We’re back and officially married! A million thanks to our family and friends for helping us transition as newlyweds. We can’t thank you enough!
My word of advice for newly engaged couples is to BOOK EVERYTHING EARLY, because if you do this then you will always get your first choice. Also, have an idea of what you want and stick with it. It’s amazing how many people will try to talk you out of your requests, so you really have to be your own best advocate. I didn’t have a wedding planner, so I went about most things the long and tedious way (and definitely hit a few snags), but I hope to impart some wisdom on the process. Here are some of the things I considered important for our big day:
-Church
-Banquet venue
-Caterer
-Wedding dress purchase or rental
-Suit/tux purchase or rental
-Bridesmaid dresses/groomsmen suits
-Photographer
-Videographer
-Makeup artist (bride, bridesmaids, mothers)
-Florist (bride and bridesmaid bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres for family, centre pieces)
-Decorator (for church and banquet hall)
-Wedding cake
-DJ
-MC
-Wedding invitations, save the date reminders
-Church programs
-Wedding favours
-Accessories (shoes, jewellery)
-Dinner entertainment
-Wedding slideshow
-Money box
-Church and reception helpers
-Police escorts
-Limo
-Itinerary
-Home and/or ceremonial decor
Our morning Chinese tea ceremony set
TIPS:
Church, Venue, Caterer
You should book the church, venue, and/or caterer first so have that done at least a year in advance. They book up so quickly! Once these are out of the way, then you truly have yourself an upcoming wedding on your chosen date. If you intend to hire your own caterer, then ask the venue if they allow third party caterers on site because some venues only allow their own chefs in the kitchen. We had our wedding at Toscana, and our AMAZING caterers were from the Harvey and Roger Tam team of Rovey Group. We 100%, without a doubt, recommend Harvey and Roger for their amazing food, their professionalism, and organization. We chose them because we were first blown away by their food at our friends Renee and Chris’ wedding, and at that point we knew we had to have them at ours! Also, Rovey Group cooks from scratch at the venue, if that just crossed your mind. Thank you Harvey and Roger for everything you’ve done!
Traditional Chinese Wedding Banquet Menu catered by Rovey Group. Menu designed by Melissa and Joseph and printed at Paperland. Pantone – radiant orchid, colour of the year.
Toasting champagne
Swan ice sculptures on dessert table, courtesy of Toscana at Hilton.
Wedding Attire
Did you know that a new wedding dress takes on average 6 to 8 months to ship to the store?? Keep that in mind when you go shopping, and do it early! As for the men, the groom and groomsmen have to buy or rent their suits and tux, so one tip is to go to those annual wedding shows and grab the discounts that they offer.
Pronovias, Ontina
Chinese red wedding qipao with hand-beaded phoenix. Although qipaos can be worn to any other event, a red qipao that has a phoenix and/or dragon on it is only reserved for the bride and on her wedding day.
Photographer and Videographer
You’ll also need to hire a photographer and or videographer. For the photographer I would strongly suggest you book ahead a year in advance, check out their online portfolios, look at what sort of photo album or printing services they provide, and actually meet the photographer in person before you sign! Oftentimes you may be signing with a photography company, and don’t get to meet your wedding photographer ahead of time, so make sure that you meet and have good chemistry! Look for the number of hours of photography provided on your special day, and know of any surcharges for overtime.
We booked with Ikonica for 3 photographers (1 main photographer, a second shooter, and an assistant who took pictures as a 3rd shooter). However, I also secretly wish I’d brought my own camera with me for the food pics lol. Thanks to my many uncles and cousins for taking so many pictures of us and sharing them so quickly!
In terms of videography, you’ll be paying a premium for same day edit but your guests will be able to relive and witness the entire day with you at the end of the night.
