Say Yes to the Dress!

Okay, okay... corny title, I know!  But nonetheless true.  I have found and purchased my wedding gown!

This past Saturday afternoon I went to a bridal salon with my mother and maid of honour, and fell in love with the third dress I put on.  It's perfect, it's classic, feminine with a touch of whimsy.

Despite the happy ending, the excursion started off with insanity!  I arrived at the store with my mother at around 2 pm, Tara was meeting us there, and the place was a ZOO!  Brides everywhere with mothers, sisters, friends, cousins, and babies!  A lovely bridal consultant was prompltly available to help us pull some dresses, however finding a dressing room to try them on was a whole other story.  People seemed to literally be piled on top of one another ooohing and aaahing over their brides.

After about ten minutes the consultant turned up saying she had secured a room for me and led me through the rough terrain into my change-room where my dress hung, alongside another dress which seemed to have already been in the room.  Thirty seconds later, I had barely begun to unbutton my shirt when there was a knock at my dressing room door...  Apparently this room was reserved for another bride!!?  I don't know if my consultant was just trying to slide me in there and bump the other bride, or if it really was a misunderstanding, but it was embarrassing to say the least.

Out I went.

My  mother, the consultant, and myself decided to take this opportunity to pull some more dresses...  Then she put me in another room.  This time on the other side of the store where all the grad dress girls were trying on the prom dresses.  I did not like this.  This is the only time I will ever be shopping for a wedding gown, I'd rather be stuffed in like a sardine with other brides than a bunch of teenagers!!  And let me tell you, some of the prom dresses that are being turned out these days - yuck!

                                 Example of an UGLY prom dress.

Again, I was moved back to the bridal side while my maid of honour carried my clothes, and I walked around in a so-so wedding gown to find that there was STILL no room available for me.

After standing around in a mediocre dress for the next ten minutes or so I FINALLY got into a dressing room that was all for me, amongst the other brides.  Hurray!  The next dress up was a cute little Alfred Sung that was actually very flattering, if I do say so myself.  Now we were getting somewhere!  Then came dress number three:  gorgeous.  Loved it.  As soon as I had that dress on (with a veil!) all the unfortunate events from the previous hour vanished and I was as happy as kid in a candyshop!

My mother and Tara both loved it too.  And there you have it.  A done deal.  Of course, you'll have to wait to see it until AFTER the wedding...

Venues, Venues, Venues

Although our wedding venue has been chosen, some readers may be interested in a peek into some of what the the city has to offer when it comes to venues.  I have taken a look around in order to showcase a few different spots for my loyal readers...  You're welcome! :)

1.  Fort Gibratar - This historic building is almost 200 years old!  Originally built where the Assiniboine and Red rivers meet, it is now situated in Winnipeg's French quarter, St. Boniface.  Fort Gibraltar was a hub of activity during the historic fur trading days.  If you are planning a Valentine's Day wedding, this might not be your top choice, seeing as it is one of the hot spots for Winnipeg's Festival du Voyageur.

Maximum capacity for a sit down dinner in The Great Hall room is 120, and 188 for a stand-up reception.  Delicious food is provided by Storm Catering.

If you are looking for a venue with a bit of historic Canadian charm, Fort Gibralter is sure to meet your desire!

2. The Winnipeg Art Gallery -  This venue is perfect for the urban artiste looking for an edgy sophistication on her wedding day!  The WAG's menu is also done by Storm catering and they have a number of different choices for venues on the site depending on the number of guests and the time of year.

The main attraction for hosting your wedding at the WAG is definitely the beautiful garden terrace!  A rooftop wedding in the middle of downtown Winnipeg that can accommodate up to 200 people in theatre style seating.  I have to admit... this nearly had me sold!  I have never actually been to a WAG wedding, but I have seen photos and it is BEAUTIFUL.  A WAG wedding is the ultimate in Winnipeg urban chic nuptials.

 3.  The Fort Garry Hotel -  Winnipeg's most beautiful and historic hotel is a hands down jaw dropper for putting on beautiful weddings!  With 15 ballrooms to choose from it's hard to pick amongst the gorgeous spaces.  Topping the list is the gorgeous Provencher Room on the main floor.  Surrounded by windows just off the beautiful front lobby (where the oh-so-famous Sunday morning brunches are served) this venue is a stunner.

