mkultradisciplined-blog

[mkultradisciplined-blog]

Planning a wedding? The step every bride must take when planning a wedding is to determine a wedding date, then a budget, number of guests and then deciding on a wedding venue. This time around, we went to Ontario to see if we could come up with the best Ottawa Wedding Venues.

We made a list of the top 10 Wedding venues we thought were classy and chic and located in Ottawa, Canada. If you are looking for a classy and chic wedding location in Ottawa, consider hosting them at these venues. Although any room can be transformed into almost anything, these venues need little to no help in terms of decorations. If you have more suggestions for some unique and chic Ottawa Wedding Venues, feel free to post your comments.

Ottawa Wedding Venues: The best and most recommended

1. LE BELVEDERE The view at this venue is simply breathtaking. It is located in Wakefield and can accommodate up to 200 guests. They do require you have a minimum of 120 guests.

2. LAGO BAR & GRILL As a premium banquet room featuring panoramic views of Dows Lake and Queen Juliana Park, the Vista Room is the ideal spot for a wedding ceremony and wedding reception in Ottawa. It is one of the most popular Ottawa wedding venues out there.

In addition to a 140-seat dining area, the Vista Room can accommodate 210 people for a cocktail reception and boasts a 70-seat patio. Complete audio-visual capabilities with Disc Jockey set up and LED lit dance floor is also available.

3. THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF NATURE

Planning a wedding? The Canadian Museum of Nature is the perfect setting for your wedding.  They offer a fusion of historic and modern venues with dramatic backdrops for your special occasion. Experience history, elegance, and a castle-like ambiance. If this is your style, then this is one of the best Ottawa Wedding venues we recommend to you.

Large or small, private or corporate, they have eight different venues for you to choose from. Each offers a unique opportunity to create a lasting impression in their awe-inspiring 100-year-old museum building. They can accommodate receptions for up to 500, banquets for 240, as well as theatre, classroom and conference configurations from 20 people and more.

4. FAIRMONT LE CHATEAU LAURIER Fairmont Château Laurier is Canada’s most recognized landmarks built in 1912 and it has played host to thousands of special events since its opening. It is about making fairy tales come true and turning moments into memories for you, your family and your guests.

Click link to see the rest!

[mkultradisciplined-blog]

Nobody wants to hire you for their wedding photography. It’s not fair, is it?

Your photographs are gorgeous, you’ve created a shiny new website, and you’re more loveable than a bucket of kittens. So why isn’t your phone ringing off the hook with people wanting to hire you for their wedding?

Be different - Why Aren't Any Couples Booking You for Their Wedding Photography It’s easy to start doubting yourself and going a little crazy. Maybe your photographs aren’t as good you thought. Are your prices too high, or too low? Perhaps all your competitors are secretly dating wedding planners?

The reality is that these days it requires a little more savvy to be a successful wedding photographer. It’s because there may actually be more wedding photographers on the planet than there are stars in the solar system. So, let’s help you shine brighter than everyone else in your area with some simple, practical ideas for getting more wedding photography bookings.

Your photography style There are so many different styles of wedding photography. Photojournalistic, posed, quirky and fun, romantic, fashion, traditional, highly retouched, and so on.

Pick a style that you love to photograph and then specialize in it. Only show that style of photography in all your marketing. Ideally, it’s a style that most of your competitors aren’t using. The more defined you can make it, the better because people who love that style will be drawn to you.

Your photography style - Why Aren't Any Couples Booking You for Their Wedding Photography Yes, you will repel some people, but it’s better to have 20% of people love your work than having 100% of people just say that it’s “nice”.

People buy from people they like and trust Hiring a wedding photographer is a huge decision for a bride and groom. They have to pay a large sum of money to have a stranger stand by their side all day on one of the most important days of their life. They’ve got so many concerns spinning around their head. For example:

Is this photographer going to be rude, or just plain dull? What happens if we don’t like the photographs? After all, most photographers can cobble together a decent portfolio. But can they do a good job in tough conditions? What happens if it rains? Will the photographer be able to cope with my crazy family? Will they actually turn up?! Is it even possible for me to look good in a photograph? Will they be able to keep us on schedule? Will the group photographs be as painfully boring and time-consuming as I fear? The list goes on.

See more by clicking link.