Makeup Artist, Florist, Decorator, Cake
Next, you need to find your makeup and hair artist and I highly recommend multiple trials with multiple artists! I strongly suggest bringing in pictures of looks that you like, so you’re both on the same page. Same goes for the florist, decorator, and cake artist. Browse Pinterest and save them on your phone, or better yet print the images, and give a hardcopy to your team because there are SO many looks and ideas to discuss. 😀
Some makeup artists can do both hair and makeup, while others only do makeup but may have another teammate who does hair. And other teams consist of multiple artists and hair personnel to finish off the looks of the bride, bridesmaids, and mothers all at once. Olivia Ha, my makeup and hair artist, was fantastic and deserves an award for her patience – she followed me all day long!
Our chandelabra centerpiece #1, with flower globe on top (hydrangeas and roses)
Our chandelabra centerpiece #2, with flower globe on top
Our decorator and florist also did an amazing job jazzing up the room! Thank you Ashley for the fresh florals, and Ann-Marie you truly are the bling queen. Both of you went above and beyond and made our room so beautiful.
Jill and Shawna from Dance Floor Decor helped us design this gigantic floor laminate in gold lettering for our dance floor. It definitely brought the room together and beautified our pictures. Definitely one of the best decisions made. Check them out!
Front details of our pink ombre rose cake. Five tiers, four different flavours of delicious cake by Pink Lemon Bakeshop.
Back details of our pink cake, thanks to Rica and her team.
Our makeup artist: Olivia Ha
Our florist: Ashley Plainos from Ashton Creative
Our venue and church decorator: Ann-Marie Barker from Daniel Barker Designs
Our cake: Pink Lemon Bakeshop
DJ and MC
Our DJ from Veriation Music accommodated our requests and played a mix of dinner jazz and big band music during the banquet. There are many DJ companies our there who also provide MC services (they are more keen to book these together), so look around and book carefully.
DJ company: Veriation Music
Wedding Invitations, Church Programs
Print your invitations and programs early, especially if they’re custom made! The printing companies are extremely busy starting January after the bridal shows, when everyone is prepping for their summer weddings, so I would highly suggest you create your invites and print them at 6 months before your wedding. There’s a good chance you may be waiting at least one month to receive them from the printers before you can start sending them out, then another month to organize and label them to send them out, then two months to wait for your guest responses, and another month to organize the responses for vendors and assign the table numbers, and the last month to relax before the wedding! We designed our own, and then printed them Paperland. A huge thank you to Eva, Paul and Heidi!
Wedding Favours and Reception Name Tags:
I found the cutest name tag idea on Pinterest and just had to do it! Organizing 350 Ferrero Rochers was a breeze thanks to my bridesmaid, my brothers and to my hubby. Nut allergies got Coffee Crisp instead. 🙂
Our thank you favours with caramel and white Lindt chocolate.
And of course we had the ever popular photobooth! Instead of a traditional guest signing book, we had photobook full of duplicate guest images and personalized messages. We also took home an album and cd full of high quality images thanks to Keith and Christine from Snapshot Photobooth. The difference is clearly in the quality of the prints. In hindsight, I even wish we had two photobooths!
And that’s it folks! Yes, the day goes by really quickly and you can try to stick to your itinerary as much as possible, but stuff happens. Leave plenty of room for flexibility in terms of timing. On your wedding day, be in the moment, enjoy the company, and take lots of pics.
NOTE: These pictures were taken on our wedding day and posted with permission from our wedding photography team at Ikonica. Credit goes to our photographers Jean-Marc Robin, Moe, and Nicole.
This was more of a thank you post, so for any questions regarding a company we dealt with please email us. 🙂
Hi there! I just bought the same wedding dress as you! =) Ontina from Pronovias.
Would like to ask if your dress is in Optical White or Off White? I booked mine in Optical White and am now having some doubts…but your’s looks amazingg!
Kindly share.
Thanks,
Joyce
Hi Joyce,
Congratulations on finding the dress! Mine was in Off White, but it wasn’t yellow at all. I would say it was “naturally white” and true to colour in the pictures.
Enjoy your wedding planning, and most importantly have fun with it!
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate at all. 🙂
Cheers,
Melissa