Discussing my flowers at The Flower House, Niagara Falls ~ Photo Michael Heinhold

We decided to order the flowers for our wedding through The Flower House, Niagara Falls, Ontario because I have worked with them in the past ordering flowers for brides getting married at The Little Wedding Chapel or the White Wedding Chapel here in Niagara Falls.

Here are some tips for ordering flowers for your wedding:

Even if your wedding is months away, see your florist asap because choosing your bouquet, corsages, boutonnieres and flowers for the chapel and reception can take hours. Florists have many books to choose from and just when you see the perfect bouquet, on another page is another perfect one! They need as much time as possible to order all the flowers you need.

Remember that flowers are seasonal! It is much more difficult, and may be impossible, to get the flowers you want for a January/February wedding compared to a summer wedding especially if you live in colder climates.  Be prepared to substitute because of unavailability of the flowers or much added expense to obtain the flowers you want. I was hoping for teal and brown flowers but these colours are impossible to find unless they are dyed. Not even true teal or brown among the fabulous gerbera colour palette! Note to self: Next time go purple. It’s always in fashion! LOL

photo: prweb.com

Trailing wrist corsage

I want to be “hands free” for the ceremony so I was thinking about either a trailing wrist corsage, pictured here on the left, or a regular corsage. I’ve chosen to go with a regular corsage after realizing that regardless of how beautiful the wrist corsage is, it will definitely be in the way of the hand fasting during the ceremony. We’ll be using teal and brown ribbons to “tie” ourselves to each other.

Instead of long stemmed ivory roses for our center pieces, we’ve taken the advise of our florist and chosen cluster roses instead. Cluster roses have about ten blooms to the stem and look like roses from your garden.

Cluster Roses ~ Photo: Plum Siena

Clear Hydration Beads ~ Photo: diyweddingcompany.co.nz

The cluster roses will be arranged in clear glass vases and the necks of the vases tied with brown and teal ribbon. I really like the look of hydration beads in the glass vases and you can purchase them in almost any colour to match your colour scheme. They add some sparkle to your vases and will reflect the light. I plan on having glass teal and brown votive candle holders circling the vases.  I’ve chosen to use clear beads so the stems of the roses can still be seen. They are practical too, working to keep the water level replenished in your vases! A great idea especially if it’s a warm day. I found hydration beads at a major craft supply store in my area but you can also order them online.

Photo ~ Michael Heinhold

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again my mom, Mike and I headed out on another “get ready for the wedding” excursion. This time it was to Criveller Cakes in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

After meeting with owner and chef Giovanni Del Priore we ordered one of their fabulous signature cakes and it’s going to be made gluten free! It will be a white sponge cake made with rice flour with layers of dark chocolate mousse covered with their signature white chocolate. It will be all “tied” together with a teal ribbon and bow. They can make your wedding cake any way you would like. I recommend you check them out for your wedding cake! Also, see our page above on wedding cakes and Chef Giovanni’s tips on purchasing your cake.

My cake will look just like this except it will have a teal ribbon and bow. Photo ~ http://www.crivellercakes.com

Mike and Jordin discussing their cake with Chef Giovanni Del Priore of Criveller Cakes, Niagara Falls, Ontario

It’s Friday and I promised to report back on my search for wedding clothes since I decided that I didn’t want to wear a wedding gown nor a dress for that matter.

So, I finally found something to wear!! It only took forever!!

Last Sunday, Mike, my mom and I headed to Laura Plus at Mapleview Mall in Burlington. I must say the clothes there are amazing from casual, to office wear, to evening wear and gowns. Though the clothes are higher priced all the winter stock was on sale. We had to go through the same rigmarole as the other stores: finding the right style and size and something that didn’t make me look like a marshmallow when I put it on!

So many lovely things at Laura Plus but I am a winter so these colours just won't work.

Here are my colours: teal and brown, but this made me look like a marshmallow!

Some advice before you go shopping!

1. Most clothing is designed for the smaller woman. If you are above a size 14 – lose weight!  Lose as much as you can, not so that you can look your best but so you can fit into the clothes you want to wear, instead of wearing clothes you have to wear because there is nothing else available.

