Olga is manager at Best for Bride since 2005. Currently Best for Bride operates 4 bridal stores in Canada (Toronto, Etobicoke, Hamilton and Barrie). Best for Bride sells wedding, bridemaids, mob dresses and more. https://www.bestforbride.com/
Everything is set; you’ve picked out your wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses. Yes, it is your wedding, and yes, they will wear what you ask them to. The question is, do they really want to? The purpose of a bridesmaid is to help you with the planning of the wedding and on the day of the event itself. This purpose has evolved from the traditional “help” that bridesmaids gave to confuse evil spirits or thugs and robbers and keep them away from the bride. In the Roman era, in fact, bridesmaids wore the same clothes the bride wore, not to outshine, but to protect.
Are Bridesmaid Dresses Necessary?
Going for a certain look or a theme for your wedding, in principle, is not a bad idea. Bringing the concept to life is another matter entirely. After all, the last thing you’d want is for at least four of your closest friends or relatives to look and feel silly on that most special day of your life. Even given as fact that you probably know what their taste in clothes are, it never hurts to be sure.
Please and Thank You
You can trust them with their instincts, tell them the look you are going for, and leave them to decide on their bridesmaid dresses. Most times, trust pays out, and they will consider your wishes. If you’re not comfortable with the “do what you want” attitude, you can make it a girl’s day out. Pre-choose the styles that fit your idea of bridesmaids dresses, and then have them choose which dress which they think will fit them best. That way you have some measure of control over what they will wear, and almost entirely blameless if the dress doesn’t work out.
The bouquets (if any) are your responsibility, but you can leave them to decide on the hair, make up, shoes, and other accessories. These are details you can let go of. It’s always better to make them feel part of the decision making process, rather than just bulldozing them into wearing certain bridesmaid dresses, no matter how nice you think they are. Never get into the mindset of thinking that you are doing them a favor because although it is YOUR special day, it is not necessarily as important to them.
27 Dresses
Bridesmaid dresses are notoriously non-reusable, and in some cases, downright horrible. There are quite a few websites claiming to have a selection on the worst dresses ever with captions like “limey!” for a lime green dress, or “fifty bucks”, as if they were selling the dress. You can use your imagination on that one. Think on how you would feel if you found one of your bridesmaid dresses on there with the caption “OMG”, and remember that it only takes a couple of minutes to upload to the Internet.
Indeed, your wedding isn’t all about you; it’s about the people in it, too. The only way you’ll ever have a successful wedding is when everyone’s happy – and yes, that includes your bridesmaids.
It’s not just about choosing perfect wedding dresses. It’s about little details from bridesmaid dresses to the perfect wedding favor, too. Visit BestForBrides.com to have everything that you need.
Wedding cakes have been around since the Roman era, and though many traditions over what to do with the wedding cake – such as breaking it over your (bride’s) head, keeping a piece to eat for your first year anniversary, or making you and your new husband kiss over the cake – have thankfully passed, almost every wedding will still have a cake. It has become the quintessential symbol of marriage.
Back then it was a simple, single-tiered, often white (to symbolize purity) cake. Over the years, the tiers have added (and added), the current contender for the record being a 17 foot, 7-tiered, 15,032 pound cake made by Mohegan Sun. As cool as this may seem, it’s certainly going to be out of place in a place like Toronto. So how should you choose among the many wedding cakes in Toronto?
What Cake Would You Choose?
It seems like a simple enough question, isn’t it? After all, a cake is a cake is a cake. Besides, how many wedding cakes in Toronto can there be? There are literally THOUSANDS of wedding cakes in all shapes, sizes, flavors, and forms, from traditional to extra kinky (yes, kinky) for you to choose and be confused from. When your baker starts babbling on about how this is better than that, wouldn’t it be nice to know what he’s talking about?
What You Should Know
Here are a few definitions that may help you sort things out when choosing wedding cakes in Toronto. Tier means layer. The number of tiers dictates how tall the cake is going to be. The most popular number is three – extravagant enough, but not too much. When you are asking for a quotation, be sure to ask if ALL the layers in that quotation are edible and not styrofoam.
The most common types of cake base from fluffy to dense are sponge, chiffon, and pound (including the fruitcake-type). For the icing, commonly used are butter cream, made of fat or butter and sugar, while foam icing is made of egg white and sugar or marshmallows and fudge icing are chocolate-based icings. All types are placed onto the base with a spatula or an icing funnel. Flat, royal, or fondant icings are basically sugar and water, rolled out into sheets and topped on the cake. However, royal icing has egg whites for thicker consistency, and fondant icing has glucose syrup and cream of tartar to give it that elegant porcelain finish.
Fondant icing is also featured on the most expensive wedding cakes in Toronto. The color to match your wedding motif may be added through the trimmings: flowers (fresh or candy), ribbons, fruit, candies, almost anything that is small enough to place on a cake can be. The last and final touch would be the cake topper. That’s the small figurine of the bride and the groom at the top of the tiers.
And Off You Go You are now armed with the basics, and can now keep up with the shop talk. Good bakers of wedding cakes in Toronto will also offer taste samples of the different cakes. So you can be assured that when you cut into that cake and give your new life partner that first piece, it will almost be as sweet and good as your love.
One of the most important areas in which couples planning their weddings usually need advice is with respect to the day’s schedule, especially as it relates to the Wedding Photography. After all, most of them have never been married before.  Your wedding day is akin to one day on a movie shoot – and as complex. So, a properly planned day means less stress, as well as the ability and flexibility to deal with the unexpected. As the Wedding Photographer, regardless of what is happening, I will always shoot whatever is available (working under pressure and unideal circumstances is the job of any useful Wedding Photographer). But, as with other things, good Wedding Pictures benefit from a relaxed bride who does not feel rushed. As I say, “Happy Bride, Happy Dayâ€.
