Welcome to WeddingSaviours.ca

We have our winner!

Meet Sarah & Larry ! The winners of the FREE WEDDING hosted by Durham Region’s team of dedicated wedding professionals on October 22, 2010.

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to find out when the next contest will begin. COMING SOON! !

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Sarah & Larry's Wedding Blog

Follow along as our winning couple prepares for the big day October 22, 2010. Sarah and Larry will blog their experiences here on our website and we will also post brief video "snippits" on our webisodes page as they visit the Wedding Saviours

Durham Region: December 9, 2010
Final Blog Entry...with many thanks

In closing this has been an event that has launched us into a world of new adventures as husband and wife. We would like to take this time to mention all of the people and places that made our special day whole and thank them.

Thank you Brenda Holdsworth for coming up with such a great idea of giving away a free wedding to a couple in need. Thank you for the many hours you’ve put in organizing this grand event.

Thank you Astra Dwyer of On Your Day Events, you worked so hard making sure every detail flowed smoothly. You had a huge hand in helping make this wedding so personal to us.

Thank you Karen Scott of Your Special Occasion, she provided me with the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen and kept me warm with her faux fur wrap. Karen it was with your delicate care and touch that made me feel at ease and comfortable being in a white dress!

Thank you to Ashley and Cindy Andrews of She’s So Beautiful Consignment and Bridal Boutique for providing my girls with beautiful custom dresses perfectly suited for the theme of the wedding, and for my flower girl Brooklyn’s dress. They all looked darling! A very special thank you to Judy, for your handy work and your time turning my drawings into actual dresses! You are very talented and the girls looked wonderful.

Thank you to Chef Berman of Great Temptations Catering who blew us and all of our guests away with the food that fueled our evening. The selection was phenomenal and flavour combinations harmonized. Your late night menu of your specialty pizza was THE best pizza by far that we’ve ever had. People can’t stop talking about it! Thank you also for just being you. You are a true delight!

Thank you Eva and Nancy of Annie Lane Events & Décor, you are the glue that held my visions together. You managed to create sparkling elegance and flow in a very dark and dramatic way (just the way we like it!). I love how you can tune into your clients and understand their needs.

Thank you Lori of Lori’s Hearts and flowers. You have such a skill in manipulating beautiful flowers into something so much more beautiful than they were. Our bouquets, boutonnieres, and centre pieces were so lush and beautiful they really took on their own personalities and added to the overall feeling we wanted. I love how you were able to work with my spiders and create something beautiful that may have looked creepy!

Thank you Dr. Stephen Carmona of Glendale Dentist Office, you saved my face! I am pain free thanks to your lunch hour emergency root canal, I am cavity free, and you built me a tooth when mine decided to break. You came through in a huge way, I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t of stepped up. Thank you for being my Wedding Saviour and giving up all of those lunch hours. I smiled on my wedding day pain free and with all of my teeth!

Thank you Kester and Dianne of Beautiful Body Fitness, you guys whipped our buts into high gear to shed some pounds and tone up before our big day. It was tough but well worth it. We can’t wait to sweat it out with you guys again soon! We really noticed a huge difference in our energy levels and moods!

Thank you Kim of Hair and Spa in Motion our hair was high as the sky and just as lovely. You guys are so quick you managed to get in me and all of the girls plus still had time for Larry’s sister Tina! Your visual perceptions and how to work with different facial shapes was bang on. Our hair looked just as good at the end of the night.

Thank you Lena of MakeUp by Lena, everyone’s make up look gorgeous. You have a perfectly symmetrical and flawless finish. Your lines are clean and your blending is light and airy. You made all my girls and my mom look beautiful picking out there best features. You are a very talented artist and I thank you for all the tips you shared with me.

Thank you Dianne Sowa from Renewed Interiors, as you are the only Wedding Saviour left saving us! Our bedroom is coming along great and I can’t wait to see it when it’s finally done. Thank you to Fabric Land and Sherwin Williams for your donations. Thank you for your help executing the process and for your great design and insight.

