The Other November Events

November was actually a semi-productive month in terms of wedding planning. Here's a quick look back at a couple of events...

Catering Rentals with A&B Partytime
D contacted our caterer Karl for a meeting at A&B Partytime Rentals so we can discuss our rentals. Karl was late for our meeting because he thought our meeting was at 11.30 instead of 11. While we waited for him, we asked one of their sales associates, Jolene, to give us more information about their various products. Jolene was super nice, helpful, and knowledgeable. She explained why certain products are more expensive and made recommendations based on her experience with the company. Ultimately, Karl made it to our meeting. He efficiently dictated to Jolene how many pieces of each item we'll need to rent. It was obvious he had done rentals with A&B many many times before. Before leaving A&B, we asked Jolene for a rough estimate of the rental cost. So far, we are within rental budget *thumbs up*. Hopefully it stays that way.

So far, our experience with A&B has been really good. They're great to communicate with, whether it be in person or by email. We highly recommend them :)

To end this topic off, here's a preview of some of the items we'll be renting:

Love Struck Bridal Show
I got a couple of free tickets to the Love Struck Bridal Show, which took place on November 15 at The Vancouver Club. One of the free tickets were from our DJ, Hot Wax. The other was from N, who got it from another bridal show; she was unable to attend due to her trip. I initially planned to bring D, but it turns out the free tickets are for brides only. I asked some other brides I knew if they wanted to go, but they weren't available :( So, I invited my MOH instead. She too is "getting married" next year... shhh ;)

Attending the show was only a little bit helpful since we have already booked about 90% of our vendors. I still enjoyed it though since it gave me a chance to I check out vendors for cake, try out yummy samples and passed appetizers, get my nails done, and partake in lots of swag - magazines, bridal gift bag. Plus I got to hang out with my best friend, which I haven't done for the longest time :)

During Love Struck, I said hi to a couple of vendors. Firstly, former videography candidate Laura of Laura Ann Cinema was there. I congratulated her on her recent wedding. She still remembered me, which was nice :) Secondly, Elliott and Ozzie of Hot Wax were also present. My MOH had asked why their company name is Hot Wax. It turns out it was named after an old record store.

In addition to meeting vendors, my MOH and I also watched a fashion show. It got boring towards the end so we left a bit early. As we left the Love Struck Bridal Show, we got our bridal gift bag then we faced the drizzly Vancouver weather. During dinner at Cactus Club, we tore open our gift bags like kids on Christmas morning and found a variety of items: pedicure set, compact mirror, purse hook, hair brush, etc. Overall, it was a fun afternoon :)

The Wedding Planner

Wow, haven't posted in a while :( I started this post two weeks ago, but didn't get around to finishing it until now... I seem to have writer's block :|

D and I needed someone who will help make the big day stress free. Someone who will call vendors up when they're not where they're supposed to be. Someone who will crack the whip while D and I bask in the wedding festivities. No, we didn't hire J.Lo; we hired JC instead... Jennifer Chan, that is.
Jennifer was referred to us by Desy, our videographer. Although she can be considered as a newbie in the wedding/event planning world, Jennifer is very professional and carries herself well.

I had contacted/considered other wedding planners as well:

• Abbie Cheung of Just Marry Consulting Co. - she is already booked for the day
• Andrea of Lotus Events
• Ivory Room

To be frank, all we need is someone who will make sure things happen on time and can help decorate the Boathouse for the reception. So it ultimately boiled down to cost. With JC being the most cost efficient, we went for her :) I've already started working with Jennifer. We had our first (of five) consultation back on Nov 24! I compiled an info sheet for Jennifer based on the wedding template from Weddingbee. At the moment, I'm working on getting a list of rental items and vendors to help JC effectively chase people down on the day.

