It is important when choosing your Windsor/Essex County wedding photographer, that you and your fiancé discuss first, what pictures you definitely couldn’t live without and then, the rest will fall into place in the order of their importance and wedding day sequence.
This area has great photography talent within all different budget ranges and shooting styles.We also boast great location shots from the urban centre to county beaches and vineyard estates. Want to feel like fashion models? There’s, the zany and fun “Trash the Dress” session, as well as post-wedding picture-taking in unique and innovative locales.
Are you a traditional bride that wants the posed, tried and true pictures of your mother’s generation, or would you prefer a more candid, photo- journalistic style? Or, perhaps a combination of both?
What you don’t want to do is accept a gesture of kindness from a relative or friend who offers to take your pictures for you. Unless they are professionally trained, it is a risky proposition to agree to this kind of arrangement , although the offer is generous.
If your pictures don’t turn out well, or if the camera breaks or that person doesn’t show up- you have no second chance to make it right.
When establishing your budget for photography, budget a little extra, if your wedding photos and albums are an area of priority for the two of you. It will give you the flexibility to do that little extra, that you can look back at years from now with fond memories.
Today’s couples are putting their signature statement on every aspect of their wedding day planning and photography is no exception. From your “Save the Date” cards, shower invitations, rehearsal dinner and the wedding day itself, there will be many beautiful memories made and your images will be captured many times. By spending the time and deciding what it is that will make you both really happy, you will be relaxed and radiant in all your pictures. And, your photographer will be by your side, documenting your day, exactly the way it occurred!
The Wedding Guide Windsor/Essex County. Serving local area brides for 17 years.
Home of Bridal Idol and proud sponsor of Windsor’s Wedding Workshop.
Our mandate is to keep the bride-to-be organized, stress-free and plugged in to everything about weddings!
Special Offers online save your money. Budgets, timetables and relevant wedding planning information.
Ask the Editor is a complimentary one- on- one service, that answers all the questions that are asked whenever a wedding is hosted.
Our website offers this complimentary service that answers all the questions that are asked every time a wedding is hosted. This is a private one-on-one, so feel comfortable knowing that no question goes unanswered. We are the wedding experts in this area, and, we are here to assist you every step of the way.
Special Offer Coupons
When you registered online with The Wedding Guide, you received thousands of dollars of Special Value Coupons. Please feel free to use them with all our services; our vendors are all wedding professionals, and we are confident that you will enjoy their services. Don’t be shy. Make your appointments and decide if they fit your needs for your wedding day. And, tell them The Wedding Guide sent you.
Budget Considerations
Even if you aren’t paying for your own wedding, you’ll need to figure out a wedding budget from which you’ll be making your plans. Coming up with a financial figure and sticking with it throughout the planning process will make planning less stressful for everyone involved. Figure out the important items where quality is the priority for you, whether it is the reception food, fine champagne for toasting, flowers, or your attire, and plan to spend more in those areas. Maybe you are planning on wearing a dress that is a family heirloom, and all you will need are alterations. That will free up a significant amount of money for another part of your wedding day. Check out our interactive budget calculator online under Planning to help you get a feel for where your dollars will be spent.
Please remember that you can contact us at anytime either by phone or via email for any assistance that you may require. And, it’s all complimentary. It’s our goal that you enjoy every minute of your engagement with as little stress as possible. Windsor and area brides love The Wedding Guide and use it for all their wedding plans. We are the area’s wedding experts!!
Until next time
Sheryl Davies
Publisher
The Wedding Guide Windsor/Essex County
519-252-8463
publisher@theweddingguide.ca
1. Hey, brides, tuck a sugar cube into your glove — according to Greek culture, the sugar will sweeten your union.
2. The English believe a spider found in a wedding dress means good luck. Yikes!
3. In English tradition, Wednesday is considered the “best day” to marry, although Monday is for wealth and Tuesday is for health.
4. The groom carries the bride across the threshold to bravely protect her from evil spirits lurking below.
5. Saturday is the unluckiest wedding day, according to English folklore. Funny — it’s the most popular day of the week to marry!
