WedTO

My Trip To Kleinfeld Bridal

2011-06-01T07:55:00.000-04:00

*Ah! I just realized that I didn't post about my recent trip to Kleinfeld on this blog. But I did post about it earlier on my other blog, StuffLindsayBought.blogspot.com*

Recently, I went to New York City and the whole reason why I recently went was to help my sister, who lives there, with her wedding dress fitting.

Last August, she ordered a dress from Kleinfeld (yes, the shop from that TLC show) and was told that it would be in by mid-April. So we figured that me taking a mid-May trip made sense. You know where this going right?

I arrived in NYC on Thursday, May 12, and at that time, there was no dress. My sister made one last desperate call to Kleinfeld the following Friday morning and oh yes, they were just going to call her because the dress was there. But the earliest they could get her in for a fitting was mid-June (which was bumped to early June when my sister explained she was leaving the country for her wedding in mid-July).

So for a while there it looked like I wasn’t going to see the dress. But Saturday morning, after being coached by me on what to say to hopefully secure one of Kleinfeld's “emergency” spots (and I know they have these spots because I’ve seen them referred to on the show), my sister called the store again. Unfortunately she just got the answering machine. So things continued to look bleak.

But then my mother called. She’d talked to someone at Kleinfeld and had managed to get us a viewing (though not a fitting) for that afternoon. Yeah!

Yes, the girl on the show was trying
on a "Pnina", similar to this

So off we went to one of the world’s most famous bridal stores and yes, they were filming Say Yes To The Dress when we were there. But no, we’re not on it. The filming was only taking place in the show room and if you don’t have an appointment, the most you can do is poke your head inside that room, which, just like the lobby, is not as classy or as elegant as I had imagined it would be.

But anyone can head down to the basement, where the fitting rooms are, along with a small collection of overpriced shoes and other accessories. This is a pretty small space and again, it’s not as elegant as it could be (Toronto's White was noticeably nicer).

But while Kleinfeld was a bit of a letdown in interior design, it did have amazing service, once we were inside the store.

The woman manning the fitting area desk was very warm and even though we were just doing a viewing, we were assigned a seamstress who explained what alterations needed to be made and helped us pick up a veil.

Even though we were being “squeezed in”, the experience never felt rushed and while we did have to wait a bit to get our room, it was only about a 10-15 minute wait, which considering the store had over a 100 appointments that day, is pretty good.

If I lived in or around NYC, I would check out Kleinfled because it does have the largest selection of dresses in the world. But I would be reluctant to be a Toronto resident and buy a dress from there, given the store’s deadline issues (plus there’s the hassle of getting your dress over the border).

Also, while you don’t have to get your dress alternated there; alterations are a big part of the store’s sell and the way Kleinfled’s does it is that you pay a hefty, flat fee and then get as many alterations as you need. This is great if you live nearby and have a dress that needs lots of changes but obviously isn’t that practical if you live in another country.

As for visiting Kleinfled’s just for the sake of visiting it, I’d say pass. Sure, if you’re in the area I guess it wouldn’t hurt to pop in and check out the few dresses displayed in the lobby but again, unless you have an appointment, you’re not getting into the showroom (and even then, the bulk of the dresses are in the backroom). And while the accessories section did have some pretty items, none of them, least of all te Jimmy Choos, were cheap.

57 Wedding Invite Designs

2011-04-28T18:14:00.000-04:00

One of the hardest aspects of my wedding was finding an appropriate invite design. I literally looked at several hundred different designs over on Esty, as well as various do-it-yourself kits and a few offerings by local invite companies.

Initially I thought the big problem with picking an invite design was going to be our limited budget. But then I started looking at designs and realized that no, our biggest problem was going to finding something that we liked.

Eventually we did find our invites but damn, did it take a lot of digging and while I love what we end up with, I do wish that this blog post had been made in say, January 2010, because it would have saved me a lot of time.

That post highlights 57 different wedding invitation designs that are for the most part anything but traditional. If you’re like me and want something different than your typical coloured-ribbon invite (you know what I mean), you’re going to want to check it out.

While it doesn’t contain pricing info or anything like that, you can click on an image to get to a page what will give you the name of the designer and from there you should be able to track him or her down.

Here are a few of my favourites:

For those of you not feeling Google Maps.

Interesting New Wedding Venue: Neubacher Shor Contemporary (NSC)

2011-04-19T09:35:00.014-04:00

*Updated on April 25 with a venue link*

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email inviting me to the launch party of a new venue, something that, as far as I could tell, was simply called “The Venue”. While the picture included in the invite looked intriguing, I couldn’t find anything online about this place and its location, 5 Brock Avenue, confused me because I know that area and I couldn’t imagine where this place would be.

Then I saw this article over on BlogTO, a review of some place called the Neubacher Shor Contemporary (NSC). It was the full name for what I was calling “The Venue”.

As the article explains, this space is both an art gallery and an event space, with the event side of things being called NSC The Venue.

The picture to the left should explain why I couldn’t figure out where this place was located. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much. But the inside, which offers 3,000 square feet of loft-style space, would make for an ideal, contemporary wedding space. (In case you can't the copy on that top image, this place fits 150 sitting; 250 standing.)

Annoyingly, I can’t find a website for this venue but based on the invite I got, I’m thinking that the catering company Eatertainment is providing the food so if you’re interested in this space, maybe they can put you in touch with the right people.

Thanks to Jasmine for the venue link!

A Fun Wedding Blog

2011-04-15T09:13:00.014-04:00

Sometimes it’s fun just to look at pretty pictures.

If you agree with that statement, you’ll want to check out The Lela New York Wedding Blog. It’s packed with beautiful image, after beautiful image of wedding-related stuff (for example, check out this post about short wedding dresses) and offers categories for easy browsing.

As the name suggests, this is a blog out of New York so many of the products it showcases aren’t available here but this blog can still be a great source of inspiration (for example, check out these fun mini-cakes). Plus, with the Canadian dollar flying high, it might be worth it to try and track down some of the items it highlights, like these too cute cake toppers.

My Honeymoon

2011-04-11T08:56:00.016-04:00

While looking this blog on Friday, I noticed that I never posted anything about my honeymoon! And that’s just wrong because my husband Shawn and I had a great honeymoon. We took it in February and spent two nights, in Los Angeles, five nights on the French Polynesian island of Moorea and five nights on its sister island of Bora Bora.

I wrote up several blog entries on the Bora Bora and Moorea portions over on my other blog, Stuff Lindsay Bought. So check them out and let me know if you have any questions: wedtoblog[removespace]@gmail.com.

Below are a few of the almost 2,000 pictures we took (yeah, we went a little picture crazy).

Love Online Coupons?

2011-04-08T20:47:00.001-04:00

I know that I've talked about Groupon before on this blog but I don’t think I’ve mentioned One Spout, a site that basically collects all those Groupon-like online coupons into one place.

This site offers a bunch of different sorting options, including by distance and category, though you can’t sort by newest first, which is kind of odd.

That one flaw aside, this can be a great site for a bride-to-be. It lets you declutter your inbox while still letting you catch a great deal, like over 50% everything from flowers to photos to wedding cakes. There’s even deals on wedding show tickets.

One deal that caught my eye was this one from TakeItAndGo.com that, for $89, gets you an at-home spa party for you and three friends. The really nice thing about this deal is that you can buy an unlimited amount so in theory, you could buy three of these coupons and have a twelve person bachelorette where everyone gets a mini- massage, pedicure and manicure (if you’re interested, the deal’s still on for four more hours).

One Spout isn’t just a Toronto thing; it has sites for most major North America cities as well as areas like “Halton region” and “Niagara region”, so this a great site for brides all across the continent.

Some Wedding Reading For You

2011-02-05T14:56:00.000-05:00

Last week, the Toronto Star updated its online wedding section with a ton of new articles. Topics covered include ways to keep costs down (including a look at City Hall weddings), wine advice and invite ideas. And yes, there are multiple pieces about dresses (looks like my decision to wear a big dress makes me fashion-forward in the world of wedding gowns).

The Star’s wedding section is actually quite extensive, with dozens of articles that go all the way back to August 2008. It’s worth it to flip through some of the back stories since some of them, like one bride’s personal story on where to spend and where to save, are a great read.

LouLou magazine also recently launched an online wedding section, to go alongside this month’s wedding-focused issue. Since LouLou is a shopping magazine, there is a real focus on “stuff” so if you’re on a budget and/or have problems with shopping you might want to skip this one.

But LouLou really does highlight some great items like these reasonably priced shoes and these pricier ones.

And some of the articles, like the ones on nail trends and fragrances, are actually sort of useful.

More Thoughts On My Wedding Photos...

2011-01-31T21:59:00.012-05:00

The other day I was flipping through my professional wedding photos, trying to see how our escort card table had been laid out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a single pro shot of this table. At best, were some pictures, taken by a friend, of how it looked later in the night, once it had been switched over to our midnight snack table.

This made me realize that I didn’t have pictures of a lot of the “little” and even not-so-little things. For example, I didn’t have a decent picture of my centrepieces or any of the guest tables. And while we didn’t have a lot of flowers as décor, if you look at our photos, it’s almost as if the bouquets and corsages were the only flowers we had.

When it came to photos, I had made up a list of shots I wanted taken but these were almost all formal “people” shots (you know, me and my grandmother, me, my grandmother, sister and mother, that type of thing). While I did have some other shots down (like the outside of the building), I didn’t list out everything.

Part of this was because I assumed our photographer would just take shots of certain things like centrepieces. The other part is because I didn’t realize I wanted certain shots until after the wedding. For example, we had a signature drink, which was explained in a picture frame. I would have loved to have had a shot of the drink by the frame, but I didn’t think of that until it was too late.

Several months ago, when I was putting together our Photobooks, I realized all the great, creative, people-oriented photos that we could have taken (be sure to flip through these example books before your wedding day for ideas). Now, as I’m trying to remember the various details that made up our wedding, I’m realizing all the other photos that I wish we had.

So my advice to you, future brides, is to write down every possible shot that you want taken and then give that list to your photographer. Odds are, this is going to be a long list so you’re probably going to want to break it up, by location as well as by priority (I do realize that not even the best photographer in the world is going to capture everything).

I’d also explain to the photographer that you’re being thorough, not crazy, and that you’re just trying to ensure that you end up with photos you love.

Because once your wedding day’s over, it’s over and trust me, it sucks to be sitting, wishing that you had a picture of A or B (and yes, I’m still disappointed that I never got my wedding day “wow” shot).

White Toronto

2011-01-26T18:06:00.000-05:00

*This entry has also been published on my other blog, Stuff Lindsay Bought*

From WeddingBells.ca

As I detailed in Saturday’s entry, my sister has selected the Simple Silhouettes line for me and her four other bridesmaids to wear. While a great-looking line, it’s not a very popular one, at least not in Canada, and as a result, only one place in Toronto carried: White in Yorkville.

Now, if you’ve ever been a bride in Toronto, you’re probably familiar with White. For the rest of you, I’ll explain that it's considered to be one of the city’s better, and pricier, bridal stores.

I was a Toronto bride but since I preferred not to look at things I couldn't afford, I never went to White (well, that and I bought with my dress with my mom in Alberta). But I was always curious about it and because of that, I was happy to have an excuse to check it out.

Located in an old Victorian on Hazelton Avenue, it should be made clear that White is no Kleinfields. It’s a small place with a suitably small selection. But the dresses they do have well, they are certainly stunning. Maybe a little too stunning.

Let me explain…

While I’m sure White stocks at least a couple sleek, simple gowns, most of the ones I saw are elaborate creations full of lace, beading and sparkle. While some were more “traditional” looking, many had a definite high-fashion look to them and the detailing on both types was truly amazing.

While these dresses aren’t necessary big in size (though they do have those), they are big on impact and honestly, I don’t think most women could carry them off. Besides requiring the right body type (long and lean but not skinny), they also require the right attitude. For many women, a wedding day is about being a princess but these dresses, even the ones with tulle, say “supermodel” more than “princess”.

Then there's the issue of cost. With dresses by such designers as Badgley Mischka, Monique Lhuillier and Oscar de la Renta, yuo can safely assume that this is not the place for the bride-on-a-budget. While I did see I think at least two that are three thousand-something, most of the price tags I looked at were above the $5000 mark with many dresses costing over ten grand. And no, that cost doesn’t include alterations (oddly, White doesn’t do alternations).

From Distinctoccasions.ca

The selection of bridesmaids however, is both more varied and more practical. Again, the selection isn’t huge and neither is the overall “bridesmaid loft”, which is located at the top of the house. I’m pointing this out because while I was getting my dress, a bridal party with 12 (yes, 12) maids showed up and things got pretty cramped pretty quick.

Also, the lighting’s not the best in there so if you can, get colour samples that you can take out and look at in better light.

The service however, is excellent. I had my own clerk who was friendly and helpful, offering useful and honest advice and opinions. I was measured for my dress by a different woman who was quick, professional and also offered her honest opinion on exactly what size I should get. And I have to give my admiration for the woman who was dealing with mega-bridal party. Despite their noise and uh, stupidity (multiple members weren’t wearing underwear), she was calm and organized.

I was less impressed with the fact that I paid more for my bridesmaid’s dress than my sister's other maids, who are buying theirs from a shop in Calgary, but I guess that Yorkville rent’s gotta get paid somehow.

Appointments are a must-have at White and because the selection is on the small side, I would check with them and make sure that they carry the designer/specific dresses that you’re looking for. And seriously, if you don’t have the budget for a pricy dress, don’t even walk in there.

Simple Silhouette Bridesmaid Dresses

2011-01-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

*This entry has also been published on my other blog, Stuff Lindsay Bought*

Last weekend, I went shopping for a bridesmaids dress for my sister’s wedding. Based on

Violet

that experience, I have written up two reviews; one on of the line of dresses I tried on and another on where I went shopping. Let’s start with the dresses.

My sister has five “maids” (if you hate that term, stop reading now because I am going to use it) and of course we don’t all look the same. So she’s decided that we can each pick our own dresses, with some conditions in place.

And I’m quite happy that my sister did lay down some dress parameters. The whole pick-whatever-you-want approach to bridesmaids’ dresses seems great on paper but in real life can result in some really random and weird combinations. Plus it can be stressful for both the maids and the bride since no one really knows what to get or expect.

My sister told me and the other maids that we’d be wearing pink, tea-length dresses from the 2009-2010 Simple Silhouette lines (aka the "Simple Collection") and I have to have to say, she made a great call.

Now, I should warn you that Simple Silhouette’s 2011 bridesmaids line is sort of ugly. I’m not sure what happened between the 2010 and the 2011 lines but whatever it was, it should be undone because the older dress designs are genuinely attractive garments that most women would be happy to wear.

Senna

For the most part, these designs have clean, simple lines and similar skirts so they there is a cohesive look to them. At the same time, the top portions come in a wide enough variety of styles that most maids will be able to find a dress that feels and looks good.

Another nice thing about Simple Silhouettes is its extensive fabric options and the fact that all of its dresses, at least from the pre-2011 collections, are available in any of those fabrics.

I tried on over half-a-dozen dresses and they were all comfortable and flattering. Overall, this was one of the more positive shopping experiences I’ve ever because everything looked at least “good” (and unless I’m buying t-shirts, clothing shopping is usually a very frustrating thing for me).

Buttercup

I think most maids would be happy to wear a Simple Silhouette dress except for one key detail: the price.

These are well-designed, well-constructed dresses and those facts are reflected in their cost. As a result, these dresses mostly run between just under $300 and just under $400 and if you’re getting a satin or silk dress, it’s going to be on the higher end (though you can get a bit of a discount if you’re buying three or more dresses in the same colour/fabric).

