Hi folks! In case you haven’t seen it, check out this article in the Toronto Standard I am featured in, alongside Danielle, the president of WPIC:
How to Save Coins When Getting Hitched
The joys and perils of an urban wedding
Krista, the author of the article, asked me about the unique challenges couples face when planning a Toronto wedding. The unique challenge is that Toronto is such a huge city; couples have a ton of choice when starting their wedding planning adventure. The wedding industry is booming and options are available more than ever.
On Eventsource.ca, just looking at venues within the “City Of Toronto” alone, you get 150 results. This doesn’t even include smaller venues, venues who aren’t registered on the site or options in the suburbs.
Just to give you an idea, I had to go on an extensive venue search for a few of the couples I am working with this year. Before narrowing the search down to 3 for them, I must have looked into 15-20 for each of them. A lot of couples hire me because they are overwhelmed with the many options. They want to get recommendations from a trusted source instead of looking blindly.
And that’s just talking venues. That doesn’t include endless options for vendors like DJs, florists, makeup artists, and the list goes on. If you ask 10 people for their recommendation on a DJ, you might get 10 different recommendations. Sometimes too much choice is challenging and it certainly can be the case when planning a wedding in Toronto!
My recommendations:
- Know your budget, guest count and preferred dates. You can’t start looking without them! Newly engaged? Check out this article about first steps in wedding planning.
- Hire a certified wedding planner who can assist in recommending venues and vendors that fits your needs. Chances are they will have a good idea of what would work for you, but they can also assist in doing the research which can be very time consuming.
- Be flexible. The more flexible you are, the more money you can potentially save. A wedding in the off-season months of november or march can mean big savings for your wedding day. Or if you are open to different styles of food service, like buffet or food stations, it can save you money from a traditional fixed price sit down menu.