To Suit Your Fancy has a décor inventory that they say is one of the largest in Southwestern Ontario (and growing), and along with it, a portfolio that exhibits hundreds of wedding fairytales that have been brought to life by this nine year old décor company. Jackie Philips, a managing decorator for weddings in the London area, designed over sixty local weddings last year alone and is ready and excited for more this year so she can offer brides the newest décor trends and her latest items, like damask print table cloths, a six foot chandelier, tons of new linen colours, LED colour-changing lights, and more. Specifics can be found on their newly designed website, where you can also create a wish list of your favourite ideas.

With Jackie and the To Suit Your Fancy team, you can expect competitive pricing, a personal approach, and a world of options. Jackie knows that every couple has their own personality, taste, style and wedding dreams. She also knows that it's her job to figure out what they are, and then design them, which you can do before meeting her on her new website with an online wish list of your favourite layouts and décor options. Equally important, Jackie knows that your wedding should be all about you - regardless of your budget, so she customizes each package to suit each couple's fancy. This is why we love To Suit Your Fancy. Let us explain...

Personally speaking...

To Suit Your Fancy opened their doors eleven years ago, founded by Sheila Lester and her family. As the number of weddings coming in grew steadily, suddenly the family found themselves with what they say is one of the largest inventories in Southwestern Ontario that continues to grow each day. Not to mention the multiple 'branches' of To Suit Your Fancy located not just in London, but also Toronto, Sarnia and Chatham.

But despite quick growth and obvious popularity, To Suit Your Fancy has never lost the personal approach to designing weddings. To stay true to their family-run and people-oriented business, each area, including London, has a hands-on managing decorator to meet with and design wedding décor for brides.

Jackie Philips is the managing decorator for London and she trained side by side with Sheila Lester, has seven years of experience in decorating, did over sixty weddings last summer and has a busy year scheduled ahead of her. To keep up with demand and make sure that each couple gets what they want, Jackie has a team to help her execute the décor plan for your wedding; but she says that she personally takes care to ensure that all of the details are perfect.

Today, Jackie also shares her expertise with aspiring decorators- teaching 'how to' classes throughout the U.S on decorating for weddings, backdrops, ceilings and more.

To suit your wedding

When you consider To Suit Your Fancy for your London area wedding, it's Jackie who comes to you. Much like their personalized wedding designs, the appointments are all about what suits you best. "It’s all about the personal touch," says Jackie, who adds that she personally wants to talk to you and work with you on your dream wedding.

When Rachelle Jug met with Jackie to discuss her décor needs for her October 2009 wedding, she says that Jackie knew exactly what she wanted and was accommodating to her requests. "I knew right away that I wanted to work with her," she adds. "This was one of the reasons why I chose To Suit Your Fancy, was the initial meeting with Jackie. She was professional, listened to my ideas, presented options, showed me some great photos of previous weddings and was just an easy person to work with."

When Jackie met with staff at The Ring she brought her company with her - quite literally. While meeting with us at our convenience and location, she brought along fabric swatches, colour samples and a large portfolio of design books filled with enough wedding décor examples to make even the pickiest bride feel like her options are endless.

Jackie's natural talent and love for her work fits in nicely with her open eagerness to help. "Every wedding has its own look, style, unique theme and taste that's just perfect for the bride and groom," says Jackie. "My job is to find and design that look... And I love it."

Brianne Dos Santos had To Suit Your Fancy decorate her tuxedo-themed wedding in January 2010, and she told us that they had exactly what she was looking for. "As soon as I saw what I wanted (the chair covers and the candelabras), I stopped looking," she told us. She adds that Jackie was really easy to work with. "She met with me to discuss what I wanted, followed up appropriately via email as I was living out of town during the year prior to my wedding, and made everything happen. It was better than I expected, and we only met face-to-face once."

Walking through your wedding décor options

With unique backdrops and stunning designs (take a look at their website to see what we mean!), To Suit Your Fancy has never had trouble setting the trends and bringing your dreams to life.

