Hello Dear Brides!

It’s that time of the year again when we tip our collective hats to old Queen Vic (May 24, 1819-January 22, 1901), who has long passed but whose May birthday marks the unofficial beginning of summer. To this we say, “Cheers!”

As is our custom, we will be closed on the Sunday but open on the Saturday. Our regular business hours on Saturday, May 19 are 10am-5pm, but we will be closed on Sunday, May 20th. This weekend’s forecast is for sunshine, so we hope everyone can enjoy the break outside!

photo: Mike Weidelich Photography

We love letters here at TBP, and we just had to post this one from an irresistible pair: a laid-back bride and a man in uniform!

I wanted to send a followup to my wonderful experience with The Brides’ Project. I had had a good friend recommend The Brides’ Project; and had an enjoyable afternoon with my dress maidens and your staff who all helped me to find my perfect gown! I had tried one “traditional” bridal boutique previous, and was thrilled with your laid-back atmosphere, friendly volunteers, and great selection. It was great to know that the proceeds from my dress purchase went to such a great cause. I wish I could personally thank the anonymous bride who donated my dress. I worked with Pearl Seto to have some minor alterations done and she was a real gem!

… I heartily recommend The Brides’ Projects to all of my newly engaged friends.

Congrats, M&A! We wish you all the happiness your hearts can hold

photo: Mike Weidelich Photography

… and we only have until May 20 to do it! It is a contest to get Toronto Maple Leaf’s Tyler Bozak to support a local cause, and the only way we can win is to get ourselves up to the top of his list.

How do we do it? By VOTING! Just click on the website once a day until the campaign ends May 20. Tell all your friends to click it, too, which bumps our campaign up. If we win, Tyler joins our Relay For Life team and will walk with us on June 15, as either another bride (we’ll make that dress fit!) or a groom. Relay For Life is the Canadian Cancer Society’s biggest annual event, raising funds for the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre. The official contest entry by Cari Miller from the Canadian Cancer Society:

Here Comes The Bride!

where should tyler chip in? toronto, on

how should tyler chip in his time? who wouldn’t want to see tyler in a wedding gown? the brides’ project attends relay for life each year sporting wedding gowns, and he would be a great addition to the team. you pick, tyler– you can be a bride or a groom surrounded by brides! this great event is in toronto’s sunnybrook park, and it raises money for the sunnybrook odette cancer centre and the canadian cancer society. tyler’s support would mean a lot, and we think he would look awesome in a wedding gown! swap the hockey fight for wedding white and join us this june!

website of charity/cause: www.relayforlife.ca/torontocentral

We would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player on our Relay For Life team to help us achieve our fundraising goals. You can help us just by voting for our joint effort with the Canadian Cancer Society and let Tyler know how much we’d love to have his support. Wouldn’t you love to see an NHL hockey player in a wedding dress?

VOTE HERE! AND VOTE EVERY DAY UNTIL MAY 20!

photo: Sandals Royal Bahamian, Nassau, Bahamas

Manuela married Josip this past February at the Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau, Bahamas. Were we there? (Very) Sadly, no, but one of our dresses was!

Manuela is the picture of loveliness in this ruched, lightweight gown purchased at The Brides’ Project. It fit her like a glove and now it’s back at the shop, ready for a trip down a local aisle (or maybe back in the Caribbean?). Who knows, maybe the next trip for this dress is down a boat dock in the Muskokas, or an art gallery, or City Hall. Make an appointment to see if this is The Dress, and the rest is up to YOU, Dear Bride.

Manuela is one of our Double Love Brides: not only did she buy her dress from us, but she donated it right back!

Congratulations Manuela and Josip for choosing each other, for choosing us to be part of your Big Day, and sharing your happiness two-fold to benefit others!

http://www.bellasbrides.ca/

Last week we received a generous shipment from a local bridal salon, Bella’s Brides: http://www.bellasbrides.ca

Bella’s Brides is a Toronto bridal shop focused on custom wedding dresses, wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, mother of the bride dresses and much more. Serving the Toronto, Etobicoke, and Mississauga community, Bella’s Brides offers both custom and designer wedding dresses. Your wedding day is one of the most special days of your life. Trust us to create the most beautiful wedding dress, bridesmaid dress, and mother of the bride dress for your special day.

