À Table

As time passes, I seem to change my mind on what I want to do for the table numbers. At first Mr. Flamingo had suggested having vintage movie posters, but I soon realized that it can be very complicated and hard to understand. First off, if the guests don't know the movie specifically, they will need to search to find the actual title on the poster. In those years there was type all over the place, the actors names were more prominent than the actual movie title, so I think it may be hard to the guests to find their table. Another important point is that majority of the guests are French and all the movie titles are in English. So what now...

There was one poster that I really like the imagery. Its the 1933 movie The Songs of Songs. Not only is the imagery beautiful, vintage and wedding perfect... its actually a love story too. Talk about a coincidence.

Here is the original poster :

source

Then I thought why not use that poster for all the table numbers, that way the same message will be on all the posters, which means less confusion and there will actually be numbers. So I started using my Illustrator and Photoshop skills and tried to re-create this poster to suit our wedding.

Here was the criteria I needed on the poster.

• It needed to look like a movie poster.
  
• It had to keep the actual feel of the original poster.
  
• We needed to write our names in there somewhere
  
• It had to be bilingual

This is what I came up with... (click to enlarge)

I really like the outcome of the poster, I think its perfect. But I haven't shown Mr.Flamingo yet, and I'm afraid he won't like it. He really wanted to go more towards the glamour route but I think that this poster is kinda glamour - no?

What do you think? Please give me your input please...

Our Baker - Sweet as cake

Even though we are having a dessert included in our 5 course meal, I've always wanted to have a wedding cake and the extra dessert wasn't going to stop me. Just more sugar for my buttocks - for better or worst right? What's great though, is that Mr.Flamingo will have his ultimate favorite dessert at the end of our meal, and I will have a beautiful wedding cake. It's a win win situation.

We decided to hire Sophie of Les Fantaisies de Sophie. She is really talented and not to mention extremely sweet. Sadly, ten years ago her daughter Catherine was born with a severe handicap and Sophie (our baker) decided to change her career choice to something which allowed her to be with her daughter and give her the attention she deserves. Luckily for us, she became a baker and honestly not only did her story touched me but her positivity and look on life blew me away - we hired her on the spot.

Shes very popular in my area and I am so happy to have chosen her. She has done a cake for the famous Celine Dion and other local stars and you'd think because of it she would charge accordingly. Well to my surprise, her prices were the best I had found and her cake ... so yummy.

Shes also the master behind this beautiful black and white cake which was featured on Style me Pretty DIY contest. This is the design that first caught my eye, I love the simplicity and the design elements... so pretty. And could you believe this cake is only 2.95$ / slice and a pretty big slice might I add.

The patterns - like she explained are "spray painted" on, which allows to have intricate designs for the fraction of the cost. Especially since our cake will be served at midnight with the sweet table ... no need for a really expensive cake design. She's done lots and lots of cakes, but unfortunately the pictures on her site don't do justice to the beauty of her designs...

Did you hire a vendor not only because they were good, but because you were touched by their story?

Next up ... images and images of cakes.... mmm mmm mmm

{Image source}

Handle with Care

I love flowers and one thing I am extremely excited about is my bouquet. I can't wait to actually hold it... its going to be stunning. Apart from the actual flower choice and color combination, another important element to any bouquet is the handle. I find it's as important as the bouquet itself, so I thought I could opt for a unique handle myself.

They are endless possibilities when it comes to dressing the bouquet here are just a few examples:

Elegant ribbon bouquet paired with unique looking buttons - source
Unique ribbon ruffle and bow - source


Vibrant two toned ribbon braided handle - source
Bold color, I love the contrasting colors - source



I love the use of ribbon to create a cuff for the bouquet - source
Also the beautiful work in the handle make the whole bouquet so glam - source


This look is absolutely stunning, various shades of
ribbon creating a waterfall of textures - source


Go all natural by using actual leaves to create the handle - source



Using fabric and ribbon - source
Wire wrapping used as a bouquet cuff - source

Different sizes of ribbon paired with beautiful embellishments- source

If you have some more images of unique bouquet handles, please share the love. We can never have enough pictures in our wedding image bank.

