Ruffled & Kerfuffled

the bridal swap.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:09:00 +0000

What a great concept!
I'm totally there!

wedding dress update.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:05:00 +0000

Holy crap, has it been august since i last updated?

Perhaps I should take the time to talk about how “busy” I’ve been wedding planning which would be the reason why I haven’t been able to update my wedding blog.
But nope.

I’ve been busy with many other things and haven’t really had time to update anything wedding-related.
Nothing much has really progressed since August except for the fact that my wedding dress has been paid for and I went to pick it up on the weekend.

That day was the best (news) day of my wedding-planning life for 2 reasons:

1) Upon trying it on, I realized that I would need ZERO alterations (well, perhaps an addition of a bustle, but for the size itself, it fit me perfectly!). I knew I wouldn’t need any alterations because even the lady at the store didn’t up-sell on the alterations.

2) When crossing the border, I was prepared to pay duty for my dress but alas, the border patrol guy let us through scot-free!

Just because of those 2 reasons, I easily saved nearly $300-$400 dollars. Phew.

the DIY's.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Attention Bridesmaids:

I've narrowed down my "DIY" Projects for the wedding. Now keep in mind, I don't want you guys doing all of this. For the most part, I can do little bits of each on my own as the year passes...!

Table Centerpieces

Continuing with a vintage but modern feel, I have already contacted you guys about saving any empty, clear (or lightly coloured) glass bottles in order for me to accomplish the main part of the centerpieces, which will hopefully look like a combination of this:

Glass Bottles

with branches perhaps spray painted white, will fill these bottles where guests, at each table, can leave "well wishes" on little tags and hang them on the branches.

Thrift Store Books

(spray painted white, perhaps and added to give some levels)

A couple of vintage tea cups scattered here and there

Wedding Cake

Will most likely be a small cake on top for us to cut, and then cupcakes all around.

"i do" cupcake topper

Garland

Not sure where or what I want to do with these, but I know I want to make them!

Flower Garland

Larger Flowers

And of course the dudes will be in charge of making the

Photowall

that people can use during the pre-dinner reception.

Thoughts?

the reception venue.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:52:00 +0000

So we had a 2nd appointment with the coordinator of the reception venue we want. We had already met him almost a month ago, but we decided to make an appointment so our parents can take a look at it. Honestly, I was a little nervous because I wasn't really sure how my parents would feel about it. It's a beautiful place, but I've learned to expect the unexpected and wasn't sure what to expect from the parentals :)

Performance Works Theatre
Granville Island, Vancouver

View From The "Head Table"

View from the Entrace of the Venue

Right away, they were totally in love with the venue even before the coordinator came to open the doors! Good sign, definitely, although I was surprised to hear such great feedback because my parents usually have 1 or 2 concerns about anything (lol)!

We chose this venue because we spend a lot of time biking to Granville Island and a theatre was a great fit because we both are performers at heart. Additionally, we can have our own open bar and since there's no on-site catering, we can do whatever we like food-wise.

The sides of the venue (where the "garage-looking" doors are) can be opened up for sunlight to come into the ginormous windows - love it!

It's mostly wooden beams and metal pipes, which is great enough on its own (translation = barely any decor needed!)

Oh, and it can fit 250 people. Comfortably.

wedding dress shopping experience #1: bryan's bridal.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:41:00 +0000

So last night, I went to Bryan's Bride with my mom (and dad - but he wanted to stay outside haha).
Audrey was my consultant and she was really nice. I showed her a few of my picture inspirations and immediately suggested the "modified a-line" and "ballgown" based on my pictures. Without any pressure or sales pitch, she let my mom and I wander around and pick the dresses we liked the best. Out of about 10 dresses, I liked these the best:

Leave a comment and let me know which one is your fave!

In the end, my experience was great at Bryan's Bride. Audrey was patient with tying up all those corset back's (I told her she should have a competition with her coworkers to see who's the fastest corset-tier). And I was surprised that they even gave me the designer's name and style # for me to look up.

A few of us are going on a last-minute "road trip" to David's Bridal on Sunday to see if I can take advantage of their $99 gown sale (ends Aug.2!).

Wish us luck!

wedding shows

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:41:00 +0000

I've accompanied friends who are in the wedding planning industry to a few of these wedding shows to get a glimpse of what they do, and it's kind of cool to finally be able to say that I'm actually a bride, and not get cruel looks from the vendors when I tell them, “Oh no, sorry I’m not a bride.”

I really only want to hit up a few wedding shows mainly because I do find a lot of them have the same vendors and find it would be a waste of money to go to every single one of them. So I picked three in total.

Wedding Soiree
Sunday, October 10 ($35/ticket)
We performed at this event last year, and found it to be a great event where it’s set up like an actual wedding, plus you get a 3 course meal, too! The atmosphere is great and the vendors are super friendly

Urban Wedding Show
November 21, 2010
It’s a free event at the Roundhouse – so who wouldn’t want to attend a free wedding show?

Indie I Do
January 22, 2011 ($15/ticket or a group of 4 tickets for $50)
An "alternative" wedding show at Heritage Hall – always hear great things about it and there are great local vendors too.

For the bridal party:
I’ve put down who can come to what – let me know if your plan changes so I can change the list! You can view it here.

