1.  Morning Wedding:  A morning ceremony is often held in the morning hours, 9:00 or 10:00 am.  This is followed by a lovely breakfast or brunch reception.

You can have a buffet style or sit down reception meal.

Foods served at this type of reception would be; toast, rolls, eggs, omelette,

fresh fruit, croissants, quiches, cheese and cold cuts.

Coffee, tea and juice perhaps even champagne or champagne punch.

Wedding cake

2.  Luncheon: Late morning ceremony followed by a luncheon type reception.

For a buffet style reception:  Foods could include salads, fruit, chicken, pasta,

vegetables with dip, salmon or shrimp, sandwiches, cold cuts, cheese.

Wedding cakes served with coffee or tea.

Champagne can be served if you wish.

For a sit-down meal: Soup, salad, chicken, beef with rice or vegetables.

Wedding cake served with coffee or tea.

Champagne can served if you wish.

3.  Tea or Cocktail:  Tea receptions are normally held around 2:00 – 5:00pm.  This is the least expensive type of reception.

Foods that can be served : tea sandwiches, finger foods, wedding cake,

Coffee, tea, champagne and wine.

Cocktail Reception:  Normally held at 5:00 – 7:00 pm.  Cocktail reception are normally for adults, little or no children are invited to this type of wedding reception.

Foods served would be: hot and cold hors d’oeuvres.

Cocktails, champagne, wine and punch.

Coffee, tea and wedding cake or other desserts.

4. Dinner Reception: Ceremony takes place in the afternoon.  This type of reception is normally held at 6:00 – 9:00pm or later.  This is the most traditional type of wedding reception.

Depending on budget it can include cocktail hour, sit-down dinner and a midnight buffet.

Almost any types of food can be served at a dinner reception.  Roast beef, chicken, fish, vegetables, salads, pastas to name a few.

Wedding cake and other desserts, served with coffee or tea.

Bar on location for other drinks.

A Chinese bride dressed in a 2,162-meter-long wedding gown handmade by her groom’s family on her wedding day Thursday August 6th, 2009 in northeast China’s Jilin Province.

More than 200 wedding guests took more than three hours to completely unroll the wedding train, and pin 9,999 red roses made of silk on the wedding train Thursday morning, before the bride put on the dress.

The groom Zhao Peng, a 28-year-old railway worker, wanted to challenge the current Guinness World Record of a wedding dress of 1,579 meters long.

After the wedding he cut the dress to 1,984.1,022 meters, representing the number of his bride’s birthday.  What a romantic idea!  The groom had 608 crystals stitched on the dress train in memory of their 608 dating days, starting from the first time he met with her.

Wondering how much this cost?  He bought the materials and asked his relatives for help in making the wedding dress by hand, which has taken three months to finish, and cost him some 40,000 yuan (5,856 U.S. dollars).

His aunt, a dressmaker, agreed to make the design. Other family members helped search for wedding information, select dress patterns, buy the materials, do lacework, make the silk roses and stitch crystals on the dress.

The silhouette of a wedding dress is the basic shape and contour of the gown.  Understanding the silhouettes of a dress and deciding on the formality of your wedding will help you narrow down your wedding dress selection.

The Ball Gown:  This style fits a highly formal wedding.  The gowns have fitted corset-style bodice and a very dramatic skirt.  This style of gown suits most body types.

“A” Line Gown:  Fitted top, the panels of the wedding dress extend in an A formation.  This style of dress has no defined waist.  Very fitting for brides with board shoulders or wide hip area.

Sheath:  Very sexy and slimming style of wedding gown.  Most bridal designers will use light fabrics on this type of wedding gown.  Brides that are very petite and well portioned will love this type of wedding dress.

Mermaid:  This dress is like the Sheath gown but is a more fitted one.  It shows all the curves of your body.  The skirt flares from the knee down.  A very romantic gown.

Empire:  This type of dress creates an illusion of a larger bust.  It’s best worn by a petite bride, or brides that are pear shape in figure as it hides the bottom part of the body elegantly.

The Ottawa Gatineau area has both trendy and traditional bridal dress shops, so there’s something for all of you!  Start shopping for your perfect wedding dress using our online wedding directory today!