Sjay

In case anyone's interested in picking up any health & beauty products for yourself, OOH bags, etc., there's a big warehouse sale on at the Int'l Centre in Mississauga starting Nov 20: This 30,000 square foot warehouse sale has something for everyone. Brand name products at up to 80% off featuring cosmetics and Health & Beauty from Revlon, L`Oreal and Maybelline. Dove, Axe, Vaseline, Schick, Old Spice, Olay and more… Mens and Womens Fine Fragrances including Versace, Diesel, CK, LaCoste at up to 80% off. Lug offers travel bags, laptop backpacks, foldable tote bags and more all up to 80% off. Brand name medical scrubs in plain and printed from sizes XXS-3XL. • Winter fashions for men and women from Haggar. A large assortment of towels from Cambridge Towel along with comforters and sheet sets. A huge selection of brand name toys for your Christmas gift giving. Check out the full flyers here, here, here, and here! http://styledemocracy.com/events/holiday-warehouse-sale-revlon-fine-fragrances-fashions-linens-toys/

Whoa, I'm next!?! I swear I was just at the bottom of the list, lol!

I think you could still do something on the beach - I know with the Suites we can have our beach cocktail party reception in a few different spots, so I'm thinking it would be the same at the Beach.

Glad to hear! And you're welcome - hope you get to try on your size!

Very creative! Even if you have to shell out more money per head, I guess it's worth it to ensure your wedding happens!

Talk to your WC about it. They offered me a small degree of flexibility on that percentage when the Suites was suddenly fully booked and not all of my guests had booked. (I lucked out though, and rooms opened up and all got in but one who wanted the Grand.) If you still have guests who haven't booked accommodations, you'll have to explain to them why you need them to book the Iberostar.

Hey - I found floating candles at Michaels at 30 Billy Bishop Way, right near Wilson subway station. I'd considered the ones at Ikea that another bride mentioned, but they're really little, and I wanted larger ones. All candles were 40% off last week and I think they were priced at $1.49 ea...? They were just over 3" wide and came in white and ivory. I was originally going to go with pillars, but Tai Flora quoted me $7.50 for 6" pillar candles which was crazy, and that didn't include the vases! So then I thought we'd bring them ourselves but we didn't want the weight or bulk of pillars so decided on floating ones. I'm just going to add stones to the bottom of the vases that we are renting.

They look great - good job! My FI and I really didn't want to bring any more decor than we've already got, so no glass/vases for us. We put out all our decor out on our double guest bed, and it's pretty much covered!

Hey JA2012, is the above meant for me? LOL Just in case it was, my order subtotal was $76.00, and then $26.83 for shipping. There wasn't a 10% off coupon at the time I ordered sadly.

No problem! I know they had some new styles as of this fall, and if you've got time before you need to order, I imagine they'll have more new dresses in early 2013.

I haven't been to the Scarb store, but in Etobicoke they had a lot of dresses in each style so you could see the range of colours and try on a range of sizes. It is true that CAN doesn't have as wide a selection as they do in the US stores, but it's pretty good. You could always call in advance of going to confirm they've got the styles/colours you want to see.

I got my bridesmaid dress at David's - but I only have a maid of honour so it was a pretty easy process. I'm in a wedding next spring and we went with the Dessy group (www.dessy.com) - they have a ton of different colours and styles and their prices are pretty good too. Belo Fashions (on Roncesvalles Ave in TO) and Best For Bride (in Etobicoke) - both have a lot of Dessy dresses in stock, and in various sizes too which is great.

Oh geez, you know, I hadn't even thought about trying one out in advance....maybe I should?? I bought a couple extra... Hmmm

I honestly don't know how duty and brokerage charges are tallied, but it *might* have to do with the amount of your purchase. It sounds like you're ordering a lot, so I would come right out and ask JustArtifacts customer service (based on your onscreen total) if that will be it - no further charges. Just in case..!

Hi JA2012, I had a fantastic experience with JustArtifacts! Firstly, the final cost you see after inputting your order is the final cost. There are no additional surprise duty or brokerage charges. The order came very quickly - 9 days between the day I ordered and Canada Post showed up at my door with it. I purchased eco wish lanterns (best prices) and LED lights (to use inside of paper lanters). The lanterns are awesome, bigger than I was expecting but they're going to look so good lit up in the night sky. The LED lights, two were faulty so I wrote back asking them to ship two replacements. They wrote back concerned they wouldn't arrive in time (they quote 2-4 wks for delivery to Canada) but I told them I was willing to take a chance considering the first order only took 9 days and it was important as it was for my wedding. They came back, full of congratulations, said they were sending it priority and they included a small wedding gift for us in the box! Talk about customer service going above and beyond! (Haven't rec'd the second package yet - they just shipped it four days ago.) Needless to say, I highly recommend them!

Question about vendors and dinner time... Where I'm from, traditionally you feed your DJ, photog, etc., but what about at a destination wedding? I assume the officiant will take off after the ceremony, so we'll only have the photog around at dinner. Do I need to arrange a meal for him and pay another $18 for his food/drink? Thanks!

Hi Jenn, As others have mentioned, DIY is a great option to keep costs down, but if you're not into making them yourselves, I've got a great designer to recommend. Stephanie designed our custom wedding invites and did a fantastic job. She was really easy to work with and her rates are very reasonable. She's based in Mississauga but is in Toronto regularly and is happy to meet clients wherever convenient. If you decide to call her, tell her Sarah & Nelson sent you. Good luck! Stephanie Casino Owner&Designer www.The-Presse.com [email protected] stationery~wedding invitations~ custom design

Lo and behold, I finally heard from Jodi-Ann last Thursday - she CALLED me!!! Said she'd been on vacation. What, so NO ONE else was working and could respond to my numerous messages? Unfortunately I missed the call, but she said she'd call Saturday morning. Saturday morning came and went and nothing. I emailed her again last night and told her if she wanted to quote on my wedding that I needed her quote TODAY, and guess what? I got it, or at least most of it. I hate to have to be stern/pushy but I'd had enough. Now off to compare their quote against Floral Fantasies (who I've emailed with a couple of times and are so prompt and friendly!)

Hi all, Many of you were very helpful in our search for an off-white shirt, so I thought I'd come back and let you know that my FI finally found one! Thanks again to Jodez for suggesting Brooks Brothers - the shirt is a perfect colour match and a perfect fit so now he doesn't even need alterations. There were a few other stores that carried off white, but only in a few of the most common sizes. BBros is great because they offer four different fits as well as different fabric, collar and sleeve options and the widest range of neck sizes and arm lengths we came across in all of Toronto. A high quality product + excellent customer service + competitive pricing (plus we got a discount) = a customer for life in my FI. So, if anyone is looking for a very nice, off-white shirt to compliment a diamond white or light ivory wedding dress, look at Brooks Brothers' shirts in Ecru, especially if your guy needs a hard-to-find size.

What CourtandMatt said - thanks Shauna! DAILY PROGRAM 2011.pdf NIGHTLY PROGRAM.pdf

Good to know, thanks IslandBride. What time does this beach party get underway on a Sat night?

Thanks very much!

I understand a rehearsal dinner will count as one of everyone's a la carte restaurant reservations...but does the wedding dinner count as another?

I understand (from having read it somewhere on BDW) that the Suites has a BBQ lunch on the beach on Thursday, and a Saturday night beach party with a bonfire.

Update: Great news - the US bride tried resending the package and it arrived today, no problems! Phew!! Thanks for your helpful suggestions ladies.