Alex and I came to Vancouver after our wedding. My parents want to setup another small reception for their friends. The place is held at Fortune House restaurant at Metrotown, Burnaby, BC.
My mom and I went to this “T.Flamingo Hair Salon” at Granville and 70th St in Vancouver. I asked for an Up-Do because my dress is an evening dress.
Up-do front view
Up-do sideview
Up-do hair backview
We came to Fortune House at around 6:30pm, we took some picture in front of the “dragon” and the “phoenix”.
Toasts with the guests!
It was a simple dinner with my parents friends. The food is awesome and the atmosphere is full of joy and cheer. Woot!
18.Aug.08 
wedding 
Comments (0)
It might be a good idea for me to write up some tips for those brides who are also planning the biggest event of their life.
1. Spend most of your money on your food, photography and flower. People know how to entertain themselves at the reception, it’s the food that make them unforgettable for the evening.
2. If you are having a small wedding like mine, and just go by traditional type like mine, make sure you bring out the dessert table EARLY. A lot of people were waiting for Alex and I cutting the wedding cake, and a lot of my guests left after that, if the dessert table comes out too late, it will be a waste. I would recommend to come out the same time as the last course.
3. If you are planning to have a wedding at Old Mill Inn, if it’s popular wedding days.. you might find the garden completely packed!! Either have the ceremony just before the reception, and have your photos taken earlier in the day. Or have your ceremony early in the day so you can have time to take photos in between.
4. Bring a dancing shoe. I took some wedding photos earlier in the day with my dress shoes. Boy, it really hurts my feet after couple hours of wearing. I changed to a white walking shoe for reception. It worked perfect! No one can see it because your dress will be covering it.
5. Speech? Please write down your speech in point form. If you are a type of person who gets nervous making speech in front of people, then I am sure you will forget half of the stuff you suppose to say as well. Write them down in point form and remind what you suppose to say. Oh, and R–E–L–A–X, it’s just a speech 
6. Appoint someone to help you out with the schedule. The only reason why my schedule of my wedding was behind is because i didn’t have anyone who can coordinate with the DJ and the Kitchen. We were toasting with water cuz we JUST realize that we need to do a toast, and no one went to grab a glass of wine to do the toast. *sigh*
Remember, you will be the center of the attention on your wedding day, and you will be in your beautiful dress for the whole night. You won’t be able to do everything, so plan ahead and ask someone to help you out before hand.
Stay tuned!
Tags: toronto wedding blog, wedding, wedding resources
13.Aug.08 wedding Comments (0)
Friday turned out to be a shinny day in the afternoon. We got to Old Mill around 5:15pm, and we started to take some wedding photos at the garden.
The only problem is that, there were too many people in the garden taking photos!! All the nice spot had been taken, and we have to end up taking some indoor shots as well.
The guests slowly showed up around 6:30 and 7:00pm. The cocktail hour suppose to end around 8..but we end up missing the whole 8pm and 8min speech because we were running behind schedule.
(table setting: my orchid centre piece and each person has a Polariod name card (made from Fuji Instax mini 20) on a mini easel. I also gave everyone a little tadpole tea strainer and mini tea can to bring home)
Alex’s bestman -Eric started the welcoming toast, but because we are behind schedule, we didn’t even have wineglass in our hands!! We have to use our water to do the toast!! lol.
After that, the dinner starts, everyone had their soup, and then salad, and then the main course. Eric did another speech, and Linda did a speech as well.
After dessert, Alex gave his speech, he’s so nervous that he forgets half of what he suppose to say. As for me, I briefly talked about our story, thank all the guests who came, and all the people who had helped to make this event happen.
After the dinner, we have our centrepiece games, people can bring home the beautiful flower arrangement done by Parist Florist. After that, we have our first dance. Literally, it’s our “First Dance”. We have never rehearsed. The song that I picked was from this Japanese artist-Utada Hikaru’s song “Fly Me to the Moon”. I find this song gives a kick than Frank Sinatra’s original “Fly Me to the Moon”
And after the dance, we had our bouquet toss and garter toss.
