To 'Save the Date' or Not

For those of you not familiar with this new phenomena, a Save the Date is a small piece of paper that announces when your wedding will take place and asks guests to please save the date. It is sent out before your invitations are, like a preview for what's to come. Now, anyone who watches wedding shows will understand this concept, but of course many people don't.

Above is a picture of the one my fiance and I designed for our upcoming wedding.

We ordered them through Stephita. My fiance and I completely agreed on the invitations, and we were thrilled with the colours and the style.


Save the Dates was another matter entirely. He thought we should have them, I wasn't so sure.


The etiquette on Save the Dates is not entirely clear. Some websites say that Save the Dates should be sent out more than a year in advance of the wedding, and some say they should be sent out months before the wedding. Some articles claim that Save the Dates should only be sent to people living outside the country, or people that will have to travel for the wedding. Some articles state that Save the Dates should only be sent to dear friends and relatives that you don't want missing your wedding.


The issue - there is no clear method of attack.


The end result - we decide to do them.


The problem - our guest list has continued to increase at an alarming rate for the last few months. Our initial estimate of 100 guests has ballooned to 171 guests. Meaning some of our guests have received Save the Dates and some haven't. To be honest, it is a mess and more than a little stressful.


My word of advice. Think long and hard about whether or not you wish to "Save the Date" or not.

THE dress

Two weeks ago I received the phone call that all brides anxiously await - the call from the bridal store saying my dress had arrived. I eagerly scanned my agenda, checking for an available time to go and try it on.

I may have neglected to mention in my last post that I am a full-time college student, as well as a bride, and two weeks ago I was up to my neck trying to secure an internship for my program. Needless to say I had to re-schedule my appointment at the bridal store twice.

Many brides spend hours browsing bridal boutiques, trying on dress after dress after dress. And because I have been known to take up to three months to decide on a winter coat I like, everyone around me was expecting my search for a wedding gown would be epic.

I found my dress at a small store on the Danforth called the Dressroom. I was with my mother and it was my first time trying on wedding gowns.

It ends up the Dressroom is actually the sister store of Beckers Bridal, which is just down the street. I lucked out and had a fabulous consultant helping me. I tried on a few different shapes, and a few dresses were absolute disasters. Many of the dresses looked fine, but I just wasn't in love with any of them. Then my consultant thought of a dress she thought I might like and when she put it on me, I fell in love. I knew immediately.

People often ask me how I knew it was the one. The only way I can explain is that I loved every aspect of my body it in, could not stop smiling and did not want to take it off.

I would recommend Beckers Bridal to anyone. The service was amazing, the dress was exactly what I wanted and they are willing to do anything to make sure you leave happy. During the next five months I will go in for three fittings and I am sure I will leave as happy as I am now with the whole experience.