Destination Weddings

Here is another take on destination weddings. Enjoy.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/30/destination.weddings.dilemma/

Wedding Bells say that 7% of Canadian brides go the destination route, while Martha Stewart

mag says over 22% of US brides go that route. It's said that a destination wedding is less expensive, but I am certain that is only because they are a quarter the size as far as the guest list. I am fairly certain they do not count the money spent by all those friends and relatives getting there. Still, a nice idea for many.

Ottawa wedding video

I`m amazed at how bad most Ottawa videographers are. Do you really have to book a company in Toronto or Montreal to get good video. Sure, the prices here are low , but the creativity truly sucks. Oh well, eat your heart out Ottawa girls and check this out. Yup,they are from Toronto and big bucks. Frankly I think you are better to avoid the locals, who all seem to be doing it as a part time gig anyway. The best seems to be Ron Cogan and Thru the Lense...but even then, kind of weak and lots or stories about poor customer service from Cogan.

OH well, at least someone in Canada does it well, but at this price, holy cow.
http://www.stillmotion.ca/site.html

Wow, wow and wow

If anyone finds a better site for wedding themes and decor, please let me know.

This one is a killer http://feteny.com/

Whats up with PARKING at weddings.

A friend went to a wedding last month at the Chateau Laurier. To ransom her car she had to pay TWENTY TWO DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The same goes for the Westin. So lets do the math. Say you have 150 guests at the wedding. Thats a tidy $3300 these asphalt and concrete storage huts make for the hotels at every wedding. Seems like robbery to me.
Wouldn`t it be nice if they offered you something for bringing them all that biz.

Makes you want to go rent a tent somewhere.

Just in time for Halloween.

A great way to snoop.

Ok, so you we have all heard about Google Maps, but have you tried using it to scope out wedding suppliers?
Its simple, and may save you a lot of hassle. Just type in the name of the merchant or business and go to Google Maps. When the map loads, there is a little orange "guy" sitting on top of the
zoom button. Grab him and drag him to the location. Voila!!!!

Those google map cars have scoped out pretty much everyone candidly and it might save you a trip to some merchants house in the burbs if you see it online first. We checked out a couple of
suppliers and frankly, they shouldn`t be in the biz if their front yards look like yard sales.

Wedding Bells.

Weddings Bells is the bible of the industy in Canada. As long as you don`t mind reading a brick that is 95% ads (and hey, what bride doesn`t) it's great.
Their site, on the other hand is less than inspirational and their forum is kinda wimpy. We do scour it for some good gossip, but the problem is that any negative reviews are quickly wiped, since they seem to be more concerned about their advertisers than freedom of speech.
Not here folks. Drop those comments in the articles and they are there for good. I have no
advertisers, except of course the Google Ads I eventually plan to add in the margins. If its a
fair comment, its fair game and like the Courtyard Restaurant bit down below, I think we all learn from the discussion.


BTW, I hear rumours about a new wedding mag that is Ottawa based and I say HURRAH.
The rates in Wedding Bells are pretty outrageous and guess who pays for them in higher priced
fees to you from the merchants who advertise.

Funny wedding photo of the week

Someone has a good eye and a sense of humour. I wonder if it made the album???

Video Video Video

It seems that Videographers in Ottawa are an endangered species. Every few years, someone is "hot" and then they are gone. I scoured a couple of forums and here are some comments. For some reason, Ottawa Videographers seem to have some of the ugliest sites on the planet. It seems like they are largely folks who shoot weddings as a small part of some other biz. Frankly, I would only book one of the major ones. Looking in the phone book from three years ago, most of the entries are no longer in business. Who knew.?????

So far the best looking Ottawa site seems to be Mediabox, but even that is a little thin for folks
who claim to be digital image whiz kids. Again, they also look new, so caveat emptor.


HERE ARE SOME COMMENTS FROM OTHER BLOGS AND FORUMS>

Ron Cogan...................................conservative, but dependable. Ron does a lot of Jewish weddings, so he kn0ws what events are key and can be trusted to get the shots.



