My Vendor Dream Team

I'm winding down my wedding series for the year, and what better way to finish off than to highlight the incredible vendors who helped make my wedding a dream come true?

I know a lot of couples get engaged around this time of year, or they're looking to start booking vendors for next year's weddings. I recommend every business listed below. I based my positive experience on:

• How professional they were to work with (answered emails promptly, had proper contracts, etc.)
• The quality and value of their services
• How nice they were :) (you're going to be working with your vendors for ~half a year, so it helps if they're just genuinely nice people!)

This list below includes:

• Planner - Michaela Elizabeth Creative
• Photographer - Rachel Keyes
• Videographer - Twenty5Films
• DJ - DJ EPiK
• Hair - Dream Beauty Lounge
• Makeup - Makeupworx
• Flowers - Broadview Flower Market
• Cake - Cakeity Cakes
• Pianist - Christian Fairchild

Planner - Michaela Elizabeth Creative

Where do I even start with Michaela? Truly the main reason I was able to relax so completely on my wedding day and enjoy every moment is because of this woman. I couldn't have done it without her.

I hired Michaela for her full planning services, which means I started working with her almost as soon as I got engaged. She helped me find venues within my budget (although I threw that all out the window and chose Hart House - bless her patience), and used her connections in the industry to help me make better choices. Even though she has friends in the industry, she never pressured me to book with them - which I think is so professional and incredibly important. Because of her, I found my BEYOND amazing photographer and cake artist.

Michaela checked in with me proactively, gave me "homework" when I needed it, and came to meetings with our venue coordinator to ensure all the right questions were asked, and no details were overlooked.

On the day of she made my vision come to life. She handled all the other vendors to make sure they were where they needed to be on time. She handled mishaps with our guests professionally, and ensured I didn't stress about a thing. She stayed late to help us clean up, and afterwards when we needed to have a discussion with the venue about an unexpected fee, she stepped in. I am truly wowed by how amazing she is :)

Photographer - Rachel Keyes

Rachel is sweet as honey, filled with joy, and one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I am so thrilled we worked with her, and hope we find more reasons to in the future.

She did all of our photos - from our engagement, to the ceremony at the Ismaili Centre, and our wedding day at Hart House. She was completely professional, but so friendly and HAPPY - we couldn't help but feel relaxed and at ease in front of the camera.

She captured so many intimate moments, and the photos of me and Azim together are incredibly romantic. I've stared at them over and over again - I don't think we'll ever look better :D

Rachel sent us our photos back with minimal wait time, and provided a HUGE selection! I'll never be able to print them all, otherwise I could fill a bookshelf with photo albums. Again, I'm truly blown away.

Videographer - Twenty5Films

Gioi from Twenty5Films is an artist, and cares so deeply about his craft. I was having a really hard time choosing a videographer, but once I found Gioi's work I knew I'd found the right person to capture my day.

He met up with me and Azim early on and really made sure he understood our vision, and what we were most comfortable/uncomfortable with (I was worried Azim would feel really awkward!). He was also very honest, letting us know what he thought would work well - and he nailed it.

When we weren't sure about what equipment he used and how it matched up with Hart House's amenities, he was happy to jump in and sort it out - I'm not tech-savvy at all and had 23942023 other things to think about, so I really appreciated it!

The sound and lighting were really high quality - something lacking in a lot of other wedding videographers we looked at. I'm so glad I have the speeches, and my dad's officiating over the ceremony to watch and listen to forever :)

DJ - DJ EPiK

Azim picked our DJ, and he did an AWESOME job because the dance floor was a sweaty, fun mess right until the end. We had a few guests who had said goodbyes, but kept getting coming back for one more dance because the music was so much fun :) - there's no better testimonial than that, right??

He was also super accommodating with what we asked for (we needed a variety of songs, including Indian music, dance music, and our special song requests), and even when the venue was shutting him down he played one LAST song that my best friend and I wanted to hear :) Could not recommend more!

Hair - Dream Beauty Lounge

Wida and her sister Mitra were a pleasure to work with on my wedding day. Wida had done my hair for my bestie's wedding when I was a bridesmaid, and I knew I was going to hire her for my own wedding.

My hair was an absolutely MASTERPIECE - I don't know how she did it, but it looked perfect, and stayed in place so well. Almost too well!! When Azim and I had checked in to the St. Kimpton, I spent half an hour pulling bobby pins out of my hair :D From 9am until 2am, and after dancing and sweating - not one hair was out of place.

I have really smooth, fine hair, and I always tell hairdressers that it doesn't like to stay in updos or curls - most of the time they don't listen, and my hair ends up looking windswept. But Wida understood my hair without any explanations, and gave me so much confidence.

And how good did all my bridesmaids look?? So gorgeous!!

Makeup - Makeupworx

I first experienced Makeupworx at my bestie's wedding as well. I had never had airbrush foundation applied, and I couldn't believe how good it looked and how long it lasted.

Monika from Makeupworx is very professional, and lays down everything you need to know before you book. She was also accommodating - ensuring that she could would try her best to line up my makeup trial with the day of my engagement shoot, which I really appreciated!

My makeup artist was Vanessa, and she made me feel like a queen. I was late to my trial (is there ever not traffic on the 401?), but she worked efficiently and made me feel relaxed and comfortable.

Makeupworx did all my bridesmaids, my mom, my Ah-po, and me - a variety of ages and skintones, but we all turned out beautifully. Again, it lasted all night with no touch ups needed, false lashes and all :)

If you've never tried airbrush foundation, I'd highly recommend it for your special occasions, and I highly, HIGHLY recommend Makeupworx!

Flowers - Broadview Flower Market

Olivia from Broadview Flower Market probably had the most back and forth with me out of any of my vendors (besides Michaela!). I would send her different ideas, and had to change my plans once I had final guest count and the number of tables changed, but she took it all in stride.

She's very frank and honest - she let me know what would and wouldn't work based on what was in season, and which flowers would last the longest. She even gave me more affordable options based on my vision, which I really appreciated.

I absolutely love how all of our flowers turned out, especially my bouquet. She recommended a thistle - a nice token of my Scottish heritage - which I hadn't even realized was a possibility for my bridal bouquet, and really loved.

I definitely recommend Olivia for weddings, special occasions, but also just everyday flowers :) Her little shop just off the Danforth is a treasure.

Cake - Cakeity Cakes

First of all - I love the name of this business :) Cakeity Cakes is just too cute.

Nicole was a pleasure to work with! She also took the time to sit down with me and really understand what I wanted. She specializes in creating the most gorgeous sugar flowers, so I asked her create some camellias for my cake. Camellias are my Ah-kung's favourite flower, but they weren't in season for my wedding, so I couldn't incorporate them into my bouquet. Nicole's STUNNING camellias really made our cake feel so personal and special.

Not only was it lovely to look at - it was DELICIOUS! All of Nicole's flavours (I tried quite a few between the samples, and my actual cake), are rich and melt-in-your mouth good. Too many wedding cakes focus on aesthetics over taste, but I really wanted my guests to enjoy eating it!

Check out Nicole's site to see many of her other creations. I wanted buttercream icing, but she does dreamy work with fondant too!

Pianist - Christian Fairchild

Christian is an elegant gentleman - they don't make them like him anymore! He played beautiful music all evening, and really made the ambiance of the Great Hall magical.

I would get married again just to hire him to play :) And I follow him on social media to ensure I can attend his future performances.

And that's a wrap! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you found this useful :) Xox