Just taking a small moment to say hello from my honeymoon!! We are on Santorini, waiting to take the bus to go to the port to take the ferry back to Athens tonight.

Ok, the husband is rushing us to leave. Until next time!

It has been a while hasn’t it? I’ve been so busy with life and work, and now all the wedding stuff is creeping up. I was waiting for this time to come so I would have more to write about, but it seems that there’s no time to blog about all the current events! I can’t believe we are down to double digit days now… we were over 400 days away when this blog started.

Last week was our tasting at the hotel, and J and I both took our mums and had an absolute blast. Why couldn’t every meal involve nibbling off everyone’s plates, unlimited beverages, customized desserts and perfect service?

Overall, the food was quite tasty and we were happy with our selections of entrées. Of course, how the food will turn out on the wedding night is questionable – I’m not that naïve to think that a meal for 5 is the same as 250, but it’s still good to know that food was yum at the tasting and the presentation was nice. I’d be on the right track to think that I won’t be eating much that night anyway.

I know everyone loves food photos, so here are a few of the desserts that the chef made that night – and I’m only showing them because we aren’t going with any of them. From top to bottom: Lemon Meringue tart (it was so fun plucking off each one of those spikes and eating them), Key Lime tart and Warm Apple Blossom.

Problem was, as lovely and sweet they looked, the desserts really left something to be desired. After discussion between us and the hotel, we’re heading back for a dessert re-tasting. Yessss!!!! If anyone has any good ideas for dessert, please pass them over to me because I can give the chef some suggestions for our next tasting.

As you may know by now, I was part of Tiff’s bridal party this summer, who happens to be one of my bridesmaids. We threw her and Ken a Jack & Jill, and celebrated with both the bride and the groom and their family and friends.

As the bridal party, we were originally disappointed because we had a rather feminine theme planned for Tiff’s shower: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. When Tiff decided she wanted a co-ed shindig, we had to quickly come up with a new unisex theme. Luckily, I scouted a most perfect party location and realized we could keep the original theme – the space was contemporary and ultra-chic, and fit the Breakfast at Tiffany’s theme perfectly. We renamed it to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (and Ken).

Thanks to our group of DIYers, we had all the details set. I designed the invitations (with a fittingly graphic Audrey Hepburn), Lisa created scrumptious and beautiful mini-cakes to look like Tiffany boxes, and Kat (the groom’s sister) crafted a nifty sign that the couple ended using at their wedding, too. The Sunday brunch went without a hitch, and I must say, it was sad when we didn’t have any more bridesmaid meetings to plan this thing!

I’ve been thinking of rebranding Papertalk for a while now, and as of last night, the rebrand is complete! The website has gone through a mini-makeover, and my newest business cards are here! Check it all out:

Currently in the works is an online store… soon you can order your invitations directly from my website . Exciting stuff!

Time is really flying by and J and I haven’t thought about who will be officiating our wedding. Last time I checked our to-do list (5 minutes ago), we were about 30 check marks behind. Yikes – quite a few things overdue, with a few catching my eye: “Start looking for an officiant who suits your style and spirit”, “Start interviewing officiants who suits your style and spirit” and “Book your officiant who suits your style and spirit”.

Officiants aren’t usually the people brides dream of when they start their wedding plans, and if you’re of a particular religious persuasion, it’s pretty much determined for you already anyway. But for non-denominational folk like us – we get the challenge of picking and choosing a person who probably knows nothing about us but are to play one of the most important roles in our life.

My brother and sister-in-law had (who I assumed was) a random perform their civil ceremony when they got married, and I must say it was something that I don’t want repeated at our wedding. She was robotic/scary (“everybody sit!”, “no pictures!”, “everybody stand up and clap!”, “everybody leave!”) and sped through the ceremony so fast I was barely able to catch their vows. But, for someone who’s only met you once or twice for a brief get-to-know you, and to go through logistics… is it realistic to expect much more?

Let this post be a cry out to my friends who I may not have known to be ordained ministers or Justice of the Peaces (is that how you write that in plural?), or even priests/rabbis – show your faces and help us on this sort of special super important day!

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By the way, here is the dreamiest wedding ceremony I have ever been to (and it took place right in my living room):

My MOH recently asked me about our colours, and for some reason I couldn’t commit to the Emerald, chartreuse, aquamarine + whites scheme. So, surprise surprise, I came up with one last inspiration board. Here it is. The final, final colour scheme for my big ol’ wedding:

shades of jadeite, bark and white

YESS! I love this board. The ballroom has a brown walls, so I thought this could be a great way to use the walls as a backdrop to our colours. MOH can now start looking for bridesmaid dresses (see girls in upper left corner – love, love, LOVE the look).

