Rustic Romantic Wedding at Airship 37

One of my favourite wedding venues in Toronto is Airship 37. It's impossible to be bored when designing weddings for this space as the possibilities are endless!For bride Kerry, it was important to create a soft, romantic aesthetic to balance the industrial feel of the venue. She wanted to drape the ceiling, but knowing it would be a huge expense, I encouraged her to rethink the idea. Together we brainstormed how we could draw the eye down to the tables rather than up towards the ceiling. By creating a focal point in the centre of the room above the head table, we tricked the eye into focusing on that rather than the industrial lighting of which she wasn’t fond. We layered warms shades of taupes, blush and cafe browns over top of various shades and textures of white.We kept things simple and focused our attention on doing the most important things really well. This saved a bunch of money while still creating the soft and airy rustic romantic wedding aesthetic.The ceremony altar we built with Ashley Elaine Florals was one of the prettiest we have done so far! Simple copper piping draped with fabrics of varying textures and a lush floral accent was just enough to soften the barn board wall. We added candles in varying heights behind it to pull the eye right to the centre of the altar.Megan Laura Photography was on hand to capture all the beauty. They are some of my favourite photos to date. For the rest of the team scroll down!

Photography Megan Laura Photography
Florals Ashley Elaine Florals
Hair and Makeup Jen Evoy Hair and Makeup
Venue Airship37
Day-of Stationery Paula Lee Calligraphy
Invitation Suite Minted
Officiant Enduring Promises, Ron Shantz.

Valentines Gifts for Him

I started to think about the upcoming, much debated to be celebrated, holiday and decided to share my Valentines Gifts for Him! A few years ago there was a resurgence with boudoir photography. This time, though, it is actually embracing the unique shapes of women instead of overly sexualizing it. The female body is so beautiful and should be celebrated so I am thrilled to see this change!I did one four years ago and it totally changed how I saw my body. I was worried about certain parts of my body because I had a skewed vision of what I thought it looked like. However, once I saw the photos, all the things I thought were my worst features actually became some of my favourites.First and foremost, find a photographer who shoots the female body in a way you can relate. Then, make sure they are someone with whom you feel comfortable personality wise.I promise you it's something that you won't regret, and it even makes a cute little black book as valentines gifts for him. Lachlan's shoot below was a gift to her soon-to-be husband on their wedding day. It was such a pleasure to style this shoot.If you’re thinking about doing a boudoir shoot as part of your valentines gifts for him (or maybe just for yourself!), check out my other helpful tips and tricks for the perfect boudoir session.

1486 Photography, Boudoir Photography, Unique Valentines Gifts for Him

Photography 1486 Photography
Florals Cedar and Stone
Hair and Makeup The Look Beauty
Venue The Alton Mill, Caledon
Calligraphy Paula Lee Calligraphy
Gift Box Present Day Gifts.
Lingerie Fortnight Label from Loversland.

How to Create a Wedding Budget

The most popular question I hear from clients is how to create a wedding budget. It’s likely they have never had control over such a large sum of money at once in their lives. Creating a wedding budget can seem overwhelming, but if you take your time and think through it logically, you’ll feel much more relaxed and prepared. In today’s post, I’m sharing my tips for how to create a wedding budget so can feel confident in throwing an amazing celebrating without feeling like you’ve broken the bank.

Family Meeting

First, sit down with your families to discuss what financial assistance they are willing to put forward. Will each set of parents be contributing a specific dollar amount? Will they also be covering the cost of the dress? Do they have rules as to how their contribution is spent?

Save, Save, Save

Next, be brutally honest with how much can you realistically save for the wedding over the planning period. Long engagements can get a bad rap, but remember, the longer you are engaged, the more you will be able to save. So if you decide that May is your month, consider waiting until May the following year. This will not only give you more time to save but also time to enjoy your engagement and really consider your options.

Set Your Priorities

Now that you have determined the dollar amount you have to work with for the wedding, it’s time to make a priority list of which elements are most important to you. Also, consider the elements you can live without and ask yourselves, ‘Will anyone notice if we don’t do this?’. The answer for most things is probably ‘no’ and these can make up your Wish List. Stick to your list of most important things and consider adding those Wish List items back in if you have room in the budget once the big things are settled.

Breaking Down your Budget

Once you have finished prioritizing each wedding element, you’ll need to start assigning them percentages of your overall budget. The largest part of your budget (around 50%) should be assigned to your venue, catering and alcohol. Photography and florals should be set around 8 - 10% each. Stationery and other decorations (candles, linens, chair rentals) should sit somewhere around 4 to 5% and your DJ should be around 3%. Keep in mind that depending on your budget, these percentages may need to increase to be in line with the going rate for each category. I also recommend setting a percentage aside for miscellaneous things that sneak up so you can use it for a little flex if you do need to go over in a couple of areas!