[mkultradisciplined-blog]

Outstanding vineyard themed wedding venue with a backdrop that will mesmerize your guests! Perfect for brides and grooms who wish to tie the knot outdoor, then dance away inside the spacious white tent throughout reception.

Tired of the same old banquet halls? Look no further than Chapiteau Le Vignoble.

Address: 23 Rang des Vingt, Saint-Basile-le-Grand, QC J3N 1M2

Phone: (514) 374-7428

Groupe Madison’s vineyard tent venue Chapiteau Le Vignoble is located on the breathtaking vineyard grounds of Domaine Bouchard-Champagne on the south side of Mont St Bruno.

Escape the bustling city and discover the dreamlike countryside setting of a European vineyard conveniently located just 20 minutes from Montreal. Discover the timeless beauty of a tent wedding and say “I do” among the lush vines of the vineyard.

Your guests will fall in love with the views and blue skies of your rustic chic wedding at Chapiteau Le Vignoble. The wedding venue offers customizable wedding packages based on your style and budget. Dinning packages include wine and open bar for the duration of your event.

[mkultradisciplined-blog]

You’ve probably seen similar discussions to this on other wedding blogs, however today I wanted to share with you this cautionary tale from a bride who had personal experience of taking the cheaper option and was unhappy with the results. Now, I know spending £2000 on a wedding photographer isn’t possible for everyone, however the point of this post is not to bully you into paying for someone you can’t afford. No, I wanted to share this story with you so that you make your decision with your eyes wide open. I just want to be open and honest with you and to let you know that, as with most things in life, you really do get what you pay for…and if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

If wedding photography isn’t that big a deal to you, the great – who am I to tell you that’s wrong? However it breaks my heart when I hear from newlyweds that say “I wish we’d thought more about our photography. We spent more on the cake/my dress/the flowers and now we have no good photos to remember our day”.

OK, Over to you Mrs X…

♥  ♥  ♥

I have asked for this post to be anonymous so that people reading this don’t think it’s a shameless marketing ploy. I may now be a professional wedding photographer myself, but I didn’t want to write this article to promote myself. No, I really just wanted to share this cautionary tale with those of you who might not understand the importance of having great wedding photographs.

It’s been a few years since I got married but when I think back to it I get a sick feeling.  It wasn’t the family argument that happened (don’t get me started on that!), nor was it the fact that we funded it with a loan which we are still paying off.  Nope, the sick feeling is purely centred around my foolishness and the pretty terrible images we now have to look back on for the rest of our lives.

Here I am a few years later, now a ‘pro’ photographer myself (who knew that would happen!!) and I now have a new found understanding of the skills required to shoot a wedding. I find myself wishing I knew then what I know now. You may have read articles from photographers before staying how important it is that your wedding photographer has experience, knows how to handle lighting and uses the right equipment etc, and while I am here to reiterate these points, I’m not here to say these things to pimp my own services. I figured this article could be a little cathartic for me and I really hope I can help you think a little bit more about your decision – whether that be to spend money on your wedding photography, or to go for the cheaper option of hiring someone with no experience – maybe a friend with a nice camera who has offered to do it for free. Please note that a ‘nice camera’ does not a good wedding photographer make!

We got married in December and I now appreciate that winter weddings, where you come out of the ceremony to the cold and dark, are bloody hard work and really difficult to photograph.  I understand that romantic candle lit receptions might look gorgeous in ‘real life’ but require a certain level of skill to capture on camera, and above all I now know that all of the money I spent making the venue look beautiful and cosy was pretty much wasted.  OK so our guests will always remember how beautiful the venue looked, but for me the day flew by so fast and I don’t remember much of it myself!  Every time I mention my wedding my Mum says “But it looked so beautiful” and whilst I’m sure that’s not just her being kind (it’s really not her style) it has made me hate my own wedding because I don’t look back at my photos and see a beautiful wedding, I look at them and see horribly dark and blurry photos.

You see, not realising the true impact of what I was doing, I asked my friend to shoot my big day.  He had a DSLR and could take amazing pictures of cars so he must be able to shoot my winter wedding right? Wrong!

It wasn’t his fault really, I should have learnt more, understood a bit about light (or lack of it) and made things easier.  But here’s the worst part, I wasn’t on a £1000 budget, I spent quite a lot more.  I prioritised wrongly.  I spent more on bridesmaids dresses than I did on my photographer, more on pretty decorations than pretty images…simply put, I was a fool!