To help balance that high cost out, keep in mind that because the look of these dresses is so great, they really could be worn again (as long as the fabric choice isn’t too crazy).

Don’t believe me? Then check out Simple Silhouette’s Beyond the Wedding Day photo shoot.

Oh, in case you’re interested, the dress I picked is called the Violet and it's the first dress included in this entry.

Big Sample Sale at White

2011-01-17T09:04:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, I was at White bridal salon in Yorkville, getting a bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding. I’ll definitely write up an entry about that experience but for now, I just want to let everyone know that White is having quite the sample sale this Friday and Saturday.

Check the ad below for more details and if you want to check out the sale, be sure to book an appointment! This is not the kind of event where you can just show up (in fact, I think Saturdays are appointment-only).

Getting Married In Toronto Might Be Getting Pricier

2011-01-15T21:47:00.003-05:00

It might soon cost a bit more to get married in Toronto. City council has proposed raising the cost of a city marriage license up to $140, from $130. Not a big jump but still, something to take note of it.

Also something to note: You don’t need a Toronto marriage license to get married in Toronto. A marriage license from any city/town/whatever in Ontario will do and yes, marriage license costs do vary by municipality . Of course, before you plan a road trip, crunch the numbers and make sure it’s worth your while to go out of your way to get a cheaper license.

Also possibly going up is the price to get married in one of Toronto’s four civic centres (this includes City Hall), from $75 to $100, and the cost of photo permits for city parks. Pricing here varies by the park but page 46 of this lengthy document gives you an idea of how the numbers are changing.

A Wedding Show Worth Checking Out (if you have the budget)

2011-01-13T09:05:00.001-05:00

Long time, no blog (but then I have been busy writing over here).

I decided to make my first post over here in quite some time because there’s a great event happening this weekend over at The Carlu: The Wedding Co.’s annual wedding show.

I have to admit that I never attended this particular show when I was a bride though I really wanted to. It’s smaller and more selective than most of the other shows out there and the vendors are generally quite high in quality and talent. Unfortunately that means they are also higher in price. So I decided not to tease myself with services and ideas that I couldn’t afford and skipped this show.

However, if you have the budget, or are great at DIY stuff, this show is worth its $20. Need proof? Just check out the Highlights section over here.

Photobook Canada Review

2010-12-01T21:50:00.003-05:00

*originally posted over on my other blog, Stuff Lindsay Bought*

Recently I ordered four books from Photobook Canada as Christmas gifts for family members. All four books are full of pictures of my recent wedding and are similar to those photo books that many wedding photographers offer in their packages package (in fact, some wedding photographers use this exact company to create those books).

To properly review Photobook Canada, I’m splitting the review into two parts. This means it’s going to be a long one, but if you’re considering creating a photo book or using this company, this is a review worth reading.

Designing the Book

First off, if you say, struggle to add photos to Facebook, don’t even both trying to use Photobook’s free design software. It’s not actually that hard to use but it does offer a ton of choices and does require a certain amount of computer intuition, if that makes sense (but don’t worry, you don’t need to know HTML or how to edit photos or anything like that).

You’re also going to need high-res digital JPEG files of your photos and I recommend that you have these ready to go, in a folder on your desktop. You can add in photos after you’ve started the process, but having the majority of them all in one folder will help make things go smoother.

While you can design your photo book from scratch, I recommend using the wizard. It basically takes your folder of photos and then distributes them over the number of pages you’re going with (and yes, you can easily add in more pages later).

For some people, that might be your book, done right there. For others, you might just need to adjust how the image are cropped or swap the placement of certain images (all super easy to do).

My pictures were pulled in a weird order so I ended up moving almost all of them around but the wizard did give me some great ideas about how the photos could be displayed. The software offers you dozens of different templates and if it weren’t for the wizard, there’s no way I would have thought of using some of them.

Do spend some time just playing around with the software and seeing what you can do because this program allows you to be quite creative. And do look at some of site’s examples for ideas you can be inspired from.

Overall, I found designing the book to be a fun and easy process. The only thing that annoyed me was that all of the backgrounds have at least some kind of pattern to them. Now, the templates all start with either a solid black or white background and while most templates come in either colour, some of them don’t. So if you have a template that only comes initially in a black background but want it to have a solid white background, well, too bad.

But on the plus side, you can download a free proof of your book and see exactly how it should look in real life.

Checking out and uploading my photos was also a pretty smooth process though uploading the photos can take a while so be prepared for that.

The Actual Product

The Photobook model we went with was the 11" x 8", Imagewrap hardcover book for $65. For this price, we got 40 pages of photos and images on both the front and back of matte laminated hardcover.

In full honesty, I wasn’t at first impressed by my Photobook. Just judging it just from the cover, it seemed rather year-book-y, though one with crisp, clear photos on the front and back.

Thankfully, I was more pleased with what was inside. The paper stock really is excellent and my photos were bright, colourful and laid out just like they were supposed to be. So at minimum we ended up with high-quality year books.

If you want, you can spend more money and upgrade to the PRO series, which, with leather covers, looks nothing like a yearbook. But then the cheapest PRO model is $300.

While $65 for what I got is a bit on the high end, Photobook Canada seems to often run sales/offer discounts or coupons that turn their products into great deals. For example, it’s currently running a holiday promo were using the promo code “HOLSAVE40” will save you 40% the cost of a book.

Some Emails Worth Signing Up For

2010-11-22T18:22:00.000-05:00

Since I’m winding this blog down but still occasionally posting, I’ve added a new email notification thingy to it so that it’s easier to find out when I have made a new entry. Signing up is quick, easy and nope, I won’t get your email address and neither will any other lists. Then on days when I do post, you’ll get an email of that post delivered straight to your inbox.
And speaking of emails, are you signed up for any of those email coupon sites like Groupon? If not, you might want to check out the following sites:

While each of them is slightly different, they all work by emailing you a daily deal. And why might you want to sign up for all this mail? Because sometimes the deals are perfect for a bride.

For example, spa and restaurant deals are very common and could help you save on your beauty and thank-you/rehearsal meal costs. Many of the coupons can also be bought as a gift for someone else so there’s a way to save on your bridal party thank-you gifts.

I’ve also seen deals on photography (while I doubt you could get your actual wedding photos cheap, I have seen some that do apply to engagement photos) and stores that sell jewellery and accessories.

Personally I’ve bought Groupon deals a few different times and it’s always been a smooth process, both buying and redeeming.

A few weeks ago, we bought a couple Groupon coupons that, for $35 each, got us $115 at Photobook Canada. This was a fantastic offer for us since we were planning on creating photo books anyways and those things aren’t cheap. Since then we have created our books and redeemed our coupons and as usual, it was a smooth process (and yes, I will post about my Photobook Canada experience at some point but in case you’re wondering, it was positive).

While all these emails can be a bit spammy (most of them you will just delete), the deals they offer are so good that personally, I find they’re worth the email clutter. Just make sure you only buy coupons for stuff you needed to buy anyway!

Review of The William Ashley Warehouse Sale

2010-11-14T15:41:00.002-05:00

*This was first posted on my other blog*

So I spent this morning at the William Ashley warehouse sale. Is this event for everyone? No, if you hate crowds, waiting in line or lots of options, skip it.

But if you’re getting married; know someone getting married; getting a new place to live; upgrading your plates, flatware, household décor, etc.; have a lengthy Christmas shopping list; really have any kind of Christmas shopping list or just love an amazing deal, then you want to make the trek out to Railside Road.

I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about heading out this morning to this sale. Part of that was because I had to get up early (we wanted to be there right at the opening time of 10 am because this sale does grow quite the line). But I was also worried that this sale wouldn’t have anything I needed/wanted.

My sister is getting married next year and initially I thought that this sale would be a great way to pick some pieces up for her. But then I started to worry that it would just have discontinued and plain/less attractive patterns and that I was wasting my time going out there.

I was wrong.

My sister is actually getting two different patterns and while the sale didn’t have the one, it did have the other and I was able to get her a serving pattern at an amazing price. If I was a rich sister, I would have got her the four place settings for just under $900; originally going for I think around $2,800.

Yeah, the deals are that good and the selection is excellent (yes, it even includes Wedgewood). When the time comes for me to buy fine china, I’m definitely going to be getting them through the warehouse sale.

While I didn’t buy any dishes for myself, I did get a great stainless steel bowl (you know the kind, with the wavy top) for $14,99, originally $50.

There was of course a ton of other stuff that caught my eye (as well as a few things that were mocked). This sale really had everything from the aforementioned china to glassware to small appliances to Christmas stuff to even furniture.

If you’re a DIY bride, you really want to check this sale out. There are dozens of different types of vases, a huge selection of ribbons and lots of candles and other décor-type things.

Like I mentioned at this top, this sale is not for everyone. Don’t go with a big group, don’t bring kids and do have a budget. And if you can, go on a week day; this sale on the weekend is a bit nutty.

The William Ashley warehouse sale wraps up on Sunday, December 5, and is open every day except for Mondays and Tuesdays. More details can be found over here.

My Bachelorette

2010-11-07T09:45:00.017-05:00

I said that my goal was to more or less wrap this blog up at the end of October and clearly I’ve missed that goal because I’ve yet to write about one of the highlights of this whole wedding experience: My stagette. So let’s get to it.

My stagette was held the Saturday night before my wedding. While this timing might not work for everyone, I liked having it then. Plus, it was the only Saturday that worked for my sister, who lives in New York, and since she was organizing the whole thing, she kind of had to be there.

Before I get any further I need to give a big “Thanks” to my sister for putting together a great night. While I did give her some ideas, she really organized the bulk of it.

She also put a lot of money into it. While my guests were to give her $25 each to cover the expenses of the night, I know that she paid far more than her $25 share (I guess this is where it pays, to have a big bridal party).

We started the night at my condo. In total, I think I had about 13 guests and they started trickling in about 5:30 pm (yeah, we started early, more on that in a second). In order to cut down a bit on costs, we did ask people to bring food and that worked out really well (in fact, we had leftovers).

Alcohol was provided by me and my sister and it was served by two professional bartenders who were also part of the evening’s entertainment. While my sister actually only hired one guy from BartenderOne, we end up with two and together they taught us how to make five different drinks that I’d picked out and showed us a few bar tricks as well.

Both guys were a lot of fun and it was really nice to have someone make drinks for us. And considering we got two guys for just over $200 the price is good (they bring all their own mixing equipment but unless you want to pay extra, you provide the alcohol, pop, glasses, etc.). The one annoying thing is that because of provincial law, you have to book these guys for a minimum of six hours. Of course, you don’t actually need to have them at your event for all eight hours but since you’re paying for their time… … and that’s why my stagette started at 5:30 pm.

In addition to the bartenders, we also had a professional makeup on hand. Her name is Jessica Jean Myers and she actually wrote a little blog entry about my stagette here. She taught us all some makeup tricks and tips, using me as her model. She first did a daytime look on me (which I loved), and then a night time look (which looked amazing though it was a bit on the dramatic side). This was great for many reasons, one of them being that I didn’t have to worry about my makeup that night.

After my looks were done, she sat down with some of my friends and did their makeup. While my sister originally booked her for four hours, she ended up staying for five which was great of her and also made her price, $300, a little easier to slow (she did bring all her own stuff in case you’re wondering).

At around 11 pm we headed out via taxi to the Mod Club to go dancing. I picked it for a few reasons: 1) If you’re on guestlist, cover’s only $5 and the bride gets in free, 2) they play music that appeals to me and most of my friends and 3) it’s a pretty relaxed and fun place. The fact that my stagette fell on the Saturday night of Caribana made all of these points extra important.

As we expected, the Mod Club wasn’t super-busy and they played the right mix of Brit-pop, newer indie/alternative stuff and the occasional dance track. While I know this isn’t what many brides are looking for at their stagette, it was fine for me and I know I had a great time.

I feel I should offer a bunch of general stagette tips but seeing that this post is already enormous, I think I’ll save those for another day.

William Ashley Warehouse Sale

2010-11-02T12:06:00.005-04:00

William Ashley’s massive warehouse sale kicks off this Wednesday and then runs until Sunday, December 5. I’ve never been before but people I know who have been say that it’s a great place to get everything from china to things like vases and candle holders. So if you’re DIY your centrepieces or other bits of décor, you probably want to check this out.

Here are the hours:
Wednesdays - Fridays: 10 am-9 pm
Saturdays & Sundays: 10 am-6 pm

It’s closed Mondays and Tuesdays and the site says that it’s restocked daily but I would suspect that the best stuff goes out early.

As usual for these things, it’s located way out in some industrial park.

Happy shopping!

Our Postcards Are Here

2010-10-31T11:50:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-28T22:48:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-24T09:39:00.005-04:00

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

2010-10-22T09:02:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-20T19:42:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-16T09:24:00.014-04:00

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

2010-10-14T13:05:00.000-04:00

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

2010-10-14T09:20:00.001-04:00

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!

2010-10-12T09:28:00.014-04:00

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

2010-10-11T09:48:00.008-04:00

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

2010-10-10T09:41:00.020-04:00

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

2010-10-08T09:14:00.009-04:00

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

2010-10-06T18:14:00.004-04:00

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

2010-10-05T18:06:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-03T12:56:00.002-04:00

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:

Keep your dress
Sell your dress
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

2010-10-02T09:20:00.005-04:00

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.

Make Your Own Wedding Photo Book

2010-09-30T19:06:00.000-04:00

I’m not a Mac user (other than my phone) but wow, I wish I had so that I could use Mac’s iPhoto book-building feature.

Photographers will charge you hundreds of dollars to make a personalized photo album but with iPhoto, the digital copies of your photos and a bit of creativity, you can create a 13x11-inch, hardcover, 20-page book for $50 ($1.149 for every extra page).

To see the whole thing in action, check out this video.

While I’ve never made one, a friend of mine has seen the results and was quite impressed. Of course, while Apple gives you the tools to create a truly professional product, it is up to you to supply the high-quality photos and typo-free copy.

Hmm... I wonder I can rent a Mac Book from somewhere?

Our Thank-you Postcards

2010-09-29T18:21:00.007-04:00

So we’re still waiting to get our photos back (so much for three-four weeks). I’m not worried we won’t get them, just anxious to see that at least some turned out and also anxious to get going on our thank-you cards.

Actually, we’re doing thank-you postcards instead or regular cards and yep, we’ll be jumping on board that trend of using our wedding photos on the front.

We decided to go with postcards because they’re quicker (no envelope) and a bit cheaper, at least with the company we’re going with.

And that company is: Vistaprint. I came across Vistaprint while researching invites and though they didn’t quite have what I was looking for invite-wise, they do offer a ton of great make-your-own-postcard options.

Since we don’t have any photos yet, I’m not sure what template we’ll go with but I’m sure we’ll be able to find something that works since Vistaprint offers dozens of options. They also offer plenty of options if you’d prefer a folded or flat card.

While I’ve never used Vistaprint, the reviews I’ve read online about them are generally good (at least the Canadian version). They’re quick, give you want you asked for and while the quality isn't amazing, the prices are great.

The site layout is a bit clumsy but I think anyone who can figure out Facebook photo albums can figure out how to create an invite on Vistaprint.

So far the only downside I’ve seen is that the company is a horrible over-emailer. I mean, it’s great that they want to tell me how much money I can save but I don’t need to hear from them multiple times a week. I’ve also read that your checkout process is slowed down by the endless upgrade and special offers they present though I’m not too worried about that, they’re not getting me to buy anything other than my postcards.

If you’re curious to know more about Vistaprint, check out this article where it’s compared to 123Print.com, a company that doesn’t ship to Canada.

Once I get my cards back, I’ll make sure to post and let you know how they look.

