1. Bride’s wedding outfit and groom’s tuxedo
The rule of thumb for getting wedding dress is at least 6 months ahead. And I think most of the girls would do the dress hunting right after the venue are done deal.
The dress usually takes around 4 months to arrive, and then you have to fit it couple times in case you need some sort of alteration. Again, see if you can bargain your way to include the alteration!
And how to pick a good dress? As long as the material is light and not heavy. My wedding dress was made of Taffeta, it’s light for me to wear it for the full day.
For guy’s tuxedo, it’s usually one month ahead. Some groom I know just use regular black suits. So just pick whatever works.
related post:
2. Choosing a wedding photographer
Choosing a wedding photographer is like choosing an artist that will document your biggest day of your life. If you have a bit of budget in hand, find the best wedding photographer you can for your money. I had two photographers, Jon from Union Photo for my engagement photos. And Kevin Lam for my wedding photos. Both are different type of styles. I would say Jon from Union Photos are more sleek and fashionable, and Kevin is very documentary style. I love both of their works!
So while searching for photographer, make sure you find out the pricing first and find out what service are included in the price. Most of photographers pricing can come in between 2000 to 5000. It depends on what type of service they provide. There’s a website called “WeddingWire.com“, it has people’s real review for their vendors. Perhaps it will be a good starting point to search photographers online.
So while you are looking for a wedding photographer, keep those in mind:
- What pricing package that the photographer offer?
- The price for 6 hours coverage? 8 hours coverage? What’s the overtime costs?
- Does photographer comes with an assistant?
- Does pricing include prints? and any extra print credit if you decide to enlarge one of the photo later?
- Does photographer also provide videography?
Usually I look for my photographers online, and my number 1 criteria is their website and then their portfolio. If their websites are ugly or hard to navigate or difficult to read, I doubt the artistic level of the photographer especially they can’t even fix up their own website! Other than the website, of course their portfolio next. You can get a pretty good vibe after seeing range of photos. Of course your photos will be created on the fly, so there’s nothing 100% guarenteed. Yet, a good photographer will make sure everything will turn out nicely on your big day.
I actually found Jon from Union Photo through Facebook Ad. lol. When I get to his website, I was like “wow”. He has a beautiful website! And then I saw his portfolio, they are amazing! That’s why I have no hesitation to book him. Someone else actually booked him for my same wedding day. That’s why I only had him for our engagement photos only.
And for my wedding photographer, Kevin Lam. I actually found him through one of my work function. He had taken few of my work events. I love his photos. So I contacted him to see if he’s available for wedding photography. At the time when I interviewed him, he didn’t have alot of wedding portfolio. However, with his other documentary work, I believe he will be an awesome photographer at my wedding. So I booked him and the photo did come out beautifully!
Both Jon and Kevin are great, the pricing difference is that with Jon, you can only get the digital high res file after you have purchase the photo. With Kevin, he gave you 200 prints and all the High res photos on DVD. We didn’t take the actual 200 prints, we end up just turning it into one canvas print.
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3. Wedding Color
Choosing the wedding color, it’s all come down to your personal taste. So pick “one” color as your main theme, and then choose another color to either compliment with it or use it as contrast color.
Most of the wedding banquet hall or venue always have white as their table cloth, napkins, chair cover..etc. Unless you want to spend extra money to change the “default” theme that the venue provided, your wedding color basically adds the accent to the whole place.
The color applies to your wedding dress, your bridesmaids’ dress, groom’s tie, bouquets, centrepieces, cake and decorations.
So for example, if you love “red”, you can get your bridesmaid all wearing red dress, they can hold bouquet with a color that will compliment red (eg. white,yellow,orange..etc). And because most of the wedding dresses are either ivory or white, you can use the color in your bouquet. And the same concept goes to having the centre piece with red flower, or a cake with red flowers around..etc.
Check out TheKnot’s My Real Wedding section, there’s a “color” drop down box you can choose to see what other people had done with the color for their wedding.
I personally love the color Brown and Orange, so I had Linda (my bridesmaid) to wear a brown color dress, and we both have an yellow/orange colored bouquet. Choosing a color is never difficult, it only look scary when you try to put all different kind of color everywhere. The key is “consistency”, so just pick one, and then work your way from there.
There this site called Colorlovers.com it has colors, patterns..etc. You can look for color palette there as a start.
4. Wedding Flowers
After you have chosen your color theme for your wedding, you can then start working on your color of your flowers. Fresh flowers or artificial flowers, it doesn’t matter, as long as they are consistent for what you are trying to present for your wedding.
The best bang of the buck for the bouquets are in-season flower and local grown flowers. For ontario, there’s a site called OntarioFlowers.com, check out their flower library section , and there are also post online that you can find flower by season.
There are also some people decided to go for artificial flowers, There’s a company in Missauaga called Flora Seda International. They don’t have catalog online but it might worth to give them a call.
