So, you’re thinking of getting married – tying the knot – getting hitched. Whatever you call it, it will likely be one of the most memorable moments in your life, so you’ll want to make sure it’s done right. Below are a few tips that experts and professionals in the business suggest to keep in mind when planning the big day. All information provided is courtesy of those individuals, who can be contacted directly for more information via the weblinks at the bottom of each piece.

Three Tips for Getting Your Wedding Suit

Below are three easy tips for finding the best suit for your wedding day.

1.  Buy. Don’t rent.

The first tip when shopping for a suit for your wedding day is to buy, not rent. I always tell grooms if you’re mature enough to get married, you’re mature enough to own a suit. And that doesn’t mean it has to be something that you can only wear once, like a bride’s dress. Get two suits, one charcoal and the other navy. These are two suits that you can easily work back into your everyday wardrobe. They’re appropriate for weddings, funerals, job interviews, and parties. They’re suits that you’ll wear 10 times over. The reason that I tell grooms to buy and not rent on their wedding day is because they’re never going to get the fit that they’re looking for by renting. The jackets are going to be loose and baggy, the pants sometimes have a drawstring, and do you want your boys in the same pants that another guy has had his boys in?

2.  Don’t let the suit ‘bland you’

The second tip is for grooms to let your personality shine. You don’t have to look like the groom at the top of the cake. It’s GOTSTYLE. We have a wide variety of accessories and suiting colours to fit your vision. Bow ties from Van Gils, pocket squares from Amanda Christensen, a Paisley tuxedo shirt from Duchamp, and a floral lapel pin from Doro are all special little accessories that will help you stand out from others and make your photos look extra special. Before you pick your accessories, you should pick your suit, from electric blue, burgundy, white linen, blue check Robin’s egg, and a grey windowpane. All of these different suiting fabrics are going to help you stand apart from every other groom that you see.

3.  It’s all about fit

The final tip is focusing on fit for your body. There’s always great tailoring, but the first step is finding the right suit for you. It’s going to keep you looking classic and clean for years to come.  If you have any questions about our custom tailoring programs, or if you just need some help with styling and off-the rack products, you can book a styling appointment by contacting us through our website below.

Check out Gotstyle Fashion in Toronto for all your wedding suit needs!

Are You Ready for Your Micro Gay Wedding?

Micro gay weddings are really the rage! And the Toronto Wedding Chapel has been doing micro-LGBTQ+ weddings since 2005. With so many years of experience, we really are the experts in the field.

There has been a shift in couples favouring a large wedding to a smaller, intimate affair. This leaves the couple the ability to focus on their family and closest friends. And it also lets the couple spend money on things that are important to them.

Our pre-decorated wedding chapel is gorgeous. The Toronto Wedding Chapel’s all-inclusive wedding ceremony and reception packages have everything that you could possibly want in a wedding, including a professional licensed wedding Officiant.

Ceremonies are available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Cantonese, and Mandarin. All the wedding packages are customizable, so whatever you want to add, consider it done. Ceremony music is included with all ceremonies, and we also offer reception only services and free parking.

If you’re looking for a seamless, stress-free intimate wedding experience, then reach out to us today. We’re booking Christmas 2022 weddings and into 2023. We can’t wait to start working on your wedding. We really take all the stress away from you!

Contact Toronto Wedding Chapel in Toronto to find out more about micro-weddings.

How to Create a Personalized Wedding Ceremony

Weddings are inherently a ritual of union, and some couples may see it as a simple act of celebrating that which already exists. However, for others it is also moment to mark a shift in their relationship and there is a desire to craft the ceremony as an act of conscious-coupling and transformation in their lives, or even in their relationship with their guests.

These questions are designed for you if you feel the ceremony is an important part of your wedding day. Finding the answers to these questions is a creative process, a personal discovery, and a mindful blueprint to making your ritual of union truly personalized. It’s also an exercise in deep listening to your partner, especially if you don’t like what they have to say.

So, book a date night, grab a pen and paper (or keyboard!) and start planning your unity ritual. Below are a few tips to consider when in the planning stages.