Ladies, we have 11 brand-new wedding dresses on our racks in a variety of sizes, including 16 and up. Brand-new. Make an appointment before they disappear off the racks!

Bella’s Brides, a big shout out to YOU for donating to our inventory and supporting local cancer charities!

Dear Friends of The Brides’ Project, we have another dress in the shop for a soon-to-be-bride, and this one is graced with a special message of hope and love:

I battled Leukaemia when I was just 3 years old, and am a proud survivor. At the height of my cancer, my parents never thought they would get the chance to see me walk down the aisle. But thanks to the amazing work done in the cancer research field, here I am today, married for almost 8 years now and with two beautiful sons. Of course, when I learned that I could donate my dress to a charity that supports cancer research, I knew that that was what I must do with my own dress.

… I wanted to send a couple of photos to go along with the dress. I hope another lucky bride will get a chance to love this dress, just as I did on my wedding day.

–Shawna H.

Shawna, thank you for sharing your dress and your story with us and our readers. You are a living reminder of why The Brides’ Project exists! We hope there will be no need for a shop like ours in the future once cancer is cured, but until then we will continue to serve the community. With your help, we can do it!

photo: Excellence Photography

Naomi came by last Saturday to donate her dress to us, which we are very grateful for because it will sell — it is beeeeeeautiful! — and we can add it to our proceeds donation in Q2!

But how do you know it will sell?

The Brides’ Project has been in business since 2004, selling donated dresses in all sizes, shapes, colours, textures, fabrics, altered once, twice, even three times or more! We know our wedding dresses, because we only receive them — we don’t buy them. Therefore, we don’t choose the dresses, YOU do (when you buy them). Rather, we are professional Wedding Dress Matchmakers

Instead of a salon which orders multiples sizes of a limited number of styles, we have one dress in one size, multiplied by hundreds of styles. Dresses come to us from weddings in all seasons, all climates, salons across the country and individuals from around the world who make their home in Toronto. Sometimes the dresses come from further afield, shipped to us through the mail.

Compared to a regular bridal salon, we have a much greater variety. The dress of your heart’s desire may not be in your size, but don’t despair! We have amazing seamstresses who work incredible magic to make that dress fit.

Which is why we know our dresses: we do our best to find the best match!

Lovely brides like Naomi donate them to us, already altered, which always fit better than salon dresses, requiring fewer alterations or a bustle. And when the donations come with photos, we (and you) can see exactly what the dress looks like on the wedding day, and not on a mannequin or a catalogue model. Naomi looks fantastic in her dress, and so will you!

Naomi, congratulations on your wedding and thank you very much for letting us match-make to fundraise for cancer charities!

photo: Excellence Photography

Hello, it's the 80s calling, we want our clothes back!

There’s a LOT of you out there, we know…

Have any of you lovely brides attended a Wear Your Wedding Dress Again Party? For charity or otherwise? If so, could you please contact us, and let us know if a journalist can call you. Please provide your phone number or call the journalist Joanne directly: 514-485-0762. Her deadline looms

Additionally, if anyone has attended a Wear Your Worst Bridesmaid Dress Party, please let her know!

Photo: Sam Shepherd Photography (samshepherdphotography.com)

We received another donation on Sunday, an elegant Maggie Sottero (Kendra) from a recent ravishing bride, Kristin.

Kristin writes:

The Brides’ Project was the first place I went when I started looking for wedding dresses before my wedding. I had so much fun trying on the dresses with my mom, sister and friend. I didn’t find “the one” there but I knew I would donate my dress there after. I got married October 1, 2011 and it was a cold but wonderful day with my family and friends. Jeff and I are so happy and I hope that some other bride has a wonderful day and start to married life in my dress!