Latest Updates

• Invitations - They have been printed, picked up, and paid for. I'm just waiting for my mom to come back so I can finally physically see them.
• Wedding Rings - Same status as the invitation.
• Wedding Dress - My mom will be bringing the lining for me to fit. Hopefully it will turn out alright!!
• Currently searching for hair + make up person

Flower Search

With a lot the big items on the list - venues, dresses, photographer, videographer - getting checked off, I figured it is time to tackle flowers. As mentioned in a previous post, I had met with Kathleen of Proline Trading a while back. Since that meeting, I took some time to research what flowers I will need and what type. Here's a summary of my floral search adventure...

Resources
Wedding websites, like The Knot, are great starting points. They have tons of photos of flowers from real weddings. As you may have seen from my previous post, they even talk about the meaning behind a flower, when they're in season, and how pricey they can be. Once you know what type of flower you like, doing an Image Google search can help you look for a photo of your flower in your color. Once you've found them, it's just a matter of RCSIA -- right-click save image as :)

Organizing
Since Kathleen mentioned that she gets emails from potential clients with massive attachments, I decided to help her along by creating and publishing a Google doc with the flowers I had in mind. I found this to be a really easy way to show florists what flowers I need or want when soliciting for quotes, especially via email. I've also been using Google spreadsheets to summarize the quotes I've received from various vendors.

Vendors
I've actually emailed a whole bunch of florists. Here's a list:

1. Flowers by Grayce
   
2. Proline Trading
3. Garlands Florists
   
4. The Flowerbox
   
5. Flower-Z
6. Cambie Flowers
   
7. Susanna Wedding
   
8. Mei Mei Florist
   
9. Winnie Flower
   

Garlands, Flowerbox, Flower-Z, and Cambie Flowers are more on the high end of the pricing spectrum. I think they do more artistic arrangements, particularly when it comes to centerpieces. However, for our wedding needs, I don't think we need to go to such boutique florists. On the other hand, the remaining florists offered more reasonable prices.

In the end, Proline Trading ended up being our wedding florist! It took me a long time to get a quote from Kathleen :( I don't think email is the best way to communicate with them. If you or someone you know needs to get a quote from them, just give them a call and set up an appointment. Bring a list of flowers that you need with you to your appointment, then you can have a quote by the end of the meeting.

Generally speaking, I think it is a challenge to find another retail florist that can match Proline's pricing. However, one florist did come close - Mei Mei Florist. Their prices were only slightly higher than Proline's. However, for a budget conscious bride like me, I needed to save as much $ as possible. That's why I didn't choose them. Next time I need flowers for a special occassion, I think I'll definitely stop by their shop.

I actually stumbled upon Mei Mei Florist after my meeting with Garlands. I can't say I was super pleased with my experience with Garlands. All I needed was a quote from them. However, they "do not provide any prices until [they] have completed a consultation with you and/or your Groom to discuss the full scope of your wedding." So I went to their shop on West Broadway. The lady that I had been emailing with was not in that day. As a result, they had me meet with one of her associates. During the meeting, we just went over a print out of the Google doc that I had sent them. He was a really nice guy... but at the end of the meeting told me they'll email me a quote. Why did I even need to go all the way to their shop?

Despite that experience, there are 2 florists I interacted with that left a good impression - Susanna Wedding and Winnie Flower. I had talked about Susanna Wedding in one of my previous posts. They may not have won the pricing battle, however, they've always been super helpful whenever I've talked to them. Winnie Flower was also really helpful. When I asked for a quote, they informed me they are unable to do wedding flowers during the time of my wedding because they'll be closed for vacation. What impressed me was they didn't just end it off like that. They asked if I needed any florist recommendations. They subsequently suggested Proline Trading (I guess Kathleen is popular around the florist industry) and South Van Florist. I think it's great to meet people who are genuinely willing to help out. Or as H helped me phrase it, "It's great to see businesses being genuinely nice and helpful and to see it isnt always about the money."

Anyway, the deposit with Proline has been paid. Wedding party flowers, check! I'll actually be working with Kathleen some more for my centerpieces. For the same price, Kathleen can do the centerpieces with a fuller arrangement compared to R2 Decor's florist.

