Finding the Perfect Venue

Finding the venue for our wedding was not as easy as I thought as it was going to be. Being a wedding musician I have been pretty lucky to have had a chance to see a lot of venues in and around Victoria area. In this blog post I am going to tell you about some of the venues I researched and how I came to a conclusion on our wedding venue. (Venue listings are in no particular order).

Here is a short list of my wishes/needs:
· Outdoors/garden setting
· Archway
· Grass walkway
· White chairs
· Secluded
· Mid sized wedding (60 people)
· Reception site on same grounds as ceremony or very close by
· Reception venue big enough for barn dance with hardwood floors
· Place to get ready before the ceremony

Firstly, when I started searching I was not really thinking about the cost of venues rather I was thinking more about “the look” or “vision” of my wedding. My first love and venue choice has always been Hatley Castle. Hatley Castle is a dream venue for a lot of brides because it’s like a fairytale wedding location. It has a beautiful garden and having a castle as a backdrop is really quite beautiful. Here are some of the pros and cons I came up with this venue :

Pros:
· Beautiful fairytale like atmosphere
· Garden setting
· Grass walkway
· Tons of photo opportunities
· Very secluded
· Offered a reception location on site

Cons:
· No reception site suitable for dancing on site or relatively near by
· No free parking for guests
· Out of our budget

Don’t discount this venue at all for a possible wedding location, because it really is worth looking at! Just wasn’t what we were looking for in a venue.

Minter Gardens is another great venue choice for a wedding. Similar to Butchart Gardens, Minter Gardens offers a beautiful wedding location. Surrounded by flowers and even a lake, this seemed to be a perfect place except for a few things.

Pros:
· Beautiful surroundings
· Garden setting
· Reception site available on the same site
· Lots of photo opportunities
· Had a place for the bride and groom to get ready

Cons:
· Not Private
· Reception site not suitable for dancing

Minter Gardens did check off a lot on my checklist but still, didn’t have my dance floor. So, I continued to look around.

Starling Lane Winery is a venue I have come across a lot during the wedding season. It’s a great location for a small private wedding. It has a heritage park right next to the winery which has lots of photo opportunities.

Pros:
· Very private
· Garden
· Rustic look
· Offered reception site
· White chairs
· Place to get ready for both bride and groom

Cons:
· No dancing site
· Price for renting tents was not in our budget
· Couldn’t find a reception site close enough for my dance that was suitable.
· We had already booked our venue

Short story here: When I saw this venue again during a wedding where I played, I fell in love with it again. One problem: I had already booked a venue! Yes, you read that right, I had a venue (which I’ll get to shortly) so that was part of the reason why we couldn’t get Starling Lane. It would have been too much work to switch everything over. Not only that, I couldn’t let my awesome reception site go as it’s perfect for my dance!

After looking at several venues in Victoria I thought of taking a peek over in the Vancouver area to see if anything struck my interest. We looked at a few venues (including Stanley Park and Deer Lake) but then we came to Queens Park in New Westminster where they had a beautiful rose garden! It was hard to visualize what it could look like in summer time since it was the middle of winter when we found this venue, however, there were a lot of things we liked about this place:

Pros:
· Outdoors with a beautiful garden
· Close to my Mom’s place
· A to die for reception site IN the park! Less than a 5 minute walk away from the garden!
· An awesome walkway for me to walk down
· Very in-expensive for what you get!
· It has a gazebo!

Cons:
· Not as private as we wanted it to be but good enough
· No place to get ready in (but we solved that by booking a beautiful bed and breakfast (http://www.haddonhouse.ca) for my bridesmaids and I to get ready in. The guys will get ready at my mom’s place)

As you can see there aren’t very many cons to the venue we picked! It’s perfect and I can’t wait to get married there!

Here is a little collage I made up for a sneak peek at my wedding in 4 months!

These photos below are from bouquets by Leaf & Petal.

We asked Rose, the flower shop owner, a couple of questions that might help brides-to-be with planning their wedding flowers.

Can you share a little bit about the wedding flower trends for 2011?

Yes, wedding flower trends for 2011 are reflecting two ongoing lifestyle elements, which is optimism and organic living. We’re seeing the optimism of our 2011 brides reflected in the colour choices, the strongest being pink. The colour of the year within the bridal industry is Honeysuckle, which is a vibrant, energetic pink. It is a captivating, stimulating colour which looks great together in varying intensities, and works really well with a fresh chartreuse green, for a modern pop of colour.
The organic trend has been going on for the last couple of years, with brides wanting to embrace nature with a “just gathered from the garden” look. The irony of this is that to get the easy “just gathered” look takes much planning and precise placement of just the right blooms in the right way, to get the movement and shape desired. We’ve also had brides want to include a vintage piece of jewelery with these types of bouquets, to offer homage to a much loved relative – like a favorite aunt or grandma. This makes their bouquet extra special.

