Where will I find my perfect little vintage wedding dress?
Where will I find my perfect little vintage wedding dress? Is it possible to find her in halifax? Suggestions? Buying it online seems too risky. —Crystal
Local Wedding Gowns
When Johanna Galipeau, owner of Sweet Pea Boutique and Twisted Muse, got engaged, she didn’t have to go far to find the perfect wedding dress—make that dresses. For her getaway Las Vegas ceremony Johanna picked a creamy grecian-style BCBG cocktail dress and had Halifax designer Katrina Tuttle (katrinatuttle.com) make her a fun, flirty polka-dotted frock…
What are you girls wearing as bras under your dress?
What are you girls wearing as bras under your dress? I just bought one of those bras that the cups stick to you. Is that a mistake?
Flowers for the Season
Years ago, deciding what flowers were available at different times of the year was rather easy. Spring flowers in spring, summer ones in summer, etc. However, with the worldwide markets opening up so much, the availability of flowers is greater, although there are still some restrictions and recommendations. When thinking about flowers for your wedding,…
Local & in Love
When Unni Simensen’s daughter got married, she walked down the aisle with a bouquet adorned with blueberry branches. “I often go out and pick blueberry branches and decorate the cake,” Simensen, chef and owner of Scanway Catering, says. “Our blueberry pound cake with blueberry buttercream is very popular, if you’re having a very local theme.”…
Creative, Budget Friendly Wedding Receptions
For most couples that are planning a wedding deciding what style of reception to have comes down to one main concern – budget. Traditional wedding receptions can be beautiful, impressive and memorable, but often expensive. Being creative with your dollars, however, can lead to an equally beautiful, impressive and memorable reception. Talk to your caterer…
Elegant cocktail party at St. Mary’s Boat Club
In May of last year, Brett Vair found herself sitting by the ocean with her then-boyfriend Andrew Bergen, enjoying their solo evening at her parents’ cottage on the south shore. “Suddenly he proposed. It was perfect,” remembers Brett. “Relaxed and personal, totally our style.” That style transferred over to the couple’s wedding day, where the…
Something Old, Something New, and Something “Green”
Greening your wedding does not mean compromising your dream wedding. The inspiration you already have envisioned can be modified to reduce environmental impact without compromising style or elegance. Online resources, including the Green Bride Guide (www.thegreenbrideguide. com) offer glimpses into real weddings, allowing you to see how “green” choices have impacted their celebrations. The Bridal…
Navigating the Perils of Vow Writing
Writing your own wedding vows can be a bigger and more headache-ridden activity than most soon-to-be newlyweds anticipate. Here are a few tips to help you get started. Before you start writing your vows get the “all-clear” from your officiate. Depending on your officiate, church or synagogue there may be stipulations on how much you…
Three Essential Elements for an Amazing Day!
Planning a magical wedding that you and your guests will remember for years to come is a challenge for any bride. With an abundance of information on wedding websites, social media outlets, books and bridal magazines, brides begin to suffer information overload whereby the fun aspect of planning loses its luster. But it shouldn’t! Step…
Appointing your “Day-Of” Wedding Coordinators
You have been planning your wedding for months, scrutinizing every detail and meticulously counting the days till you say “I Do.” After all of your hard effort, do you want to actually work on your wedding day? The reality is that many brides do work and become quite stressed because they have difficulty relinquishing control…
Photographer Shot List
Click here to download our handy shot list.