Please feel free to let me know what wedding shows you’ve most enjoyed going to or have heard a lot of great things about in the comments section below!

the wedding dress: inspiration pictures

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:59:00 +0000

Dear Bridal Party,

So I'll be going with my mom on Wednesday to check out Bryan's Bridal for my 1st wedding dress shop visit. I really value all of your opinions (obviously one of the reasons why I chose you to be part of this celebration!) but I thought I'd bring my mom along for the 1st one just so we can spend some time together and she can give me her honest opinions. No worries, there will be more chances to check out more bridal shops! I just want this initial one to be a "what styles look good on me" visit. Seeing as there's 9 of you in my entourage, we might have to split the shops up so we can accommodate everyone! I heard the "etiquette" for bridal shops is like 4 people max!

So I’ve compiled a few of my favorite wedding dresses in this post - which I'll probably bring around with me to the shops to give the consultant and idea of what i like (password-protected):

I’d love to hear which styles you guys like the best!

I have a dress in mind which I’m 98% sure is the winner, however I still want to keep my options open and try on other dresses; that’s the whole fun experience about planning a wedding isn’t it? Anyways, my “98% sure” dress is quite the long shot, as it’s not made anymore, and the ones that are still found in bridal galleries retail for $9,000+ (yipes – my 98% sure dress takes up 90% of the $10k wedding!).

My girlfriend / bridesmaid Marianne who lives in NYC has made my day by offering to make my favorite wedding dress ! She’s a great fashion designer, recently graduated from FIT in New York and her design style is similar to this dress style – so why wouldn’t I trust her? If I can't find a dress to say yes to, then I'm glad to know that option is open for me.

let me know which dresses you like best in the poll below, and if you have any advice on dress shopping, please leave a comment or two!

the wedding party, party!

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:09:00 +0000

(click image to enlarge)

Attention: Bridal Party & Groomsmen!

Please make sure to RSVP here with your name and your partner's name (if he/she is attending as well) so we know how much food/drink to provide!

The Wedding Party, Party!
Friday, August 6
7pm Sharp
918 Austin Avenue, Coquitlam (click here for map)
*please park in the church parking lot!

bridal shops

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:31:00 +0000

So I'm trying to figure out which wedding gown stores are worth the time to visit and try on dresses. I'm basically into my first "wedding dress try-on" stage where I'm trying to figure out what styles look good on me and whether the styles that I am in love with, will suit my body type (not to mention height).

I googled "wedding dress stores vancouver" and got hit with too many to choose from. So I decided to poll it out to you guys: I'd really appreciate your feedback on what stores you recommend, whether you are/were a bride, bridesmaid, mother of the bride, etc.

Please fill it out below!

all the way from egypt...

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:03:00 +0000

My best friend and maid of honour, Victoria sent this to me via facebook. She's been touring all over europe with her boyfriend as her birthday present (lucky gal!) and during their trip in Egypt (i think that's where she was when she found out that we became engaged) took time to make a cute sign in front of the pyramids and the infamous Sphinx. That's pretty rad! Can't wait until she gets back to Vancouver! See you soon Viki!

bridesmaids dress.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:44:00 +0000

Hi lovelies,

Okay so I realize I haven't set a date for the bridesmaids party and I could totally be doing this all ass-backwards, but I thought I'd give you a heads up as to what my "style vision" is for you ladies so you can keep an eye out for similarly-styled dresses.

There's a few options I'm leaning towards:

(these posts are password-protected for the bridesmaids only. if you would like to view them, please leave a comment with your email address and let me know.)

OPTION 1

Option 1 Image

Option 1 Description.

OPTION 2

OPTION 3

OPTION 4

the guestlist.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:56:00 +0000

(image via tvtropes)

I never really put a lot of thought into what my wedding would be like, mainly because getting married really wasn't up there on my list of "mandatory things to do." I knew we would get married eventually, but I had no idea that it would be next year!

So when it came down to our guest list, I assumed that I wouldn't have a long list of people to invite. Dave and I sat down and put together a "mine" and "yours" list of friends & family to invite and we came up with over 220 people. Holy cow. I think I was more surprised to find that I had a lot more friends & family than I thought I did. I was even more surprised to hear that an average wedding has about 250-300 people. Yowza!

The majority of our budget will definitely be on the catering-side (which I think is what the norm is for all weddings) - and as much as it might make sense to "cut down" the list, we really can't think of any reason why we should. After all, it's our wedding day and all the people on the list are people we want celebrating with us.

the 10k wedding.

noreply@blogger.com (marjolyn) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:54:00 +0000

Being engaged is exciting and such a happy time - although I will admit I'm a little tired of repeating our engagement story over and over! The wheels are turning and the planning is starting in my head, so make sure to keep it locked here for our updates!...well, MY updates because I doubt Dave will write anything...

Anyways, so far we've discussed the wedding party and also our budget (which is reallly important). We're trying to keep it to a minimum of course and after a bit of research, have found the reality of 10k weddings.
I do enjoy a challenge so trying to keep it at about $10,000 is a bit enticing for me (and our wallets). It's a lot less than what we're assuming our budget is, but saving any sort of amount helps, doesn't it?

It's going to take alot of research, DIY's and help from family & friends but I think it could be manageable.

xo, MJ