Q&A: Brides perspective

2020 } BRIDE Q&A

Local Brides Q&A

We understand planning your wedding involves time and research, so what better way to start planning your wedding than by asking three Prince George brides questions about their own wedding experience? Whether you’re planning a local wedding, traditional wedding or destination wedding, we’ve got you covered with this fun Q&A with local brides.

New husband Domenico is seen here with his happy bride Marissa Sia on Aug. 31, 2019.

Marissa Domenico &

Marissa and Domenico Sia were married August 31, 2019. As a young couple entering their first marriage they decided to have a more traditional wedding. The ceremony took place at Immaculate Conception Church. The reception for 300 guests was held at the Prince George Civic Centre. As Marissa is Portuguese and Domenico is Italian, they made sure to incorporate many traditions that came from their indi

vidual cultures and united them during the celebration, reflecting how they would move together into their marriage. How they met wasn’t an especially elegant circumstance. Marissa and Domenico work at two different car dealerships and when Domenico found himself at Marissa’s workplace he promptly walked into a plate-glass wall in his bride-to-be’s office. He’s never lived it down.

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Norther BC’s sour e for everythi g ridal Q: How did your usband pop t e uestion? A: Domenico proposed at home in the front foyer, with the dog attempting to hold the bag with the ring in it. She’s a golden retriever - she struggled. It was fishy though, I knew something was wonky. When he got down on one knew he ripped his pants from the crotch all the way up the back and I haven’t sewn them - I’m just leaving them and I call them the ‘proposal pants’. I just want to keep them and honestly, I just want to put them in a shadow box and frame them. Q: After aving recently experienced your own wedding, w at advice would you like to give brides-to-be? A: Definitely let your vendors help you. I went to the vendors and told them that I didn’t really know what I wanted. So I showed them pictures of what I liked and then let them run with an idea. I went into it as a realist. I have had friends say ‘this is exactly what I want’ and have the vendor try to replicate it and when it doesn’t happen exactly they’re upset. So I think it’s good to have a vision of what you want but be a little loosey goosey what they can work with. You can have a picture in your head but you can’t expect perfection. Q: Was t ere one moment t at stood out t at you know you will look back on forever and smile? A: Yup. When we did our photos we went out to the corner of Giscome and the Old Cariboo Highway. Our photographers wanted these photos and they turned out beautiful. They wanted these photos in a marshy area. So I had my shoes off because I didn’t want to wreck my heals and my bridesmaid had put her shoes on my feet - they were little sandals - so she walked barefoot through this marshy swamp and it had nettles in it - so we had the nettles on the bottom of our dresses and our feet were soaked - our dresses were OK because they stayed on top of the grass but our feet were so dirty and when we looked at the photos there is one of our entire group where we’re just laughing and making a face and screaming - it was so funny. When I look at the photo I remember the exact moment and all the feelings that came with it. Q: Did you find t ere was somet ing t at you first considered wort t e investment only to realize looking back t at you could ave done wit a less expensive version? A: We considered a videographer at first but looking at our photos we realized we made the right decision because we really didn’t need a video because we were super happy with our pictures. Q: Is t ere somet ing t at you splurged on and know it was so wort it?

A: We did splurge on the food at the Civic Centre. We ended up getting three proteins instead of the standard two. From all the feedback we got from our guests they loved it and everyone had a little bit of everything, so I was actually super-glad that we did end up paying a little bit more and we paid for Portuguese custard tarts to be flown in from Vancouver and they were so good. The tarts are a staple of the culture and I knew it would mean so much to my family and it was something they really appreciated and it was just a nice little add to the dessert table with a cultural aspect to it. The chef at the Civic Centre is actually Portuguese so we did have some adjustments to the menu. It was really nice that they could do that for us.

Q: Is there anything you would do differently? A: I don’t think I would do anything differently honestly except get the thank you cards done sooner! I’m still doing them!

Q: How was your overall experience? A: It was amazing. We had so many great people helping us. I told our photographers (Bring Photography) when I first met them that I hadn’t planned a wedding before so getting their opinions on stuff was super helpful and they were awesome about it. They were like our little angels.

Tiffany Kevin &

Photo by Northern Pixel Photography Tiffany and Kevin Cranmer, an RCMP officer, are seen here on their wedding day April 20, 2019.

Tiffany and Kevin Cranmer were wed April 20, 2019. The ceremony was held in the Skylight Ballroom and reception took place in the Cranbrook Ballroom in the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Prince George where Tiffany works as an event planner.

