| Photographer: | We had an amazing photographer (who took both of the above shots) named Al Gough. We found him over the internet and after interviewing with several photographers we chose him. He made everyone feel at ease and gave us excellent service. His rates were very reasonable (as these things go!) and we got to keep our negatives and all the proofs. He also let us decide whether we wanted to allow him to use our pictures for promotion (some of those photographers we interviewed told us that they keep the negatives and can use them for whatever they want). Vision Masters is the place to find Al. The thing to remember if you are wondering if you should hire a professional is that you will only have one chance to get pictures of your wedding. We talked to a lot of people who regretted not having a professional photographer do their wedding, so if you want beautiful pictures to last a lifetime use a professional and ask to see their work. We're happy to report that our friends Winston and Natalie are using Al to photograph their wedding in August of this year -- it'll be a pleasure to see him again. |
| Cameras: | Those wedding packages of disposable cameras are a great idea. This allows your guests to take pictures of each other. Since the photographer generally concentrates on the wedding party and parents, it makes sure that you have a photo of the people that you invited to share your special day (see also Guestbook II). If you use our guest book idea, these make excellent photos for it. Watch for sales on disposable cameras -- you can sometimes get them cheaper than the wedding camera set of five if you find a good sale. Just check the expiry date for the film! |
| Tables: | Bruce and Kim had a wonderful idea for
their tables -- instead of numbering them, they named each of the
tables
for a place or event special to them (we sat at Big Bend, for Big Bend
National Park in Texas). On each of the tables was a card
explaining the significance of the place in their relationship.
If you read al the cards you could find out a lot about their life
together. They also took a lot of time to make each of the tables
special -- there were floating candles in three martini glasses for the
centerpiece, the glasses were at varying heights, one at table level,
one on a small purple wrapped box and the third on a slightly taller
gold wrapped box. (Gold and Purple were their colours) Even
the water in the glasses was tinted purple and there were small
gold hearts scattered around the glasses. It really made a
lovely display.
 This is after things were cleared away, but you can still see the table name and explanation card, one of the boxes that the glasses were on and the hearts. Lynda's brother Dean and his wife Stacey chat with the groom, Bruce. |
| Tables & Place Settings: |
Mindy and Giovanni had a wonderfully
intimate wedding. The reception, held at a San Francisco
restaurant, was wonderful and the tables looked amazing! Mindy
created her own place cards by placing a quote about love in an
envelope for each guest. She then embossed a design on the front
(a dragonfly) with the person's name. They made a lovely favor
too, and each quote was different. See for yourself:
 Each person got a candle and bag of chocolate as a favor on Mindy's beautiful tables. |
| Favors
and Place Settings: |
Since Joe and I had a smaller wedding, we decided that we would like to do something different for favors. We bought small (2x3 inches) picture frames. We then used the computer to print everyone's name and put it in the frames. These served as place settings. We had disposable camera on each of the tables (see above) and when they were developed, we cut the photos down to the size of the frames and included them in the thank you notes so that our guests would also have a photo of themselves dressed up to put in the frame. |
| Cake: | The Valley Bakery offers the most scrumptious cakes. Their web page gives some tips on choosing a cake and other cake related inquiries. The bakery is full service and makes lots of delicious baked goods. If you are near Hastings & Boundary, stop in and grab a yummy. |
| Dress: | Sandra Bridal did a fantastic job on my dress and I was cutting things a little fine by not looking for a dress until February for a May wedding! Sandra Sung designs her own gowns and is located in the Hastings & Boundary area of Vancouver. Be sure to check there for something wonderful. In Vancouver call 299-3181. |
| Guest Book: | We wanted something a little different
for our guest book. If a puffy white leather book is not your
style, you might try our idea or Bruce and Kim's (Guestbook II,
below). We contacted a paper maker and book binder (Jenny
Sandford at Paper-Go-Round on Broadway, below MacDonald St.) and bought
individual sheets of thick paper. We brought lots of different
coloured pens to the reception and asked people to write a wedding wish
or observation for us on the paper. (Be sure to indicate to your
guests how the book will be oriented and to write on one side of the
page only -- we didn't anticipate that). Leave some room for the
binding and indicate to your guests not to write there (we left an inch
and had "do not write in this space" in that area). Once you have
all the pages you can have them bound to your specifications (we found
paper close to the same shade as the bridesmaid's dresses for the cover
on Granville Island) and
you can even mount photos on the "back" side of the pages. This
allows you to put a photo of the person on the left page, opposite
their wish for you. Makes a wonderful memory book.
 |
| Guestbook II: | Bruce and Kim had a lovely plan for the guestbook -- it is a (much) more refined version of our idea. They had one of their friends, equipped with a Polaroid camera, taking pictures of all the guests as they held a frame made of wood and decorated with flowers. He took two pictures -- one for them and one for the guestbook. When the picture developed each guest (or couple) was asked to put it in a guestbook that Bruce and Kim had readied ahead of time (with corners to hold the photos) and write or sign something on the page where they had placed their photo. It was a terrific way to have a remembrance of your guests and there was no room for errors. And every guest got a picture of themselves to take home! And best of all it offered guests a creative way of expressing themselves, but was simple enough for them to just sign if that's all they wanted to do. |
| Fun Links |
This one is wonderful -- a perfect primer on what NOT to do... Bridesmaids Horror Stories! from Bridesmaidaid.com It's found on a good site for getting some information on weddings and all the little things that go along with them -- Matrimony Mambo. Check it out for some information on planning a wedding. And don't forget "And the Bride wore..." a fun site of some
outrageous bridal outfits. And don't torture your bridesmaid with
one of the dresses from uglydress.com |
