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)
After getting the suit from Indochino, we still have vest/shirt and a pair of shoes to look for!!
So we’d give Syd Silver Formal a try. Syd Silver is famous for renting all the formal wear. We actually want to buy instead of rent mainly the fact that we might have another little reception in Vancouver.
After speaking to the Syd Silver’s salesman on Yonge and College location, he referred us to go check out the warehouse outlet location at 70 Wingold Ave.
We went to the outlet and surprisingly that they have Alex’s size!! His size vest, shirt and shoes! That’s so awesome!
And the best part is, after haggling with the salesman, we got the vest, shirt, shoes and ties for total for $200! And we pick up everything right away instead of waiting for few weeks or months!!
Now, Alex’s wedding outfit mission is considered completed!
Tags: tuxedo
01.Jun.08 wedding Comments (0)
Today mark the day that Alex got his perfect fit suit from Indochino . I actually found Indochino’s name through a blog on National Post. It was by Jesse Kinos-Goodin’s Man with Wedding Plan. It was under one of his blog entry called “Man with a Wedding Plan: Tuxedos the easy way“. I got so impressed by his blog that I decided to check out Indochino. First of all, it’s a Canadian company based in Victoria, B.C., but the suit was made in Shanghai, China. We didn’t really care where it was made as long as it is good quality.
I was quite impressed on how easy to get a suit made ONLINE. Indochino’s site provide images or videos for instruction on how to measure. I measured Alex from top to toe and then we just bought the suit online. Two weeks after, the suit is here.
Despite the fact that Alex is 6 feet 6″ tall, and have long arms, we were having a difficult time to find a custom made suit that the price tag is not over our budget. The custom made suit in toronto all start with at least $1000 CAD if you want a 120 thread count tuxedo. I know ordering suits or clothes online is risky because you never really know how it fits.
However, Indochino said that they will refund you $25 if it ever needs alteration, OR you can return the whole suit too. So we took our risk and ordered it.
And? The suit is great! It’s 150 thread count, and 100% wool. I think it’s very nicely made, and the cut is great! There’s only few things that need to get fixed up (eg. button won’t go through the button hole, the arm is a bit long, and the waist is an inch wide) but nothing major.
And how much is the suit? $265 CAD including shipping and taxes. AWESOME deal.
I guess now Alex just need to find his vest and a shirt 
See the photos below if you like to see other than just front view
Tags: Toronto Wedding & Bridal Resources, toronto wedding blog, tuxedo
30.May.08 wedding Comments (0)
I know it’s only 80 day till my big day. Now I have to seriously watch what I am eating.
It’s not like I need to go on a diet to lose 30lbs… but I think it might be a good post for those who wants to change their lifestyle to lose weight.
1. set Realistic and Small goals - eat smaller portion and avoid unhealthy food
setting a goal to lose 40lbs might be good, but what happen after 40lbs? you gonna keep it up or you gonna gain it all back?
I personally set small and realistic goal for me. Right now, all I am trying to do is to eat smaller portion and avoid unhealthy food. Instead of looking at the number of pounds that I should be losing, I am looking at conditioning my body with better food and not eat a huge portion at one shot
2. Frequent meals
It’s actually pretty bad to eat only 3 meals a day. You are really starving your body till certain time of the day and then stock up with a lot more food that you should consume. So I am now trying to cut my lunch and dinner portion in half.. and eat small snacks in between meals. Small snacks can be a bowl of cereal, fruit salad, or two cookies.
3. Maintain active lifestyle
Losing weight is basically you spent more energy than what you take in. Now I will be playing 3 nights of Ultimate in summer, it will definitely keeps me active and burning my extra calories.
Active lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to go to gym. In fact, I am quitting gym in July. Gym is just another evil corporation like cellphone companies in Canada. $80 a month for membership? I would invest it to my RRSP.
Active lifestyle are things like walking to work, carrying grocery bags from supermarkets, climbing stairs, cleaning the house..etc. As long as you are moving, you are burning off your extra energies.
4. It’s a lifestyle that you are changing, not a number of weight that you are losing
If you seen my photos on my wedding site, you’d know that I lost 50lbs before. And to maintain my body not to gain weight is extremely difficult. I personally gained back 15lbs when I moved to downtown toronto. Everyday I am just fighting not to gain anymore weight is really stressful. Now I realize that, if I only thinks about follow the above 3 rules I set for my life, then it is less stressful for me to think about losing weight.
So, that’s it. 4 simple tips!
Now I can go get my yogurt in the fridge for my afternoon snacks.
20.May.08 wedding Comments (0)