There are also lots of other options out there if you want to do a photo thank-you card. I recommend actually starting at home and seeing if your computer or printer came with any software that could let you put something together. Craft store stores like Michaels, as well as those photo printing booths at Walmart and Black’s, also offer their own approach to photo cards.

If you’re a Mac user, you’ll definitely want to check out what you can make with iPhoto. But I’ll talk a bit more about that in my next blog entry.

What Else To Write About...

2010-09-27T16:45:00.003-04:00

Our second reception, held two Saturdays ago out in Alberta, went off fairly smoothly even if we did run a little behind schedule. And thankfully the snow waited until the next day to fall!

With that done, I’m planning on wrapping this blog up by the end of October though there is a chance I might occasionally make a post here or there.

I know a few topics that I still want to cover including my stagette, thank-you notes and a quick review of all of my vendors. Is there anything you’d like to see me write about?

Wedding Hair Inspiration

2010-09-17T09:03:00.000-04:00

Looking for wedding hair inspiration? Well, you could flip through a bridal magazine (or maybe even one of the special hair-only bridal magazines), scan through the appropriate wedding board posts or spend hours trying to put together your own creation in front of the mirror.

Alternatively, you could just head over to Google’s image search, type in “wedding hair” and get hundreds and hundreds of hair ideas in one quick, easy move.

Add in a modifier like “long” or “curly” to help narrow down the results (though note that this won’t strictly return long hair pictures, for example) or get even more specific by using a phrase like “curly bridal hair flowers”. You can even sort by colour, if for some reason that would be helpful.

I typed in “wedding hair long wavy”, “wedding hair long” and “best wedding hair” to get some ideas on how to wear my hair on Saturday (my second reception). While a lot of the results weren’t quite what I was looking for, I was able to get a few ideas that I think might work.

Off to Alberta

2010-09-15T08:46:00.003-04:00

So today’s the day Shawn and I fly out to Alberta for about a week for our “out-West” reception. It’s taking place this Saturday at the lovely Overlander Mountain Lodge. I hope it’s not too cold!

This reception is much smaller and more low-key than our actual wedding. It’ll have just under 60 guests, mostly my parents friends and my dad’s family (while some of them did attend our Toronto wedding, many of them were unable to). There will be a dinner, complete with wine, but sadly no open bar. And even more sadly, there won’t be dancing.

But my mom did order a cake as well as bouquets, corsages and boutonnières and a couple floral arrangements for décor. and I’m also going to bring some décor from here.

I have a second cousin who’s a professional photographer and we will be going out with him prior to the dinner to do some photos at a nearby lake, as well as take some at the actual lodge. I’m actually quite looking forward to that since I did find our wedding day photography session a little rushed since we were crushed for time.

I will be getting my hair professionally done but I’ll do my own make-up. And yes, I will be wearing my wedding dress (likely both versions) while my sister will be wearing her maid-of-honour outfit. Shawn though will be skipping the rental and bringing a suit he already owns.

Pretty Paper

2010-09-12T16:19:00.003-04:00

I am not a DIY-bride but if you are, or, if you want to feel guilty about not spending dozens of hours slaving over beautiful projects that will likely only be appreciated by those of us with critical eyes, read this article from last week’s Star about the growing trend of DIY paper decorations.

Make sure to check out the slideshow. It showcases some really beautiful pieces, including a paper dress.

While a paper dress probably isn’t for most brides, the idea of using paper décor to replace flowers is definitely an ideal that might appeal to some. Like the article points out, the cost can be comparable and paper does open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Need An Idea for Your Bachelorette?

2010-09-10T17:42:00.002-04:00

I haven’t written at all about my bachelorette yet have I? I’ll have to do that because it was a lot of fun. Anyways, in the meantime, check out this post over on Slice.ca about bachelorette ideas that don’t involve stripped (and no, mine didn’t).

What We Bought For Alcohol

2010-09-08T17:29:00.002-04:00

One of the trickiest things we had to do in regards with our wedding was figure out how much alcohol we needed to buy. While there are plenty of alcohol calculators out there, we still were left wondering if the numbers they gave us made sense for our group (around 100 people, mostly adults, with 30-25% being heavy drinkers).

Thankfully we had a pair of friends get married in June who also had to buy their booze. While their numbers and crowd make-up was a bit different than ours, we used their quantities to figure out what we needed.

Still, we didn’t quite get it right. Here’s how things broke down for us:

Wine

Bought

Three cases of red (all Shyrah)
Three cases of white (two Chardonnay, one pinot grigio)

Returned

One case of red
One case of white (the pinot was never opened)

Leftover (includes opened, combined bottles):

At least a dozen bottles of red (this included opened, combined bottles)
Fewer than 10 bottles of white

Beer

Bought

14 cases

Returned

7 cases

Hard Alcohol

Bought

5 bottles of vodka (40 oz)
5 bottles of rye (fifth)
3 bottles of gin (fifth)
2 bottles of dark rum (40 oz)
1 bottle of light rum (40 oz)
2 bottles of Raspberry Sourpuss (40 oz)
1 bottle of Raspberry Sourpuss (fifth)
2 bottles of tequila (40 oz)
2 bottles of blue cucacao (fifth)
2 bottles of Jagermeister (40 oz)
1 bottle of scotch (40 oz)
1 bottles of Kahlua (40 oz)

Also, one 24-mix pack of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, all of which was consumed

Returned

1 bottle of vodka
The fifth of Sourpuss

Leftover

Most of the scotch
Half-bottle of tequila
Half-bottle of light rum
A third of gin
Just a few ounces each of vodka, rye, blue cucacao and Sourpuss
Oh, and the entire bottle of Kahlua that we couldn’t return because the seal had been broken

The leftover wine number didn’t shock me but the beer number did. I think the reason for that was that all of our beer came from Mill Street and I guess our crowd wasn’t big on Mill Street (though Shawn and a few of his friends do regularly drink it).

We were though pretty dead-on when it came to the hard alcohol. Except for the Kahlua; I wonder why no one drank any of that…

Check Out My New Blog

2010-09-07T20:28:00.002-04:00

I have a new blog. It’s called Stuff I Bought and it’s basically me reviewing various products, everything from mascara to fast food to small appliances.

You can follow it via Facebook, Google Connect or scroll down to the bottom to see the different ways that you can subscribe to it.

I hope you like it and yes, I’ll be continuing with my wedding blog for a few more weeks, since I still need to post about a few different things.

Preserving Your Wedding Bouquet

2010-09-06T15:34:00.001-04:00

So my attempts at preserving my wedding bouquet failed. I was able to preserve a little bit of it but sadly, most of it had to get tossed because it became moldy.

If you really want to make sure your bouquet gets fully preserved, you should get it professionally done. Your florist can generally recommend someone or maybe even do it for you. But be warned, this process isn’t cheap. You’re looking at least $100, probably more, and depending on what process is used, it can take as long as 10 weeks. And for best results, your flowers should be dropped off at the florist as soon as possible, so this becomes yet another task for your post-wedding to-do list.

However, on the plus side, you will have a beautifully preserved bouquet and if you want, you can even have it turned into something you can hang on your wall (some people will have a sort of “wedding college” made that includes a copy of the invite and some pictures).

If you’d rather take the DIY route, there are two methods that are generally used and you can read more about them over here. The first is the basic way that I sort of did. It involves hanging your bouquet upside down to dry and then, once everything is dried, spraying the flowers with a dried flower spray or hairspray.

With this method you’re supposed to take the bouquet apart and hang the individual flowers to dry and I didn’t totally do this and as a result I don’t think my flowers were totally dry (hence the mold).

Also, my bouquet contained a lot of orchids and apparently it’s hard to preserve those yourself (though oddly enough they looked better than the lilies did). Roses though are quite easy to preserve so if your bouquet is quite rose-heavy, you might want to consider the hang-drying method.

The second method, which involves placing the flowers in silica gel, is more complicated though generally has better results.

See Jane Dayus-Hinch at The National Bridal Show

2010-09-04T13:54:00.003-04:00

Look who you can meet next weekend...

It's a bit of a pain that this show is way out in Mississauga. At least the January edition is in Toronto! I did check that one out earlier this year and you can read my review of it here.

How To Have A Fun Wedding: The Bride

2010-09-02T19:44:00.005-04:00

As promised, a post on how you, the bride, can have a fun wedding…

Give People Jobs: It’s an obvious one but it’s also a hard one because it means giving up control. It’s also one of the best decisions you can make. Assign people tasks and let them worry about those jobs, not you. As long as you’ve pick responsible people and given clear, written-out instructions, it’ll be fine.
Breath: People always say that their wedding day flew by and they don’t remember much. This always makes me a bit sad because this a big day, don’t you want to remember as much of it as possible? My trick to slowing things down and taking them in was to mentally and physically pause, take a few deep breaths and just observe what was going on around me. At other times I mentally told myself to pay attention and remember this moment.
Eat: I’m not just taking just about dinner but the whole day. You’re not going to lose that last little bit of weight on your actual day so eat a proper breakfast as well as something for lunch. And yes, do eat your dinner, even if that means having to sit down and “ignore” your guests for a bit.
Drink Smart: I avoided any alcohol before the ceremony because I wanted to minimize bathroom trips but I do think that depending on your metabolism/history with alcohol, you can get away with a drink or two. But since alcohol tends to make people more emotional, don’t over do it, wait until later in the evening to really start partying.
Set a “Partying” Start Time: Speaking of which, have an approximate time when you stop being the polite bride who nicely socializes with everyone and becomes the “fun” bride who grabs a drink and heads out onto the dance floor.

The truth is, if you want to have fun at your wedding you’re likely going to have to proactively create time for yourself to let loose. This advice might come across as a bit selfish here but trust me, you’re going to want to do this.

Yes, I Did Have Fun At My Wedding

2010-08-31T14:26:00.001-04:00

I have to say that not only did I have a lot of fun at my own wedding but that it was the most fun I’d ever had at a wedding. Shawn also feels the same way. Here’s why I think we had such a good time…

The Guests: While I do wish that a few more of my friends could have been there, I don’t feel like we missed inviting anyone or that we invited anyone we shouldn’t have. Most importantly though I got to spent a good chunk of time with friends/younger family members and have fun with them, as did Shawn.

The Atmosphere: It was relaxed but not casual and personally I really liked that. Our candle-heavy décor and the venue itself also helped to create an almost nightclub-like atmosphere that naturally lended itself to plenty of dancing and drinking.

The Alcohol: Open bars are great; open bars that offer a wide range of alcohol are even better and that’s what I liked about ours, the variety it offered. We also only ran out of one thing, dark rum so that was good too.

The Music: For me this was the biggie because I love music, I love to dance and sadly, most of the wedding’s I’ve been to have bad music and no one dancing. This was not the case at mine, largely in part because the DJ stuck to the playlist that Shawn and I had carefully created. He mixed everything together in a way that kept the momentum going and also threw in his own well-timed selections. The end results was that a lot of people were dancing

Most of these are topics that I’ve already mentioned in my “how to have a fun wedding” mini-guide (I still need to write one up about alcohol and I promise to do that before this project is wrapped up). While these are all areas that you’re going to consider as part of your wedding planning, I do think that if you come at them from the perspective of having a great time, you’ll end up with more fun results that you and your guests will enjoy.

And yes, I think a good chunk of my guests did have a good time. Many people said they had a lot of fun and I have no doubt that those two dozen or so people who spent lots of time on the dance floor had a great time.

The only complaints I heard was that the music was too loud near the end and that some of the faster songs weren’t to everyone’s taste. But I expected that and I much rather caterer to the people who were out there dancing and having fun (including Shawn and myself) than those who’d just sit around regardless of the music situation.

Also, not everyone was a fan of our beer choice but I’ll discuss that in a future entry because that was certainly a learning point.

My next entry though will be focused on what you the bride can do to have a good time because the truth is, you can have best guests/alcohol/atmosphere/music in the world and still have a crappy time at your wedding if you don’t relax and stop worrying. I know letting go of control is hard but trust me, it can be done and on your actual wedding day, it’s for the best.

Headed To The CNE?

2010-08-30T08:50:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I was at the CNE and while I was there I noticed that home supply stores Bowring and Benix were there, selling off a wide variety of vases that would be ideal for centrepieces. Bowring was also selling those coloured décor gels that some people use in their centrepieces.

Everything was being offered at a reduced price and I have no doubt that at least some of these sale prices really were sales. I was actually at a Bowring last weekend and noticed that it had some nice though not exactly cheap vase option. Now, at the Ex, vases that were going for $40 at the store are on sale for $20. OK, still not dirt cheap but not a crazy price for a vase, especially if you’re creating the centrepieces yourself.

I’m not sure what the quantity situation is like but since at least some of what’s on sale is current stock, so something could probably be worked out. And at least at Bowring, you can leave your purchases there until you’re ready to go home so that you don’t have to walk around with a dozen glass vases.

I wouldn’t make a special trip to the Ex for these vendors unless you’ve already decided to use vases from one of those stores however, if you’re headed to the CNE anyways, you might as well head over to the Direct Energy Centre and check out what they have to offer.

Write Down The Details

2010-08-25T09:04:00.003-04:00

I’m sure you’ve already been told dozens of times by now to get all the key details – start times, end times, deposit deals, etc. – in writing. And while I certainly add my voice to that chorus, I want to also take a moment to encourage you to also get all the little details in writing too.

Now, people say “don’t sweat the small stuff” but on your wedding day, someone will be sweating the small stuff. If you’re a super-carefree, go-with-the-flow kind of person, you might not be the sweater, but someone, your mom, your maid of honour, your venue contact, will at some point be staring at something and wondering if it’s looking the way it should. And that’s where having the small details documented comes in.

How these details are organized is up to you, the point is that you and those associated with you have a printed reference to everything from your timeline to your flowers to your cake. This way everyone’s on the same page, people are better organized (and therefor ideally calmer) and issues can be spotted and dealt with earlier.

Another reason for documenting the little details is that having all that stuff written down makes it a lot easier to get a refund, should things not work out. This seems to be a situation that pops up the most with florists and decorating, maybe because there’s so much “imagining” and “visioning” going on. Also, many decorators and florists sell packages that then get modified and well, if those modifications aren’t written down, you can see how things can easily go to a disappointing place.

The point is, it’s much easier to get money back if you can say, “Hey, there’s the email where you promise that for this price, I’ll get package A but with roses instead of lilies and no underlighting on the head table,” than to say, “Hey, I know the contact says that I’m paying for package A but don’t you remember how we talking about changing some stuff?”

A few details that you’ll want to get written down:

All flower types and colours being used as well as approximate quantities; ribbons, bouquet jewellery and other related items should be detailed out

Such vase/container/centrepiece details as size, shape, colour, quantities

Such cake stand details as size, shape, material, any extras/enhancements

Drapping details would include colours, fabric types, sizes and placement. This is an area where ideally you have a photo of what the drapping should look like, as well as a photo of what fabric(s) is being used

Chair cover details would include colour, fabric type and any extras/enhancements. This is another area where a photo is ideal

Your caterer should provide you with a detailed list of what exactly is being served and while you don’t need to know how many baby potatoes each person is getting, you will want numbers for your hors d’oeuvres and possibly even your midnight snack

Bar details should touch on both alcoholic and non-alcoholic offerings and could even look at what types of glasses and garnishes will be available (though even I’ll admit that might be too detailed for some)

Registry Wrap-Up

2010-08-21T16:15:00.002-04:00

So how have you spent your weekend? We got to spend ours going to Home Outfitters twice – once Friday night, then again today, to pick up presents.

While I love getting presents, it would have been nice if we could have just made one trip. However, the Bay/Home Outfitters registry program isn’t the most organized creation.