2. Research.  Find out what colours are hot for your season and know what will be out there.  I wanted teal, but if i had known that this spring’s hot colour was going to be purple, I wouldn’t have gone with teal and brown.  There would have been so much more selection and a lot less headache.  So before you go and decide on the colours of linen, and the cake and the invitations, go and see what you have to work with and then decide.

3. Give yourself as much time as possible or lower your expectations.  If you are like me, having no idea what you want when you start out to shop, yet your darn sure of what you don’t want, give yourself lots of time to find it whether in a store, online or custom order. Give yourself days to go through heaps of clothes and countless websites to find that perfect outfit. No bride wants to wear something that isn’t quite right.

Loving all the clothes at Laura!

So now I have a sexy brown suit to wear. I bought a gold tank top to go under the jacket, but that’s because we couldn’t find the right colour of teal to go underneath (research!!!). But it’s all good!

I still have to find shoes but I don’t expect that to be as much of a hassel as finding the outfit.

Next are the accessories for the suit. I’m now on a mission to make a fascinator to match my suit. They are becoming all the rage with brides in Canada and the United States after the royal wedding in Britain last year. Below are a couple that I really like. I’m also thinking that since my suit is sort of circa 1940’s perhaps a hat with some netting over my eyes.

The latest look for this bridal season is this vintage visor veil shown here from weddingaccents.com

Here is a retro ivory straw fascinator from modcloth.com. I think it would look superb with my suit and wedding colours!

Now you might be wondering what Mike’s going to wear. Well shopping for him was a breeze. We headed down to Moore’s and found a fabulous brown shirt for him that wonderfully matches his teal patterned tie. We used their formal wear department to rent a vest to tie it all together. That took about 15 minutes!

Even though I’m not going to wear “the big white dress” I’m still planning on wearing something special.  At the moment I have no idea what that maybe, but I do know that I will know it when I see it!  Unfortunately my searches have been fruitless!  I started out by going to the Pen Centre in St. Catharines with my mom. This is the largest mall closest to Niagara Falls.  But I found, coming out of the holiday season, that the pickings were very slim. There were some good finds, but nothing that fit me just right or that I actually liked. I really liked the clothes at Laura Petite but they only went up to a size 16.  I did learn that there is a Laura Plus in Burlington so that will be our next destination this coming weekend.

Other places I scoured were the Bay and Sears but the selection in my size was limited and mostly casual wear. That was disappointing! Probably more so for my mom because she wanted to use her Sears or Bay card and get points! LOL

In the dress department at Sears all the sizes were mixed in together and just too much work trying to sift through the racks especially with my sore feet! (Poor me!) They did have a small selection of gowns, but I’ve been banned from wearing a gown by the groom (he says he wants to recognize me!) LOL again!

On Monday I did find a few things at Addition Elle in St. Catharines that I liked, however most things did not match the colours that I have chosen (teal and brown).  If I had chosen purple I would have had no problem finding something to wear! Darn! Pennington’s had a lot of teal but nothing fancy enough to wear for my wedding. The staff at both stores were very helpful.

I’ve seen many things online that I do like, but I don’t know how I feel about ordering something like this online, given that I can’t try it on and see how it makes my butt look! Not enough time for this kind of shopping.  So, I’m off to Limeridge Mall in Hamilton and then to Laura Plus at Mapleview Mall in Burlington to see what they have. After that it’s on to Toronto or over to Buffalo. Wish me luck! Send your suggestions. Only 5 1/2 weeks to go! Jordin

Dear readers,

As I mentioned last time, Mike and I will be married at The White Wedding Chapel in Niagara Falls on Monday, February 20th. It will be a small ceremony with close family and friends. But large or small, a wedding can be just perfect! We’ve chosen teal and brown as our colour scheme and today I present my inspiration board for my wedding! Please scroll to the top of the blog and click on “Wedding Inspiration Boards” to view what I’ve posted. Yesterday we met with our caterers and finalized the menu and the table decor. It will be sweet!

Here are our yummy colours: teal, brown and cream! Photo ~ sweatretreat.ca