2 the North Tuesdays... Edition #5 (yes... I know it's Wednesday!!)

Hey all!! So remember waaayyy back when, when I was trying to light up the blogosphere with shout-outs to the Great White North?? Well, after the wedding, I slacked. And it definitely was not because I don't think it's important anymore, no, not at all! It's mainly because I am busy. And so the little blogging time I do have, I have been focusing on recapping the emotional journey our Mountain Top Wedding brought about! BUT, there is a fab new website that is sure to make the lives of many Canadian brides easier... well, specifically, Fernie (BC) brides like I was!! Soooo, without further adieu...

2 the North (Tuesdays) Wednesday - Edition #5

FernieWeddings.ca

(screen shot from the website)

I found out about this site while I was procrastinating at work, and catching up on facebook (sidenote... is anyone else seriously annoyed with the 'news feed' these days?!). Duane (yep, you know them well now, it's Duane of Kevan and Duane at [6:8] Photography) mentioned that he was busy with the new website... www.FernieWeddings.ca. Well, didn't I just about giggle when I went over for a visit! Then I realized that I wasn't planning our wedding anymore, and it really wasn't as valuable as striking gold... but I knew it would be valuable for other brides who are considering Fernie for a wedding location.

So... why is it such a great new site?! Well, let's start with a bit of a background with Fernie. It is a small mountain town. I'm not talking Banff or Whistler mountain town... nope, this is a small, BC town 3 hrs away from an international airport. It is not a destination for weddings... ie. you don't google "fernie weddings" and come up with thousands of hits. BUT, now you come up with this awesome hit!! Although it is still a relatively new site, it is already brimming with valuable info for those brides who feel like they are planning a wedding in the middle of nowhere (yep... I felt that way a time or two!!). You might notice that the lodge we got married in (Elk View Lodge) is on the homepage (in the screen shot above), and if you look for caterers, DonnaMarie of Fernie Fine Foods (who catered our event) is on there too!

I am really stoked to give this shout-out, not only because our friends of [6:8] Photography are behind it, but because it is great to give some exposure to our favorite little mountain town! Fernie is not only home to the most amazing powder in the winter, but it is the perfect summer-hangout with hiking and mountain biking, and even floating down the river. We happen to believe it is also the BEST place to get married! It is not too busy/touristy, and you can still get great down-home hospitality that is often lacking in some of the other crowded tourist-filled mountain towns the Rockies are known for! But, the downside of this quaint atmosphere, is the resources available for throwing said big party... but this new website will definitely improve that situation for new brides!! So for any of you brides out there that are looking for an intimate mountain experience, and need help in the planning, head over to www.FernieWeddings.ca for a great lead on a... what else... Fernie Wedding!!

Oh, and PS, if you click on real weddings, you can find us there!!

2 the North Tuesdays... Edition #4

Alright, let's get back into it... Canadian wedding elves! Again, my apolologies for my blogging hiatus, I've had a few other things on my plate as of late ;)... BUT, without further adieu, here we go..

2 the North Tuesdays - Edition #4

Fuller Edge Photography

I know I have already given shout outs to the infamous Canadian Photographers over at Still Motion, but I gotta tell you, the team at Fuller Edge is rockin' my world right now. After stumbling upon their site and fishing around, I came to realize that they are part of the Little Black Book over at Style Me Pretty... small world this whole blog land!! Anyways, about the team... they are a husband and wife team, who claim their style is a mix of "vintage and sexy"... honestly, I personally think they ooze sex... in an oh-so-fabulous way!! I LOVE their work, and the pics make me wish I was as sexy as their brides!! Feast your eyes friends: (NOTE: all pictures are from the Fuller Edge blog)

aren't these blue sequin shoes to die for?!

hello... bride on a piano?? I want that to be me!

gorgeous lighting!

this makes my heart swoon...

downtown Calgary... my home!

Love this pic on the river... definitely love the creative lighting!

So, I hope you have enjoyed the eye candy as much as I did!! Fuller Edge is based out of Calgary, AB (yup, I live here, nope they're not my photogs...). They do amazing work, I drool over their sexy photos, and I wonder, every time I look at these, what it would be like to be a sexy bride!! I love our photographers, but if I could have two weddings, these guys would shoot the second one!! Maybe they do boudoir?! If you are in the area, of having a wedding in the rocky mountains, contact Fuller Edge (and then send me some of your photos!!). Fuller Edge, another killer Canuck Wedding Elf!!

