In February of 2012, Rick Denham (of Rick Denham Photography), Jay Lupish (of Captivate Bridal Cinema) and Mary Bratko (of WeddingGirl.ca) got together and planned a contest.
A few months later, they picked a winner…. Rick affectionately dubbed them “LoJack” … and here’s how telling them went down:
In February of 2013, the winners of the Wedding Threesome contest had a picture-perfect winter wedding day… and we were all lucky enough to be a part of it!
{ LoJack’s Same Day Edit }
Thanks to the super-talented boys over at Captivate, this is what wedding guests got to watch during their dinner reception.
Start to finish, Loretta and Jackson were absolutely amazing to work with. Their love for one another and zest for life shone through in every step of the Threesome contest and in every second of their wedding day.
Wishing these two nothing but the very best of everything. We love you!
On April 20th, Mark and Kelly became united at a beautiful spring wedding.
Throughout the whole photography/client relationship, from meetings to their engagement photos last fall to spending this whole day with them last Saturday, one thing became very clear: this couple is truly something special.
I arrived at Kelly’s sister and bridesmaid, Lisa’s, home to capture the bridal party get ready. The bridesmaids Voula, Ashley and Erica have known Kelly virtually all their lives. Kelly’s twin niece and nephew, Eva and Theo, were more than adorable, and the whole Outos family couldn’t have been more lovely.
Meanwhile, Mark and his crew of best man Basil, and groomsmen Richard, Carmen and Greg got ready at the church, awaiting the blushing bride.
I jumped in the limo for the super fun ride across the Gardiner where some great shots were captured along the way.
The ceremony was filled with beautiful words and few happy tears.
The only hitch was that it was unbelievably windy outside! And pretty cold too. But long after the bridesmaids, groomsmen and even the groom ran back to the limo for shelter and warmth, Kelly stuck it out without complaining one little bit. What a trouper! Nothing was going to ruin her beaming smile.
The gorgeous reception was truly one of the most fun I’ve ever been to, thanks in large part to the Borden and Outos clans, the many raucous friends, and the boisterous boys at the head table leading the way.
Congratulations Mark and Kelly! Thank you so much for letting me be a part of it all.
This video tells the story of an unforgettable day.
Wedding days are always made more special by creative, thoughtful, and unique DIY touches. We instantly fell in love with Madeline’s picture-frame wedding aisle inspiration when she sent us these photos:
And a few months later, when Madeline and Sean walked down the aisle of Runnymede United Church, it truly was a picture-perfect moment. To line their beautiful wedding aisle, we alternated creamy white hydrangea blooms secured with romantic ivory ribbon, and white picture frames attached to blush and blue satin ribbon. Photos hung on the ends of the pews symbolized the journey that Maddy and Sean had made to get to their wedding day.
This photo that Madeline just shared with her friends online is the perfect depiction of one journey completed, and another one begun.
From that exciting day a couple of years ago when we were booked to plan our very first Indian wedding, our love for all-things-cultural has run deep. Since then, we’ve celebrated alongside breathtakingly stunning Indian brides, among all the colours and sparkle of their big days.
One of the most beautiful traditions associated with Indian celebrations? the elaborate South Asian ceremonial art form of body painting called “Mehndi”. Painting is done with a paste made from the henna plant, leaving a gorgeous deep red-brown hue of intricate designs that are often a symbolic representation of the inner and outer sun.
: Luna Bazaar Mehndi Mason Jars
Our favourite folks over at Luna Bazaar have stunning Mehndi mason jars inspired by the exotic motifs of this centuries-old tradition. The hand-painted gold designs on jewel-tone glass will sparkle in the romantic candlelight of any wedding guest table.
Take a peek at their coordinating decor collections to adorn not just your culturally-infused wedding day, but also your shabby chic and garden-inspired themes as well!
Stumbled upon this photo somewhere in PinterestLand. It’s a really great visual depiction of one of the 4 C’s of diamonds – carat. Even though the term carat refers to diamond weight, the naked eye observes changes in carat weight as increases and decreases in the size of the stone. This photo shows you the naked-eye difference between a 1-carat, 2-carat, and 3-carat diamond.