  • Talk about your memories of past wedding ceremonies, even ones you witnessed as a child. Do you recall any words or traditions that brought you joy? Are there any customs that you’ve romanticized or rituals that you’ve come to expect in a wedding ceremony that if you didn’t have them at your ceremony, it simply wouldn’t feel like a ‘real wedding’. Maybe there are aspects to the wedding ritual that you haven’t enjoyed, and you wish to leave out of your ceremony.
  • Imagine that you are eloping and no one else would be there to witness the wedding. How would this impact what you would say or do during your ceremony? What would be lost or gained if you did this?
  • If your wedding was a TV/movie character or celebrity, who would it be? This might seem like a silly question, but James Bond and Adam Sandler are two completely different personas. And you might find someone like Ryan Reynolds better suited to guide a style that suits the two of you as a couple. Knowing your style as a united front will ensure that you can pick the readings and tone of the ceremony that best represents the two of you together.
  • What does being married mean to each of you? Discuss why you think or feel that it will have an impact on your lives (personally, socially).
  • What does being married mean to your relationships with each other’s families? Discuss why you think or feel that it will have an impact on their lives (personally, socially).
  • Separately, each of you will write down three aspects that you value in your partner. Now, write down the three things that you believe they will write down about you. And ask yourself, are these important values that guide my life? Where did I learn these values over the course of my life? If they are close, these values are a great starting point for statements to make in your vows, speeches, or written into your ceremony. If they are completely different, even better! What the other person values in you, comes from an internal place of comfort or desire from deep within themselves. Take the time to listen to why that value is important to them and where they learned to appreciate that value. Learning what they value in both you and them is a chance for your connection to deepen.
  • Finally – take the information you’ve gathered from this exercise and determine how you want to use it. You can share it with your Officiant for the ceremony itself, or keep it for your personal vows, or use it during your wedding speech.

Tade Credgeur – The Marrying Lady

Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Toronto Wedding Caterer

Your wedding is your big special day. You want to make sure everything goes according to plan and your expectations are met. That’s why it’s important to ask your Toronto Wedding Caterer as many questions as possible. The questions below are some of the most important (but often forgotten) questions that could have a big impact on your wedding.

1. Will you be onsite the day of my wedding?

You want to make sure that the person that starts the process and put’s your order together will see your event through from start to finish. While it can’t always be avoided, it’s incredibly stressful to find out that your catering consultant won’t be there on the day of the event to tell the wait staff and chefs about the small important details you’ve asked for. if the caterer isn’t planning to send the consultant to the wedding, you can always request to meet the event supervisor a week or two prior to the wedding.

2. How accurate are your staffing quotes?

Some caterers quote minimum staffing hours, giving the client an unpleasant surprise when they receive their final invoice. Make sure your wedding caterer includes adequate time for setup, service and striking. If you’ve been quoted hours that perfectly match your schedule, don’t be surprised if actual hours worked increase slightly. Simple items such as speeches can run longer than expected, delaying service while wait staff and chefs are on the clock. A responsible wedding caterer will at the risk of appearing overpriced, quote additional time as a buffer incase the event falls behind schedule as so many weddings tend to do. As most Toronto caterers bill for actual hours worked, if your wedding caterer quoted more time than was required, you’ll be entitled to a reimbursement should your wedding run as scheduled.

3. Rentals – how many glasses are included on the quote?

You don’t want to find the exact number of beverage ware; this is an exploratory question to see if you’ve been under quoted for rentals. If you are doing wine and beer service for 120 guests and the caterer has only booked 120 glasses, you’re either going to run out of beverage ware or find that your final rental charge is three times higher than it was quoted at. On average, one guest will use between 5 and 6 glasses at a catered wedding. Beverages per guest can get as high as 8 depending on the event format. Multiplying your guest count by five is a good estimate for gauging if your rentals are accurately quoted. If you’re a little short the wait staff will be able to wash a few at the event, provided there are adequate facilities to do so.

4. Can I make changes to my order and guest count after signing the catering agreement?

As weddings are often booked a year in advance, good custom caterers will accept changes to the menu, guest count and even the event format up to a month before the event date. At Daniel et Daniel we ask that special meals and final guest count guarantee are confirmed at least seven days before the wedding. If you’re going to a banquet hall with an in-house caterer or a venue with an exclusive caterer, they are often a bit more rigid on allowing changes to their menu after the catering agreement has been signed. It is always best to carefully negotiate everything in these circumstances or you may find yourself frustrated with the process.

5. What are my options for alcohol service?

Depending on where you choose to host your wedding, you may have a lot of choice or none at all when it comes to the bar. While some venues handle the bar themselves or require the caterer to handle it, others leave it up to the host to decide. If you’ve chosen a venue that gives you the choice or are having a backyard wedding, be sure to ask the caterer what your options are.