Whether you are having an intimate guest list of 50 or a rip-roaring bash of 325, there is a space to meet your wedding day needs!  Deposits change on the size of the room and the number of guests attending.  AND, if you have over 125 guests the newlyweds receive a complimentary room at the hotel.  Tres romantique!

The Fort Garry is also centrally located on Broadway near Main Street, and has a parking lot attached as well as valet.  The food is guaranteed to be outstanding, as the FGH has one of the finest kitchens in the city.  This is definitely the creme de la creme when it come to Manitoba weddings!

Sea Side Siesta Wedding!

Today is my maid of honor's wedding day!!

Unfortunately, I am not in attendance...  Tara and Tyler are in Playa del Carmen, Mexico with their families, exchanging vows and uniting their souls, 'til death do they part.

Because I am a full-time student in the midst of an condensed one year professional studies program, I was unable to spare the time (or the cash!) to make the trip to warm, sunny Mexico.

This is the thing with destination weddings: some people will be unable to go.  Whether it be for financial, educational, family, or a number of any other reasons. 

What you must remember when planning your destination wedding is not to take friends and family members not coming personally.  This is the risk that you are taking when decide to plan this sort of wedding.  Most people would love to come, and if they are able to, they will.

Tara is totally fine with my not being there.  She knows that if I could, I most certainly would be in attendance.

Since cutting through the red tape in Mexico is rather intense, it is difficult to have a binding marital contract if you are not actually citizens.  So, Tara and Tyler had a very small ceremony here in Winnipeg the weekend before they left, and Jason and I attended that.  It was lovely, simple, and sweet.

Typically speaking though, destination weddings are a great way to keep your numbers down.  You can be pretty certain that the only people who are going to come are the people who really, really love you and want to share in your day.  And those are the most important people anyway, aren't they?

No need to deal with any distant cousins or old friends getting inappropriately drunk at the reception (on your dime).  Guest lists can be slashed with no feelings of guilt whatsoever.  Distant relatives and friends are hardly expected to dish out two or three grand for a trip to Mayan.  So even if you do invite them, they are unlikely to come.

Obviously, our choice of venue to exchange vows is (almost) local, since we are marrying at Victoria Beach, just about an hour and twenty minutes north of Winnipeg.

However, I can totally understand the appeal of planning a getaway warm-weather-wedding.  All the details are looked after by the resort for you - all you need to do is pick the flowers, the food, and the time of day!

You also have a built in honeymoon!  Of course, all your family is on your honeymoon with you...

Off with her hair!

Typically speaking, most short haired North American brides begin the "growing out" task as soon as they are proposed to.  I, on the other hand, did the exact opposite:  last night, I cut my chin length hair into an even shorter pixie coiffe!

As soon as I started talking about getting a short haircut, people's immediate question/reaction was "what about your wedding?"  As if it was improper to marry with short hair.  My response has been that I don't really care if my hair is short or long on the day of nuptials, as long as it looks pretty.  I also feel as though having a cute pixie bridal 'do' will separate my wedding day look from the typical bridal up-do.

Having said that, I have to admit, the wedding did factor into my decision making process.  If I cut it off and hate it, will it grow back in time?  Do I want to be limited in hairstyle choices because of the short length?  And the ever-so-vain question:  will I look less pretty?

After reviewing all these questions and concerns, I decided to go for it!

I have worn my hair short from time to time over the years, and I knew it was flattering on me.  I also knew if I wound up hating it, I have eight months to grow it back into at least a chin length bob.  Still, it was nerve-racking when I walked into the salon last night at 6:15 to cut it off.  Many women seem to wear their hair like a safety blanket, and although mine was not particularly long, I still felt a sense of attachment to it.  And so it was with baited breath that I sat in my stylist's chair, and let her work her magic.

The result?  Judge for yourself...

I'm happy with it.  Now, the challenge is to come up with a bridal 'do' for my new short coiffe.  Here are some of the looks I've found, feel free to vote on the one you like best.

Dress Shopping: Round One!

We all know that probably the most exciting part of planning a wedding is dress shopping!  Well, I had my first go at it over the holidays, and I must admit that it was far more fun than I was expecting it to be.