What does Leaf & Petal offer brides and what makes you unique?

We offer a complimentary one hour consultation so that I can sit with the bride and discuss how we can match her personality to the look she wants with her wedding arrangements. We don’t do preset packages, we customize the flowers to the event.
My background as an Interior Designer allows me to be able to visualize the perfect look for her, and the best way to get that look.
We also offer rentals of really lovely decor items so the brides can achieve visual impact without breaking the budget. We rent all sizes of vases, silver candelabras, urns, cake stands, champagne buckets, etc. to help make a look come to life.
We are also just now offering printing services for the wedding invitations, thank you cards, etc. from a company that we’ve recently connected with, that does a great job.

Why are you doing what you do; what do you like most about your job?

I’m doing what I do, because I absolutely LOVE FLOWERS! I love nature and design, and flowers are the ultimate expression of these two passions.
To be able to make a bridal bouquet is such an honour, because that bouquet is carried by the bride, when she makes her marriage vows, and is at the centre of attention in the wedding photos, and along with the bride the whole special day.

Do you have any tips for brides regarding their wedding flowers?

I think the best tip I can give is to convey the look you’re wanting to achieve, and then relax and let the flower professionals do the job (we) do so well. So many brides say, oh – I don’t know flowers, I don’t know what to pick…I say, let me know how you want it to look and how you want to hold it, and then leave the rest to us. We know all about flowers, are professional and we’ll do the best job we can for you within your budget. Also, it is best to bring any colour samples and pictures of bouquets you like, and leave them with us to keep in your file, so we can be certain of a colour or look we need to work with.

Any last words?

Just relax and have a wonderful day, and remember you’re starting the rest of your lives together… It’s not just a wedding, it’s a marriage!

Thank you Rose for your time in sharing this with us! We look forward to working with Leaf & Petal again next summer.

We had the honour of working with other talented florists this past season; some of their work is showcased below. Links to their websites: Roses & More, Thrifty Foods Mill Bay, Flowers on Top, Proline Tading International.

THE DRESS

It’s almost been a year since I found my dress and I still love it! It actually only came in a couple of weeks ago and just, this past weekend, I had a chance to try it on for the first time. It is perfect in every way and I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful dress. But finding it was a long journey!

It was a year ago when I started my dress hunt here in Victoria with my mom. She came over for a weekend and we went dress shopping. I had done some dress shopping before actually going out and had an idea of what I wanted my dress to be like. I cut out a few pictures from magazines and printed some off the internet and brought them on my journey. When I showed the picture of the one dress I really liked to the consultant of the first store I was really surprised that they had it in! I was both excited and nervous that they had it. Before I tried it on I picked out a few other dresses to try on, as well, so I had something to compare.

Trying on your first dress… this is when you learn how HEAVY wedding dresses are! My first thought: take it off the hanger and just try it on… Reality: I dropped the dress instead! Whoops! Next time I’ll know!

When I put the first wedding dress on I was sure it was going to be like trying on any other piece of clothing. This was true until I came out of the dressing room in my dress and saw myself in the mirror. The consultant then asked me what I thought of the dress. I wasn’t too sure. My response was, “I don’t know, I’m still getting passed that fact that here I am, in a bridal shop, with a wedding dress on, picking out MY gown for MY wedding!” Of course, I liked it but once I tried on other dresses to compare, I wasn’t too sure. After trying on a few dresses I went to a couple of other shops to compare. But nothing really jumped out at me. There were dresses I liked, but if you’re a huge fan of the TLC show, “Say Yes to the Dress”, then you’re probably like me and waiting for “that” moment. The moment of which you put on your dress, see yourself and cry! This was the moment which I was waiting for in finding my dress. And, after trying on many dresses (yes, I will admit I am a bit of a bridezilla!) I finally found the perfect dress! I found it last April in Vancouver and the funny thing is, it was the last dress I tried on! You know how I knew? I cried! Yes, I actually cried when I came out and knew it was the one! I am extremely happy with my dress and I can’t wait to wear it on my special day in 6 months! You’ll have to wait a couple more months to see it

Here are some tips for finding your dress:

1. Don’t bring a huge entourage of people with you otherwise it will make your dress choosing even more difficult than it already is! Remember, it’s your wedding day and you can wear what you want!
2. Once you’ve found a dress, stop shopping! Start shopping for other stuff for your wedding like a veil, shoes, accessories. Those are just as fun!
3. Have a budget set. Don’t try on dresses that are out of your price range or you’ll be sorry because you can’t have that dress.
4. Have a particular style to start with but be open to other styles. For example, a-line, straps, strapless, ball-gown, etc. A dress you think you don’t like may be the one if you try it on!
5. For budget brides: try searching for designer sales/trunk shows at your local bridal shop or bridal fair for deals! There’s nothing wrong with buying off the rack! Another option is shopping online! You can find great deals on used wedding dresses (or sometimes unused, yes believe me!) from sites like usedvictoria, craigslist or victoriabudgetbridal.

