6 Month Wedding Planning Update

Ok, to start, HOW DID WE GET HERE & WHAT IS LIFE lol! Time is actually flying friends, and while Ry and I feel super on top of the ball re: wedding planning, there is still much to think about. BUT, that’s for a later post and today we’re talking about all the progress we have made at the 6 month mark —

To be honest, I debated about how much of the specifics I wanted to share, but I’m really excited about all of the vendors we’ve secured and I love seeing other people’s wedding planning and drawing inspo from them (have you seen Nicole Warne’s of Gary Pepper Girl’s photos?! Amazing), so I hope this has the same effect for any of you fellow bride-to-be’s 🙂 If you’re looking to get even MORE inspired, Makeful has incredible resources & ideas for every step of the process. They also have a fun quiz that I shared earlier this week on social to figure out your bridal style!

(image source: @brandonscottphoto)

To start, the big piece of news from the 90 day update was that we had our venue. That has really allowed us to secure everything else with certainty so I stand by my advice that once you have that, everything else will come. We’re actually ahead of where I thought we’d be at this point, and here is what we have confirmed so far:

• MY DRESS! I had already shared some thoughts on this process, but I have officially chosen what was my front runner (the one I had seen and loved before I even got engaged). I feel so good about it and every time I look back at pics in my phone or show someone I get SO excited. I will not be showing a reveal before the actual day, but I will say it feels very me and is by a non-traditional designer from AUS 🙂 I have my next fitting in the fall when it gets in. Big YAY.
• My Brideangels’ dresses! I can tell you one thing, the girls will definitely look like angels and not maids 🙂 Keep an eye for an upcoming insta reveal (make sure you’re following me!), but I will share that we got a really great price point (& in my opinion a way nicer dress) by buying from a regular retailer versus a bridesmaid dress company. I have been a bridesmaid my fair share of times, and knew that the dresses are always a weird material, super pricey, and sized super weird to force alterations. We ordered from Lulu’s and I’m obsessed with the look of them and quality of material for a literal fraction of the price. The girls can rewear and any alterations (mainly length) will be minimal. Best decision of all the wedding planning.
• Beauty & Accessories: last week I shared my beauty prep post (& some makeup and hair trial shots on my insta stories) and I’m happy to say we’ll be moving ahead with Jen Evoy Makeup Studio for myself and the girls on the big day! There are a lot of talented makeup and hair peeps in Toronto, but they came referred by one of my bridesmaids and worked out to be the best option logistically for us (plus, I was really happy with the trial! Shit did not budge all day lol). Accessory wise, I have shared I’ll be doing a veil, but main thing I still need is shoes! I keep picking ones that aren’t the most winter appropriate lol.

(image source: @greenweddingshoes)

• Photographer: this was probably the single most analyzed decision so far – I’ve gone with my gut for basically everything else, but really needed this to be the right fit so peppered all of our short list of options with a million questions and heavily referenced their portfolios (if you’re a biracial couple like us, though I hate to even make that a consideration, make sure you look at lighting of other couples they’ve done! I don’t want Ry to be shadowy for my sake, or me be over exposed next to him lol). Ultimately, we have decided to go with Brandon Scott Photography and I could not be more pumped!! They feel much more our vibe than some of the other more well-known/larger companies in the city (more candid and less-posey), and their work is just plain STUNNING. It was also really important to us that who we booked is who would be personally showing up to shoot day-of and be handling editing afterward, and we love that’s a guarantee with them. Again, they came very well reviewed from some of our friends.
• Cake + Sweets: there is only one baker in the city (& world) that I would trust with our cake and that’s Samantha of Sammy Cakes. Not only is she one of my besties IRL, she has been handling all my events for YEARS. Legit Ryan would prematurely divorce me if I even suggested anything else lol. She knows our vibe so we’re giving her creative freedom pretty much, but we will have an actual wedding cake (I like naked style with real flowers, and prefer a fun flavour & topper, tbd). In fact, she has mentioned she envisions SEVERAL cakes for us, so I mean yassss. However, she’s also super great about utilizing faux layers so you don’t have to be wasteful if you’re a smaller guest count like us. She will also be handling individualized boxing of our ‘black cake’ which is a traditional Jamaican run cake that Ryan is also v serious about lol.

(image source: @_sammycakes)

• Florist: if you read my wedding flower mood board post, you know what I am envisioning is no small feat lol. In fact, this is the one aspect that I knew would stand out in the budget, much to Ryan’s dismay (he will read this, so sorry not sorry, boo!). We have decided to go with Blush & Bloom for our florals and tabletop décor and to say I’m thrilled is an understatement. I have been a fan of them for a minute, and a lot of my inspo images actually came from their work. If you have your heart set on a florist, and more elaborate asks, def try to book this piece early on in the wedding planning process. As I’ve shared, the vibe will be romantic, undone bouquets, a mix of high and low centerpieces with candles and other special touches you’ll have to stay tuned for 🙂 B&B offers a centerpiece mock up as part of their service, so I will share on that when it happens! (I believe in the fall, so many dates to remember ahhhh. Thank god for my planner.. the paper kind not a person lol).
• DJ: if you’re anything like Ryan and I, you know this is so imperative to the wedding planning process and vibe of the actual day and that’s why we went with DJ Lissa Monet. Not only is she super talented and seasoned, but girl can read a crowd (I’ve worked with her for events before and have attended several as well), and I know our guests will not be disappointed. Having her is going to be such a highlight and something that I think is going to be really memorable to our guests. Further, we’re set in keeping this a modern affair and I trust Lissa to not defer to any macarena, or twist, or anything like that LOL. Make sure that whomever you go with to curate your music is professional and approachable and that you take advantage of listening to their mixes online if you can!
• Honeymoon: I was only expecting to have a short list of destinations to share at this point of wedding planning, buuuuut then I remembered who I am and obvs it’s all booked lol. We are going to THAILAND BISHESSSSSSSS! Can you tell I’m excited? Lol. I’ve never done Asia and this has been on the bucket list for ages so it’s perfect. To anyone else planning a winter (espesh December) wedding, I feel for you bc this was actually a very discouraging and stressful process… every location that is having good weather (we also looked at Africa and Australia) is crazy expensive/jacked up flights/just not available at all. I encourage you to consider Asia – GREAT bang for your buck after the cost of a wedding. We are getting unreal accommodations for what we would have been paying for base level elsewhere. We will be gone for just over 2 weeks, so have decided to skip the North parts of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and will be starting in Phuket, and then island hopping to Koh Phi Phi, Koh Tao and Koh Samui. Would love any must-sees if you’ve been in the comments below!

(image source: @sripanwa)

That’s the big stuff for now, bebs! Will share another wedding planning update prob closer to end of summer, but there will be lots of social updates along the way & here’s what I’ll be working on until then:

• Booking the bachelor & bachelorette trips!
• Picking our wedding bands! (so excited for this)
• Nudging Ryan to book his suit appointment lol
• Finding a nice mirror for our seating chart that will fit with our décor in the house as a keepsake after
• Ordering favours
• Ordering final invites + custom stamps
• Shoes for the day

Love you guys! Appreciate all and any comments/thoughts on what you think of the wedding planning so far, & what you want to hear more about through the process xx