Crate & Barrel Wedding Party

Crate & Barrel is holding a trio of upcoming “wedding parties” at their Yorkdale Mall location. These events are really how-to-register-at-our-store parties but they do feature free food, drinks, music and all participants who do set up a registry receive “a brilliant handblown heart bowl”. The store is also only open to those who have RSVPed (call 1-888-657-4108), a nice touch since that place can get pretty crowded.

I know many couples just want cash but I think it’s nice to register at at least one spot so that guests have options. Plus who doesn’t love to open presents?

Another reason for a registry? To get the bonuses that some of them come with. For example, if you register at Crate & Barrel, you’ll get 10 percent off anything that’s not purchased on your
registry.

Anyway, here are the dates for the wedding parties:

Sunday, September 13, 9 am – 11 am
Sunday, October 4, 9 am – 11 am
Sunday, October 18, 9 am – 11 am

I’ve shopped at Crate & Barrel a few times and I think they have a nicely priced range of “smaller stuff” (dishes, kitchen gadgets, etc.) that are pretty good quality. I am however less then impressed with the quality of its big furniture. I own a few pieces and while they certainly look nice, they don’t wear too well. And while I wouldn’t call Crate & Barrel furniture expensive, it’s more than what you’d pay at Ikea and honestly, my stuff from Ikea wears better.

So if you decide to register at Crate & Barrel, avoid the wood furniture but do register for one of these nice pitchers. They make for a perfect bridal shower gift.

A Must-Use Website

Have you checked out www.projectwedding.com yet? If not you should because this is one useful site.

It’s home to hundreds of reviews on all those aspects that make up a wedding: food, photographers, entertainment, attire, etc.

Not of all of the reviews in the “Toronto” category are actually Toronto-specific, but then when it comes to certain items, such as cakes or flowers, sometimes it’s useful to see what the GTA has to offer.

You need to register in order to review things and while vendors are supposed to register for their own special, vendor accounts, there is always the chance that a vendor might get a regular account and then pump up their own rating.

If you come across a review that seems too good to be true (or is completely contradictory to every other review), check to see if the reviewer has bothered to fill out her profile and has written other reviews on her other vendors. If she has then she’s probably a legit bride who just happens to of had a great experience with that vendor.

The site lets you sort vendors by highest rated as well as by price. But best of all, it has a search function that actually works and is a quick way to check out the vendor you’re thinking of using.

Friends Don't Make Friends Wear Ugly Dresses

I’ve taken to snooping through Facebook to look for wedding photos. The other day, I came across a wedding that was completely lovely in almost all respects. The venue was stunning, the bride beautiful, the groom and his attendants handsome and happy but the bridesmaids… well, their hair and make-up was lovely.

But the dresses, yeah, not so much. I don’t want to reveal too many identifying details so let’s just say the dresses were not flattering. I have no clue if the dresses were off-the-rack or custom made (I feel like they might have been the latter; I can’t imagine these things being mass produced) but I do know that they should not have been worn down the aisle.

The thing is, if I verbally described these dresses using neutral language, you’d probably think that they were quite elegant. And maybe on the rack they would have looked not bad. But once a person, well, somehow even the thinnest of the bridemaids (maybe a size four) looked like a sausage. So while I can picture someone sketching one of these dresses, I just cannot understand why they were purchased.

Why didn’t someone say something? I guess I can understand why the bridesmaids themselves didn’t say anything; they probably didn’t want to upset or worry the bride. But why couldn’t the bride see that she was shoving her friends in unflattering dresses?

All of this leads me to say, brides-to-be, please take a critical look at your maids’ dresses and make sure they look great. Yeah, yeah, you’re the bride and you should look the best but your bridesmaids are your friends who (hopefully) are helping you pull off the biggest event you’ll likely ever plan. Make sure they look almost as good as you do.

And if this means being flexible with your bridesmaids dress plans, then so be it. Your pictures will look better for it and you wouldn’t have someone like me wondering what your maids did to dress those ugly dresses.

Maggie Sottero Factory Outlet Sale

What is it about a Maggie that's just so appealing? While I didn't end up buying a Maggie, I certainly understand why some girls have their hearts sent on wearing one of those dresses down the aisle; they certainly are beautiful.