Thank you to Leigh McKay of Road to Glory Travel / Travel Only for helping us with the difference left after our Jack and Jill for our Honeymoon and for all of our wonderful add-ons. The Silver Honeymoon Package was so wonderful we had rose petals and champagne in our room when we arrived plus two very romantic dinners on the beach during our stay. It was a trip of a life time!

Thank you to Quality Suites for providing us with a place other than our home to spend our wedding night! There rooms are so pretty and blew us away. Every room is a suite and if we are ever in need of staying in a hotel again I know we wouldn’t hesitate to stay at a Quality Suites. It gave us a great luxurious experience for our wedding night! ;)

Thank you to Brenda Holdsworth of BH Consulting and Design. You didn’t just take care of our amazing invitations and reply cards. You branded our wedding by creating a logo and incorporating it in every way possible, our invitations, the envelopes, the programs, the paper decorations. You set the mood and expectation of this wedding in our guests’ minds before it even began. You gave it elegant personality from start to end.

Thank you to Michelle Gagnon of Pine Creek Creations. You created the beautiful necklaces for me and my girls! We loved your surprise with the spider web details in an elegant way. These are pieces that will be cherished for a life time. You are very talented and I’m sure could create any piece that was ever requested of you!

Thank you to Lorne of Moonlight Limo. You had us arrive on time and in style! I loved the red carpet treatment we all got, and I loved the wine you gave us!

Thank you to Lindsay of Rhythm Entertainment, You had us dancing all night long! There wasn’t one moment through out our night where people weren’t grooving! Your timing was perfect and right on cue!

Thank you Richard Nimmo of Musicians Unlimited, your talented fingers plucked and strummed out the perfect melodies as we marched down the aisle. Your renditions of the Beetles will forever hum in our heads. We did not get to enjoy your musical stylings after the ceremony, as we had to go do our photo shoot, but our guests loved you!! You ooze talent!

Thank you to Kelly Newell of Life Shots. You did an amazing job with the green screen at the wedding! It was such a huge hit! Everyone talks about it! Thank you also for all of the time you spent filming our process! The helpful direction you provided us with at times and all the snippits you compiled were awesome!

Thank you Allan of Lan Lewis Photography. You have quite the way of capturing all of those moments that are normally missed. Your imagery is beautiful and your candid shots capture every emotion that took place on our day. You have captured our memories in the best way, we will cherish for a life time!

Thank you to our friend Johnathon Boville of Three Star Catering for all of the dishes and glasses and cutlery you provided for us! It may be a detail that may go unnoticed but it’s a necessity for a wedding and you provided all of what we needed without batting an eye!

Thank you to The Ajax Convention Centre for providing myself and the girls a place to get ready before our big day! Your facility is beautiful and it provided a wonderful back drop for our pre wedding photographs.

Thank you to the Milestone Conference Centre for providing us with a place in which to get married! You have a beautiful church and we’re glad to have had our special moment there.

Thank you to Ted of Wonder Lizard productions for all of the time, sweat, blood and tears it must have taken to edit all of our film and come up with such great clips!

Thank you to Kara of Kara’s Cakes. It’s one thing to make the best looking cake we’ve ever seen before but it was another to blow us away with the flavour the way you did. I’m so glad you suggested your Lemon cake for our bottom layer because it was the freshest tastiest thing we’ve ever had in a desert! Can’t wait on our year to eat our top layer!

Thank you Rev. Norman Martin of Martin Wedding Officiants, for marrying us. It was a pleasure getting to know you. I love your website and how you have it set up for choosing the vows. It made it so easy and so personal. You are a delight!

Thank you Doug Dickerson. Even though I never had the pleasure to meet you thank you for all of your help a long the way! Maybe our paths will cross one day.

Thank you to our friends and family who have supported us financially and emotionally through the years. We love you all. We are so grateful to have won this competition! It feels like it gave us a huge jump start on our new lives. Larry and I could not have been happier.

Thank you

Durham Region: 2010
Rhythm Entertainment

We are so excited, after meeting with funny man Shawn of Rhythm Entertainment! We cannot wait to see the look on our guests' faces as they enjoy our reception and get a kick out of the DJ. Who said the funky chicken was dead? My girls will be bringing sexy back with this classic!