2 the North Tuesdays... Edition #3

Thanks to the power of scheduled posts, I can showcase another awesome Wedding Elf from the great white north... but rest-assured, I am furiously typing away at something else while you read this... my thesis!! I am only 9 days away from submitting, which is why I haven't been able to drop in to let you all know how my bachelorette weekend was (but I am sure it will be fantastic, and by the time you read this, I can almost guarantee it WAS amazing!!). But for now, lets introduce our next Canuck:

2 the North Tuesdays - Edition #3

Haute Wedding Design

This is a VERY new company, but so far, I like what I am seeing!! The crew is based out of Calgary, but I can't say I am making a personal recommendation for their services since I don't have a budget for planning services, but for those of you looking for a modern wedding planner in Calgary, or those of you just swooning over the Canadian Rockies but don't live close enough to plan your dream mountain wedding alone, Haute Look just might be the answer for you!!

I was first attracted to Haute when I saw this: (all pictures borrowed from the Haute website)

It's a Calgary-Stampede inspired wedding, and for those of you not familiar with the CS (which is, by the way, the greatest outdoor show on earth!!), just soak it all up as a really fun country wedding inspiration board. I loved this board not only for the fun colors, but I adore the horseshoe escort cards, the carnival kisses, and come on, those hay bales are awesome!

Here's another great inspiration board from the website: an easy, breezy, and dare I say romantic bicycle inspired wedding board!! I just LOVE the bicycle graphic on the tie, and the bicycle sketch used to perfectly set the rings for a fun twist on the classic ring shot!!

So this edition was a quick intro to a new, and promising Canadian wedding elf!! I think Haute Wedding Design has a great eye for detail, which definitely comes through in their inspiration boards, and being such a new company, I figured they needed some love! Brides with a dream of having a wedding in the mountains, or a laid back but stylish wedding out on the farm set in the beautiful prairies or rolling foothills of Alberta should definitely check out Haute Wedding Design's website!

2 the North Tuesdays... Edition #2b

Thanks for coming back for part 2 of this weeks 2 the North... don't you all just love Kasia Fink though?! She really does deserve the whole day for herself, and so does this next Canuck wedding elf... but heh, it's like a Canadian smorgasborg of amazing talent today!!

2 the North Tuesdays - Edition #2b

Still Motion Photo and Cinema

This team is another well known group of wedding elves, making themselves known over at weddingbeepro, but they DEFINITELY deserve a shout out here!! Yesterday, in the midst of dealing with a mild (read: severe) work-related panic attack, one of their a-ma-zing wedding videos landed in my google reader window... I literally could not stop the tears from rolling down my face. Still Motion makes love palpable on a computer screen, makes laughter and tears during a wedding ceremony reach out of my screen and shake me by the shoulders, makes music dance around me, makes marriage and weddings seem like a fairytale where the brides are angels, and the grooms are on white horses... these guys are wedding-videography taken to a WHOLE NUTHA LEVEL!! Definitely run over to their blog and peruse their videos (I have officially forBADE myself from going over there until my thesis is done cause I have a serious problem... you know, like the addiction-type... to their videos!!) . The Canadian Connection: the amazing Still Motion team is based out of the Tdot (that's Toronto!), but travels tonnes for their art. Perusing their site you can see that they have travelled as far as London, England, and even to Japan to shoot amazing weddings! All I can say is, if I had a big ol' budget for a wedding vid, these guys would be the dream team!! This one Canadian Team that rocks my world!!


Oh, and that's not all folks, they take some killer still-shots too... some of favs that I borrowed from their blog:

So today kinda turned into a Canadians-plucked-from-weddingbee edition, but Kasia Fink Veils and Still Motion Cinema and Photography are two Canadian wedding elves the WORLD needs to know about!!

2 the North Tuesdays... Edition #2a

Hi All! First off, I just wanted to thank all of you for leaving messages of support (read: excitement) for this new weekly feature! I have been getting more and more excited as I continue my search for Canadian wedding elves... and have some great interviews planned for creative canucks that I think you all will enjoy!! But for today, I need to share the Canuck spotlight with two a-ma-zing wedding elves to the north... these two are no strangers to the wedding blog world, and maybe I never read the fine print, but I didn't know that these elves were Canadian. I know, I know, this in no way changes/elevates/redefines their skill/talent, BUT, I think it is important information! Why?! you ask?? Well, a couple of reasons... the go-green trend in weddings is a great one, and buying locally is often very important for the eco-conscious brides. I'm not gonna lie, we have tried to make choices along the way that reflect our love of our planet, but we have definitely trucked/flown some stuff in! While I LOVE my veil/flower from Myra of Twigs n Honey, it's also nice to know that there is a vendor closer to home that could have been used! And let's not forget about SHIPPING rates from the US to Canada, and that little devil called 'exchange rate'!!