Keep in mind that carat weight is actually a range. The likelihood of finding a diamond that is precisely 1.00 carat is quite small and jewelers classify a range of diamond sizes by the nearest round-number carat weight. This means that a 0.86 carat diamond is sold as a 1.00 carat and a 1.20 carat diamond is too (Note: this is how you can keep costs down without compromising visual effect!). According to The Diamond Buying Guide, expect a good quality 0.50 to 1.50 carat diamond to range from $3500 to $5000 (for the stone alone). If the price seems too good to be true on a particular rock, look in to its other C’s – colour, clarity, and cut – as often the price will reflect idiosyncrasies or deficiencies across these elements.
The higher a diamond’s carat weight (which means, the larger the stone) the greater the likelihood of inclusions (clarity), discolouring, and a less-brilliant cut. These 2.00 carat diamonds (ranging from 1.50 to 2.50 carat weight) ring in at an approximate average price of $10,000 to $15,000 for the stone itself. You can also purchase 1.00 carat diamonds with this hefty pricetag, but these are considered the ‘best of the best’ with brilliant cut, perfect colour, impeccable clarity.
Choosing the right diamond shouldn’t just be based on your credit card limit. Consider who will be wearing the stone and how its size will reflect her. Like it or not, engagement rings are an unspoken symbol that announce to the world – “I’m engaged”, “I’m in love”, “I’m taken”. If you’re a partner who is brave enough to venture out in to the world of ring shopping without any guidance from your significant other, make sure you’re very aware of how she would want the ring to speak to the world around her. Some girls prefer a loud and flashy ring, while others lean toward something more elegantly understated.
If you’re considering an eco-friendly (and budget-savvy!) alternative to organic diamonds, visit out friends over at Quorri & Co. Even though budget becomes a substantially less significant concern with man-made diamonds, make sure you’re still thinking about how the size of the stone will be read by everyone who sees it. Since you know that as soon as you pop the question she’ll be flooded with requests to “see the ring”, choose a diamond size that holds true to how your bride-to-be wants to be perceived by the world and not just how well-off you want to come across.
To learn more about synthetic diamonds, check out our other Quorri blog posts. If you have questions about diamond-buying or need help planning the perfect proposal, make sure to get in touch!
First introduced to Uber when Courtney and I were invited to the UNIUN industry open house last month, I started out completely unfamiliar with the service and totally skeptical of signing up for a smartphone app with a credit card number. It wasn’t until a super-helpful Uber rep, Lucas, took the time to tell us more about who they are and what they do that I opted to set my uncertainties aside and live on the edge….
… and my first thought after the black car dropped us off that evening? Where has this service been all of my life?!
{ all about UBER }
Uber is an on demand car service application for smartphones. It’s so easy to download the free Uber app for iPhone/Android - search, select, download.
Once you’ve signed up your account (yes, it’s totally safe to give them your credit card!) – just pick the vehicle you’d like, press a button, and a car with your own private driver arrives to your location in minutes. Cars range from Lincoln Town Cars to Cadillac Escalades, with traditional taxi cabs available as well.
And remember that credit card I was so uncertain with sharing? Well – it’s brilliant! It means I can just hop out of the car once we’ve gotten to where we’re going and I don’t have to worry about whether anyone has cash on hand, change for a tip, etc. No more pit stops at gas station ATM’s when you unexpectedly find out your cab doesn’t take plastic in the middle of your ride (I speak from experience!)
Within a few minutes of getting out of the car, UBER emails you a detailed receipt (and by detailed, I mean VERY detailed!) – date, time, distance traveled, average speed, map, driver’s name, car type. Perfect for record-keeping.
UBER’s black car service is priced at approximately 30% more than the average cab and gratuity is always included (so $13 vs. $10? – totally worth it). It’s also found in 25 + markets worldwide, from Toronto to San Francisco, New York to London. You can rely on the service anywhere, without worrying about how you’re going to get from A to B. LOVE IT!
