Merry Christmas from us!

Merry Christmas from Us!!!

Progress on Thank You Cards

My hand is about to fall off...I just finished writing thank you cards for my half of the list. Unfortunately, I did not adhere to my "five cards a day" idea and I am one day late in finishing them. (We had wanted to send them out before the end of November.) Now that I am done, I will help Colin complete the rest of our guest list. Unfortunately, our tardiness means that our cards will be mixed in with the Xmas card mail. Not ideal but completely unavoidable.

Wedding Reception Slideshow

If you had any difficulty seeing our reception slideshow using the link on the left, here it is again.

Just Five Cards a Day

Even though the wedding day has come and gone, that does not mean that wedding-related activities have come to an end yet. The principal task before us now is to send out thank you cards to our family and friends. At first, it seems like a very daunting task, particularly since I want to write custom messages in each card as opposed to writing the same standard "Hallmark" message in all of them. Our strategy is to write out five cards a day. Today was my first day writing out thank you cards and I can say that five cards in one sitting is an appropriate number.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Colin's cousin, Ivy from Hong Kong who was very kind in helping us order our invitations and thank you cards from Kamdo.

My Wedding Gown - Now What?

So, the big day is over and I am faced with a new wedding dress dilemna: what to do with it after the wedding. I knew this day would be coming ever since I bought my dress. I had my mother dry clean my wedding dress while Colin and I went off to our honeymoon. (Thanks Mom!) And now, it is hanging in my closet at my parents' house in a garment bag. After talking to a couple of other former brides, I know that my dress cannot stay in the garment bag for long. Otherwise, it will start to mold.
The way I see it, I have the following options:

1. Sell it
I could try to get some money back by selling my gown. It is in perfect condition and has only been worn once. If I were to sell my wedding gown, I would probably try to sell it myself versus give it to a consignment shop. I would need to put it up for sale soon otherwise it could go "out of style". I would also have to find a short bride since the gown has been hemmed - which could prove to be difficult.

2. Donate it
Shortly after we got engaged, I read an article in the Globe and Mail about the Bride's Project. It's an organization run by a woman in Toronto's east end who sells wedding gowns to budget conscious brides with all the proceeds going towards cancer research. I had initially thought about buying my wedding gown through this organization but her business hours were so limited that it made it difficult for me, as an out-of-town bride, to check out her collection. If I were to donate my gown, I would donate it here. I wouldn't be making any money off of it but I could be satisfied knowing that once my gown is sold, I would be making a contribution towards cancer research.

3. Box it and keep it.
I really like my wedding dress. I love the look and feel of it. I know that it is just a piece of clothing but for me, it symbolizes so much more. If I were to keep it, I would have to preserve it properly. And that means wrapping it and putting it in a proper box. And while you can get a box that has a window, enabling you to see the dress, it is not the same as seeing it hang off a clothes hanger. They say that when you keep your dress, you can pass it off to your daughter. But honestly, fashion trends come and go. I'm not counting on my daughter re-wearing it.

There is one other option that I have already ruled out: Trash it. Some brides basically throw it away or destroy it. Unless I had only spent $50 on my wedding gown, I would not trash it.

So, at this point, I am still not sure what to do. Option #2 is probably the easiest and requires the least amount of work on my part. Option #1 might be good to recoup some wedding costs. Option #3 allows me to keep it but where the heck am I going to find space to store it?

Any thoughts on what I should do with my wedding gown?

[By the way, I don't have the same concerns with my Chinese wedding gown. It was pretty cheap (lucky $88) and I figured one of my remaining single sisters/sister-in-law/single female cousins can take it when it's their turn.]

Vendor Review: Grower's Flower Market and Gifts

One wedding detail I didn't care a lot about were the flowers. Flowers eventually die, so I really did not want to spend a lot of money on them. As long as they were cheap and pretty, I was going to be happy. Roses seemed to be the natural and easiest option. We ordered our wedding flowers at Grower's Flower Market and Gifts on Avenue Road. We dealt with a woman named Nara. The store itself was definitely a "no frills" kind of store; well-stocked with all kinds of flowers but a bit messy. Unlike other florists who will show you portfolios of their floral arrangements, we basically talked about what kind of wedding flowers we wanted and used a few poorly pictures of flowers I had printed as a guide. On top of that, Nara couldn't really speak English very well and she scribbled our order down on a piece of loose paper in handwriting that I couldn't decipher. So, we took a BIG risk with going with this florist because we were never really sure what we were going to get. Even when I confirmed our order a few weeks before the wedding, I had no idea what to expect.

We ordered two floral altar arrangements. We had expected the arrangements to have more green hangy things at the bottom. As you can see in the photo below, they didn't. But like I said, I wasn't picky and they still looked nice.

Boutonnieres are bontonnieres. She couldn't really go wrong with a single cream colour rose. Colin's boutonniere was slightly different in that it was accented with green berries. If I could turn the clocks back, I would have made his stand out a bit more. They were simple and classic.
My bouquet consisted of about 25 roses altogether; a combination of cream colour roses and blue curiosa roses. I had imagined that my bouquet to be a bit bigger than it actually ended was. But I was too cheap to get more roses in my bouquet. I might have wanted maybe another 5 to 10 roses.I was really pleased with the bridesmaids' bouquets. They turned out EXACTLY the way I wanted. Their bouquets consisted of a dozen blue curiosa roses accented with green berries. The blue curiosa rose really complemented their dresses too.

We also ordered two orchid corsages for both of our mothers. Nara screwed this up. They were supposed to be pinned corsages but instead they were the wrist ones. And for some reason, Colin's mom's corsage came apart in the middle of the day. So, we had to send someone back to the store and pick up another one.

Overall, I would rate this florist's job to be 7/10. But then again, I was not a picky bride. If you really do not care about your flowers and you want to spend the least amount of money on them, I would encourage you to check this place out. However, if you want first-rate customer service, piece of mind, and a guarantee that your wedding flowers will turn out exactly the way you want it, go to a "real" florist.

Vendor Review: The Mobile Stylist

I hired Charlene, the Mobile Stylist to do bridal hair for myself and my three bridesmaids. Charlene is very creative; I was happy with all of the hairdos that she did. In particular, she was very good at making sure that our hair-dos would last all day by using products such as freezing spray. Although it didn't look it, my hair was hard as a rock.

The only negative thing I have to say about Charlene is that she can be late. She was late for my hair trial back in July and she was late on the morning of my wedding. On my wedding day, I had tried calling her cell phone to find out if she was on her way but couldn't get a hold of her. I later found out that she had changed her cell phone number. Not exactly the kind of thing a bride wants to worry about on the day of her wedding.

Despite her lateness, Charlene still did a good job and she is very nice. I would recommend her services to another bride as she can do wonderful bridal updos. Her prices were competitive to some hair salons in Richmond Hill that I considered. In the end, I really found it advantageous to have a hair stylist come to our hotel. The only advice I have if you're considering Charlene is to take necessary steps to ensure that she will not late.

As you may recall, I was against getting a tiara for my bridal headpiece. Instead, I selected two hair combs purchased from Bittersweet Jewellery to accent the design of my bridal up-do. Below is a close-up of the comb.