This photo is not of Monique’s dress, but it’s a detail shot of the beautiful dress that the very talented Mariko Aramaki designed for Zoe who was married on August 28th.

Who knew wedding planning could be so stressful, but yet so fun and exciting at the same time? Usually those words don’t combine together, but when it comes to weddings that seem to be the case! My name is Monique and I am bride-to-be, tying the knot next July, 2011, and I’m super excited to share my wedding plans with you!
It all began on November 7th, 2009 when my fiancé Jeff proposed in the Inner Harbour in Victoria after having a romantic dinner at the Keg Steakhouse. It was a night that I will never forget. Everything about that night was perfect and special.

Now, before I jump right into my wedding planning, a little about us. Jeff and I met in June 2004 on an online dating site (Lava Life). At this point I was going to University in Victoria but my home base was in New Westminster. I was finishing up my degree in Music and was heading into my last year when I hooked up with him. He had just finished up his degree in Computer Engineering (what a nerd!) and was working full-time for a local company. We talked online for a couple of weeks before we decided to meet in person. I wasn’t expecting much at this point but one date lead to the next and before we knew it, we were an official couple. This was our first relationship for both of us so everything was new and exciting. Every moment since then our relationship has grown stronger and who knew 6 years from the day we met that we would be getting married and starting our life together! Certainly not me!

Before writing this blog I’ve never really envisioned fully what I wanted for my wedding other than just simple bits and pieces of ideas which I hoped would come together to create a my dream wedding. A lot of my wedding planning has come about from observing weddings myself. I’ve played at a lot of weddings in the past few years (I’m a cellist) but have never really thought about my own wedding with great detail, obviously. Since getting engaged I have become more aware of what goes on during one’s wedding. For example, venues, color combinations for flowers, dresses, all the way to decorations.

I started the planning of my wedding really early, and when I say early, I mean 16 months early! I had my venue picked along with our photographer (Orange Passion!) and reception hall booked 16 months in advance! I was an eager bride to get things rolling! I knew I wanted a garden wedding with a reception site on site or close at hand. This was hard to find. In fact, so hard to find that we had to move our location to New Westminster on the Lower Mainland, which is where I’m from. My fiancé and I are getting married in a Rose Garden with a reception hall to die for! When looking for a reception hall I knew I wanted something large enough for dancing, but not just any kind of dancing, a barn dance! I came up with this idea mid-planning our wedding! For those of you that don’t know what a barn dance is, a barn dance involves having traditional fiddle music being played with a caller to call out the dance moves. I chose this kind of dance because it will allow everybody, young and old, to participate in the dance. You don’t need dancing experience and everyone will have fun; well that’s the plan at least!

Music is going to be the center of my wedding and there’s no doubting that (besides me, the bride of course!) because music is my second love! What musician can’t have music at their wedding? For my ceremony music I can easily say that I don’t want the typical “Here Comes the Bride”, “Jesu” or “Pachelbel”. I want something unique and fresh. I already have some ideas but nothing concrete yet. I might even write my own ceremony music, who knows! We’ll see how ambitious I am!

The image below is from Monique & Jeff’s recent engagement session.

Starling Lane Winery
For more intimate weddings Starling Lane Winery provides a rustic setting for your outdoor wedding. There’s a room for the girls to get ready and different sites for your ceremony. For your reception you will need to rent a tent, because although summers tend to be beautiful on the peninsula, the weather is still unpredictable. If you don’t want to leave the property for your photo session, there is no need to, as Starling Lane offers a variety of different backdrops for great wedding photos.
Website: www.starlinglanewinery.com

Victoria Garden Estate
Victoria Garden Estate offers the possibility of intimate summer weddings and weddings up to about 80 people during the off-season. There’s a rustic barn for your reception, which can also serve as a back-up plan for your ceremony. The wedding package includes rental of the house that sleeps up to about 16 people comfortably. If your wedding includes a lot of out-of-town guests than this might be the venue for you.
Website: www.victoriagardenestate.com

{You probably have seen their fun photo booth images, if not, scroll down for the blog post. Their photo booth was so much fun, the guests loved it!}

Vendors:
Gown: Mariko Aramaki
Hair: Paris Styling Group
Florist: Roses & More

Vendors:
Venues: Pacific Shores Resort and Sunrise Ridge Resort
Music: Karel Roessingh
Make-Up: Richelle Newson
Hair: Scorpio’s Salon
Cake: A Wee Cupcakery

Vendors:
Catering: Just Jakes
Make-Up: Crave Beauty Boutique
Cake: Cakes Etc
Flowers: Thrifty Foods Mill Bay
DJ: KGDJ