the story of us

I was going to write about my tuxedo story but Sarah already beat me to the punch. I’ll instead follow the template Sarah used for her Bridal Attire review and try not to re-tell the story aspect so much.

I had my tuxedo made to measure at Waxman Formal Attire by Billy Waxman. At first the entire process of having a tuxedo tailor made felt very overwhelming and intimidating. Aside from the inspiration picture that I had shown to Billy, I didn’t have a clue about the other little details that go into a tuxedo. But this is what totally made the experience for me. I learned so much about how to wear a suit/tuxedo.

The Jacket
The focus of the jacket is on the narrow shawl collar lapels. It’s what makes the tuxedo so unique. We knew that this would be the most complex feature of the jacket and up until the day I saw the finished product in person, I was worried that the collar wouldn’t be narrow enough. Thankfully, Billy did an amazing job. It turned out just the way I wanted it. The single button is set higher, which I like, because it avoids the “belly” that you often see in more traditional shawl collar tuxedos. The jacket is perfectly slim fitted with double vents and houndstooth interior lining.

The Pants
The tuxedo pants are low-rise, flat-front with a single silk braid covering the outer seams. Classic.
The Shirts
Based on the inspiration picture, I thought I would just be wearing a plain white shirt with a silk skinny tie. Billy had me try on a ruffled tuxedo shirt with a silk, cigar-style bow tie which left me with a choice to make. The plain shirt was safer but the ruffles were more edgey. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pull off ruffles but I ended up choosing both. In the end, I actually think I like the ruffles better!

The Shoes
For the ceremony I went more formal wearing a pair of Steve Madden dress shoes with th e ruffled shirt and bow tie. For the reception I went more casual wearing a pair of black leather Chuck Taylor’s with the plain shirt and skinny tie.

Overall I was extremely pleased with how my attire turned out. I’d definitely recommend Waxman Formal Wear to anyone who is serious about getting a tuxedo/suit made to measure. Billy went above and beyond to make the perfect tuxedo for me. He walked us through the entire process giving his honest opinion along the way. Like I said at the start of this post, I learned a great deal from this man. Amazing experience. Amazing tuxedo.

I would recommend them to anyone and everyone. They offer amazing service. We had purchased my wedding gown, a mother of the bride dress as well as our flower girl dress.

We didn’t purchase them all at the same time, but since there was supposed to be a Maggie Sottero trunk show sale the week after I purchased my Maggie Sottero Fiorella gown, they offered to give me 10% off the purchase price anyway. I was happy with what I paid for this dress and the way it looked.

It was a last minute decision to go to here to purchase my mother’s and the flower girl’s dress. I had no idea, but mother of the bride dresses are super expensive. I’m talking about hundreds of hundreds of dollars expensive. However, Bea Shawn Fashions always has items on sale. And the mother of the bride dress happened to be one of them. Since it was about a month and a half or so to the wedding, we had no choice but to purchase a dress they had in stock/sample. Both of the dresses were still more than we wanted to pay, but that’s bridal for you… But I do have to mention that my mother and the flower girl both looked amazing.

What I really love about them is that they do alterations for free. So taking in my dress from a bridal size 10 to a bridal size 6 and adding a 4 point under bustle would have cost me $600, but I paid nothing. And to top it all off, I came to do my fitting the Saturday before our wedding. Well, it is a slow season for weddings, which is probably why I was able to have my dress done so quickly.

As for the flower girl, I wanted a matching purple bow with her dress, so I purchased the fabric and they made us one for free. But I don’t think we got the fabric back, so I think we’re even.

One thing I’d recommend to future brides is to NOT purchase your dress super early if you are planning to lose a lot of weight/inches AND if you don’t have to order early. I had purchased my dress in February 2010 (1 year before the wedding) and although they were able to do wonders with it, I did feel that the hips were a little larger than they should have been. I was told it was to give me room to sit down, but I think it’s because taking in that part of the dress would have ruined the look of the dress. There was pleating that met at my side, so taking it in would have been a nightmare. On the other hand, maybe if I did order smaller, it wouldn’t have looked the way it did.

Overall, Bea Shawn Fashions has a great selection, amazing service, and decent pricing (I’m pretty sure they are at par with all other bridal shops and would price match). I am very happy with our purchases and for any future formal occasions, I would shop there again. Well I know my mom will be for sure. We’re going to a wedding in March next year and she’s already looking at dresses.

So for the next couple of days/weeks I’ll be posting up our vendor reviews, the rest of the DIY projects I was keeping a secret, as well as some sneak peak photos and some overviews of the day.