To be completely honest, the night before the excursion I was not really in the mood to go.  My mother and my maid of honor, Tara, were joining me, and since my mom was flying out to Mexico on January 1st for three weeks, the plan was that we would start our search before she departed...  It's not that I was not eager to get a wedding dress, but it was rather soon after Christmas and schedules had already been so hectic, it just seemed as though one more thing to do was more of a pain than a pleasure.

I can assure you, that feeling vanished as soon as I tried on my first dress!  Once I got into the stores and had the clerks, my mother, and Tara bringing me gowns I was loving every minute of it.

We started our gown shopping at 'Bridal Bliss' on Stafford Street.  It's the newest bridal boutique in Winnipeg, carrying fewer dresses than most of the other salons with a stronger focus on customer service.  The dressing rooms are on the second floor, they are huge and private with massive full length mirrors and beautiful black & white graphic wallpaper.  Trying on dresses at 'Bridal Bliss' was delightful because of the modern and upscale approach to retailing.  Unfortunately, I did not find "the dress" there.  Most of their selection were dresses that had very full skirts and a lot of detailing.  My aim is to find a gown with clean lines that is beautiful, but simple at the same time.

Our next stop was at '7th Avenue' on Academy road.  Immediately upon entering the store the difference in style and layout was felt from the previous shop: it was packed full of shoppers, all their wet boots piled up by the front door, scurrying sales girls were running around looking for gowns for brides, and there were racks upon racks of dresses smushed together.  I didn't even know where to start.  Thankfully, Tara was there to help weave through the gowns and start pulling out the ones she thought would work.  Then a salesgirl popped over to lend a hand, and before I knew it I was trying more gowns.  The dressing rooms were not as beautiful (and certainly not as private) as 'Bridal Bliss', but I did have far more luck with the gowns!  Which, we all know, is the whole point. 

About five gowns in, I may have even found "the dress'!!  It was BEAUTIFUL.  I will not be describing it nor posting any photos of myself in the dress, just in case a certain mister husband-to-be's eyes should graze this page.  Let's just say, I have not been able to stop thinking about this dang dress!  When my mother returns from Mexico at the end of the month, we will be heading out for round two.  Although I think I may have found 'the dress', I want to try on some others, just to make sure there's not a better one out there (which may not be possible:)...  I'll keep you updated!

Food, Glorious Food!

Deciding on a caterer is one of the most important aspects of planning your wedding.  I personally LOVE food, and so choosing a good caterer is of extreme importance to me.

With so many restaurants and caterers in Winnipeg, there are seemingly endless catering options available.  The tricky part about planning our wedding, at the Victoria Beach Clubhouse, is that there is no kitchen!  That's right - no kitchen.  So, how does one choose a caterer in a kitchenless venue?

Let's first take a couple of steps back and think about what you need to determine when choosing your caterer.  Much of this decision will be based on what sort of a theme you want for your wedding.  Are you going for a real white linen, high class affair?  Maybe some hors d'oeuvres of smoked salmon canapes and raw oysters in the half shell, followed by an entree filet mignon cooked to perfection served with crumbled roquefort cheese and braised asparagus.

Or are you more of a from-the-earth kind of eater?  Perhaps an appetizer table offering up portabello mushroom bruschetta, a main course of eggplant casserole with layers of couscous, spinach, and farm fresh vegetables.  And topping it all of, a vegan chocolate torte!

We are neither of the above, although I would be thrilled to attend either of those weddings and chow down!  But for my own affair, I am interested in a quality menu that tastes delicious. I love fish, so some sort of salmon or pickerel is a must.  I don't really want a buffet, because I just plain don't like buffets.  And although I love filet mignon, the price tag starts to get a bit heavy.  What we need is something that meets in the middle.

Now, back to that tricky part: the kitchenless venue.

Since we are avid VBers and have many VB friends, it just so happens that Jason and I have been to a couple of weddings at the lake.    So, I decided to take a poll of VB brides.  I emailed four women I know who all got married at the clubhouse, and asked them about their caterers.  Who did they hire?  How much did they charge?  How was the food?  How was the service?  And overall, did you like them?  Unbelievably, three of the four couples had all chosen the same caterer and were very happy with their choice!  The fourth was also singing the praises of her caterer, however I preferred the budget of the majority choice, so I contacted them, Prairie Cuisine Caterers.  The best part is that they travel with a kitchen hitched up in a trailer!  The kitchen conundrum is solved!