With their killer mix of songs, we know our night will be full of bumpin’ and grindin’, booty shakin’; it’s definitely going to be a night of crazy fun. Even Larry will be grooving to Shawn’s great list of songs and continuous flow of entertainment!

We are going to love how Shawn will create a perfect balance of oldies, top 40 and way back playbacks, suited to all our guests needs! We’re getting our dancing shoes ready, look out!!!!

Not only is Shawn taking care of our dancing needs, he is also providing us with the perfect lighting to makeout set the mood for everyone! ;)

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Kara’s Kakes

Let them eat cake! Not only will this cake be mind blowing excitement for the mouth-think 3 tiers, the first being luscious lemon, the second being charismatic chocolate and va-va-va vanilla for the third layer! OMG, this may be the highlight of my cake eating life! Kara of Kara's Kakes was able to take my vision of creating a beautiful cake, and completely blew my mind with her unique spin on my idea. This cake, will take the cake, it is going to be epic!

The theme of the wedding is wrapped up into a delicious experience for the taste buds! The cake totally appeals to the Avant Garde theme I have been lusting over for the past year. It incorporates the decor of light feathers, mixed with the perfect amount of black and white spiders and corset style wrapping of the 3 layers, topped with gorgeous black roses, as opposed to the traditional Mr and Mrs- which isn’t really our style, in case you haven’t noticed, our style isn’t exactly traditional LOL!

We can’t wait to throw this masterpiece of art into each other’s faces and bask in all it’s delicious glory!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Dr Karmona @ Glendale Dental Office

WOW! What can I say...This week has been a huge blur of emotion. First off, my tooth broke! Broke right off! Goneso! It’s right in the front of my mouth; I didn’t know what to do! Larry and I don’t have benefits and we don’t have any extra cash lying around right now for emergencies like this. To boot my soon to be mother in law can’t stop talking about how she cant wait to see my pearly whites in the wedding photos...I was stressed to the max and called Brenda in my moment of desperation! She suggested that we may try to find a dentist with no time to spare to join the team of generous Wedding Saviours! I was hopeful but I thought it would be a shot in the dark.

I got a call from Brenda a few days later and she had found a wonderful man; Dr. Carmona at the Glendale Dental office in Pickering. She informed me that he wanted to meet with me on his lunch to take a look at my broken smile.

Brenda went with me and I’m so glad she did as I’m a little squeamish around dentists! But Dr. Carmona was very calming and gentle. He looked at my teeth and took a few x-rays and next thing I know this man is creating a new tooth for me and filling a cavity!!! All on his lunch break! I was sooo happy that I’ll be able to smile and laugh with ease on our wedding day now!!

I would normally be ending this now but I’m not near done yet...I thought this would have been the end too; but my mouth decided to create one more problem for me days before the wedding. I had an infection now in my tooth and my face swelled up like a giant pretty balloon! I was in the worst amount of pain and I couldn’t even talk. Brenda called Dr. Carmona AGAIN and AGAIN he came to my rescue.

On his lunch hour he performed a root canal, he also decided to fix one more tooth while he was there just for the hell of it!

This man has blown me away with his kindness and generosity! I am no longer in horrible writhing pain and I no longer look like a pretty balloon! I am ready! More than ready to show my pearly whites!!

Thank you!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Renewed Interiors

Dianne from Renewed Interiors paid us a wonderful visit tonight; well I should say paid me as Larry made himself scarce, he’s not that into decorating!! I can’t lie…I was so looking forward to this visit. I love to decorate and paint and create furniture!!

Poor Dianne, as soon as she walked through the door I attacked her with my enthusiasm! I was just so excited to have a professional take on my jumble of creative thoughts I have flying through my head.

Dianne listened to all of my thoughts and interior dreams and helped me come up with a plan on how to tackle our bedroom. I’m so excited because after the wedding we’ll actually get to create and breathe life into our dull bedroom!

Dianne you’re going to rock our bedroom way more than Larry and I ever could!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Milestone, Moonlight Limo, and Three Star Catering

Today was quite the busy day!! I’m exhausted but it’s crunch time now!! It started with a trip to The Milestone Conference Centre. I was there once before with Larry and the other top three couples. It’s a newly renovated space and will make quite the picturesque setting for our wedding!