Thank you for your generous donation, Kristin, and entrusting us to send “Kendra” happily down the aisle again on your behalf!

Ladies, this dress will make you feel like a million bucks — it is beautiful, it is ready-to-wear, it comes with Kristin’s good karma, and your purchase of this gown will be part of our next quarterly donation. Make an appointment before it gets snapped up!

Click on any of the thumbnails to view larger. Photographer: Sam Shepherd

Photo: http://www.jandjphotography.ca/

Elora, Ontario was the beautiful setting for Jennifer’s summer wedding to Josh last year. She purchased her gown from The Brides’ Project earlier in the year and is now donating it back to us! In fact, she just dropped it off so another bride can enjoy her day as much as she did, and we are very grateful for her decision.

Jennifer is simply glowing!

For The Brides’ Project, one good turn deserves another, and another trip down the aisle not only raises more funds for cancer charities, it is friendly to the environment, socially conscious, and makes the most expensive single item apparel purchase in a woman’s life become affordable. Imagine putting a bride’s dream dress, with an original price tag too high, suddenly within reach? You can do ALL of the above, simply by donating your wedding dress to us and letting us do something very positive with it.

Our singular goal — to fight cancer by fundraising exclusively for cancer charities — can only be made possible by the generous hearts of brides like Jennifer. Thank you, Jennifer (and Josh!), for sharing your day, your dress, and your doubly-exciting baby news with us! Twins!

More photos by J and J Photography of Guelph can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnails:

Photographer: www.littlebluelemon.com

For those of you who haven’t heard of The Brides’ Project before, it’s natural to compare us to a bridal salon, but we are so much more than that. Not only do the funds raised by the sales of our wedding dresses go directly to cancer charities, but what bridal salon sees their client return… happy?

Very often, we do!

Brides like Natalie who buy their wedding dress from us then donate it back after they get married, are the cornerstone of our social enterprise. We have dresses that have been altered several times, dry cleaned between weddings, and returned in fantastic shape to the racks to make more brides happy. These are our “good karma” dresses and each time the dress is sold more funds are donated. Imagine how much good one dress can do!

We were thrilled to receive Natalie’s e-letter and her September 2011 wedding photos by Little Blue Lemon Photography. Now you can see what the dress really looks like — not on a mannequin, but in all its beauty!

Our heartfelt congratulations and huge thank you, Natalie, for adding your good karma to another Bride’s Project dress!

Click on any of the photos to view larger:

Photographer: Travis Allison (travisphoto.ca)

Could you find two happier people? We think not. Kimberly and Stephen were married just last month and Kimberly has already brought the dress back to us, ready to make another bride happy on her wedding day.

Could you think of anything more selfless to do after your wedding day?

After you read Kim’s story, if you are inspired to love and be loved and share your love with others, we know we’re doing something special here — much more than selling wedding dresses.

An excerpt from Kim’s email, shared with her permission:

Our background and planning our wedding:

We met over 4 years ago at a course for work involving computer programming.  We had lunch every day for four days during the course and then Stephen asked me to dinner afterwards and we’ve been together ever since. We were engaged in July 2011 and our wedding took place at the Glenerin Inn on January 14th, 2012 on a very cold, but beautiful sunny day with snow on the ground.  The Glenerinn was a cozy warm respite from the weather and was the perfect venue for our wedding of just over 100 guests. Over the course of our relationship, we’ve made a lot of decisions based on a gut feeling of just “feeling right”.  It was how we first said “I love you”, how we decided to move in together, to purchase our first condo and here, to pick our wedding venue.

The dress story:

For many reasons, we decided to have a quick engagement.  We were 5 months away from our wedding, so I knew going the traditional bridal salon route was not for me.  I decided to take a look at second hand and off the rack options.  I had considered making an appointment at another shop selling second hand dresses, and when I googled to find their phone number, The Bride’s Project came up in the search.