Sneaky Ways Pricing Creeps Up

• Guest List. It can be difficult to decide who should be there to celebrate with you, but this is the largest driving point of your budget. The lower the guest count, the further your money will go.

• Postage. Forgetting to account for postage in your stationery budget. To send a standard size envelope in Canada, it is currently $2 per invitation set ($1 for the invitation, $1 for the RSVP). Adding too many pieces or doing an oversized dimension can also increase the cost of your postage. It might not seem like much, but it can quickly eat into your miscellaneous pot!

• Credit Card Fees. Do you plan to pay for everything on credit cards to get your points or just to make paying for the wedding a little easier? Most vendors pass the credit card fees on to the customer so you could easily be paying 3% extra on every bill if you plan to pay by card! And, of course, if you don’t pay it off each month, you’re also paying interest!

• Gratuities. Though your venue or caterer will almost always add an 18-20% gratuity to their final invoice, other vendors who expect or require tips (limo drivers usually at 20% each) don’t, so you’ll want to be sure you’re putting the money aside. And just because a vendor doesn’t require or expect a tip, if you feel like they’ve gone above and beyond, it’s nice to recognize them with a tip or small token of your appreciation.

• Committing to a large number from the start. Many venues have a guaranteed guest count based on the number you provide them with from the get-go. If you are unsure of your guest count, be conservative with the number you give to the venue/caterer so you don’t get stuck paying for 130 guests if your final numbers end up at 110.

Hire a Planner

You might think that hiring a wedding planner is a luxury. Sure, it can be a big investment, but you do gain the expertise of someone guiding you on how to create a wedding budget, which will ensure you get the most out of your money! Most planners also offer more cost-effective solutions for clients who only need help with certain areas, such as the final details. The most commonly sought service is the Month-of Coordination service which is a great investment for the couple who can handle most of the planning on their own. For my Month-of Coordination clients, I want to maximize the support they receive from me without adding much to the cost so I provide my clients with online planning toolkit with worksheets including a full budget manager and calculator, wedding day itinerary, a guest list manager, ceremony details, an overview worksheet to house all vendor and wedding party contact details, and folder to upload their service agreements, and a space for notes and other important details. They receive this right from the moment they sign on so they don’t have to worry about filling all of this out for me when we get started the month before the wedding. I also offer vendor referrals to my clients regardless of the planning package they have secured, so they can get access to vendors who have the perfect aesthetic and price for their event. Perhaps they had a specific photographer in mind but can’t afford. It’s likely I’ll know someone in a similar aesthetic who is more suited to their budget. They just do the work with connecting with them and continuing the conversation and I’ll pick up at the one-month mark! It’s my way of helping them feel they have personalized support. I hope you feel empowered with this guide on how to create a wedding budget!

How to Order a Wedding Cake | The Dessert Room

The Dessert Room, a Hamilton wedding cake shop and bakery, opened its doors this past spring. I sat down with owner Marcia to get the low down on how to order a wedding cakeMarcia says that the most common question she receives is, "how much does a three-tiered wedding cake cost?". It seems like an innocent question, but like many wedding cake designers, The Dessert Room's wedding cakes are custom for each client so a consultation is required in order to properly estimate.What exactly is the kind of information you need to price out your wedding cake? Well, the simple answer is that the more information you can provide, the better.

The Number of Servings

Knowing your guest count and whether it is being served as the dessert course or late-night option is key. Serving as the dessert course means more servings are required as you'll be serving 100% of your guests. For late-night, we recommend that you account for 50 - 60% of your guest count having a slice.

Inspiration Images 

Since designing a wedding cake contributes to the aesthetic of the event, it's is best to come with inspiration images. These images can be of other cakes or design-related elements such as stationery, florals and colour palette. One sensitive area is coming in with a specific image and wanting to replicate the design exactly. It's always so much more special when something is customized to you, so be open-minded in discussing revisions to a cake design to make it unique to you. The best part, in the end, is that it usually turns out better the original!

Budget and Details

Wedding cakes from The Dessert Room are 100% made from scratch so they are hand-made just for you. Regardless of where you go, before you make your meeting, figure out exactly how much of your budget you can allot to the cake. I typically tell my clients to set 1.5% of their wedding budget aside for the cake. Each wedding cake can take anywhere from 8 to 20 hours to complete depending on its complexity in design. If you are looking for hand made elements such as sugar flowers, scrolling and painting, expect the costs to increase.Since the cake will be 100% customized to you, having full trust in your cake designer is key. Sketches can be drawn to give a general idea as to how the cake will look, but the final product should surprise you a little!If you're looking for how to order a wedding cake and saving a few dollars, do a smaller wedding cake for display, but have slab cakes prepared for the kitchen to quickly slice and plate for dinner or late night. You can also do a smaller cake for late night only with and display with a few beautifully decorated cupcakes. Lastly, add a few strategically placed fresh flowers on the cake rather than the hand made elements!