It’s also sort of slow. While they do warn you that you might have to wait a bit for your pick-up store to get your present in stock, they don’t state that waiting is the norm. Well, at least it’s the norm at the Sherway Gardens Bay. We waited about a month for our luggage, and then we only found out that it was there because we called.

Currently we’re waiting for a few other items that

were purchased from The Bay at least two weeks ago now. But I believe that today’s pick-up at Home Outfitters will be out last registry-related trip out there so that’s good.

Overall I have to say that we had a better experience with Home Outfitters than the Bay. The staff was pleasanter, items arrived quicker and it never forgot to call us when something arrived.

Home Outfitters also said that it would take 10% off the Dyson we registered for as part of its registry completion program. The Bay has the same 10% completion program however there that discount only applies to certain departments and sadly the Dyson doesn’t fall within one of them (in case you’re wondering the discount basically applies to china, glassware, cookware, linens, small appliances and most kitchen-related stuff, minus major appliances).

Interestingly, we had more people buy items from The Bay than Home Outfitters. I’m assuming that’s because Bays are generally located inside malls and can be a bit easier to get to than the big-box style Home Outfitters.

Because of that, I certainly wouldn’t recommend registering at just Home Outfitters. As well, the Bay offers a far greater selection of items, particularly if you want to start a china collection.

So here’s what I do recommend: Register at both stores but place any bigger items (like a Dyson) on your Home Outfitters list. I also recommend placing smaller items, wine charms for example, on your Home Outfitters list since it seems to go a quicker job at getting those items in.

I know a lot of brides aren’t big fans of registering but while it can be a bit time consuming, it can also be fun and it makes all those people who rather buy physical gifts than give cash happy.

Just think of this as your opportunity to get all those things that you would normally never buy. For example, we registered for a steamer and we got it and trust me, a steamer is something we never would have just gone out and bought.

A Trio of Photos

2010-08-20T17:53:00.000-04:00

Below are a trio of photos taken by my sister's fiancé. I'm hoping to post a few more, including some professional ones, once they come in.

Your Wedding Day Plan

2010-08-18T18:42:00.004-04:00

While I don’t think it’s possible to have a stress-free wedding, I think you can minimize the stress by being as organized as possible.

One way to do that is to have a wedding day “plan”, a simple-but-detailed-pack Word doc that you can email/give to your bridal party, venue and other key people.

I think everyone’s plan will look a little different depending on her own situation (and how detailed-oriented she it) but here’s an outline of how my plan looked:

Title: Lindsay & Shawn’s Wedding, Saturday, August 7, 2010

Total Guest Count:

Meal Breakdown

Beef:

Salmon:

Veggie:

Timeline

Friday, Aug 6, 2010

Details about delivery of our alcohol & décor

Saturday, Aug 7, 2010

A detailed breakdown on what was to happen when. Make sure to include the following items (assuming they’re applicable):

- Wake-up time

- Any times about when certain people should be meeting you/your partner

- Hair & make-up start/end times

- Photographer start & end time

- Other photography-related items such as when you have to be at, and leave, a specific location

- Officiate arrival time

- Live musician arrival time

- Bridal party arrival at ceremony site

- Ceremony time

- Bar start & end time

- Bridal party arrival at reception site

- Grand entrance

- Dinner start & end time

- Start time for any speeches

- DJ start & end time

- First dance

- Cake cutting

- Bouquet & garter toss

- Midnight snack

- Last call

- Last dance

Monday, Aug 9, 2010

Details on us coming back to the Berkeley to pick our stuff up

Contact Info

Bride:
Groom:

Best man:
Maid of honour:

Décor helpers:

Bakery:

DJ:

Flowers:

Live Musicians:

Minister:

Photographer:

Hair:

Make-up:

Floor Plan Guide

The Berkeley has an Excel-sheet floorplan that I marked up and included in my wedding day plan. I used this space in the Word doc to expand upon my markings.

I started by listing off all of the tables, what their table names were (since we didn’t use numbers) and how many seats should be at each table.

Then I commented on the placement of some of the other tables that were used so:

Table A = Cake table

Table B = DJ set up

Table C = Escort card table
Etc.

Other Notes

Down here I mentioned other key things that people, particularly the venue and my bridal party, would need to know, for example, that we wanted purple uplighting and that tea lights should be placed wherever it made sense

Be wary of putting in too many details. Try to keep your wedding day plan to about two pages in length; any longer and you risk people being scared off by the length. You can also put together a separate, more detailed-heavy document for people like your décors helpers who need more instructions.

RSVPs and Us

2010-08-17T08:37:00.002-04:00

One of the biggest sources of stress for any bride are the RSVPs. I know it seems like such a simple concept, simply let the bride know whether you can or cannot attend by a certain date using the pre-addressed and stamped card, but the bridal boards are filled with stories about people who just don’t get this.

Thankfully, I wasn’t one of those brides. Our RSVP date was Friday, July 16. By the start of that week, we’d heard back from almost everyone except for a few of my friends and some family on Shawn’s father’s side.

Shawn, being the impatient boy that he is, didn’t want to give people until the actual deadline to get back to us so I found myself emailing or Facebooking my friends prior to July 16, asking them what’s up.

I suspected that I hadn’t heard back from some of them because they knew they couldn’t make it and were maybe embarrassed to tell me. I don’t know if I was right about the embarrassed part but I was right about the them-not-coming-part.

I also heard back from one friend who said she was pretty sure she could make it but wouldn’t know until a few days before the wedding because of her work. I told her I would love it if she could come but then proceeded on the assumption that she wasn’t coming (the venue told us it would be easier to add people in them take them out). Turns out my assumption was right as she didn’t end up coming.

All of Shawn’s slow-to-respond family did attend. I’m not sure what was up with them not getting back to us sooner, after Shawn confirmed their attendance over the phone they did send in the RSVP cards so it’s not like they lost those.

One family did have a very good reason for the delay though; they had just had a new baby and were taking her to her first wedding on July 17. They were only going to come to our wedding if all went well there and thankfully it did.

Overall, I think Shawn was more stressed about the RSVPs than I was, probably because I’d spend time on the bridal boards and realized that compared to some, we were in good shape.

Many people do cut it close with sending in the cards so don’t be surprised if you’re two weeks out from your RSVP date and are still missing lots of cards. Only start making “contact” plans when you hit that one week mark and even then you may want to wait until the actual date has passed before you start getting in touch with people.

Getting the thing actually in the mail seems to be a real challenge for some so make it easier for people by giving them an opportunity to give you their RSVP cards in person. Have a family gathering or a party with friends coming up? Remind people that they can give you their cards then. Or tell co-workers that they can just drop the cards of on your desk.

Another trick is to give people the option of Facebooking or emailing you their respond though if you go this route, still include RSVP cards in your invites. This will make the old people happy and to be honest, I think it’s easier to organize physical cards than emails and Facebook messages.

Wedding Stuff For Sale

2010-08-15T15:14:00.004-04:00

So I have few leftover wedding items that I'm hoping to sell off.

Let's start with the candle holders.

I have eight of the purple ones and over three dozen of the clear ones (I used them in lieu of traditional escort cards). The clear ones can hold a tea light or, if you flip it around, a regular candle stick.

The purple ones are going for $2 each or all eight for $14.

The clear ones are going for $1 each but I'm open to working out a deal if you want a bunch of them (and if you need more of them, you can get them from Ikea).

I also have for sale eight 12x12 mirrors, also from Ikea. I'm selling them for $2 each or all eight for $14.

All of this stuff is available for pick up in Toronto or I could ship it to you at your expense.

And if you want a bunch (or maybe all) of it, let me know and we can work out a deal. I be reached via this email address: wedtoblog[removethispart]@gmail.com

Spent Vs. Saved

2010-08-14T11:19:00.002-04:00

So as promised in yesterday’s entries, here are five areas where we’re glad we spent the cash and five areas where we’re glad we saved.

Spent

The venue – As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the Berkeley Church isn’t cheap but it was exactly what Shawn and I wanted and we received tons of compliments on the venue as well as the food. The staff was always friendly and while we had some communication snags with our initial planner, the planner who replaced her, Kathy, was quite helpful.

Open bar – No question, an open bar was the way to go. It certainly helped to get people up on the dancefloor, speaking of which…

DJ – So my original plan was to go with DJ iPod, an idea that Shawn shot down and I have no problems saying that I’m glad he did. We ended up getting a great DJ who closely followed our playlist while adding in his own touches at just the right moment.

At-home hair & make-up – I think being able to get ready in the comfort of my own home, and not have to worry about rushing to and from somewhere, really helped to make the wedding day more relaxing.

Hotel room – This is one of those areas that I initially thought was a waste of money but the truth is, being able to head to a hotel after the wedding was a nice treat, as was the swim we got to take the following morning. We stayed at the Thompson Hotel and its lovely rooftop pool totally made up for the alarm clock that went off at 6 in the morning and the scent-heavy detergent used on the bedding (and no, I’m not one of those anti-scent people).

Saved

The dress – Technically this is an area where my parents saved but whatever. My dress, which I quite liked (I’ll post a picture at some point) was quite reasonable for a wedding dress of its style. All in, including alternations, the veil, fancy dress bag and taxes, the dress cost under $1,500 which while not cheap, is a good deal considering its size and the amount of detailing it had.

The wine – Our wine was $11.95 a bottle and personally, I thought it tasted just fine, as did many other people. As any wine expert will tell you, the cost of a bottle of wine has nothing to do with its quality so don’t feel like you need to spend big bucks on your dinner wine.

Décor – We cheaped out big time here. All our décor, including our centrepieces and the few flowers we used for the head table/ceremony and the escort card table came to maybe $500. And some of that we’re getting back because I’m selling what I can on the bridal boards (actually, I should probably post that stuff on here too). While we certainly could have spent more here, I don’t think we really had to. The inside of the Berkeley is quite pretty with its stain glass and fireplaces. Plus it helps that the Berkeley includes coloured up-lighting and dozens of tea lights all over the place.

The flowers – The flowers we got were beautiful; Picasso lilies are now my new favourite; but we didn’t have a lot of them and in the end, I think that was fine. Our cake was actually supposed to be decorated with fresh flowers but for whatever reason the florist forgot to bring those so the cake went flowerless. At first I was a bit annoyed but then, as I thought about it, I was OK with what had happened because I realized that I no longer had to pay $35 for something that would be used for a few hours and then thrown out.

Transportation – We didn’t pay for any special transportation and while fitting my big dress in the back of our SUV was a bit awkward, it was certainly preferable to paying some obscene amount for some tacky vehicle.

How Our Wedding Budget Worked Out In The End

2010-08-13T17:03:00.003-04:00

Money and our wedding budget has been a regular topic on this blog so now that it’s all done, I might as well give you a summary of how we did numbers-wise.

We were actually under the new budget though over the original one. The original number we were trying to work with was $20,000 but earlier this year we scrapped that and replaced it with a budget of $25,000. In the end we spend just over $23,000.

Now that last number doesn’t include all of our costs, just what Shawn and I paid for. Some items, like my dress and our live musicians, were paid for by my parents while Shawn’s family contributed some money towards our bar costs. Factoring in everything, we probably spent just under $27,000 which, for a downtown Toronto wedding with an open bar, isn’t crazy.

We could of though brought that number down a bit by making these two big changes:

The venue – We loved the Berkeley Church but it wasn’t cheap. In all, we spent about $15,000 there and while Shawn and I both agree it was well worth it, we definitely could have saved some money by using another venue.
Having an open bar – Again, this is something we wouldn’t have changed but if we had, we have saved ourselves well over $1000 (assuming of course we still paid for the dinner wine).

Tomorrow I’ll post an entry that looks at five areas where we’re happy we spent the money and five where we’re glad we saved it.

10 Random Wedding Lessons

2010-08-10T18:23:00.001-04:00

And we’re married. The wedding was this Saturday and overall it went quite smoothly and was a lot of fun.

But while the wedding might be over this blog still has a bit of life in it and I will definitely be making a few more entries to help you out with your wedding planning.

Let’s start with 10 random things I learned from this past Saturday…

1. Take time off before the wedding: Shawn and I were able to take the whole week off and that was very nice. If you can’t do that, try to take at least the Thursday and Friday off.

2. Take time off after the wedding: But I wouldn’t recommend taking your actual honeymoon right after the wedding. I’d be way too tired to properly enjoy my honeymoon if I was on it right now.

3. Write out a detailed timeline: Ok, maybe you’ll be the only one who really reads it but writing out a detailed timeline will likely help you feel more prepared and will help you discover any missing items.

4. Write out a packing list: A few days before the wedding, write out what you need in what bag and then refer to the list as you pack things up.

5. Remember, you can return liquor: As long as you have the receipt and your permit. So don’t lose those things and err on the side of too much rather than too little.

6. No one looks at the website: Ok, this isn’t completely true; I know some people did check out our wedding website. I also know that most people didn’t and so because of that fact, I’m glad I didn’t spend too much time on it.

7. The caterer always makes extra meals: Worried you screwed up the meal list? Or maybe someone decides they want ribs instead of salmon? Don’t worry, most caterer prepare extra plates.

8. Have a “quiet area” for the old people/non-dancers: For us, the quiet area was outside where the old people could also smoke.

9. Use your dress’ “dancing loop”: I found our first dance to be quite awkward because of my dress’ train. Then, maybe two-thirds in to the dance, I remembered that the dress had a special loop sewed onto the train that I was supposed to wear on my wrist so that it was easier to dance in it. Oops.

10. Get your baked goods from Sweet Escapes: Our cupcakes were a huge hit. We bought 120 and had about seven leftover. We only had 98 guests and I know not everyone had a cupcake so yeah, they were popular.

The Clock Is Ticking...

2010-08-03T10:26:00.000-04:00

Only four days to go and I’m very glad I took this week off work. I have a few errands I have to run today and then tonight I’m steaming my dress and going over the music with our volunteer DJ (the real DJ doesn’t start until nine so the volunteer DJ will get the iPod started for the cocktail half-hour, dinner time and run it during our entrance/first dance/speech/cake cutting time).

This past weekend was super busy with my sister arriving in town on Friday night; my hair getting done on Saturday (it took four hours!), my stagette and Shawn’s stag on Saturday night (more on that later), my bridal shower on Sunday and then yesterday we finished these tasks:

Created the centrepieces (at least as much as we could In advance)
Packed up most of the décor
Gave our pre-dancing playlists one last listen and loading them up onto my iPhone
Created a super-detailed timeline (complete with key addresses) and sending that out to the relevant people
Completed the set-up notes and sent those over to our décor helpers
Finished off our “notebooks” (more on these later)
Started organizing my day-of bag
Wrote all the checks that need to be given out on Saturday

This morning I also steamed my veil and my party dress.

So while most stuff is done there’s still a handful of tasks that need to be completed. But at this point in time I have no doubt that everything will get done for Saturday.

Less Than Two Weeks To Go!

2010-07-27T09:18:00.001-04:00

So things have been pretty busy over here, it seems like there’s always something else that needs to be done and that’s after all the big stuff’s been taken care of for months!

It doesn’t help that this past weekend was booked up with non-wedding activities. I was able to squeeze in a few wedding tasks but I didn’t get to take care of everything I wanted.

Most stuff though should be taken care of this week, with basically everything wrapped up by next Monday (including the steaming of my dress). I need to write up a thorough breakdown of what task we’ve recently wrapped up and what’s still left to do but I won’t get to that this morning. Maybe tonight though…

But while things are busy over here, they are nowhere near as busy as this wedding, supposedly happening this weekend.

Quick Wedding Update

2010-07-21T08:28:00.002-04:00

So we’re less than three weeks until the wedding day and things are getting pretty busy even though all the big stuff is booked (I have no idea how those couples of Wedding S.O.S. pull it off; even if they do have three wishes).

