Archive Page 2
A little bit of history
I got confirmation from the coordinator at our ceremony site today, so I can finally reveal where we’ll be saying our vows!
After we booked the Sequoia Grill, we were hoping to have our ceremony there too. There is a great public greenspace right outside the restaurant, but the City won’t allow tents or chairs there, and the weather in October is just too unpredictable to forego a tent! We couldn’t figure out a way to make the ceremony work indoors, so my Google-fu and other research skills got another chance to shine.
We needed room for about 75 people, indoors, and not at a church. Pretty simple, right? Once again, our simple requirements turned out to be exceedingly difficult to fulfill! The Celebration Pavilion was an early contender, until we found out that their prices had jumped drastically. We looked at hotels, theatres, community centres, art galleries, lounges, and heritage buildings. I emailed and phoned and Googled my little heart out. I asked everyone I knew for their suggestions.
Somehow, I came across the facilities rental page on the Vancouver Museum website. I got in touch with their rental coordinator, and we emailed back and forth all through February. After arranging a site visit, Adam and I knew we’d found a winner!
We’ll be having our ceremony in the Joyce Wally Learning Centre, a large room in the Museum, with 13ft windows looking out at a park, False Creek, Stanley Park, and the North Shore mountains. You can actually almost see our reception venue across the water, even! We’ll say our vows in front of the windows, with the view and the fall foliage behind us.
It’s going to be comfortable and casual, and the view will showcase some of the best of Vancouver in the fall. I’m so excited to have this confirmed!
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How we chose our venue, part 3
So after outlining our criteria for a venue, and knocking out some great venues because of our budget, we ended up with 3 fantastic venue options.
The first venue we visited was the Uber Lounge at Steamworks Brewing Company in the Gastown area of downtown Vancouver. The Uber Lounge is a swanky private room off the bar and restaurant, with its own bar area. We would have held our ceremony in the attached atrium (with a view of the trainyards and North Shore mountains!), and our reception in the lounge. The event manager was very helpful by email, and delightful in person! Ultimately, the minimum we were quoted was reasonable, but the bar costs were a little high and the menu wasn’t quite what we wanted.
The second venue we checked out was the Dockside Restaurant at the Granville Island Hotel. This venue had a great menu, good customer service, and a very “Vancouver” location. The downsides were that there was a very, very limited view (small windows, lots of boats in the way), and that the room we could afford would have been very cramped for 75 guests.
After seeing these first two venues, we were pretty sure that either one would work for us, but I just wasn’t convinced that they were the right places. The downsides weren’t huge, but they were just enough to make me keep looking a little more.
The extra hunting I did turned out to be completely worth it, because I stumbled across the Sequoia Grill at the Teahouse, which meets (exceeds!) our requirements, and the few downsides are totally workable. The food is delicious, the minimum is very reasonable, the view is to die for, and the location is going to be a real treat for our out-of-town guests.
Filed under: locations, sequoia grill, vancouver, wedding planning | 2 Comments
Let them eat cake!
I often hear that brides don’t eat at their weddings out of nerves or lack of time, or both. I want to go on record saying that I refuse to skip the meal or the cake at our wedding! It’s all going to be much too good to miss out on!
One of the vendors I found at the Wedding Fair was Tartlets Bakery. Their displays were impressive, and the reps they had at their booth were candid, funny, and knowledgeable. Since Adam wasn’t with me, I couldn’t committ to anything on the spot, but I did book us an appointment for a consultation.
A few weeks later, Adam and I drove out to North Van, promptly got lost, and eventually found our way to Tartlets, a tiny bakery tucked away in a laneway behind a boxing gym! Nina, the owner and baker, met us with fresh cake samples and steaming mugs of tea. She chatted with us about her work, our wishes for our cake, and talked us through the tasting flavours.
After the first bite, I knew we were going to book her!
Adam was equally convinced, so the three of us talked through all the details – the colour, sizes, and flavours that will make up our cake. I’m going to leave it a surprise, but I promise it will be absolutely delicious!
Vendor: Nina at Tartlets in North Vancouver.
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Oh-oh-overwhelming
That about sums up the Wedding Fair experience!
Wedding Fair is an annual event in January, held at the Vancouver Exhibition and Convention Centre. It is probably THE bridal fair of the year, and it is a total sensory overload. The exhibitors cover everything you could ever possibly want for a wedding, and everything you’d never thought you might want!
My friend Kristen ever-so-bravely agreed to come with me and help me take it all in. We got there late in the morning, armed with pages of address labels I had printed with my name and address, and checked in quickly. We found a quiet spot in the hallway, sat down with the prize booklet, and started sticking labels on. This was the best time-saver, and I’m so glad I took the advice of the brides who have gone before me!
As we walked around, we entered draws at any booth that seemed interesting. We tasted cake samples, flipped through photographer’s albums, and talked with dozens of vendors. I found a few of my vendors this way, and also “quick-started” our registries.