Related links:
5. Wedding Decoration (Centrepieces, wedding favors..etc)
Sometimes you don’t need fancy centre pieces, you can be very creative with it. For example you can probably get a cheap vase from IKEA and fill it water, put some fake flower or real flower in the water, and float with some votive candles. Or better yet, just a plate of fruits. lol.
I went to my friend’s Chinese wedding banquet hall, she has a plate of orange as centre piece and lucky bamboo in shot glass as wedding favors!
Sometime have the centrepiece double duty might be a good idea too. You probably can use the reception centrepieces as decoration for the ceremony. And if you have a lot of bridesmaid, you can probably use their flowers as centrepiece slater 
Do a search on Flickr, you will see what people had done for their centrepiece.
And for wedding favors, it’s also up to your budget. You don’t need something really fancy, probably a small box of chocolate does its job. My wedding favors consist of a mini tea can and tea strainer I got from DealExtreme.com. I didn’t want to give out anything that people won’t keep or won’t use.
I actually did a fair of wedding favor research, but then I soon realize that most of them might consider as “junk” later. So I kept it simple and low in budget. And once you add ribbon to your favors, it brings up the value of the gift
Here’s few places that you can hunt for your decorations and favors:
- Kijiji Free Classified
- Craigslist Classified – first select your city, and then you can search absolutely anything from there. Yes, it includes wedding favors and decorations
- IKEA – IKEA has cheap and good looking vases! It might boost your creative juice once you visit the store. There’s even a IkeaHacker site that are dedicated for people who loves playing with IKEA stuff!
- DealExtreme.com – I got my tea strainer there
- Dollar Store and local craft store
Then again, the key for your decorations is to make sure they are all on the same color theme. Consistency will bring everything together, and it will look better on the photographs or videos as well!
I am going to write up another post for the rest of the planning details. I have no idea I have wrote so much just for these few points!
Stay tuned!
related post:
Tags: Toronto Wedding & Bridal Resources, toronto wedding blog, wedding decorations, wedding flowers, wedding photography, wedding resources
27.Feb.09 
wedding 
Comment (1)
One couple of my friends are getting married sometimes in 2010. The couple is now starting their full force to work on their wedding. Yet, my friend still have no clue how to start planning one.
I am not a professional wedding planner, but I tried my best to plan one. So here’s how you can start…
1. Pick a date and time
I think this is the BASIC of all wedding, you need a date!! Friday, Saturday or Sunday, doesn’t matter, just pick one!
However, sometimes venue will give discount if it’s Friday. Old Mill gave us 15% discount for our total cost. So it was a sweet deal. Yet the problem is that if you want to have ceremony during the day, not everyone can make it because most of us are working!
And if you are concern about the weather how it might turn out, check out historical stats from the weather network. (I only link to Toronto’s historical stats, but you can always check out other cities). Usually the summer months in Toronto looks pretty good in terms of rain precipitation!
Another way is to pick a date that is easy to remember. Usually it’s not for the bride, it’s for the groom!
Once you set the date, stick with it. The rule of thumb is the larger guest number you gonna have, the earlier you should book the date! some people book their venue two years ahead!! It’s crazyness!
Lastly, you should try to schedule your reception right after your ceremony.
I have friends having ceremony in the morning and she has to wake up at 3am to prep everything!
My ceremony was at 2:30pm and I had to wake up at 8 am to prep everything, it’s very time consuming!
Therefore it’s best to have your ceremony sometimes in the afternoon, and then following the reception right away. It keeps the momentum and the guests won’t have to waste the whole day for your wedding.
2. Set your budget and do your possible headcount
There’s no question that money is number one issue for wedding planning. My original goal was to have a wedding 20K and less. I managed to meet that by trying to get the most out of my money.
I also prioritize the list of guests to come to our wedding. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t invite your neighbours or your coworkers. Setting priority of guests are more important to keep your budget in place.
(Some people will thank you not to invite them to pay for their meal!)
I personally invited around 80 people, and 60 people came to the wedding! The venue usually will quote for the possible headcount, and you will need to pay deposit to secure the date. If your guestlist turn out to the less than the quoted price, the venue will refund you money.
3. Pick a Venue – Part I
Picking Venue is not always easy, I personally searched 5 venues. It’s a lot of phone calls, emails, price comparison and time for sure. The first thing when you call a venue, they will always ask what’s your approx. guest count. So if you done your homework for point #2, then it’s easy job for ya. Always ask for a quote for the same number of guests, and get as much detail breakdown as possible.
And what’s your best bang for the buck venue? Restaurants or Hotels.
Mainly reason is because they have everything there! The kitchen, the tables, the cutlery, plates..etc. Some room that the restaurants or Hotels provided are probably decorated already. You will save some money towards your decoration.
The very first place that we looked at was an art gallery at Distillery District. The gallery is beautiful. I fell in love with it. However, after I saw the price breakdown, I backed up and went screaming! If you are hosting your reception where the place doesn’t provide the table, the chair, the kitchen, the server..etc. You will end up paying everything just to make this reception happen. Read my “reception insanity” blog here. Check out the Thompson Landry Art Gallery Post.
