Is it a good idea to consult with a wedding planner? planner, wedding, idea, consult, good

tpalice

I plan to get married this May in Vancouver!

Since this will be an informal wedding and with guests less than 30 ppl, I've done most of the research by myself so far. But I still feel a little bit uncertain, and I wonder if consulting with a wedding planner will help.

Have any of you talked with wedding planner before? Was it really helpful?

Also, I found this 渴望魚 on the internet, has anyone heard about it?

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

zuesel

We plan to have our wedding in June in The Chaple at Stanley Park. It's a nice place that you don't really need much decoration. Their price includes marriage commissionar of your choice of chinese/english, etc. The place holds 50 people the most. Perfect for a small wedding. After that you can just go down stairs to stanley park for photos. Inside the chapel's 4th floor is where you can have your reception. Incase it rains outside, you can stay inside the building and entertain your guests.

If you can find a place such as above where you can do everything, including backup plan all in one location, you don't really need a wedding planner.

koala

you can get your marriage license in Coast Capital in Richmond centre as well...i got it from there...

Alcoholic

some insurance agencies are authorized to do marriage license ga. there's one in Lansdowne center, & they have a sign saying they do BC marriage license. so you don't really need to go to vita stats centre geh...

blueprint

Uh, not sure about it... marriage license can be obtained from insurance agency? Isn't it from the ministry of the province you live in?  

Ministry:  http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/howto.html

tpalice

Thank you all for all the feedback!

I will go back to Taipei next year for a bigger reception (補請客), that's why I want to skip some 禮俗 and just get married here. As I said, we both want something simple, so we choose the casual way to do our wedding. And no bridesmaid and best man, we just want our family and friends can be here with us.

I think these are the things I'm going to do after reading everyone's response and our considerations.

For the venues:
I know that picnic area need to be reserved for public park and beaches in Vancouver. But I'll definitely give the park board a call to make sure. We'll prepare some kind of a small and informal tea party after the ceremony. So everyone can chat and take some photos.

I'll book a private room at the restaurant for our reception right away. We currently don't have plan to decorate the banquet.

And we're still discussing a backup place in case it rains...

Wedding dress and the makeup:
I'll go back to Taipei in March for a month to attend my brother's engagement, and I plan to buy my dress there.
The makeup is optional to me. I already looked at the other thread on bridal makeup in the forum, so I'll think about it after the venues are confirmed.

Commissioner:
I'm going to find someone NOW! Mandarin-speaking commissioner is only an idea, but not necessary. I know I don't have much time, so I won't spend my time worrying what the language the commissioner can speak.
Also, we plan to grab the marriage license next week at an insurance agency.

Photographer/Videotographer:
We've decided that our families can do these for us. The photos won't be great, but we'll have these as memories to look at and laugh about.

Other things:
We got our rings several weeks ago at Cartier. We pick the simple platinum rings and we both love them!

If anyone have more experiences to share, please don't hesitate to post it here. I really like to know all these things. And I believe I'll keep posting my questions here, hope you guys don't mind.

[ 本帖最後由 tpalice 於 2008-2-22 00:21 編輯 ]

Ultraman

There are just a few commissioner with possibly Chinese last names. Email them see if they can speak Mandarin (and of course if they are available)  or not; or call them in person if possible, see if their Mandarin is acceptable for you or not, haha. (you know........ )

katamari

Just ask yourself first of all if your wedding's gonna be casual or formal. I see lots of LYKs do have their points, but doesn't mean you have to do them all. You can decide how your wedding's gonna be, it can be with or without cake, with or without flowers, with or without favors, with or without photographer/videographer, even with or without a wedding dress and the wedding bands . marriage license and a commissioner are the only must haves to get married, others are up to you.

布小熊

Don't worry too much. I think we are all getting too excited and try to help.  I don't think you need to do ALL on the lists. Sometimes, what is important to us (like photographer) may not be important to tpalice.
But I think some of the items really need to be addressed:
- register marriage license
- get a commissioner
- beach/park permit and backup
- book banquet (call 新瑞華 soon and secure the date and number of table). If you are not in town, you can get them fax/email the banquet menu to you.

If tpalice is in asia, getting a informal wedding dress and accessories may be done within weeks.
If tpalice is not in Vancouver:
-recommandation for wedding makeup artist. since you cannot try out the style, you have to base your choice on recommandation.

Little things on decorting, wedding fav, music, profession photographer, boquet, corsage...etc is totally optional. A wedding can still be nice and sweet without any of them.

tsumorichisato

You don't need a wedding planner seriously. I am planning for my own 180 ppl wedding with no professional planner but everything goes well so far. I am deeply engaged into wedding planning though..hahaah..but not turning into a bridezilla. My friend did her 60 ppl wedding within 2 months and it was warm and fantastic. She didn't hire any planner as well.

I think many ones here give you some valuable tips.

1.You can't do much decor on the beach but you need to rent chairs, arch and table!! Make sure you call the park facility cuz not everywhere can allow you to hold ceremony and I know there's a maximum capacity (like 10-20ppl ).Definitely prepare a backup site, cuz it's still very likely to rain during May.

2.Confirm your commissoner

3.Confirm your venue

4.Get a good photographer. I am not sure how much you are in wedding photography cuz you need some time to visit and browse different photographer's portfolios and rates. Everyone's preference is slightly different, you can't simply rely on other ppl's recommendations without seeing them yourself.

5.Get a MUA.  same thing as above cuz it's better if you do a trial than just listen to other ppl's suggestions

6.Get you wedding attire asap. It's more likely for you to buy it off the rack now cuz of the short time frame. States like Seattle will have a bigger selection.

7.Get Invitations. That may be the easiest cuz you can always do it online plus delivery is fast (done within 3 weeks).

8.Wedding favors? order online maybe....

9.Get bouquets/corsages/boutonnieres - This may be down the priority list cuz there are many florists you can choose from.