Cake trends from Colin Cowie’s newest book, Wedding Chic, as seen in Your Wedding… IMAGINE Magazine May 2009. Click on an image to enlarge.

Swags – This two-toned cake is garlanded with small swags of gold icing and finished off with royal icing white roses. Photography by Colin Miller

Stacked – These miniature stacked cakes are decorated with a tone-on-tone flourish of hand-painted gilded rings and a sprinkling of colourful iced flowers. Photography by Garett Holden.

Bar Codes – This series of square tiers is bordered with a vibrant bar code and topped with white daisies and bright spider mums. Photography by Paula Adams.

Wedding Chic offers 1001 Ideas for every moment of your celebration.

For more inspiration from Colin Cowie, pick up your copy of Wedding Chic in bookstores today or visit www.colincowie.com.

Text by Glen Peloso

Marriage is really all about compromise and when you marry and have to merge your styles there are some simple rules to keep you from divorce over a twenty dollar item, significant in someone’s past.  Start with a list of things that each person puts on their ‘must have’ list.  Women often have a problem with that comfortable chair that he really wants to have but they simply can not abide. Men often can’t understand why anyone would want a ridiculous antique sewing machine that doesn’t even work!  If it is on the must have list – then find a compromise.  Perhaps that revolting chair can be recovered to suit both of you or the other option is to ear mark some funds to get a new comfortable chair of his liking.  Perhaps the antique sewing machine can be used for her jewelry and  as an accent piece in the bedroom, and he won’t have to deal with it.   Whatever the choice, remember that the piece makes the other person happy.

It is also perfectly acceptable to create an eclectically furnished room which can be absolutely beautiful.  The only real rule here is to try to keep the pieces approximately two time periods apart (i.e. something from the 60’s with something from the 90’s) If you try to match the 60’s and the 70’s, one of the pieces just ends up looking like a hand me down. For instance combining a great 50’s coffee table with a very modern carpet will give the feeling of an impressive loft setting and people will see you as the ‘cool hip’ couple by accident.

Scale has a major part to play in creating a room and this may be an area that requires compromise.  If you are moving into an 800 sq ft condo for your first place together and one of you is bringing a large sectional sofa then I worry for your shins!  You both have to be realistic.  Obviously if one of you lost sixty pounds you wouldn’t wear the same clothes; the same is true for furnishings. Be prepared to sell some things that don’t work and use the money to get belongings that are scaled properly to the space you will share.

If your combined items end up being some what eclectic it can all be pulled together in the accessories.  Wall colours, window coverings, and accent cushions, made of complimentary fabrics can give the space a completely unified look, regardless of the furnishings in the room.  Choose the paint colour and fabrics together so that everyone will feel comfortable in your new space.

Collections can be the one area where you may have to create ‘his space’ and ‘her space’.  Not everyone is going to respond to a stuffed animal collection, or to a collection of ’beer cans from around the world’.  My initial thought is to let them go and start a collection of things you both respond to as memories of your new life together.  That, however, is not for me to judge.  If one of you has to have your collection and the other person hates it – then a space for that is fine, perhaps just not on display for all-the-world to see.

As the late George Carlin would say ‘there would be room for my stuff if it weren’t for her junk’!   Keep it in perspective.  Your junk will never kiss you good night or bring you hot tea when you are sick.

A few quick tips for making it all work:

1. Gather together the items for the appropriate room – ie beds in bedrooms. The hire a professional or an “objective neutral” friend to help make the decision about what stays and goes

1. Both of you get to create a “must keep” pile then try to honour your new partner’s wishes on that pile

1. Create a simple drawing of each room of your new space on graph paper where one square equals one foot.  Measure the furniture you have and place it in the rooms to make sure it fits properly

1. If room allows, create a his space and a hers space for personal things that the other person doesn’t really like (the hockey picture collection or the royal Dulton collection)

1. Create a list of furniture and accessories that we need to buy together so that the space becomes a collective creation going forward and equally contribute to the “things we would like to buy” fund