There were about 100 guests in attendance. Tiffany said because there was a manageable number of people at the reception she had time to visit with each table of guests and didn’t feel rushed. She was able to relax and enjoy her time with family and friends. “The wedding was pretty traditional and I am an A type personality so I pretty much followed the book to a ‘t’,” Tiffany, the wedding planner planning her own wedding, said.

Kevin and Tiffany were in a long distance relationship before they were married. Kevin, an RCMP officer, has a daughter, Kennedy, who was three years old at the time of the proposal. Father and daughter came for what they tried to make a surprise visit.

Q: How did Kevin pop t e uestion?

A: I came home from work and I

pulled into the garage. I opened up the door of my townhouse and all of a sudden I hear Kennedy saying “surprise!” before I’ve even come up the stairs. I come up and around the corner and there’s my hubbyto-be standing in his serge with my stepdaughter who’s holding a bouquet of flowers and so she was there for the question as well. He got down on one knee and said “will you marry me?” and that was it. My stepdaughter was a big part of it which was important for us.

A: Don’t over think it. I think for a lot of brides, including myself, it’s easy to get into your own head trying to make sure it’s a perfect day for everyone and I think at the end of the day you have to remember what it’s really about. It’s about you and your fiance coming together and having a day that’s all about your love and that’s all that matters. Every detail might not be perfect but no one remembers those little things. Live in the moment. It goes by in a blink of an eye.

Q: Was t ere one moment t at stood out t at you know you will look back on forever and smile?

A: I was getting ready to walk down the aisle and my dad was in the bathroom crying. My dad is a professional wrestler. He’s six foot three - he’s a big guy and here I was all excited and ready

hitched to walk down the aisle and I had to tell him that it was time to go, wipe your tears and let’s go. So that’s a good memory. And then when I walked into the room to get married Kevin couldn’t see me right away so he started to lean to see me coming down the aisle. There was one more dad moment. We were doing the father daughter dance and it was to Tim McGraw’s My Little Girl and there’s a part of the song that says something like “I know he’ll love you but he’ll never be good enough” and then my dad whispered in my ear “I know he’s good enough,” and that was so special.

Q: Did you find t ere was somet ing t at you first considered wort t e investment only to realize looking back t at you could ave made due wit a less expensive version?

A: I spent a lot of time with things on my tables. My sister put it together and it was one of those Mad Libs people would fill out at their table. (Mad Libs is a

Q&A Continues on P ge 10

word game that saw guests fill in the blanks of a little story with words they chose to make it a more comical story). And those are now in a drawer and I haven’t read all of them yet. I spent a lot of time cutting them out and figuring out which ones I wanted and had to make sure there were pens on the table and spent the time and money to print them and then we bought disposable cameras on the table for everyone to take pictures and it was quite a bit of money to develop those pictures and I looked at those pictures and those again are in a box. Also the wedding dress is so important but we spent a big chunk of the money on the wedding dress and I wore it once and now it’s hanging up in our spare bedroom. I probably could have gotten something just as pretty for about half the amount. Q&A ContinueD FROM P ge 9

Q: Is t ere somet ing t at you splurged on and know it was so wort it?

A: Our photographer, Northern Pixel, is a

husband wife team. So we had fantastic photographers that we were comfortable with and I wanted the full meal deal package and that was super important to me. I wanted the getting ready photos for both me and my husband, I wanted the family portraits, I wanted the ceremony captured, and I wanted the reception captured late into the evening.

Photography can be expensive but we have 1,200 beautiful photos that I do look at regularly. That was my one splurge and it’s something I (as a wedding planner) always recommend to brides because they need to have a way to capture their special day.

Q: Is t ere anyt ing you’d do differently?

A: I probably would have tried to give up a little more control because the day before I had all my family and friends here (at the venue) trying to help get set up and it was a very stressful day. I would get into arguments with my mom because I wanted everything done my way, and only my way but everyone was just trying to help so that took away some of the fun on the day before the wedding. I just needed to let go a little more and know that everything was going to come together and be fine and that was hard to do being a wedding planner.

Q: How was your overall experience?

