Borrowed, Blue, Old and New You Can Find it Here – Guest Blog

Ahh, your wedding. You may have thought about this day for as long as you can remember or perhaps you didn’t give it a passing thought until you heard the magical words, Will you marry me? Either way, your wedding day is one of the most special days of your life. But… it can also be one of the most expensive. You have a set budget, you begin booking your venue, hiring a caterer, choosing your photographer, buying your dream gown and…Boom! Just like that your budget is blown.

I’ve been there. In 2012 I was preparing for my rustic themed wedding with my perfect venue, a great caterer, a gorgeous gown and…oops! The one thing I wanted most, stunning accessories, seemed to slip through the cracks. Not only did I experience extreme sticker shock when I forged out to find my dream accessories but I also cried at the tackiness of what was available. Racks of gorgeous gowns and one or two shelves of accessories that at best resembled something from a 1980’s episode of Dallas. This was a problem I was determined to fix.

Months later I had a light bulb moment. Why buy one-time wear accessories when you can borrow them? So began many months of research, planning, telephone calls and e-mails. To bring you the best the bridal world has to offer, I curated a collection of new and vintage bridal and special occasion accouterments from high-end accessory designers from Canada, the USA and Australia. Justine M. Couture, Elle & Jae, Karolina Keeler and Sara Gabriel are just some of the designers featured.

Originally, my plan was to open a street front accessory boutique. But after talking to several brides I realized this service is something that is desired by many people across the country. And so, months later I’ve launched MySomethingBorrowed.ca an online boutique where brides all over Canada can borrow the same budget friendly luxuries. Not interested in borrowing? Not a problem! My Something Borrowed is an authorized retailer of all of the designers we carry therefore we are also able to offer the option to purchase new. New items take approximately four to six weeks to receive due to the custom handcrafted, designer couture quality of each piece. We are delighted to be your “something borrowed” or “something new”! You can find us at mysomethingborrowed.ca. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Sincerely,

Heather Boissonneault
Founder/Owner
My Something Borrowed
MySomethingBorrowed.ca
Facebook.com/mysomethingborrowed.ca
Instagram.com/mysomethingborrowed

We’re Moving!

After almost two decades of planning live events, we have learned there is one constant we can always count on: Things change! This has strangely become a comfort to us as consumer show producers because it means we’re constantly moving forward, evolving and keeping pace with the world around us. In that spirit, it is with great excitement and anticipation that we share our latest change, that of the venue for our Hamilton Halton Spring Wedding Show.

Now in its 46th year, the Hamilton Halton Spring Wedding Show is, by far the largest and longest running bridal industry consumer event in the region and it’s January 10th and 11th 2015 edition will be held at the Hamilton Convention Centre. It’s a “home coming” of sorts for the event, it’s exhibitors, consumers and of course, we as it’s producers. For decades the show was held at the Convention Centre, taking advantage of it’s central, downtown location, impressive square footage and two floor layout that allows us to host the largest gathering of the area’s top wedding professionals. We are thrilled to once again take this strongly attended event, with all it’s new advancements and latest additions and host it in a place that befits it’s caliber.

Brides and Grooms-to-be along with their entourage of supporters will be welcomed during the two day event. Booth space is 85% sold and we are just fine tuning the details that have always set this show apart as the one not to be missed! Please check our website for ticket information leading up to the show, as well as our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for ticket giveaways, contests and promotions.

If you are interested in how your wedding based business can be showcased at the 46th Annual Hamilton Halton Spring Wedding Show, please contact our offices and we would be happy to send you the corresponding information.

Facebook: Hamilton Halton & Niagara Wedding Shows
Twitter: the_engagedlife
Instagram: theengagedlife
Website: TopWeddingShows.com
Office: 905-524-3689

Cheers!

Jennifer

Fall Fun and Adventure!

That all too familiar chill is in the air. Alarm clocks are ringing admits darkness. Pumpkin spiced anything is readily available just about anywhere. It’s Autumn. And as the leaves turn colour and fall, as children adapt to familiar schedules and as warm coats make their migration to the front of closets everywhere, it’s time for us to acknowledge another season is upon us. While many tend to get caught up in the thought of what follows this beautiful season (the dreaded “W” word), we’ve been encouraging one another to make the most of all the fun Fall themed things are to see and do locally. While Spring and Summer certainly offer endless options of excitement and adventure, Fall is not without it’s charm. Below are some snapshots of places to go and things to do in and around our beautiful city.

Apple Picking at Brantwood Farms

Fall Baking is always so rewarding! Here we make the most out of our apple picking escapade with homemade pies ready for the oven!

Hanes Corn Maze is a great way to spend an Autumn Afternoon!

With outdoor gardening all but wrapped up for the year, why not start a indoor garden with succulents in a terrarium. They are easy to care for with wide varieties now available.

No matter what you decide to do, grab a partner, get outside and enjoy the weather! The air is refreshingly crisp and there is plenty to do! Yee Ha!

