Serving Liquor in a Public Place

If you want to serve liquor in a public place or sell liquor anywhere, you will need either a private or public Special Occasion License. Applications for special occasion licenses are available from BC Liquor Stores. There are many rules and regulations regarding the sale of alcohol in BC. A few of these rules are:

· Paid managers and servers at your event will require Serving It Right certification.

· You must purchase your liquor from a BC Liquor Store or another source approved by the Liquor Distribution Branch.

· Minors (under age 19) are generally allowed at licensed special events, but may not drink or serve liquor, or sell drink tickets. Minors are not allowed in public beer gardens.

· Your servers must ask to see two pieces of identification if they believe the person ordering a drink is underage.

· You must not sell or serve liquor to an intoxicated person, or allow an intoxicated person to remain in the area covered by your Special Occasion License.

· If a person becomes intoxicated, you must take reasonable steps to ensure that the person does not harm himself/herself or others.

· You must supply a reasonable amount of food and non-alcoholic beverages at your event.

Once you have a Special Occasion License, if you serve alcohol to someone who becomes impaired as a result, you may be held legally liable for that person's subsequent behavior. As a licensee, you have a "duty of care" which means you must protect patrons at your event and others from harm that may be associated with the activity of drinking. This includes harm which may occur on the premises of your event, as well as harm which may occur after the patron has left the premises.

For more information regarding Special Occasion liquor licenses click here, or for more information on Serving it Right click here.

Bridal Gown Shopping for a “normal sized woman”.

Bridal Gown Shopping for a “normal sized woman”.

When will clothing designers realize that we are not all a size 0? Some surveys state that the average American woman wears a size 12-14. Then, when you shop for a formal dress, you always have to add a size, sometimes two, to allow for alterations. If you’re adding two sizes for your wedding dress that means that the average woman is wearing a size 16-18 wedding gown! Have you ever walked into a wedding boutique and saw sample sizes that were able to fit a size 16-18? Being a married, plus sized woman in a size zero world, I know that this is not a very feasible thought and can sometimes be beyond frustrating and a huge deflation of your confidence levels. Never fear though! There are designers out there that are changing the trends and thinking of the BBW, Big Beautiful Woman. 

I give props to designers out there who have stepped beyond the world of zero and branched out to reach the BBW. Some great designers are:

-          Alfred Angelo. Not only do they bring a touch of colour to wedding gowns, they bring class for the plus sized bride. The selection is huge and you will not be underwhelmed with choices. http://www.alfredangelobridal.ca/Collections/displayCollection.aspx?CategoryId=f24c3867-7b3b-419c-8135-b2d0c61e116a

(this one is one of my personal favourites!) http://www.alfredangelobridal.ca/Collections/ProductDisplay.aspx?productID=9a329530-bbb4-4c2b-8199-abf3d3d02a62&categoryID=f24c3867-7b3b-419c-8135-b2d0c61e116a&pg=2&colorId1

-          Bonny. Bonny’s Unforgettable Plus Size Line brings some great couture looking gowns for a busty bride that needs more coverage up top. http://www.bonny.com/unforgettable--plus-size-bridal-.html?page=1

(I love this gown! The cinched waist really hides those imperfections.) http://www.bonny.com/1109.html

-          Venus  Bridal. Their Venus-Woman collection allows you to be a plus sized bride without looking like a plus sized bride.  Venus brides are not draped in layers of fabric to hide their “flaws”. http://www.venusbridal.com/bridals/venus-woman

(I’m loving the little bow on the front of this dress. The embroidery details also add that little touch of pizzazz.) http://www.venusbridal.com/bridals/venus-woman/VW8625

With a little bit of research and knowing what to look for, dress shopping as a full figured woman doesn’t have to be overwhelming and a beat down to your confidence. You’re beautiful and your hubby-to-be will agree with me. Happy Dress Hunting!

~Shae

Wine Appreciation 101

“One not only drinks wine, one smells it, observes it, tastes it, sips it and – one talks about it.” ~ Edward VII (1841-1910)

Having a basic understanding of wine tasting terminology helps you find wine you like. The following words are common terms used to describe wine characteristics.

• Aroma/ Bouquet: The smell of a wine, bouquet applies particularly to the aroma of older wines.

• Body: The apparent weight of a wine in your mouth (light, medium, or full)

• Crisp: A wine with refreshing acidity

• Dry: Not sweet

• Finish: The impression a wine leaves as you swallow it

• Flavor intensity: How strong or weak a wine’s flavors are

• Fruity: A wine whose aromas and flavors suggest fruit; does not imply sweetness

• Oaky: A wine that has oak flavors (smokey, toasty)

• Soft: A wine has a smooth rather than crisp mouth feel

• Tannic: A red wine that is firm and leaves the mouth feeling dry

Click here to read more, or for a more in-depth understanding of wine tasting, Keven Zraly has been teaching wine tasting for more than 30 years and has written a great book on the subject (Windows on the World: Complete Wine Course).

Salute!

Working with a Small Budget

What do you do when working with a modest budget and grandiose ideas?