A: It was fantastic. It was a beautiful day. It all came together. It was great to see my team that I work with so closely do such a beautiful job. I got together with my girls in the morning at Polished Chaos to get my hair and makeup done. We went off site to a beautiful little studio. We had brunch. We had photos taken there, then we came back to our room we had at the hotel, put my dress on, did the whole father daughter look, had the ceremony, which was perfect. Then did photos at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park, then we had time to come back and sit down for a few minutes before we did our bridal party entrance came back downstairs, had dinner, had a great time. It was a fairy tale, it was perfect. I wouldn’t have changed anything.

Photo by Northern Pixel Photography Here Tiffany Cranmer gets ready with her bridal party.

Photo by Brie Orser Photography Wendy Tasker and husband Mike are seen here on their wedding day out at the lake on July 19, 2019.

hitched Wendy Mike & Wendy and Mike Tasker made sure their celebration worked for them so they did things a little differently by having a twoday wedding celebration. They were married on July 19, 2019 and celebrated in a big way on July 20. They held the ceremony and dinner for 35 people at the Northern Lights Winery on July 19 and followed up with a cabaret-style reception for about 120 guests the next evening at the Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Prince George. This was Wendy’s only wedding and Mike’s second. “If anyone would have told me I would fall in love at 50 and get married at 55...” Wendy smiled. Q: How did you usband pop t e uestion? A: He popped the question with a rubber chicken. It was a rubber chicken key chain. He has this tradition where he calls the rubber chicken the love chicken. So he gives this little rubber chicken key chain - his daughter has one and some really close relatives have one. Two years ago we were going to Europe for another relative’s wedding and we were going for a month to tour Europe since we were there anyway. He convinced me he was not going to pop the question. He said he didn’t want Q&A Continues on P ge 12

to risk losing the (traditional engagement) ring packing it around Europe. So we were in Paris at the Arc de Triomphe because he didn’t want to do it at the Eiffel Tower because that might be a little too cliche. The

weird thing was that my family’s name was carved into the Arc. I didn’t know there were any names carved into it but I guess generals’ and officers’ names were on it so I was looking up at the name D’Alton and Mike called my name and I turned to him and he was down on one knee and he popped the question - with the rubber chicken key chain.

Photo by Brie Orser Photography Here are Wendy and Mike Tasker getting married at the Northern Lights Winery.

Mike Tasker proposed to Wendy in Paris using his signature rubber chicken key ring.

Q: After aving recently experienced your own wedding, w at advice would you like to give brides-to-be?

A: My advice is to spend money on the things that are important to you. So we didn’t do engraved napkins or matchbooks. We didn’t do all the stuff that people throw away. We didn’t do really expensive invitations. I Googled how to make my own bouquet and boutonnieres and did my own centre pieces and keep sakes that were wooden words like ‘love’, ‘family’ and ‘memories’. We did spend money on the DJ because the celebration was one of the most important things. So we booked the DJ and the venue at the same time because that was most important to us. We also spent money on the photographer and the event planner. Another piece of advice - don’t sweat the small stuff and whatever comes up just deal with it and move on.

Q: Was t ere one moment t at stood out t at you know you will look back on forever and smile?

A: It was the dinner. It was so much fun. It was very intimate - only 35 people. There was lots of laughing and the dinner and the party was also quite intimate at the Ramada and everyone came up and said how much fun they had. Everyone was singing and dancing and laughing - literally a celebration and that was exactly what we wanted. My dad, who is in his 80s flew out from New York for the wedding and my niece had just had her baby a month before so at the wedding we were able to take photos of four generations of the family, which was so very special.

Q: Did you find t ere was somet ing t at you first considered wort t e investment only to realize looking back t at you could ave made do wit a less expensive version?

A: I would say no - the dress was expensive, the photographer and the decorator were expensive but I wouldn’t have wanted to not spend on those and then not have the experience we had. We cut a lot of things out ahead of time that weren’t important to us. So no there wasn’t really anything.

Q: Is t ere somet ing you splurged on and know it was so wort it?

A: All of the professionals we splurged on were worth it. Hiring a professional DJ, event planner, photographer, venue managers were all so worth it. It really made the entire experience so wonderful because on the day of the wedding there was nothing for us to do but enjoy it.

Q: Is t ere anyt ing you would do differently?

A: If we could have I would have had everyone at the ceremony, the dinner and the reception but logistically it just wasn’t possible.

Q: How was your overall experience?

A: Making the decisions was quite stressful. There was a million decisions to make and that can be quite overwhelming but it was worth it in the end. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if the weather was a bit better but I have no control over that unfortunately - but there were no fires and it didn’t pour on us - so we were okay with it.