What's Next...
We'll be meeting with Karl this Saturday at A&B Partytime Rentals to settle our catering rentals. D is actually taking the reigns on that one. Meanwhile, I have a meeting with a wedding day coordinator/planner this Thursday to sign the contract and pay the deposit. More info about that in my next post. We are also planning on attending the Lovestruck Bridal Show this Sunday. The invitations need to be printed soon. So I'm pinging Kerwin of Printed Matter to send me his design ideas soon. Lastly, I am starting my search for hair and make up artists to help me be pretty for the big day :) If anyone can recommend a hair and/or make up person, I'd really appreciate it. That's all for now!

D Squared - DJ and Décor

After coming back from vacation, we got right back to wedding planning...

DJ

We quickly set up meetings with our 3 DJ candidates:

1. Hot Wax
   
2. Smooth Grooves
   
3. After Shock Road Show
   

During our DJ search, there are a few things we learned, which I would like to share with you. Firstly, style. Different companies have different styles. It's important to let you DJ know what kind of music/entertainment you are looking for. Maybe you want all salsa music all night long, but not all DJ companies will be able to meet that need. Find a DJ who can supply your demand. Secondly, reliability. Just like any other wedding vendor, you want to make sure your DJ shows up at your event. A referred company can give you that little bit of peace of mind. Luckily for us, all of our DJ candidates have been referred by friends. Thirdly, vibe. Again, just like with other vendors, you want to make sure you can easily work and communicate with your DJ. On your wedding day, you would want to be surrounded by people you like. Why would you want to have the DJ around if you weren't too fond of him in the first place? Lastly, insurance. This was actually more important to D than it was to me. It would be good idea that your DJ has insurance. You just never know. The last memory you would want from your wedding is of one of your guests being injured by your DJ's speakers and the DJ simply saying, "Sorry man."

D and I are happy to announce that we have selected Hot Wax as our DJ! We had a fantastic meeting with Elliott and his wife, Ozzie. Although we also had great meetings with our other DJ candidates, D and I felt more comfortable working with Elliott. Hot Wax also has a great standing with the Better Business Bureau. In addition, their passion for delivering a great customer experience is obvious during each of our interaction with them. Anyway, during our reception, we hope everyone will get down on the dance floor and enjoy the music from Hot Wax :)

Décor

We only had a couple of candidate for décor: Upright Decor and R2 Decor. Upright does beautiful work. I know because they did the décor for my co-worker's wedding. However, with their design and labour packages, excluding rental costs, starting at $650, they quickly fell out of our budget and out of the running as our decorating vendor.

In contrast to an established company like Upright, R2 is just starting out. As a result, they don't currently have things like "design and labour packages." The price of their equipment rental includes labor costs. Decorating certain elements of a wedding reception, however, come at a set price, such as the head table, the sign-in table, and the cake table. After our first meeting back in August 29, D and I thought that R2 did a great job decorating at a reasonable price. As a result, we informed R2 that they're our wedding décor vendor a couple of days later.

Aafter we got back from our trip, I had a second meeting (site inspection) with Rosie and Rani at the UBC Boathouse on October 7. During that meeting, we discussed the room dimensions, layout, and décor details (such as tall vases, candles, etc). The wedding wallet also thinned down a little bit as I paid the deposit. At the moment, most of the décor details have been figured out. I believe the only important thing left to be determined is the schedule for THE day, ie. when R2 should show up to begin setup.

That's about it for now. Next topic, when I get to it, flowers!

Props to Snoopy & Grick

I just wanted to do a quick posting to wish my friends, Snoopy and Grick, congratulations! They got engaged back in August and have recently joined the wedding blogging world with their blog Rice & Roti. Contrary to its delicious name, it is not a food blog site :P It's more of a tribute to what will undoubtedly be a big fat inter-cultural wedding :) Congrats again Snoopy & Grick :D Welcome to the dark side.