If you are as frugal as I am, don’t go that route. Try to find the best you can find without paying extra price tag for …everything!
Here are the questions that you can ask when searching for the venue:
For the Ceremony
- Find out the time slot that’s available for the day that you wish to have your wedding. If you are booking for Friday, then try to have the Ceremony later of the day, and then it follows the reception right after, so you won’t waste time.
- Find out where you will have your ceremony in the property? if it has a chapel? If it’s a chapel, what’s the chapel rental fee?
Can the ceremony hosted outdoor? It there any extra fee if hosted outdoor?
- Can you bring your marriage officiant? or you have to use the one provided by the venue?
If you have to use the one provided by the venue, how much would that cost?
- What’s the refund policy?
For the Reception
- Make sure you ask as detail as you can about the room, e.g. What’s the max capacity of the people in the room?
- Ask the venue if they provide cake table or head table.
- If the chair covers are included? (unless they have real nice looking chairs.)
- If table clothes, table numbers, votive candles, and receiving line table (for guest sign in ) are provided?
- If venue can provide a easel on the table or on the floor so that you can place your engagement photo for people to see, or poster(s) with guest lists.
- While you are in the reception room, also ask where the bar, DJ will be in the room. Other equipment is that you can ask if they provide projection video screen, microphone, or any speakers.
- Find out where is the possible table layouts. Some place I went have dance floor right in front of the head table, and the guests table goes around the dance floor. The Balmoral room in The Old Mill, it’s the same floor through out, so the coordinator at Old Mill helped out layout the tables so we can have a little dance floor area.
- Also, ask what is the time you can have your venue till. Ours was till 1am only. After 1am, there’s extra fee. So just make sure you ask those.
4. Pick a Venue – Part II
- Find out your basic food per person. The biggest price difference for each menu is mostly the food. Some venue will give you a list of packaged up menu that they have. Some venue will ask you to pick the food. Whichever is fine, but do your math. We picked our food from the set package except we didn’t go with the open bar. So the food itself is $62 CAD per person. And we’ll host all the drinks that were consumed that night.So far most of the meal price I’ve seen, the basic cost is around 55 to 65 CAD dollar per person. (not including alcohol and extras). So you can probably do your math from those numbers first to set your budget.
- Open Bar, Host Bar or Cash Bar? The reason that we didn’t pick open bar is because most of my friends are non-alcohol drinkers. However, we still want our families and friends to have fun on us, so we decided to go for host bar. And if you are limited with your budget, cash bar might be a better idea. And watch out for the open bar, you might be limited with certain brands of liquor. There’s also time limitation for open bar as well. So ask your Venue if they limit certain type of liquor if it’s open bar and how long you can have your open bar!
- Dessert or No Dessert? I personally think having your wedding cake as your dessert is far more than enough. (especially for small wedding like mine!) I had tons of dessert at my wedding except everyone is too tired to stay later to have those!!! Unless you know people will be staying later and dance whole night. Having a bit of dessert is a good idea.
- Menu Tasting. With Old Mill, they have menu tasting for your menu would be at your wedding. I think it’s a good idea to always try out your food before your set foot on the menu. The only thing is that, they charge full price for the food. So if it’s 62 dollar per person at my wedding, it’s 62 dollar for the menu tasting. Some place might offer complimentary menu tasting (e.g. Fairmount Royal York). Yet Fairmount is double the price for the actual wedding meal compare to The Old Mill! Argh.
5. Pick your wedding party
For me, it’s quite simple, I have a small wedding, so I only have one maid of honor, and Alex has one best man. But I think the ratio is 1 to every 50 guests. If you are not sure how many bridesmaid you should have, if you have 200 guests, then 1 maid of honor and 3 bridesmaids are all you need.
I personally paid the dress for my maid of honor (Linda) because I would feel bad to dedicate works to Linda and then she has to pay for her own dress! However, it seems like it’s normal for people here to ask bridesmaid to pay for their own dress. (*sigh*)
In conclusion, keep your wedding party simple! The best man usually will help out the groom to pick out outfits, the wedding ring, or become the chauffeur for the big day. The maid of honor or bridesmaid usually help you out planning the wedding. They are also the best people you can rely on coordinating the event as well.
6. Now, start the wedding details!
I guess I will write out the rest of the details on my second post. But here’s what I will have:
- Wedding Dress/Groom outfit
- Wedding Photographer
- Wedding Flowers
- Wedding DJ
- Wedding favors
- Wedding cake
Stay tuned!
related post:
Tags: Toronto Wedding & Bridal Resources, toronto wedding blog, wedding, wedding resources
24.Feb.09 wedding Comments (0)
I have been organizing my soccer team for 6 seasons now. From time to time, my team always lacks girl players to show up to the game. So I have to end up emailing all my friends and coworkers! Sometimes I would be lucky enough to get someone to come out, but half of the time no one can make it.
And I just realize something, hey, if you want to get in shape but you don’t want to spend so much money at the gym, why not be a “sub” for recreational sports team?
