Our Postcards Are Here

Our thank-you postcards arrived on Friday, a full week earlier than scheduled. So bonus points to Vistaprint for that (though I get the feeling that orders set to ship “slow” generally arrive ahead of schedule).

Overall we’re happy with the postcards. Yes, the paperstock could be heavier/higher quality but considering that we paid $30 for 100, glossy, coloured, custom postcards, I can’t really complain. Besides, I believe Vistaprint does give you the option to upgrade your paperstock if that’s important to you.

I should note that the back of these cards have just enough space for the addresses (we had our return one preprinted) and a short note. Personally I’m fine with that but you’re the type of person who likes to hand write notes, you’ll want to go with a proper card instead of a postcard.

I kind of wish we’d cropped our image a little different so that Shawn and I filled more of it. But then considering how awkward I generally look in closer up shots, it’s probably for the best that we didn’t.

So if you’re wondering if I would recommend Vistaprint, I totally would. Just make sure to unsubscribe yourself from its mailing list after you’ve received your order; otherwise be prepared to hear from them multiple times a week.

Photo Reality Check

I spent last weekend touching up my wedding photos, mostly removing armpit fat that my photographer had left it. Besides feeling at bit annoyed at having to do this task, and a bit frustrated with Photoshop and GIMP, the two photo editing programs I was using, I was also feeling a bit sad with how my photos turned out.

More specifically, I was feeling sad with how I looked in the photos. I do want to make it clear that I did end up with some amazing photos, it’s just that unfortunately, I don’t have an amazing one of me.

I look OK in the photos that are taken at a bit of distance, but it the closer-up ones I just look awkward. I had just assumed that I would have at least one “breathtaking” photo of myself but nope, nothing. At best, there are some shots were at least my dress looks stunning.

Other people in the pictures look great and the background in some of our shots, like the one included in this entry, are beautiful. While maybe more direction from my photographer would have resulted in some better shots, I do have to admit that the reason for my less-than-amazing photos is more me than my photographer.

Shawn and I actually had another photo shoot done in Alberta. A cousin of mine who’s a full-time, professional photographer did the photos and again, the results were the same: Some beautiful pictures where the other people in them look better than me, the bride.

The one positive thing about all of these is that it makes me glad that Shawn and I didn’t go out and spend $4,000 on a photographer. I feel like even if we had, we would have ended up with similar results and then I would have been angry, really angry (even though, again, the main reason for the poor photos would have been the fact that I’m simply not photogenic).

I guess my bit of advice for brides-to-be is to realize that photographers aren’t magicians and can only work with what they have. If you take a poor photo, well, then you take a poor photo. Yes, there are tricks of the trade and there’s always Photoshop but those things can only help to a certain point.

I think maybe I would have gotten better photos if we’d had a bit more time for just-me shots (though we did have plenty of time in Alberta and I still ended up with the same results) and if I had practiced posing. I’ve read that some celebrities spend hours standing in front of mirror, seeing how the look from different angles, in different positions. I know it sounds silly but maybe they’re onto something. 

How To Have A Fun Wedding: The Alcohol

Since it’s nearly time to wrap up this blog, it’s time to make the last entry is my “How To Have a Fun Wedding” series. Today we look at alcohol.

First off, I know there’s an ongoing debate about open bar vs. non-open bar. I say that if you can, you should have an open bar because let’s be honest, more booze generally does equal more fun (well, to a point).

But I realize that an open bar isn’t a possibility for everyone. For those people, I recommend trying to come up with a creative a solution that still allows you guests to drink for cheap without sticking you with the whole bill. A few ideas:

• Hold an open bar for a set period of time
• Have a loonie or twoonie bar
•  Pick two signature drinks and have those be free all night long
• Provide guests with two drinks tickets

At absolute minimum, provide wine for free with dinner.

People will drink more (and ideally have more fun) if they can find something they love to drink so do your best to have a reasonable variety of booze on hand. At minimum serve: Red wine, white wine, beer, vodka, gin, rum and rye and go with at least the medium price-point stuff.

Ideally, have a few different types of beer available as well as some coolers and dark and light rum. Other alcohol that’s nice to have on hand is Kahlua, Bailey’s, Raspberry Sourpuss, Blue Curacao and if your crowd’s into shots, Jagermeister and tequila. Of course, if you’ve got the budget (and the appropriate guests) you can always add in some Triple Sec, Peach Schnapps, flavoured vodkas, etc.

