SpookieCat's Married Bio
This will not be short...
Since I never made a real planning bio I am going to post some information about what was involved in my DIY backyard reception as well as the wedding in general. This will include budget items (all prices in Canadian dollars), some reviews, and miscellaneous factoids.
Attire
I wore the 'Torreon' by Watter's Brides. It had to have been the 60th dress that I tried on. It was everything that I didn't want but it was also strangely perfect and I was ridiculously happy wearing all 800 pounds of it on a blazing hot sunny day. I bought it at Baroness Bridal in Ottawa. It came in on-time, without hassle and they threw in the veil. They get an A since their prices are a little above the norm.
Shoes were navy blue 2" Culver from Ninashoes.com. Super comfortable and fun to boot! My hairpiece was from Etsy seller JMGJewelDesign. Matched my dress perfectly. Earrings from Etsy seller Lulusplendor. Lightweight and purty!
The bridesmaids wore After Six style 6571 (6553 on the website) in blueberry taffeta. It was the nicest dark blue we could find and it also stayed up really well. That dress had some serious support structure built into it - better even than mine. We bought it through Best Bridal Prices which I give an A+ for price, delivery across the country, and price again!
The boys wore tuxedos from Moore's. I don't really have any comments about it other than that they all came in the right size and looked good. Annoying to have to return them before 2:00 the next day though. B.
Shoes were navy blue 2" Culver from Ninashoes.com. Super comfortable and fun to boot! My hairpiece was from Etsy seller JMGJewelDesign. Matched my dress perfectly. Earrings from Etsy seller Lulusplendor. Lightweight and purty!
The bridesmaids wore After Six style 6571 (6553 on the website) in blueberry taffeta. It was the nicest dark blue we could find and it also stayed up really well. That dress had some serious support structure built into it - better even than mine. We bought it through Best Bridal Prices which I give an A+ for price, delivery across the country, and price again!
The boys wore tuxedos from Moore's. I don't really have any comments about it other than that they all came in the right size and looked good. Annoying to have to return them before 2:00 the next day though. B.
Flowers
The bouquets, boutonnieres and ceremony centerpiece were all provided by Brown's Mason Richards Florist in Ottawa. They came through with a fantastic price and Donna was an absolute pleasure to work with. We went with a blue and purple palette and we managed to do 5 bouquets, 10 boutonnieres, 6 corsages and the centerpiece for $800 tax included. Best price to be found in Ottawa. A++
On the other hand we bulk ordered the reception flowers DIY style from Loblaws. We were using Mason jars for our centrepieces and planned on putting them together one day in advance. Loblaws lost our order and I found myself one day before the wedding with no flowers in my colours. I had to go to three different stores to find "acceptable" flowers but they were far too pinky for my taste. F. All in all though, the price was good. $125 for 19 two-jar centerpieces.
On the other hand we bulk ordered the reception flowers DIY style from Loblaws. We were using Mason jars for our centrepieces and planned on putting them together one day in advance. Loblaws lost our order and I found myself one day before the wedding with no flowers in my colours. I had to go to three different stores to find "acceptable" flowers but they were far too pinky for my taste. F. All in all though, the price was good. $125 for 19 two-jar centerpieces.
Reception Planning
We hosted our reception in my Uncle's Backyard in the countryside where I grew up. He has a large, flat 4 acre lot and we took advantage of the lack of neighbours to party it up until 2 am. Considerations involved in hosting a backyard event included:
Food: Catering was provided by D&S Southern Comfort BBQ in Ottawa. They provided a buffet dinner with soup, three salads, ribs and chicken with shrimp skewers, roasted potatoes and vegetables as well as small desserts for about $38 per person. This included table service, all set up, and a huge amount of delicious food. All told, A+. Alana was a pleasure to work with.
Alcohol: We did DIY on this. We bought all of the alcohol and supplies ourselves and made wine ahead of time. The bartender was friend of a friend.
Considerations: we had 125 guests but were planning for 160. We made 120 bottles of wine (1/2 red, 1/2 white) and finished off with about 46 (We knew the amount of wine was overkill but we were worried that 90 would not have been enough). We bought 16 cases of beer and had 2 left over. We bought eight 40s each of vodka, white rum and rye (Canadian whiskey) and we had about 2 bottles of each leftover (we also bought 1 bottle each of gin, scotch, and Irish whiskey). For mix we included: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale, Tonic and Soda water, Cranberry juice, Orange juice, and Caesar mix (Clamato). We also spent $200 for 250 kg of ice. On a very hot day in August this was put to great use. Don't forget the water bottles too.
