Sara and Steve’s National Arts Centre wedding

The Glö-Couple (tell us a fun fact about each of you):

Sara, TV Producer, lover of lists &
Steve, PR, movie buff

Celebration Date & Location:

October 2012
National Arts Centre,
Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Tell us how you got engaged:

After being together for over 10 years, Steve surprised me last Christmas with a totally perfect engagement ring. We were both happy as we were, but were ready to “finalize” things… and throw a big party!

What was the overall ‘feeling’ you were aiming for with your celebration:

Our goal was to host a party for our favourite people in the whole world, putting most of our resources towards what we thought matters the most to guests: food and booze.

Most of our guests were from out of town, so it was important to have a downtown location to make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy and appreciate our beautiful city. We organized a Friday family dinner, a Friday bar night and a Sunday open house, so we could spend as much time with our guests as possible.

We had our ceremony at the same location with minimal fuss, then moved on to a cocktail hour, then right into our reception.

I used the talents of my friends in order to cut costs – one friend was our DJ, another made our beautiful wedding cake, another helped me create centerpieces from flowers that I bought in bulk. I bought all of my decor off Kijiji and because our venue had stunning views and bright red carpets, I kept the look as simple and clean as possible – all black and white.

I put my time and energy into planning a logical flow of events and not worrying about the things that you “must” have. Says who?? Pick what matters to you and focus on that. For example, I wanted beautiful bouquets but bought flowers for the centerpieces in bulk and did those with a friend on the Thursday before.

Did you add any fun twists on tradition:

Our focus was on entertaining our guests – we were our own MCs and everyone loved hearing from us. Someone described it as a “stand up comedy routine.”

We had a photobooth that was a big hit. We set it up near the dance floor and it created a really fun, dynamic experience for those people who weren’t really dancers.

What was the inspiration for your Glövite and Glösite design? If you made them yourself, tell us how you did it.

I wanted the site to match our decor – black and white, clean and simple. My husband helped with the text to create a personal and funny tone. Our goal was to keep it personal, but informative. We got lots of compliments on the site. Even my parents, who were very skeptical of an online invite and RSVP system, came around.

I loved weddingchicks.com! I used their template for the save the dates, and their retro style suite for the invitations and everything else – seating chart, thank you cards, favour cards. Both were easy to print out on white card stock and mail to those older relatives who don’t have email (I had to mail 4 cards – yes, just 4)

Let’s show off your Glövites and Glösite