TORONTO people help!

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
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Hey guys,

So I am in a very weird position and this forum is my go to when I have issus with the whole wedding stuff.

So just a little recap - everything is all over the place at the moment. Originally the plan was for myself and my fiance to be married by summer 2017 back home in Pakistan (as all of our family members are there and that is the main hub for us all). Mehndi and Shadi in one city and valima in my fiances home town.

However, it was proposed that we do a nikkah this summer.
Our families are scattered all over the world but for the Nikkah some of my family and his were going to come to Canada.
However, my parents do not want to prolong the nikkah as in our family the max timea ny girl has been nikkafied and at home has been max 4 months. So they are propsing that if his immediate family is coming to Canada anyways why dont we do both the nikkah and ruksati together and in a few months or by next summer we can gk back home have a mehndi function and valima there so our family can join too.

Firstly, is this weird? To have the ruksati and after a year have a mehndi and valima? The mehndi part if a little weird for me.

I am not sure about all this and I am extremely stressed. If everyone does agree upon this I literally have 4-5 months to plan this event. And I always wanted and thought my wedding would be back home so all my research so far has been done for back home. I have no idea about anything in Toronto especially because we havent been to a wedding here in about 12 years and all my friends are getting married within this year and next.

Is this time period too short?
I will go to Pakistan to get my designer dress and other clothes.
For banquet halls I have been told that Apollo and Versaiiles are one of the best?

What else do I have to take care of - I need recommendations.
-DJ
-Phtography

  • Cake
  • Decor
  • Make-up
    -My beauty services??
  • Mehndi

Also need help with bridal shower - I want to do it outside of my house with about 10-15 friends max. I was thinking to just take them to a nice restaurant where they have a small party rooms. Suggestions? Ideas?

I am very stressed!!!

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Re: TORONTO people help!

Do the mehndi in Canada and Valima in Pakistan. You can have a dholki in Pakistan when you are there for shopping.

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Re: TORONTO people help!

No need to worry mahika. I agree with eastern11, you can do the mehndi now and leave the valima for Pakistan.

As for the other things you have to take care of:

Banquet Halls: really depends on what you’re looking for, most of them are in mississauga but a few have recently opened up in the Scarbororugh/Markham area. Call whoever appeals to you and find out if they’re available. I suggest calling now for halls if you’re planning for the summer because dates fill up pretty quickly with banquet halls.

DJ: I have absolutely no experience with DJ"s but you can google and I’m sure you’ll come up with suggestions + reviews.

Photography: Again, same thing just google/facebook and see what appeals to you. Here are a few I came up with just to get you started: Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook

Cake: There’s quite a few people out there for cakes, I personally get my cakes from somebody on facebook by the name of “Sweet treats by Nadia” Facebook check her out, she does a pretty amazing job.

Decor: Depends on your budget but here are a few options: Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook

Make-up and Beauty Services: There are a ton of people that do bridal make-up. Definitely check out Shirley Wu and her assistants, all of them do a great job! Facebook Another one is Angel, who works from Markham Facebook
There’s a lot more, just google/Facebook and see what you like in terms of looks and price-wise.

Mehndi: Summaiyah and Sonia do a very good job, you can check them out here: Facebook and Facebook
If you don’t like these, you can google/Facebook and I’m sure you’ll come up with many more.

For the bridal shower, what kind of restaurant are you looking for?

I hope this helps!

P.S: I’ve never dealt with any of the above stated suggestions (except for sweet-treats by Nadia and Shirley Wu).

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Re: TORONTO people help!

Hey! The reason we have delayed the mehndi also for Pakistan is because a member in my family has passed away only a few months ago. By the time its December/jan/feb (whenever the valima date is set for) it wouldve been a year. So my parents are trying to hold off all of the hulla gulla until this time period passes away as mehndi is all about hulla gulla, music, dances).

Plus having no families here I rather just do the mehndi where my cousins are extremely excited.

The ruksati plan was also very sudden but everyone made the decision because as per my family customs the nikkah shouldn't be to prolonged only 3-4 months max - but this wasn't working out.

I will have a at-home mehndi/mayoun because apparently it is Sunnat to have a mehndi. And hence, the proper mehndi we have delayed until this time period passes by.

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Re: TORONTO people help!

oh boy.....this is a first.....
can you please provide references to support that it is sunnah "to have a mehndi"?
are you sure you're not saying that it is sunnah to apply mehndi?

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Re: TORONTO people help!

I'll tell you what me and my husband did. We never had any plans of going back to Pakistan/India to have our wedding but we did have our dates for our mehndi and reception (combined w/Valima) for the end of May.

We moved our Nikkah and Rukhsati (which neither of us believe in but it was for our parents sake) up to February 14th and did it at my house with approximately 75 guests, our respective haldi/mayoun was the day before at our respective houses. Our mehndi and reception is still happening in May.

If you're planning your Nikkah 4-5 months from now - June/July - you better start looking for a venue now, especially if you're going for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We booked our reception hall back in November and A LOT of the spring and summer weekend dates were taken. Once you have the venue then look into all the rest. Also, Ramadan starts around the beginning of June... Not sure if you want to do it during Ramadan but take that into consideration for the dates.

Pretty sure having a mehndi is not sunnah.. applying it maybe, but the mehndi party itself isn't.

You can also do your bridal shower, etc after the Nikkah... We're doing a couples shower in May and our bachelor/bachelorette parties are in April.

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Re: TORONTO people help!

This was a lot of help! Thank you I spoke to two photographs you mentioned and have messaged the mehndi artists too. Also, got in touch with Shirey’s salon. Now my concern with her is that she is the only person I have mostly heard about in Toronto. But now I am also hearing she is over rated because of the hype.. any comments on this?

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Re: TORONTO people help!

Honestly speaking first for me too. I had always grown up hearing how mehndi is all culture, waste of money, just for fun. Now someone told me this but I havent gotten my hands onto this. I am pretty sure they have misguided me.

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Re: TORONTO people help!

Glad to help! We got Shirley to do my sisters makeup about ten years ago so she was very nice and cheap ($250) for makeup, hair, jewellery and dupatta setting. Her rates have gone up significantly since then. You should set a trial with her to see how things go? Her assistants do a pretty good job too (I think the names are Jenny and Maggie) Meanwhile, look up other makeup artists, I can name a couple for you: Naila Tausif, Summera Studio, Honey's Beauty Lounge.

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Re: TORONTO people help!

whoever is helping, would you invite them to your shadi ??

anyway, 4 months is kind a tough time to find a decent banquet hall specially in summer. you would be left with odd dates (weekdays) and probably not very good banquet hall. call EVERYONE.

Finding a dj/photographer isn't a big deal once you have your halls done. So first figure out those

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Re: TORONTO people help!

Got my hall AH.
Got Summera Studio for makeup.
Got a DJ

Need photographer/videographer..

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Re: TORONTO people help!

Try Epic for Photography. Look him up on FB and tell him you came from GupShup.