Brides and grooms, I highly recommend you get out there and ask people what they did for their weddings!  How are we in the wedding planning stages supposed to know anything about anything without asking.  Unless you've been married before and done the whole wedding planning thing, then you are not expected to have a clue.  So ask.  I did, and it saved a lot of time and headaches.

One of the brides I surveyed was married last June at VB, and Jason and I were in attendance.  The delicious food was all served "family style", meaning that they bring large platters and dishes to each table and let everyone serve their own portions.  Kind of a happy medium between a buffet and individual servings.  The first course was a variety of salads: pasta salad, tossed salad, spinach salad, etc.  Then came the main: lemon & dill salmon, steak, chicken, and potatoes.  I don't remember all the details, but I remember it was all delicious... except for the steak, which was overdone.  That's okay though, we won't make steak part of the menu at our wedding.  Finally they had a dessert table set up and guests could help themselves when they were ready, and the desserts were out all night, which means you could go back for seconds - or thirds!

I am looking forward to planning the menu and going for samplings of Prairie Cuisine's fabulous food...  Stay tuned for further blogposts regarding catering and menu planning as we get deeper and deeper into the wedding plans in the new year.  Bon apetit!

Is is raining out?

Nope, not raining!  It's a shower, of the bridal variety.

Being a bride-to-be means that, in all likelihood, there will be a shower or two held in my honor.  However, yesterday was my turn to co-host a shower for my maid of honor, Tara.  Another one of Tara's close friends, Megan, and I hosted the ladies event at my home yesterday afternoon, and a lovely time was had by all.

When Megan text messaged me about a month ago to see if I would like to lend a hand in planning the event, I jumped right in!  We decided to make it a surprise shower, and really throw our bride for a loop.  The surprise was a success, as we had decided to tell her we were planning for something in the new year to throw her off the scent.  The result?  A very surprised bride at my doorstep around 2:15 yesterday afternoon.

                               Tara's arrival at her surprise shower!

Co-hosting the event meant that Megan and I could divide up the planning details, which made the party planning a very reasonable task.  Megan was in charge of invites, corsages, punch, and paper plates/napkins -- as well as a to DIE FOR lemon meringue dessert.  I was in charge of picking up the gift from the registry, appetizers, and the venue (my home).  By hosting the event as a pair, Megan and I got to share in all the fun of party planning and not get overwhelmed by all the tasks.

                       Megan pinning the corsage on the bride-to-be

                              Bride and Mother of the Bride

       Co-hosts, Megan and me on either side of Tara in her traditional ribbon hat.

Tara and Tyler registered at the Bay, which gave guests an opportunity to pick out a gift that they were sure the couple wanted.  Registries are perfect for couples who are starting off and in need of all the household items that they currently do without.  However, as couples are getting married later & later these days, after living together for a few years, they often have already acquired many of the house and home items they need.  In this case, couples can get creative.  I know that Jason and I are planning on registering at the Bay for some household items, as well as Canadian Tire or Cabella's for camping gear.  To all you couples who are not in need of place settings and towels, keep in mind that there are other registries out there that may suit your needs/interests more than the traditional houseware registries.

Now to discuss shower food.  Let me start by saying that I love a good old fancy sandwich at a shower, but I sure don't love making them!  Instead of the fancy sandwich tray from my mother's generation, I opted for an easier route. I hit up Costco and bought a variety of cheese & crackers, a vegetable tray with dip, and some pre-made spanikopitas that just needed to be heated in the oven.  I love home made appetizers and snacks, but I am a full time student with a very busy schedule, so letting Costco do the work for me was perfect.  All I had to do was present the store bought food beautifully, and voila!  As good as homemade.

Desserts were up to Megan and the mother of the bride.  They brought a variety of treats, some home baked, some bakery bought, and all were delicious!

                                                Food Table

                        Jeannie's red velvet cake - YUM!

We had a lovely afternoon, keeping the longstanding tradition of female fellowship and fantastic food alive, as we helped send off another woman into her new role as wife.