Weddingbee boards

After a wonderful wedding and now missing the day everytime I see the pictures I remember back to when I started planning and how much I searched to find advice that was related to Toronto vendors. With that, I wanted to share my experiences and the vendors I ultimately went with in hopes that it will help some of you future brides to save some time or provide a second opinion or just let you know what to expect.

Cake

When choosing the cake I was all about the taste first and design second, I also wanted a wedding cake that was more like a dessert vs an icing and plain cake. I tried Dufflets, La Sem (mississsauga) and Sweet Gallery.

Dufflet I didn't go with b/c the cakes available for tiered cakes where the icing and plain cake type and honestly none of them wowed me for the price tag. The tasting consisted of a plate of cake slices (which in fairness where a little stale which is maybe why I wasn't wowed).

La Sem provided with a plate full of icings and the "cake" filling available, sponge style cake and more of a crunchy harder cookie style which they layer with multiple layers and icing. The icings were very custardy and the fillings didn't wow me either.

Enter Sweet Gallery into my life (headquarters in Etobicoke) and another location on Bloor. I called them and they said to go by any of the stores. To my surprise they had lots of "dessert" style cakes that could be tiered, with some limitations ie strawberry shortcake can only be done on the top tier b/c it can't hold the weight. They asked which ones I wanted to try and provided me with a full box of samples which was amazing b/c this means I could take them home and tasted them with my groom and avoid all the going back and forth. The cakes were amazing. They don't use fondant b/c let's be honest no one likes to eat it and its just to make the cake look pretty. They do offer marzipan if you want a smoother style, but most cakes are done with butter cream. I made a very simple design for them and decided to ask my florist to decorate the cake b/c although their cakes taste amazing, their forte was not to make it look like a cake from a magazine. I met with the owner at Sweet Gallery several times and he took the time to listen to all of requests, they delivered the day of the wedding without an issue.

Cake topper - just a small post on this b/c I never had to buy one before but this is one of the places I decided to save and go classic and vintage without spending too much money, $7 later my cake topping was decided as a plastic vintage looking bride and groom which I found across the street from Capitol Events Theater at a chocolate store. They also had ones with more details ie. fabric for veil and dress in tulle on the bride for like $12 or so.

Jewellry

Awesome wedding jewellery at "Made You Look" on Queen St. West, I got my bracelet and earrings here. Bracelet was a cuff style (stiff) but with crystals. They tweaked the earrings I liked to make them shorter b/c the length was too much for me.

Magi in Sherway or Bayview Village also has great jewellery. The earrings I wanted were sold out.

Veil

The veil that matched my wedding was dress was a cathedral length mantilla which was going to be half the cost of my wedding. NO WAY. I decided b/c I didn't want to spend the time matching laces etc.. to go with a very simply tulle, natural edge (they just cust it and don't put a border on it). I got a full catherdral length with a blusher from "The dress room" for under $100. Alvin who works there took the time to measure everything for me with my dress on, he matched the ivory colour and put a comb with the veil. It looked awesome and went perfectly with the dress.  Because it was a cut edge it didn't take too long to do, a couple of weeks. If you want something more elaborate it can take more time.

Venues

I consider myself traditional but a minimalist traditional, I love great design and when looking for our venue I wanted everything to my taste. I only visited two venues because the one I had my heart set on I couldn't afford (Graydon Hall). I  also didn't visit Palais Royal b/c no dates where available. I visited Liberty Grand first and then Capitol Events Theatre. Liberty Grand was really nice but I didn't love the chairs, china, carpet, lines etc.. of the ballrooms. Once I added in the costs of having to rent the majority of these items to my taste this venue would be too expensive. Friends of ours did have their wedding here but they rented the artifacts room which was more modern and the main focus in that room is the lighting. In the end we chose Capitol b/c of the lower costs (which I will explain why) and also the dates weren't working out. I also found the staff at Liberty not very helpful. They never followed up with us after our visit or send me the additional information we had discussed the day of the visit. It was a take it or leave it attitude which is never great if that is how they treat you when they are supposed to be impressing you. ... then came my visit to Capitol Events after a friend had recommended it. Such a great venue, I received so many compliments at the wedding as to how beautiful this hall was. The outside is not great, but honestly I don't even remember it. You'll see why when you visit, its not as regal as Liberty Grand on the outside. Inside though is AMAZING, beautiful oval walnut or oak bar where people can hang out all around it after dinner, beautiful dark wood floors, amazing lighting, modern style cocktail lounges, all their linens are cream and the table ware a plain classic white. Table chairs are plain and blend into the background, it was like a canvas that you could apply your own design to. The food was amazing, catered by Centro. We had our tasting here and it was amazing. Both of us are complete foodies and the food was a hit. Lastly, the wedding coordinator at the hall helped me with figuring out so many details and was instrumental in everything running smoothly the day of. This was so important for me b/c I decide to save the money and not get a day of wedding coordinator. Between Julia at the hall, my amazing Florist (Flour Studios), my MC (coordinating the speeches with Julia) and my sister I saved myself about $1000. This is why its so important to have amazing vendors, they will take the time to ensure everything is perfect so that you feel 100% comfortable and not worry. Yes low prices are good and do it yourself is great but you can't replace a vendor who will not only provide you with an amazing product but also amazing service so that you can enjoy the day. Trust me it goes so fast. Anyway, I ended up saving by going with Capitol b/c everything was to my taste already and I didn't have to rent linens or chairs or dishes.

To be continued, I still need to talk about Florist, Photographer, DJ, Make up Artist, Hair and trials, rings....... ALL AMAZING and oh yeah dress shopping

In the meantime please feel free to email me with specific questions if you'd like as I may take a few weeks completing these postings.

I also tried to book Stemz and she was booked, she recommended Margaret from Wild Thyme and she is amazing.  She sat down for an hour with us to get our style, and vibe about our wedding.  She also was aware of our budget and respected that.  We also met with Jackie O, and they quoted us 75% OVER our budget, just as a heads up

Thanks for the Sweet Gallery referral, I am going to look them up right now!  I am also about the taste