Will you be having a unique bouquet handle? Is the handle important to you?

To dance or not to dance

There will be lots and lots of dancing at our wedding because my whole family loves to bust a move... but there is one dance I'm debating whether we should do... the famous money dance.

" The concept of "Money Dance" is that the male guests pay for the privilege of dancing with the bride, and by extension, female guests pay for the privilege of dancing with the groom. The money is to be used for the bride and groom's honeymoon or to give them a little extra cash with which to set up housekeeping. " source

I think because we are a young couple and we want to buy a house, the money collected with this dance will be very useful. Also the time spend dancing with our guests will be very precious and the guests who aren't interested aren't obliged to participate. On the other hand, I don't want to seem greedy. So whats a bride to do?

I also don't like the idea of pinning money to my dress - well actually in Canada the smallest paper bill we have is a 5$ so if we want our guests to give us looneys (1$) and toonies (2$) we might have to opt for something vintage like top hats.

I'm really curious, how many brides-to-be are considering having a money dance at their reception? If you've done it, were you happy with the outcome, were your guest offended by the thought of asking them to dish out some more money? Help ... I really don't know what to do.

{Image Source: gettyimages }

Where do I sit???

Before I even need to think about who I will be seating where (and let me say I am dreading this part), I first have to decide what type of escort cards I will be using. I recently learned the difference between escort cards and place cards - not very complicated : place cards actually assign the seats of the guests and escort cards simply say which table your guest will be seated at and they choose their seat.

Image source

Since I have a mixture of 2 elements for my wedding theme : Vintage Glamour & Hollywood Movies, I need to figure out which route I want to go with. I desperately need your help with this, awesome weddingbee readers. Now because I've had issues with incorporating movie elements in the wedding, maybe having movie escort cards is the perfect thing to solve part of that problem...

Our table numbers will be movies posters of that era. Even though the colors won't necessarily fit with our decor; the design, typeface and overall feel of the posters brings you back to that era and that's what we want. So then I thought of actually making slates with the movie name (aka table number) the guest name as well as our wedding date.

I would make these in photoshop and then print them out on hard cardboard paper. The fact that I would make them brown rather than the classic black takes away the "be there, done that" I thought this idea was really neat - but when I mentioned it to Mr.Flamingo, he wasn't too keen about the idea (but he's a visual person - so maybe I need to show him what I mean)

If we go with this option, then there's the issue on how to display these... any suggestions?.

Option number 2 would be the glamour option. We've all seen these before, but they are absolutely gorgeous - don't you find? They would be simple to make and the display itself can create a beautiful setting, but because our centerpieces looks like a chandelier on stand, I'm afraid it will look too glam.

Images : left & right

What do you think we should do? Any other suggestions?

Le Compte rendu...

I am proud to say that I finally mailed out all our invitations. I never thought that day would arrive... honestly planning my wedding has been the utmost longest thing I have ever done in my life (been engaged for 3.5 years) Its only normal that when I would look at my wedding check list the 6-8 weeks prior to the wedding: send out invitations seemed kinda far.

This is my last invitation post cuz its time for the compte rendu! Hurray!!!


Design - free of charge (done by me)



Stamps Rolls of 100 stamps
52.00$ each roll
Quantity: 2
Total: 104.00$



Stamp mail box dispenser (sorry for the blurry photo)
I just had to buy this.. it was way too cute
3.49$ each + taxes
Total: 3.94$

Open end A7 Envelopes in Coco (for invitation)
Purchased from PaperPresentation.com
14.50$ /pk of 50
Quantity: 2
Sub-total: 29$ + shipping
Total: 39.49$

Printing artwork

including recto/verso printing, cut to size
Invitation, RSVP and Accommodation card
Quantity: 80
Sub-total: 162$ + taxes
Total: 182.86$

For a grand total of ... drum roll please.... 330.29$ Comes out to about 4.12$ for the set. Set includes: invitation + envelope + stamps, accommodation cards, RSVP postcards + stamps. I'm really happy with my invitations, especially the price, definitely fit in my budget. Even though I had some issues with my invitations, I wouldn't of done it any other way. Now its time to design the other items... menu, place cards, programs, table numbers... here I come.

