Newly engaged & lots of planning to do!

[Late Bloomer]

Hi, I just found these forums. I'm in my early 40s and getting married for the first time. My fiance and I are trying to figure out if there's enough time to plan a wedding for this summer. If not, it will have to be next summer. But we'd prefer not to wait that long.

[Sotiny]

Congratsss on your engagment! You must be very exciting.

Depending on how big of a wedding you are looking for... as long as you find a venue available, you should be ok... If you don't mind letting me know which area you are looking for and how many guests you are planning to invite, I don't mind helping you search

However, things that you might want to consider is you might not be able to hire some popular photographer (as they are usually booked ahead of time). You might need to buy your wedding dress off the rack, usually it takes 4-6 months to have a wedding dress made. You might need to, also, pick up your bridesmaids' dresses off the rack as it usually takes 3-4 months to have those dresses made. Something to look out for is booking of your limo (if you are considering) because grad season is coming.

Good Luck!

Hi, I just found these forums. I'm in my early 40s and getting married for the first time. My fiance and I are trying to figure out if there's enough time to plan a wedding for this summer. If not, it will have to be next summer. But we'd prefer not to wait that long.

[Late Bloomer]

Thanks Sotiny.

It will be a small wedding, only about 30 guests. We're looking for something classy and/or scenic. I love gardens and greenspaces, and heritage homes. Also love to dance so it must have a dance floor!

I don't really mind getting a dress off the rack. As long as it fits well and I look fabulous, why not?

[Sotiny]

I am so excited for your planning "bloomer" (there is nothing "late" )

30 guests would be nice and cozy... why don't you give the following venue a call and see if they still have opening this summer:
http://harthouserestaurant.com/ (deer lake burnaby area)
http://burnabyvillagemuseum.ca/ (Burnaby Village Museum)
http://www.burnabyartgallery.ca/ (Burnaby Art gallery)
http://www.shadboltcentre.com/atrium_and_studios.php (Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.. more modern building, but close to the deer lake area... Studio 102 would be a good choice for wedding like yours)
http://www.horizonsrestaurant.com/in...d=27&Itemid=35 (Horizons at burnaby mountain park)
http://www.sfu.ca/dac/ (and of course... the diamond alumni centre@SFU, where we were married)
http://www.golfbc.com/courses/mayfai...nning/weddings (MayFair lake golf club is very nice as well, this is in Richmond)

Give these couple of places a try first... you better act fast cause summer wedding in Vancouver is very popular (some of the venues are booked 1 year ahead of time)

As of your wedding dress... you better start looking (as most bridal store only have a small selection of "off the rack" sale dress) here is the list of many bridal store in lower mainland http://www.bridethings.com/forum/van...vancouver.html I got my dress from Maria's Bridal & Gift Gallery, but they are closed now.

Try to confirm the venue first.. before you go for dress shopping dress shopping is the best part of wedding planning

Here is a list of questions that you might want to consider asking when you call/meet with your vendors:
http://www.bridethings.com/forum/van...questions.html

Let me know if you got lucky with any of the venue.

Thanks Sotiny.

It will be a small wedding, only about 30 guests. We're looking for something classy and/or scenic. I love gardens and greenspaces, and heritage homes. Also love to dance so it must have a dance floor!

I don't really mind getting a dress off the rack. As long as it fits well and I look fabulous, why not?

[Sotiny]

Just wondering if you got your venue locked-down already?

[Late Bloomer]

We've been checking out venues, and have a couple in mind that might work. Perhaps Galbraith House, or Minnekhada Lodge.

But the big news is we decided to wait until next year to get married. It's disappointing, but there are many other things going on this summer, and I was started to feel too stressed and rushed. I would rather wait and plan the type of wedding we both want, rather than having to rush and grab whatever venue, caterer (or dress!) is left available on relatively short notice.

So I am looking forward to the planning now, and hope to have a venue booked for next Spring in the near future.

[Sotiny]

Both Galbraith House and Minnekhada Lodge are very cozy. Good Choice!

