Choosing the venue has been for us the hardest decision in the wedding planning process. I think we felt it was the hardest choice to make because we, for some crazy reason expected all our favourite places to be crazy expensive. Since our wedding is small (20-30 guests) we just assumed that larger venues would not be able to accommodate us and we would have to pay big wedding prices. We were wrong. Some of the biggest venues we inquired with had options for small weddings like ours. It changed everything for our wedding planning. When it came down to price it was less expensive to rent 2 small venue rooms at the Fairmont Royal York hotel than it was to rent out a restaurant in our home town Barrie, ON. Why would the historic Royal York Hotel have better rates than a small private establishment 1 hour away front he city? Well here is the answer, and it is one that I should have picked up on earlier being a business owner myself. Events, corporate functions, weddings and anything you can fit into a large ballroom or small board room is what they do at the Royal York. A small restaurant is not used to catering to private events on a regular basis, it costs them more in time, staff, food and preparations just to accommodate even my 20-30 guests, they simply do not specialize in this service. So having a company that does not specialize in small or large group events on a daily basis is going to charge more for that service because to them, its special. At a large establishment like the Fairmont they have people who are hired to fold napkins and teams of serving staff to cater to each event happening in each room at the hotel. That is their service. Its a well oiled machine and because of that couples like us benefit from their great rates, excellent service and their overall consistency.
When it came down to actually choosing a venue it wasn’t about price, we were looking for a style, and a feeling. We were looking for places with history, but not too old that you can smell how old it is lol, we wanted a place that meant something to us. Something not to far for our families to travel to. We chose the Fairmont Royal York Hotel because we know we will be taken care of there. If you have ever read our website about us you know how much we love the Fairmont brand and how we have a goal to stay at each Canadian hotel over the next few years.
Venue. Check.
Next all we have to do is find: flowers, table linens, Ryan’s suit, gifts for the guests, a photographer!!! If anyone out there wants any of these jobs just leave a message below.
Enough about us, let’s talk about Darren & Krista and their engagement photo shoot at Taboo Resort and Bala, ON. Krista and Darren are awesome! Just look at them relaxing next to a waterfall in Bala, ON in late October. We love this photo, partially because its a little crazy, but mostly because it shows how brave and bold our couples are. Darren is also a photographer, he specializes in diving and underwater photography. Â So he understands what it takes sometimes to get a fun creative photo. We are very excited to be shooting their wedding next year at Windermere House, in Muskoka.
Thanks Krista & Darren for braving the cold weather, and the rush of a waterfall, all in the name of great photos. We hope you like them!
Cheers
& Ryan