We went with Memento and we are SOOOOOO happy with their work! When we went with them, I really wasn't sure what we'd get but our ceremony video took our breath away! The owner edits tv shows so he's a professional and his editting really shows that.He also tapes in HD and the DVDs that he gave us were HD and a blueray. We just wanted our ceremony to be taped: 1 hour. His prices were really good and we are just beyond happy with their work! Post

Hi, At my wedding a few weeks ago we got Robert Cato - http://ioanfilms.com/ (his blog, for samples of his video's - http://blog.ioanfilms.com/ You would have to contact him directly for prices. He is honestly one of the most talented videographers I have seen in a VERY long time. I haven't see what he has done for our wedding yet, but it should be ready in about month or two. He was very professional, filmed in HD and incredibly creative.His Contactse-mail: Robert.Cato@gmail.comPhone: 514-895-6209He films for Montreal, Ottawa, & Toronto.
For those that are interested in the above videographer, I asked and have received a general price for his wedding day service, and also a list of 'add-ons'. I am copy and pasting from his msg. If you contact him, please mention Sabrina referred you from this website. Local Commission - Ambition Package (aprox. 80 hours of production and post production) : Unlimited Coverage 2 Shooters Multiple HD Cameras, Live Audio Wireless Mics, Glidecam, Glide-track and 2 X 5D Mark II DSLR Cinema Option Opening Sequence with Animated Headings and Titles Cinematic Wedding Highlights Segment Bride and Groom's Preparation Religious Ceremony Photo Session Coverage Reception Final Edit - up to 40 minutes delivered on fully chaptered SD DVDs (4 Copies) Online HD Trailer (2-4 weeks after the wedding). Investment: $2500 + taxes*the Complete HD Movie Feature for Apple TV, Xbox360 and PS3 or Blu-ray disk (see the extras):Additionally, we offer the following extra features:Love Story: Your unique love-tale showcased on video. We either cover your engagement photo session or arrange a particular shooting séance. $600Save the Date: Announce your wedding day with style. We craft for you an exclusive online video-invitation months before your wedding day. $500The Dailies/Same Day Edit : A beautiful montage - shown at your reception - highlighting the preparation and wedding ceremony. $600Sunday Edit: The highlights of you wedding day edited the next day. $500Behind the Scenes: Coverage of the Bridal Party and Dinner Rehearsal. $300Photo Fusion Montage: Not the ordinary slideshow, but something unique that includes motion, music and still photography. We provide the photographer. Prints available. $800Blu-ray Authoring: Since we film your wedding with HD Cameras, why not having your main feature delivered on Blu-ray. $500_________________ETA: He informed me that his prices will increase by about 50% after his website is complete and after all his current edits are delivered (I am guessing he means once his current job-list of customers is fulfilled). So if you book him now, you book him in at these rates. --------------------

Fashion Tips

In keeping with my weekly funny photos theme, here`s one that I have entitled, "Flourescent is never an IN color at a wedding."

Laugh of the day.

Ok, here is the first of many fun photos to come.

Gotta love these candids, they write their own headlines.

Courtyard Restaurant.

Hot off the presses.

I was recently at the Courtyard Restaurant for a wedding reception and was not impressed.

The supposed start time of the meal was an hour late through no fault of anyone, since everone
at the event was sipping cocktails for AN HOUR AND A HALF. Now I am no prude, but thats a
bit much.
The room hold 60 comfortably and the place was crammed with 90---it looked like a diner on Canada day. To top it all off, the staff seemed surly and finally when the food arrived most plates were STONE COLD. Even the desserts were cut into sizes so varied that people at my table complained to the server that they were being ripped off. Yikes.

Can I say something nice. Well, the structure is beautiful, but thats thanks to some masons 100
years ago.

FEEDBACK

Don`t you just love the net. Within a couple of days of this post I entered into a discussion with the Manager of the Courtyard. You can see her posts in the comments section. Here are her some of her comments.



Thanks again for letting me know about your experience, and which wedding it was. We are aware of a problem with cold food, we have recently renovated our kitchen, and we realized that we need more heat lamps than what we put in. They are on order, and for now we are trying our best to heat the plates extra hot, as well as the food, etc. It is very unfortunate that some of the food was cold at the wedding, I am extremely sorry about this. We are doing our best to fix this as quickly as possible. As for the timeline, in the planning that we did with the Bride and Groom they wanted to sit down for dinner around 6:15, with a speech from them after that, and then the service beginning after that. So 7:00 / 7:15 sounds about right for the first course to be put on the table, considering it takes about 15 minutes to take the orders and process them in the kitchen. The timing of events is usually set by the couple. And as for the amount of guests, again, we tell our clients how many the room can hold comfortably. If the wedding couple decides to max out the space due to the number of guests they would like to invite, we do our best to accomodate them. Often with weddings it is more important for the couple to have the friends and family that they want to have at the wedding there, and have it be a bit tight, rather than not invite people they want to have at their special day. Perhaps as a Wedding Planner this is something you will address with your clients when you work with them! Wedding Planners certainly do help couples to set better timelines, and to judge the correct venue for their wedding in terms of size. Anyway, thank you once again for your feedback. I would ask that you please post my comment on your blog. Considering that your review of our restaurant could be damaging and harmful to our reputation, I believe it is only fair on your part to post my reply. I think it is great that you will be posting about your experiences, good or bad, and I have no problem with that. In fact, a dialogue is healthy, and ultimately beneficial to us as a restaurant as we grow and learn from comments!

