After deciding the date and the province, my fiancé and I moved onto planning the more intricate details. We started with an officiant. Neither of us are particularly religious and we wanted a small, simple ceremony. I set to work contacting all of the Alberta officiants in the Edmonton area and quickly learned that their prices vary quite radically.

Eventually we found the one that would work for us. Her price was right, and her personality and ceremony ideas matched ours. She suggested we do a sand ceremony after saying our vows, which we both thought was a great idea. Next we picked our guests. We both have large families and step-families to boot, so we decided to keep it small. All in all, our guest list for both the ceremony and reception includes 7 attendees—my mother and grandmother, and my fiancé’s mother, father, and three younger sisters. So very small, but precisely what we want.

Now, I had to find a dress. My budget was small ($200.00!) and when I called some dress stores to inquire about their price ranges, I thought I was going to faint. I considered having one made, but I wanted to look around first. As I mentioned in my first blog, I’m not much of a girly-girl, so I thought that I was going to stay away from poof and sparkle. The third dress that I tried on was poofy and sparkly and when I looked in the mirror I felt like I never wanted to take it off. Big surprise for me. Even bigger surprise for my mother and grandmother who were almost certain I was going to wear jeans and a t-shirt. The dress was within my price range, but it needed to be taken in. I went to a local tailor and they quoted me $285.00 to take the dress in and to hem it. Again, I thought I was going to faint. So, I turned to the internet and poured through seamstress ads. I eventually found a great seamstress that is very close to my home who is only charging me $85.00 for everything. Remember ladies, if you ever feel like anything to do with your wedding is overpriced, don’t shy away from looking at different options. Just make sure that in your planning you allow for some extra time to explore those options.

Since I had found my dress and seamstress, we decided that my fiancé needed to find clothes too. After looking over our choices, we decided to rent a tux. At the store, I almost died laughing as they measured him and asked him what he thought about certain colors and cuts. He’s not one for fashion, so he turned to me to answer just about every question and the expression on his face was one of awkward compliance. He almost ran out of the store when we were done.

But where oh where were we going to do it? Since our wedding is going to be so small and we would like to have a bite to eat with the guests afterwards, I thought that a nice little private room in a restaurant would be perfect. After emailing at least 40, a family member mentioned The Moose Factory. I had never been there, so we went to check it out. It’s very beautiful inside and only costs $40.00 to rent a private room for an evening. We chose the Bordeaux room for our ceremony, in front of a big fireplace, and then rented the Chardonnay room for our dinner. The event planners for the facility have been both extremely helpful and considerate, which was a nice change from some of the other aspects of wedding planning.

This was the point in planning where everything started to come together. After almost 5 years together, (3 of those engaged), we were actually going to get married. For real. And I started to feel that excitement about our wedding for the first time. Like a little kid at Christmas.

World renowned Wedding Planner and Slice TV’s host of Wedding SOS, Jane Dayus-Hinch, stopped by Wedding Bells the other day, and soon she’ll be making a stop at Bridal Conference: Fall’s Boutique Bridal Show.

Because if you don’t know already, Jane Dayus-Hinch is this year’s celebrity guest speaker for Bridal Conference! With 25 year’s of wedding planning experience under her belt, Jane must have dozens of tips and suggestions when it comes to wedding planning, relationships, and marraige. So make sure to get tickets to see Jane speak at this year’s Bridal Conference and also connect with all the expert wedding resources you’ll need to plan your dream wedding.

With the date of the royal wedding announced (April 29, 2011) and Westminister Abbey chosen as the venue, many are wondering who will plan the millenium’s biggest wedding to date. Among the speculated frontrunners is a company called Niemierko.

Niemierko is a London based company that describes itself as “the wedding and event planning company of choice for savvy and stylish clients.” And plenty of saavy clients choose them. They are considered one of London’s leading event planners. BBC recently called on founder Mark Niemierko for insight on what might happen at the wedding of Kate and Prince William. You can watch the video here. Mark has been interviewed by several of London’s press about the upcoming royal wedding, and on aisledash.com, he sums up the royal couples venue choice as follows: “For London and the whole of the UK there’s not a more grand ceremony venue than Westminster Abbey. Brides can only dream of having their fairytale wedding at such a prestigious venue.”

NIEMIERKO WEDDING: Regal Russian from Niemierko on Vimeo.

This video is not of Westminister Abbey, but it shows Niemierko doing magic in another historic London landmark – The Orangery at Kensington Palace. The wedding took place last Friday (Nov. 19, 2010). Niemierko wanted to “create something exceptional yet intimate” in a regal setting, the company states on its Facebook page. Looking at what they’ve created here, it would be incredible to see what they could do with a venue like Westminster Abbey.

The possibilities for your wedding are simply limitless with Chris Fitchew. Whatever the wedding theme or fairy tale story, Chris Fitchew, master wedding planner and master of ceremonies, will re-create it to your exact desires! His work was recently featured on the television show Wedding House: Home of Fantasy Weddings, check out some of the amazing weddings sets he’s put together:

A lot of today’s brides try to do everything themselves - turning them from a sweet girl into a Bridezilla! If you don’t want this label to be applied to you keep one thing in mind - DELEGATE. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Otherwise you will feel stressed out and not be able to enjoy all the things that go along with planning your wedding day.

• The gift table: the place to receive gifts brought the ceremony and reception. Your helpers can also have a car parked close by and put gifts into the trunk.
• Ushers: positioned at the entrance, these valuable people direct guests to the guest book, gift table, restrooms, seating - anywhere your guests may need help finding.
• Table cards: arranging the cards can make it a lot easier for your guests to know where they are, especially if it’s done alphabetically. But they still need to be put out on the tables and this is another great task to delegate.
• Hand outs: programs, petals and/or bubbles don’t hand themselves out! Have some of the important younger people in your life do these tasks - they’ll have a great time telling everyone about what they are handing out.
• Collection: at the end of the night you will still need to gather up your centerpieces and other floral arrangements, the disposable cameras you placed, the guest book and other items you don’t want left behind. By asking for help with this, you can move onto your wedding night with no worries!

Ask your family and friends to do some simple jobs - they are helping you out and feeling important! This will help your wedding and reception run a lot smoother.