I was happy that TBP was much closer to me and I was floored that all of the proceeds went to cancer charities. Stephen and I have both been touched by cancer in more ways than anyone should be, so checking out the store became a first priority because it “felt right”.  We both support cancer charities including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation through various running events. We both ran the 2011 Scotiabank half marathon in support of the Molly & David Bloom foundation that funds drug development for Multiple Myeloma (a blood cancer) at PMH.

I brought my bridesmaid Tawnya along with me.  I loved the setup of TBP – organizing each room by size so you never have to leave the room to check out other dresses.  We picked a few out and this dress was the first one I tried on.  We nicknamed her “Miss Chastity Belt” because there was an inner belt in the dress before zippering from the outside.  Miss CB fit perfectly and it pretty much had all of the elements I was looking for – A-line, lightweight, detailed beading, sweetheart neckline, and intricate back. Tawnya agreed that it was fantastic, but she knew it was her duty to persuade me to try on other dresses.  It was hard to take off.  I tried on some others, which I don’t remember now, and immediately went back to Miss CB.  Again, it “felt right”, so it was a done deal.  I purchased her on the spot, and drove her over to Tawnya’s place for safe keeping.

The dress worked perfectly for me on our wedding day.  I was able to sit, move and dance easily and the bustle my seamstress installed held up well. Most of all, I felt wonderful in it, and that’s what a wedding dress should do for a bride. After the wedding, there was no doubt in my mind about returning Miss CB back to the Bride’s Project. When I returned the dress, there was a lot of evidence that I had a pretty good time in it, but I now know that it’s not a big deal to get it cleaned. I told one of my friends Josephine about Bride’s Project and she became interested in becoming a volunteer. I waited until one of her shifts to come over with Miss CB to donate her back.  It was a little emotional, but I’m very happy about the decision.  Hopefully another bride will love her just the same as I did.

All the best to you,
~Kimberly McCormick

*sniff*

Kimberly, THANK YOU from the bottom of our volunteer hearts for taking the time to write to us, to let us be a tiny part of your Beautiful Day, and to give us the opportunity to make another bride happy. Our donations to cancer charities are only possible with brides like you who support us in so many ways! We wish you and Stephen all the happiness in the world!

Brides-to-be, you would be hard-pressed to find a dress with more good karma. Click on any of the thumbnails to view the dress photos larger.

All photos by Travis Allison, you can find more of his work here: http://subtlevoxphotography.com/

Got plans for next Sunday, February 26?

Why not take in the picturesque town of Niagara-on-the-Lake and attend the annual Vintage Hotels Wedding Show. It’s on from noon-4pm. The show takes place in three of the Vintage Hotels — Prince of Wales, Queens Landing, and Pillar & Post — which means a much more relaxed atmosphere than the big trade shows at the convention centres. They even shuttle you between the properties (all of which are in town).

The Brides’ Project will have a booth at Queens Landing. Stop by, ask questions, say hello!

I Will Love You, by David Myles

Award winning recording artist David Myles writes beautiful love songs and often receives touching letters from brides who use his songs for their weddings.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day and an upcoming show that David will be performing in Toronto, he will be giving away one of his songs, “I Will Love You” for free. You can download it here in two formats:

I Will Love You (Acoustic) – MP3 (3.5 MBs)
I Will Love You (.wav format) (31.5 MBs)

March 24, 2012
@ CBC Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto, ON)
Start Time: 8:00 PM
Price: $29.50
Buy Tickets

David’s website: http://www.davidmyles.com

Photo: Azure Blue Photography (azureblue.ca)

I had a fabulous time in this dress on an absolutely magical day. I hope that some other lucky lady can feel the same way!

Laura was also kind enough to put together some pictures and information about the dress for the future lucky bride:

• Designer: Mori Lee
• style 2856
• Size 8
• colour: off white
• lace up back makes a perfect fit for multiple sizes
• strapless with sweetheart neckline
• Swarovski beading at top and where ruched
• altered for height around 5’4″/5’5″
• comes with matching shawl and removable panel for back
• 3 bustle ties underneath

Laura, thank you for sharing your wedding joy with others and helping us raise funds for cancer charities!

