À la Oscars

When it comes to jewelry, I go all out. I'm not the type of girl who likes the simple stuff... my friends call me Miss Glam! I was more excited about finding my jewelry than my actual dress. (could you believe it? and yes I actually bought my jewelry before I ordered my dress)

My dress is simple, therefore my accessories basically needed to be a WOW factor of my whole ensemble. The search wasn't very long... I found the perfect set. I love my jewelry so much... oh and that's another thing I wear in the house once in a while. It's an authentic Austrian crystal choker necklace with matching earrings.



Before I even looked at the price tag I knew I hadn't chosen the cheapest one. I have an eye for the real expensive stuff and this was no different. The set was priced at 149.99$. Expensive yes, but less than I thought. As I'm trying on the set, I noticed a 30% off sign. Don't we just love discounts like that??? To top things off my dad and my step-mother offered it.


I love love love my set, but the only dilemma I have is with the earrings... I'm afraid it might be too much bling bling. What do you think?

Did you have or are you planning on having extravagant jewelry?

Vendorzilla

I've been engaged for almost 3 years. Yup, I know it's a really long time, but when I got engaged, I wasn't really ready to take the plunge. Both for monetary reasons and because I felt I was still too young. Nonetheless, I started planning my wedding a good year and a half if not two years in advance. Yeah, I know that's a long time in advance, but I'm a very organized person and I wanted to get everything done as soon a possible. From choosing my theme, colors to my vendors.

I started calling vendors left and right to book appointments, I was not lucky when it came to the people I've called... so I have labeled every single one of them a VENDORZILLAs! I even made them an official logo!!!



Here are some of my vendorzilla stories- just to mention a few:

Reception site:
The first place I called for a reception site was a beautiful winery on an island. Perfect location for my vintage glam wedding. I spoke to the lady to schedule an appointment and we decided on a date. I received a call 2 weeks before the appointment I had booked 2 months prior to find out that they were doing renovations and I needed to change my appointment. This was understandable, so we moved the date. Next tentative date, 1 week before I receive a call saying that because of the snow storm, it was impossible to go the winery. Again, I understood... so we re-scheduled again. Next date is near by, 3 days before I receive again a call... and this time it was the hot weather which was the issue... the appointment was in march and they were afraid that the ice would melt. At this point I was fed-up!!! So this time I cancelled the appointment! What is this!?! Aren't they suppose to offer a service??? Don't I receive a call 4 months after the appointment I cancelled saying that they would be ready to see me??? Are you kidding me? That's almost 8 months from the first time I spoke to the lady...

Bridal dress shopping:
Being anxious to start dress shopping, I wanted to start trying on gowns. So I opened my phonebook and started making calls. The first place I called was Creations Vezina. They happened to be highly reputed for their service (according to some local brides in my area).When I asked the lady for an appointment to try on some dresses, she was extremely nice and opened up her appointment book. She took down all my information and asked me my wedding date. When I mentioned June 21st 2008 her tone of voice changed drastically. She refused to give me an appointment. I could understand that they don't want to waste their time with brides getting married over a year away, but I clearly mentioned I wanted to find my dress now. She still refused and told me to call back in 6 months from now. What kind of service is that?

Florist:
Now here is my florist story. I was still a year in advance at the time, but either way... I tried (even with all the crappy vendor stories). There was this one florist... who was so extremely rude. I called to make an appointment for my flowers, again she asked me when I was getting married. When I gave her the answer to the famous question, she said that she would not meet with me. I told her even though I was in advance I wanted to book my florist... now. She still said no! Then she started asking away "Well do you have your dress???" YES. "Well do you have your bridesmaid dresses?" YES "Well you need to do research!" YES, I am aware and I have. She was trying to find a way to prove that I wasn't ready enough... I almost wanted to hang up.

Oh and I have more... maybe I will do part 2 of Vendorzilla...
Have you had any vendorzilla stories???

What to do?

My wedding being vintage glam, is a mix of both the movie influence of the 30s and the glam that came with it (chandeliers, red carpet..etc) I've always dreamt of having individual chandeliers per table at my wedding. It would be so luxurious, but for several reasons - it's not possible. First off, I'm not allowed to hang things from the ceiling of my reception hall and not to mention that having a chandelier per table would be too expensive.

Image courtesy of Brides.com

As an alternative, I thought of making a tree chandelier instead. It would be much cheaper. I would simply need to find acrylic crystal beads to hang from the branches I would gather in the woods near my house. The overall piece would be very glamorous... but still this isn't exactly what I had envisioned.

Last month, I bought a new local bridal magazine and to my surprise I saw the picture below on a rental company ad. HOW AMAZING!!! Chandeliers, but on a stand...so perfect! Exactly what I need.