Further (surprising!) considerations: The law in Ontario is such that you cannot sell alcohol on private property. Obviously we provided it ourselves so it wasn't that much of a consideration. What was though was insurance. We took out a $5 Million dollar liquor liability insurance policy for the one night. This covered us as hosts of the event for any incidents which may have occurred as a result of the actions of our drunk guests. This also protected my Aunt and Uncle in the event of property damage due to drunk people being stupid (they do have a pool and whatnot). $275 well spent for peace of mind. We also spent $200 for a party bus to bring the younger crowd (including us) back into the city at the end of the night. Another $200 well spent.
Toilets: A house on a septic system is no place to have 125 people using the washrooms over the course of 6 hours. We splurged for Elite Restroom Rentals two bathroom unit which included a concierge for the entire evening. It ran us $1050 but it was air conditioned and had running water. It was pronounced absolutely awesome. A++ for Elite.
Rentals: We rented our tent from Labelle tents. It was a 30' x 80' tent (2400 sq. ft.) to hold 125 people. I'm glad we weren't 160 since it would have been a little squeezy. They set up and took down the tents on the dates and times agreed and that's about all that can be said about that. $1500. A.
The tables, chairs and linens were from Chez Lili party rentals. No comments different than above. Rentals came to $1200 for 22 tables, 130 chairs, table cloths and napkins for all. A also.
Dance floor: Dad gets an A+ on this one. Family members catered a wedding earlier in the summer and they asked the couple where they got the dance floor. Since they had made it themselves they offered to sell it to us. My Dad made it larger (which was necessary) and painted it although he was warned that it would make it slippy. Luckily no rain. Dad saved me minimum $1500 on the dance floor rentals. Now he's building a new cement floor coloured shed. Lucky him.
Bug Bombing: More A+ for Dad. He went out and bug sprayed the yard with garlic stuff the day before. No bugs at the wedding and the smell did go away. I was certain that people would think we were serving Italian for dinner. Another one of those considerations when you're out in the country though...
DJ: Bobby T did an incredible job. Total cost came to $600 including set up of a projection system for my Mom's slideshow speech. The music was great and he had back-up music for all of our impromptu breakouts of singing. My husband was a bona fide singing sensation on our wedding night. My rockstar. A+
Lighting: The lighting in the tents was done by none other than myself and my Dad again. I bought the incandescent globe lights from PartyLights.com as well as the large white chinese lanterns. Small chinese lanterns were bought at lunabazaar.com. A for both. They wouldn't ship to Canada without ridiculous costs so I had a friend bring them up with him. Free shipping within the US though. $400 all told.
Cake: Here I fought with my Mom like the dickens but managed to get away with having 10 different kinds of cakes (mousse, red velvet, carrot, chocolate, cheesecake, lemon cake, peanut butter, Bailey's etc. etc...). Neither one of us likes wedding cake and we knew that displaying one in the heat was not a viable option. So we ordered 10 cakes from Loblaws (A this time for having the cakes unthawed and waiting for us on a dolly) and everyone thought they were great. Take that Mom. They were put out with the late night snack at around 10:30 along with more coffee and ice cream. We never even cut the cake and apparently our marriage is still valid. Who would have thought? Total cost of cake: $250. yep. Late night snack: $400. Necessary though.
Photography: Scott and Nicole of Scott Lee Roberts Photography did an astounding job and deserve a lot of thanks considering that they stayed an hour later than planned even though they had a 3 month old and a toddler waiting for them at home. Our photos are amazing and it is really nice having the digital rights. I am already assembling photobooks for friends and family. They were experienced and yet close enough to our age to make the afternoon really enjoyable. They also picked fantastic, fun and cool (shady!) locations for pictures downtown on a scorching hot, not a cloud in the sky, summer day. Turnaround time on the photographs was fantastic as well. A++++ The price was very reasonable as well but I won't post it since I know their prices are going up for next year. Nonetheless, more reasonable than anyone else I found and the quality did not suffer.
Food: Catering was provided by D&S Southern Comfort BBQ in Ottawa. They provided a buffet dinner with soup, three salads, ribs and chicken with shrimp skewers, roasted potatoes and vegetables as well as small desserts for about $38 per person. This included table service, all set up, and a huge amount of delicious food. All told, A+. Alana was a pleasure to work with.
Alcohol: We did DIY on this. We bought all of the alcohol and supplies ourselves and made wine ahead of time. The bartender was friend of a friend.
