Tanya McGinnity

Continuing in this series of blog posts about how I was able to find some great partners to help us our with our recent wedding, here’s the third post. Thanks for bearing with me. Regular posts will resume shortly.

Celebrant Lea Meneghel from My Dream Wedding made the planning of our ceremony easy and could very well have written the book “Wedding Ceremonies for Dummies”. We had read a feature about this Montreal-based business and noted their focus on inclusiveness as well was their flexibility and openness.

Rachel at Brazen Design is a mistress of bling and put her blood, sweat and tears into our custom designed rings. They really weren’t the easiest of designs to complete so we value and appreciate all of her hard work at creating rings that are so very special to us. Beyond the rings, her attention to keeping us posted on our fitting times and adjustments shows how customer-centric Rachel is and that this girl truly knows how to satisfy her customers. These rings warrant fist bumps…

The team at Terrafolia Flowers were able to create arrangements that not only matched our “purple, goth-punk, they’re finally getting married, we’re not the traditional type” attitude but that caused much conversation with our guests.

Black calla lillies are my new favourite flower thanks to Terrafolia Flowers- it’s a flower that is beautiful, mysterious and moody and looks like it should be wearing a long gown and smoking a cigarette from a long glam cigarette holder. Their service was supreme and the fact that they are truly floral artisans really did show through.

My non-traditional, non-white wedding dress was from a shop based out of Ontario by the name of Gloomth.

To fit my frame, there were some adjustments that needed to be made and Taeden was a pro at seeing this through. Her clothing is so well made and her designs are creative, innovative and have a gothic fairytale feel to them. It was the perfect outfit and each time I wear this dress in the future, I’ll think of this magical day spent with friends and family.

We ordered our invites from Botanical Paperworks who make well-designed eco-friendly paper products containing seeds allowing them to be planted after the event.

It’s interesting that the design we chose bears a resemblance to a special social bird but we didn’t stick to 140 characters for our invite copy!

So back to the inital post that kicked off this flurry of writing on a topic that I thought I’d never be writing  in such detail. Weddings truly are a grand expression of community. It’s easy to lose sight of this when you’re neck deep in the planning, but when you look back on the results, it’s well worth it. I’ve made some lifelong business contacts who I will now shop from for life and will recommend to others wholeheartedly, without hesitation.

Sheesh. I make weddings sound so romantic huh!

Yeah. I know. I suck as a blogger. Get off my case already. You can see the shame on my face, can’t you?

I blog in 3 differnt locations plus I added a guest gig with Frames per Second magazine to do a bit of Fantasia Film Festival coverage. Considering I let my Twitter fixation get in the way of my true love of blogging, I have a lot of apologizing to do to you, dear reader. Oh. And a lot to catch you up on.

I started a new job a few months back which gives me a good taste of community, and in particular a women’s-oriented community. I’m learning so much about the ‘average Canadian gal’ as opposed to the ‘not-so average Canadian tech gals’ which I am used to socializing with. I’m gaining some great insights on how moms-who-aren’t-mommybloggers use social networks and online websites and it’s helping me to open my eyes to how much outreach needs to be done in speaking with this audience. Most of my social media ‘mavens/ divas/goddesses’ or whatever they are calling themselves, already get it.

Stay tuned to see what this all goes. I’m still working to figure it out myself but I’m happy to watch how the community I’m now a part of is using the internet to connect and share with one another.

I’m getting married. Most of my career has been spent in the project management space. So you’d think I’d have a handle on planning, timelines and generally having my shit together. No.

Eloping is a word that I don’t say as a threat.. but as a soothing mantra.

I bought a kick @$$ ring from a talented local designer – Rachel from Brazen Design.

Isn’t it lovely?

Yet again, my love for Etsy artisans has been realized so pop on over there and pick yourself up a little treat from a local seller.

Truth be told, Etsy is also another site that keeps me from blogging so please don’t blame me if you forsake your blog for nonstop digital window shopping.

Girl Geek Dinners stuff has gone on hiatus for the summer. I need a well-deserved break while I ramp up in my relatively new job and get hitched, so our little group with a big soul will need to put on it’s lovely one-piece swimsuit and sit in a chaise lounge while momma balances life, love, career and chunky rings.