Dennis and I had some time to reflect, and the only only things that continue to irk us was how his bow tie and tie weren’t always sitting properly in some pictures and how my necklace was off centre at the reception. Since that’s the case, then I think we had a pretty successful wedding. Oh wait, did I mention the priest called Dennis, Michael? LOL, actually that’s something we’ll always remember and will have a story to tell, but I’ll save that one for another post.

So bear with me… It’s going to be a long few weeks…

Using our damask wallpaper as our inspiration, I finally completed our table number signs.

Okay, we’re getting a little stressed out.  It’s already 2011.  Only 49 days till our wedding.  We’re officially getting married next month.  Where the heck did the time go?  It was only a week ago I was feeling fine since it was only 2010.  :S

Help.

Our feet feel cold.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

Here’s something we put together.  Make sure you turn up your speakers and Enjoy!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/hw0PUyQoCcIqvc48S35v

I just wanted to assess where I am on this list….

So it wasn’t until Dennis and I had our tasting that we realized that the Distillery District is not only a historic landmark, but it’s also home to many shops, great restaurants and one of a kind art.

Below are some of the reasons you should head over to the reception a little bit early…

• Canada’s largest pedestrian-only precinct for arts, culture and entertainment
• Set on 14 acres in downtown Toronto
• The Distillery District is the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian industrial
architecture in North America
• In the 1880’s the Distillery was the largest distillery in the world
• Currently the site boasts 18 retail stores and boutiques, including Akroyd Furniture, Artemide,
Bergo Designs, Corktown Design, distill, DOMtoronto, Elizabeth Munro Design, Hastens, Jonesy
Charismatic Stationary, Leif Benner, Lileo, Pikto, Segway of Ontario, Sound Designs, Sport at
the Distillery, Tenacious, Vintage Gardener, and TANK Jewellery & Beads
• The Distillery features five cafes and seven restaurants, including A Taste of Quebec, Balzac’s
Coffee, Brick Street Bakery, SOMA Chocolate, The Sweet Escape, The Boiler House, Archeo,
The Cannery Room, Café Uno, Mill Street Brew Pub, Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill, and
Tappo Wine Bar & Restaurant
• There are 22 Galleries at the Distillery, including Arta Gallery, Art Doll Gallery, The Blue Dot
Gallery, Clark & Faria, Corkin Gallery, David Brown, Deaf Culture Centre, distill, Dish Gallery
and Studio, Engine Gallery, Gallery, Hastens, Hag Atelier, Julie M. Gallery, Labo, Pikto, PROOF
Studio Gallery, Redeye Studio Gallery, Shao Design, The SPORT Gallery, Studio Fuse,
Thompson Landry Gallery, Thompson Landry Cooperage Space
• The Distillery is home to 17 performing arts companies, including The CanDance Network,
Canadian Dance Assembly, Dance District: Social Dance Studio, Dancemakers, Dance Ontario,
DanceWorks, DVxT Theatre Company, Expect Theatre/Spark Productions, George Brown
College, Native Earth Performing Arts, Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Nightwood Theatre,
Queen of Puddings, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Tapestry New Opera Works, Theatre Museum
Canada, Volcano, and Young Centre for the Performing Arts
• There are 4 educational facilities on site including George Brown’s theatre school, voice
intermediate school and The Distillery Early Learning Centre.
• Countless Hollywood movies, television shows, commercials and music videos have been filmed
at the Distillery, including the hit films Cinderella Man, Chicago, The Recruit, The Man,
Frequency, Don’t Say a Word, and Against the Ropes
• Distillery Sculpture Park includes 10 sculptures from a variety of different artists
• Over 600,000 of Cleveland’s Historic pavers were purchased to complete the Distillery’s brick
paved roads.
• The Distillery has over a dozen patio and is licensed for over 2000 people.

If you want a map of the district and all the shops, restaurants, galleries, follow the link below:
Distillery District Map

If you are planning on staying at a hotel, please send me an email letting me know where you will be staying and when you’ll be arriving.  Also, if you are looking for places to stay, please check out the hotels I have listed under “Guest Information”.  Please enter the password that is listed in your invitation.  Or don’t hesitate to contact one of the people listed in the invitation.

So here is a sneak peak of some photos from our engagement shoot.  Dennis and I were very nervous on how they would turn out because we felt very unsure about our looks afterward.  At the time, Dennis just got a hair cut, and I was still in the process of growing out my bangs.  Anyway, with a great photographer, in our case, two great photographers, they can make anyone look great.

Photos courtesy of Jon Rennie.