6. Ancient Romans studied pig entrails to determine the luckiest time to marry.
7. Rain on your wedding day is actually considered good luck, according to Hindu tradition!
8. For good luck, Egyptian women pinch the bride on her wedding day. Ouch!
9. Middle Eastern brides paint henna on their hands and feet to protect themselves from the evil eye.
10. Peas are thrown at Czech newlyweds instead of rice.
11. A Swedish bride puts a silver coin from her father and a gold coin from her mother in each shoe to ensure that she’ll never do without.
12. A Finnish bride traditionally went door-to-door collecting gifts in a pillowcase, accompanied by an older married man who represented long marriage.
13. Moroccan women take a milk bath to purify themselves before their wedding ceremony.
14. In Holland, a pine tree is planted outside the newlyweds’ home as a symbol of fertility and luck.
It’s Got a Ring to it
15. Engagement and wedding rings are worn on the fourth finger of the left hand because it was once thought that a vein in that finger led directly to the heart.
16. About 70% of all brides sport the traditional diamond on the fourth finger of their left hand.
17. Priscilla Presley’s engagement ring was a whopping 3 1/2-carat rock surrounded by a detachable row of smaller diamonds.
18. Diamonds set in gold or silver became popular as betrothal rings among wealthy Venetians toward the end of the fifteenth century.
19. In the symbolic language of jewels, a sapphire in a wedding ring means marital happiness.
20. A pearl engagement ring is said to be bad luck because its shape echoes that of a tear.
21. One of history’s earliest engagement rings was given to Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. She was two years old at the time.
22. Seventeen tons of gold are made into wedding rings each year in the United States!
23. Snake rings dotted with ruby eyes were popular wedding bands in Victorian England — the coils winding into a circle symbolized eternity.
24. Aquamarine represents marital harmony and is said to ensure a long, happy marriage.
Fashionable Lore
25. Queen Victoria started the Western world’s white wedding dress trend in 1840 — before then, brides simply wore their best dress.
26. In Asia, wearing robes with embroidered cranes symbolizes fidelity for the length of a marriage.
27. Ancient Greeks and Romans thought the veil protected the bride from evil spirits. Brides have worn veils ever since.
28. On her wedding day, Grace Kelly wore a dress with a bodice made from beautiful 125-year-old lace.
29. Of course, Jackie Kennedy’s bridesmaids were far from frumpy. She chose pink silk faille and red satin gowns created by African-American designer Ann Lowe (also the creator of Jackie’s dress).
30. In Japan, white was always the color of choice for bridal ensembles — long before Queen Victoria popularized it in the Western world.
31. Most expensive wedding ever? The marriage of Sheik Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum’s son to Princess Salama in Dubai in May 1981. The price tag? $44 million.
32. In Korea, brides don bright hues of red and yellow to take their vows.
33. Brides carry or wear “something old” on their wedding day to symbolize continuity with the past.
34. In Denmark, brides and grooms traditionally cross-dressed to confuse evil spirits!
35. The “something blue” in a bridal ensemble symbolizes purity, fidelity, and love.
Food and Family
36. In Egypt, the bride’s family traditionally does all the cooking for a week after the wedding, so the couple can…relax.
37. In South Africa, the parents of both bride and groom traditionally carried fire from their hearths to light a new fire in the newlyweds’ hearth.
38. The tradition of a wedding cake comes from ancient Rome, where revelers broke a loaf of bread over a bride’s head for fertility’s sake.
39. The custom of tiered cakes emerged from a game where the bride and groom attempted to kiss over an ever-higher cake without knocking it over.
40. Queen Victoria’s wedding cake weighed a whopping 300 pounds.
41. Legend says single women will dream of their future husbands if they sleep with a slice of groom’s cake under their pillows.
42. An old wives’ tale: If the younger of two sisters marries first, the older sister must dance barefoot at the wedding or risk never landing a husband.
Show Off at a Cocktail Party
43. In many cultures around the world — including Celtic, Hindu and Egyptian weddings — the hands of a bride and groom are literally tied together to demonstrate the couple’s commitment to each other and their new bond as a married couple (giving us the popular phrase “tying the knot”).
44. The Roman goddess Juno rules over marriage, the hearth, and childbirth, hence the popularity of June weddings.
45. Princess Victoria established the tradition of playing Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus” during her wedding processional in 1858.
