Cynthia on Wedding Planning

I got engaged last month and since then, it’s been nothing but wedding, wedding, wedding.  It’ll likely be this way until I get married…NEXT YEAR.  I’ve been spending a great deal of time researching photographers, venues, dresses and so forth – I make myself do at least two hours of research every day.  My fiance is involved too.  He has been sending me links of prospective vendors for our big day.

It’s amazing how much you have to do this far in advance.  A lot of the top venues around here are booked up very early.   Apparently, one very sought-after place, Casa Loma, requires couples to book two years in advance.  After all, many brides dreamed of marrying in a castle as little girls.  If you’re going to be a princess, why not go all out? 

We aren’t looking for venues or photographers anymore, as we have already booked.  However, there’s still so much more to do.  We haven’t even looked at cakes or officiants yet.  Cakes can come a bit later, but officiants book up quickly too.  Because we’re interfaith and don’t want to include any kind of religion in our ceremony, our only option is a civil ceremony.  During the strike, I called Toronto City Hall to see if they had a list of contacts, but they weren’t able to give me any information.  In fact, the woman I spoke with on the phone said that she wasn’t sure if such a list existed (I’m sure it does – many people ask for officiants to perform ceremonies outside of City Hall).   Since they only got out of the strike this week, I won’t be calling them until they’re likely more “settled.” Probably in the upcoming week or so. I have also researched outside of City Hall, but many officiants outside of City Hall have religious backgrounds.  This is NOT what we’re looking for.

We plan to attend bridal shows when they come back to the Toronto area this fall so we can get a better idea for DJs, cakes and so forth.  Bridal shows are there to help couples save time – rather than spending hours online researching and contacting vendors, they can do it all in one day by speaking with those who’re at the event. However, we’ve been told that because there are so many vendors, it can get a little confusing too- you don’t necessarily remember who did what.  We will likely book soon after the show as the summer is a very busy season for them.  There’s so much more left to do!