(notice my shoes? I changed to walking shoes for better dancing performance!)
At around 11:15pm.. the dessert table came out, and we get to cut our wedding cake
Even though everything runs behind schedule.. but we still manage to have a fun time. This is the biggest day and event I ever planned. I don’t think it was perfect, but at the end everyone had fun and that’s all that matters.
There were lots of things and details that I could have made the event better, but I’ve tried my best, and everyone keep complimenting on the food, the venue, the music, and everything. I have nothing but to say “Thanks” to everyone who came.
Tags: toronto wedding blog, wedding, wedding resources
12.Aug.08 wedding Comments (0)
The day had came and done, it was so fast and so tiring that it took me over a day to recover myself.
The morning preparation was basically getting my bridesmaid, my mom and my hair & makeup done. We have to make sure we brought our rings and our marriage license to the CityHall to get married!
(my final hair/makeup, and here’s my brother and I took a picture in my condo)
When we arrived in CityHall wedding chamber, there were two couple lined up before us to get married as well. So it got us an hour late to get married!
Click here to see our Ceremony video
Click here to see we signing our wedding register
There was around 20 people who came to witness the Ceremony. Alex prepared his own vows, and I didn’t have one because I thought we would be using the standard one from the cityhall. lol
It was an exciting moment especially when the minister pronounced us “Husband & Wife”. We exchanged our rings and we signed the marriage register. The whole process took less than 30 min. It was short and sweet.
After the Ceremony, we brought everyone to Osgoode Hall to take some group photos. We didn’t like the background setting at the Toronto CityHall itself.
After the group shots, Kevin took us around Osgoode Hall and University Ave for some wedding shot.
It will take another months before Kevin can process all the photos, but stay tuned for Reception details…
Tags: toronto wedding blog, wedding, wedding resources
11.Aug.08 wedding Comments (0)
After dropping off all the wedding favors and stuffs to Old Mill, I quickly head to Raida’s flowershop to take a look of my centre pieces and bouquet.
The flowers are lovely!! I love orchids!
Headtable Centrepiece
Guest centrepiece
Large flower arrangement for decoration
Finally, my bouquet and Linda’s bouquet (Mine is on the left, and Linda’s on the right)
Raida will wrap the bottom of the bouquet with gold ribbon, it’s gonna look very very lovely!
Her total charge for all my flower needs is around $1200. It includes
7 centre pieces include vase
1 head table centre piece
2 large flower arragement
1 bride bouquet
1 bridesmaid bouquet
corsages and flower for my parents, Alex’s mom, and 3 other girls who are helping me coordinating the event.
2 hair pieces for my mom and me
I find the pricing reasonable, and Raida is soooo nice. If you are thinking getting your own custom flower, talk to Raida from Paris Florists.
08.Aug.08 wedding Comments (0)
After these 6 months of planning.. the day is coming on Friday. Many people had asked me that if I am nervious or excited, believe me, it’s more like “I-just-want-this-to-be-over-with”.
I am anxious of details that I might miss.
Photographer - I had Kevin Lam to take my wedding photo. My company had used him for several events, we love his photos!
Florist - Paris Florist, Raida from Paris Florist is very easy to work with. She will sort out all my flower needs.
Wedding Cake - Cindy from The Wedding Cake Shoppe will make my wonderful 2-tier chocolate cake with mango filling and strawberry filling
Wedding DJ - Brian from High Five Entertainment will provide my music for the night.
Fidelia Makeup - Fidelia will do her magic for my hair and make up.
Wedding Favor - I got those mini tea can and tea strainer for each guest, and also they get to bring home their polaroid photo name card as gift as well.
Wedding Ceremony at CityHall - yep! we got the marriage license and cash!
I think the only thing that we didn’t do is to practice our First Dance. I guess now it’s literally “First Dance” for me and Alex for sure.