Doing it next year is not disappointing... come on... that gives you more time to plan and it would give you lots of chance to save money... since you have 1 year to plan, you will be able to catch the summer sale (even back to school sale for some deco at Michaels and Ikea) It is going to be GREAT!

Have you pick a theme colour yet?

We've been checking out venues, and have a couple in mind that might work. Perhaps Galbraith House, or Minnekhada Lodge.

But the big news is we decided to wait until next year to get married. It's disappointing, but there are many other things going on this summer, and I was started to feel too stressed and rushed. I would rather wait and plan the type of wedding we both want, rather than having to rush and grab whatever venue, caterer (or dress!) is left available on relatively short notice.

So I am looking forward to the planning now, and hope to have a venue booked for next Spring in the near future.

[Late Bloomer]

Both Galbraith House and Minnekhada Lodge are very cozy. Good Choice!

Doing it next year is not disappointing... come on... that gives you more time to plan and it would give you lots of chance to save money... since you have 1 year to plan, you will be able to catch the summer sale (even back to school sale for some deco at Michaels and Ikea) It is going to be GREAT!

Have you pick a theme colour yet?

Thanks Sotiny. Hmm, never thought about the summer sales!

I haven't decided on a colour scheme yet. Actually, until I started reading the online forums, I didn't know I needed a colour scheme, lol! I haven't been directly involved in any traditional weddings (never a bridesmaid can you believe) and my mother had a very casual wedding (civil ceremony with a get-together at a relative's house afterwards).

If we're getting married in the Spring (the tentative plan), I'm thinking some sort of Spring tones. Are the colour schemes just for the decor and table settings?

[Sotiny]

Hello Bloomer!

Yes... Summer sales are GREAT!
Sale Sale Sale! Look out for the 40% off coupon from Michaels as well.

Theme:
We use lots of dried flower petals for our wedding (cutting cost on the flower). The invitation that we picked got some purple-pressed-petals on the paper and we used lots of dried flower on our enterpiece for the sit-down reception. We used a floral-pattern-stamp on all of the prints related to our wedding: envelope for invitations and thank you cards, the card displaying the table name (instead of table number for the sit-down reception), the menu/guest names thingie... (I made this triangular prism without the top and bottom, where one side is the menu of the buffet, one side is just a poem and the names of the wedding party, and the 3rd side was the names of all of the guests at each table)

For us... it was just trying to keep all of our print job parallel as we did everything ourselves and we didn't want them to look tooo "home-made"... that's why we came up the idea of a theme. Here is a site for some idea : http://www.wedthemes.com/ I wanted a beach theme to begin with, but beach theme in November doesn't seems to be nice :P Items that you would try to work on (if you have a theme) would be the ring pillow, the candle holders, the flower girl basket, cake top, pen for signing the license, guest book, centrepiece... etc.

Colour:
For our colour, we had purple and ivory... (although, you see a lot of red in my photos... that's more because I was an asian bride). We used the theme colour on all of our print jobs, the flower [bridesmaids' Bouquets, all of the corsages (for mothers and VIPs), boutonniere (for groom's men and fathers and VIPs) + flower on the cake, and 1 flower arrangement for the sign-in area], the bridesmaids + flower girl dresses, the tux for the guys (you can pick your colour even when you rent the tux), the cake. We also picked up some chain light (those summer outdoor floral chain-lights from Ikea in purple and ivory)

It would be nice if my dresses, except the wedding dress, to be in purple.. but again... I was an asian bride... so red was the colour that we went with. For us, the idea of having a theme and the main colours is just to try to make the wedding to look "less-home-made" and it looks like the goal was achieved :P

For spring wedding, you can consider pastel colours. I would suggest either to stick with 1 colour and go with different shade or to stick with max 3 different colours (otherwise, it might look too busy).

I am now planning for a yellow-red-orange wedding in the summer, I picked up some orange candle at Canadian tire for 99 cents for a pack of 15 candles. It is just awesome; once you have a theme colour, you can really get some good deals when you start looking.

[Late Bloomer]

We have finally set a date and have a location. It will be next July, woohoo!

[peeps]

congrats!
which location did u end up picking??