Hi Alberta Brides!

sunshine&polkadots

Hi Ladies! I got engaged in the end of March and as a teacher I am excited for summer to be here so I can start planning again!! We have a venue, our photographer and DJ booked. I was hoping to make some friends online that I can share wedding ideas with and chat with about wedding stuff. Where and when are you getting married? What are you doing for centrepieces? Where are you getting your flowers from and dare I ask how much are you spending on flowers? Also any JP recommendations for Edmonton? We are paying for most of the wedding ourselves. Right now I am tackling the tasks of flowers, JP band beginning to look for a dress Looking forward to hearing from anyone out there! A

koryn21

Hi and congrats on your engagement! Where is your venue and when are you getting married? My FI and I will be getting married in a few weeks, August 10, in Edmonton. We got our flowers from Funky Petals in Sherwood Park and I think we spent just over $1,000 for them. For our JP we went with Alexis, www.alexisdesign.ca . She has been a JP for quite sometime and we enjoyed our sit down meeting with her when we had it a few months ago. I have my final dress fitting this Saturday so I'm excited for that.That's about all I have for the moment. Hope your wedding planning goes well.

laurabelle369

Hi ladies! Congrats to you both!! It's nice to see some activity on these boards as it would be really be nice to meet and get some advice from fellow Edmonton brides!! If either of you are on Wedding Wire, I've been checking that site more than this one so come find me there too.

I'm still in the early stages of planning. We got engaged in May and are planning to get married in September 2014. I have the Empire Ballroom at the Hotel Mac on hold, but we can't sign the official contract until one year prior so I have been holding off planning everything else until I have that confirmed. I've been looking at using Best Buds for flowers - they did my matron of honor's wedding and did a wonderful job! She spent $1000 on flowers.

Who are you using for DJ and photographers??

koryn21

We are using Sean Williams Photography for our photographer and I will not mention our DJ because how he is going to turn out has yet to be seen.

laurabelle369

Hmm Koryn, that sounds ominous about your DJ! I'll be curious to hear how it all went. Where did you end up buying your dress from? How'd the final fitting go?

koryn21

We heard from our DJ at the end of last week. He's a bit eccentric to put it nicely so I'm not entirely surprised. He was suggested to us by my FI's coworker and they gave us a heads up about how he is so I'm sure it'll be fine in the end. I bought my dress at the Bridal Boutique at the West Edmonton Mall. I've had a good experience with them, although it seems as though my final fitting became my second to last final fitting. They aren't altering the dress at all but I requested that a lace neck piece be added (I'm not a fan of strapless, no offense to anyone) and they are still working on that (this request was made when I bought the dress, so its not a last minute add on, she just wanted additional feedback on what she has so far). So my final FINAL fitting will be on the 9th, the day before. *Fingers crossed*. Although I am happy it has worked out this way because now my Mom and one of my sisters can come and be taught how to tie me into my dress. So I'm more excited than nervous.

laurabelle369

I'll be very interested to hear how the eccentric DJ turns out! I'm sure it'll be just fine. I'm sure everything will go beautifully at your final fitting on Friday. Are you excited that you've got less than a week to go now?

koryn21

Just so everyone knows, other than the DJ's music being a little loud near the end of the night, he did a great job!

laurabelle369

Glad to hear that the DJ ended up working out!! How was your wedding? Did you have a wonderful day?

koryn21

The wedding was wonderful. I wanted to elope during the entire planning process, but I am so grateful for the fact that my now husband wanted a wedding to celebrate the start of our marriage with family and friends. The ceremony got started late because there was a slight misunderstanding on the florist's part so the bouquet and boutineers didn't arrive with the centrepieces and altar arrangements. Talked to the photographer the night of and he said it would be a month before the photos were back so I'm excited for that. Our day of coordinator at the Petroleum Club did a wonderful job and was a great help with setup.

laurabelle369

Congrats koryn!!! Glad to hear that the wedding was wonderful and that all of the planning and stress was worth it.

niki&rob

hey Edmonton girls!! im actually getting married in Kelowna next year, but doing all my planning from here.  Have you ladies been to pure bridal?  i have found a few dresses i love from there, but they are only open til 6pm tues- sat, i can't even get my bridal party there all at once.  anyone else hate the bridal salons in edmonton?

laurabelle369

Hi Niki! Always nice to meet another bride planning in Edmonton, since there seems to be a shortage of us on these wedding websites. When are you getting married?

I haven't been to Pure Bridal myself, but a good friend of mine bought her dress there and said she had a wonderful experience! She said the consultant was really helpful and friendly and she highly recommended that I go there, so its on my list of places to go as I'm only just getting started on dress shopping.

Where else have you been dress shopping?

WinstonsGirl

I went to Pure Bridal, though I found them a little pricey.  Bridal Debut in SP and Bridal House were my favourite places.  Anywhere WEM pretty much sucks - bad service, rude consultants, in my experience, and believe me, I shopped forever

laurabelle369

I've definitely heard that WEM is pretty much bad all around. I certainly didn't have good experiences there when I've previously shopped for bridesmaid dresses for other weddings. I'm definitely going to try Bridal Debut though, I hear they're great!

natswild

Hi Ladies, I'm in Sexsmith, a little burg 20 minutes north of Grande Prairie. Not engaged yet, but the ring is on it's way! Anyone tried out David's Bridal in Edmonton? I know it's early to look, but working in the oil patch means my time is at a premium

laurabelle369

Hi natswild! Welcome and congratulations on your upcoming engagement! We'll be excited to hear when it happens.

I did shop at David's Bridal and have to admit that I didn't have the best experience. The consultant was nice enough, but I felt very pushed in to buying something (even when I had explicitly said that it was my first dress shopping experience and I was just looking) and they continue to call me to come back in to this day. The fitting rooms are extremely small and there is not much privacy in showing things to your family, as when you come out of the dressing room you are standing in the middle of the store. I had lots of strangers walking by and commenting on what I was wearing, which felt a bit weird.

If you're looking for a dress on a budget, that's the place to go, but I would highly recommend Pure Bridal and Novelle Bridal. Both stores were absolutely wonderful and very helpful - it was a much better shopping experience!!! I ended up purchasing my dress at Novelle.

natswild

@laurabelle369-thank you! apologizing in advance for my iPad being paragraphically challenged . whereabouts are those two? I'm going to be attending EMT school in Lac La Biche in January, so I'll be able to stop in Edmonton on my way home after each week that I'm there (it's outreach, so I attend one week each month, and study on my own otherwise.)

laurabelle369

Pure Bridal is on 170 Street and about 112 Avenue (on the west end of the city) and Novelle Bridal is on 124 Street at about 105 Avenue (near downtown). I'd recommend trying either one, but would definitely suggest that you make an appointment before going. That way the consultants will have lots of time to work with you properly.

Happy shopping!

WinstonsGirl

@natswild - Ditto Pure Bridal and Novelle, though I found Pure to be a bit expensive and Novelle is quite smaller, so not as much selection.  I loved Bridal House by St. Albert, which is huge and bought my dress at Bridal Debut in Sherwood Park (also big).  I've also heard great things about Delica in the south, but they weren't open when I was shopping.