March • 2022
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Weddings With Heart: Spread Love by Giving Back ALLIE MURRAY AND RAYE MOCIOIU
The wedding bells are ringing, and surrounded by mountainous scenery and the flows of the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver is the perfect backdrop for a picturesque ceremony. The Pop-Up Chapel began when founder Lynzie Kent considered how the sharing economy could be applied to weddings and include social responsibilities like sustainability, inclusivity, simplicity, and more. After serving the wedding and event industry for a decade, the team behind The Pop-Up Chapel Co. made a realization— the wedding industry was undergoing a major change. Couples were eschewing the traditional life sequence to follow their own paths, like pursuing careers, having children, or prioritizing travel, all before marriage. Today’s couples are less interested in following traditions that don’t feel authentic and more interested in simplifying their lives using technology, embracing the sharing economy,
and saying no to brands that don’t reflect their modern values. “We were committed to filling the white space between a city hall wedding and a traditional banquet hall wedding with hundreds of guests, as well as to provide an answer to this changing shift in values and needs, and that’s how The Pop-Up Chapel Co. was born,” Kent explained. Pop-Up Chapel makes it easy for couples to create a wedding that upholds their values and even gives back to causes that are important to them. The mission of the chapels is in its name—they “pop up” in locations and have up to ten different wedding ceremonies in the chapel per day. That’s one couple an hour, every hour, for ten hours straight. Since beginning in Toronto, Pop-Up Chapel has been committed to donating $300 from every chapel spot sold to charity. To date, they have worked with more than 20 charitable partners ranging from The United Way, One Tree Planted, SickKids, Black Health Alliance, and more.
Thus far, they have raised more than $96,000 for local charities, with a goal of raising $100,000 by May of this year. Expanding their reach, PopUp Chapel moved out west: providing quick, easy, and equal access to wedding venues. The inaugural chapel in Vancouver was held on October 1, 2021, supporting Covenant House Vancouver, a local organization providing love, support, and hope to Vancouver’s homeless and at-risk street youth. For Vancouver-based ceremonies in 2022, Pop-Up Chapel is supporting The University Women’s Club Trust Fund for Education and Mission Possible. They currently have three wedding dates set for Vancouver couples—April 8, July 15, and October 14—with hopes to add more dates to the line-up. “Since our first chapel in August of 2017, we’ve married over 320 couples through countless chapels and raised more than $96,000 for Canadian charities,” Kent explained. “This year, we’ll reach our milestone goal of donating over $100,000
to local Canadian charities and we’ll host chapels across Canada in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton.” At each location across Canada, Pop-Up Chapel is working towards reducing the use of single-use plastics and finding ways to create more sustainable decor. PLANNING THE PICTURE-PERFECT VANCOUVER WEDDING In Vancouver, Pop-Up Chapel hosts weddings at Hycroft Manor, an Edwardian mansion with a variety of beautiful rooms and outdoor spaces, and The Wallace, a gorgeous event space at the Shipyards. For celebrations after the nuptials, Vancouver has a selection of delicious restaurants. Pop-Up Chapel worked with their Vancouver Brand Ambassador, Morgan from The Wednesday Wedding Co., to round up some of their top picks. Ancora: Operating on a mission to embrace the harmony of Peruvian and Japanese cultures,
Ancora serves delicious authentic food while incorporating the bounty of the West Coast. Vij’s: Using traditional Indian methods, spices and culinary influences and pairing them with sustainable, local produce from British Columbia, Vij’s created one of the best-known and most beloved Indian restaurants in North America. Gotham Steakhouse & Bar: With beautifully appointed private dining rooms, Gotham Steakhouse & Bar provides unique options for any occasion, whether elegantly formal or casually relaxed. Blue Water Cafe: is Vancouver’s definitive destination for seafood and consistently awarded Best Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver. Teahouse Drawing Room: With social distancing in place, The Drawing can accommodate up to 30 guests for an intimate private celebration post chapel! L’abattoir: French-influenced West Coast fare is paired with an award-winning wine program and inspired cocktail list to offer an unforgettable dining experience.
Christiane Despins and Catherine Lowrey’s WEDDING STORY Our wedding was the best, most amazing, magical day we could have hoped for! All due to the fantastic planning and attention to details by The Pop-Up Chapel Co. On October 1, 2021 we exchanged vows at the Hycroft Manor in Vancouver in front of nine guests. Due to the pandemic, we actually had given up hope we could have any sort of dream wedding. We happened across The Pop-Up Chapel Co. purely by chance and when we saw they would take care of everything—we were sold! We had never heard of such an idea before
FLORALS ARE BY MAX AT ECORCE FLOWERS. IMAGE © SIMPLY SWEET WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
but totally put our trust in them. All we had to do was show up and the rest was up to them and they certainly didn’t disappoint! All plans, hopes and dreams were fulfilled. We met almost 23 years ago and through many trying times our love for each other grew and we wanted to celebrate our commitment to each other. For us, it truly was a fairytale wedding. The flowers were exceptional, the cake, photos, and history of the venue captured the beauty and romance of the day. We were thrilled that a donation to Covenant Place was also part of the package. ADVERTORIAL
How Better Sleep Can Change Your Life On March 18, we celebrate World Sleep Day, and there has never been a more pressing time to celebrate and value our sleep. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a turbulent and stressful environment, and our sleep has suffered because of it; we also know that sleep has long been devalued in our culture. Our Sleep Clinic, Sleep Better Live Better, aims to change this. We know that sleep should be a priority as it is one of the main pillars of our overall health, along with nutrition and exercise. Sleep is usually the first to be sacrificed when life gets busy.
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When we sleep, we heal, learn, grow, and remember. It is one of nature’s most effective medicines and one we should not take for granted. We are learning more about sleep every day as it is a relatively new field of study, but we have never been in a better place to understand and improve our sleep. There are more options for treating sleep than ever before, and the medical equipment has become smaller, more comfortable, and more efficient. We provide the most up-to-date treatments, including CPAP, BiPAP, Custom Oral Appliance Therapy, and Brief Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia. We also provide courses for nutrition, vitamins, and supplements that help support healthy sleep. Improving your sleep in the past has often meant getting sent to several different care providers depending on the best solutions available to you. Our goal is to simplify the process, provide help for several different sleep disorders in one place and provide many choices for therapy,
so you can find the solution that works for you. Whether you or someone you know struggles with insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, or daytime fatigue, free consultation and appropriate solutions can be found all in one place. “I just wanted to thank you! It is so wonderful to see my husband sleeping peacefully and waking rested. I know that both he and I benefit greatly from his new device.”—Grateful Patient Good sleep contributes to a long, healthy and vivacious life so you can enjoy doing the things you love to do and be your best self for the people you love to spend time with. Get the quality sleep you deserve with the help of Sleep Better Live Better. Our offices offers free virtual consultations to anyone who requests one, allowing us to remove barriers that prevent people from gaining sleep health care. To book one of our complimentary consultations with one of our sleeptrained staff members, please call us today or go to our website to book online.
Snore Less, Breathe More, Sleep Better Sleep Your Way to Health and Vitality Today sleepbetterlivebetter.ca