When you’re making your alcohol list, make sure to also keep your mix list in mind. For example, if you’re going to have Kahlua available, make sure there’s milk (and I don’t mean coffee cream, I mean actual milk). And please, don’t have cranberry juice be your only vodka-friendly mix. A person can only drink so many Cape Cods.

A wide range of mixes will also be appreciated by those at your wedding who aren’t drinking alcohol.

Signature drinks are great way to personalize and have some fun with your bar menu. Don’t feel like you have to come up with something totally new. We just took Sprite, Raspberry Sourpuss and Blue Curacao, which combine to make a drink commonly known as a “porn star” and renamed it “The Purple People Eater”. The colour worked with our wedding colours and I think a lot of people enjoyed it.

If you want, have one signature drink for the bride and another for the groom. They don’t even have to be proper “drinks”. A signature shot would certainly help to get the party going!

Postcards Ordered

So we’ve just crossed one more thing on our post-wedding to-do list: We’ve ordered our thank-you postcards.

As I discussed in this post, we decided to go with Vistaprint and so far our experience with them has been positive.

We went with this design, uploaded our photo and then Vistaprint automatically, and quite nicely, cropped it. We then added in some copy on the front, a return address on the back and we were done.

Well, we did have to skip past several pages of personalized crap (like key chains and business cardholders) before we could fully place our order but whatever, it was a small annoyance in an otherwise smooth process.

We bought 100 postcards and went with the slow shipping option so our total was $44.11. Obviously the more postcards you buy, the cheaper your per-card cost and since we went with the smallest available quantity, we didn’t really get the best deal but whatever, all we needed was 100.

Vistaprint does offer a range of shipping options. We went with the 21-day choice since that was the cheapest at about $9. But if you’re willing to pay they’ll happily get your cards to you in a few days.

We placed our order on Saturday so I expect we’ll get our postcards on either Friday, November 5 or the following Monday. Here’s hoping they turn out (I think our sample looks good)!

Vendor Reviews Round Six: The DJ

I can’t believe I forgot to review my DJ!

DJ: Anthony Wright
Rating: 5 out of 5

Generally I have a very low opinion of wedding DJs and because of that I originally wanted to go the iPod route. Then, almost a year before our wedding, we went to a wedding where the music wasn’t only good, it was great.

After a bit of convincing from Shawn, I agreed to ditch my iPod idea and instead hire Anthony. I’m very, very glad we did.

Tony was prompt, professional and played exactly what we wanted. We gave him a very detailed must play/try-to-play/don’t play list and he stuck very closely to it though at the same time, he did throw in the occasional request or pick he thought was appropriate.

Anthony doesn’t seem to have a website but email me and I’ll put you in touch with him.

Vendor Reviews Round Five: Photographer & Live Musicians

Photographer: Carruthers Photography
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This was a good lesson in you get what you pay for. Bruce was a great deal and did take some amazing shots but sadly, the ones of me were less than wonderful.

I do wish he had spent more time touching up my photos as well as given more direction to me. I know I told him we wanted natural-looking photos but really, I meant like, reality-TV natural. There’s far too many beautiful shots ruined by my armpit fat or my head being in a weird position.

I also wish Bruce had been better at communicating with us post-wedding. Pre-wedding he was great but then post wedding I kind of had to hound him to find out what was happening with our photos.

When we booked him last October, he told us they would be done in three-four weeks. This seemed really optimistic to me, especially since doing photos isn’t Bruce’s full-time job, so I wasn’t surprised he missed that deadline (it actually took about nine weeks to get them). I just wish he would have kept us in the loop on what was happening with them.

So would I recommend Bruce? Yes but only if A) you’re naturally photogenic or B)value a reasonably priced photographer who will get you some great shots more than having a photographer who’s going to give you that breathtaking shot of yourself.

The truth is, even if I did have that “breathtaking” photo of myself, it’s not like I would do anything with it besides include it in the photo book we’re making. And really, would that photo be worth $3000 or $4000? Personally, I have to say no.

I have some more thoughts on my photos but I’ll save those for another post.


Live Musicians: Vivian Victoria Ng (piano) & Renata Vidri (violin)
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

So of all my vendors these are the only ones I wouldn’t recommend. Actually, I would recommend the violinist, Renata. She wasn’t the friendliest of people but she was talented and professional.

As for Vivian, who was our primary contact, while, she can play the piano beautifully. And she did start off as being quite professional. Shawn and I went to her house where she and Renata played us some stuff including the particular song we wanted for my walk down the aisle and there was a clear contract signed.