How much did your DIY invitations costs? Did you think it was worth going through all that trouble?

All just a dream...

This weekend the wedding related nightmares have really started to kick it. This is the biggest sign that the big day is really on its way. There is officially 2 months until my wedding and honestly I hope I won't have nightmares every day until then. I've had nightmares here and there before... but this whole weekend was filled with complete episodes of wedding nightmare - you know the kind where you wake up and we you go back to bed the dream keeps on going like it never was interrupted.

Images from here

It was nothing over the top, but still... I wouldn't want this to happen at my wedding

Dream # 1
Its the big day, but I can't really say if the weather outside is nice... I'm in a room getting ready to leave for the church and I realized that I am missing all the accessories I had purchases especially for this day. Everything was wrong, I was wearing the wrong jewelry, I forgot my hair comb and we forgot to purchase shoes for the flower girl. Then we get to the church.... all seems well, but the flower girl doesn't show up and Mr.F forgot the rings at home. I tell him that he needs to go get them (I speak to him through the doors so that he doesn't see me) and where they can be found. He leaves and comes back 15 minutes later saying he couldn't find them - men!

Image from here

So I decided to grab a bicycle and ride all the way home... yes yes in my dress. Don't understand how that happened. Why I didn't think to take a car is beyond me...So I finally get the rings, but because it took too much time the next wedding started and we couldn't get married anymore. I had the most terrified face - luckily I woke up.

Images from here and here

Dream # 2
Its the morning of the big day and rather having my friend come over to do my bridal makeup I decided to go to the M.A.C store instead. I don't know why I guess I was afraid that she wouldn't do a good job - when obviously that's not the case. But I didn't just go to the shopping mall for my makeup appointment, I decided to go in my wedding dress - why? Beats me. So when I got to the M.A.C store and the girls started doing her thing, she dropped the whole bottle of foundation on my gown. Could you imagine??? I would die! If there is one thing I am absolutely looking forward to is wearing my wedding dress =)

Now I know that these situations won't happen on the actual wedding day. I'm way too prepared for that...right? Whats your most horrifying wedding related nightmare?

Some bits and pieces

Hey Everyone! I'm Back... well I wasn't really gone, but I've been sick for the past 7 days. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to blog - but my lack of energy didn't help me very much so I stayed in bed instead. NOW I'm back... I know you are all so very excited =)

A while back, I had chosen to redo our wedding website because I didn't find that our previous website design matched the theme and colors of our upcoming nuptials. I really wanted to get the design done before I sent out the invitations, otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose, right?.

First off, I would like to Thank everyone for your input on our banner.

Option A was the big big winner. I also took into consideration what some of yous had mentionned regarding the title. I added the "our" in front of wedding. That way there would be no confusion with the word mariage (which is french for wedding) (click images to enlarge)

Here is the background pattern of my website. As you can tell, its the same design as my invitation pattern. As for the buttons for each section of the website, I went for something vintage looking. Since my website is bilingual, I had to find a way to make both languages look pretty.

It's a pretty basic website. Nothing very quicky or funny about it really, but I made sure to mention our wedding theme. Not that my guests will be the type to play dress up, I still want to put the message out there. You never know... you never know...

I really wanted to have a guestbook on my blogger / website. I find it a great idea to have people leave comments here and there and when I switched design I thought I would not be able to have one. After endless amounts of searching on the web and signing up with ten million websites - I found that the Shoutbox from Shoutmix was the best option.