Since signing up for UBER that night at UNIUN I’ve used the service multiple times on my own and never cease to be amazing at its promptness, efficiency, and totally high-end feel. I mean, really – who doesn’t want to live a life of having their own private black car to shuttle them around??
{ UBER on your wedding day }
Since learning about the UBER service I’ve shared the details with all our Toronto WG-couples. Get in touch with us to have the UBER team set up personalized promo codes on behalf of WG for your wedding party, family, and guests. This entitles all of them to their first ride free as well. It’s an amazing alternative to that pricey late-night sedan you considered booking through your limousine service (and ensures everyone gets home safely, despite all the shots they did at the bar!)
{ a ride on US }
When I love something this much, I want everyone else to love it too. I chatted with the folks over at UBER and they were awesome enough to set up a specialized promo code for new UBER users.
Download the app and use the code WeddingGirl to get your first free black car ride (in Toronto, up to $30). The code is active now and expires on December 31st 2013 – so even if you’re not from the Toronto area but you know you’ll be going downtown at some point this year, stash the details and take a ride on us!
:: just some random Wednesday morning musings of a budget wedding planner…..
The other day I met someone who was learning about WeddingGirl.ca for the kind-of first time. I say “kind of first” because he’d heard of the website before, as many have, but we’d never met and he’d never heard about it from me.
As we chatted about business practices and the wedding industry he talked about the importance of being different.
“When I get to know any professional, I need them to be able to explain to me what makes them different.”
And so I got to thinking, “What makes WG different?”
The answer was easy.
….. luxe, on a budget.
Those four words are the motto I’ve styled this serendipitous adventure by since the day I registered the domain name back in 2009.
I had just canceled my own grand affair. With only three months until what was supposed to be my wedding day, I was in the process of trying to sell my dress, decor, and all the details I’d painstakingly planned. It was then that I stumbled upon an ad on Kijiji – a young woman who unexpectedly got pregnant while she and her fiance were planning their wedding. Without health benefits, their wedding budget quickly went to medical expenses when she became ill during her pregnancy. She was on Kijiji desperate for decor, a catering contact, “balloons and streamers – anything”…. all she wanted was to have a wedding before her baby was born.
It broke my heart to read her story. Here I was, cancelling a lavish wedding…. while another girl was desperately looking for any way to have a wedding at all.
I gave her everything I had: dress, decor, details. All of it.
And around that time, while still in school dissecting sheep’s brains and studying neurochemicals, I created a blog. I’d loved planning my own wedding… and even though it was the wrong wedding for me, the process excited me. I loved the creativity and the flowers and the linens and the glitter. It was such a stark opposite from what I was doing professionally and academically and I created a blog just to share ideas. I wanted to convey a message that being on a budget didn’t have to mean skipping everything that matters to you. It was making me crazy that the wedding industry focused on nothing more than spending, in a world where young people are faced with student loans, first mortgages, car payments, and, well, you know – real life.
Even while working full time and writing in my little WG blog only once in a while, I knew I had found a creative (and beneficial) outlet that I loved. I scoured the internet for ideas and shared my own research-driven analyses of when to splurge, how to save, and what to skip all together. I wanted to help brides make really smart spending choices at a time when I’d personally made more than a few terrible ones. I had learned my lesson and wanted to make sure everyone else did too.
Four years later, I still consider myself a budget wedding planner…. and I run a national wedding planning blog committed to sharing ideas on how to make those really smart spending choices.
I’ve planned $3000 weddings, and $150,000 weddings. Regardless of what’s being spent on Happily Ever After, every bride is on a budget. Almost every bride is planning a wedding for the first time and each first-time bride has no idea what flowers should cost, what a plate of pasta should cost, and what the average price of dress alterations really should be. In an age of virtual wedding planning, brides spend 350+ hours researching, pinning, inquiring, comparing – inspiration, details, vendors, and decisions. Regardless of whether a guest’s plate costs $35 or $265, every bride wants to know she’s spending her money wisely.
That’s what it means to be on a budget.
A budget doesn’t mean cheap.
A budget doesn’t mean dollar-store vases and artificial flowers.