Currently the biggest toronto sports club is Toronto SSC. http://www.torontossc.com
I have played Ultimate Frisbee, Floor Hockey and Soccer with this league.
If you go to TorontoSSC’s forum, you will be able to see the teams are looking for players. You can always just sub in games for those who needs players from time to time. It’s FREE and fun sports to do!
My soccer league is with XTSC. Most of the people I know actually post it on TorontoSSC’s forum and look for players from there.
So why spend money at the gym? If you commit yourself to those games, you will be in shape in no time! And what’s the best sports to get in shape, I would say “Ultimate Frisbee”. It works on your cardio and you run non-stop!!
Tags: fitness
04.Feb.09 fitness Comments (0)
Today I got a letter from my financial adviser saying that we get tax benefit, good news for everyone. Even though it’s nothing to do with the wedding stuff, but hey, if you live in Canada, you might want to see what stuff you can write off on your next tax filing season. (The more you can write off, the more you can save!)
I like the fact that we have some “Home Renovation Tax Credit”. I am about to redo my flooring from carpet to hardwood in this Spring, now I can write of 15% of it. Yay!
Here’s the email that Investors Group sent me:
On January 27th, 2009, Finance Minister James Flaherty presented the 2009 Federal Budget which contains several measures of interest to Investors Group and its clients. This summary contains highlights of these proposals, which are not yet law. Clients should contact their Investors Group Consultant for information on how these proposals may affect their financial plans.
Changes Impacting Individuals
Personal Tax Measures
Increase to the Basic Personal, Spousal and Eligible Dependant Amounts
The basic personal amount, the spousal and common-law partner amount, and the eligible dependant amount increased from $9,600 in 2008 to $10,100 for 2009. The Budget proposes to further increase these amounts to $10,320 for the 2009 taxation year.
While the basic personal amount is not income tested, the spousal or common-law partner and dependant amounts are reduced by the net income of the spouse, common-law partner or dependant on a dollar for dollar basis.
Increase to Income Tax Brackets
Although no changes were announced to personal tax rates, the Budget proposes to increase the two lowest personal income tax brackets for 2009 beyond previously announced increases (which were based on inflation in 2008). The current and proposed tax brackets for 2009 are:
|
Tax Rate
|
Tax Brackets
|
|
2008
Actual
|
2009
|
|
Current
|
Proposed
|
|
15%
|
Up to $37,885
|
Up to $38,832
|
Up to $40,726
|
|
22%
|
$37,886 – $75,769
|
$38,833 – $77,664
|
$40,727 – $81,452
|
|
26%
|
$75,770 – $123,184
|
$77,665 – $126,264
|
$81,453 – $126,264
|
|
29%
|
Over $123,184
|
Over $126,264
|
Over $126,264
|
The bracket thresholds will continue to be indexed to account for inflation for 2010 and future years.
Increase to the Age Credit
The age credit provides a non-refundable tax credit for individuals who are 65 years of age or older. The credit is calculated by multiplying the lowest personal tax rate (currently 15%) by an amount that is indexed on an annual basis. The Budget proposes to increase the amount upon which the age credit is calculated from $5,408 to $6,408 for 2009, with indexation of this amount continuing in future years.
The net income level at which the age credit begins to be phased out at a rate of 15% remains unchanged at $32,312. With the proposed increase in the credit amount, the income level at which the credit will be fully phased out will increase from $68,365 to $75,032.
Home Ownership
Home Renovation Tax Credit
The Budget proposes a temporary Home Renovation Tax Credit (“HRTC”), which will provide a 15% non-refundable income tax credit on eligible home renovation expenditures for work performed, or goods acquired, after January 27, 2009 and before February 1, 2010, pursuant to agreements entered into after January 27, 2009. The credit may be claimed on the 2009 tax return for the portion of eligible expenditures that exceeds $1,000 but is less than $10,000, and will provide up to $1,350 in tax relief (i.e., 15% multiplied by ($10,000 minus $1,000)).
Family members will be subject to a single limit based on their pooled expenditures. For this purpose, a “family” will generally be considered to consist of an individual, his or her spouse or common-law partner, and their children who were, throughout 2009, under the age of 18 years. Eligible dwellings are generally restricted to personal-use homes including houses, cottages, and condominium units.
Expenditures eligible for the HRTC
The HRTC is generally restricted to enduring renovations and alterations. Individuals will need to keep receipts for all expenditures.
Certain expenditures will generally be considered eligible, including renovating a kitchen, bathroom or basement, purchasing new carpet, hardwood floors, a new furnace or water heater, building an addition, deck, fence or retaining wall, painting the interior or exterior of a house, resurfacing a driveway, or laying new sod. Most costs associated with such projects will be eligible for the credit, including the cost of labour and professional services, permits, building materials, fixtures, equipment rentals and incidental expenses.
