The Oscars 2013 Results!

Last Night we celebrated with the stars and celebrities of Hollywood, and the world, while watching the Oscar's! It was wonderful to see the nominees praise each others work, as there was a wealth of films that were phenomenal in the year of 2012!

I, Ainsley, am a mega movie fan. My boyfriend, Todd, and I try and see as many movies as possible, and we even lucked out with ample theatre options within a 5 minute drive of our home. We share a love for good cinematography and love to take in a film that charms and excites, but also expands our boarders of understanding. There are so many wonderful actors and actresses, directors and producers and thus we continue to be excited by films like "Django Unchained", "Life of Pi", "Silver Linings Playbook"and of course, my personal fav of this year, "Les Miserables". 

Here is my top 10 list of movies that I enjoyed, and not necessarily ones that were nominated or celebrated this evening: (in no particular order)

1. Les Miserables

2. Seven Psychopaths

3. Django Unchained

4. Silver Linings Playbook

5. The Dark Knight Rises

6. Dredd

7. Brave

8. Moonrise Kingdom

9. Argo

10. Skyfall

This year we also had the opportunity to celebrate the forward thinking fashions of many designers as seen on the red carpet of last night. They say it was a chilly afternoon, yet the sun was shining, but the stars were brighter and even more beautiful. It is always lovely to see who comes in the next hot colour, the newest designer on the scene, and who breaks out the best dressed. In our photo above we nod to J. Law, our dream buddy and pal, as she won Best dressed via twitter hashtags, and also best actress for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook"! Her gorgeous Dior gown was a hit, and I think her tumble getting on stage was more from extreme shock and gratitude than the layers of thick fabric and tulle! Wouldn't it just make an AMAZING wedding gown?

Here is our top 5 list of best dressed from last nights events: (in no particular order) 

- From Madison & Ainsley

1. Jessica Chastain in Armani

2. Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta

3. Naomi Watts in L'Wren Scott

4. Jennifer Aniston in Armani 

5. Michelle Obama in Naeem Khan (It is suuuch a stunner even though we got just a little peak at it!)

We obviously love the many men who know how to flaunt what they got at the awards, but our absolute fav was Mr. Tatum and his expectant wife, Jenna Dewan. Not only do they have phenomenal fashion taste, but Channing was quite the dancer in the opening welcome with Seth MacFarlane. (And Charlize looked flawless as well!)

We have to discuss the worst dressed at the Oscars, as that is something that will always come up. Try as we might, we cannot ignore the fact that these stars have so many other options to explore when it comes to fashion, so why must they choose these outfits? Despite their poor taste, we understand that if you feel comfortable in your own skin, and what you are wearing, then that is awesome. However, at the end of the day, an actor, or anyone in the public spotlight, is a "brand", and dressing professionally goes hand in hand with having a successful and lifelong career.

Here are our top 2 worst dressed at the 2013 Oscars: (In no particular order)

1. Kristen Stewart - maybe it is just the fact that we're not that fond of as her as an actress, or the fact that she didn't seem to put much effort into her look last night. The dress was nice, but overall, she received a big "meh", from us.

2. Brandi Glanville - yeah, did the nip slip happen? If not, she must have used a LOT of glue. Good luck taking it off tonight!

We wish to say congratulations to all the nominees of the 2013 Oscars! Whether or not you won, we have to say that you are winners in the eyes of everyone, no matter what you were wearing, what movie you worked on, or how many awards you have on your shelves. To Mr. Affleck: Congrats on being an amazing producer, director and actor - looks like you finally know what you are doing! ;-)

And last but not least, thank you to the Academy for creating an amazing awards ceremony for the brightest and bestest at the craft called "film making"!

Till next year!

Love, Ainsley (& Madison)

Suzanne + Shane - Real Wedding by Bake Photography

We have a serious love for Gastown. Anyone who has read our first issue and noticed our "Historically Modern" spread will understand why. So it was our absolute pleasure to look through some lovely photos from Bake Photography from a recent winter wedding in Gastown! This couple nailed it when it comes to pairing elegance with hard concrete surroundings, and stole the show with their ingenious photo session at the barber shop!

We hope you enjoy our very first real wedding on our blog!

- Ainsley & Madison
The Refinery Girls

From The Couple:
We met in an acting class, and I was the teacher. We were Facebook friends, and kept in touch after the class was over by writing seriously long messages to each other, every day. It became obvious that maybe we should start having conversations in person, so we started dating.

We got engaged after a dinner out to celebrate our anniversary. We had just moved into our new condo, life was sort of hectic, so we went for a lovely dinner, but said we wouldn't buy any presents. When we got home, I was lying on our bed, chatting away, Shane was sort of half listening, pacing around, still wearing his coat. He came to the side of the bed, knelt down and said, "I got you a present", and pulled out a little box from his pocket. I froze, he told me to open it, I did and then gasped, looking at him, waiting for him to say something...but he didn't! He just knelt there, unable to speak, staring at me. I said, "is this...?", he said, "yeah...you wanna?" At which point I started laughing and said yes.

We had 70 guests. Our wedding song was Ingrid Michaelson singing Elvis Presley's "I Cant Help Falling In Love with You". The song made us both cry when we heard it, it's achingly beautiful, Shane sort of looks Ike Elvis, and it seemed appropriate, because it was so true for us.

Favourite moment: so many! For me, one moment was when I started to come down the stairs and I saw Shane waiting for me, it became real and lovely. To see him standing there, to see all our friends and family in this beautiful place, ready to witness our marriage, it was more powerful than I expected. My nerves left me, as I relaxed and started to enjoy the moment.
Also, sitting down to dinner, at one point I looked around and saw all these people I love, enjoying themselves, eating this delicious food, laughing, talking' enjoying themselves...it was magical. Midnight was pretty amazing as well! We handed out all sorts of noisemakers, so everyone joined in the countdown and then made crazy noise! Everyone was kissing everyone else for a Happy New Year! It was wonderful.

The bridemaid's lanterns were pretty special to me. I got some jars, filled them with mini Christmas balls and mini led lights and used them instead of bouquets. The ceremony was at night, so it was lovely to have glowing lanterns. I also loved the favours - I spray-painted little wooden hearts and stars gold, silver, and copper, and then glued them to mini-clothespins, added magnets, and clipped escort cards to them. Guests started clipping them to their ties, and dresses, almost like pretty little name cards! It made me laugh. I don't know if people kept them but we have a few on our fridge for holding cards and notes.
I also loved the bridesmaid dresses. All the girls looked so lovely and sophisticated. It took me a long time to decide on black; I wanted pale pink or soft gold as those were the colours I was going for, but all the pink/gold dresses just didn't look great. When we found these dresses at a BCBG factory outlet, I balked because they were black. After sleeping on it, I went back (well, more specifically, Bethan, one of my bridesmaids went back) and bought them. I'm so glad I did!

We went on a mini-moon to Leavenworth, WA. It's this little Bavarian-style town, covered in snow and Christmas lights. So magical! We stayed at the Solstice Spa, had massages, steams, hot tub soaks, a fireplace in our room. It was incredible. Relaxing, beautiful, just what we needed. Now we have some time to save up for and plan a real honeymoon!
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Vendor List:

Venue: Cork & Fin
Dress: Sposa Wedding World
Tux:  Moores
Flowers: Amy at Garden Party Flowers
Hair: Barb Whiteman for Colourbox
Invitations: DIY
Wedding Favours: DIY
Music for ceremony/reception: iPod - we used the app "Wedding DJ"
Catering: Provided by Cork & Fin
Photographer: Bake Photography