Choosing your wedding date
Choosing a wedding date can be like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. There are many details to piece together when narrowing down the best time of year, day of week and time of day to host your wedding. Use the following questions as basic guidelines to help select your ideal wedding day. 1. What…
Creating Atmosphere
Live music can add allure, entertainment and elegance to your wedding day. Here are three traditional, three affordable and three unique ideas to help you add the right live music to your wedding. Traditional: 1. Walk down the aisle to Pachelbel’s Canon in D performed by a solo cellist, a flute and guitar duo or…
Nature inspired invitations
Clockwise from top left: Birds of a feather flock happily together on this Rain Speckle-toned card stock, made from recycled post consumer waste, from Duly Noted Stationary. Elegant letterpress by Katie Tower, through the Dawson Printshop’s Letterpress Gang, katietower.ca. Cherry blossoms light up this summery custom invitation by Megan Fildes, mfildes.carbonmade.com. A touch of pink…
The Soundtrack of your wedding
Music is often one of the last services to be planned by brides and grooms for their weddings – often coming after venues, food, flowers, and even chair covers. But it is the music that makes a wedding become magically etched to memory. When a wedding is videotaped, the day’s moments come to life with…
Wedding Trends
What’s glam? What’s hot? What’s the wedding excitement for this year – the year of political change, of economic mystery, of eco-conscious lifestyle? The buzzwords are: green, budget-conscious, vintage, creative, intimate, cozy and fun. Modern vintage is our summation for the next year of weddings. The cliché “less is more” will be the matrimonial motto.…
Recently Engaged: Kim & Matt
High school sweethearts Kim Vallis and Matt Madden picked a special day for their wedding: the date marks their 10-year anniversary of being together. Vallis, who is employed as a graphic designer for NSCC Online Learning, and Madden, an e-marketing analyst at ISL Web Marketing and Development, are also talented photographers (maddenvallis.com), who work together…
Make the Most of Your Wedding Toast
Most of us consider public speaking one of the most stressful things we can do. Even at a wedding, with good friends and dear family in the audience, it can still be nerve wracking. With some thought and planning, it can be easier for everyone. The toasts at your wedding can be fun, touching, and…
Lights? Camera. Action!
Many bride and grooms want professional videos capturing every moment at their weddings. The quality of these videos often comes down to lighting. Movie sets have plenty of lights. For excellent video quality, cameras need their sets to be well lit. This cannot always be the case for wedding venues. Brides and grooms may want…
Fairytale wedding with sweets and sweethearts
Maria Garcia and Josh Walt first met at university in 2004. They quickly became friends, and started dating in early 2005. Maria and Josh’s wedding was not just a celebration of love for each other, but also for their families and their traditions. Both families stood under the wedding huppah (the marriage canopy), including their…
Looking Your Loveliest
Since the time of Cleopatra, women have been applying makeup in honour of celebrations and rites of passage (such as marriage). Often, this preparation time is also quality relaxation time to reflect on your upcoming special day. The artistry of makeup is that it is individual. Each person has features that she likes to highlight…
Radiant bridal skin
Every bride envisions having healthy, glowing and radiant skin on her wedding day. Paramount to achieving this is a professional skincare consultation with an esthetician who is trained in topical skincare and cosmetics and is very knowledgeable about the relationship between your skin and nutrition. Topical Skincare A topical skin care assessment will identify your…
Budget checklist
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Friends, Laughter & Wedding Wisdom
This past summer, I enjoyed a fun evening with my three best friends. All of us were each other’s bridesmaids at our weddings. As we consumed lots of scrumptious food and wine, we told many stories and made plenty of jokes, laughing raucously at our wit. Our exuberant talk turned to our past four weddings,…
One year planning checklist
Click here and start planning.
In the Moment
Wedding photographers work tirelessly for that perfect shot —a secret glance, a shared smile, an impromptu piggyback ride through a hay field. Uncover some of those moments with these photographers’ photos of couples on their happiest of days.
Bubble Over
Make your first toast as a married couple award-worthy, with L’Acadie Vineyards’ sparkling wine. L’Acadie was the first in Nova Scotia— the province’s cooler climate makes it ideal growing grounds—to produce sparkling wine through the traditional method or méthode champenoise: bubbles are created in the bottle rather than injected in afterwards, like carbonated soft drinks.…
Let’s Hear it for the Boys
We didn’t forget about the guys. Give your groomsmen personalized gifts with a handmade touch.