I felt the buzz and the electricity as I looked down the isle! I could see Larry standing there waiting for me! I can’t wait for this day; it’s so much closer now!

After my visit to the Milestone Conference Centre I got to take a ride in the Limo! I felt like a total celeb! Moonlight Limo offers nothing but a smooth ride and classy service!

I then finished this very productive day with a meeting with Johnathon from Three Star Catering. He will be providing us with our dishes, glasses and cutlery and our bar service! He was completely on board for donating all of the proceeds of the bar to charity!

Everything is coming together now all of the details are falling into place! I love it when a plan comes together!!!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Life Shots

I see London! I saw France! Yup that’s right, Larry and I just returned from the Eiffel Tower. We were there and back within minutes and have a picture to prove it! Haha not really, but we did just meet with Kelly from Life Shots and we had a green screen photo shoot!

We experienced Paris to Rome to a warmly lit room with a fireplace it was sooo much fun! I can’t wait for our guests to experience the power of the green screen!

Kelly is going to let me choose some custom backgrounds for all of our guests to pose in front of! They even get to take a framed picture home with them that she’ll print out on the spot for them! How cool is that?? I can’t wait to see how funny these pictures get as the night progresses and the guests loosen up!! Kelly you and your green screen ROCK!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Pine Creek Creations

I’m so pumped!! Just met with Michele from Pine Creek Creations; she’s going to be making the bridesmaids’ jewelry and mine. It’s just a little something extra that’s going to make us all look that much more put together.

She had me bring pictures of all the jewelry I had been envisioning on us. So with some bridesmaid brainstorming we had a few ideas to present her with.

I described to her what the dresses will look like and then showed her the pictures that we pre-selected for inspiration. She offered up a few of her own ideas which added even more interest than we had thought of.

Michele’s skillful hands are going to create us some amazing pieces that we will be able to keep and cherish forever! Or until one of us losses it; (ahem Aleks aka Miss losses/breaks things!) I’m sure she will make an exception to the normal and cherish this though!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
BH Consulting and Design

The invitations are in the mail; make sure you’re not late for our very important date!!

I have had several meetings with Brenda from BH Consulting and Design. Not only has she provided us with invitations but she has managed to brand our wedding in many details I would have never thought of.

Brenda created a logo for us and we are using it in so many ways! I love it; it’s so personal and so custom. I love creative people and Brenda is definitely one of the best! I don’t want to give too much away for these are the details that will make everything that much more special!! You’ll have to wait to see! I couldn’t imagine the wedding without it being personalized and the level that Brenda has brought it to was beyond what I had ever thought of!!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Lan Lewis Photography

A beautiful fall afternoon with my love, what more could a girl ask for? How about a 27’ sailboat and a photographer to capture my beauty? Teehee

We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. As soon as we arrived, Alan made us feel at ease and comfortable. It was an amazing experience, Alan was able captured our chemistry with each shot. We posed together and on our own, Larry looked right off the cover of GQ and I felt like a super model with my hair blowing ever so slightly in the breeze. Alan was there to capture all the candid shots in between including when Larry grabbed my bum on the bench or when I almost fell off the boat!!

The whole experience made me realize how close we are to the wedding and how happy I am to be spending the rest of my life with Larry. After seeing the edited images Allan was able to capture of us, I am so excited for the wedding photos!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Chef Berman - Great Temptations Catering

One of the things we’re most looking forward to other than actually getting married is eating! That’s right! Eating the wonderful food that Chef Berman from Great Temptations Catering will be providing us! I hope my dress will have some stretch because I know I won’t be able to get enough his great food!!

Chef Berman is a wonderful man and a natural comedian. We found our cheeks hurting after talking to him for awhile. He presented us with three menu choices for the wedding reception. Boy was it hard to choose. The things he thinks of I would never think of, but this is why I’m not a chef and don’t my family and friends know it!

Larry and I almost had a stalemate at one point but after much deliberation we were able to pick one fabulous menu! I know that our guests are going to be over the moon. I can’t wait to see everybody’s reactions after dinner!! We have a lot of foodies in our circle and I know they will be über impressed!