You may also be wondering why I am sharing two Canuck elves today... well, let's face it, most of you know of them already, and this isn't their premier event on the wedding blog circuit, so I thought they wouldn't mind having co-stars!! Here we go...

2 the North Tuesdays - Edition #2a

Kasia Fink Veils

All about Kasia... well, I don't know her personally, but when you're a bee... you feel like you know them right?!?! Yes, Kasia is the infamous Mrs. Seabreeze over at weddingbee, so most of you will likely know her, and her work. She creates all the flower and veil loveliness from Vancouver, Canada (shout out WEST COAST!!), and was recently married in the Dominican Republic. That means she gets it... us, brides, weddings! And I love this quote from her website: "On the day I wore a birdcage veil and fascinator, I’ve never felt more sassy and gorgeous"... and you can see why... check out these pictures from her wedding... definitely gorgeous and sassy!! (NOTE, all pictures shown are from kasiafink.com)

My favorite fascinator is the Marisa... in all its feathered glory:

And here's some trivia... where did the Marisa fascinator get its name?!?! Well that was from bride Marisa (or as most of you know her, Mrs. Cheese, also from weddingbee) who put in a special request for a feathered number... and here she is wearing her gorgeous piece:

One other of my fav brides wore Kasia too... yep, it's Jessica (aka Budget Savvy Bride):

So, we know her bride accessories are swoon-worthy, but she also does mini fascinators for bridesmaids: (so sweet, classic, stunning!!)

BUT WAIT... don't leave yet... you haven't seen it all!! This is possibly my favorite of them all... the black fashion-ator (I just made that up, don't hate on Kasia for dorky plays-on-words!!). I love how the creative and talented women out there can just whip up a custom accessory for a night out on the town!! Doesn't this just scream chic?! I love it!!

So, for those of you up here in the north looking to support the Canadian bride-conomy (oops... I did it again!), get your order in with Kasia!! Beautiful work, amazing talent, and, yup, she's a Vancouverite!! http://kasiafink.com/

2 the North Tuesday Edition #2b coming later today!! stop by again :)

The Great White North

I've been inspired... by my new blog friend A Little Birdie! Go visit her at her blog A Little Birdie Weds. We spoke briefly about being blogging buddies from Canada. While blogs allow us all to communicate from all corners of the world, it is safe to say that most blogging brides are from the U.S. For the most part, tips, tricks, resources, and suppliers that my neighbourly brides to the south blog about can be accessed and taken advantage of up here in Canada, but there are slight disadvantages... namely, SHIPPING!! While most places will ship to Canada (at a greatly inflated price), some downright refuse to?!?! What's up with that? Anyways, this isn't a rant post, this is an introduction post... to my new weekly feature:

2 The North Tuesdays!!

Yep, you got it, it's my duty as a Canadian Bride-who-Blogs, to give props where props are deserved... to our local wedding elves! I have to be honest though... so far, I have not been the best at taking advantage of our local resources. I hear more about my southern elves, get links to more American finds, and have way more US-based blogging-brides that are downright fabulous... and it's impossible NOT to get inspired by them!! I do hope, though, that some inspiration can start flowing from the north to the south, so let's get it started...

2 The North Tuesday - Edition #1

Ecoware Biodegradable Utensils

Now, before you think that I first found these elves in my backyard, let's clear this one up... I got connected to Ecoware Biodegradable by the infamous Budget Savvy Bride. I mean come on... who doesn't think these are adorable:

from here

I knew these utensils would be perfect for our welcome BBQ, and our day-after-Danish-brunch, so I straight away got in touch with Darrel at Ecoware, and when I realized they were from Canada... holla... yep, I was excited!! Every small victory is celebrated, and when I knew I wouldn't have to pay crazy shipping, that the price quoted was in CAD$$ (wahoo!!), and of course, the main bonus, that these babies were green-green-green, I was raising the roof!! Giddyup and sign-me-up! I will post again soon with the details of my utensil package, but just check em out... LOVE IT!! (PS... personal pic taken during the assembly process)

So, whether you live in Canada or not, Ecoware Biodegradables are a great option for disposable utensils... that are friendly to our environment! We are using them for day-before and day-after parties, but if you are having a more casual/rustic/homegrown wedding, I think they would be perfect for that too!! The only reason we aren't, is because our caterer is taking care of all things utensils!!

Do any of you Canadian brides know of awesome local vendors the rest of us brides should know about?? If you are a Canadian vendor that wants to share your product as part of the 2 the North series, comment below and we can get the word out!!