Image courtesy of Elegant Wedding Magazine, Rental Company: Luxe Rentals

I've been searching for something like this ever since I started planning my wedding. So I decided to call and ask how much they cost. The lady said 75$. WHAT!?! 75 dollars each for a rental!?!... I have over 20 tables... thats over 1500$ just for centerpieces, and I don't even get to keep them! I had given around 350$ for centerpiece since I was making them myself... so as you can see my budget doesn't agree with the price.

I 'm disappointed... so close yet so far! I don't know what to do. I was thinking of maybe only have a few, but still that doesn't solve my problem.. What do I do for the other tables ???

Anyone???

Peep toe

Before I even start talking spilling the beans about my dress, I thought I would build up the anticipation by giving you details about all the other stuff. To start off, lets talk about shoes. I am a fan of them, well honestly who isn't?

My criteria for my shoes were the following: I wanted a peep toe satin heel shoe. For the rest, well I debated lots on whether I should get a colored shoe, a low or high heel. What it came down to it, was I getting a shoe for the beauty rather than comfort?... well, ladies and gentlemen, I went for beauty. I will probably take them off half way though the reception, but what a wedding if you don't dance bare foot... right?

These are my gorgeous shoes! I absolutely love them. I even try them on once a week and walk around the house with them... isn't that pathetic ??? I found them at ZARA. for 79$ Canadian. Even though they make my feet extra pretty, I felt they were missing a little Glamour to them, so I bought off eBay some rhinestone shoe clips. So are my shoes vintage enough???

The Proposal

Ever since I was a little girl, I envision the perfect proposal done by my prince charming. I thought that the question might be asked with the typical down on one knee, diamond ring in the champagne glass or something a little more creative like announcing it on the monitor at a Habs game. All these options would of been an excellent choice and I would of been extremely happy regardless...

Almost three years ago, after we came home from a family party on Christmas Eve, we decided to open our gifts at the stroke of midnight. Why the stroke of midnight? obviously for the whole "magic" aspect of Christmas, and because it was our first real Christmas together. We started dating 2 weeks prior to the 25th of the previous year, so in my eyes it didn't really count as the first Christmas together.

After opening all our presents, I noticed there was a little red and gold box left. I was completely clueless of what was about to happen. My sweetie grabbed the box and then proposed to me, and of course I accepted. But nope, there was no getting down on one knee, no champagne to celebrate, nothing. At the moment I was ecstatic about the whole idea of getting married, but at the same time I was a little disappointed that the proposal wasn't near what I had imagined it would be.

My ring looks something like this ; diamonds are a little smaller.

I found out later on that M.Flamingo asked my father for his permission first before proposing. I thought that was a nice gesture of his part and by doing that he definitely gained points in the whole proposal thing. The ring was exactly what I wanted, so his good taste deserved some points too. Now, we simply laugh about the whole thing... but who knows, maybe he'll make up by proposing the real way when we renew our vows. We will know only in 5 years from now.

I was wondering if any of yous have had any disappointing proposals? If so, I would love to hear about it. I just hope I'm not the only one.

How the flamingos met

In my introductory post, I pretty much talked about why M. Flamingo and I considered ourselves to be the pink, one legged (majority of the time) long beak bird. But before I continue, I just wanted to point out that I am the first Montreal Bee. Happy to be representing! =)

The flamingos in Virginia beach 2007.

So now its time to meet the flamingos:
During my graphic design studies, I worked as a part time cashier at a modern furniture store. I often saw people come in give their CV and leave right after. But this day was different. This guy came in, gave his CV but didn't want to leave. He wanted to meet the big boss and wanted an interview on the spot. Talk about being sure of yourself. Either way, I called the manager at the time, and I don't know how he did it, but he was hired! Oh and this is M. Flamingo by the way.

As soon as he started he was on my back. For a good 8 months, day after day he would ask me to go to the movies with him and I every time I would decline his offer... I didn't really like M.Flamingo at the time, actually he even drove me nuts. He was all talk and no show and I didn't like guys like that... Not to mean but he didn't interest me.

One night during the week in October, I was working until 9 pm. It was a cold rainy night and I felt like going to the movies after my work shift... I called all my friends but no one was available to go. So when M. Flamingo made his daily pit-stop at my cash, I mentioned that I felt like seeing a movie and that no one could make it. Not even considering what I had just said, he left. Soon enough he came back and offered to go with me. At that moment, I said to myself why not give it a try and at the same time, he would stop inviting me.

There was a rule though when it came to watching movies. I would only watch the movie in its original soundtrack (majority being English) and M. Flamingo (speaks french). He was fine with my famous rule but asked me if he could choose the movie. I was willing to compromise a little so I was okay with that... if only I knew. We went to the movie theater, M.Flamingo bought the tickets and when I looked down, I read: Chainsaw Massacre! Talk about a first movie.