But on the day of wedding, Vivian showed up at the venue without some key cord. We were getting ready to line-up to walk down the aisle when the minister came up to me and said the pianist was missing. She wasn’t really missing, she was running around the neighbourhood looking for a replacement cord but I guess this wasn’t clearly communicated.

She did eventually find the cord but then there were other issues and I was given the option of walking down the aisle to just the violin, which I said no to because the song I picked needed the piano.

Eventually things were worked out but the ceremony was late and I walked down the aisle in a pissy mood.

I know stuff like this does happen and I would have been more understanding about it if Vivian had at least apologized to me. Apparently she did say something to Shawn when we was over at her keyboard, trying to help figure things out, but you know what, as the bride and the person who hired you, you should talk to, or even at least email, me.

Great Groupon Deal

Coupon-site Groupon is offering a deal that will appeal to many recent brides: $35 for $115 worth of stuff at Photobook Canada. While this amount doesn't count towards taxes or shipping and does have to be redeemed in one order, you can use it on any style of book.

Photobook Canada isn't really cheap but I've read good stuff about the site and they do offer plenty of options. They also seemed to be used by some professional photographers so that says something about them.

The one thing about Groupon is that if you want the coupon, you need to buy it today. I have used Groupon before and it's really quick and easy to use and while the deal does seem really, really good, it's totally true.

Vendor Reviews Round Four: Hair & Makeup

Let’s look at my hair and makeup vendors today.

Hair: Beautycalls: The Mobile Stylist/Bene
Rating: 4 out of 5

I have to admit that I was a bit worried about this vendor. While my hair trial was OK in the end, it did have some bumps. Bene, the hair stylist assigned to me, was 30 minutes late and it did take us a bit to find something that worked (though to be fair, I did have some ideas that didn’t work). The owner of Beautycalls, Charlene, also repeatedly mentioned how she was worried about me because she couldn’t reach me by phone the night before (I had confirmed the appointment by email) and I found that rather odd.

But on my actual wedding day things with Bene went great. She gave me the exact hair style I wanted and while it didn't last all night, it did at least make it through the photos and our ceremony.

 Things were a little bumpier with my sister (her first hair style was huge) but then she didn’t have a trial. Thankfully, Bene works really fast and soon my sister had great hair too while my mom had a nice blow-out.

Price-wise, Beautycalls is quite reasonable and because Charlene employs a number of people, she can likely find someone for your date. Compared to some vendors out there she is quite organized and even phoned me up post-wedding to see how things went. That’s something more vendors should do.


Makeup: Kim Martin
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

I really wanted to give Kim five out of five because she’s got a great personality, is excellently priced and does do a wonderful job. It’s just that she’s a bit on the slow side.

Now, this is Kim’s first real year of doing bridal makeup and I have no doubt that in a couple years time she’ll be quite speedy but for now, I would only use her if you had a small bridal party.

My two-hour long trial should have been a tip-off that Kim’s a bit on the slow side. But then we were playing around with false eyelashes and a few different looks and post-trial Kim did send me a face chart complete with colours/products used so I thought that would really speed things up. And while I’m sure it did, things could have been faster.

Bene, my hair stylist, also does makeup and I could see her watching Kim at one point and she didn’t look impressed. But once Kim was done, both my sister and I looked great (my only issue was that I could have used a touch more under eye concealer though my eyes did look fine right after she did them) and our makeup did last all night.

Kim doesn’t have a website but if you email me (wedtoblog[removethis]@gmail.com) I’ll pass her contact info over to you.

Vote For Me!

Are you on Facebook? If so, can you please head over here and vote for my entry in a contest being sponsored by Torontist and Virgin America.

All you have to do is hit the “Like” button at the bottom of the page and your vote will be recorded (if you can't see it, try again later or try using Firefox or Chrome; the button doesn't alway show in IE). You don’t have to download an app or anything like that and I won’t have access to your Facebook profile or any of your personal info.

You can vote until October 22 and it's one vote per Facebook profile.

Thanks so much for doing that for me, I really appreciate it!

Lindsay

Vendor Reviews Round Three: Invites & Flowers

Today I review my invites and my florist.


Invites: Raspberry Creations
Rating: 4 out of 5

We received tons of compliments on our invites, made by Tennessee’s Raspberry Creations. I found Raspberry Creations on Etsy.com and I completely recommend you check that site out if you’re looking for something a little different when it comes to stationary. Personally I found the whole process of proofing and buying the invites on Etsy to be excellent.