If you already know what you want, Jackie will create a design with you, helping you along the way to choose materials and accents that you love. If you don’t know what you are looking for at all, Jackie's design books represent just some of the hundreds and hundreds of weddings they have designed and decorated. Together you’ll go through the books looking for ideas that will encompass what you want your day to be. From there it will be customized and personalized so that your wedding is as unique as you are.

You can even bring your ideas with you when you meet Jackie and she can create your look for you. If you have photos or have been inspired by another event, she'll also find a way to tweak it so that it is uniquely yours.

What Rachelle liked best about To Suit Your Fancy's decorating options was the selection of fabrics and centrepieces they offered. "I had a vision for what I wanted and Jackie made it happen. She had exactly the centerpiece that I wanted and suggested some great little extras like crystal beading to hang from the centerpiece, as well as crystal draping behind the head table." Rachelle adds that it's hard to describe To Suit Your Fancy's style as one definite thing because "they will work with you to make your wedding any style that you have imagined for yourself on your big day. Modern, elegant, radiant décor are some words I would use to describe our day."

But even before meeting Jackie you can come prepared with your ideas and tastes as her new website allows you to create a wish list of your favourite décor designs. When you browse their gallery (which is organized by category) you can click on the 'add product to your wish list' button underneath your favourite pictures. Then, when you go to contact them, you upload your zip file of your event layout requests and send it to Jackie. That way, you have a list of your favourites to check out later and Jackie knows what you want before you even have your appointment.

To Suit Your Fancy can create wedding décor from ceremony to reception, and all of the details in between. They believe that the 'in between' details are often the most important. Plus, if you let them, To Suit Your Fancy will not only decorate your ceremony and reception spaces, they'll transform them. The look, atmosphere and feel of the room are customized to whatever mood you'd like to create.

What sets To Suit Your Fancy apart from the norm is their very large, custom-made props used in backdrops for head tables, cake tables or any spot that can use some 'camouflage'. These large items become an important focal point of the spaces of most reception rooms. All of the traditional services are available with this company, including dramatic ceiling draping, chandeliers, embellishment of cake and gift tables, linens (most custom designed in-house) including napkins, organza overlays and sashes, table cloths and chair covers, head table décor, ceremony styling and more.

All you have to do is ask!

To Suit Your Fancy aims to offer everything you could dream of for your wedding when it comes to décor. That means that if you visit their location or website and can't find what you're looking for, the rule of thumb is to "just ask us... We will do what we can to make it happen for you." They've been known to go so far as to custom design backdrops and other décor accessories for the couples that come to see them.

There were three things that Rachelle found at To Suit Your Fancy that she couldn't find with other decorators – just more evidence to us that their large inventory is definitely true. Damask table runners, crystal picture frames for table numbers, and candelabras were what Rachelle was specifically looking for.

Building their own success

Most of the arches, columns and props that are used by To Suit Your Fancy are custom designed on their business premises. In fact, they have been so successful at building their own props and designing their own linens, that they now find themselves supplying their creations to other decorators throughout North America. "We just couldn’t find the pieces that we wanted, so I started building them by hand." This customization means that if there's something that they don't have that works for your wedding (which is likely a rare occurrence) they can build something for you. "We’re constantly adding new props, backdrops and linens. We stay on top of the trends and make sure that we can offer couples whatever they want."

That’s why they’ve added to their linen selection, now offering sixteen different colours of chair covers, including charcoal, burgundy pin tucks and a new sheer taupe. They also have an extensive selection of accents, including ten different kinds of broaches for accenting chair covers, vases, and head tables.

Jackie has also noted that lavishly decorated entrances have become a huge trend, so To Suit Your Fancy now offers fourteen foot pillars of up-lit crystal to enhance this feature of décor. And as if that weren’t enough, To Suit Your Fancy also has LED flood lights that can change colours to create an even more fun and glamorous atmosphere for your reception.

Weddings to suit your fancy

To Suit Your Fancy isn’t just the name of their business - it is their philosophy as well. Their mission is to "create a magical and unique setting to make your special day an event you and your guests will cherish always." They invite you to share your ideas about your dream wedding. No idea is too big or too small to be included, or to inspire décor for an entire event. To Suit Your Fancy enjoys brainstorming with the bride and groom to come up with a truly unique idea for each wedding. "Sometimes the couple has a theme wedding in mind, other times they just have a colour preference. From there we throw around ideas, try fabrics and colours together and see what we come up with," says Sheila.