They're also fairly reasonably priced and this Wednesday, August 19, they're even cheaper because Bridal and Beyond is hosting its second annual Maggie Sottero outlet sale. It runs from 5 pm until midnight at their 100 Vanderhoof Avenue location. The ad says that appointments aren't necessary but if you plan on checking this out, I recommend booking one. They're selling $1200 dresses for $600. It's going to be a little crazy I think.

For more details, head over here.

B-Lists

So are you having an invite b-list?

I first heard of this concept a couple years ago, when an acquaintance freely declared that since person X was unable to make it to her wedding, she could now invite his b-list replacement, person Y. At the time, I was shocked by this idea. It just seemed so rude.

But now that I’m planning my own wedding, having a b-list just seems practical. The truth is, guests are a major cost of your wedding. If you’re going to have a common sense wedding, you’re going to have a reasonable guest number that you stick to. But while this number might make your budget happy, it might make you a bit sad because you don’t have space to invite certain people.

Odds are though that not everyone you initially invite can make it. So now what do you do: Leave those spots empty or fill them up with guests who you wanted to invite but just couldn’t squeeze in? If you go with the second option, you’ve got yourself a b-list and in my opinion, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

In some situations, not having a b-list means wasted money. My venue, the Berkeley Church, has a 100-person minimum. This means that will be charged for at least 100 guests, even if only 90 show. Currently, my guest list is just over 100. While I like to think that most of my RSVPs will be set back with a “yes”, I do have a small b-list just in case I find myself with fewer than 100 RSVPs.

I do think that when it comes to your b-list, you need to be discreet. No one wants to know that they were the second pick, even if your venue does only hold 50 people.

If anyone asks about the “guest status” of a b-lister, dance around the topic. If the invites haven’t gone out yet, say that you’re still finalizing the list. If they have, say something about how you’re trying to find a spot for the person in question.

And what b-listers themselves? Well, ideally they’ll have good manners and not ask if they are invited or not. But if a b-lister does ask about whether or not s/he’s invited, be honest and hopefully. Something like, “Well, I would love to have you there but we have a really strict guest number. If though someone can’t make it, I will certainly send an invite to you.” Don’t lie about the invite being lost in the mail or something like that, it’ll only backfire and cause you stress that you don’t need.

Sorry!

Apologies for not updating this blog more; I’ve been busy this past week looking after a puppy who’s having a tough time with being neutered. I promise that next week will bring at least two solid entries.

In the meantime, find out if, this was the 1970s, you’d be ready to get married.

Also, Canada’s biggest two bridal magazines have new issues out. Check the fall/winter of Wedding Bells here and the fall/winter issue of Canadian Bride.

Be On This Blog!

Hey you!

Live in Toronto? Planning a Toronto wedding that you think can be considered “common sense” (so no $4000 cake for example)? Want to be featured on this blog in a WBride profile?
Then send me an email at wedtoblog@gmail.com. Your identity can stay a secret or not, it’s your call!

Also, if you’re a regular reader who happens to be on Facebook, become WedTO’s Facebook friend here. Adding this app to your Facebook page will let you easily access the blog straight from your Facebook profile.

Hope to hear from some of you soon.

Double-Sided Tape Is Not A Miracle Product

This post is more about being a wedding guest than a bride though I guess the key bit of advice – fully try on your outfit before the big day – also applies to girls in big, white dresses.

Yesterday I attended S’s wedding. It was a lot of fun except for one thing: my misbehaving dress.

This was a new dress that I picked up at the Clothing Show from Champagne and Cupcakes, a great dress shop located on Queen West. I did try it on at the Clothing Show and I did notice that it was rather low cut. But the rest of it looked so great on me that I figured I could do something about the front. I got the dress, put it in a draw when I got home and forgot about until a couple of weeks ago.

Now, I did try it on in advance of the actual wedding day and I did come up with a plan – using double-sided fabric tape to stick the dress to my bra but I didn’t actually try this plan out. Mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was not pulling out the double-sided tape until about 15 minutes before we had to go. I tried my best to make it work but the tape just couldn’t do the job of keeping the dress in place. Oh sure, it stuck the dress to the bra but then almost every time I moved it became unstuck. I tried to then sew the dress in place and while that helped a bit, it didn’t provide the solution I was looking for. I did briefly consider switching dresses but I’d already done my make-up to match this misbehaving dress and I didn’t have time to redo it.