Wedding Outsourcing

Back in June during my trip to the motherland, I was able to find vendors for some wedding things. Here they are and their status:

• wedding dress - currently being made
• wedding invitations - currently being designed
• wedding rings - sort of done... here's the screen shot I received:

During our Japan+Taiwan trip, D and I managed to get some more wedding things done with the help of his family :)

Engagement Photos

There are a lot of photography companies in Taiwan that does wedding and engagement photos for a fraction of the cost it would be to get them done here. The day after we arrived in Taiwan, we met with our photographer, Lee of Roman Rolan, to prepare for the photoshoot that was to take place the following day - Sept 17. It took some time to choose the 6 outfits that I'll be wearing for the shoot; I couldn't have done it without the help of D's sister (who, by the way, arrived earlier that day on a 5am flight!).

The photoshoot itself started at 9am and ended around 7pm. It was a day of getting dressed, hair+make up, and running off to a hot and humid outdoor venue / cool and colourful indoor venue. The shoot started out slow, but as D and I got comfortable, it became a lot of fun :) Here's the link to our photos. At the moment, we have received most of the things in our photography package:

• 100 photo cards x 3 poses = 300 photo cards
• 10 invitation cards x 3 poses = 30 invitation cards
• 24 inch framed photo
• smaller framed photo
• signature scroll

We should be getting our big photo album and smaller photo album by April and in time to be displayed at the wedding.

Chinese Dress / Qi Pao

While we were in Taiwan, we also tried to look for my Chinese dress or qi pao. D's family and I went to a well known store called Londee in search for the dress. Luckily, with just a couple of days left in our trip, we found a dress! The dress is mostly white with large red flowers. It's a bit more modern looking compared to traditional qi pao's, which is why I liked it. I also got a pair of red shoes during the trip, which I'm looking forward to pairing with the dress on the big day. Admittedly, while trying the qi pao on, it wasn't fitting too well thanks to the vacation weight gain :( I really have to hit the gym more so I can also be in shape for my other wedding dress fitting in December!

Groom Suit Up!

No, D didn't become Caucasian. During the trip, D bought a suit from G2000. I told him he has to look like this model :P The suit D purchased is cut similar to this one. So come May 29, let's see if can rock the suit like this model does :)

But wait, there's more updates... soon!

The Hunt for the Bridesmaids Dresses!

Sorry for the lack of updates (again). I have a lot of backlog that I need to let out. I will start with the BM dresses.

August 8, 2009 - Saturday
Back in August 8, my bridesmaids and I went dress shopping. We checked out 3 stores and had the following schedule:

• 11.15am - meet at Oakridge
• 12pm - arrive at Frocks
• 1.10pm - leave for Bisou
• 1.30pm - arrive at Bisou
• 2.40pm - leave for Bello Wedding World
  
• 3pm - arrive at Bello Wedding World
  
• 4.10pm - leave for Oakridge
• 4.30pm - arrive at Oakridge

Unfortunately, it was a fruitless day. Here's a quick summary of our experiences at each store:

• Frocks - They had lots of dresses, but not a lot of really nice dresses. They had a lot of simple dresses that cost at least $300 >_<
• Bisou - They didn't carry as many dresses. Some of the dresses were more reasonably priced, but it still wasn't worth it.
  
• Bello - They had a lot of VERY bridesmaids-y dresses. If I recall correctly, we didn't have the best experience at this store... but I don't remember exactly why.

There were a couple of Lazaro dresses that we thought might be nice:


These dresses would be close to $300, including tax :|

September 26, 2009 - Saturday
While I was away on vacation, my bridesmaids bravely ventured to "sketchy New West" to check out bridal stores, as organized by my MOH! Amongst the stores they checked out, Bridal Gallery was the one they liked the most and where they tried dresses on. However, similar to the other bridal stores, Bridal Gallery's dresses pricing outweighed the dresses' appeal.

After New West, they headed out to Metrotown. There they found some very reasonably priced brown dresses at RW! Yes, you read right, brown... or as one of my friends said after seeing the photo, "Wait, that's not yellow!" The dresses looked great on my bridesmaids. Since brown is the secondary color, we'll be incorporating yellow by adding a yellow sash to it. The brown dresses should contrast nicely with the yellow flowers my bridesmaids will be holding on the day :)

And that is the tale of "The Hunt for the Bridesmaids Dresses." More updates to follow...