We received all our wedding photos as digital files and used them to create custom wedding albums for each of our parents using MyPublisher’s free software—you pay when you upload and order your book. Their hardcover books with glossy dust jackets are extremely professional looking. They look just like a coffee table book and our family absolutely loved them—I think my mother is still showing hers around. It was really easy to make a book as you really just drag and drop the photos onto the page and if you are “technologically challenged” their Website’s forum has a ton of great information and tips. If you have a Costco card (CAN or US) you can download their software from the costco.com Website and 20% off is automatically calculated when you check out. I also couldn’t believe how quickly my orders arrived: I uploaded a book on Sunday and received it by Wednesday or Thursday morning. One these days, I will also get our honeymoon album done too!
We chose to register with BCAA’s Honeymoon Registry—wow, isn’t deciding to register enough of a debate in itself and then not registering for household items! We had been planning a honeymoon in Italy and thought BCAA Travel would be a great help in planning a big trip. Our initial couple of meetings with the representative were good: she was friendly, booked our airfare, and provided us with a ton of books and resources. Unfortunately, we didn’t hear from her much after that and she seemed to have difficulty returning phone calls. We were even hearing about family not being able to give to our registry because she wasn’t returning their phone calls. We also didn’t like many of the accommodations that their books advertised so we found that we had to do a lot of research ourselves and no help was offered. It got to the point that we would just send an email instructing her which hotel to book and when. When she didn’t respond to our phone calls and we were at risk of not getting a hotel we wanted, we called the manager. The manager was completely professional and sorted everything out without offering up any excuses. She continued to deal with us promptly right up until we left on our trip. I’d like to think that one bad representative isn’t a reflection of everyone that works there. In the end, we had a fabulous three-week honeymoon in Italy and a once-in-a-lifetime experience taking the Orient Express from London to Venice.
Excellent! We had struggled a bit on deciding where to hold our ceremony since we were not having a church service. Vancouver Yacht Charters ended up being the perfect choice. The yacht is completely covered, so we didn't have to worry about rain and since it was a sunny day, we didn't get broiled in the sun either. The staff were warm and welcoming and the food excellent. The False Creek Yacht Club gave us permission to board at their dock, so our guests did not have to worry about transportation from the ceremony to the reception. We had looked at a number of boat charter companies and Vancouver Yacht Charters had one of the better selection of appetizers and was all priced separately from the charter. Other charters only offered "pub food" of chicken wings, salsa, and potato skins for a huge per person price. Vancouver Yacht Charters pricing was per hour, not per guest with only a two hour minimum, which was perfect for our ceremony and a "mix & mingle" with our guests afterward. On the whole, I would recommend Vancouver Yacht Charters to anyone planning a special event. We had a large number of out of town guests, many who had never been to Vancouver, so it was an extra special treat to give them a boat tour of False Creek and English Bay.
We just can't say enough about the great food and neither could our guests! The venue was a perfect compliment to our ceremony aboard Vancouver Yacht Charters. Immediately following the ceremony our guests could walk up to FCYC and continue taking in Vancouver's great views of Granville Island and Burrard Street bridge with a fabulous sunset off in the distance. The view from their big windows was decoration enough. We chose a westcoast dinner buffet that was cooked to perfection: not a single dish was dry or looking wilted and everything was still steaming when we sat down to eat. When we had been planning the type of wedding we wanted, we had decided that we wanted the atmosphere of a fun house-party where everyone could relax, mingle, and chat. FCYC was the perfect venue for this. We definitely achieved our goal as many of our guests commented that it was just like a going to a fun summer bbq.
I was a little hesitant about ordering my dress from Tiffany Bridal because a woman I had meet had had some problems with them. In the end everything was fine with my dress. I particularly liked that I did not have to book an appointment to peruse their dresses -- there were many bridal shops I never visited because I would have had to make an appointment. The saleswomen at Tiffany were not at all stuffy and genuinely friendly and warm. The only complaint that I have is that the alterations were much more expensive than what I had been told to budget even though they do have a very specific price list on how much each type of alteration costs, which I only saw the day I paid for the alterations. Despite this, it wouldn't have affected the decision on which dress I chose, since I loved the dress I found at Tiffany Bridal and any train would have gotten chopped off anyway.
We chose Tip Top to rent the tuxedos from because they had a wide variety of choices and we thought it would be easy for the out-of-town best man to get his fitting at a location near him. Although the suit that arrived for him was way too short, Tip Top immediately corrected the problem without any trouble and a new suit arrived for him in less than a day. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable and had good recommendations on which colours to choose to best compliment the bride's and bridesmaid's dresses.
We have had so many people in our families touched by cancer that we made a donation to the BC Cancer Foundation instead of providing favours at our reception. The Cancer Foundation makes it really easy to donate with their In Celebration Wedding Program and provided us with printed tent cards with a personalized message for placing at each table setting. So many of our guests were really touched by our donation.
We had literally looked at dozens and dozens of on-line portfolios while looking for a photographer and Melia Sorenson had one of the best portfolios. We are so happy that we chose Melia. We had a ton of fun on our wedding day and from the moment she meet me at the hotel her camera came out and she did not stop taking photos for 10 hours; even my guests were commenting on how hard she was working. I sincerely appreciated her patience when we did our walk-about to check out photo locations as I was a very tired and cranky girl that day (nothing wedding related!) and was being a "challenging client". On our wedding day we encountered a lot of activity from the Vancouver Pride Parade and Melia quickly took advantage of the floats and people for some great photos and just had a lot of fun. No question at all: Melia is a terrific wedding photographer!
Our top criteria for our wedding cake is that it had to taste good. Looking good was secondary. We chose La Baguette on Granville Island after buying a few treats there one evening and deciding they were delicious! After a great debate on which cake to serve, we decided not to decide and ordered three flavours. Each flavour was wrapped in either dark, milk, or white chocolate and our programs included descriptions of each so the guests knew which it was that they got. We had a ton of compliments on the cake: even our photographer commented what an excellent cake it was and I have a feeling she tries a few cakes over a wedding season.
Evan's shop, Flowerz, caught my attention with his fresh interesting displays and well frankly, I really needed to get my wedding flowers ordered yesterday! I hadn't realized that I would encounter so many shop owners that would be on vacation on my wedding day and that I would end up scrambling for a florist or baker. When I hesitantly asked Evan at Flowerz about his availability, fearful that he'd be like the others and be on vacation or simply closed on my day, he said no problem and I'm so glad it wasn't! Evan was friendly and fun to work with. He had great ideas and suggestions and really knew his flowers. His prices are very reasonable and he didn't try to sell me big displays that I didn't want. In the end, our bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, and table arrangements were beautiful and I really enjoyed chatting with Evan while planning them too.