Here are my comments back.

What can we learn from this. First, that the Courtyard was upfront and did not try to duck the issue. Second, that they are professionals who will fix it. Finally, that venues are often put in a tight spot by couples who have not carefully preplanned the size of their guest list and book a hall that is too close to the max. Cheers to the Courtyard, and thanks for your feedback.

Choosing a color theme for your wedding.

Here is a great tool to help you choose a color theme for your wedding. Enjoy.

http://www.brides.com/planning/receptions/colorstudio/

Ottawa Hair and Makeup

Well ladies, this is my first post and the topic is Ottawa hair and makeup. I have taken the
liberty of quoting from a major Wedding Bells post from last year and I think there is a lot of
great info here. One of the problems with that forum is that negative posts are often vanished, since I hear that anyone who is an advertiser can have them wiped out.


Canada Rooms - Connect with others in these geographic regions >> The Central Provinces

Pages: 1 2 >> (show all)
my_jane New Member Reged: 10/17/08 Posts: 24
Ottawa: The ULTIMATE makeup/hair thread! #3222289 - 10/17/08 03:30 PM


Ok Ottawa ladies, it seems like people are ALWAYS looking for hair and makeup artists on this board. Pretty much every day there is a new post asking the same thing "can someone recommend a stylist and makeup artist for my wedding".Without saying too much about who this information comes from...let's just say that someone very close to me is a wedding planner. These are her notes on hair and makeup in Ottawa. She said she wouldn't mind me posting them, so here they are:HAIR (on site)Anne Marie Rooney: Specializes in high fashion work, but also does weddings.Loretta: Focuses mainly on haircare for seniors, but also does weddings.pHAIRis: Rebecca is popular. She books up fast.Bombshell Beauty: mixed results on Kerry. Some customer service issues.Hina Mughal hina_mu@hotmail.com: very talented stylist (also does makeup). Recommendation to brides: she excels at hair, so hire her to do your whole bridal party and hire someone separate for makeup.Lisa Cava lisacava@rogers.com: Never had an unhappy bride who dealt with Lisa. So much care and compassion goes into her work. Paying the few extra bucks for her is worth it.Germaine Desiredhair@hotmail.com: No website, which is a deterrent, but she's a great stylist. Still don't understand why she is so cheap.MAKEUP (on site)Artist GroupsPro Makeup Group: Trio of artists who prefer doing high fashion shoots insteadd of weddings, but they will do weddings if asked.Ottawa Makeup Artists: 5 freelance artists working under the same name. Highest prices in Ottawa. Lots of excellent feedback, some negative. Complaints of rudeness when answering email.Glam Artists: 2 freelance artists in this group. Trendy and cool, but somewhat inexperienced. Pro Freelance ArtistsSarah Walsh: Lots of positive feedback about the quality and care that goes into her work. Brides like that she does trials at her cosmetics counter.Katrina Ballard: Very nice girl. Will travel on site for higher price than is listed on website. Great selection of products and colors. Positive feedback.Meca Makeup: Website is hard to navigate, but overall, is a good makeup artist. She's great if you like bright colors and funky designs.Kaye Davidson: Limited feedback. Website is outdated, but she is GREAT at special FX makeup and concealing bad skin or tatoos.Zena Saab bee.u.tee.by.zena@hotmail.com: Limited feedback. Is more into dramatic makeup. Great for evening wedding looks.Hina Mughal hina_mu@hotmail.com: Does both makeup and hair, but cannot accomodate large wedding parties.Beata Zwolan: Teaches makeup artistry at Versailles Academy. She is good if you can get ahold of her! Disappointed in her website.Nancy Sheppard: Good for simple makeup. Limited, but very positive feedback. She's a real sweetheart.Cosmo FX: Great work. Doesn't take on as many weddings as she used to. Bombshell Beauty: See above (hair)Seema Haider: Great for ethnic makeup and fashion. Also does eyebrow threading.Artistic Faces: Sherri is pregnant, so isn't taking many bookings right now.Makeup and EstheticsBeauty by Tracey: Known for her children's spa parties.