So off we went to this wedding, with me having to touch my chest every five minutes to restick the dress to the right spot. At the wedding a friend tried to fix the problem with a small safety pin but even that didn’t fix it completely and you could see the head of the safety pin.

So yeah, I spent last night as a bit of a fashion faux pas, one that easily could have been avoided if I’d just tried out my double-sided tape plan ahead of time.

I will wear the misbehaving dress again but first I plan to do a little sewing job on the front.

Looking For A Cheap Dress?

Okay, maybe not a “cheap” dress but a very reasonably priced one? Then check out the “for sale” board on any wedding forum. I just recently started poking around on these boards on the Canadian Bride and the Wedding Bells forums and wow, there are some amazing deals on there.

For example, here’s a $3000 Alfred Sung dress that’s selling for $500 and that price is negotiable.

Or how about a never-altered Maggie Sottero Gloria dress, normally $1600 but selling for $900?

Now, I know some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of wearing a used dress or worse, a dress that never made it to the alter because the engagement broke off, but quite a few of the dresses for sale have never been worn and are up for sale because the bride bought a second dress (their craziness, your gain I guess). These are perfectly good dresses ready for you to take them to the seamstress of your choice for alterations.

And so what if the dress was already worn once? So long as it’s in good condition and you love it, I don’t see what the big deal is. Besides, you don’t have to tell people where you got it from. Just say that it was a private sale, direct from a woman who didn’t need it (which is completely the truth).

If you need to, or just want to, trim a few hundred dollars from your budget, buying a dress second-hand is certainly the way to go.

Getting The Dress... Part 2

I started my dress shopping at Edmonton’s Pure Bridal (read more on that here) but even after trying on twelve dresses, I couldn’t find the right one. But all that trying on did result in one positive thing; I now had a strong idea of what I wanted: something with a big, eye-catching, tulle skirt; a fitted bodice that ideally had a sweetheart neckline and then just a touch of silver beading all over the dress.

Haven given up on Pure Bridal, we headed over to an odd little shop called Career GirlBridal, a store opened in the ‘50s and appears not been renovated since. It had pink carpeting, less-than-great lighting and the change rooms are about the same size as what you would find in H&M. In other words, it was very unlike the first shop. But as a result, dresses are cheaper here; the next day my mother and I would see the exact same dresses for $200 in “fancier” stores in West Edmonton Mall.

The shop was being manned by an older woman who skillfully split her time between me and the other customer. Like at Pure Bridal there was wasn’t much chit-chat but at least I understood why that was.

This store carries several lines that aren’t available at the first store and one of these lines, Mori Lee, is one that my mother is quite familiar with. She gave the clerk a list of a few Mori Lee dresses that she thought I might like and pleasantly, the store carried most of those dresses. So those were pulled along with a couple others that the clerk thought I might like.

I think I tried six or seven dresses on at Career Girl Bridal. Again, I was running the issue of most of the dresses looking great on me but none of them feeling quite right. By about dress four I was feeling more than a little annoyed at this whole process and I was wondering if I had the energy to visit a third store that day or whether it would be better to call it quits.

But then I tried on the second last dress and while it wasn’t quite right (the neckline had tulle on it that looked odd) it was very, very close. Energy renewed, I tried on the last one and happily, it turned out to be the one. It had most of the elements I was looking for and it was very well-priced. It also felt very comfortable to wear and I could see myself wearing that dress eight or nine hours without any issues. So I decided to get it.

In all honestly, it isn’t my “dream” dress but then I never actually saw my dream dress so… I wanted something a bit more unique but at the same time, I wanted a wedding dress that was also timeless looking. Like I said in my last post, I’m sure such a dress exists out there, somewhere, I just couldn’t find it.

But while my dress won’t be the most memorable dress out there, I like it and it does look really, really good on me. I’ll post pictures, but after the wedding, since I want it to be a surprise for Shawn.