Considerations: we had 125 guests but were planning for 160. We made 120 bottles of wine (1/2 red, 1/2 white) and finished off with about 46 (We knew the amount of wine was overkill but we were worried that 90 would not have been enough). We bought 16 cases of beer and had 2 left over. We bought eight 40s each of vodka, white rum and rye (Canadian whiskey) and we had about 2 bottles of each leftover (we also bought 1 bottle each of gin, scotch, and Irish whiskey). For mix we included: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale, Tonic and Soda water, Cranberry juice, Orange juice, and Caesar mix (Clamato). We also spent $200 for 250 kg of ice. On a very hot day in August this was put to great use. Don't forget the water bottles too.
Further (surprising!) considerations: The law in Ontario is such that you cannot sell alcohol on private property. Obviously we provided it ourselves so it wasn't that much of a consideration. What was though was insurance. We took out a $5 Million dollar liquor liability insurance policy for the one night. This covered us as hosts of the event for any incidents which may have occurred as a result of the actions of our drunk guests. This also protected my Aunt and Uncle in the event of property damage due to drunk people being stupid (they do have a pool and whatnot). $275 well spent for peace of mind. We also spent $200 for a party bus to bring the younger crowd (including us) back into the city at the end of the night. Another $200 well spent.
Toilets: A house on a septic system is no place to have 125 people using the washrooms over the course of 6 hours. We splurged for Elite Restroom Rentals two bathroom unit which included a concierge for the entire evening. It ran us $1050 but it was air conditioned and had running water. It was pronounced absolutely awesome. A++ for Elite.
Rentals: We rented our tent from Labelle tents. It was a 30' x 80' tent (2400 sq. ft.) to hold 125 people. I'm glad we weren't 160 since it would have been a little squeezy. They set up and took down the tents on the dates and times agreed and that's about all that can be said about that. $1500. A.
The tables, chairs and linens were from Chez Lili party rentals. No comments different than above. Rentals came to $1200 for 22 tables, 130 chairs, table cloths and napkins for all. A also.
Dance floor: Dad gets an A+ on this one. Family members catered a wedding earlier in the summer and they asked the couple where they got the dance floor. Since they had made it themselves they offered to sell it to us. My Dad made it larger (which was necessary) and painted it although he was warned that it would make it slippy. Luckily no rain. Dad saved me minimum $1500 on the dance floor rentals. Now he's building a new cement floor coloured shed. Lucky him.
Bug Bombing: More A+ for Dad. He went out and bug sprayed the yard with garlic stuff the day before. No bugs at the wedding and the smell did go away. I was certain that people would think we were serving Italian for dinner. Another one of those considerations when you're out in the country though...
DJ: Bobby T did an incredible job. Total cost came to $600 including set up of a projection system for my Mom's slideshow speech. The music was great and he had back-up music for all of our impromptu breakouts of singing. My husband was a bona fide singing sensation on our wedding night. My rockstar. A+
Lighting: The lighting in the tents was done by none other than myself and my Dad again. I bought the incandescent globe lights from PartyLights.com as well as the large white chinese lanterns. Small chinese lanterns were bought at lunabazaar.com. A for both. They wouldn't ship to Canada without ridiculous costs so I had a friend bring them up with him. Free shipping within the US though. $400 all told.
Cake: Here I fought with my Mom like the dickens but managed to get away with having 10 different kinds of cakes (mousse, red velvet, carrot, chocolate, cheesecake, lemon cake, peanut butter, Bailey's etc. etc...). Neither one of us likes wedding cake and we knew that displaying one in the heat was not a viable option. So we ordered 10 cakes from Loblaws (A this time for having the cakes unthawed and waiting for us on a dolly) and everyone thought they were great. Take that Mom. They were put out with the late night snack at around 10:30 along with more coffee and ice cream. We never even cut the cake and apparently our marriage is still valid. Who would have thought? Total cost of cake: $250. yep. Late night snack: $400. Necessary though.
Photography: Scott and Nicole of Scott Lee Roberts Photography did an astounding job and deserve a lot of thanks considering that they stayed an hour later than planned even though they had a 3 month old and a toddler waiting for them at home. Our photos are amazing and it is really nice having the digital rights. I am already assembling photobooks for friends and family. They were experienced and yet close enough to our age to make the afternoon really enjoyable. They also picked fantastic, fun and cool (shady!) locations for pictures downtown on a scorching hot, not a cloud in the sky, summer day. Turnaround time on the photographs was fantastic as well. A++++ The price was very reasonable as well but I won't post it since I know their prices are going up for next year. Nonetheless, more reasonable than anyone else I found and the quality did not suffer.
