TashaSita's GTA Vendor Review

For my Toronto and area brides!

Hi ladies,

I am getting new pictures in from friends and family member so before I post new ones and then get better ones lol, I will take a break from posting pictures, and break down our vendors for any GTA or surrounding area girls. I was extremely happy with all of our vendors, they all did fabulous work and went above and beyond what they were contracted for. I truly enjoyed working with each and every one of them, and would absolutely recommend working with all of them!

1) Day of Coordinator/Wedding Planner - Maria Zabala. Maria was kind and generous from the beginning. With no confirmation that we would book with her, she provided us names and recommendations of florist and DJ (DJ I had also found through eventective.com) and she was professional, affordable and easy to get along with. Through the wedding planning, even though she was only contracted for day-of coordination, she was alot of help with little questions and recommendations. She provided alot of guidance and suggestions in the last month and came up with a complete itinerary to keep the day as on schedule as it could be. With all the weather and wardrobe delays, we were still only 20 minutes behind schedule, which was highly impressive to me. She was friendly, professional and efficient, and generally just a lovely person. She kept the day running smoothly and was my buffer if anyone had questions or concerns. She and her assistant set up the hall beautifully, and added some nice decor touches, where I had not shown her any mock-ups whatsoever. She was really great. A+++++
Maria Zabala - www.exquisiteaffare.com, info@exquisiteaffare.com
416-737-3660

2) Photography/Videography - Kristie Macor and Brenden Woods, Tied Photography, www.tiedphotography.com, info@tiedphotography.com
A picture is worth a thousand words as the saying goes. Kristie and Brenden are absolutely amazing. Their work speaks for itself on their site and also in our engagement pictures and netter's professional pictures. Thank you netter for this awesome recommendation! A photography recommendation was the first reason I came across and joined WBC. :)
Anyway, I hate pictures, and our engagement pictures made me love them ha ha. Kristie and Brenden are so good at what they do and genuinely make me excited about our pictures. They capture such beautiful moments and emotions, and they are very easy to work with. They are extremely calm and even-tempered but polite yet firm when they need to be (being bombarded by family members lol). They were an absolute joy to work with both at the engagement shoot and at our wedding. We did not get a ton of pictures, and are honestly debating doing a Trash the Dress/Suit shoot, both because we love working with Kristie and Brenden and because our picture time was cut short at the wedding. But I truly love this couple. They are fabulous and stayed for almost the entire reception, capturing all the dancing mayhem and madness! We had a great time with them, they went above and beyond any expectations we had time-wise and with how much video and film they shot, and we can't wait to see the final product! A++++++++

3) Florist - Princess Decor and Gifts - Nafeesa Mowla 416-898-7061
http://www.princessdecorandgifts.com
Nafeesa went above and beyond my expectations. I wanted pretty simple flowers. I really didn't ask for much at all. I wanted simple curly willow centerpieces with a few orchids and then the head table to have tea light and petals. Simple, right? What I got was beautiful centerpieces with multiple curly willow and orchid stems that looked very beautiful and very pricey. People were fighting each other during our centerpiece game to take these home lol. We also got taller beautiful aisle arrangements for the ceremony with willow and blue/purple orchids which were really lovely and a surprise low arrangement at the head table with blue orchids that I just fell in love with. She also did a great job on the bouquets - my BMs adored their pretty ivory rose bouquets and my bouquet was lovely - different purples and very beautifully decorated, and lots of mini calla lilies which are my fave. She also did a great job on our moms' corsages and boutonniere (even though I did not order a bout, she gave us one - it was big, but it was really nice if Mark was wearing a suit lol) and all of them were bigger and fuller than the pictures I had sent over. She exceeded my expectations by far and was very easy to work with and really affordable! I really did not speak to her alot, Maria was our liasion mostly, but when I met her to drop things off, she was great - professional and easygoing. A++++

4) DJ - Greg Laird, Essence Sound and Lighting, essencesound1@gmail.com, Tel: (416) 432-2266 or (905) 426-8911
Greg was fabulous. Another vendor who went above and beyond. A few weeks before the wedding, our plan for ceremony music went awry and I asked Greg if he could coordinate music. He immediately said yes and played a beautiful selection of music before the ceremony and during (he played songs I gave him but the perfect parts, faded it perfectly, just made it flow so nicely). That was not in his contract. Also, last minute (like 2 days before!), Mark's uncle had made a sweet slideshow and Greg arranged a projector, also no charge, and not in his contract. He did a great job with everything, played lovely dinner music and was absolutely wonderful to work with. He also gave us a fabulous party, lighting and music. I know I complained a bit about the Jamaican invasion, but really, that was due to a lot of Jamaicans running up to the DJ booth requesting reggae, and I still adore Greg. I know if I had been more firm on the diversity of music, it would have been done. And I had a blast, and partied it up, but I love reggae too lol. There are just some of my other guests who would have enjoyed more diversity in the music, but regardless, it was a fabulous party, and I do not fault Greg for this at all! Our family is pushy lol. Still gets an A+++++

4) Chair Covers - www.chaircoversplus.com Lisa Polsinelli, 905-738-2203
Lisa was easy to work with, had a great selectin of covers that even those who don't like chair covers (me) would love. I love the way they looked, her prices were very affordable, and they were beautiful and very clean on the chairs. I actually loved the look when I saw it, I will admit it!! A++

5) Venue - The Country Club - www.clublink.ca, Linda Magliocchi, Catering Sales Coordinator Tel.905.856.4317. 2226
lmagliocchi@clublink.ca
Linda was a joy to work with. She is fun, personable and very very good at what she does. We took almost all of her suggestions and ran with them, she knows how to structure an event. She went above and beyond with planning and also graced us with a song at our cocktail hour - she is a beautiful singer!! She sold us on the venue, between Linda and the menu, we loved it!
The menu and the Chef were amazing. We keep getting compliments on dinner and the food. The Chef really took our suggestions at the tasting and implemented them, and even the discerning tastes in the audience loved the meal. This venue offers menus from all cultures, and we were able to fuse together the Indian and Jamaican cultures and have a beautiful dinner buffet. It got rave reviews! :) A++++++

7) Invitations/Stationery - Amy McNall - fellow WBC bride (screen name trombonechick) www.unmistakablyyou.com
She is local in Ontario, but has designed invites for WBC brides in the US and elsewhere also! She can ship em! AMAZING to work with. Came up with like 5 variations of our invites and was uber patient with me. Her designs are great, I was picky lol. After we clicked on a design we were both happy with, the rest of the stationery was a breeeze! Amy did our invites, aisle runner, table names, favour tags, place cards, and various little poems. Everyone loved them and they were so pretty. I plan to scrapbook them cuz I just love em! Amy is amazing to work with and affordable! And at the eleventh hour when I misplaced a table name, she sent one ASAP so my tables were all uniform and gorgeous! Amy, you are amazing! A++++++


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That's all I have. Our cakes were made by a family friend and I don't want to blog her info without permission, but if anyone in the GTA wants a lovely and inexpensive delicious cake, you can email me and I will call our friend. :)