We are so grateful to be receiving so much, after tonight I think it hit us just a little bit more!!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Annie Lane Events & Décor

What a creatively stimulating afternoon!! Coming home from my meeting with Eva, the reception decorator from Annie Lane Events & Décor, I left feeling satisfied that my artistic vision was coming to life!

Eva knew exactly what I was looking for, we clicked from the start; I was sure we were going to get through the rest of the afternoon with ease. After looking at a variety of unique linens and creative designs, we found the perfect table cloths and chair covers. With the stunning head table décor she’ll be providing I know that we’ll be able to create an elegant atmosphere. When I saw the layout in front of me I knew it was really going to set the magical mood I was looking for. It’s amazed me to see the Alice in Wonderland theme I had been wishing for was coming to life right before my eyes.

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
MakeUp By Lena

Put your lippy on girls! Or hire my professional Lena of MakeUp by Lena! After meeting with Lena today I am truly pleased. Normally it’s hard being a make-up artist yourself and watching someone else paint a canvas. Tonight however was not hard at all!

From the way Lena walks and speaks there is a grace and elegance about her and every bit of this is reflected in her work. We had a wonderful night of swapping tips and tricks; it was more of an industry party for me than a consultation!

While discussing what I was picturing everyone to look like on the day of she showed me her portfolio. As I flipped through I noticed that she is very talented with a good eye for different facial features and facial shapes. In her pictures she managed to capture individually each person’s beauty whether it was more natural makeup just to enhance and give a glow, or whether it was an avant-garde look for a fashion show. Lena is a very well rounded artist!

I brought her a real model to do a trial on (Aleks one of my BM’s). She nailed the drama I was looking for but kept it appropriate for a wedding. Her application was flawless and her symmetry was bang on! These are all of the things that another make-up artist would recognize. Lena was a delight and even Aleks (the model) who has her make-up done professionally all of the time was delighted with her out come!! Thank you Lena for all of the tips and tricks!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: 2010
Lori’s Hearts and Flowers

Take a moment to smell the roses! We sure did as we walked through the doors of Lori’s Hearts N Flowers tonight! (Surrounded by all of the beautiful flowers stood Lori with my Wedding Planner Astra Dwyer). Astra introduced Larry and me to Lori and we started talking about flowers (which I know nothing about). Within the first few minutes you can tell that Lori is the biggest sweetheart ever, and boy she can make you laugh!

We got to tell her all of our favorite flowers, and I am being more than kind when I say “we” as Larry was no help at all to me on this trip. Well, other than his easy going attitude, ‘Whatever you want dear is fine with me…’!

I told Lori about the vision for the wedding, and the colours I had pictured being a part of it. I could tell that she understood me instantly and jumped right on board! She started pulling flowers and pictures and centre pieces, and all of her ideas were bang on! It didn’t take us long to plan the whole flower and colour story that will be told on my wedding day! Lori’s a sweetheart and if she can understand my scattered brain then I’m sure she can figure out anyone!

We can’t wait to see the finished product on the day! I know she is going to blow me away!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: June 13, 2010
Our vows!

Today I found myself at a loss for words. I’m sure this may come as a shocker! We have and evening appointment with Rev. Norman Martin, from Martin Wedding Officiants, to discuss our vows and our ceremony. I tried getting some ideas out of Larry but he was just as clueless as me! We went there feeling unprepared and nervous until the biggest warmest smile you’ve ever seen greeted us at the door. It was Rev. Norman Martin.

He was so relaxed and at ease, he asked us a few questions to get to know us a little better. He explained how he does all sorts of ceremonies and vows, from spiritual and religious, to contemporary and modern. He informed us that no decision had to be made that day as it’s really the most important part of the wedding. He told us about his website http://www.martinweddings.ca/ , and how his clients can log in and access all of the different ceremonies and vows. He informed us we could cut and paste from different ceremonies and even use our own words. Our ceremony from start to end will be completely customized to us as a couple.