The only hitch we ran into was with our first round of RSVP cards. During the proofing stage I had asked for meal options to be added in and RC did mock up a version that had exactly what I wanted. However, the version I received had the meal options missing.

When I told Raspberry Creations about this they were very apologetic and quickly sent me out the correct cards, at no extra charge. In the end, this mistake turned out to be a great thing because I was able to use the first batch of RSVP cards alongside the invites to our out-West reception.

In addition to being great to work with, Raspberry Creations was also very reasonably priced. It cost us $3.25 US for an invite, coloured envelope and RSVP card.


Flowers: Flowergirls
Rating: 4 out of 5

I really wanted to give Flowergirls and its owner, Jenn, five out of five because Jenn herself was great to work with. She was able to put together some amazing ideas despite our miniscule floral budget and she really wowed me by getting the lilies I really wanted at no extra charge.

Unfortunately, as I would later learn, Jenn was up North at another wedding on my wedding day so her staff looked after my flowers. And while things did look good, my cake topper was missing and the orchids in my bouquet were mostly closed buds (I was hoping they would open as the day progressed but nope).

I think that had Jenn been there, things would have looked a bit better. On the plus side, when I pointed out the missing cake flowers, she immediately offered a refund.

I also found Flowergirls’ paperwork to be a little messy. Our initial contract was great and clearly spelled out what was due and when. But subsequent versions were missing that info (to be fair, we needed other versions because we kept changing the number of corsages and boutonnières we needed).

I would recommend Flowergirls but if you’re dealing with a good size flower budget or are really fussy about your flowers, make sure that Jenn will be on site to make sure everything gets done just right.

Vendor Reviews Round Two: The Rings

Let’s move on to round two of my vendor reviews. Today we’ll look at the places we got our rings from.

Shawn’s Wedding Ring: TitaniumKay.com
Rating: 5 out of 5

We bought Shawn’s ring online from a great site called TitaniumKay.com. You can read my longer review here or just go straight to the site and check out its huge selection of tungsten and titanium rings. They are all excellently priced and the service we had from them was great, even when we had to return Shawn’s ring because the sizing wasn’t right.


My Wedding Ring: Jilian Maddin at Made You Look
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Because of the cut of my engagement ring, I knew I’d need a custom wedding ring made. We decided to go with Made You Look because it’s near our house and it also consistently gets great reviews in beauty magazine.
And those praises are totally deserved. After discussing what we wanted and what our price point was, we were quickly paired up with Jilian who worked with us to create something that would be in our budget and that I love wearing for the rest of my life.

While I do recall the ring taking a little longer than expected to make, the end result was worth the wait. Plus, it wasn’t like we were in a rush since we had my ring made back in the spring.

While what I had made might not be to everyone’s style, Made You Look has access to a wide range of jewellers who cater to all kinds of looks and I would definitely recommend starting with that shop if you need a custom ring made.

Just keep in mind that you're dealing with custom-made jewellery. While you can get something reasonably priced, it won't be "cheap".

Vendor Reviews Round One: Cake & Venue

So I wanted to wait to do my vendor reviews until I had all my vendor-related dealings wrapped up but since I’m still waiting for my photos, I’ve decided to start posting them now, two at a time.

Let’s start with two of my favourite vendors (all ratings out of five).

Cake: The Sweet Escape Patisserie
Rating: 5 out of 5

No debate here, we picked the perfect bakery. Michelle, the owner, was great to work with, her prices were amazing (we paid somewhere between $300 and $400 for everything) and the cake and cupcakes she made were an all-out smash hit. We order 12 dozen cupcakes and we had exactly 99 guests. Despite having way more cupcakes than guests, we ended the night with fewer than ten leftovers (and I know some people didn’t have one). So that pretty much says it all right there.

The only downside was that I didn’t get to taste all of the dozen flavours that we ordered.


Venue/Food: The Berkeley Church
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

If we had to do it all over again, we would definitely pick the same venue. While it wasn’t cheap, going with the Berkeley was money well-spent in the end, particularly since we were able to save money on alcohol since we brought in our own and we décor since the Berkeley really didn’t need much.

We loved the look and the feel of this place and I think our guests, for the most part, liked it. I do know that they pretty much all loved the food and the generous portions they were given. And more than a few of them also quite liked the Berkeley staff’s openness to having a great party.

