What I have done so far...

Well, let me start at the beginning. I got engaged on January 17th, 2009. My birthday :-) Drew and I had saved up to take a 4 day trip to Paris, France where neither of us had ever been and where I had always wanted to go. It was really fun and we did a tour to see the Eiffel Tower on my actual b-day, at the end of which, between the peace monument and the tower as it lit up at night, he proposed. Very romantic and extra appreciated by me because Drew did it as much as a partner as a friend who has known me a long time and listened to the kind of confessions you make more to a friend than a partner about what you truly want.

Once we were home and announced it (to family by phone and to the rest of the world by oh-so-glorious facebook! ha ha) I started pricing out venues all over Ontario just to get an idea of cost and set a budget. A work friend, Peri, recommended a great book to read "The Wedding Book" by Mindy Weiss (9780761139607) which is truly fantastic. It gives you a suggested order to take care of things and is an encyclopedia of all things wedding. I had a lot of fun browsing styles, invites, venues, flowers, colours, and of course dresses but I promised to wait until my mother's late spring visit to nail down any details so that she could enjoy as much of the planning with me as possible.

Once she was up visiting we settled on two things: the dress and the venue.

For the dress I had already chosen my shop of choice ahead of time and had only to take myself, my Mom and my two available bridesmaids there. It is called "the bride's project" (linked on this blog) and is a not-for-profit second-hand and donated dress and accessory shop whose proceeds support cancer. I found them while hunting through budget bride resources and loved the idea so much I knew I had to get my dress there.

Getting a room full of wedding dresses to browse and try on at my leisure was as much fun as it sounds and I enjoyed those few hours a LOT. The best thing I did was take photos of all the dresses to show my sister and Kristen only to find they helped me decide on the dress once home. I had it down to 2 choices: one kind of medieval dress that *felt* amazing and one much more classic with a puffy skirt that fit perfectly and was so much fun. I was all about the creamy medieval one though (it had those awesome princess drop sleeeves that hung down....) until I saw photos. The other poofier dress looked SO pretty in photos - even the veil looked amazing (and I had been thinking no veil!). So, back I went and picked up dress, veil and wrap together for $400 and all to a good cause! :-)

It is hanging in a pink bag on the back of the bedroom door where Drew is forbidden to look. I even got filmed for a documentary on the place when I picked up the dress but alas footage of me did not make it into the final cut ;-)

Venue was probably the biggest research item on the list. I think I know the name of every venue in Ontario, and their cost per head. For our budget (and guestlist of app. 120) we decided to forgo the evening wedding and aim for lunch/brunch or tea. I had a small list of places, none of which I *truly* loved but all of which were totally fine ready to visit.......and the I googled "toronto tea" for fun and found the King Edward Hotel. I cold-called them to see if they'd entertain the idea of an afternoon tea wedding and they surprised me by saying yes very heartily, providing me a quote by end of day and offering me the best price for a venue within Toronto I had seen yet!

The pictures of their 1903 ballroom were so lovely I was beside myself and on touring the hotel it was just as pretty in person. So we settled it and are now having our ceremony and reception there. They are going to do ceremony, appetizers, high tea & bar with no room rental fee, just a cost per head and have given us free use of the entire hotel for our photos as well as use of the bridal suite all day for getting ready and we get it for the night with breakfast for 2 the next morning :-) All for within our budget! I couldn't be happier.

You can check out the link to our wedding site to see photos and info about the hotel. We tried the tea with Mom before she left and it was wonderful and SO much fun :-)

Ok, that's enough blog for one day!

N.

Greetings & Welcome

Hello & Welcome to my blog.

I know between livejournal, facebook, twitter and email the e-highway can said to be cluttered with personal information but I thought I'd add blog to my arrangements.

Gisele Jaquenod (of http://www.birdiesays.com/ fame) designs free blogger templates so already I have the place looking delighful!

And now that I am planning my wedding on a budget I thought it would be nice to start writing about my new life in a new place and link up all my favorite nooks, crannies and blogospheres that have provided valuable resources.