Its very user friendly and I loved the fact that it can be customized. I like things to be all matchy matchy, and I didnt envision a bright pink and black box on my page. I really recommend shoutmix for everyone who wants to have a guestbook. I found that all the other website would link to another page to view the entries... with this, no nagivation to other websites required. Its all there... and I love that!

Im really happy with the overall look of the website and so is Mr.F. I just hope my guests will appreciated it.
Have you ever tried adding a guestbook to your blogger website?

Permanent... yup its forever

Many of my fellow bees have blogged about having stamp issues with their invitations. They either purchased stamps at one point but because of an increase in the rates, they have no choice but to purchase those annoying 0.01$ stamps. Luckily for us Canadians we no longer need to deal with the 0.01$ stamps because they've introduced permanent stamps. That's right, permanent... as in Forever.

"Canada Post announced the introduction of a new non-denominated stamp that will retain its value forever. The PERMANENT stamp will eliminate the need to purchase 1¢ stamps after a rate increase, doing away with the need for Canadians to worry about 'using up' postage stamps before a rate increase takes effect." source of text and images

I was really excited about this news, especially being someone who rarely uses stamps. I went to the post office and purchased 2 rolls of 100 adhesive permanent stamps. The only disadvantage of these stamps I would say is the variety, but a pretty flower like the one shown is nice and wedding invitation worthy.

So my invitations are off... to infinity and beyond. Honestly, I'm anxious to get the RSVPs back. For once you get something in the mail that isn't a bill. I just hope my family will know what to do with the RSVP postcards. It seems simple, put it in the mail, but some of my guest might think that I forgot to include envelopes. (Don't laugh, I'm pretty sure this will happen - lol)

The final chapter - the reception site

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Welcome to the final installment of the reception venue. Last time around, I was telling everyone how nuts I was for signing a venue that I had never seen and that wasn't even built. I soon realized how many of yous book venues without ever seeing them. Thumbs up to all of yous! but, there is a slight difference with my situation. Majority of yous have heard of that specific vendors or even gotten some sort of feedback from someone, where as I didn't. It wasn't even built yet... who was gonna tell me about it? The birds and the bees???

The hotel was scheduled to open September 1st 2007. They had no choice to finish in time, they had their first wedding booked for that day. Can I just say "Thank goodness I wasn't that Bride" the hotel wasn't finished on time so they had to move her wedding. Could you imagine all that trouble after sending the invites and planning everything... I feel pain for her.

The hotel opened 2 months after the official September 1st date. 2 months behind... that's alot of time, but I'm no construction professional. When I arrived at the hotel the first time around, I was so excited. It was stunning, beautiful and I thought to myself, if the inside was as nice as the outside I'm one happy bride. So without further ado I present you my venue: Imperia Hotel and Suites.

Isn't it beautiful with all those lights. Its so much prettier at dusk.

The Martini Grill - awesome bar/restaurant with a long list of Martinis

The lobby

The hotel is very modern. Almost boutique-ish. There is brown though out the design of the hotel, whether it be the furniture to wall elements. Its very pretty and the beds look extremely comfy. (Can't wait to sleep in it) Sorry I have no pictures of the suite.

Single occupancy - Queen size bed


King Size bed with pull out bed

Even though its quite a small hotel... there are only 63 rooms and 6 suites, I was surprised to know that there was an indoor pool and sauna. Not that I'm going to have the time to use the pool, but still... its a nice option to have.

And finally the reception hall. Since we are going to be over 150 guests, we will be using all 3 halls and make it one. I love that option because it means that our wedding will be the one and only... result = no wedding crashers at my wedding =)

Unfortunately there aren't any other pictures to give you a better idea, for now this will have to do. On top of that, we have an amazing outdoor cocktail area with a majestic water fountain. I just hope it won't rain on my wedding day. That would be too bad to have everyone stay inside.

