we were able to move items from the ceremony to the reception. So we didn’t have to pay for two sets of one item that we wanted at both location. We received amazing value for what we received."
Favourite touches When it comes to style and trends, Decorating Dreams never seems to miss a beat. We love the fact that Mark and Lori make most of their props and designs in-house, allowing them to stay ahead of the fold with innovative new designs each season. They've always been able to tie their decor in with what a bride wants, when she wants it. To prove it, you'll find their newest customizable backdrops to be a mix of elegant, classical and contemporary styles - all without being fussy or overly complicated.
Yes, the prices at Decorating Dreams are very affordable, but at the same time, their low prices obviously do not indicate their level of quality. Everything is beautiful here. (Just take a look at these photos!) Just talking to Mark and Lori gives you the confidence of knowing that they will deal with every last detail personally. "I needed vendors I could rely on and Lori was one of those vendors..." Angie told The Ring. "I could have got some of my vendors cheaper, but piece of mind is worth some cash, my friends!"
Take the pressure off your day... All prices include delivery, set-up and take-down. Because many halls demand that your hall be clean by 2 or 3 am, this means lots of work for Mark and Lori, and peace of mind for you. They are hands on at every wedding and they admit that they rarely get to sleep on weekends and often find themselves starting their Saturday only a short few hours after midnight. Regardless of the pressure of strange hours, the requirement of climbing ceilings to install canopies and the job of flawlessly arranging every floral stem and every fold of fabric, Mark and Lori just shrug it off... "It all goes with the territory and we love what we do! We love decorating weddings!... Our passion and commitment is providing unique and stylish products, attention to detail and excellent customer service."
Booking Decorating Dreams Brides usually contact Decorating Dreams at least six to twelve or more months before their wedding day. To find out more, visit the Decorating Dreams web site at www.decoratingdreams.ca or call Lori at 519-662-6880. You can also email Lori at decoratingdreams@golden.net. She’ll be happy to answer any of your questions or set up an appointment to visit their showroom.
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Jennifer Goulden, TheWeddingRing.ca |