After that night, regardless of our first movie attempt, we kept on going to see movies. I started to know the real M. Flamingo; a sweet kind, good-hearted person - not the all show, I know everything guy I got to know at work. We kept seeing each other for over 2 months and we officially started dating: in December 2003. That's how our story began... Who knew I would marry the guy who a couple of years back couldn't stand being next to... isn't it odd, how things happen?

A new bird in town.

Invitation design: Fine Stationery

Greetings to all you current bees, future bees, and not to forget you awesome readers. I am so excited to be part of the hive. Like many of yous, I've been reading weddingbee for some time now, and being part of this great 'family' is an honor I will try my best to maintain it. I will start off by explaining why I chose the Flamingo to represent both my FH and myself. Its actually a pretty funny story... just judge for yourself.

Cayo Guillermo, Cuba

In the summer after our official engagement, we decided to go to on our first trip together to Cayo Guillermo, Cuba. You can say that it was like a mutual gift. Both of us had never been down south before, so we were really excited about the whole thing. When we arrived, the weather was gorgeous, the beach was spectacular... better than what we imagined it to be. Around half-way through our trip we decided we wanted to go Flamingo searching. I had never seen one in real life before and I find them so cute (and sooo pink - my favorite color by the way)

We had heard some local mention something about a flamingo farm. But honestly, we couldn't really make out what he was saying - his English was extremely bad. So M. Flamingo had this 'great' idea of renting a car and literally going Flamingo hunting. I thought it would be fun to leave the hotel... so we went. We ended up in a little town called Moron, Cuba (which was a good 2 hours away from our hotel). We saw crocodiles, cows but no flamingos. I was sad at this point because I really wanted to see one. Just one. Was it really so much to ask?

Our rental was a 4x4 with a removable top. In which we had to take the top off (according to M.Flamingo) So of course when we came back to the hotel it was fair to say we were toast! With all the wind and the direct sun... we were burnt (and trust me we wore sunscreen) Look at us... see

This is us, look how burnt we are. Its actually pretty funny!!!

As we were returning our car to the car rental company, we were talking to the guy saying we were looking for flamingos but didn't even see one. He asked us which hotel we were from. I found it to be an odd question, but answered either way. Doesn't he tell us that there are flamingos at our hotel! WHAT!!! I couldn't believe it. So there we were again... flamingo hunting. After all this, renting a car, driving endless hours, getting a massive sunburn... there were some at our hotel. No one could of said something before going through all of this? We finally found them. I couldn't believe my eyes... there right in front of me... flamingos. So pretty.

The actual thing, real flamingos

So that the whole story behind the flamingos. Pretty funny isn't it???

Capturing the essence

Another important element for my wedding would be video. Like my photographer, I'm having issues when it comes to choosing the right company. I don't want my money to be wasted in something that I could do myself.

Let me elaborate on the previous statement - when I say myself, I am talking about the editing and the montage. It's something that can easily be done in the comfort of my own home with the right software - of course. I want someone who can do something that I can't do. I want to have something different... and something along the lines of a movie trailer. Shorty and sweet yet packed with emotion.

Here is an example of a super 8 video. It tells a story like no other video.

A while back, I was introduced to Super 8 weddings. Super 8 is basically filming using an 8 mm camera. Yes, yes, the film our parents used to watch on a projector. This type of film is becoming more and more popular and I knew thats what I wanted. The company which made me discouver this type of footage is a company called Fifty Foot Films.

I adore their artistic style, the fact each video has warmth and romance, and I love the fact that they use music that is ’unconventional’ and unexpected, yet so perfect. This is an American company unfortunately for me (I’m from Canada). What is great is that there are more and more companies which offer this service (at affordable prices), but it has not made its way to Canada yet. I don't know whether it will ever make it here before my wedding day, so for now I am looking for companies who might be able to travel all the way to montreal. Anyone???

30s inspired

After setting the date, it was time to decide on a theme. Even though themes aren't necessary, I knew I wanted one for my wedding. This was one part of the wedding that wasn't really hard to figure out. Being a fan of anything glamour, I thought it would be a neat to incorporate it in my wedding.

Wedding planning is said to be a girl thing, so my fiancé left me with majority of the decision making. That being said, I basically had carte-blanche, so my glamour wedding ideas started flowing. I wanted a modern glamour wedding. So pearls, chandeliers, golds, pinks and champagnes. I basically wanted to modernize the whole glam movement.



After our official countdown began, my sweetie started to show interest in the planning. I was really happy about this, because not many guys (I know) take part of the planning. As time passed, I realized that the glamour part of our theme was more me than him and we needed to find something that suited the both of us! It finally came to me at 2 o'clock in the morning on a week day. My FH is a fan of anything movies, so we decided to combine the two.

Our revised theme, if I can call it that, will focus more on the 30 - 50s glamour movie aspect. I designed an inspiration board which was featured on Style Me Pretty. Watch out the Oscars, our wedding will be the main event.