I’m hoping to get some time on Saturday to write up a few entries, including one on how our final meeting with the Berkeley went (it’s tonight).

We got a lot done over the weekend but despite that fact, I actually was a bit frustrated with the whole wedding process. Our RSVP deadline was Friday and with that came news that some of my friends who I was really hoping would be there won’t be. They all have valid reasons for not being able to make it but still…

On Monday though I was able to talk to one friend and found out that she actually might be able to make, it just depends on work (she lives down in the States) so that’s good.

And in other good news, it looks like I’ll be able to get the flower that I really wanted. When I first met with our florist, Jenn from FlowerGirls, I told her the one flower I liked was Picasso lilies. She then broke it to me that those flowers are fairly pricey so I dropped the idea.

But yesterday I got an email from her, telling me that she’s come across some of these flowers at the same price that I was quoted for orchids so now we’re going to go with some of those instead.
Orchids are quite nice but I just love the look of these lilies and they fit with our colours perfectly.

Organizing Your RSVPs

2010-07-16T08:48:00.001-04:00

So I am still alive; just busy with work and wedding stuff and other random events like concerts. Also, to add to the fun, I was without a home computer for almost three nights because we were having some window repair work done and this meant that everything near on windows, like my computer, had to be unplugged and moved away.

Not having a computer was very annoying, in part because this is the week the RSVPs have been flooding in. Our due date is today and the vast majority are now in. There are a few still outstanding on Shawn’s family side (though we’ve heard they’ll be getting in touch with us) and I’ve had to follow up on a few friends. I must say that Facebook makes following up on late RSVPs so much easier!

All this talk of RSVPs got me thinking that I should share how I’m staying organized. Basically I have two tools.

The first is an Excel spreadsheet. It has the following column headings:

Name – the names of everyone the invite went to

Number – this is the number I put on the back of the RSVP card to help me keep track in case people don’t clearly put their names on the card

Quantity – how many people are in this party; I change this number depending on the RSVP reply

Method – did we mail the invite? Hand deliver it? Did someone else hand deliver it?

Address – this might contain the actual address or just a note telling me that it’s in my address book

Status – things started as “Sent” and then got updated depending on the reply

Food – what meal option was picked

Gift – if they gave a gift, what it is

Because we’re also having a reception out in Alberta, I actually have three tabs in my spreadsheet: Toronto-Only; Alberta-Only; Both; with that tab having a slightly different column set up so that I can track who’s coming to what.

I was going to include another column called “Table Name” and then sort by that however, yesterday I received a spreadsheet from the Berkeley that I’m supposed to use to enter in all my guests by table number (or name in my case) and their meal choices. So instead of entering seating info twice, I’ll just use the Berkeley spreadsheet. I also have a Word doc where I’m sorting out who sits where since it’s easier to do that inside Word than Excel.

My other tool is this little blue file folder. It’s maybe three-by-five inches in size and is split up into a dozen pockets. I’ve labelled those pockets by food selections as well as added in a “No” pocket and “Yes” and “No” pockets for our Alberta reception.

When a RSVP card first comes in, I enter the info into the spreadsheet and then file it away in here. Then, before I send that seating/meal selection spreadsheet over to the Berkeley, I’ll double-check the info on it with the actual RSVP cards. I’m hoping this will result in no one getting the wrong mean!

Getting Your Special Occasions Permit

2010-07-10T09:56:00.002-04:00

Are you like us and supplying the alcohol for your wedding? If so, you probably need a special occasions permit.

While most LCBOs have a copy of the form you’ll need to fill out, you can print a copy of it off from over here.

That page also lists off which stores issue permits, since many of them do not.

Permits must be dropped off at one of those stores and then it takes about five business days for the permit to be approved. You then have to go back and pick up the physical permit (you can phone and make sure that yes, it’s there and ready).

Permits need to be applied for at least 10 days for indoor events and 30 days for outdoor events.

Outdoor events also need to meet these requirements: For outdoor events, the permit holder must at least 21 days prior to the event, write to the local municipality, police, and fire and health departments informing them of the event. The building department must be notified as well if a tent or marquee is used. The licensed area must be clearly defined and separated from the unlicensed area by a 36” (0.9 metres) high separation.

Since we’re having an open bar, or a “no sale” bar in the world of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, our permit only cost $25 and filling out the form was very quick and easy.

The permit for a cash bars, or “sale” bar, is $75 and filling out the form is bit more work though not much more.

All alcohol being served under a special occasions permit needs to purchased under that permit’s number. Then the receipts for those purchases need to be at the reception, just in case an inspector stops by. The permit also needs to be there, up in a visible location so I guess everyone knows that they’re drinking government approved liquor.

We’re waiting until a few days before the wedding to buy most of our booze though the beer is being ordered from Mill Street Brewery and the wine from WineOnline. Both places will deliver though I think Shawn’s thinking it might be “safer” if we pick up the wine and then bring it over with the rest of the alcohol.

While we’ve figured out how much wine we need, we’re still working on how much of everything else we need. I know there are alcohol calculators out there but I’ve yet to find one that breaks hard liquor down by type and takes into consideration things like coolers. If anyone knows of a calculator that does all that, let me know!

One Month To Go

2010-07-08T19:23:00.001-04:00

It’s now less than a month to our wedding day and while most things are done, there are still a few things that need to be taken care. Let’s take a look…

Done since our last to-do list update:

Nail appointment booked
Hotel room booked
Hair highlighting appointment booked
Ceremony music finalized
Liquor permit form dropped off
Marriage license done
Favours purchased
Favours packaging purchased
Earrings purchased
Wine sampled & purchased
Cupcake flavours submitted to baker

Here’s what will get done next week:

Order wine (need liquor license first)
Order beer (need liquor license first)
Book eyebrow waxing appointment (I forgot about this!)
Finalize DJ playlist
Finalize photo list

And in the two weeks after that:

Finalize day-of schedule
Create “décor plan” for décor helpers
Meet with décor helpers and walk through plan
Package favours
Finalize seating chart
Make escort cards
Meet one last time with venue
Check in with all of the vendors

Week of wedding

Steam my dress (I’m just borrowing a friend’s steamer)
Buy liquor
Organize all the centrepiece stuff and other décor items
Dozens of other little tasks

OK, that’s not too bad. I think we can pull it all off.

We Have Our Marriage License

2010-07-05T15:47:00.002-04:00

We now have a marriage license. We got it on Friday, down at City Hall, and overall it was a pretty quick process though we did run into some bumps.

We arrived at City Hall at about 10:30 am, went over to the marriage license area, filled out the form (because we screwed up filling out the form we’d printed off) and then wandered over to a desk.

The woman there asked us for ID that contained our names as they would appear on the licence. I gave my driver’s license and that was fine. But then we discovered that Shawn didn’t have any ID on him that contained his full middle name; for some reason his driver’s license just had his initial.

So then we had two choices. We could head home, find Shawn’s birth certificate and then come back with that or we could apply for the license with Shawn’s middle name just being an initial. The woman warned us that the second option could potentially lead to issues down the road though she wasn’t quite sure what they would be. Another woman who seemed to be working at the same desk then piped up that our situation wasn’t that uncommon and that many people just went with an initial or no middle name at all.

So we decided to risk it and just go with the initial. Once that was decided upon, we were given a number and then had to wait about 15 minutes before moving on to the second and final desk.

I have to say that the marriage license department was, at least to me, surprisingly unbusy. There were a few other couples there but most of them were out-of-towners getting licenses so that they could marry during Pride weekend. I thought we would have to be there as early as possible to avoid a lengthy wait but thankfully that wasn’t the case.

Anyway, our number got called, we went to a desk, the woman there checked out IDs again, got us to double-check the form, then entered all the info into the computer, printed out the form and got us to double-check and sign that.

Then we got to pay, conveniently at the same desk we were already at. Normally you can pay using a credit or debit card but the system was down because of the HST or something that didn’t really make any sense so we got to pay $130 in cash. So that was annoying.

But we got our license as well as the form you need to fill out and submit to get your physical marriage certificate (I thought you’d be automatically sent that but apparently not). The license was placed in a City-addressed envelope that we were to give to our officiant prior to the wedding day.

Since our minister’s church is located downtown, we then headed over there and dropped off the envelope. And that was that.

So here are a few tips for you about getting your marriage license:

Make sure you bring government-issued ID that contains your full name
If this ID doesn’t contain a photo, also bring a piece of government-issued photo ID
If you can, fill out your form in advance
Bring a pen
Bring something to occupy yourself just in case you do have a long wait
Try to go in the morning, it’s generally less busy then
And yes, you both need to be there

Here's One Way To Raise Money For Your Wedding

2010-07-04T15:12:00.002-04:00

Well, here’s one way to pay for your wedding: Collect a ton of aluminium cans. A couple in Spokane are paying for their July 31 wedding with the proceeds from the 400,000 cans that they’ve turned in for recycling.

So just how much did they make? $3,800. OK, so that’s not a ton of money and collecting the cans turned into a bit of a community effort but still, it’s a cute story.

The couple also have a website if you want to find out a bit more about them and how they are keeping their wedding costs down.

If you wanted to do this in Ontario I guess you’d want to collect alcohol bottles. I must admit that there have been a few times where, upon seeing the large pile of bottles sitting in my building’s recycling room, I have thought about bagging them up and taking them over to the Beer Store for the deposits.

How To Have A Fun Wedding: The Music

2010-07-02T12:25:00.004-04:00

A while ago I started writing a few posts on how to have a fun wedding. I’d like to pick that up with this that is all about the music.

For me, music is one of those things that can make or break a wedding. While I’m pretty open to whatever for the ceremony, the cocktail hour and the dinner, when it’s time to dance, I want to dance but only if the music is right. Otherwise you won't see me out there.

I think a lot of people are the same so in order to get people dancing and having a good time, you have to make sure you have just the right mix.

And that mix starts with either a DJ or an iPod (or iPod-like set-up). Live musicians are wonderful but I do think you should only have them for the ceremony and/or first part of the reception. For the actual dancing portion you need more flexibility and versatility than a live band can give you. Unless the vast majority of your guests are all really into, say jazz, people will get bored listening to the same type of music all night long.

Because of that, you need to offer plenty of variety, especially at the start, so that people get up and move (though do keep in mind that not everyone dances so don't feel bad if some people never make it to the dance floor). Make sure your DJ takes requests and even ask your guests for song ideas in advance (this is especially key if you’re going the iPod route since you’re likely not to have the space and selection that a professional DJ would have).

At least for the first hour or so, include a few songs for the “older” people. This can be anything from classic slow songs (think Nat King Cole) to upbeat Beatles tracks. It’s generally a safe rule to say that as the night progressives, things can get faster and noisier but at the start, do a cater a bit to the older crowd and get them moving.

While it’s true that you need to ultimately trust your DJ to make the right song selections, you know your guests better than s/he does and because of that I strongly encourage you to detail out what kind of stuff should be played, as well as specific must-plays. Ideally at least a few of these must-plays have a strong connection to some of your guests (maybe a song you used to listen to a lot in high school or university) and will get them dancing.

At the same time, this is your wedding and I’m totally support the idea of a “Do Not Play” list. Do let your DJ know of any forbidden songs that you absolutely do not want played. After all, it’s important that you have fun too!

Here's a great blog post former another Toronto blogger that's packed with some great wedding song choices.

5 Common Wedding Controversies

2010-06-30T08:23:00.003-04:00

While I’m not a big participant, I do love to reading bridal messages boards. And no matter which board I read, the same stress-inducing topics keep coming up over and over again.

Today I want to highlight the top five controversies that I’ve seen. These are the decisions that brides make that are most likely to get mixed opinions from guests, friends, family members and busy bodies.

So here there are, in no particular order:

Having a cash bar
Let’s be honest, everyone wants an open bar and many etiquette experts out there will tell you that a cash bar is quite rude. But for some couples, an open bar just isn’t in the budget and in that case, I think a cash bar is fine.

That being said, do avoid having your guests pay market price for their booze. See if you can arrange to host a twoonie bar or have an open bar for maybe the first two hours after dinner.
Scheduling your wedding for a holiday/long weekend
I don’t care how romantic you think it will be, don’t schedule your wedding on Christmas or New Year’s and only do Halloween if you’re going to do in some kind of Halloween style. All other holidays though I think are fair game (well, maybe not Easter for some).

I’m OK with long weekend weddings and actually prefer them if I’m travelling somewhere. However, a lot of people hate long weekend weddings, particularly in the summer. This is one of those decisions where you may find yourself having to decide between what works best for you and what works best for the majority of your guests.
No kids allowed
You don’t want screaming brats at your big day? I totally support your decision and if your guests can’t leave their spawn alone for a few hours (nursing babies obviously excepted), well, they have bigger issues.

I do though believe that you need to have a consistent policy when it comes to kids. I don’t think the idea of “close family can bring kids but you friend, you can’t” is very fair. Either kids are allowed or they aren’t.
Asking for money on the invite
No, just no. I don’t care if you plan on using some kind of cutesy poem to get your point across or say “No boxed gifts”, it’s just tacky to mention gifts on the invite.

Instead, put this kind of info on your website or spread it via word of mouth.
Having a B-list
Personally I have nothing against having a B-list and I totally get why some weddings need to have one. But Shawn finds them very offensive and so we didn’t do one (plus our venue has enough space that this wasn’t really an issue).

Ideally a B-list is a very subtle thing so that people never know that they were a second choice guest however that won’t always be possible. In those situations it’s best to be honest (so no pretending the invite was lost in the mail) and explain that due to space/money/other restrictions, you simply couldn’t invite everyone on the first round.

A Couple Cute Dresses

2010-06-28T09:15:00.000-04:00

WeddingBells.ca recently sent around a newsletter than contained a link to “20 unique wedding ideas”. While most of the ideas aren’t really that original (give mini-cakes as favours; pair down your bouquet), they did include a couple of dresses that I think deserve highlighting.

This first dress is Jim Hjelm’s Occasions and it gets featured because it’s short and has pockets. I think this would get a great choice for a bride who’s not into a big gown. It could also work as a dancing dress or even as a bridesmaid’s dress.

This other dress is from J. Crew and it’s under the unique idea of “Choose white for your girls”. While I love this dress, I’m crazy about the idea of having your attendants wear white because it’s unlikely that they’ll really be able to wear a white dress again (unless they live some kind of glamorous life).

Thankfully this dress is available in other colours and in white is does make a great party dress or even wedding dress if you’re looking short, different and pretty.

Getting Your Toronto Marriage License

2010-06-26T13:23:00.002-04:00

If all goes as planned, on Friday Shawn and I will be picking up our wedding license. This actually involves a few steps:

Head over to the Service Ontario website and print off a marriage application form. You can also grab a physical copy from a Registry Services office.
Fill out the form and make sure everything on it is correct. Both of you also need to sign it.
Then head on down to a Registry Services office (we’ll likely do either City Hall or Etobicoke Civic Centre) Monday through Friday, from 8:30 am-4:15 pm. You’ll need to both be there and you need you bring your form, a piece of government-issued photo ID that shows your current legal name and a way to pay for the fee.
For Toronto, that fee is $130 (it can be cheaper in other cities) and can be paid by cash, money order, certified cheque, debit or major credit card.
A license is good for three month from the date of issue and is valid for anywhere in Ontario. This means that if you’re getting married in Toronto but you two can’t make it to a Toronto Registry Services office during business hours but can say, make it to the Oakville one, go to the Oakville one, you license will be good.

There are no citizenship/residency requirements for applying for a marriage license, there’s no required blood or medical tests and of course there’s no gender requirements either. But you do need to be 18 or, if you’re 16-17, have your parents’ permission.