A budget doesn’t mean a cash bar or paper napkins.
A budget means, “Every dollar we save on planning this wedding is a dollar we put toward our student loans, our mortgage, our car payments…. our life”.
With money being one of the top issues that couples fight about, a wedding is meant to be a celebration of your love…. not a nail in your relationship coffin. Every bride should be able to afford a planner – someone to confide in, work alongside, and trust. Every bride should feel confident that the money she’s spending, and the value she’s getting, is well planned and top-notch.
That’s what it means to be on a budget.
Regardless of whether you’re giving your guests $35 wine favours or $3.50 picture frames – your wedding budget should reflect your priorities and not your credit card limit.
That’s what it means to be on a budget.
So what makes WG different? It’s the fact that I, and everyone I work with, are relentlessly working toward showing the world that a Big Day budget can be 4 figures instead of 5, 5 instead of 6, and even 6 instead of 7.
Every bride is on a budget – and this website is about sharing ideas on making that budget, and big bridal ideas, a perfect match – so that everyone can, in fact, live Happily Ever After.
Even with the entire 2013 wedding season still ahead of us, some WG brides are turning their focus to planning the little details of their romantic, frosty winter weddings. Last year we saw one bride use Epsom salts as a vase filler to hold her sparkly gold branch centerpieces in place. This year, stumbling upon this decor idea is leaving us equally inspired on how to create some elegant drama in a budget-savvy way!
Use sugar to mimic sparkly snow, and some multi-sized pearls to add elegance and class.
This styling can be used as a base for your table centerpiece or as gorgeous vase filler for your votive candles. How’s that for luxe, on a budget?
For more ideas on floral styling on a budget, check out the Flower Shop @ WG page on Facebook or Send Us your floral design questions!
—
:: sending some WG love out to Compliments of Kim where the idea came from! oh, so lovely!
And sometimes, while we’re searching for flowers, linens, and wedding favours, we stumble upon something that grips our hearts… and right now, this is it….
Last week we met with a bride and groom who are planning a beautiful August wedding in a vineyard in Niagara On The Lake. As we sat with their venue coordinator and confirmed details about the flow of the day, menu notes and bar details, we found ourselves brainstorming a fairly commonplace element of outdoor wedding ceremonies: the refreshment station.
Over the years we’ve urged brides planning outdoor wedding ceremonies to have cold drinks available to guests as they arrive or leave the ceremony to ensure everyone is satisfied and comfortable despite sunshine and warm temperatures.
We’ve seen everything from simple DIY cucumber water and lemonade stands to elaborate white-gloved champagne service.
If you’re looking to quench your guests’ thirst in a chic, stylish, and budget-savvy way, you need to try Bottle Green!
If you’re not familiar, make sure to check out their wide range of creative and original flavours, including delicate cordials, pressés and tonic waters! Even their presentation is a feast for wedding guests’ eyes.
These tasty treats are not only perfect for a sunny afternoon ceremony refreshment stand or cocktail hour, but also a great non-alcoholic alternative to champagnes and pricey sparking wines at your reception.
{ how to DIY }
Fill a themed container with ice and let your sparkling drinks chill before guests arrive. Whether you’re using stainless steel buckets or an old canoe, your refreshment stand can be styled to make as much a WOW-factor impression as the yummy drinks you’re serving!
If you’re getting married at an inclusive venue that’s willing to have servers pass refreshments to your guests, inquire about bringing in your own drinks or having the catering staff order these little lovelies directly.
You can get a hold of the lovely folks over at BottleGreen here!
{ just a hint of sparkle }
The other day two cases of Bottle Green’s Pomegranate & Elderflower sparkling showed up on our doorstep. With its soft blush hue and just the perfect amount of sparkle, this spring water based drink has a touch of exotic flavour with just a hint of carbonation. It’s the perfect afternoon wedding champagne alternative!
{ how to WIN }
And since we have an extra case of delicious drinks to give away, all you need to do is follow us on Twitter for details! We’ll be giving one lucky bride this sparkling treat later this week! (must be available for pickup in the Greater Toronto Area).