Ladies, Mori Lee dresses don’t last long in the shop, make an appointment to try it on.

Click on the images to view larger (all photos except mannequin by Azure Blue Photography):

]]> http://www.thebridesproject.com/archives/3976/feed 0 http://www.thebridesproject.com/archives/3956 http://www.thebridesproject.com/archives/3956#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:13:53 +0000 admin http://www.thebridesproject.com/?p=3956

Photo: Gerri Photography

We get the best mail, seriously. We were incredibly touched to receive this one from Meagan Joy, who was married last autumn in a wedding gown purchased from us and is already planning to bring it back along with other dresses she will be collecting for us.

I have attached a pic from our wedding Sept 16th 2011. 1 pic of our wedding party, as well 1 of Myself, husband and Mother-in-law. I purchased my dress from you, and will be returning it in the near future. Not only did I purchase my dress due to the good cause I was supporting, it is a slightly sentimental subject as well. Our wedding was slightly rushed due to my mother-in-law being diagnosed with breast cancer in February of 2011, and has now spread to her bones, kidney and brain.

I want to say THANK YOU for doing such and amazing thing.

Meagan Joy, thank for you for everything: buying from us, sharing your wedding story with us, donating the dress back, and helping us with more dress donations. We simply couldn’t do what we do, without you!

with Mama

Photos: Gerri Photography

Photographer: Daniel Lalande http://www.danphoto.ca

Nicole donated her dress to us a couple of weeks ago and we’re sure it’ll be headed right back out the door again. It’s perfectly suited to her gorgeous outdoor nuptials:  strapless yet low-maintenance (a bodice that stays put!), beaded overlay, A-line with a sweep train, this dress has it all!

Donating the dress has been a nice trip down memory lane.  I hadn’t looked at the dress or these pictures in awhile and it was great taking a look back.  It was a perfect, perfect day.  I really hope someone else loves this dress as much as I did.

Nicole, we’re sure to find your dress a new home with someone who will love it, too! Our very best wishes to you and Mike for a lifetime of happiness together

Photographer: Daniel Lalande
Website: http://www.danphoto.ca/

How are the winners determined?

The WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards ™ recognizes the top local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the organization, the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ are awarded solely based on the reviews from over 1.2 million newlyweds. Awards are determined by a combination of four factors: Overall rating (quality), total number of reviews (quantity), review performance from 2011 (recency), and consistency of reviews from year to year (consistency). This year’s recipients represent the top 5% of WeddingWire’s vendor community, across all service categories and all regions throughout the US and Canada.

We are chuffed about the glowing reviews that brides have taken the time to write about us in Wedding Wire. We also appreciate the endorsements from our fellow wedding vendors. We know you have many options for wedding dresses, and we are pleased that you have chosen us. Thank you!

http://www.darrylschipper.com/

It was a hot and humid day in July when Suzanne said “I Do” to her love, Wayne, in the presence of their family and friends.

We are so very pleased to have contributed to such a happy occasion. Suzanne bought her dress from us and sent an email recalling the fond memories of dress-hunting with her mom and sisters.

I think you have such a great thing going and I was determined to buy my dress from you — I’m thankful it worked out so nicely!

It certainly did! You look gorgeous, Suzanne, and we wish you and Wayne a long life together!

http://www.darrylschipper.com/

http://www.darrylschipper.com/

National Bridal Show

Once again, The Brides’ Project will have a booth at the Spring Show and we invite everyone to stop by on your way to the cake samples. Say hello and ask questions while you’re checking out vendors and the fashion shows. Brides-to-be are free! All info can be found on their website:

http://spring.nationalbridalshow.com/

See you there!

January 27 – 29, 2012

Location:
Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place

Show Times:
Friday: 5pm – 9pm
Saturday: 10am – 8pm
Sunday: 10am – 6pm