A very important date with a Mad Hatter-themed wedding
Ashley Molenaar and Shawn Lush wanted a wedding fit for the Mad Hatter. The Hants East Rural High sweethearts dated for seven years before Shawn popped the question one freezing November day on the Halifax waterfront, and the couple wasted no time on the DIY wedding theme. Ashley collected teacups from thrift shops over the…
Wedding etiquette
Q Who should you traditionally give gifts to? A Traditionally gifts from the bride and groom are given to their attendants on both sides of their bridal party to commemorate the day. Typically, a piece of jewellery is given to the bridal party—perhaps something they can wear on the wedding day. The maid/matron of honour may be a more…
Shell Talk: eating local oysters
Oysters can be a succulent way of giving your wedding an east coast feel, as long as you know when to do it. “Oysters in Nova Scotia are edible all year long, although not at a high quality of meat all year long,” says Philip Docker, owner of ShanDaph Oysters, who says he only harvests…
Christina Martin’s top wedding songs
Christina Martin met her man three years ago while working in a studio with Matt Mays. The singer-songwriter says Mays, Adam Baldwin, her soon-to-be-husband Dale Murray (of Cuff the Duke) and herself “hit the town later that night and drank everything in our paths…ended up having an all-night jam at my place where I mixed…
Modern meets traditional with a small intimate wedding
Priya Mal and Todd Howell first met in grade nine. Priya was waiting to pick up her brother, and Todd made a beeline for her from across the street, full of charm. “He’s always been a man to go directly for what he wants, even when he was a boy,” she says. Wanting a blend…
2011 Wedding Events
Christmas Wedding Show Atlantica Hotel & Marina Oak Island hosts this South Shore wedding show, which includes runway fashion shows, wedding industry vendors, local artisans and suppliers to help you choose the ideal South Shore professionals for all your flowers, wedding cakes, photographers, keepsakes and gifts. Sunday, December 19, 2010, Atlantica Hotel & Marina Oak…
The Significance of the Bridal Bouquet
While weddings are becoming more creative as traditions become more lax, wedding flowers continue to hold their ground as the conventional decoration at most weddings. Their brilliant colours, wonderful scents, natural beauty, uniqueness and versatility are perhaps the primary reasons for their longevity. And yet, upon pondering their significance further, there seems to be more…
A dream wedding on a DIY budget
Ashley Delaney and Ben Aitken aren’t huge fans of attention. The high school sweethearts met 10 years ago, and needed to tie the knot in a low-key way. “Being together for so long, we didn’t feel like we needed a big to-do,” says Ashley, now a graphic designer. (Ben transformed from high school student to…
A Fine Romance
When you’re picking something old, something new, remember that romance never goes out of style. These accessories add a little fairytale glamour to your wedding day wardrobe.
The Ultimate Bridesmaid
The history of the bridesmaid varies from cultures, religions and time periods. The early Roman bridesmaids were more of a bridal army accompanying the bride to the groom’s village. This army, all dressed similarly, would intervene if any thugs or vengeful suitors attempted to hurt the bride or steal her dowry. The Western bridesmaid tradition…
Cake Boss
There’s no better way to put an individual touch on your big day than with your wedding cake. Jennifer Harrison, owner of the super-popular Layers Wedding Cake Design, says that when it comes to the sweet stuff, her clients are becoming bigger risk-takers. “This year and so far for 2011 they want the cake to…
In Bloom
Traditional. Modern. Simple. Intricate. The classic white wedding hue appeals to all styles, making it an impossible colour to overlook in the field of choices. Local florists have designed a few bouquet and table possibilities, showcasing the simple white look in its elegant—yet transformative—style.
What are the good wedding DJs in Halifax?
Hey ladies, does anyone have an recommendation for DJs here in Halifax? I would like to keep the cost around $400 and a light show is NOT necessary. Thanks.
How do you organize a wedding on the beach?
Just got engaged and seeking any info on having a wedding at the beach. Was wondering if anyone could suggest a location that has worked. What did you do about seating?
Honeymoon suggestions?
We live in PEI but are getting married in his hometown of Halifax. We may not be able to afford to take a honeymoon right away. I want to at least try to go somewhere quiet for 3 days after the wedding to relax. Can anyone recommend a place that is close to the water,…
How do you pick a colour scheme?
Hi everyone. Help me pick a colour scheme! I can’t decide between a Victorian feel or NS rustic. My MOH is a designer and helping me out but I’m looking for inspiration. What is your colour palette and does it match the season of your wedding? Thanks.
Halifax mayor met three times with convention centre developer during no-contact period
Mayor Peter Kelly says he met three times with Joe Ramia, the developer of the convention centre proposed for downtown, during a period when prospective developers were to be disqualified from the project if they discussed it with city officials. But none of those meetings were improper, says Kelly. In 2008, the province and city…
How do you include guests in the wedding ceremony?
My fiance and I are thinking about ways to include our guests in the ceremony. Please share any ideas that worked.
How do you make an eco-friendly wedding?
Anyone have suggestions how we can make small changes to have a more eco-friendly wedding?
Do you have wedding stuff for sale?
For sale? Post here. Let local brides know what you you’d like to sell.
If you had your wedding to do over, what would you do differently?
If YOU had your wedding to do over, what would you do differently??? What would you add/take away?? (or if you’re not married, what have you heard people say….)