The Process

Now that you have an idea of the information you need to collect, let's walk through the steps for how to order a wedding cake!

• Start with a consultation. You know how a dress shop would never want to put you into a dress you can't afford in case you fell in love? Well, your cake designer doesn't want to that either! Doing a consultation first is key because it gives you a chance to get to know each other and determine if their shop and pricing is right for you. Going into the tasting before discussing pricing tasting means you may fall in love with a flavour without being able to afford the cake.

• Estimation. Once you've chatted about your wedding and the specifics, the cake designer will prepare an estimate that is custom to you.

• Tasting. If the estimation looks good, you're then good to go for a tasting! It's recommended that you stick to trying 3 flavours rather than the whole lot.

• Order! Depending on the size of the cake it's normal to be able to select more than one flavour. If you are serving the wedding cake as the dessert course, Marcia recommends going with at least one flavour that is more of a crowd-pleaser so that the cake doesn't go to waste. Carrot or red velvet flavours don't tend to be an overwhelming favourite so you may want to do a smaller tier of that and the larger tier of something with a vanilla or chocolate base. Give yourself between 9 - 12 months lead time for high season weddings (May - October) and 6 - 9 months for offseason.

ABOUT THE DESSERT ROOM

During university, owner Marcia Fattouh, worked at a local bakery and fell in love with it. Once she completed university, she moved to Toronto, working at a French pastry shop while attending George Brown for the Baking and Pastry Arts program. She then spent time in France, completing two certificate programs at L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Patisserie. She returned to Toronto and completed the program at the Bonnie Gordon College and took the leap in opening up her own shop this past spring!

PHOTOGRAPHY

All photography was beautifully provided by the talented and generous Kayla Yestal, a fine art wedding photographer based in Guelph, but travels the world with her passion!

Horse Farm Wedding in Burlington, Ontario

Taylor and Brad came up from Ohio to celebrate their big day on her uncle's horse farm here in Ontario. The estate had a special place in Taylor's heart and right from the moment we met I knew I wanted to be involved. I then fell in love with the stunning countryside estate and I knew this horse farm wedding was going to be one full of love! Planning a tent wedding is difficult enough but doing so from out of town creates an added level of complexity. I was happy to help them with both the planning and styling of the event. It was important to Taylor that the beautiful landscape be the focal point so we were careful to pull inspiration from our surroundings.

THE DESIGN

We used wood harvest tables for the head table and buffet tables to relax the beautiful champagne linens used to dress up the guest tables. Each centerpiece was carefully assembled by Ashley Elaine Florals in heirloom trophies won by the family's horses over the years. Using a bright palette in shades of pinks and greens, we anchored it all with a deep raspberry colour. Brad handmade the table numbers out of horseshoes as a subtle nod to the beautiful animals that mean so much to Taylor.

THE FOOD

Jake's Grillhouse handled the catering and oh my goodness, it was yummy! During cocktail hour canapes were passed while oysters were shucked in front of guests at the beautifully prepared oyster bar. As for dinner, we wanted to be mindful of budget and the relaxed outdoor environment so we opted for buffet style. Buffet tends to get a bad rap, but the longer it has to sit the better the flavours get! Is also allows for more flexibility in terms of timing with speeches and event flow.

Flowers Ashley Elaine Florals
Photography The Wayfarers
Catering Jake's Grillhouse
Tent and Rentals Special Event Rentals
Hair and Makeup Pretty in Pink Mobile Makeup
Videography Archangel Productions
DJ Jarek Gora
Ceremony Musician Chantal Dube

5 Things to Do After the Wedding

Congratulations! You're married! But, now what? 

Don't fret as I have a list of 5 things to do after the wedding so you can enjoy wedding planning just a little longer!First you should congratulate yourselves on successfully completing one of the biggest projects you will ever undertake as a couple! Open a good bottle of wine and slowly look through your wedding photos to reflect on your big day! Now you're ready to tackle the first 5 things to do after the wedding.

