Wedding Vendor Review

As a participant on the Frugal Bride wedding bulletin board, I wrote a review of the vendors used at our wedding. I thought i would also post it here, so that non-FB brides would be able to benetift from it.

Venue & Caterer
Fantasy Farm: 8/10
416-425-9122

We had our ceremony, photographs and reception all at Fantasy Farm. The ceremony is in a garden immediately outside of the reception room. There is a grassy area for your guests to sit, and a "raised" area on stones, surrounded by flowers, which is where the ceremony is held. It is *gorgeous*. Photos can take place anywhere on the grounds, and there are many pretty spots immediately near where the ceremony is held.

While I was sad to when I learned, a few months back, that Darsi was already booked for my wedding day (*sniff*), I was gratified to learn that Fantasy Farm provided a wedding coordinator. The woman who handled our wedding was named Michelle. She was a very calm person, very organized, and did her best to make sure that our requests were accommodated. It made me feel better to have her around, so that I didn’t have to worry about all the little details anymore!

After the ceremony, appetizers were served. Fantasy Farm doesn’t tend to get very fancy about appetizers. We had requested various hors d’oeurves, and were told that they would be very expensive to make, as a chef would have to be hired to create the hors d’oeurves. So we settled on jumbo shrimp, meatballs and spring rolls. I am told that they were good – I did not get a chance to even see them.

For our meal, we had the Terrace BBQ that Fantasy Farm offers only on Sundays or Fridays. The meal was okay, but nothing to write home about. We were quite excited about the idea of having a BBQ for our wedding dinner, but we kinda forgot to sample the meal itself. In retrospect, I would have sampled the meal ahead of time. It is not that it was bad – it just was kind of ordinary, that’s all. The meal was served buffet style on the Terrace, and the meat was cooked on a large barbeque, which was neat. The dessert (tartuffo) was the best part of the dinner itself.

For the most part, we found dealing with the Fantasy Farm staff quite easy. I remember a while ago a woman posting on Frugal Bride about her Fantasy Farm wedding. One of the comments that stuck out in my mind about her post was that Fantasy Farm has a very specific way of doing things. Well, forewarned is forearmed – knowing this made it very easy to work with Fantasy Farm. Yes, they have their way of doing things, but they have also been doing weddings for 40 years, so I figure that there must be a good reason for everything. They actually made the process of planning the wedding at Fantasy Farm very easy.

A lot of the planning was spent talking to Zlacko (I will never be able to properly spell his name). I found him a little off putting at first, but he grew on me. He is a very nice guy, very reassuring and accommodating with respect to planning the wedding.

The other individual we dealt with was a guy named Ken (the owner of Fantasy Farm). Terry actually spent more time talking with him than I did. Terry found working with Ken somewhat frustrating, as Terry was looking to Ken for advice and ideas on Hors D’oeurves and other things, and getting nothing back. Ken seems to mostly operate on the collecting final details and organizational end of things.

The final note I have for FF brides, especially those who are having the Terrace BBQ: when asked what time you want dinner at make sure that you tell them the time you want people to start eating! We told them that dinner would start at 5:30 – thinking that would be the time that dinner is called, then there would be introductions, then there would be grace, yada yada yada. They looked at 5:30 as the eating time. Brutal! They started cooking the food on the BBQ at 5:10 – we were deep in the midst of photographs! So, the dinner was put on the back burner for a little while (literally! At least it wasn’t over cooked), we compressed the beginning of the dinner, and none of the guests noticed a thing.

Overall, I think that Fantasy Farm is an excellent choice for people like Terry and me: those who want to have the ceremony, photos and reception all in one place, in a casual yet absolutely beautiful atmosphere with a minimal amount of fuss.

Oh, and the red-carpeted white leather Austin Powers bridal suite upstairs? Definitely one of the perks.

Officiant
Dr. Kerwin Davies 10/10
416-267-1967

Terry and I went to a wedding of a friend of ours a few years ago, and said to ourselves “When we get married, we are going to get this guy to officiate at our wedding.” Unfortunately we promptly forgot the name of that Officiant, and for some reason neglected to ask our friend when we were researching. Turns out, we found the very same funny Officiant ourselves.

We talked to 2 other officiants other than Kerwin, and let me tell you it is a close call! I am really glad that we went with Kerwin. Upon first meeting him, he seems to be a very warm and energetic person. He has great ideas for the ceremony, incorporating traditional and modern elements (the ceremony of the roses, unity candle, ceremony of the wine). Best of all, he has the Funny. He is a funny funny guy. The ceremony was very warm and happy, which reflects Kerwin’s personality and manner.

Hair Stylist
Rita of RD Design 10/10

I felt like a princess on my wedding day, and the ingenious work that Rita did with my hair is a large part of the reason why.

Rita is my regular hair stylist. She works out of a salon in the Beach, at Woodbine and Queen, called Brigetta’s. I started going to her a few years ago when my previous hair stylist started doing really weird things to my hair.