At To Suit Your Fancy, no two weddings are ever the same. Because of their extensive inventory, they can make sure that every couple receives the custom-designed, unique wedding that they deserve. "It’s more challenging to create something different for each event."

One of Rachelle's favourite memories of working with To Suit Your Fancy was when she walked into her reception hall after it was decorated. "Just to see the amazing transformation that those girls performed on that hall was unbelievable," she told us. "It's something I will never forget."

To Suit Your Fancy has created a variety of particularly diverse designs for some of their more untraditional weddings. One recent example is a tropical themed wedding reception created for a couple who were married in the Caribbean. They wanted to recreate the beauty of their destination wedding in their at-home wedding reception. "We created a tiki bar with beautiful beach umbrellas hanging over the tables. We even covered the ceiling with enormous upside down umbrellas and there were several large lighted palm trees." Any idea you have can be used to inspire your entire décor, or if you're stuck for an idea - To Suit Your Fancy has an entire inventory full of them!

Booking...

When booking with To Suit Your Fancy, time usually isn’t really a factor. Even though more elaborate wedding set-ups require more preparation, for obvious reasons, Jackie has rarely had to turn away a bride in need.

Pricing

Of course pricing is always dependent on how much decorating you require to obtain the look desired for your venue. Many couples are pleasantly surprised at how affordable it can be to create a stunning effect that your guests will rave about. "You will not see pre-packaged pricing [when you visit To Suit Your Fancy]. We do not believe in 'cookie cutter’ packages that would limit your selection from the largest inventory of event décor items found anywhere... Too often we have heard stories of couples who have been lured in to a cheap package only to be ‘upsold’ once the contract is signed."

The average bride chooses a package between $1000 and $3000 (dependent on the number of guests and the bride and groom's dreams), though the only limit to your décor is your imagination. And the best part is that all of the labour is included, leaving the bride and groom with time to enjoy their event. Not to mention having a lot less stress leading up to their special day.

"To Suit Your Fancy was my first stop, and I didn’t have to go any further," says Brianne. "The prices were so reasonable I didn’t need to look anywhere else… I think the value for me was not only that I was getting what I wanted, but that it was such little hassle. Jackie made everything super-easy."

According to Jackie at To Suit Your Fancy, 2012 is all vintage! Brides are using old picture frames, tables, chairs, display tables with old teapots, mason jars of flowers, old suitcases for the gift cards and lace to finish create this look. Jackie also says that huge oversized flowers for backdrops are popular (as seen at the Chanel Fashion Show) and of course, crystals and diamonds are always popular with brides.

She adds that the 2011 trend to add lounge furniture is still very popular for creating comfy and cozy conversation areas with an upscale urban sophistication. For the biggest Impact? To Suit Your Fancy recommends (and just happens to carry) grandeur entrance ways and hall décor with up-lit fourteen foot tall pillars of crystal, 6x2 foot spectacular chandeliers and LED flood lights that can change colours. Their brand new soft LED light are easier on the eye and great for creating atmosphere.

Details, details, details

• A small deposit will hold the date for you and because of their extensive inventory you can take your time selecting your décor details.
• There are plenty of different ideas and decorations to choose from, so you don’t need to worry about not being able to get the items you want.

In other words...

"Thank you for doing such a wonderful job on the hall. All of our guests commented on how beautiful the head table was!" - Kim & Ryan

"I wanted to say thank you for the beautiful decorating you did at our wedding. You are amazing! I had so many compliments on the hall. I will certainly be recommending you to everyone I know." - Chris

"Thank you so much for the fantastic decorating you did. We loved everything you did and it made our night very romantic for us and our guests. I have already referred you to a few friends, they have loved our pictures and your work. Thank you again for making our reception very romantic for us!!" - Rebecca & Kameron

"Thank you so much for the absolutely gorgeous decorations. There were lots of comments about them. The decorations are original and I will highly recommend you." - Tayna & Rick