MY WEDDING RECAP: PART 2 – VENDORS

Oh HELLO.

When you have a wedding there’s this thing no one tells you. There is an endless list of things. End. Less.
However, if you take the time to research and pick wedding vendors that will actually make your life EASIER, rather than harder, that list of things quickly goes away.
Today I’m sharing with all you busy bride-to-be’s my list of vendors.

It took many hours and I may be biased but these are hands down the best wedding vendors in Calgary.

Let’s get started:

Deane House

We’re going to start with the holy grail. Deane House made my life SO much easier. We actually picked this venue based on the people we met. Kelly and Maddie made us feel completely at ease and every question that came up they had a solution for. They are problem solvers rather than problem creators and that was the MAIN thing we wanted for our venue. They bent over backwards for us. The entire team at Deane House is wicked and the service was impeccable.
Not to mention the venue is STUNNING. Adam and I wanted a classy, sophisticated, easy going, relaxed venue. Very contradicting right? I know. But Deane House is literally that. The backyard ease mixed with ritzy sophistication was exactly what we dreamed of for our wedding.

Pretty Sweet YYC

Is there anything better? I mean really. Vicki and her team absolutely KILL any dessert vision, especially when it comes to weddings. I personally wasn’t NEEDING a wedding cake. I liked the idea of fancy donuts scattered on a bar so my guests could pick what they wanted. The only thing I didn’t do was triple my order. I swear those donuts were gone in 60 seconds. It was actually so wild hahaha. I chose marble birthday cake and white with gold champagne donuts (OBVIOUSLY).

Esmé Florals

Oh Angela, how will I ever thank you. My decor was basically Angela’s florals. I mean I added a few pops of gold and candles but I really relied on the tons of greenery/white flowers. Angela and her team absolutely pulled it all off. I was shocked at my bouquet. She set up everything and made my life SO much easier. I trusted her and she absolutely exceeded my expectations.

Modern Nest Photography

Amy is so talented that it really was an easy choice. I found her on Instagram and was immediately impressed by her photos. After we met I knew she was the one we would go with. She is so sweet, caring, talented and most importantly she takes the time to listen to what we want and our vision. I’m biased but I think our photos are absolutely amazing. We are so lucky.

Parfait Productions

I mean… am I the only one who cries everytime I watch my wedding video? I actually don’t know HOW Justin and Ixchel make everyone look like movie stars in their films. It’s insane. It feels like I’m watching a movie, not a wedding video. I’m SO lucky we get to relive that day at the click of a button any time we want. Their video takes me back to that exact moment. We actually bought the documentary edits of the first dances AND toasts because we HAD to after seeing our wedding highlight film. They are beyond talented. Parfait Productions was the BEST decision we made during this whole process and they absolutely lived up to every expectation we had.

Bellamore Beauty

Everyone do me a favour and go to @bellamorebeauty right now. HOW DOES SHE MAKE EVERYONE LOOK SO FLAWLESS. The eye makeup!!!! I’m going to share a secret with you all. So ever since I went to MAC makeup when I was in high school and got the WORST makeup application of my life I’ve always been incredibly skeptical to trust anyone to do my makeup. ESPECIALLY on my wedding day. I actually toyed with the idea of doing my own…. I was THAT nervous. Once I saw Shanda‘s work, I knew she was the one. Every single photos I loved. Then after our makeup trial, I KNEW I made the right choice. I loved my makeup so much that I’m for sure using Bellamore Beauty for every big event from now on.

Good Vibes DJ

So long story short, Good Vibes DJ pulled through for us a week before our wedding. Yes people, things happen and you’re crazy to think they won’t. Kelly from Deane House (I told you, they are miracle workers) reached out to Local DJ for us since they had just done a wedding at Deane House a few weeks earlier. They absolutely pulled through for us last minute and saved the day. Their sister company is Good Vibes DJ and they had a DJ available for our wedding (LIFE SAVERS). Not to mention, they we’re frickin amazing. They listened to EVERYTHING we said and played exactly what we wanted!! I’ve heard stories of the DJ disregarded the couples song list/genre picks completely, but this did NOT happen. They played everything we wanted and really saved the dance for us!

Flashblocks

So as I mentioned before, I didn’t plan on having much decor. Truly, right from the get go I knew I wanted clear vases with candles and pops of gold. That’s it. But I did want to add a few personal touches and was hounding Pinterest looking for the “perfect” way to do that. Finally, I found Flashblock.

I was SO excited. This is the most unique, personal and also easy addition to ANY wedding. Flashblock prints your favourite photos of the two of you onto wooden blocks that can easily be displayed anywhere. It was the perfect addition to Deane House’s “pantry” room, where our dessert bar was set up. Our guests were able to mingle, indulge in some sweets and browse our favourite pictures of us. I’ve included pictures below close up of the Flashblocks so you can see what they look like!

I loved it so much that I reached out and was able to get a 15% off discount code for all my lovely followers!!

Drea15

Pinch Me Weddings

I went back and forth over whether to get a day of coordinator or not. Marilia, Pinch Me Weddings, and Kelly, Deane House, can both attest to my emails wondering whether I needed a day of coordinator or not. I knew I didn’t need a FULL wedding planner because I already knew exactly what I wanted but I did not want to even think about anything other than enjoying my wedding day and visiting with friends/family. Now Deane House has an AMAZING team, which is why I debated going without a day of coordinator. They don’t, ofcourse, manage outside vendors so for example, pick up desserts, bring and set up outdoor decor, transport anything from the church to the reception, and ensure all my vendors are on schedule.
This is why hiring Marilia was the SMARTEST decision to make. It was that extra insurance that everything would go smoothly and that it did. The thing people don’t tell you is there will ALWAYS be something that doesn’t go exactly to plan. The nice thing with having Marilia is she handled all of that so I had absolutely not idea. BEST. EVER.
She helped my day go 100% smoothly and everything was set exactly how I pictured it in my mind. She also brought all of my decor… I dropped it off a few days before my wedding at her house. ANGEL.
I can’t say enough good things. I would hire her again for sure and definitely go with the day of coordinator.