However, certain expenditures will generally be considered ineligible, including the cost of routine repairs and maintenance normally performed on an annual or more frequent basis, carpet cleaning, financing costs associated with a renovation (e.g. mortgage interest costs), the purchase of furniture and appliances (e.g. a refrigerator, stove or couch), audio-visual electronics, tools or construction equipment or maintenance contracts such as furnace cleaning, snow removal, lawn care and pool cleaning.
RSP Home Buyers’ Plan
The Home Buyers’ Plan (“HBP”) allows the owner of a registered retirement savings plan (“RRSP”) to withdraw amounts from their RRSP on a tax-free basis to purchase or build a home. The maximum amount that can currently be withdrawn from an eligible person’s RRSP under the HBP is $20,000. The Budget proposes that this withdrawal limit be increased to $25,000 with respect to withdrawals made after January 27, 2009.
In order to be eligible to use the HBP, the RRSP owner must be considered to be a “first-time home buyer”. You are not considered to be a first-time home buyer if, at any time during the period beginning January 1 of the fourth year before the year of the withdrawal and ending 31 days before the withdrawal, you or your spouse or common-law partner owned a home that you occupied as your principal place of residence. (Special rules apply where the home is being acquired for the needs of a disabled person.) An HBP participant must repay amounts that were withdrawn under the HBP to his or her RRSP over a 15-year period, or the unpaid amounts will be included in his or her taxable income.
First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit
The Budget proposes a new non-refundable tax credit for first-time home buyers who acquire a qualifying home after January 27, 2009. (The closing date for the purchase of the home must be after that date in order for the tax credit to be available.) The amount upon which the tax credit is calculated is $5,000, multiplied by the lowest personal income tax rate for the year (15%). The First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit may be claimed in the year in which the home is acquired.
A “qualifying home” is a home that is eligible under the Home Buyers’ Plan, and which the person or the person’s spouse or common-law partner intends to occupy as their principal place of residence not later than one year after the acquisition.
This new tax credit will also be available for the acquisition of a home acquired after January 27, 2009 either by an individual who is eligible for the Disability Tax Credit (“DTC”) or by an individual for the benefit of a relative who is eligible for the DTC. The home must be acquired to enable the DTC-eligible individual to live in a more accessible dwelling or in an environment better suited to the person’s needs.
The First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit may be claimed either by the person who acquired the home or by his or her spouse or common-law partner. If a qualifying home is purchased jointly, the total amounts claimed by the couple cannot exceed the credit that could be claimed if only one individual had acquired the home.
Other Changes Impacting Individuals
National Child Benefit Supplement and Canada Child Tax Benefit
The Budget proposes to increase by $1,894 the amount of income that families may earn before the National Child Benefit Supplement (“NCBS”) is fully phased out, or before the Canada Child Tax Benefit (“CCTB”) begins to be phased out. Specifically, for the 2009–10 benefit year, the income level at which the phase-out of the CCTB begins will increase to $40,726 (based on combined family income), and the income level at which the phase-out of the NCBS begins will increase by $1,894 such that it is completely phased out by $40,726 for the majority of families. This change is proposed to take effect for the 2009-10 benefit year, which begins in July 2009.
RRSP and RRIF Losses after Death
Upon the death of the owner of an RRSP or a RRIF, normally the fair market value of the registered account at the date of death is included in the deceased’s income for the year of death. Any increase in the value of the RRSP or RRIF assets from the date of death to the date that the assets are distributed is taxable to the beneficiaries. However, there is no provision under the Income Tax Act to recognize a decrease in value of the RRSP or RRIF assets that occurs after the date of death to the date the assets are distributed.
The Budget proposes that, upon the final distribution of the RRSP or RRIF assets, the amount of any post-death decrease in the value of the RRSP or RRIF assets may be carried back and deducted against the RRSP or RRIF amount that was reported as income on the final tax return of the deceased. The amount that can be carried back as a deduction is equal to the difference between the fair market value of the RRSP or RRIF at the date of death and the total amounts paid out of the RRSP or RRIF after the death of the RRSP/RRIF owner.
This measure will apply with respect to a deceased person’s RRSP or RRIF where the final distribution from the RRSP or RRIF occurs after 2008.
Extended Employment Insurance Benefits
The Budget proposes to:
- Freeze Employment Insurance (“EI”) employee premium rates for 2010 at $1.73, the same rate as 2009; and
- Increase all regular EI benefit entitlements by five extra weeks to a maximum of 50 weeks for the next two years.
Confirmation Regarding Re-Contribution of RRIF Minimums
In the November 27, 2008 Economic Statement, the Minister of Finance proposed that the minimum annual payout for 2008 applicable to a RRIF owner would be reduced by 25%. The proposal would allow a RRIF owner who had made a withdrawal from the RRIF in 2008 to re-contribute up to 25% of the “normal” RRIF minimum to a RRIF or to an RRSP (subject to age restrictions) and be able to claim a tax deduction for this re-payment amount. In the 2009 Budget, the federal government has confirmed its intention to proceed with the introduction of legislation to enact these proposals.