Christine Lim Photography

1. Share Photos with and Review Your Wedding Vendors

Speaking of photos, remember when you were looking for the right people to help bring your vision together? You probably used their portfolios of past weddings to decide if they fit your wedding vision. Then you probably found reviews from past clients or vendors and they were helpful in making your decision to inquire with them! Vendors rely heavily on these reviews and photos to stay up to date and show growth in our business and creativity. Were your vendors super wonderful? Did they go above and beyond for you? The best way to say thank you is to write a short review and share your photos with them so other engaged couples have something fresh to look through too. Bonus points for surprising them with a review and photos without them asking!

2. Send Your Thank You Notes

It's proper etiquette to have your thank you notes in the mail 8 weeks after the wedding. Yes, it seems like a long time, but believe me, that two months will fly by like you wouldn't believe, especially if you head away on a honeymoon for a few weeks! Why not bring a few cards with you on your honeymoon so you can write them while waiting to board or even during your flight? Or for a fun spin, buy postcards from your honeymoon destination and send those home as thank you cards! While it's nice to include a specific note about the gift received, the thank you note itself is most important and getting them done sooner rather than later will make you feel so much better and your guests feel super loved!

3. Clean Your Dress

Your wedding dress probably went to battle for you on your wedding day and withstood some less than desirable terrain to get those gorgeous wedding photos. Give it a little love back and promptly take it into the cleaner as it is easiest to remove stains when they are fresh. If you take it in right after the wedding, before you depart on honeymoon, it'll be one less thing to do when you get back! Oh, and I have more tips and tricks about professionally cleaning your wedding dress, right over here.

4. Order a Marriage Certificate

Immediately following the ceremony, your officiant will give you something called a Record of Solemnization of Marriage. This can be helpful if you're heading on honeymoon and need to show proof of marriage for that honeymoon package, however, it's not the official legal record of marriage. A Marriage Certificate is a legal proof you are married. Most likely you'll only use it for changing your last name with your bank and any other creditors, etc. but it is also helpful for certain social benefits and settling an estate. Note that before you can get a marriage certificate, your marriage needs to be registered. Your officiant will register the marriage by sending the completed marriage license documents to Service Ontario on your behalf. You won't receive notification that it has been registered so I recommend waiting three months before you request the marriage certificate.

5. Change Your Last Name

It is completely optional to change your last name after the wedding. If you choose to do so, Service Ontario can help you out. The most common option is to assume your spouse's last name. This would change on government documents such as your health card and driver's license. To change your SIN number and birth certificate you would have to legally change your last name. So! Hopefully, I've made it easy for you to start the first 5 things to do after the wedding so you can move onto the fun stuff! 

University Club of Toronto Wedding by Christine Lim Photography

Caoimhe and Graham's wedding at the University Club of Toronto started the 2016 season in the most wonderful way. Blush and Bloom perfectly complimented the existing decor with an incredible palette of cheerful blooms and soft blue candles.The bride is an art critic and hand painted all of the beautiful artwork seen in the wedding stationery, from the watercolour place cards to the table numbers. Such a talent and a perfect example of how paring your decor down to a few carefully curated pieces can be all you need to enhance a space. Ultimately it also makes set up and tear down easy on everyone!Enjoy the beautiful images and read more about this University Club of Toronto wedding below!

University Club of Toronto, Downtown Wedding, Toronto Wedding Planner

One of the top wedding venues in Toronto

The University Club of Toronto is one of my absolute favourite downtown Toronto wedding venues. The events and catering teams consistently set the bar higher every single wedding. They are some of the professional people taking pride in making every aspect of the wedding perfect. Oh, and the food. We need to talk about the food. The food is incredible. Like really and truly incredible.I always encourage my clients to simplify their wedding day by making things as fluid as possible. First and foremost I tell them to cut down on unnecessary travel time. The University Club makes planning your wedding day itinerary easy as you receive the venue on Friday with availability of weekend accommodations. It also offers plenty of getting ready spaces boasting a lot of breathing room and options for catering. The interior of the club is beautiful and filled with natural light, offering itself up as a wonderful photo location. It is also conveniently located across from Osgoode Hall, a beautiful location for outdoor wedding photos.I would be remiss if I didn't mention the bang up job they do to keep the original charm of the architecture and decor, while still being modern. It is extremely easy to accent with beautiful linens and flowers without taking away from the charm. Whether your style is bright and playful or timeless in whites The University Club of Toronto wedding space is the perfect place for the refined couple. A beautiful and relaxing setting, wonderful food, and easy decision making make it a hidden gem.

Photographer Christine Lim
Florals  Blush and Bloom
Venue University Club of Toronto
Cake The Wedding Cake Shoppe
Officiant All You Need is Love, Jeremy Citron

Ceremony Musicians Wellington Music
Band Parkside Drive
Paper Goods Caoimhe Morgan-Feir
Makeup and Hair Vicki Millar
Transportation A Rolls Choice