Don’t get me wrong, I know not everyone has the budget to pay much for their wedding photographer and this is not an article to make you feel bad.  I say use whoever you want – a professional, a friend, whoever…it’s your wedding after all. But I urge you to do your research first and go into it knowing that the results of the cheap option just won’t be the same as someone with experience shooting weddings.

Click link to read the rest of the guide!

[mkultradisciplined-blog]

You’re engaged--congratulations! Planning your wedding sounds like the dream job you’ve been waiting for, right? While it can be fun, there are a lot of issues and stressful situations that can arise with wedding planning. If you’re in the midst of planning, you may be ready to pull your hair out!  If you’re not at that stage yet, here are 17 reasons why hiring a wedding a planner is one of the best decisions you will make!

1. Time

Between your 10-hour work days, CrossFit, Pilates, fiancé, dog, girlfriends, family, the list goes on, researching vendors and dealing with the 100s of additional emails you will be receiving is something you just don’t have time for! A full-service wedding planner will eliminate all of the research, emails, phone calls back and forth between the many, many vendors, and only present to you the top options meeting your criteria.

2. Budget

You have an idea of how much you’re comfortable spending, but have no idea how it all breaks down. Math?!--No way, Jose’! An experienced wedding planner can take your number of guests, and provide a suggested budget breakdown of how much funds should be allocated to each category. An exceptional wedding planner will then listen to you (the client!) and determine what needs to be increased/decreased based on your must-haves. As planning progresses, the planner should provide budget updates and also seek ways to give you the most bang for you buck, if needed.

3. Vendor Recommendations

Wedding planners work with many vendors, some they may be more fond of than others. They can suggest vendors who they know have done stellar jobs, as well as ones they know will be within budget. Some brides and grooms might be concerned that wedding planners are being compensated or receiving “kick-backs” for recommending certain vendors. While there may be some planners who do accept referral fees, at SRS Events, we do not receive any sort of vendor compensation, so you can be assured the vendors recommended are truly due to their excellent services.

4. Timeline

You know what you want to happen during your wedding day, but you don’t know how much time to allocate for each event or activity. A wedding planner will be able to take your overarching vision, and create a realistic timeline that will then be shared with all vendors and wedding party, so everyone is on the same page. If there are questions or issues, your wedding planner will be listed as the contact, so you do not have to deal with a barrage of phone calls.

5. Details

A wedding planner is detail-oriented and organized. (If they're not, they should not be a wedding planner!) Your planner will think-thru all events and what's needed to make them a success. For example, having a unity candle lighting during the ceremony? Your wedding planner will make sure the candle lighter is on the table so you won't be left hanging during the ceremony!

6. Onsite

Aside from the vendor research and bookings, one of the other main reasons brides and grooms hire a wedding planner is for onsite peace of mind. The bride can sip mimosas with her bridesmaids and the groom might indulge in a Scotch, all while not having to worry about the seating cards and ensuring the candy bar is set up, as the wedding planner has got it all handled.

7. Ideas

Maybe you have a Pinterest full of wedding inspiration or you just have no idea where to start, except for maybe knowing you want blush as a wedding color or peonies in your bouquet. A wedding planner can take your inspiration and suggest budget-friendly ways to bring it to life. Or, the planner can help craft the bride's and groom’s vision for the day.

8. Ceremony information

You know you will say your vows and have your first kiss as husband and wife, but what else needs to go into the ceremony? The wedding planner can offer suggestions, as well as provide tips on crafting your ceremony programs.

9. Coordinate other events

If you’re seeking recommendations for a rehearsal dinner or post-wedding brunch, a wedding planner can offer suggestions, or even be booked to ensure these events go off without a hitch!

10. End of night

You have your big sparkler exit planned, but what about the gifts, cards, guest book, cake topper, the list goes on! The wedding planner will be there to ensure all of the valuables make it to their correct home and nothing gets left behind.

11. Communication

Emails, emails, emails--I think this says it all, right?

12. Mediator

Not seeing eye-to-eye with your fiancé, mother, or mother-in-law? A wedding planner can serve as a mediator in this aspect, and convey your thoughts and vision as a third-party. Hearing it from a neutral contact can help remove any negative thoughts and persuade them to your point of view.