46. The bride stands to the groom’s left during a Christian ceremony, because in bygone days the groom needed his right hand free to fight off other suitors.
47. On average, 7,000 couples marry each day in the United States.
48. Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve are the two busiest “marriage” days in Las Vegas — elopement central!
49. The Catholic tradition of “posting the banns” to announce a marriage originated as a way to ensure the bride and groom were not related.
50. Stag parties were first held by ancient Spartan soldiers, who kissed their bachelor days goodbye with a raucous party.
- The Knot
He’s proposed and you said, I will. You have dreamed of your wedding day and wearing that perfect gown, since you were a little girl. You want to feel radiant wearing it. It is your day of days!
Now, that day has arrived. It’s time to go bridal gown shopping! If you are considering making the drive across the border to get “something better” or “something cheaper”, think long and carefully. Make sure that your day is not marred by miscalculating what you thought the final cost would be. Remember too, that there’s the cost of the item and then, there’s the actual price. You and your fiancé have sharpened your pencil, setting a budget; but insist that you will have your day, your way. This is a busy time in your lives, one that is high-charged with emotion and a great deal of decision-making. You don’t need any additional pressure.
It may seem inviting to brides-to-be, to travel across the border to purchase their bridal attire, especially since we are so closely tied to the Michigan region. But, buyer beware. That extra, added time, expense and potential aggravation dealing with Canadian and U.S. Customs may jeopardize your most exciting purchase.
You may find yourself paying for alterations or that the “sale” is final. In Windsor/Essex area,when you buy your gown at the bridal salon, the alterations are included. Very few bridal stores, if any, will provide alteration services for gowns purchased from elsewhere.
Windsor and area bridal salons in southern Ontario carry the top bridal lines from all the great designers. They will make your shopping experience memorable . You must remember that the owners of our local stores are your neighbours, family and friends, who have invested time and money into our community. They establish their reputations by living and working here and being accountable.
Purchasing your dream gown usually takes 5 trips to the shop; one to look, one to decide and multiple times with yourself and your bridesmaids for fittings and pick- up. The additional expense of border-crossing fees and 90 minutes of your valuable time driving, excluding any delays at the border, bring any possible savings to zero. Asking your attendants to make these excursions with you can be infringing on their time and good nature.
One most also consider the potential of a crisis, days prior to your wedding. Who wants the aggravation of running across when you need that precious time for more important matters. Imagine finding a small tear in your gown’s fabric or a loose bead or button. What happens if you gain or lose weight due to stress after the alterations have been completed? Who is going to look after it and will be there be time available to remedy the problem? Securing a seamstress at the ninth hour can be a daunting task, when time is of the essence.
Bridal Specialists are dedicated to making the bride’s day beautiful. Buy from your local suppliers with confidence, and know that you are an important consumer to them and not someone transient. A bride’s pleasure translates to valued referrals that continue to make their business viable.
Be a savvy bride and assess the reality of how important your time and energy will be throughout your wedding planning process. Eliminate any possible problems early by being realistic.
Now what to do with your beautiful pictures? Share them!
Photo by: Trevor Booth Photography
Now that your married, share your beautiful, wedding photographs with our newly engaged brides. They are looking for ideas to plan their special day. We are looking for your pictures to share on our website and blog.
To be considered for The Weddding Guide Windsor/Essex County, you must be a local area bride, who was married during 2009.
Please email to: publisher@theweddingguide.ca with subject line- Wedding photo submission
Please send us the following information
Your name: maiden and married
Phone number: day and evening
Wedding location and Ceremony site:
Wedding date:
A brief paragraph about what makes your wedding special and why we should include it on our pages
A link to a website with photos from your wedding, or attach four photographs (no bigger than 4MB) that you think best represents your wedding day.
Your permission to share your wedding photographs.
We will contact you directly, if we require more information from you.
Thank you for your participation, and check back often to see if your pictures are being featured.
And, tell your engaged friends too, so they can see your great ideas!
Planning that once-in-a-lifetime celebration in this new decade is all about attention to detail, with couples showing their individuality and signature-style. Through the years, while some things about weddings change, others remain exactly the same. While the past is fondly remembered, this year, the present is important too! Save the date cards, self-written vows, mismatched bridesmaid dresses and eco-friendly touches are all new additions to this upcoming wedding season.