Even under the best of circumstances it is a challenging day for the bride and groom: (a) They have probably not had a very good night’s sleep, heading into probably the most eventful day of their lives (which runs 14-20 hours); (b) They are making the biggest commitment of their lives (which hopefully entails no doubt whatsoever :-) ); (c) They are juggling the egos, insecurities and relationships within and between their families; (d) They are praying for the weather to hold up; (e) Hopefully they have delegated the myriad tasks throughout the day to reliable and capable people, otherwise they find themselves constantly having to be involved in areas they shouldn’t have to worry about; (f) I could keep going here, but you get the idea…
The point is, you can and should have fun on your wedding day. Good planning will go a long way to making that possible. Time allocation is critical to two parts of the day: (1) Bride’s Hair and Make-up (with the bridesmaids often in tow). It is well worth making the appointment earlier because I can’t tell you how often the bride is rushing to put on the dress in time to get some pictures taken and then to head off for the ceremony. Hair and Make-up can easily take longer than expected – regardless of what they tell you. Besides, you’re probably going to be up early in the morning anyway, so you might as well get down to business. If you are ready ahead of time you can relax. You don’t want to be rushed and stressed out when the day has barely begun. (2) Pictures (Family, Wedding Party, Couple).
How much time should be allotted for between the end of the ceremony to the time the wedded couple must appear at the reception? Depends. Here are some questions that must be answered before you can come up with a number:
How much mingling time is there going to be right after the ceremony?
Is there going to be a receiving line right after the ceremony? If so, how many guests? If you have 200 people it will take at least 45 minutes.
Where are the pictures going to be taken, at the ceremony location or at a park? If the latter, how far away is the park?
For Family Pictures are all the family members going to be driving to the park? That can take time and some people end up taking forever to get there. Additionally, the size of the families (or more accurately, those who are going to be in the pictures) affects how much time is required.
Is there a Videographer? If so, additional time will be required.
Depending on the time when the post-ceremony pictures begin, how much quality light is going to be available once we get to photographing the newly married couple (can anyone say, ‘most important pictures’). If it’s a bright day, there is more leeway with light, but you can’t count on that. Also, what looks like ‘enough’ light to you, may not be great from the photographer’s perspective.
Here is a typical Wedding Day scenario: Ceremony starts at 3pm. Finishes at 3:45. 15 minutes of mingling. Family Pix taken at the ceremony site – average sized family – 30 minutes. Couple and Wedding Party drive to the park. Including travel time and walking into the park, pictures commence 30 minutes later. Wedding Party Pix – 30 minutes. Couple Pix – 45 minutes. Drive to Reception Hall – 20 minutes. Arrive at Hall at between 6:30 to 6:45. Total time from end of the ceremony to arriving at the reception – about 3 hours.
Possible issues: (1) The Couple do no get to enjoy cocktails with their guests before dinner; (2) If there is a Receiving Line then the post-ceremony activities will be rushed and/or dinner will need to be pushed to 7:30; (3) If it’s a darkish day, there might not be very good light for the Couple Shots if they are done last (which is usually the case); (4) If the Family Photos are taken at the park there may be some delays if everyone doesn’t arrive at the park on time; (5) If there is a Wedding Videographer you can add 30-45 minutes to the schedule, which, like the Receiving Line, puts pressure on the schedule.
Conclusion: With dinner usually being served at 7pm, this schedule works fine, though there isn’t that much room for maneuvering. In this case, there would be more flexibility, and less stress, if the ceremony began at 2pm or 2:30pm. If there is a Videographer and a Receiving Line, then the Ceremony should not begin later than 2pm, preferably earlier.
If everything is happening in one location, you can cut about 45-60 minutes from the above scenario. In this case, you wouldn’t have to worry about lighting for photography (unless it’s raining of course), and the couple would be finished in time to either spend some cocktail time with guests and/or to have a rest before the Reception. In this scenario, keeping the Ceremony starting time at 3pm is a good idea because if you have it too early then your guests will be waiting around too long for the Reception to begin.
For the uninitiated, it’s easy just to accept what you’re told and given by the various vendors, but generally speaking they are only concerned with their own domains. So, for example, you may have your heart set on the church or venue where your ceremony will take place but if they tell you that the space is not available until 4pm, then, as you can tell from the above scenario, you will be limited with respect to the rest of your day. Does that mean you can’t use that venue? Not at all. It simply means adjustments may have to be made to plan (eg) Maybe the Couple do their photographs before the ceremony.
As a Wedding Photographer, my responsibility is to get the shots no matter what – and I do. But experience has revealed to me that when the logistics are solid then the day runs smoother, the bride and groom are happier – and the pictures are better.
Every little girl dreams of marrying her own version of Prince Charming. That dream has finally become a reality. Now you are beginning to plan the wedding of your dreams. You’ve already set a date, so at least you have that out of the way. Next you have to make a guest list, and find a venue that is available on the date you have chosen. In some instances you may have to find two venues that are available on your special day, one venue for the ceremony and another venue for the reception. After that comes the weeks, possibly even months of shopping for a wedding gown and bridesmaids dresses. As important as it is to pick the right wedding gown, it is almost as important to pick the best dresses for your bridesmaids. You don’t want to look back at your wedding album years from now and wonder what you were thinking. Be sure you choose a dress for both you and your bridesmaids that you absolutely adore.
Recent Posts: The Best Bridal Store - Your source for everything you want to know about weddings