A licensed caterer, meaning they do not require a Special Occasions Permit (SOP), will charge you a flat rate per guest rate for bar service. This is generally the most expensive option, but you know exactly what you are paying prior to the event.

If you’ve chosen a wedding caterer that is operating under an SOP you will be billed on consumption. This means that your wedding caterer is estimating how much each guest is going to drink then billing you based on consumption following the event. This is option tends to be less expensive than working with a licensed caterer, but the final bar bill is less predictable. If your guests drink less than anticipated your final bill will decrease, while if they drink more your final bill will increase. The big advantage of working with a caterer operating under an SOP is that have the convenience of having someone else look after the bar while keeping the bar price down.

If you’re working with a tight purse, ask your caterer if you have the option of organizing your own bar. While this can be fairly straight forward if you keep service to wine, beer and Champagne, it gets significantly more complicated if you want to do a full host bar with Spirits and Specialty Cocktails that often require a lot of ingredients. If you choose to do it yourself and are trying to judge how many bottles of white wine, red wine, vodka, bourbon and cognac are needed to serve 120 people for example, your wedding caterer should be forthcoming with a bar list. Just remember that if you choose to do the bar yourself, you’re going to need a big vehicle to transport everything in, and an experienced bartenders for the Specialty Cocktails.

6. Should I tip the staff? When and how should I tip and how much?

Tipping catering staff isn’t as obvious of a custom as tipping your server at a restaurant and while it’s not always expected, it’s always appreciated. Catering is demanding work and your chefs and waiters work hard to make your wedding a success. Some people prefer tipping at the start of the event to motivate everyone, others near the end as a thank you for a job well done. Whatever your preference, consider handing the tip to each person working. If it’s a large wedding with a lot of staff, ask your supervisor for a list of people working the event so that you can make sure no one is missed. Depending on the number of people working, you can tip anywhere from $20 to $100 per person.

7. How do you handle last minute additions to the guest list?

A caterer’s worst nightmare is running out of food. If you have a few guest that are still tentative seven days before the event, be sure to let your caterer know. While caterers aren’t required to bring more food than what is needed to serve the guaranteed guest count, a responsible caterer will be prepared to handle some upward fluctuation.

8. What is the appropriate number of serving staff for a plated service?

The industry standard for plated hand service is 1 server for every 10-12 guests. This allows for timely service of each course which in turn allows for more dancing time! When you decrease the amount of servers, you increase the service time due to the amount of times the servers will need to walk back and forth to the kitchens. In the case of larger venues where the distance from the kitchen to the dining area is longer than usual, consider increasing the ratio to 1 for 6-8 guests.

9. Should my plated dinner be predetermined or choice?

Whether you are giving your guests the option to choose their dishes at the table or when they RSVP, all Toronto caterers should be giving you plenty of guidance on what to offer and the style that best suits your event format. While both predetermined and choice are fine, our preference is to know in advance what each person will have. Knowing in advance has many advantages- the biggest is that it allows your caterer to better accommodate guests with special dietary needs. In other words, custom meals for individuals that are not able to choose from the list of options you’ve provided. Whether your guest’s meals are predetermined by RSVP or selected at the table, it’s always a good idea to offer three options, a fish, red or white meat, and a Vegan/Vegetarian option. It’s always better to give your guests the option of one protein or another than to serve two proteins on one plate i.e., Surf n Turf.

10. Do I need to offer a Late Night Station?

It’s always good to offer late night snacks to keep the party going. This is particularly true when people are celebrating with a drink in their hand. It doesn’t have to be an active station. You can have passed savoury items like sliders and mini grilled cheese sandwiches, which are great for soaking up booze, or a stationary table where people can come and casually graze. Depending on the venue policies and the liquor licence applied, offering late night snacks may be mandatory.

Finally, always check your venue contract and/or Special Occasions Permit requirements. We hope you have found these questions to ask your Toronto Wedding Caterer helpful. Asking these important questions prior to the event will help make sure there are no last-minute surprises to you, or your wallet. If you’re planning your wedding, give our Wedding Toronto Wedding Caterers a call and we will help create your dream wedding day.

Daniel et Daniel specializes in catering weddings, corporate and social events in Toronto and throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Their Catering Services have received international recognition at Catersource and among their peers at the International Catering Association.

Author – Guillaume Clairet, General Manager at Daniel et Daniel Catering & Events.

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