Veils, cakes, the first dance, champagne, lace, tulle, something old, new, borrowed, blue, and wedding photographs have all remained constant, in an ever-evolving wedding day. New social media such as Facebook and Twitter and the online personalized bridal widgets and web casting of the ceremony in real time, highlight all the couple’s news and the wedding day festivities. But this season’s focus is on retro chic and the Hollywood days of glamour.
The traditional black tuxedo is back for the gents and for the bride, it’s all about accessories; gloves and pearls. The bird cage veil and the emergence of bridal hats and the bouffant or French twist hair styles, make for an elegant look. The inspiration comes from the sophistication of the 50’s and 60’s. Strapless wedding gowns are as dominant as they have been in the past, and, they will quite likely continue to be in the future, but expect to see sashes of black and high waistlines. Gold is back for engagement and wedding bands after an absence of a few years, where silver was prominent as the metal of choice.
The vintage glamour look, which emerged last season, continues this year, and is gaining strength. There’s a breath-taking ambience to today’s weddings. The “something new”, could be hair extensions, while “something blue” can be the sky over a Jamaican destination wedding. Honeymoons are all-inclusive and brides and grooms are gravitating to luxury resorts with their amazing meal packages and opportunities for many different adventures..
Invitations range from fun to fancy formal, and some even have illustrations of the bride and groom illustrated in pencil sketched artwork. Look for vibrant colours that match the wedding’s theme such as turquoise/raspberry combinations as well as the traditional and elegant colour scheme of black and white.
Brides and grooms are revamping their first dance with a routine that is a medley of songs, replacing the traditional first dance of the reception, which in 2010, is just called the “party”.
Weddings are elegant with a lot of character. For comfort you’ll find wedding venues with comfy couches and living room settings, set up for the ceremony and reception; adding increased comfort and cosiness for the guests. Sit down dinners are still in style, but look for cocktail receptions with a supper club feel- cocktails- think, martinis, Manhattans, old fashioned cocktails and big band sounds.
Wedding cakes continue to be tiered, but the trend is to more white cakes with butter cream or fondant icing, topped with an heirloom antique cake topper of a bride and groom. Colourful macaroons are replacing cupcakes. Dance floors are adorned with custom vinyl monograms of the bride and groom’s initials. And look for special lighting, which klamps up the décor of the reception site, adding warmth and atmosphere.
On this special day, couples want their signature style shining through. The possibilities are endless! From sheer whimsy to the outrageously breath-taking, today’s couples are style-makers and it shows! There has never been a better time to marry!
For more information, please contact: Sheryl Davies, Publisher, 519-252-8463 or publisher@theweddingguide.ca
That’s it, we’ll draw for the winners later this week and let you know the results on Facebook.
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Windsor/Essex County, Ontario, Canada offers quality wedding professionals that make their living serving brides. With the economy in a bit of a bind, it is easy to fall prey to services that aren’t professional, so it is imperative to do your homework and get references. Think with both your head and heart while you do your planning.
No matter how much money you have budgeted for your special day, you derserve to get the full benefit of it, with the final product. There is always a difference between price and cost. Talk to each service that you require, and assess them carefully so you get exactly what you are paying for.
The Wedding Guide Windsor/Essex County works with professional wedding vendors who have a passion and flair for the work they do. Although we can’t stand behind their work, we carefully learn about them and understand the calibre of the service that they provide. We are comfortable and confident with their integrity.
Weddings are one of few milestones that we celebrate on life’s path. We want to ensure that each and every couple getting ready to marry are working with the best and having that best delivered.
Be careful when you start your wedding planning. Outline your expectations, decide on your budget and follow the proper timelines. Don’t be hurried into any decisions and be vigilant to ensure you get exactly what you contracted for.
We wish you a beautiful day and are here to guide you through the process. Ask the Editor, a complimentary feature on our website will answer all the questions that you may have. We are the wedding experts who are here for you.
As the publisher, my goal with our publication is that your day is your way without any hitches on the way up the aisle.
Please feel free to contact me anytime for any information that you may require.
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The Wedding Guide Windsor/Essex County. Serving local area brides for 17 years.