Changes Impacting Small Businesses
Small Business Limit
The Budget proposes to increase the small business limit from $400,000 to $500,000 as of January 1, 2009. The increase in the limit will be pro-rated for corporations with taxation years that do not coincide with the calendar year. The small business limit reduces the federal corporate income tax rate on qualifying active business income of a Canadian-controlled private corporation to 11% down from 19%.
Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance
Manufacturing and Processing
The Budget proposes to extend the 50% straight-line accelerated capital cost allowance (“CCA”) rate for eligible assets for two more years to include 2010 and 2011. The half-year rule will apply to manufacturing and processing assets subject to this measure.
Computers
The Budget proposes a temporary 100% CCA rate for eligible computers and software acquired after January 27, 2009 and before February 2011, an increase from the current rate of 55%. These items will not be subject to the half-year rule, so a business can fully deduct the cost of an eligible computer and the systems software in the first year.
Electronic Filing and Penalties
The Budget proposes that corporations with annual gross revenues in excess of $1 million for a taxation year be required to file their income tax returns for the year in electronic format. This change will apply for taxation years that end after 2009.
The Budget proposes to introduce a penalty for filing a corporate income tax return in an incorrect format, although no penalties will be introduced until 2011.
Tags: personal finance
29.Jan.09 life Comments (0)
Getting married? Due to the economy melt down, everyone is keeping their cash in their pocket.
However, have you noticed that there are tons of bargain these days?
January is a good month to look for your bridal gown (unless you already have your gown).
Take a look of several events for bridal shows happening in Toronto
Canada Bridal Show
http://www.canadasbridalshow.com/
metro convention centre, Jan 9, 10,11
Saving Tip: 2 for 1 ticket!
Ritche Bridal Super Sale
http://ritchebridal.com/
Montecassino Hotel, 3710 Chesswood Drive, Jan 15-Jan18,2009
Total Wedding Show
http://www.totalweddingshow.com/
International Centre, Jan 16-18, 2009
Wear White 4 Windfall Bridal Blow Out Sale
toronto.com’s event listing
WW4W’s website
Windfall,29 Connell Court, Unit #3, Toronto, ON, M8Z 5T7, 416-703-8435
Jan 24, 2009
Phone National Bridal Show
http://www.nationalbridalshow.com/spring
Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto. Jan 23-25
Saving Tips: They are giving out free ticket for bride to be. Click here to register.
Canada’s Wedding Expo
http://www.canadasweddingexpo.ca/
Feb 21-22,2009
Toronto Congress Centre North
650 Dixon Road,Toronto, Ontario, M9W 1J1. Tel: (416) 245-5000
I personally didnt’ go to those shows because I got engaged in March and got married in August. So I think I miss out couple big savings as well. However, if you are buying gowns, don’t forget to bargain.
How to bargain for cheaper brial gowns?
1.” No GST & PST – I’ll pay you cash!”
2. “No taxes & include alteration – I’ll pay you cash RIGHT NOW!”
3. And if they insist you to pay taxes, then you ask for some sort of free alteration or free accessory rentals.
You just have to bring your guts to the store or the booth to bargain it out. So it’s best to have your bridal party with ya. Peer pressure always works!
Right now it’s also a good time to buy your wedding decor and favours. Just because everything is in deep discount. So use your money and spend it wisely.
If you use visa or mastercard for most of your payments, make sure it collect some kind of points or pay you back with some dividends. Here’s a good read from Million Dollar Journey for using credit cards. It even compare top free cash dividend cards and top free reward cards.
I personally own 3 credit cards. Our house common expense goes onto our CIBC dividend card which gives back 1 % of spending that you did through out the year. My personal expense goes to my Scotia SCENE visa card which gives me free movies. And if we need to rent a car from time to time, I’ll use my TD bank’s gold select card for the free rental car insurance. Those are all free visa card with no annual fee. And I paid off my balance every single month.
However, it’s bargain time doesn’t mean you should blow all your money. Do your budgeting and homework before you take out that hard-earned cash.
Tags: gown, Toronto Wedding & Bridal Resources, toronto wedding blog, wedding, wedding resources
08.Jan.09 wedding Comments (2)
After 7 days staying at the Sandals Royal Bahamian, I think it would be good to write some review about this resort. (For whoever considering going there as their honeymoon/wedding destination)
It’s always better off to book the resort as a ‘flight and destination’ package through Air Canada vacation or westjet vacation. We got killed by booking them separately because of the US dollar to Canadian dollar exchange rate.
1. Our Room
Sandals Royal Bahamian Manor Luxury Oceanfront Concierge Room
We booked Sandals through their website. We booked the “Honeymoon Royal Village Delux”. For some reason, when we got there, I think our room turn out to be “Manor Luxury Oceanfront Concierge Room”, which has a view of the beach, ocean and sandals’ cay. The bed in the room is a king size bed with 4 posts. The bed is firm and comfortable. The room itself have a fully stocked bar and a mini fridge that they refill it every day.
In-room fully stock bar for all your drinking pleasure!
In-room mini fridge, it has white wine in the fridge, and all those drinks get refilled everyday!