Got more questions? Maybe Service Ontario can help.

Our Escort Cards

2010-06-24T18:47:00.003-04:00

A few posts ago I mentioned that our escort cards are really labeled tea lights. I know that this probably didn’t give you the clearest picture of what we’re planning on putting together so tonight I sort of mocked one up and took at picture of it.

I say “sort of” because my plan is to use clear labels instead of white ones and obviously there won’t be black scribbling on them (that’s from me covering up the address that was already printed onto the label).

To make life easier, we’ll laser print people’s names and their table name onto the labels instead of printing them on. Then really the only DIY aspect to this project is sticking on those labels.

I think these will be a pretty alternative to the usual paper escort cards. And I guess they can double as a favour since we’re letting people take them home.

Some Wedding Links

2010-06-23T18:51:00.000-04:00

Today’s post is going to be a collection of wedding related links that have been clogging up my inbox. Enjoy!

Follow bride Karina, a wedding planner and flower shop owner who you’ve probably seen on Slice, on the thirty days leading up to her wedding.

On the hunt for favours? Then check out this Wedding Bells piece that highlights 25 wedding favours websites.

The Knot busts 10 wedding planning myths including “DIY will save you money” and “If they invited you you need to invite them”.

This message board thread from Nest.com looks at wedding regrets. It’s entertaining read though maybe not for those of you who are prone to worrying.

This link is really more for guests; it’s a look at wedding guest dos & don’ts.

Changing Your Name

2010-06-22T08:47:00.001-04:00

Changing your name once you’re married is one of the more contentious wedding/marriage-related topics out there. Personally I say do whatever works best for you though I will admit that I do cringe at hyphenated names that are twenty-odd characters long.

While many brides do choose to keep their maiden names (I’ll be keeping mine for work purposes though going with Shawn’s for social purposes because I think it’s just easier that way) there are still plenty of women (and some men) out there who do change them.

If you’re one of those women, you need to first decide if you want to elect to change your name or if you just want to assume your partner’s name. According to the Ontario government, most people go with the later action. It’s free, requires no forms and allows you to easily revert to your maiden name.

If you want to change your name on your identification, credit cards, etc., to match your partner’s, you then need to apply to update the cards in question and use your marriage license as proof of your new name. More details on assuming a name can be found here.

Electing to change your name is more extensive process that does involve forms and takes about six-eight weeks. It’s free if done in the first 90 days following a wedding, and then after that it costs $25. Details on this type of change live here.

There’s also the formal name change, where you actually change your name on your birth certificate. It costs $137, takes six-eight weeks and will involve contacting whatever province/territory you were born in. if you want to go this route, you’ll want to read this page.

If you want to change your name on your driver’s license and health care card, you’re going to need to pay a visit to Service Ontario. You can use this page here to find the one closest to you.

Info on changing your name on your passport can be found here (guess what, you get to re-apply and re-pay) while Revenue Canada has some name change info over here.

Make sure to also contact your bank as well as your work’s HR department if you’re changing your name on your driver’s license. The only thing that sucks more than being denied a Visa transaction because you don’t have matching photo ID is to miss a pay deposit because of some weird name mix up.

Our Menu Tasting

2010-06-20T17:32:00.002-04:00

I was just looking over some older entries and I realized that I never wrote about our meal tasting so I’ll write about that now.

We did our tasting back in April. We were allowed to bring two other people and we decided to bring a pair of friends, one who is a big foodie and the other who is quite honest in his opinion. We figured they’d be the ideal people to help us decide what to serve.

As for the food, we were allowed to taste five different items. The Berkeley gave us a menu of items they could do but also told us that we were welcome to request any specific items that we wanted. We ended up picking a salad off their menu as well as the two items we were considering as our beef option: A steak and then the beef ribs.

The other main option that we want to serve is a salmon, something that interestingly wasn’t on the Berkeley menu. But thankfully they had no issues with preparing twp different types pf salmon for us to try.

We were able to schedule our tasting for near the end of the work day which was nice since that meant we could double it as dinner. We were each given our own salad to eat while the four mains each came on their own plates and we just eat off of those. The mains were also accompanied with the sides that we’d picked out and everything was plated as it would be plated on our wedding day.

It quickly became clear which of the two beef options we should pick: The ribs. While I didn’t taste them (I don’t eat beef), Shawn and our two friends both said they were amazing.

It was a bit tougher to pick which salmon to go with but ultimately we decided to go the salmon in a tarragon cream sauce.

The salad and the sides were all quite yummy as well and tasting them confirmed that we’d made the right choices.

Overall our tasting went quite smoothly and everything tasted excellent. At the end of it, our contact at the venue sat down with us and asked us for feedback. But besides stating which mains we wanted to go with, we didn’t really have any.

However, while our tasting went great, I’ve heard many tasting horror stories. In fact, I have one friend who ended up changing her venue because the tasting was so bad and the venue didn’t really seem interested in improving things. So because of that, here are some food tasting tips:

This is more of a caterer tip than a food tasting tip but it’s crucial that you don’t sign a contract until you have in writing that the caterer can create the type of menu you want at a price that works for you
Do your tasting six-four months in advance, maybe even earlier if you’re not familiar with the caterer and/or if you’d asking for something a bit out of the ordinary
Before going to the tasting clarify exactly what will be served and how. Ideally you want to see the actually quantity/presentation that your guests will be seeing
Always make sure to taste your main dishes since this what your guests will notice the most (and what generally is costing you the most)
Bring other people who will be brutally honest about the food
While it can be useful to have the caterer rep sitting with you throughout the tasting, it’s fine to ask him/her to leave so that you can discuss the food more freely
If you can, taste your food alongside the wine you’ll be drinking (we could have done this had we bothered to bring wine but we didn’t)
While it is your wedding, be flexible, realistic and listen to the chef/caterer rep. Sure, you want the chicken to be spicier but are most of your guests going to enjoy that? These people are professionals so do listen to their opinions
But at the same time, do be vocal. Speak up if you don’t like something and don’t be afraid to make reasonable requests

City Of Toronto & Wedding Photography Permits

2010-06-17T08:07:00.000-04:00

Here are details you need to know if you plan on buying a photo permit from the city of Toronto.

The permit centre photo number is: 416-392-8188
Booking for 2011 starts on September 1, 2010
Permits are booked on a first-come, first-served basis so book as early as possible if you're set on a certain site
Some sites have are booked for an hour, others two hours
While I’m sure rates for 2011 will go up, one-hour permits were going for $54 while two-hour permits were going for about $143
The booking must be made and paid by either the bride or groom
For indoor bookings, the photographer’s name and contact info will be needed

Bookings are done one of two ways:

Go in person between 8:30 am-4 pm, Monday to Friday, to the Etobicoke Civic Centre, North York Civic Centre, Scarborough Civic Centre, or Toronto City Hall, where you can pay using a major credit card, cash or certified check
Phone the permit office and book using a major credit card. I was told that if you’re booking over the phone, you need access to a fax machine so yeah, maybe you can do this from the office

Someone at the permit office told me to visit this site: http://weddingparks.ca for a listing of city parks but then added that the city doesn’t look after that site so the info’s not always up-to-date/accurate.

Helpful!

Kim's Contact Info

2010-06-15T09:59:00.002-04:00

A few people have been asking me for my make-up artist Kim's contact info. If you'd like it, please send me an email at wedtoblog[remove this]@gmail.com and I'll forward you her email address.

While Kim lives in Toronto, she is willing to travel though I believe she does charge a bit more for jobs that are further out. She'll also do make-up for any special occasion, not just weddings.

More On Our Photo Drama

2010-06-13T15:51:00.000-04:00

Shawn and I met with Bruce, our photographer, this morning to discuss what we’re going to do about photos since the city doesn’t issue permits for High Park, our original photo location.

While the meeting wasn’t very long and didn’t result in any sold plans, I do feel better having gone to it.

Our photographer, who has previously shot in High Park without incident, told us that we’d probably be fine as long as we didn’t bother anyone else who was enjoying the park. He said he’d never seen anyone get in trouble for doing formal photos there and pointed out how the city’s own website only mentions one area of the park that’s out-of-bounds for photos.

So while I don’t think the woman I talked to at the parks’ office is wrong about not being able to get a permit for High Park, I do know think that you can generally get away with doing wedding photos there as long as you’re willing to share the space with others and aren’t say, setting up something like a commercial shoot.

Since our wedding party is so small, we should be able to move through High Park relatively easily, take a few shots and then move on to the next location, and not get in too many people’s way.

Our photographer also recommended that just Shawn and I do a few pictures just the two of us down at the lake. I quite like this idea and time-allowing, we’ll get to do it.

I have a bunch of notes about dealing with the city and securing a permit for those locations that it does sell them for. I’ll post those later this week.

My Wedding Day Shopping List

2010-06-12T12:00:00.001-04:00

I’ve just put together a list of physical items that we’ll need to bring to the venue, some of which I’ve already got and some of which still needs to be purchased.

While some of these items are certainly personalized to my wedding, I think there’s quite a bit of stuff on here that you’d have at any typical Toronto wedding.

Need To Get

Card box
Paper to cover card box
Tea lights for escort cards/candle holders (I’ll explain these in another entry)
Clear labels for the escort cards/candle holders
Mirrors for centerpieces
Rose petals/jewels/something for table décor
Three silver picture frames to hold drink menus at the bar
Little favour baggies for our M&M favours
The M&Ms

Already Bought

Guest book
Guest book pen
Table numbers
Escort card candle holders
Rest of centerpiece supplies
About a dozen purple candle holders as assorted décor
Two or three silver runners as assorted décor

I’ll also be bringing my party dress, an overnight bag for the hotel, a fairly empty purse and another bag filled with emergency/back-up items. I’ll list off those things once I’ve figured them out!

The Berkeley & Budget

2010-06-09T20:48:00.003-04:00

While making Monday’s post, I noticed that I had a blog comment waiting for moderation. It was from someone named Natasha and she was asking some great questions about the Berkeley. I approved the comment and then went to answer it but I couldn’t find it anywhere. So I’m going to paraphrase Natasha’s questions here and answer them now.

Natasha is interested in having her wedding at the Berkeley but she has a budget of $20,000. She was wondering if the Berkeley would do a cocktail-style reception and if that would cut her costs.

The Berkeley certainly will do a cocktail-style reception but I don’t know exactly how much that would drop the cost. I know we tried playing around with our food costs and things didn’t budge as much as we would have thought though we are having a sit down dinner so that does make things a little different. I think the Berkeley does have a minimum food cost (at least for weddings) and if you want to use them you need to meet it.

That being said, I think Natasha should figure out what she’s comfortable paying for her venue/food costs, present that figure to the Berkeley and see what can be done.

As we experienced first hand, doing a wedding at that venue for $20,000 is tough but it could be done and here’s some tips on how that could happen:

Have it on a Friday
Have a cash bar
Have your wedding cake double as the dessert
Get a reasonably priced dress
Have the wedding night at home
No limos
No DJ/live music
Get hair and makeup done/paid for as a gift
Simple DIY invites
Simple everything else
Follows some of the advice mentioned on these sites

The good thing about the Berkeley is that it doesn’t need much in terms of décor and its florist, Jennifer from Flower Girls, is great at working with small budgets. So I wouldn’t worry about the flower budget.

The photo budget on the other hand, well, maybe Natasha has a friend who’s a photographer.

In all honestly, I think Natasha could pull off her wedding at the Berkeley if she could get the venue at about $13,000 or less. I don’t know if the Berkeley would go for that number but as the saying goes, it never hurts to ask.

My Makeup Trial

2010-06-07T20:49:00.003-04:00

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I had my makeup trial done on Saturday.

It went pretty well though it was long, two hours long. But I think it was worth it because I loved the results and even better, those results lasted for a long, sweaty day (more on that later).

I found my makeup artist, Kim, through a friend (you can read more about her over here) and thankfully she was as friendly and personable in person as she was over email. She arrived right on time and was fully stocked with everything she needed. After chatting a bit about what I wanted, she got to work.

Kim was very thorough and gave me plenty of chances to look in the mirror and give feedback. She was also a bit of a perfectionist, definitely a trait you want in your makeup artist! For example, despite my best cleansing efforts, I still had old mascara on my lash lines that bled out onto my just concealed under eye area. Without any prompting from me, Kim wiped the area clean and started again.

Another thing Kim did was let me see that my ideas weren’t also the best. I really wanted to try on false eye lashes and so she glued them on, then took them off when I decided that I hated them. She then explained that she’d never had a bride who actually went ahead with the fake lashes, something that I would have dismissed prior to putting them on and seeing just how costumy they were.

At the end of the trial, I had Shawn take a few pictures of my makeup while Kim jotted down what she had used. She says that she’ll create a face chart for me that will break down exactly what she used where. It’ll speed up makeup application on my wedding day so I won’t be looking at a two-hour long application process then.

The reason I did my trial on Saturday was because we had a wedding to attend that afternoon and I figured, hey, might as well get my makeup done on a day where I can show it off.

Well, I did more than show off that makeup, I put it to the test by spending probably close to two hours under the hot sun (it was an outdoor ceremony that we arrived at early because Shawn was an usher). Though I was definitely sweating, my makeup didn’t budge.

So my recommendation to you is to really “try out” your makeup post-trial by getting out there, moving around, and seeing just how long your pretty face will last.

A few other tips:

Avoid wearing makeup the day before, particularly eyeliner or mascara
Find out how your artist wants your face to be prepared prior to the trial (yes moisturize, no moisturize)
Wear your hair in a style similar to your wedding hair so that you get the full effect
A makeup artist can require a lot of space to set up on so consider using your kitchen table instead of a cramped bathroom
Make sure you’re also set up in a space with plenty of proper (ideally natural) lightning
Have ideas but also be opened to suggestions and seriously ask yourself if what you want really looks good now and in the future
Don’t be afraid to speak up and say you don’t like something/want to try something else; you’re paying this person to make you look good after all
Find out if your artist provides you with any touch-up products for your wedding day or if you should pick these up separately (Kim is providing blotter papers and whatever she used on my lips)
If your artist is doing your wedding party’s makeup, find out what you/they can provide in advance to speed up their makeup application (some artists require that the wedding party members provide their own foundation)

How We Did On Our May To-Do List

2010-06-06T21:28:00.002-04:00

Here’s an update on how we did with our May to-do list:

Block off hotel rooms for guests: Not happening because the hotel we were dealing with said that we’d have to pay for unused rooms. So, since this is Toronto and there are tons of hotels out there, we’re just putting a list of few that are near our venue and reasonably priced
Book late July hair appointment for cut and highlights: I tried to do this but then found out that my hair shop will be on vacation on the date I originally wanted to book on. So now I’m waiting to hear from them about when exactly they’ll be closing up and hopefully I’ll still be able to get my hair done there, just a few days earlier
Meet with sister and figure out her shoes/jewelry, etc.: Meet with sister, didn’t find anything, it’s now in her hands
Buy earrings for me: I looked while I was in New York but didn’t see anything. I’m going to try looking in Toronto this weekend
Get Shawn’s brother to order his suit: Done
Figure out & order favours: We know what we’re getting and we’ll place the order in a couple of weeks

So yeah, unfortunately we didn’t get everything done.

On the flip side, I have gotten started on:

The photo list
The music list (including banned songs)
The alcohol list
The timeline (the day-of and the week-of)
Seating chart

And on Saturday I did my make-up trial (more on that in a future entry) and we now know what we’re getting Shawn’s brother as a thank-you gift so that’s two more things done.