So the verdict’s in, and it looks like Board #1 has won! Everyone, including J, voted for the more colourful and peppy palette. Now that that’s settled (for now – lord knows I’m going to change it again), where do I start??

Now that our venue is in place, we have to rehash the colour scheme. Sadly, the original colours I had put together (see here) will get too washed out in our venue. And I was totally in love with this palette! Sigh. Anyway, after being on planning hiatus for a good month and a bit, I’ve rolled up my sleeves and created two new inspiration boards.

You guys are actually the first ones to see it – I haven’t even shown J the new boards. The first board is an emerald + aquamarine scheme. I love it because it’s fresh, which makes it perfect for a spring wedding, and the colours are neither overly feminine or masculine.

Emerald, chartreuse, aquamarine + whites

The second board is my dove grey, coral, blush + ivory palette. A very pretty colour combination and modern, too. It’s definitely softer, but still makes a big impact.

dove grey, coral, blush + ivory

I know, two very strong competitors. I won’ t tell you what my preference is, but it would be great to get some feedback on which palette you like better! The sooner I decide, the sooner I can get cracking on other things! I’m wondering what J will choose – the obvious pick is the first board since there is no remote signs of pink in it, but I’m actually not convinced that he will be that predictable.

Ok, I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday. J and I haven’t booked our venue yet, and the popular places in Toronto are all getting snapped up. So last night, I put a list together for J to go through, with all our current potentials, including details, website links and images.

This morning, I made 3 phone calls. One of them was to Liuna Station. We are not going to have our wedding here, but it is seriously so gorgeous that I can’t not talk about it. This is saying a lot, considering the fact that I’ve never been there, and it’s in Hamilton.

Yes, within that dirty Hamilton smog, there’s stands a place that shines so bright, it even caught MY eye (the pickiest eye of all). This venue used to be a rail station, part of the Canadian National Railway. It was built in 1929, and closed back in 1993. Then in 1996, it was used in the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight, with lots of money spent in renovations (apparently X-Men has been filmed there, too). Anyway, it was bought by the Labourer’s International Union of North America, which is how it came to be known as LIUNA Station.

Enough with the talk, let’s move on to the photos (all photos belong to liunastation.com).

I believe these drapes are by Versace (no joke, it says so on their site).

So if you are looking for a venue in Hamilton, look no further! Packages are reasonably priced, and as I’ve been told, the photos don’t do the space justice.

Ok, now that I’ve stopped pimping out LIUNA Station, I can chat a little bit about my state of mind. Up until 15:45 this afternoon, I was having a crisis. What happened at exactly that time? J and I went to scout our latest venue… and for the first time, we were wowed. YES! We had not felt that way about any of the places we’d seen, but today, we were very pleasantly surprised, and now I’m super excited.  I won’t tell you where it is yet (how else can I get you readers to come back?), but hopefully by next week – before June 1st, our deadline, to be exact -  we have a space for our wedding!

As you all know, I’ve been talking about venues for the past 3 months – you’d be unhappy to know that J and I still have not booked our venue. And as the title of this post says, the pressure is ON. We’re going into wedding high season, and people are booking their places while we’re still left behind.

There’s a few things I’ve learned in this process, so new to-be-brides, take heed.

Choose a space you fall in love with…
You certainly should choose a venue that makes your jaw drop the first time you see it. Why go with something anything less?

…but don’t be too picky
Being too picky has faltered our decision to make a decision. The more we prolong, the more spaces get booked up by everyone else.

Try and keep your guest list small
This is only if it’s possible, and if you’re looking for unique downtown venues. Once you go over 200, your list of gorgeous potential venues get cut in half (at the least). And of course, the smaller your guest list, the lower your overall cost. That venue takes up a huge chunk of your budget!

Make compromises
There are a lot of great venues in the city of Toronto, at all different price points. If you start well ahead of time, you will find a space that’s perfect for you. Don’t necessarily go somewhere you don’t like because it’s super cheap, and don’t go somewhere you can’t afford just because you love the location of the venue. Take all aspects into consideration – give and take, and you can make a space that was just ok into gorgeous..

It’s never too early
I feel like we’re really learning this lesson the hard way. There are still quite a few venues available that we like, but our original laundry list of selections have definitely shrunk. If you fall in love with a space, book it. Even if it’s 2 years away (just make sure you’re engaged first).

For those who are looking for Toronto venues, here are a few links that have been extremely helpful:

Biz Bash – event planning industry website with lots of Toronto venues and reviews
Venue Source – excellent venue site with contact information, capacity listings, images and virtual tours
Boston Avenue – venue listing (and portfolio with images) of Boston Avenue Photo Co.
Chow Hound – website all about eating; great for forums and reviews on caterers/wedding venues and their food