Tags: toronto wedding blog, wedding, wedding resources
06.Aug.08 wedding Comments (0)
Finally, after one month and half wait, my photos are now here in my hands. Jon from Union Photography dropped them off this afternoon with care. I ordered 1 8″x12″ with 16″X22″ frame for extra large signing mat that I will be using it as guestbook at my reception.
Here’s all my engagement photos. It’s around 36 images, so get ready to scroll. I will later take those and feature them on my alexandpatty.com homepage.. stay tuned.
Osgoode Hall
The Docks
The Distillery District (well, it’s near there, I don’t remember exactly where..)
Don Valley Brickworks
Tags: engagement photos, toronto, Toronto Wedding & Bridal Resources, toronto wedding blog
22.Jul.08 wedding Comments (4)
on June 25th, Alex and I along our two friends - Gloria & Maureen to taste our Menu for the wedding reception.
First of all, my general impression of it was that they were not extraordinary, but it’s acceptable.
The Soup - Caramelized Butternut Squash Soup
For some reason, I don’t think I actually ordered this soup, the one I actually ordered is Sweet Potato & Roasted Pepper Bisque. Anyhow, this soup is not too bad, but it does not impress me as something that cost $6.50. The portion is small. It’s a cup size.
The Salad - Romaine Hearts, Radicchio, Red Oak, Endive & Watercress - with candied Pecans, Gorgonzola Cheese, Sherry - Black Truffle Vinaigrette
I think the Salad is absolutely wonderful. The taste of it is amazing. I just think it need more pecan and cheese.
The Main Course - Oven Roasted Breast of Chicken
Filled with Spinach, Ricotta and Red Pepper with Basil Cabernet Sauce
Medley of Market Fresh Vegetables
Rosemary Roasted Chateau Potatoes
It’s actually too bad when we got the food from them for the tasting, the chicken was abit too dry. I was not very happy that I actually have to talk to the chef and the catering manager to make sure everything is done right. Overcooked chicken? big no no.
The Dessert - Venetian Rhapsody
Chocolate, Hazelnut and Mocha Italian Ice Cream Tower embossed with The Old Mill Crest
Accompanied with Red Wine Berry Compote
Literally, this is just an ice cream but setup a fancy way. This is actually not my ice cream when I got it. This is actually Gloria and Maureen’s ice cream. The one we had has no crest stamped on it, and the ice cream has freezer burn.
So after the food tasting, we immediately address those issue to the Chef and the Catering manager. Especially this 4 course meal is 62 dollar person, then I really want to get them done right.
Tags: menu tasting, old mill in, toronto
10.Jul.08 wedding Comment (1)
Today I have Fidelia to do a trial for my wedding hair and makeup. 
I personally prefer the makeup to be a bit more natural, can you tell there are actually two different color on the eye shadow? lol
Hair Trial # 1 - Half up-do
I think it’s pretty nice, however, it’s not exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for something either fully updo or let the hair down.
Hair Trial # 2 - Up-do
I even try the vail with the hair..
Hair Trial # 3 - Up-do version 2
Now, how about bringing back the bangs and change it up for a bit?
Hair Trial # 4 - hair down
I personally like this hair style the most. I will probably have the hair down and then have the curl at the bottom of the hair.
Tough call. I love either the updo or the down style.. now I guess I have a month left for me to decide which one to go for.
Tags: bridal hair, hair style, makeup, Toronto Wedding & Bridal Resources, toronto wedding blog, wedding hair
21.Jun.08 wedding Comments (0)
this past Wednesday, we had our photographer Jon from Union Photo to take our engagement photos. We went to Don Valley Brickworks, The docks, The Distillery area and Osgoode Hall. Jon brought all his equipment, and drove us around in his compact red car, and everything was done quick and professional, we had tons of photos taken in 3 hours!
We were quite worried about the weather because it was about to rain, and the photos might not turn out so well.
Jon sent us some teasers on the same day! They are absolutely stunning!!! We love them!!! Now I guess we’ll have wait for Jon to process the rest of the photos!
Jon, we heart you!
07.Jun.08 wedding Comment (1)
