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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday November 18, 2006 - 3 Bell a creative genius for any theme, occasion By Wilma Blokhuis SPECIAL TO OAKVILLE BEAVER BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER CREATIVE MIND: Give Leslee Bell -- seen here in her warehouse of furniture and props -- of Decor and More an empty room and she'll create Disneyworld or build New York City. Give her an empty space and she'll build an elegant New York City. The bigger and grander the scale, the more creative Leslee Bell becomes. Themed dinners, weddings and corporate functions are her forte. "We've done fantasy weddings... over the top exciting weddings and a wedding party for over 300 people who couldn't attend a wedding at Disneyworld. Our mandate was to recreate the fantasy and all of the elegance. It was over the top, spectacular and jaw dropping. The guests didn't miss anything by only getting the Toronto version of the Florida reception." She's created underwater fantasies giving attendees at a function the feeling they were sitting in an aquarium. A beautiful brightly-coloured circus at BCE Place was a challenge Bell relishes. "We designed a party around a La Cirque theme. The very talented Cirque Sublime was the entertainment. The Cirque theme was all about action, colour and energy...in short, just walking in a cirque theme event makes you smile...the energy from the theme is incredible." Bell added each food station was different with bright colours accenting the food. When it comes to event décor, Bell, a pastor's wife and mother of two sons, is an interior design dynamo. "We built New York City 10 weeks after 9/11 for a `Holiday in the Big Apple' event," said Bell. "It was done as a tribute and a show of solidarity with New York City. "We designed a New York environment as a room surround of 360 running feet with the lower level all being three-dimensional buildings from 12 ­ 16-ft. high and 12-ft. deep with incredible detail in all the store windows. "The second storey took some of the heights of the Chrysler building, Brooklyn Bridge and skyscrapers to 35 ft.," said Bell. "Stores from FAO Schwartz, Tiffany's, Cartier, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue were all dressed with mannequins, products and holiday decor. It was truly impressive with all the store facades surrounding the dinner party for 1,000 people staged in our version of Central Park. The faux ice rink, the 35-ft. high tree in Rockefeller Centre, the real New York cab, the doormen, the policemen with attitude, and the chestnut vendors all added realism to the party, but nothing like the horse drawn carriages letting the performers off at the glice rink." This creative genius seems to have evolved from another of Bell's loves, gourmet cooking. "I went from preparing the food to designing the setting." Today, as co-president of Décor and More, Canada's most awarded event design and décor company, Bell leaves the cooking to the caterers, however, there was once this event on Toronto Island that should have been cancelled because of the rain but hundreds came regardless and Bell and her staff donned aprons and started barbecuing. It was a switch Bell made with ease. "I once taught gourmet cooking," she mused. Bell graduated from Ryerson College -- now a university -- in food science technology and catering. "I was a stay-at-home mom who did some teaching and I was asked to sit on a committee to organize a gala," said Bell in explaining how she got into the event planning and design business. "The people who hired me told me I should be in the business and I challenged them to take me up on that and two years later they called me." Fearing she is "the world's worst salesperson," Bell took the approach of making her clients feel excited about her product. "I made the clients see what I saw." It paid off. On Jan. 1, 1990, Bell ventured out on her own and launched Décor and More. Her first client was the planning and event design company where she was previously employed for six years. Today she oversees more than 40 full-time staff and handles some 600 events a year across Canada and the United States -- 70-hour workweeks See Staff page 4 · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed · High Quality at Affordable Prices · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Serving Oakville with Shop at Home Service Authorized Vinylbilt Dealer www.shuttersetc.ca Shop at Home Service FREE