Planning from a Distance

Hi! I'm planning from Thunder Bay, Ontario but getting married in London, Ontario (where I'm from - FH grew up 2 hours away) which is 18 hours away.

We decided to get married in London since more of our guests would be able to make it there. We know people here will probably be able to make it there too. If most of your family/guests would be able to make your Ontario wedding, I would have it there. It's not too hard to plan from a distance since most vendors can meet over skype/phone calls etc. and most accept e-transfers for deposits too. If your parents are in Ontario, they could meet up with vendors too if that's something you want.

For photography, you could negotiate with Ontario photographers to not include engagement photos and maybe get a lower price. We did our engagement photos in Thunder Bay instead of in London with a different one.

I am in a very similar situation. I am from Ontario but I am currently living in Winnipeg! Our decision was a lot easier as living in Winnipeg is temporary, so we definitely knew we were getting married in Ontario. I can unfortunately only offer advise on long distance planning, although, I would suggest having it where everyone can come. I looked at venues across the country and although they were beautiful, I couldn't not have my wedding be accessible to my family and friends. Planning from far way isn't that big of a deal, almost all vendors are more than willing to talk on the phone or skype, and are definitely willing to work with you via distance - so far I haven't needed to go home to do anything! Ultimately do what will make you and your FH happy and congratulations!

View quoted message Definitely look him up! He’s from Ontario as well I believe so you may even be able to work it out for him to travel if you do do the wedding out there!

View quoted message I’m also in Calgary! We got engaged in Kananaskis so that would be great also! I’ll take a look at him!

Where in Alberta? i’m in Calgary and would HIGHLY recommend Worn Leather Media for wedding photography! He did an incredible job on our engagement photos, and we did then up in Kananaskis in the mountains!

Congrats on the engagement and welcome to the Wedding Wire community!!

When it comes to the whole "where to have it" dilemma I would for sure say that your best bet would be to have it in Ontario. Plus if you leave straight away on your honeymoon there are a lot of planes that fly directly out of Ontario!

For photography I wouldn't worry too much about that - it shouldn't be a problem to get two separate photographers (one for the engagement photo's and one for the wedding). Most of the time they do include E-photos in the packages though so maybe try getting the photographer to make up for it elsewhere like staying an extra hour or throwing in a picture book.

If you are set on having a wedding in the west (I assume you have made friends there even if you don't have family there), I would still do the ceremony and reception in Ontario but perhaps an "after-party" of sorts in Alberta for the others that may not be able to attend.