I'm extremely happy that the hotel is better than what I expected it to be. Now I just have to worry about the landscaping... hopefully they will have enough time to finish everything before my wedding (grass, flowers and trees) My wedding is in June, so it should be okay, but we still have tonnes and tonnes of snow here .... so you never know!

Anyone else have issues with landscaping? Any tips on how to make things pretty if ever the trees don't grow in time?

(Fun fact- we had a record breaking 475 cm of snow this year in Montreal - that equals to 187 inches or 15.5 feet) Could you imagine! I still can't get over it.

All dolled up

Saturday was the day it was time to get all dolled up. I had my hair trial and then I was going to my friends house for my makeup trial. I've been anxiously awaiting this day for a while. When I arrived at the salon I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted to have something vintage inspired, a low bun, and it had to be on the side. I just hoped for the best and let my hairdresser do her magic.

I originally wanted some sort of wave in my do (on my bang part) but my hairdresser wanted to do it without it. She said it would most probably not stay especially since its loose and flowy. I wasn't too sure about that, but maybe she just didn't understand what I was saying. So I present you my do:
(Please note - I'm not wearing any makeup here - and I look horrible)

Front with little hairs everywhere (that wont be there day of)


(slight turn)


back (my comb will be placed on top of the bun)


(slight turn - full bun view)

I like it. I really do. I think its pretty, elegant and partly vintage-y. Plus, went I'm going to add my fantastic comb it will all fit together. I still think though that some waves on the bang part could be really interesting. What do you think? Input please =)

Afterwards, I went tot my friends house for my makeup trial. I'm a makeup freak, I mean I've got tonnes and tonnes of it. At first I was planning on doing my own makeup (I'm the makeup person in my family... I'm even doing my step-mothers makeup on my wedding day - lol) but my friend took a course and I wanted her to take part of my wedding. When I asked her if she could do my makeup she was so honored.

I'm a person who loves to wear eye makeup. I love to have drastic looking eyes, so whether it be smokey eyes, turquoise eyeshadow or fake lashes I've done it all (and this on a daily basis). Of course my family and friends are used to see me with lots of eye makeup, so I can't really go with the natural look... (it just isn't me.) My makeup was done in purple tones, but it will be changed to pink tones instead. Eitherway it will be very similar to this:

What a difference makeup makes. Its crazy.



close up - look at those lashes (if only I could wear fake lashes everyday)


And finally the finishing touch - the veil

I think she did a great job with my makeup (I know some of yous are thinking its alot of makeup) I will go natural with the lip color (a light pink /semi gloss) like I am wearing in the picture.

Do you like it? Were you happy with your trials first time around?

"It's over...

did you hear me? I'm officially breaking up with you" That's how I feel about my relationship with printers. I have a love/hate relationship and now the hate has taken over. I cannot say it enough : I HATE PRINTERS! OK maybe hate is a strong word...

I'm allowed to call it quits, because I've had way too much experience with printers and printshop. Unfortunately my work must rely on printers and they are never consistent in the colors, the quality, the printing and everything else. Why is it so hard to get things right the first time around. I'm so frustrated and wish I could live without them! (Printers that is)
Here is what happened....

After I finished the design of my invitations, carefully verified all the colors (using a Pantone chart) checking to make sure I didn't make any typos, I went to various printers for quotes. The printshop I chose was one I dealt with when I was in design school... and since I knew them I was sure they were going to do a good job. I brought in my artwork Monday morning and asked them if they thought they'd be ready by Friday (I absolutely wanted to mail them out that weekend) The lady at the front desk, said it wouldn't be a problem, and told me she would contact me to verify the proofs.

Wednesday is here, and I still haven't receive a call from the lady at the printshop. I picked up the phone and called to see what was going on. She told me that the proofs weren't ready yet, but again, reassured me and said,

"even if I approved the proofs on Thursday, they would still be ready on Friday."