The next few days we took our time to read carefully over each ceremony until we found our perfect one! You’ll have to wait to hear it!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: June 13, 2010
Flower Girl & Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

Road Trip!!! With Tina (Larry’s sister) lending us her van I packed it full of my screaming mee mee’s (MOH, BMs, FG) and had Larry do the driving for us! We were headed to Dundas Ontario to She’s So Beautiful Consignment & Bridal Boutique. The ride was exciting I can never have too much fun with my girls! I think Larry really enjoys being surrounded by pretty girls! Go figure!! ;)

When we arrived I got to meet Cindy Andrews, the owner, and Judy, the seamstress. We got started right away, first with the flower girl dress for Brooklyn. I let her pick the dress she wanted and she was thrilled! Cindy informed me that we can make adjustments and changes or add in some colour in different places and this excited me! I love custom pieces!

On to the Bridesmaids dresses! I went through there styles taking my girls opinions to heart.. man was I confused.. I had a vision when we arrived but that was before the help of my girls! Lol.. I think Cindy could see my hesitations and confusion start to kick in and she totally came to my rescue! She helped me think it all through, and after we figured out a style we decided that I could come back later with colour swatches so that I had more time to be sure. I am so excited for how these dresses are going to look!! They can create and make and alter anything! With Cindy and my vision and with Judy’s skill full hands I know that they will be beautiful! I can’t wait to see a finished product.

This is going to be some wild crazy wedding though… with my goofy friends there’s no telling what’s going to happen!!! Let’s just say our car ride back consisted of one of my girls trying on some random persons chaps and a Justin Bieber Karaoke cd.. I need Advil (maybe Larry even more)!!!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: April 18, 2010
Dress Shopping

Today I had the pleasure of visiting Your Special Occasion to pick out my wedding dress!! Karen has had Your Special Occasion for four years. They have so many beautiful high quality dresses in there for every occasion you can think of!! I felt so honoured that they were contributing part of their beautiful collection to my wedding day! Their customer service was outstanding and I would gladly recommend them to anyone who might need a dress!

At first I was so nervous just thinking about being in a wedding dress. It was something I had never pictured myself to be in. I wasn’t sure how it should look or feel they all seem so fancy and I didn’t think it would feel natural for me at all.

I got out all of my willies and cleared my mind of any expectations. I was blown away with how at ease Karen made me feel. She was very quick to show me all of the details that set each beautiful gown apart. I tried on a lot of dresses; some were liked more than others by my Wedding Saviour entourage, my mother, and my MOH! We were having so much fun but I still didn’t know if one of the dresses that I had on was THE dress.

I saw one more dress hanging in a corner and it must have been calling me because when I put it on, I knew what it felt like when you find THE dress. I had warm fuzzies everywhere! I didn’t feel like I was playing dress up, it felt like a natural extension of myself.

We had so many laughs today and I learned a lot. Like when you’re getting a wedding dress, the fitting room is open season! Clothes on or not!! Lol! It takes a team of people to get you into some of those dresses! ;) Thank you to everyone who helped lace and squeeze me in there!

Sarah Rose

Durham Region: April 18, 2010
Wedding Planning

Get this party started!! We were delighted to meet with Astra Dwyer of On Your Day Events. She will be our saving grace through the craziness that is planning a wedding! She is so organized and right on queue, which is exactly what we need!!

We had the opportunity of sharing our visions of what would make our wedding personal and extra special to us! Astra seemed very excited to help integrate our ideas into our day. It was nice that she was able to understand us and our love in such a short time of meeting. We aren’t the easiest of people to figure out but she’s nailed it!

She was able to help us understand the wedding process and the order of how things need to be executed. Basically we won’t have to do much thinking or stressing with Astra on our side! She is going to be with us every step of the way. She will be at all of the vendor meetings and on the wedding day she will be with us from dawn till dusk making sure every detail is smooth and seamless!

If anyone is planning a wedding we would STRONGLY recommend On Your Day Events to them. She is able work with any budget and I can tell that this is going to be a huge factor in how our wedding day will pan out! Well worth the small investment! We could only imagine how hectic our heads would be without her!

It has really hit us now that we’re finally getting married! :) We are so excited and we feel so blessed to be working with Astra of On Your Day Events. She’s made it so that we can sit back and enjoy the ride and it’s going to be a ride of a lifetime!

Sarah Rose & Larry