When you look at the “real weddings” in all those great wedding magazines, the articles never tell you exactly how much the couples and their families spend on those amazing affairs. They don’t tell you what a centerpiece of 100 white roses and peonies actually costs. They don’t tell you how much that designer Pnina Tornai gown actually cost either. So how does someone with a smaller budget make their wedding look amazing without breaking the bank?

Three words, or one acronym, D-I-Y, Do It Yourself! If you have the time and you’re crafty, a great way to save some money is by recruiting your power team (aka your groom, bridesmaids, groomsmen, family) and getting them to help you. Make your invitations rather than hiring that high priced printer. Create your own favour boxes and even your favours rather than investing $1-5 per person or couple on something that they won’t really remember. Do you have a knack for working with your flowers? Buy them at a wholesaler and create your centerpieces, bouquets and boutonnieres in the few days before your wedding. With a little time management and help from your family and friends, you can make a dollar go a long way.

Pick your top three. You know the things that are the most important for you and your hubby-to-be. So pick the top three most important items and then your top three least important items, if you can cut them out completely you can definitely save some money. For some couples, the cake isn’t as important and since most caterers and venues provide a dessert selection with dinner, it is quickly becoming an obsolete tradition.  By cutting the cake you can allocate that $300-600 to something else in your top three. 

A Host Bar is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Lets face it, weddings are expensive. Alcohol is expensive. Combining the two can break the bank completely! Your guests understand, you are a new couple, embarking on a new journey in life and money is tight. You don’t need to host the bar and guests understand that. No one goes home at the end of the night and says, “Wow, what an amazing wedding, but I can’t believe they didn’t buy my drinks all night too!” They actually go home and say, “Wow, what a beautiful wedding, the food was amazing and can you believe her dress?! Stunning!”  It’s quickly becoming less and less taboo to have a cash bar at your wedding. Or, if it is something that is important to you or your families, compromise with a twoonie bar or a couple of drink tickets per guest. 

You’ll be amazed at the amount of money you can save over all by looking at your wedding in a different way. There are always loop holes and ways to work your money so that your budget becomes a lot easier to spread out. Just know your expectations and research to see what you can do within your means. 

~Shae

‘SHHHHHH... We need to be quiet’ - Silent Party?

The Quiet Party and Silent Dating are the inventions of artist Paul Rebhan and singer/songwriter Tony Noe. The two New York City friends wanted to have a conversation and a drink on a Saturday night in the summer of 2002, but every bar they entered was so noisy that they could not even hear each other speak.

It was just another example of New York's ubiquitous noise: from garbage trucks in the middle of the night and screeching trains and buses, to never-ending car alarms, cell phones, boom boxes, blasting horns and too many people who are just too loud.

Rebhan and Noe decided that every city needed a place where yelling was not allowed, and even an area where talking was not allowed at all! At the Quiet Party, guests are provided with paper and pens. Once this playful foundation mixes with a little alcohol, inhibitions disappear and notes begin to fly. The notes range from funny and flirty to naughty and nasty, and some are just downright hysterical. Quiet Parties are very popular with singles who like to flirt without speaking (Silent Dating) and also with people who just want to socialize in a fun, friendly and novel environment. Word of the Quiet Party and Silent Dating is spreading like wildfire and Quiet Parties are now being opened in other cities, internationally.

With the headphones on, it feels like you’re at a normal dance party (even if everyone is dancing to the beat of a different drum – literally), but take the headphones off for a while and you’ve got yourself a whole different kind of entertainment… watching a bunch of people dancing their hearts out to, what sounds like, absolutely nothing is something you’ve got to see at least once in your life – plus the headphones are a handy excuse for ignoring any party sleaze-bags who might come your way.

So, why don’t you try something new?

5 ways to kill stress before stress kills you!

Researchers suggest that as much as 60-90% of illnesses are directly caused by or exacerbated by stress. Stress is related to major illnesses like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, but can also cause back pain, headaches, tooth grinding, upset stomach and digestive problems, sleep loss and exhaustion, skin problems, unhealthy weight gain or loss. And that’s just the bodily symptoms: stress is linked to depression, anxiety, mood swings, confusion, restlessness, irritability, insecurity, forgetfulness, and a host of other negative mental and behavioral symptoms.

1. Stop procrastinating – You can put off important tasks, but you can’t put off worrying about them — and the stress that causes.

2. Eat better – A good diet can help your body better deal with the effects of stress. A healthy diet isn’t all that complicated; as Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, puts it, Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. As a general rule, eat as much as you can from the "edges" of your supermarket — produce, bakery, butcher counter, dairy case — and save the stuff in the "middle" for once-in-a-while — Twinkies, Pop Tarts, potato chips, canned foods, instant meals, etc.

3. Make family time – Try to eat at least one meal a day with your family (or with friends if you’re single). Better yet, eat at least one home cooked meal a day with your family/friends.

4. Talk it out – Bottling up your frustrations, even the little ones, leads to stress. Learn to express dissatisfaction (in a constructive, non-hurtful way) and to voice your worries and fears to someone close to you.

5. Love – Build relationships. Share yourself. Feel human warmth

Let’s kill stress!