Vendor Reviews Round Six: The DJ

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

DJ: Anthony Wright
Rating: 5 out of 5

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

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

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

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

Vendor Reviews Round Five: Photographer & Live Musicians

Photographer: Carruthers Photography
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vendor Reviews Round Four: Hair & Makeup

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

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

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

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

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

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


Makeup: Kim Martin
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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

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

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

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

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

Vendor Reviews Round Three: Invites & Flowers

Today I review my invites and my florist.


Invites: Raspberry Creations
Rating: 4 out of 5

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

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

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

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


Flowers: Flowergirls
Rating: 4 out of 5

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

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

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

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

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

Vendor Reviews Round Two: The Rings

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

Vendor Reviews Round One: Cake & Venue

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

were a key part of our décor).

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

Mexican Wedding: The Resort

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.

Reviews Of A Few Toronto Wedding Dress Shops

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile you’ll know that I didn’t buy my dress in Toronto, I bought it in Edmonton while shopping with my parents (they live out there and bought the dress). So because of that, I don’t have personal reviews of Toronto wedding dress shops to share with you.

Thankfully, the fine ladies over on the Canadian Bride Talkboards have been posting reviews and you can find a collection of them over here.

Yelp.ca also is a great source of reviews and lets you easily see a bunch of shops’ ratings at a glance. Nice to see that Fashion Crimes got top marks!

A Must-Use Website

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

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

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

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

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

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

Venue Review: Kortright Centre

About It
The Kortright Centre is “located on 324 hectares of pristine woodlands along the Humber River Valley” and is a great spot if you want a “green wedding” and don’t mind of a bit of a drive (the centre’s located out in Woodbridge).

It features two beautiful, tree-lined ceremony sites and receptions can be held in the charming glass house or even inside the actual centre itself if you need a bit more room (and don’t mind too much about décor). Dancing can take place in either place or outside on the glass house’s patio. The centre supplies plenty of candles, tiki torches and twinkle lights that result in a look that is simple though very stunning and memorable.

Pros
- Great setting that is sure to be remembered by your guests and personally I love the fact that you could dance outside surrounded by tall trees and tiki torches
- If your reception was in the glass house you wouldn't need a lot of flowers or other decorations
- All food and drink is looked after by the Centre and this does simplify things; the Centre also offers some flexibility with the menu, for example, will serve your wedding cake for dessert and then serve the original dessert as a midnight snack
- There is a strong emphasis on organic and local food
- The Centre itself is very “green”
- Only one event per evening
- Comes with tables and chairs
-Your rental includes access to the centre’s theatre; perfect for entertaining kids
- Plenty of free parking


Cons
- Kortright’s primary goal is to educate people about the environment; weddings are just something they do on the side. As a result, the condition of this venue isn’t comparable to say, a hotel ballroom. The centre itself is very ‘70s while the glass house could do with a good power washing
- Bathrooms are exactly what you would expect to find in such a venue; clean but could do with makeover
- Just to re-enforce the obvious but this is a “naturey” venue so that means that things like trees, pollen, bugs, birds and animals will be part of your day
- Not the cheapest place; it'll run you about $110 a head including all food, a four-hour open bar, wine on tables, all staff, table, chairs and and basic rentals including table covers (chair covers are an extra $3 per person)
- You can’t bring your own alcohol
- No AC though the glass house does have doors and windows that can be opened to let in a breeze
- Dancing on the patio is great as long as the weather co-operates. Depending on how you use this venue, you’ll need a back-up weather plan
- Menu is fairly straight-forward so this might not be the best place if you’re a foodie
- No access via TTC and taking a taxi up here won't be cheap; there are also no hotels within walking distance
- No on-site sound or lighting system
- No real bridal room though you can use the theatre to change in

Useful Links

Weddings at the Kortright Centre
Virtual Tour