Melanie and Anish got married at the prestigious Royal York Hotel on July 24, 2009, here is their story…
We had met Melanie and her father in the summer of 2008 about one year before the wedding. Melanie’s dad was impressed and insistent that we should work together except Melanie was sure she could plan the wedding on her own…fast forward to June 19, 2009 and we get a call from Melanie’s dad. The bride and her family are feeling overwhelmed, there is too much to do and they still don’t have a florist or videographer in place. They want to secure the vendors and make sure the day is planned to perfection. We jumped right in, helping to get things organized. It started with working on the schedule and planning out the minute by minute details. We quickly found a great videographer saving our client hours of research and hassle…oh and not to mention $500!
6 weeks later the big day arrived. As we were doing bridal party pictures, the families realized that they had forgotten the sehra and the pagri for the baraat. We could not start the day without the sehra bandhi for the groom so it was Sapna Weddings to the rescue!!! One of our team members actually left right away, drove to Gerrard St to buy what we needed and was back at the hotel 30 mins before the baraat started 
We had organized the horse procession to come down Front Street in front of the hotel, we literally stopped traffic. As it started to rain, both sides of the wedding found themselves dancing in the rain in the middle of downtown Toronto – one of the greatest and most memorable sights we have ever seen.
After the baraat, we helped move 300 ppl upstairs to the lobby in front of the ceremony hall for the milni. The wedding ceremony started right on time at 3pm. Let’s skip ahead to the reception.
As most guests were staying at the hotel, they were changed and back downstairs for the beginning of the wedding reception which started at 6:30pm. As we tested the slideshow and ensured the main hall was set up, the guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the receiving area. We opened the main doors and the guests began to take their seats. Meanwhile we worked with the MCs to organize a 53 person entrance – that’s right 53 people :S. We were set to go but where were the bride and groom??? The bride was running late by 25 mins, she couldn’t find her shoes! As we delayed the entrances we pinned on last minute boutonnieres and made sure everyone was ready. As soon as Melanie & Anish made their way downstairs we were ready to go.
It is very hard to make up a 25 min delay. We worked on the fly and re-jigged the schedule for the evening. It took on the spot coordination with the MC, DJ and kitchen to make sure the MCs knew what to say, the DJ knew when to queue the songs and video and the kitchen was ready to serve dinner. We really can’t imagine what would have happened if we were not there. Although we could not make up the full 25 mins, we were able to keep the program on track and interesting, closing the gap to under 15 mins.
It was a tough event, dealing with the rain, last minute changes and guests and bridal party spread throughout the hotel, all requiring lots of coordination. Our value? Just ask Melanie’s dad who has already pre-hired us for his other daughter’s wedding – no questions asked. He said he would never plan a wedding without us again; we were such a great source of support and comfort. Thank you uncle!
Our camera-shy bride has written us a wonderful testimonial on our facebook page – check it out here: Melanie’s Facebook Testimonial. Enjoy the pics…