I was originally skeptical about having Rita do my hair – when I first brought my tiara to her, she didn’t really seem to know what to do with it. However, I really like Rita (nice girl, easy to talk to, cuts my hair well), so I went for a hair trial in any case. I liked what she did then, but it didn’t even compare to the work she did on my wedding day.

She put my hair up in curls on top of my head, placed the tiara just so, secured everything with about 50 bobby pins – and as soon as she was done I felt gorgeous. She did utterly amazing work, and I highly recommend her to everybody. She did my MOH’s hair before mine, and Angela looked just gorgeous.

Makeup
Cathy Crispo of Make-up By CC 10/10
416-992-6748

Wanna know one of the other reasons I felt like a princess?

Cathy.

CC does fabulous work. She arrived at my house at noon, and promptly got to work on my MOH. While she did expert work on Angela’s makeup (which turned out stunning), she tried to calm me down. She was very easy to talk to, very reassuring, and plus – she liked my cat Spike, always a bonus in my book.

The makeup that she did lasted the whole day – I only had to reapply my lipstick, and blot a little bit.

As a result of Cathy and Rita’s work, I swear I have never felt more beautiful in my life. It was a wonderful feeling.

I’m thinking of having Cathy do my makeup professionally for other events now too – wow, is it ever worth it!

Photographer
Alan Fujino 9/10
Please email me if you want his phone number.

Alan is a friend of Terry’s. Alan is a police officer by day, wedding photographer by night … er, by weekend.

Hiring Alan to do the wedding photography was totally a no-brainer. He is one of Terry’s friends. He has a very nice portfolio. Although he is very frugal in the first place, he cut us a deal.

Alan is very precise and professional in his work – posing people just so, making sure that the camera is placed exactly, that the light level is just perfect. The only constructive criticism that we have to give Alan is that he needs to take control of the picture taking situation, directing people instead of having us direct him, which is what happened a lot of the time. The pictures took a long time, and I don’t think that we got all the pictures that we wanted. C’est la vie.

Florist
Roses Only 4/10
416-594-6678

Roses Only was a delight to deal with. The meetings were very constructive and efficient. I am a no fuss no muss kind of girl. The flowers were delivered on time and in the correct place.

However, and I think this may have something to do with the heat of the day, some of my flowers (which were all roses) were already a bit brown by the time I got to them. Brown on the outside curls. Brown on the inside. The flowers were more open than they should have been. I have read one thread where a florist defended the browness and wilting of flowers as having been a result of too much hugging and crushing of the flowers – but heck, they went from the shop, to a refrigerated van, to the air conditioned bridal suite at Fantasy Farm. And they were already browning. I was very disappointed.

I’m sure that the casual observer wouldn’t notice this browness, but I certainly did.

Oh, and boutonnières and corsages were falling apart quite easily throughout the day.

Do you think I can get my money back?

DJ
Melissa the Melodic Wife of Melodic Memories 10/10
905-642-0232

I am really glad that Melissa was at my wedding. As she was the only FB girlthere, I kind of felt like she was representing the whole group of you.

Oh, and you want me to comment on her work?

Fantastic. While the dance floor for some reason wasn’t as packed as I would have liked (I think this is because we had a Sunday wedding, and a lot of people ended up leaving early because they had work the next day), she did an absolutely fabulous job. She played all the songs that we requested her to play, and mixed it up to ensure that he music would be appropriate for all people there. Contrary to what I originally had thought, the polkas and Scottish dancing songs turned out to be my favorite part of the dancing.

She did an awesome job. Run, don't walk, to book her NOW!

Wedding Gown and MOH dress
Avenue 22, 10/10
416-506-8806

Shirley Ing of Avenue22 is a Toronto based designer who has a design studio in the Queen West & Spadina area. I tried one of her dresses on, and i just knew it was the one!

Shirley was very easy to deal with. She has a very pleasant demeanor, and tones of suggestions on how to accessorize the wedding dress. She did a wonderful job tailoring the dress for my dimensions (short and short waisted). The dress that she made for me was the final piece in the princess puzzle – I felt gorgeous in it.

My MOH and singular bridesmaid also purchased her dress from Shirley Ing. Because we were dealing with the designer directly, we were able to request modifications to Angela’s dress that we would not otherwise been able to make. Shirley was very accommodating, and did a wonderful job on both our dresses.

Plus, her wedding dresses are very reasonably priced, with is a bonus for all of us frugal brides.

Wedding Cake
Irresistible Cakes, 10/10
905-850-2253

The cake was wonderful. We had a 3 tier cake with the following flavours: vanilla-strawberry on the bottom, black forest in the middle, and amaretto on the top. The cake was moist and delicious. Not to mention pretty – one of the reasons why we chose Irresistible Cakes is because of this particular design: a simple white cake, with white detailing and white fondant icing, bedecked with pink and purple flowers. Beautiful.

Plus, they have Cake Insurance, which makes dealing with the cake worry free. If anything had happened to it (nothing did), they would have driven out here and replaced it.