There’s a sitting area where you can have your breakfast (Honeymooner gets ONE complimentary in room breakfast!) and drinks or just simply chill at the room. The first day when we arrived, the first thing we see is a bottle of champaign and a plate of sweets to congrat us for our honeymoon.
Champagne and sweets for honeymooner!
Review: I personally think the room itself is nice, and overall cleaness is excellent but it deserves renovation to upgrade its look. The room shows it’s age that I can find cracks on the wall, the sinks and the bath tile. And the bottom of the bathtub has tons of scratches. The faucet is beautiful european style but if I turn the faucet using too much strength, it might fell off. Because I am paying a lot of money per night to stay here, I would want to get a room that has a higher standard than what I see.
2. The Food
Royal Cafe's Cracked Conch
There are nine restaurants and a pizzaria at this resort, but they are not ALL 24 hours. That’s why we had abit of hard time finding food when we first arrive there. When we all settled and ready to head out for food, it’s already 4:00pm in the afternoon. There’s no restaurants open at that time except Royal Cafe and Pizzaria. Spices are open till 2pm only, and the rest of the restaurant they don’t open till after 5 or 6pm. And after 9pm or 10pm most of the restaurants are closed except The Cricketer’s Pub.
The first thing that we had to do is to book Baccarat and Cafe Goombay because those require reservation and you can only dine there once a week!! However, Baccarat also do breakfast, Cafe Goombay also do lunch without reservation.
Rank the restaurants in the resort:
DINNER:
- Baccarat – excellent food and beautifully presented. Especially the Hors d’ Oeuvres and the Main entree. (soup and salads are so so, so if you want to not get too full from the meal, don’t order those)
- Crystal Room – excellent food, but the service takes forever to get to us. The food is not as good as Baccarat. lol
- Casanova – we had our xmas dinner there, they have a anti-pesto area to pick up some appetizers. The food is cooked very nicely and beautifully presented as well.
- Cafe Goombay - nicely presented food, but not as good as we thought. For some reason, all entree comes with a square block of mac and cheese (yuck!). Alex ordered lamb curry, we thought it would be authentic but turns out to be lambs with gravy sauces, boo. I ordered 2 fish dish, one is fried fish and another one is grilled grouper. The Grill grouper is excellent, the fried fish is okay.
- Kimono – A Japanese tepanyaki restaurant. The caribean chef prepares the food in front of you. The table sits 10 people. If you are lucky, you get an interactive chef that plays food game with ya. We are not so lucky getting a chef that is not that interactive with the guests at the table.
- The Cricketer’s pub - I personally think this place has the worst food in the whole 9 restaurants. It’s typical English pub menu, there’s no greens that comes with the dish. Mostly mesh potato and greasy meats which almost make me gag.
LUNCH:
- Cafe Goombay – cafe goombay’s lunch menu is mostly consist of seafood and several chicken items. I love their boneless chicken finger and fish wraps. The way they make their batter is excellent!
- Royal Cafe – We had our first meal there with fried conch, burger and fish sandwich. They are excellent but I don’t like their breads. So when I go there the 2nd or 3rd time, I always order the fish/meat itself without any bread and fries!
- Spices restaurant – it’s buffet style from morning to lunch. It has a lot of choices from fruits, seafood, vegetable, meats and desserts. I wouldn’t think it’s the best restaurant for lunch but it’s good enough
BREAKFAST
- Spices restaurant - large seating area makes us not to wait forever to get our seat. Variety of breakfast items for you to choose. Excellent place for breakfast
- Baccarat – limited seating area and we have to wait forever to get our seat. The food was okay, not perfect.
- The cricketer’s pub – they open till 5 or 6 am, we didn’t get to see the breakfast menu except they do wrap up some yogurt, fruits and pastry on the bar counter for us to self-serve. There are pots of coffee and hot water for us to self-serve too.
REVIEW: Overall I think the food is excellent. However, I didn’t really like their fruits, salads, soups and some dessert items. I don’t think the fruits and the salads are very fresh and exciting. The fruits are typical item such as orange, banana, apple, grapes, strawberry, catalope, honeydew and pineapple. I can tell all those fruits are imported because they don’t seem that fresh to me or it was different than the ones I had in Toronto. The salads are always either roman salads or iceberg salads. There’s no baby spinach, bean sprouts, or more variety of salad ingredients. The salads between restaurants are very similar.
The soups and dessert between restaurants are very similar too. Seems like they are using the similar recipe through out the whole resort. I think the worst one is the bread. They don’t seem that freshly baked no matter which restaurant I go. So I only order the actual “meat” of the menu item, i avoid ordering anything that has bread that comes with it. The dessert has a lot of variety, some are very good and some are not. For cake wise, too much icing or cream on top of it. The cheesecake is good except I don’t understand why there’s no crust at the bottom. The cookies taste stale.