Fall Wedding Show Highlights

Autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons in the northern hemisphere. According to the experts and guys who know about this kind of stuff, they are saying that this year may be one of the most colourful on record. So if you have the opportunity, try to get outdoors as much as you can to enjoy the best of this vibrant and bountiful season… especially before “you-know-what” starts falling to the ground!!  ❄ ❄ ❄

We’d like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to all the Brides and Grooms who attended the Wedding Shows in September. We hope that you were able to check a few more items off your to-do list and shop the many goods and services offered by the area’s best wedding professionals. The high level of quality exhibits, displays and booth set-ups helped to make this one of the best Wedding Show Seasons yet!  Here are a few snapshots from the Hamilton Fall Wedding Show that took place last week for you to see!

To those of you getting married, who will still be in the planning process in January we hope to see you at the Hamilton Halton and Niagara Spring Wedding Shows taking place that month. If you will be married by then, we wish you all the best and hope to see you at our Food & Drink Fest event in April!

Cheers,

Jay and Jenn

Helpful Tips for Attending a Wedding Show

At a Bridal Show, there is nothing like being prepared! It saves you time, sanity and especially money.

A Wedding Show is organized with your best interests in mind. It is a place where you have the luxury of seeing and talking to many of the area’s top Wedding related companies in one convenient location. 

Some tips to help you remain organized, calm and realize the most benefits from your trip a Wedding Show:

1) Bring return address stickers: It will save your hands from mass cramping as you fill in all those ballots to win any one of the great prizes… you’ll need to save your hands to address your wedding invitations.

2) Time management: Plan to arrive in time to catch one of the wedding show’s fashion shows, where Wedding retailers showcase their new fashions and trends for the upcoming season. Give yourself at least a couple of hours either before or after the fashion shows and try to visit each booth to get the most out of the show.

3) Dress comfortably: Wear good shoes, you’ll be putting in some heavy-duty kilometres and try to wear something that you don’t have to carry so you can keep your hands free…you know! to fill in all those ballots.

4) Comfort in numbers: Come with someone whose opinion you trust. Once you decide on who to bring, allocate some duties. Get someone to take notes, collect brochures or scout for comparable companies.

5) Don’t be afraid to negotiate: Ask the Wedding vendors if they offer a show discount or if certain dates are available at a discount or if they have package deals with other services you may need…Hey, it does not hurt to ask!

6) Be sure to request references: You want to make sure that the people you hire for your special day have made other people’s weddings a happy, successful and memorable occasion… and who better to ask than other couples!

7) Make a Personal Email Address specifically for planning your wedding.  Many of the wedding professionals you are working with will be contacting you via email with dates, details, quotes etc. We recommend that you do not give out your work or school email.  Use services such as Gmail or Hotmail so that you can access your account anywhere.  It will make for a much more organized and stress-free planning period if you separate your wedding planning information from your personal and professional information.

Remember that weddings are supposed to be fun and it’s not how hard you work that makes it fun, it is how smart you plan. Attending any of our professionally organized Wedding Shows  is the first step to effectively planning a fun and less stressful wedding…

Please see below the details for the upcoming wedding shows in the Hamilton-Halton and Niagara Region’s

11th Annual Niagara Autumn Wedding Show 

Sunday September 21, 2014

The Holiday Inn & Suites Parkway Hotel & Conference Centre, St. Catharines

 

17th Annual Hamilton-Halton Fall Wedding Show

September 27 & 28, 2014

The Careport Expo Centre, Hamilton

It’s Contest Time!!

The 11th Annual Niagara Autumn Wedding Show is THIS WEEKEND at the Holiday Inn & Suites Parkway Conference Centre and we want to make sure that everyone has access to our $2 off coupon… So in order to spread the word, it’s CONTEST TIME!! Simply follow us on Facebook or Instagram and share or repost the coupon photo. Then come back to this original photo and write “Done” in the comment box. Everyone who does will be entered into a draw for two pairs of entrance passes to the Niagara Autumn Wedding Show! Winners will be announced Friday, September 19th! Thanks for sharing and good luck!!! www.topweddingshows.com

 

Find the right Wedding Dress to Personify the Beautiful Bride you are

A splendid wedding dress plays a huge role in transforming you into a ravishing bride who will enchant the onlookers. Choosing the right wedding dress can take time, so a little research on what is suitable and what wouldn’t work, can make the task a lot easier.

Prepare before you shop
Once your wedding date is set, you should embark on searching for the right wedding dress.  A quick look at the available options in bridal gowns will reveal a plethora of designs, cuts, fabric and styles. Before you go shopping, decide upon the selection criteria, so it doesn’t take forever to zero-in on the right dress from the hundreds of tempting options. A good way to go about wedding shopping is to select one that is appropriate for the venue and weather. The amount you can afford to spend on it should also be a deciding factor.

If you are having a winter wedding, opt for heavy fabrics like silk satins or velvet and long gowns with sophisticated sleeves.

A summer wedding calls for strapless gowns in light, breezy fabrics like tulle, chiffon and organza. For an outdoor wedding, consider the natural surroundings, weather and the likelihood of rain at the venue to determine whether you would be better off with a sturdier wedding dress or in a comfortable, lightweight gown.
Once you know what you want, it is time to go shopping. Plan your budget, and stick to it so you don’t look at gowns that you cannot afford. Book an appointment with the bridal boutique and collect clippings of bridal dresses that you like. Enlist the help of a close friend to accompany you when you shop. Share your ideas and budget with the bridal consultant and listen to their suggestions for what may look best on you.