Over the next month, we’re going to complete the following tasks:

Order the beer
Order the wine
Book nail appointments
Book massage appointments
Book hotel room
Finalize ceremony music (we have a pianist and violist booked and are meeting with them tomorrow to sort out the music)

I’ll do my best to keep you up-to-date on how things are going. I actually have a list of topics that I want to write blog entries about but I just keep running out of time to write them. Hopefully though I’ll be able to get up at least two, maybe even three, entries this week.

Photo Permit Drama

2010-06-02T17:55:00.002-04:00

Since getting engaged there was one choice that we never had to think twice about and that was the location for our photos. We live near High Park and spend a lot of time there so it just made sense to pick that area. Conveniently, our photographer also lives right near High Park and is quite familiar with it so it seemed like it was meant to be.

Turns out I was wrong about that because it’s actually illegal to have formal photos done in High Park. And no, this isn’t a new thing. The woman I talked to at the permit office said that the photo ban came into effect about five years ago and all those wedding parties I see having photos done in High Park, well, they are there illegally.

I then asked the obvious question of “Is there a list online of city parks where we can take photos” and got the not-so-surprising answer of “No”. The woman said that that the next closest thing to High Park was Sunnyside Park and I was actually OK with that. But then when I tried to book it I found out that since I was interested in booking space after 4 pm, I would have to call the Grenadier Café (which, for those of you who don’t know Toronto, is located in High Park).

Fine, I called the number I was given and got Sunnyside Pavillion’ s info line that mentioned nothing about photos. Awesome. So then I looked up the Café’s number called that and was given another number, called that multiple times, kept getting a voicemail, and finally left a message.

That woman called me back from the Sunnyside Pavilion number (I know, I’m confused too) while I was at the dentist and left me a message saying to call her back and leave the date and time I was interested in. So I did that.

Then this morning she called while I was in a meeting and left another message, this time telling me that Sunnyside Pavilion is booked for the whole day for a private event.

Right now I am more frustrated by this whole process then upset because I don’t actually want pictures taken at the Pavilion, I want to talk them down by the lake and I can’t manage that there’s some event going on that’s taking over all of Sunnyside Park. And surely you’re allowed to take formal pictures down by the lake, right? (Then again, the city does doesn’t allow that in its largest park.)

So I’m going to make another call to the City and see if it’s possible to get a permit for the actual park, not the Pavilion.

I’ll let you know how that goes in a future post and I’ll also share some info I learned about city photo permits.

Big Syd Silver Formals Sale

2010-05-30T12:39:00.002-04:00

Is your groom thinking about buying his suit? Then you’ll want to check out the massive Syd Silver Formals bankruptcy/receivership sale that’s running all next week.

The popular Canadian formalwear chain declared bankruptcy a few months ago and while this was undoubtedly bad news for those couples who had booked their suits through the chain, there is a big plus side: amazing suit deals.

The chain’s entire rental inventory is being sold off, with the basic adult package going for $99.99. For that price you’ll get a tuxedo jacket, pants, a shirt, tie, cufflinks, studs, suspenders and a pocket square. Fancy deluxe packages, that include such extra as shoes, and packages for ring bearers and teens are also available.

The main sale site is 79 Wingold Ave, North York (west of Dufferin St.) and you can call 416-256-4784 for more details, including the addresses of the other two sale locations. You may also want to ask what brands are being sold. My understanding is that suits from Syd Silver could really vary in quality.

The sale runs Monday - Wednesday, 11 am - 7 pm; Thursday - Friday, 11 am – 9 pm; Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm and Sunday 11 am – 5pm.

Happy shopping!

Custom M&Ms & Promo Codes

2010-05-28T12:56:00.002-04:00

By the time you’re reading this, I will have just gotten back from my trip to New York City.
One of the things I was originally planning on picking up while I was there were some customized M&Ms to use as our favours.

The reason why I was going to pick them up in NY is because Times Square is home to a big M&M store and I was thinking that by picking them up there, I could avoid having to pay for shipping. Sadly, you can’t get personalized M&Ms at M&M stores, you have to buy then online. Sort of annoying…

Thankfully, through the magic of Google, I was able to find some promo codes that at least make buying these things a little cheaper. I did a test order with the Thanks15 code and it totally worked but I think I’d save more with the free shipping code so I’m going to try that when we go to make our actual order.

Hopefully a few of you will find those codes and the site they live on, RetailMeNot.com, useful. While that site definitely caters to Americans, you can find the odd promo code that can save us Canadians some cash when we’re doing our online shopping.

My Florist Now Has A Website

2010-05-26T12:47:00.000-04:00

Jenn, my florist, now has website! You can check it out at: http://www.flowergirlsdesign.com/.

The best part about the site is the blog section. It showcases some of the arrangements that Jenn has put together and provides a bit of background on them. While there’s not a ton there now since the site is quite new, it looks like it’ll shape up to be a great source of inspiration for brides.

Finding An Officiate

2010-05-24T09:09:00.001-04:00

For some people, finding the officiant is one of the easier parts of wedding planning. They go with the family priest, the aunt who’s a justice of the peace, the guy who did their cousin’s wedding.

But if you don’t know off the top of your head who your officiant will be then this can be pretty tricky. I was actually dreading this part but thankfully our venue had some recommendations and then I left this task in Shawn’s hands.

Those recommendations were the two ministers over at Metropolitan United, a church located just down the street from the Berkeley. While we originally planned to go with a justice of the peace, we decided to give these guys a shot since they often do weddings at the Berkeley and we were told they were pretty open minded and flexible when it comes to conducting ceremonies.

While one minister was already booked for our wedding day, the other, John Joseph, was available so we met with him back in March. He was a perfectly nice, friendly guy who asked us plenty of questions in order to get to know us. He also told us about himself and by the end of our meeting we both felt quite comfortable with him.

While we did discuss a bit about the ceremony and what we pictured, that first meeting was really just to get to know each and see if this could be a good match. Since it was, we booked him.

We then met him a couple weeks ago and talked a bit more about the ceremony (something short and sweet with no readings) and looked over the vows we’re going to say. We also figured out the rehearsal time.

I thought this would be a fairly quite meeting but it probably took close to an hour because the minister did spend some time asking Shawn and I about ourselves and our relationship. While it was unexpected at the time, it kind of makes sense now that I think about it. I mean, this guy is a minister after all and I’m sure he wants to check and see for himself that we’re not some couple that’s going to end up in divorce court in a couple of years. And since none of the questions were overly probing or personal (they mostly focused on our communication styles and personalities), this part was less weird than it sounds.

I don’t know if trying to get a good sense of your relationship is something more officiants try to get but hey, it’s something to be aware of.

Anyway, if you’re on the hunt for an officiant, definitely start with your venue because they can likely recommend someone who they’ve worked with before.

If your venue can’t help you out, you might want to check out Kettle Creek Weddings, a company that hooks couples up with Toronto officiants. While they aren’t cheap (the basic package is $400), they are quite reliable and professional (or so I’m told).

There’s also always Google, if you’re looking for someone with a particular background (certain language, religion, etc.). Google actually led me to this site, TorontoOfficiants.com, that allows you to pump in a few basic details and then get a list of suitable officiants back. They aren’t reviewed or anything like that, but you can always turn to the bridal boards if you’re hoping to get more details on a particular person.

Off To NYC

2010-05-22T12:46:00.000-04:00

I’m off to New York City this afternoon for a few days to visit my sister. While there, I hope to accomplish a few wedding-related tasks:

find earrings
possibly find something for my hair
figure out my sister’s accessories

I do have a trio of posts lined up for while I’m gone, including one about M&Ms.

See you next week!

Green Wedding Services in Toronto

2010-05-20T21:06:00.001-04:00

Green weddings are the in-thing these days and if you want to make your big day as environmentally as possible, check out this blog post over on BlogTO that highlights some of the city’s greenest wedding venues.

Here my thoughts on a few of the places they’ve highlighted.

Cabaret Vintage: a must-stop for any bride who wants vintage, or vintage-style dress. While the dress prices are hardly steals, they are reasonable for a wedding dress.

Vert Catering: I’ve heard great reviews about these guys but I’ve also been told that they are on the expensive side.

Mill St. Brewery: I don’t drink beer but Shawn and many other beer drinkers I know love this brewery. I think we’re actually going to get these guys to provide all the beer for our bar.

Pure + Simple & Elixir Organic Spa: While I’ve never been to either of these spas, I’ve heard great things about both of them and am considering both for them for my pre-wedding pampering.

Toronto Botanical Garden: We checked this out last spring and my review is over here. It’s a nice place, just not for us.

Kortright Centre for Conservation: Another venue we checked out and that review is here. Kortright is quite pretty and eco-friendly, but it was a bit too far out-of-town for us (plus it didn’t have AC).

Ring Picked Up; Invites Almost All Sent

2010-05-18T08:59:00.000-04:00

Friday night we picked up my custom wedding ring from Made You Look and it looks just like the jeweller said it would.

When I first put it on it was too tight but I was told that that’s to be expected since it’s easier to make a ring too tight and then have to loosen than to have to deal with the opposite situation.

The store was able to get one of their on-site jewellers to stretch it out a bit and now it fits just fine.

It also fits just like it should with my engagement ring. The whole reason we went the custom route is because the stone setting in my engagement ring has these “bump outs” that don’t allow it to sit snugly with a regular ring. My wedding ring has a pair of notches that accommodate the bump outs and allow the two rings to sit nicely beside each other.

My ring’s designer is Jill Maddin and I totally recommend both her and Made You Look for any custom work you need done. Made You Look also some great already made pieces is a variety of price points.

In other good news, all the invites are out except for a small handful that is waiting on Shawn to find addresses for them. They’re for family on his side and as soon as he calls this one aunt and gets the missing addresses, we can get them in the mail and be all done with invitations (well, at least until we have to start tracking down RSVP cards).

Big Worry #2:Wedding Day Set Up

2010-05-16T15:21:00.001-04:00

So my other big wedding worry has to do with getting the venue set up on the day of the wedding.

While we have a florist who will be delivering and setting up the flowers, all of our centrepieces and all other venue decorations, from escort cards to the card box, will have to be taken care of by myself and whoever else I can guilt in to lending a hand.

This isn’t the part that worries me. While I’m not really a DIY-er, I do like to organize and supervise and I’m actually glad that I have an excuse to go down to the venue before the wedding starts and help with setting everything up.

What I’m worried about is the amount of time I can spend doing that.

While our ceremony isn’t until 6:30 pm, we’re doing our photos first and I think the plan is to start doing those at about 4 pm. The photographer will be arriving at my place at 3 pm and shortly after he arrives I’ll be getting into my dress so that means my hair and make-up should be done by say, 3:15 pm.

Now I know some brides are probably a bit jealous of this timeline since they had 6am hair appointments but here’s where I run into a stress point: We can’t get into the venue until noon. So if I need to be back at my place by say, 1:30 pm for hair and make-up, I’ll only have an hour at the venue to get stuff set up (I’m allowing for 30 minutes of travel time).

And when I say “I”, I also mean my mother and sister since they’ll be following my getting-ready timeline.

While I can organize people to work pretty efficiently, there’s no way we’ll be able to get everything done in an hour and so I’m going to have to left the venue before it’s done being decorated and yeah, I’m really not comfortable with that idea.

The Berkeley does supply a day-of planner and I’m really hoping that I can in-list and then entrust her to at least look things and make sure they look right (I’ve already been told that the day-of planners don’t assist with things like actually setting up the centrepieces).

That way I, my mother and my sister can leave at noon and a handful of people (including Shawn) can stay behind and finish setting everything up under the eye of the planner.

But while that sounds like a good plan, it’s one that still worries me. What if the planner doesn’t have the greatest eye for detail? Or what if my helpers don’t? Or what if I can’t find anyone who can help with setting things up?

It’s this kind of thing that makes me wish that we’d gotten our own independent wedding planner. Too bad we don’t have the cash for that.

Big Worry #1: Money

2010-05-15T14:51:00.004-04:00

In my last post I mentioned that I have a couple of big wedding-related worries. The first one has to do with money.

I would say that this is a fairly common worry for any bride who’s neither wealthy nor from a wealthy family. However, it hadn’t really been a concern for me until a week or so ago, when Shawn and I sat down and looked over our wedding finances.

I should mention that Shawn and I are covering most of the wedding costs ourselves. My parents are covering certain areas such as my dress and Shawn’s side is covering part of the liquor cost but we’re covering everything else.

We had started off on the right path, with a good overall budget and what I thought were reasonable area-specific budgets. While we did go over in some areas, it certainly wasn’t because we were being frivolous. Shawn still gets on my case about our photographer being $300 over budget but finding a good Toronto photographer who will shot at least six hours for $1500 is damn hard.

It turns out that I under-budgeted certain areas and so a few months ago we bumped our $20,000 budget to $25,000. At the time, this seemed like a reasonable, doable number.

Now, after our more recent financial review, I think that number's still doable but it’s going to be tight and there’s no room for anymore wedding-related spending. This is because while our budget went up, our savings didn’t and so now we have a bit of gap that I’m understandingly worried about.

As I’ve said numerous times throughout this blog, I think it’s silly to go into debt for a wedding and while I don’t mind putting stuff on a credit card, that card should always be paid off in full. My goal is that come September, our wedding is paid off in full and the only way for that to happen is to start saving hardcore.

Still, even the idea of having all the needed funds sitting in a bank account doesn’t completely end my worries. I know this will sound odd but I wish we could just pay in full as many wedding-related bills as we could right now. I know that’s also a stupid idea but not having to worry about those outstanding bills would certainly relax me.

So that’s big worry number one. Tomorrow I’ll go over big worry number two.

May To-Do List Check-Up

2010-05-13T19:52:00.004-04:00

OK, so let’s see what’s left for us to do:

May

Block off hotel rooms for guests
Book late July hair appointment
Meet with sister and figure out her shoes/jewelry, etc.
Buy earrings for me
Get Shawn’s brother to order his suit
Figure out & order favours

June

Do make-up trial
Book nail appointment
Book any other spa appointments
Book our hotel room
Figure out the rehearsal lunch
Figure out transportation
Figure out what Shawn’s brother’s getting as a thank-you gift (I already know what I’m getting my sister)

July

Create seating chart
Write up escort carts and put that all together
Ideally meet with photographer, wander through High Park and plan photo locations
Finalize playlist for DJ
Get wedding license
Email list of cupcake flavours to bakery and confirm all of that
Make card box
Send RSVP follow up emails if necessary
Start assembling centerpiece bundles
Create itinerary and
Go to Berkeley, review itinerary and give final guest count
Last week of July confirm everything with:
- florist
- make-up person
- hair person

On Sunday, before I made this list, I was getting a bit worried about what we still needed to figure out/get done. Now that I see what we have left, I feel a bit better about the volume of tasks. However, I still have a couple of other big worries and I’ll write something up about those this weekend,

2010-05-12T15:14:00.003-04:00

We can now cross a few more items off our to-do list: we’ve finally ordered Shawn’s tux and gotten him fitted.

We wrapped that up on Monday night, over at the Dufferin Mall Moores. We met with a different woman than the one we previously met with, but she was just as nice and helpful.

We also placed the order for the best man’s outfit. As mentioned in my earlier blog post about the guys' outfits, I wanted my maid of honour's dress to match the BM's vest/tie combo as much as possible. And while the Dufferin Mall Moores did offer a wide range of colours, none of them quite matched the swatch that my MOH sent me (wedding lesson: don’t go with purple if you want everything to be really matchy-matchy).

But one was fairly close and so we decided to go with that. We could have purchased a matching tie from the designer that’s making my sister’s dress but it would have cost $80; $80 for a dark purple tie that the BM would likely never wear again. At some point you just have to say no and so now we're going with an almost-matching tie.