Our only issues with the Berkeley had to do with communication, a complaint I’ve heard about from others. Our initial planner (who I believe no longer works there) was flaky. Our new planner, Kathy, was much better but the transition was a bit bumpy (we’d booked some meetings with the OP and then things had to change when we got Kathy) and I think we missed out on getting some key info early on (we didn’t find out some details about candle usage until two weeks before our weddings; candles

were a key part of our décor).

But I will give them full credit for starting us off with a very detailed, very useful proposal that allowed us to have a clear understanding of costs as well as what was due when, an idea that many other wedding vendors should look into

My New Blog

While this blog is steadily wrapping up, I have another one started over here.

It’s called Stuff I Bought and it’s basically a product review blog. While I’m up for reviewing pretty much anything I’ve bought, there will be a heavy focus on beauty products.

Since that’s also a Blogger blog, you can follow it using Google Friend Connect (just scroll down to the bottom). I also set it up with Facebook’s Networked Blogs.

So if you’re already following WedTO, please consider following my new blog. I think you’ll like it!

Slice is Casting

I was on Craigslist today and I came across a posting made by Slice Network. It’s a casting call for GTA couples for a new wedding show:

Getting married? Slice is giving couples a free high-end wedding planner and potentially thousands of dollars’ worth of assistance.

We’re casting for ENGAGED COUPLES AND THEIR MOMS who live within the GTA and are planning to get married in the next year but have been putting it off. 

Couples should be open to the idea of having their moms help organize the wedding. 

To find out more, please call 416-504-7317 x559 

I assume that having an “interesting” relationship with your mother will increase your chance of getting casted.

Anyway, you can see the original post here.

What To Do With Your Dress

While post-wedding tasks are nothing compared to pre-wedding ones, there’s still a small list of things you need to get done and one the trickier ones is to decide what to do with your wedding dress.

There seems to be three main options:

1. Keep your dress
2.  Sell your dress
3. Trash your dress

That third option has becoming increasingly popular and if that’s your thing and you’ve got some money to burn, hey, go for it, but personally it doesn’t appeal.

OK, there are some amazing trash-the-dress photos out there

Right now I’m debating between option #1 and option #2. Option #2 is definitely the more practical one but it’s also kind of sad. I have to admit that a part of me wants to keep my dress even though I realize that it will likely spend the rest of its life in a box.

I did read somewhere (I think on a blog) about a woman who puts her wedding dress on every year on her birthday (I think she just does this at home and doesn’t wear it one in public).  That’s kind of a fun idea and it does mean that at least your dress is getting out of its box. It also doubles as a sort of weight check.

So maybe I’ll end up doing that. The only thing is that my dress is currently in Alberta. I deliberately left it there after our out-West reception because my parents have way more storage space than Shawn and I do. But at some point it’ll make the trip back to Toronto.

Besides sentimental reasons, the other big reason why I’m not that interested in selling is that it’s a hassle. Both the Canadian Bride and the Wedding Bells forums are packed with dresses for sale so there’s a ton of competition out there, most at great prices.

If you plan on selling your dress, don’t expect to be making even close to your money back. I’ve seen more than a few dresses being offered at around half price and that’s not necessarily including the money that went into alterations and cleaning.

And once you have an interested buyer, she may want to come over and try on the dress and she’ll probably want to negotiate a lower price and really, it just seems like a big pain.

I know I could skip some of that pain by taking my dress to a consignment or second-hand store but the prices those places offer are generally poor unless you have an amazing, big, big name dress.

There is a fourth option I didn’t list above and that’s to donate your dress to The Bride’s Project, an organization that sells used wedding dresses and donates the funds to cancer-related charities, including Wellspring, The Canadian Cancer Society and The Breast Cancer Foundation. The Bride’s Project also accepts and sells accessories such as veils and tiaras.

It really is a great cause and worth looking into if you know you don’t want to keep your dress but aren’t interested in selling or trashing it.

Candle Holders For Sale

I just want to let everyone know that I still have some candle holders for sale!

I have eight of the purple ones (they can be used for a tea light as well as for whatever you call the next size up) and they are quite pretty. I’m selling them for $2 or all eight for $12.

Then there are the clear ones. They fit a tea light on one side and a candlestick on the other. We put clear labels on them and used them in lieu of escort cards.  I have several dozen of these things and I’m selling them for $.075 each (reduced price) or 10 for $7.

I will ship and I will meet you along the subway line if that's easier. You can also come to my place to pick them up.

If you’re interested, send me an email at wedtoblog[removethis]@gmail.com.