The fashion show was an hour long, and for the most part, pretty good. I was impressed that they had models of all ages and sizes, flaunting their stuff in everything from bikinis to bridal gowns.
Last but certainly not least, I won two draws! One was a gift certificate to a local florist who I have yet to check out, and the other was for an Arbonne home party.
My best advice is to come prepared with address labels, a bottle of water, your cell phone, and a friend!
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How we chose our venue, part 2
Over the long course of our venue hunt, we had a lot of letdowns. Luckily, they were balanced by a few venues that were so ludicrously out of our budget range, that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Each of these would be a fantastic venue for someone else – either someone with more money, more time, more resources, or more guests than us.
1) The Vancouver Aquarium. This was a natural choice to explore, because we are members and absolutely LOVE visiting the aquarium! We had this amazing vision of saying our vows in front of the jellyfish tank, and then having our reception in and among the Pacific exhibits. Unfortunately, the price they quoted me was more than our entire budget!
2) Grouse Mountain. This was one of our most exciting prospects, until the site visit that wasn’t. This is still really embarassing for me, and upsets me a lot when I think back on it. This is a reasonably priced venue with a killer view, and would make a spectacular setting for a wedding and reception! Their event coordinator gave us fantastic service, and was very understanding when we cancelled the site visit at the last minute.
3) Bridges restaurant. This was one of the AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. HAHAHA. HAHA. HAH. Hahhhhhh. places.The minimum was once again more than our entire budget, quite significantly. Their food is unbelievable, though, and the location is very Vancouver – right on Granville Island, with a great view of False Creek.
4) The Law Courts Inn. We didn’t bother with a site visit here, because their minimum guest requirement is 125, and we’re planning on only 75 guests. That said, it’s got a huge reception room, great view, and a lovely patio.
These are just a few of my favourites that we didn’t book. The true list is much lengthier – I think at one point, my Google Docs spreadsheet had 50 venues on it!
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How we chose our venue, part 1
We started off thinking that our requirements for a venue were pretty simple – no churches, good food (or the ability to bring in a caterer), no minimum or a low minimum, a nice view or location. Preferably in Vancouver, North Van, Burnaby, or Richmond – in other words, our city and the three closest suburbs.
Basically we wanted something that wouldn’t break the bank, would offer our guests a great meal, and would showcase the town we’ve chosen to make our home.
We learned fairly quickly that our requirements weren’t going to be as easy to nail down as we wanted, so we had to prioritize. Adam’s priority was great food (more on that later!), mine was a reasonable cost, and my parents wanted something in town, not the ‘burbs.
With that in mind, I started searching for potential venues. I’m not going to lie – it was a long, slow, incredibly frustrating process. Almost every time I thought I had found a winner, something came up to make it a total bust.
Here’s how I hunted for venues:
- Google. My google-fu is strong, and I found some great leads by searching for various combinations of Vancouver, wedding, location, venue, reception, ceremony, event, rental, etc. This takes a TON of patience, and was an excellent time-waster, too!
- Word-of-mouth. I asked anyone and everyone I knew about weddings they were in or had been to in the Vancouver area.
- Wedding discussion boards. I posted on WeddingBee and WeddingBells, and read every single Canadian forum I could find.
- Catering websites. Many caterers have lists of “preferred” venues, and if they’re good enough for the caterers, they might just be good enough for us!
These things all guided me towards some great possibilities, and my random Google wanderings eventually did lead me to our venue, to my significant relief!
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And we have progress!
This weekend, I was visiting my parents, and I’m happy to say I came back to Vancouver with the deposits for our ceremony venue and our photographer!
Once I’ve signed the contracts and returned them to our vendors, I can reveal who we’ve booked. I’m super excited about our choices, and I think they will make our day unique and a ton of fun!
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A reminder
Which is why I am urging happy, loving couples everywhere not to be afraid. Follow your heart. Be radical. Do it your own way. Throw convention to the wind. Who cares what the neighbours say? You, too, can get married. Just don’t be ridiculous about it.
From Leah McLaren’s “It’s not marriage I hate, just weddings” article in today’s Globe and Mail. Adam and I both got a laugh out of it, and it reminded us that the wedding isn’t the be-all and end-all.
Filed under: In the News, wedding planning | 1 Comment
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I hope you all have a happy Valentine’s day!
We’ve got a busy day planned. I made us a yummy breakfast, and now Adam’s out getting our winter tires taken off (YAY). When he gets back, we’ll head out to the Vancouver Aquarium for a few hours. Then it’s a trip to pilates and homework time for me. After all that, we’re going to meet with a potential photographer – fingers crossed please! Lastly, Adam’s taking me out to dinner somewhere – all he’ll tell me is I need to wear a dress!
Hope you all have a day full of love and fun!
Filed under: vancouver | 1 Comment