13. Seating suggestions

You have this huge open space and want to do something a little different than the traditional banquet rounds. A wedding planner can look at the space, dimensions, number of guests, and provide unique seating recommendations that will enhance your reception. On the flip side, you have all these guests, and are not sure where you're going to fit them all! Once a again, the wedding planner can provide creative suggestions to ensure the takeaway from your wedding wasn't how cramped it was!

14. Hotel room block

If you need a hotel room block, a wedding planner can work with hotels to negotiate a great rate and contract. Some wedding planners, such as myself, come from a corporate events background, where hotel negotiations were the norm. Having this background allows the planner to know what clauses need to be included or struck from the contract. They may also negotiate benefits or upgrades, known as “concessions.”

Read the rest by following the links!

[mkultradisciplined-blog]

In the early stages of preparing for our big day, we decided not to employ the services of a wedding planner... but in hindsight, oh, how I wish we had!

Why we didn’t We had very little debate about whether or not to bring a wedding planner on board. Quite simply, I wanted us to handle all the preparations and vendor research ourselves. I thought it would be fun to do the research, and also felt that us looking into the suppliers was the only way to know all the options... so that we could make a truly informed decision and ensure we got the style we liked at the most reasonable price — not simply a wedding planner’s “usual” contacts. My groom was more than happy with this conclusion, since it saved us an extra line item in our bridal budget... and we were indeed worried that a wedding planner would be quite expensive.

Why we wish we had • Wedding tasks aren’t always fun. Sure, it’s a ball to ooh and aah over cake designs, but there’s nothing enjoyable about researching mini-buses for guest transport or making seating charts. There isn’t much joy in reviewing vendor contracts or keeping track of payments, either. Contrary to what I had thought, hiring a wedding planner doesn’t mean outsourcing your entire wedding; a wedding planner only handles what you want them to (support at the start to get you on the right track, on-the-day coordination only, or indeed the whole shebang) so won’t take over and choose your final bouquet design for you. So if do you want to drive your wedding planning, you can focus on the fun parts... and leave the boring bits to someone else.

• Wedding planning is stressful. Wedding planning is not the romantic experience one expects it to be. There are many details to take care of, meddling family and friends might drive you crazy and vendors can be a source of drama. During our engagement, several recently married friends told me that in the final month before the wedding they had been so exhausted that they just wanted the day to be over. This ended up being true for me: in the final week I lost five pounds from stress, burst into tears a few times and my groom and I were snapping at each other. This is not how anyone’s planning should be. Bringing on board a professional planner to help and take some of the workload off our hands definitely would have made sense (and they probably could have given advice on managing family drama).

• We weren’t that great at choosing vendors after all. Despite thinking that researching vendors ourselves was the only way to ensure we could make the best supplier decisions, this didn’t work out so swimmingly. Out of 15 or so wedding day vendors, there were only three that we were actually totally happy with... and some others we were extremely unhappy with. When we started out planning, we had organized less than one wedding... why did we think our judgment would be better than that of a professional, who has seen these vendors in action at more than one (and perhaps several, and perhaps many!) weddings? Why did I think a planner would force us into choosing a vendor we weren’t completely happy with?

• We didn’t know what to look for in a vendor. Other than a little Google research before interrogating potential vendors via email, we really had no idea what to ask. For example, after contacting 20 different hairdressers for quotes, I realized I had to specify if I was planning an up- or down-do to get accurate pricing... so had to email them all over again. We asked cake makers for price quotes for a three-tier cake, but it didn’t occur to us to ask about the height of the tiers... until two months before the wedding, when we found out the “magnificent” wedding cake we were paying hundreds of dollars for was only nine inches tall, and we’d now have to shell out twice as much money to get it to the grandeur that we wanted.

• Wedding planning takes time. Until you really get into the preparations for your big day, it is impossible to fathom how much work is involved and how many details need to be taken care of. I know brides who have taken leave from work in order to have more time to prepare their weddings. If you work long hours, have lots of hobbies or have children to look after, and don’t want to be completely drowning in to-do lists during your engagement, a wedding planner handling some of those tasks for you could be a real lifesaver. Also, you really don’t want to get in trouble at the office by getting caught doing wedding planning on company time!

Click on link to read more!