Thursday is here, its almost noon and no call in sight, again I called the lady

"I apologize, the proofs won't be ready in time, our printer broke" Are you for real? No way!!!! But what could I do at this point... nothing.

Its now Friday and I don't have my invitations like they said I would. So now I'm hoping they fixed what ever issue they had with their printer. I called again, the lady knew it was me before I even said a word. That's not a good sign. She told me

"I'm so sorry, we have the technician in sight, but I won't be able to show you the proofs today. But Monday for sure! Is noon okay?"

Do I have a choice? Not really, so being the nice girl that I am I say "Sure, what other choice do I have?" I was angry all weekend long because I couldn't send out my invitations. Especially when the situation is extremely frustrating. On a good note, I took the oppurtunity to address all of the envelopes (at least that went well), so now I just have to put the invite in the envelopes and voila... send to the post office.

Monday is here, its almost noon, but before I leave work to stop by the print shop, I decide to call just in case. Luckily I did, because the proofs weren't ready yet. The lady told me to go after work, and I did. Finally time to approve the proofs. I got there, everything looked nice, until I turned the cards over. I had created the background in Photoshop and the rest of the card in Illustrator, and even though it was the same color (pantone CMYK equivalence) it was completely different. I was so angry.... but at the same time, I was already late and did I really want to redo the colors and go through this whole story all over again? Not really... so I printed them as is. Honestly, I don't think anyone will notice, only the designer in me... but its so frustrating to pay for something that isn't right!

Its Tuesday now and as I was going suppose to get my invites... well guess what? It didn't happen. They had a problem with the printer again! Big shocker!!! I this point I was used to it, I didn't care anymore... it was to that point, so I waited until the next day. Wednesday is here, 8 days after I sent my invitations to print and finally I get the invites. Better late than sorry... ya right. Come time to pay for the bill, the lady didn't even offer a discount or something because of all the issues regarding my invites. I didn't event want to start fighting about a percentage off... so I paid and left. I was so happy that was over with.

When I got home and started to assemble everything, don't I realized they screwed up the quantities!!! I'm not kidding you. I had three elements to my stationery: my invitation, RSVP and accommodation cards. The quantities were also easy 55 french, 25 English. Well for the accommodation cards, they screwed up. They printed only 40. I was in disbelief. Let me just say that some of my guest didn't get any accommodation cards. There was no way in hell I was going back there to get more printed. No way!

Isn't my story surreal? Guess I have to add it to my vendorzilla stories (not that they are considered a vendor - but still an important part to the whole invitation thing)

For those who designed their own invitations, did you have issues like I have? Anyone else want to call it quits with printers?

{Image found here}

Pretty dress for a pretty girl

Choosing our flowergirls' dress was not very complicated. Originally I wanted to have a mini version of my wedding dress because I find it extremely adorable even more so when your flower girl is 3 years old.

I happened to be shopping with mommy Flamingo and we found the most adorable dress. At first sight its not what I wanted. I didn't like all the details on it, but for 45$ taxes included (we have 14% taxes here in Quebec) I thought I could or should I say my mom could do some sewing here and there.

This is what I wanted to do to the dress.

• Remove the beading at the front of the dress
• Remove the flower and ribbon on the front of the dress
• Remove the big bow at the back (don't ask me why, but its white and the dress is ivory)

Here is the dress before the transformation:

Front

Back (with bow)

detailing in the front

Embroidery at the bottom of the dress

I wanted to add a sash the color of my dress so that she would look like almost a mini-me. Oh course there is no pick up skirt, but its no biggy... she will look so cute!
Here is the dress after the fabulous work from my mom. Unfortunately we couldn't remove the flower at the front of the dress, so we improvised a little.
Da dum....




I love that my mom has been so helpful in all the planning process. Its no nice to share all the little moments/details with her. It means alot to me.

So what do you think. Do you like it?
How about you - What has your mom done for you during your wedding planning process?