Shopping for your figure
The right wedding gown should emphasize your best features. Your height, build and style would be factors to consider. If you are pear-shaped, opt for wedding gowns that don’t cling too much. A V-neck would be a good choice. For plus-sized brides, a well-fitted gown in fabric like satin which just sweeps the ground would be ideal.

 

If you are apple-shaped, choose a dress that gathers at the waist and has details on the bodice.

 

The taller you are, the longer your dress can be. Opt for a simple gown with a fitted silhouette and let your height do the rest of the work.

 

If you are not really curvy, consider a gown that gathers at the waist but flows into a wider train.

 

Petite brides will benefit from trumpet style gowns or patterns that gather above the waist to give an illusion of height.

Finding the right bridal gown is fortunately not as difficult as finding your life-partner is. You will know it when you wear it. Once you find a gown that you love, end your search there. Have it altered to fit you perfectly, and try it with the accessories you will use on your wedding day. Now that your shopping adventure is over, you can breathe easy. Sit back and await the day when you float down the aisle in your beautiful wedding dress to marry the perfect man and begin a lifetime of happiness together.
This article is a guess contribution by Best For Bride – selection of bridal apparel and accessories for your wedding day.

Paella Party in a storm!

All the ingredents lined-up and ready to go

Adding the peppers, onions and garlic

Folding the rice… don’t want to bruise it.

Checking to see if mussels opened

Bringing Paella to the table

Up close

Every year we try to plan a party near the end of summer. We call it our “Paella Party”. The whole event is centred around making our version of this colourful and delicious traditional spanish dish. One of the main components in making our Paella Party a success is the weather. We want the weather to be nice and hot so we can do all the cooking outside while sitting in our pretend ocean side villa deck on the Valencian Coast in Spain. That’s right, drinking great wine, listening to latin flavour music, chowing down on our masterpiece all in the comfort of our villa (make-believe villa that is). Right here in Hamilton’s Durand Neighbourhood. This summer proved to be a difficult one to get just the right mix of temperature and date but last Friday w e thought it’s was now or never and went for it. It started out great with record-breaking heat but as you may recall a storm rolled in around 7pm and almost blew us all away while we were outside cooking and crushed any hopes of continuing the party outdoors. We survived the storm and so did our paella. But not part of a large branch from a neighbour’s tree that happen to fall right were we had been cooking moments earlier. We made the best of a soggy and potentially dangerous situation back in the house (sorry villa) and let the wine flow, the music play, while the Paella slowly disappeared into our ravenous bellies. We planned on taking more pictures but with the mad scramble to bring everything in the middle of the storm and maybe a little to do with too much wine we only have a few pics to show off. Enjoy and if you have your own Paella recipe please share and maybe we’ll give your version a try at next years festivities. Our beat up recipe that we have been using for the 13 years or so is below if you’re interested!

Cheers,
Jay

Paella recipe from 2001. These are the instructions that we loosely follow. They are so full of spilled wine and sauce that we laminated them.

Paella recipe page 2 from 2001.

$2.00 OFF Admission Price Coupon for the Niagara Autumn Wedding Show

Niagara Autumn Wedding Show $2.00 OFF Coupon

For more info, please visit www.TopWeddingShows.com

11th Annual Niagara Autumn Wedding Show 

Sunday September 21, 2014

Location: The Holiday Inn & Suites Parkway Conference Centre

327 Ontario Street, St. Catharines

Whether you are:

-Planning an intimate wedding or a party for hundreds….

-Walking down the aisle for the first time or its your second chance at love…

-Dreaming of a day filled with tradition & luxury or a day filled with fun & creativity …

-Working with a budget that’s small or mighty….

-Just beginning to plan your big day or you’re working on your final details….

We can help! Create your wedding day at The Niagara Autumn Wedding Show. Niagara’s Ultimate Bridal Show! Over 100 wedding professionals, daily fashion shows and giveaways to help you plan, shop and share your wedding ideas….

No Cash Value/Cannot Be Combined with other offers/One Per Person/No Refund

Woodland Weddings

It seems to be as of late that weddings have taken a turn from the big glam, sparkle that seemed to define such events in the past and are now veering towards a more rustic and natural theme with sophisticated, posh accents. Everything from loosely braided hair to branchy green centerpieces are taking over the spots once held by over style up-dos and sky high candelabras. Flower crowns on flower girls, candle lit lanterns, chalk board seating charts and mismatched bridesmaid dresses all help set a more relaxed at ease tone to the event. Lush florals are complimented well by lace or faux fur overlays.

 

The woodland wedding is romance personified. It infuses the mystical elements of luster and earthly freshness that are so often missing from the cookie-cutter big banquet weddings that we’ve all attended and attended… for years on end. So why not step away from the norm and present your guests with the unexpected but much appreciated gentle beauty that a non-traditional styled wedding can provide.

Photo Credits: (1) lovemydress.net (2) carterandcookeventco.com (3) inspiredbythis.com