3. The Resort
Sandals Royal Bahamian Pool Area
Beach area with the view of boat loading area
Swim up bar
Ocean view whirlpool
The resort has 2 major pools, both of them has a swim up bar. The only thing that I didn’t like those pools because they are just as cold as the sea water. I can tell why people rather sun tan than going into the cold pool. There are several whirlpools as well. This resort is ‘couple’ only. I think it’s perfect because there will be no kids running around, or crying. It’s perfect adult resort. The resort has several pool tables, two tennis courts, three chess tables and one ping pong table (where Alex and I master our ping pong skill).
The resort also owns another offshore private island called “Sandal’s cay”. That’s where Cafe Goombay and their famous Red Lane spa are located. You need to take a shuttle boat to get there.
Sandals' cay- view from the loading dock
Path to Red Lane Spa
Sandals cay beach
Sandals cay bar and pool
The cay has two sides of beach, there’s front side towards the boat loading area, and there’s a back side of the island that we can access to. The island is relaxing and beautiful. I find the water here is even nicer than the main land. The only thing we didn’t do at the Sandals’s cay is to have Red Lane Spa. Everyone who had the spa loves it!
The resort also has different events everyday. Everyday, they will provide you a sheet of activities and events happening the following day. You won’t get bored at night because there are always something to do.
Review: The resort is definitely relaxing, fun and comfortable. I love it! However, watch out for the sandflies on Sandal’s cay. I got bitten when I went to Sandal’s cay for dinner. I didn’t notice the bite till after the dinner and then it start to itch 2 days later. It took me 2 weeks to recover, and it was the most unbearable itch~!! So bring some bug spray when you go to Sandal’s cay.
4. Watersports
Alex and I underwater
Lion Fish!
The resort provides all sorts of watersports such as scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, windsurfing, sailboating..etc. (see the list of their activities here)
The main purpose that we came to Bahamas is to either Scuba Diving or Snorkeling. We originally just want to take the discover scuba diving and just dive once a day. Discover dive is $70 and you pay it once to learn how to do basic scuba diving without studying or writing any actual Scuba diving exam. We later found out that if you only have the resort certificate you will be put on the standby list for scuba diving because they will take those people who have certificate first.
Therefore, we gave it a 2nd thought, and we end up taking the full Open Water Certification. Because for Discover scuba dive. It takes two morning. One for the basic scuba diving learning in a pool. Second morning for actual scuba diving in the ocean. All we need for the full open water certificate is to have at least 4 more dives and demonstrate the required skills. The full OW certification costs $400 US. They can give us the $70 discount that we paid for our Discover resort certificate. So we end up taking the full license. It lasts a lifetime, so why not?
The instructor “Santiba” who taught us scuba diving, he’s very patient and thorough. We learned so much just to scuba dive for 5 times. It’s definitely a pleasant experience no matter from the learning or the diving.
The only thing we didn’t do is the snorkeling. Snorkeling trip gets canceled all the time. They won’t do the trip if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
REVIEW: Our first two days of the trip was rainy and windy. So we missed out a lot of opportunity to do any watersports if the weather gets bad. The rest of the days of our trip was sunny and nice weather. We are happy with the watersports that we did. The staff at the watersports centre in the resort are patient and friendly.
oh, and how did we take our underwater shots? I have a Canon SD600 point-and-shoot camera. I bought a waterproof case. Here’s the WP-DC4 water proof case on Amazon.com. The price of the case cost the same as the camera, but it’s totally worth it!
5. Service
There’s no doubt of the service when you pay so much for it. The service of the resort is excellent. Every staff always say hi to you no matter who you are. They are very cheerful 24/7. They are also very patient and helpful when you got lost in the resort. I would say their customer service is 5 out of 5.
The best part is the towels in the resort that you can take it, use it, leave it on the chair and then go get a new one. I don’t have to worry about using my own beach towels and waiting it to dry. The only problem is that in the middle of the day, everyone took all the dried towels and if you are not a early riser, they will be gone. You will have to wait for a while in order to see the dried and clean ones to show up.
Overall Review:
The resort is excellent, and especially and ONLY for couples. Everyone are adults over there and playing like kids. I think for the money we spent for the whole trip. We’d give it a 4 out of 5. I would visit Sandals again, but I’d try a cheaper option such as Jamaica next time. And if you are visiting Bahamas just for vacation, and just want a nice and comfortable place to stay, then try either Riu or Sheraton.
Bahamas the island itself is great. Beautiful water and nice temperature. (It feels like September temperature when we were there, so we still need to have jackets). The only thing that is lacking is a strong Bahamian culture. The whole resort feels very “American”. The food is great but lacking a strong touch of Bahamian flavor. When we go out of the resort to go visit Nassau downtown, the place is full of American tourist. The shops and restaurants are mostly American restaurants. I was disappointed to see that Bahamas have been taken over by American company…or Canadian banks. (There are tons of RBC banks and ScotiaBanks on the island!)
Overall I had a fun time at the Bahamas. I am just sad now to come back to see the snow in Toronto. *sign*
Tags: Bahamas, honeymoon, Sandals, Sandals Royal Bahamian
03.Jan.09 honeymoon, travel Comment (1)