We also ordered a suit for my Dad so that he doesn’t have to bring one out from Alberta. Ideally he would have gone to his local Moores and gotten measured there but since he doesn’t live near one, the woman helping us give me this card that explains on one side where he should be measured on and then on the other has spaces for those measurements. So that’s a pretty useful tool and a good thing to have if you're dealing with out-of-town groomsmen. (I'll try to remember to post a picture of it before I mail it off.)

Shawn’s BM is his brother and now he just needs to go and get fitted and then that’s it for the guys’ outfits.

Some Amusing Reading

2010-05-09T13:31:00.001-04:00

I’m quite busy today with addressing envelopes, tracking down addresses, updating our wedding website and figure out what else we have left to do (less than three months to go!).

So because of that, I’m skipping writing a real blog entry and instead am going to point you over in the direction of this funny blog entry over on Groom With A View.

Make sure to read the Cracked article that he refers to; it’s a bit course but it’s certainly educational.

Out West Invites

2010-05-05T21:15:00.003-04:00

The other challenge with getting our invites out is that some of them incorporate a DIY aspect and if you’re been reading this blog for awhile you know that I suck at arts and crafts stuff.

Let me provide some background on this situation. Our actual wedding is in Toronto in August. Then, about a month later, we’re flying out to Alberta for an out-West reception for my family out there (my parents and most of my dad’s family live in Alberta).

The has resulted in our guest list being divided up into three groups that each have their own “invitation package”:

The Toronto-Only Invites

These are the easiest invites to put together since we just have to put a pre-made invite and a stamped RSVP postcard inside an envelope and then address it.

The Alberta Invites

These guys get a special Alberta invite that I created (more on that later) and a stamped RSVP postcard. I thought I was going to have to make the RSVP card too but then I realized I could use the first batch of RSVP cards we were sent. These were missing the meal options and therefore no good for our Toronto wedding so I thought they’d just end up as recycling but nope, I’ve been able to find a use for at least a few of them.

Toronto & Alberta Invites

These lucky people get the pre-printed Toronto invited and its matching RVSP postcard, the handmade Alberta invite, another RSVP card (more on this later) and an envelope to return the two RSVP cards in.

Because I have no design skills, the Alberta invite started off as just being copy and a couple decorative borders printed on shiny silver paper. However, once I cut these up they looked kind of crappy.

Thankfully, the black envelopes we had bought to use for the Toronto and Alberta invite RSVP cards turned out to actually be backing cards that the cut-up invites fit perfectly on (yeah for not properly reading the packaging). So now, while extra worked is involved because I have to glue the silver paper on to the black, the Alberta invites at least look good.

The same cannot be said for my homemade RSVP cards. They are small and ugly and we used up all of the silver paper and Shawn doesn’t want to buy any more of it because it’s expensive and he thinks the cards look fine (sorry for the run-on sentence but this is a bit of a sore spot).

So here’s what I’m thinking of doing: I want to take menu-less RSVP cards and cover up the back, which currently has the return info printed on it, with silver paper.

Then I’ll do the same thing with the Toronto RSVP cards and write on the back of each card which venue it’s for. I realize this might look a bit odd but I think it’ll look better than using my ghetto homemade RSVP cards.

Anyway, I'm going to give that a shot tonight and see how big of a hassle it is.

Missing Addresses

2010-05-05T08:10:00.000-04:00

My goal for this week/weekend is get our wedding invites out. So far, I’ve run into two big challenges, the first being missing addresses.

I started my address gathering back at Christmas when I was at my parents’ place. I used my mother’s address book for a bunch of addresses but sadly it was missing quite a few. I should have borrowed my paternal grandmother’s address book when I saw her but I didn’t and now I’m going to have to call her and get her to read off a bunch of missing addresses. So that’s a bit of a pain.

My mom’s side is a bit easier since I’ll be seeing a bunch of them on May 15 and can probably hand deliver quite a few invites. But since I know some people will be missing, I’m going to have my maternal grandma bring her address book so that I can copy out missing addresses into my address book.

A mass email to our friends/cousins who I have email addresses for quickly gathered their addresses. I can’t imagine what a hassle gathering addresses would have been prior to email and Facebook.

Oh wait, yes I can because we don’t have email addresses for most of Shawn’s family and he doesn’t have any close relatives who already have these missing addresses written down. So he’s going to have to call this one aunt who hopefully does have these addresses. I feel those invites might be sitting on my desk for awhile.

I have tried looking some people’s addresses online (Canada411.ca is a good place to look) and haven’t had the best results with that. Also, to do that you need to know someone’s full name and Shawn has some cousins who we don’t know what last name they are using.

So maybe getting all the invites out by Sunday is a bit ambitious, maybe I’ll aim to get 80% out instead.

A Tale of Two Moores

2010-05-03T21:21:00.002-04:00

With only four months to go until the wedding, Shawn and I decided that we better rent his and his best man’s suites. So on Sunday we found ourselves at the Oakville Moores located at Dundas and Winston Churchill. It turned out to be a less than ideal experience.

We went to that location because it’s located near where Shawn’s brother, his best man, lives and we went to Moores because, well, isn’t that where everyone gets their suits from?

Back in January, we’d gotten a Moores catalogue from its booth at a wedding show. The suit selection looked alright, it seemed to have the colours we needed (silver and dark purple) and for $149 you got everything, even the shoes.

So our appointment should have been pretty simple. However, it quickly became clear that the woman who was supposed to be helping us could have cared less that we were there. After explaining the packages, getting our info and pointing out the most popular three styles, she seemed to lose the ability to speak.

I thought she would help us pick out a style but nope, the only fashion advice she offered was that Shawn should have a white pocket square and I had to ask her which shirt was best for an August wedding (turns out the one we were considering was the wrong choice, a choice she probably would have let us make).

She was absolutely useless when I started freaking about the surprisingly limited vest/tie colour options. Yeah, there was silver but there wasn’t quite the silver I wanted. And the selection of purple was absolute shit.

Angered and annoyed, we left and then made an appointment at the Dufferin Mall Moores because Shawn had a theory that the colour selection varied greatly by store. And it turns out he was right; this second location had dozens of other colour options, including dark purple in a pattern that also comes in silver.

Also, not only was the colour selection much better at the Dufferin Mall Moores but the service was excellent. The woman who sat with us was very helpful and after dealing with her I felt much better about renting from Moores.

We haven’t booked the suits yet because I’m waiting to get the colour swatch for my sister’s maid of honour dress (she lives in the U.S.) but assuming that that swatch works with the dark purple that the Dufferin Mall Moores offers, we’re going with that location.

Mexican Wedding: The Reception

2010-04-30T09:18:00.000-04:00

After a tropical rainstorm washed away the original plan to have our friends’ wedding dinner on the beach of the Mexican resort we were at, we found ourselves in a private room attached to one of the resort’s restaurants.

While the room was certainly no beach it did the job for dinner, which was quite tasty, particularly the dessert.

Then it was time to dance and this is when the evening started hitting a few snags. The bride and groom asked for some of the dinning tables to be moved so that we could have a dance floor. They were told this wasn’t possible since some of the tables were secured to the floor. This was very much a lie since we’d all seen this room (it has glass walls) without any tables in it. But whatever, we just danced around the tables.

We also ran into issues with drinks. In the original plan, the dinner was to have its own bar. This idea was no longer practical once we were moved indoors but it also shouldn’t have been an issue since the restaurant had a bar. But despite that fact, it was still hard to get a drink.

At 10:30 pm we were kicked out of the room (something we knew would happen) but thankfully we were able to continue the celebrations over in the bride and groom’s suite, which had been upgraded to the much bigger and better presidential because of the broken beach bed incident. So at least that incident had one silver lining.

Both the bride and groom acknowledged that things didn’t go quite as planned but in the end they were happy with how things had turned out. And from a guest’s perspective I think everyone had a good time.

Below are a few more destination wedding tips and in a future entry, I plan to run over the pros and cons of a destination wedding. While I think this was the ideal type of wedding for my friends, I definitely don’t think a destination wedding is for everyone, myself included.

Overpack and bring extras of such key items as foundation or nail polish since you may not be able to specific brands/colours at your destination
Create a wedding day itinerary (including a rain plan) and pass it around to guests so that people know where they should be when. If you’re at a big resort, include a map since there might be multiple gazebos, beach ceremony sites, etc.
Resort photographers can be expensive so be prepared to arrange your post-ceremony time so that you can cram in all the key moments you want photographed. This might mean doing the first dance between courses or fake cutting the cake
Don’t be afraid to speak up if you don’t like how something seems to be shaping up, for example, maybe your ceremony location isn’t quite in the spot you pictured it being. Resorts are well aware that an unhappy bride is a complaining bride and they are usually willing to work with you to get you want you want (within reason of course)
Also don’t be afraid to ask about upgrades or freebies. Because of the public nature of many destination weddings, it can be in the resort’s best interest to say, “surprise” you with a saxophone player who just happens to also be audible by other, impressed guests
And finally, while you might be at the resort with your family and friends, you don’t need to spend every waking moment with them. Make sure to crave off some private time for you and your other half

Mexican Wedding: The Ceremony

2010-04-28T09:01:00.000-04:00

By Mexican law, you have to be in the country for four days before you can get married there. So our friends got married on Thursday, April 15.

The ceremony was on the beach and it was quiet pretty though I kind of felt like we were a show for the other guests. There were people sitting on chairs and beach beds on either side of the ceremony site and most of them were clearly watching us (not that I wouldn’t have done the same).

The resort did have people on either side of the ceremony site, making sure that no walked or even swam behind the archway, something that I think every beach wedding should have.

The ceremony itself was short, sweet and partially in Spanish since that’s Mexican law. The bride and groom both looked great and I think that overall the ceremony went just fine.

After it was done, the bride and groom went off to have some pictures done and the rest of us (there was about 16 of us) went over to this gazebo-type thing for cocktail hour.

This was around the time in the day when it started to rain. It started off gently and then it began to pour. The weather had been like this for the past couple of days so everyone was prepared for the rain.

The original plan was for us to have our dinner on the beach but once it became clear that that wasn’t going to happen, the resort arranged for us to have it in a private room off one of the restaurants. More on the reception in the next entry.

A few beach wedding tips:

Talk to your wedding coordinator about a rain plan
Also ask about “security” and what the resort does to keep your ceremony and other events free of uninvited guests
Resort salons can be super-pricey so be prepared to do your own hair and make-up
And speaking of hair, avoid doing anything too fancy since it can get pretty windy on the beach
On the positive side, all that wind can do amazing things for the right gown so think long veil, light-weight fabric and other elements that will catch the wind
Most importantly, have a relaxed, flexible attitude towards your beach wedding. Distance, language differences and the fact that many wedding-oriented resorts host multiple events in a day mean that a destination wedding can be a lot harder to schedule and control than an at-home wedding so be prepared to just go with the flow

Mexican Wedding: The Resort

2010-04-27T09:58:00.003-04:00

Alright, it’s time to tell you about my recent trip to Mexico for my friends’ destination wedding. Let’s start with the resort.

We stayed at the Mayan Rivera all-inclusive resort the El Dorado Seaside Suites. Forbes called it “one of the 10 most romantic hotels in the world” and it claims to be five-star.

Well, the resort was quite beautiful and romantic but I wouldn’t quite call it five-star, maybe Mexican five-star but the attention to detail and maintenance wasn’t quite at what I would consider a five-star level (more on that later).

Our room was wonderful. It was huge and had marble floors, giant marble shower, a Jacuzzi, a balcony and double sinks. But the rooms varied in amenities. For example, we had a king sized bed, a flat screen TV and a separate sitting area. But some of our friends, who paid the same price as us, had old TVs, smaller beds and no sitting area.

Also, the bride and groom paid more for a “swim-up” suite that included a pool in front of it. This was a fun feature but their actual room was smaller than and not as nice as ours.

One of the big selling features of this resort is the food and booze. At night it’s all à la carte dining and there are six restaurants to choose from. The food and the alcohol selection was great and things were quite yummy though it would be nice if you could make reservations (some nights it was hard to get a table in our first or second choice place). Sadly, I couldn’t fully enjoy this aspect of the resort because I caught some kind of food poisoning (I’m pretty sure I caught it from an off-resort restaurant).

On TripAdvisor.com, there were a lot of complaints about the beach and the swimming area but I thought it was fine. Sure, it could have better sand and the swimming area is bit rocky but the water’s fairly warm and calm and there are plenty of fish and even some rays swimming around. We also found quite a few crabs and even a lobster. Unfortunately a hurricane really smashed up the reef a few years ago but it does seem to be coming back.

The resort is located about 20 minutes south of Playa Del Carmen and 30 minutes north of the Tulum ruins. It’s an area that’s packed with stuff to do including scuba diving. Shawn and I were really hoping to do some diving but on the second day he had an accident that crushed that dream.

The El Dorado’s beach is dotted with wooden, four-post “beach beds”. Some of the beds are regular, one-level beds and then some are two levels, with the second level being about six feet off the ground.

On our second day, the bride and groom claimed one of these beds. After lunch the bride, groom, Shawn and I were planning to all sun tan on it (they are quite large) but I left to get a book and the groom left to get a drink. This left Shawn and the bride on the bed. And then somehow it collapsed and they both fell head first to the ground.

In the end everyone was OK. But Shawn and I decided it would be wise to skip the scuba diving since he was knocked out for a bit and his back was sore.

We went to the Playa Del Carmen hospital (quite nice and pretty quick) to get Shawn and the bride checked out and the resort covered the cost of that, as well as the ambulance, the taxi the groom and I took and the prescriptions that Shawn and the bride picked up (for pain). They also paid for massages but only after we asked. The bride and groom were also able to get quite a few wedding-related upgrades but the only thing Shawn and I got was a bottle of sparkling wine.

So that incident kind of put a damper on things. I thought the resort could have been a quicker to apologize (I think the only resort we got anything beyond the medical expanses paid for was because the groom demanded to speak to the general manager) and obviously those beds could have been better maintained (throughout the week we noticed at least a couple other single level beds that were busted).

I would definitely recommend the Mayan Rivera as a great location to check out but I don’t know if I could confidently recommend the El Dorado Seaside Suites. While in many ways it was a great resort, it wasn’t exactly the safest.

I'll share more on the actual wedding over the next two entries.

My Wedding Hair Trial

2010-04-25T11:27:00.002-04:00

Since I want my hair done at home on my wedding day and I don’t want to pay $200 to get it done, I’m going with a company called The Mobile Stylist. It’s run by a woman named Charlene and she assigned me a hairdresser named Bene. Since it’s cheaper for me to go to them for the trial, yesterday I headed up to Charlene’s condo in North York.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous about the whole. Though I had photos of what I wanted done and I was assured by Charlene that Bene knows what she’s doing, I was still worried that I was going to end up blowing $68 on shitty hair style and then I’d find myself in a desperate search for a new stylist.

Last night I had my hair trial done.

Thankfully my worrying was for nothing. Both Charlene and Bene were quite nice and

during the appointment they talked about their business and previous jobs in a way that reassured me that they are true professionals who show up on time, stay late if needed and get the job done properly.

Bene was great at taking criticism and suggests, from both me and Charlene. She nailed the back of my hair on the first try but the front wasn’t looking quite right. So she played with it bit and we figured out a way to make it look much better.

She also took lots of photos on both mine and her camera so that we have something to look back at on my wedding day.

So overall I think things went pretty well and I’m quite happy with the end results.

Some general hair trial tips:

Figure out one or two stylists that you like and then bring images of those styles
Bring your veil and any hair jewellery you plan on wearing
Wash your hair the night before are you normally. Blow drying it with a paddle brush is fine would but don’t style it or put any products in it
The morning of your trial just brush your hair and leave it loose, free of any products and heat