By far, one of the most elaborate weddings I had the privilege of being a part of this year was Pavin and Vanessa at the Scarborough Convention Centre in Ontario.
Not only were they both absolute sweethearts but they had such an incredibly loving wedding party and family- it was hard NOT to be moved by this one.
This was my first experience at the Scarborough Convention Centre and I was really impressed overall. Let me start by saying parking was free (cue all the sighs of relief for Torontonians that deal with crazy parking prices!) and secondly, this wedding had roughly 515 guests so it can accommodate a large guest list. I wouldn’t go too much over 500 guests if you want to be comfortable and be able to get a sense of the ambiance. There is a huge stage and several gorgeous chandeliers that really make the room come to life.
The staff were friendly and helpful with a few minor things I needed to have done before the reception started. The bridal suite was a fair size, but not extraordinarily large and has an adjoining balcony that leads out and overlooks the reception ballroom. The staircase from that balcony will bring you down to the floor level of the reception. The main hallway is long and is typically used for the cocktail hour and it works quite well and washrooms for the guests were very clean, big and beautiful!
Planning: AVPEvents| Venue: Scarborough Convention Centre| Flowers & Decor: Babylon Decor| Photography: Photography by Azra| Video: AM Motion|
There are so many moving parts within the services that wedding professionals offer and it can be difficult to know exactly what the value of a service should be when you know nothing about it. So- you need to deepen your knowledge of what these professionals do. It’s not as simple as slapping a cake together the night before, or ordering some flowers to make some table arrangements. In order to truly appreciate the value of a service, you have to understand it. Ask questions! If you don’t understand why the flowers you want are so expensive? Ask. If you don’t realize how much time and money (yes I said money) goes into planning a wedding? ASK. Get a better understanding of the service, what it entails, the amount of time and resources it takes and once you understand that, pricing will make sense.
Tell us what you want! Don’t be “iffy” or constantly change your mind (because that is a huge mistake that will cost you!). Just let us know what you want, what you are thinking, what is your best case scenario, what are back up options and we will do whatever we can to make it happen. And if you don’t know…tell us that too! We are there to work it out and work alongside you, that’s how we support you. I love being able to present options to a couple if they “just don’t know” because at the very least it gives you some ideas to start with. But if you don’t tell us what you want, what your vision is, we can’t give you our best. We can’t streamline our talent and creativity without being pointed in some sort of direction. This is YOUR day, we will make it happen if you just tell us what you want!
We know it can be tough to commit to one idea, color or concept- there is so much beautiful inspiration, you would do all if it if you could. But you can’t. It’s one thing to think you want one thing and then change your mind, we can deal with that, it happens! Now if you change your mind multiple times, before, during and after meetings and consultations- this is where it gets tricky. Have you ever tried to navigate through an email feed that contains 27 communications trying to find the most recent requested changes? Having to update notes too many times can result in something being forgotten or overlooked, we’re human and it can get confusing. Another issue that stems from this that couples get upset over is that every time you change your mind, the price changes. This leads to having to update another quote and emailing that off, which takes more time. It also means you have less time to execute or place orders because nothing has been concretely decided.
You’re probably thinking “but why? I should just wait to get all my RSVP’s in…”, we guarantee that you will not get all of your RSVP’s in by the deadline date. In fact, we guarantee you will have to designate someone to call people to get their confirmation. If you know off the bat which guests will absolutely come, get those names on a tentative excel sheet and organized into a table. If they need to be swapped later that is fine but get their names, family members and plus 1’s on there. Waiting until you get all of the RSVP’s means you will be way too close to the wedding date trying to get this done and if you’ve chosen to do it yourself, you will not have as much time or energy as you think. Also, keep track of who you invite but don’t give a formal invite too, we’ve seen guests show up and NOT be on a seating chart because they were forgotten!
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