Wedding Bands
Ani, in the Eaton's Center, 10/10
416-598-0428

We spent quite a bit of time looking for rings. We saw fancy rings, two tone rings, rings with diamonds in them, very plain rings, platinum rings, and nothing that we saw really clicked. Well, we went to the Eaton's Center one weekend to see what we could find, and this store called Ani (near Eatons) had the nicest gold bands -- simple, but with some flare to them that is unique. They match, and i can wear my engagement ring on the same finger as my wedding band (I was worried I wouldn’t find one that matched).

The people who work in the store are very friendly. We had a very nice, not to mention practical, girl helping us out when we first visited the store. She made our decision very easy, not being pushy, and giving gentle advice.

Also, each time we visited the store (3 in all), they polished my engagement ring for me, which was a nice bonus.

Invitations
UCC Total Home, 10/10

Yes, that sounds like a weird name for an invitation store. UCC is essentially a club that you can join to get insanely good prices on stuff – I’m talking up to 80% off the prices in department stores. You can get all manner of house stuff: stuff to renovate your house, to decorate your house, to furnish your house, to stock your kitchen, to set up a nursery, jewelry, the list goes on and on.

You can also order wedding invitations there, 40% off the retail price. So, we got absolutely gorgeous white and purple vellum invitations. Everybody kept on commenting on how they were the nicest invitations that they had ever seen. I’m going to scan one soon and put it online. We loved them. Plus, we got at least 30% more invitations than we had ordered – lots of extras!

If you want to join UCC, PM me and I will get you the contact info.

Ceremony Musicians
The Metropolitan Ensemble, 10/10
416-297-6949 or 416-729-3537 (not sure which is the correct number)

I chose them because their grass roots marketing approach really works! Instead of sending out tapes like all the other ensembles do, David, the lead musician auditions for you with his violin. I was impressed!

As for their work during the ceremony, well, I must confess to not been able to listen to it much – even when they were playing in my presence. What I did hear was lovely.

Also, dealing with David (the lead musician) was very good. He has a very efficient and straightforward way of handling things. Plus -- frugal!

Decorator
Ina of Graceful Elegance, 8/10
905-579-7034

I sort of see three stages in my acquaintance with Ina. We got off to a very good start. She came all the way from Oshawa to meet with us at Fantasy Farm. She showed us her pictures, her fabric samples, and her ideas – lovely ideas. She wrote down some thoughts, and sent us an original quote. Her rates are very frugal, which she says is because she works out of Oshawa, where things are cheaper. This is probably quite true, as I did talk to some Toronto based decorators, and their rates were astronomical.

The second phase of my acquaintance with Ina was a little confused. She seemed to get stressed out when we learned, at a late date, that due to Fantasy Farm’s restrictions, there could be no backdrop behind the head table – which would expose some mirrors, which is bad for photographs. (The last thing i wanted, as a bride who was slowly getting more and more stressed out, was a stressed out vendor) Also, there were some missed connections, and because of this, we didn’t really get to meet to discuss the nitty gritty of the wedding decorations until less than a week before the wedding itself. By that point I was quite stressed out. In the final decoration meeting with her, there were so many options presented to me that I was really at a loss. So beings the third stage of my acquaintance with Ina.

So, I decided to agree to what she said, keep the decorating cost under Terry’s budget, and hope that it would all work out.

And it did.

Ina had decorated Soo’s wedding the day before her final meeting with me. She got some awesome ideas from Soo’s florist, who apparently did amazing things with flowers in little glasses.

Ina did a similar thing to the waterfall on the Fantasy Farm grounds – dressing it up with purple flowers and candles. It was absolutely lovely. She placed candles in holders all along the outdoor walkway to the “altar” area, and placed two leafy green floral arrangements on gold pillars at the “altar” area itself.

The centerpieces didn’t work out quite how I had imagined. They were bubble bowls filled with gold sand, with a candle in the middle, and the bowls were placed on top of some gold organza. They lacked pop. In retrospect, I would have done something different with the centerpieces. Ina also replaced Fantasy Farm’s tacky chair sashes with more elegant ones.

The head table itself, however, was gorgeous. Very simply and beautifully decorated.

Over all, Ina does great work. She invests much of herself in the decorating work that she does, and her passion for decorating shines through.

Tuxedos
Tuxedo Royale, 10/10

We had no problems with Tuxedo Royale. We dealt with the head office / warehouse in Markham, and the people there were very pleasant, with much advise to dispense. Terry liked how the tuxes fitted there, and he looked quite handsome in his.

Videography
Ian Daffern Videography, 10/10

Just kidding… sort of. Ian is my little brother. He works for a major Toronto television station, and has the use of their video cameras. He taped the ceremony and reception for us on a really good digital video camera, and a buddy of his at work is going to edit the recording together with music, photos, etc. It is the whole videography deal, but really really cheap. Yay!

I’m really glad we recorded the wedding too … because I barely remember a darned thing!