Pie Palace

Here’s a quick rundown of my experiences with the vendors I used for my wedding. These vendors are in Ottawa, and, for the most part, they did a decent job at a reasonable price.

Venue and catering: The Carleton Golf and Yacht Club hosted our wedding. We were looking for an all-in-one venue that would handle the ceremony, the reception, and the catering. The CGYC clocked in at about $60-$70 per guest. The cost was less than other locations we looked at (notably Strathmere), and the hall was nicer than either the Monterey Inn or Bearbrook Farms. Laurie O’Brien, the clubhouse manager, did a fantastic job at ensuring the reception hall was properly decorated and that everything went smoothly. She (and her staff) were fantastic. Highly recommended.

Transportation: Because our venue was out in the middle of nowhere, we chartered a school bus from Rideau Bus Lines. Their driver knew how to pacify a bunch of drunk wedding goers (turn out the light, natch), was friendly, and knew where he was going. Recommended.

Photographer: We went with Julie Young Photography. She (and her lovely assistant) did a great job at herding the wedding party and composing us into something that I hope is photogenic. We haven’t gotten the final pictures yet, so I’ll hold out on my assessment.

DJ: First Choice Entertainment (613-830-7009) satisfied our music and MC needs. The owner, Greg Fedor, was easily the most energetic vendor we hired. His posse had a good selection of music (even if they didn’t know a good track to foxtrot to), and good equipment. They provided music for the ceremony as well as the reception and dancing. Recommended.

Officiant: Lynne Langille of Exceptional Wedding Ceremonies in Ottawa presided over the ceremony. She did a good job, given the various hiccups we threw at her (collapsing chairs, wrong rings, and a giggling bride and groom). Recommended.

Limousine: We hired Elite Limousine to ferry us from our photo venue to reception/ceremony venue. The driver got lost en route, making us 20 minutes late for our own wedding. Disappointing.

Cake: We ordered cupcakes from the Buttercream Bakery. The cupcakes weren’t bad, but they didn’t have the richness I had hoped for. I can take part of the blame for that – I should have bailed when we did our tasting. Similarly, a cake we ordered for the cutting proved to be pretty bland. What’s worse, a day before the reception, we called them to make sure they had the right address for delivery. They didn’t. Recommended with reservations. If you go with these folks, call at the last minute to make sure they have the right address.

Rings: I tried various jewelery stores, but I didn’t see anything I liked until I went to Magpie. They had a wider selection in styles and materials than we found elsewhere. Their stuff has a bit of a hippy look, but some of us like that kind of thing. Recommended.

I saw Food, Inc at the Bytowne over the weekend. For those who don’t travel in hippie circles, it’s this summer’s blockbuster lefty documentary, brimming with the such granola celebs as the author of Omnivore’s Dilemma Michael Pollan¹ and Eric Schlosser (author of the excellent Fast Food Nation).

The gist of the documentary is pretty straight forward: our food supply has gone industrial, with almost all forms of food production being done in vast factories. The industrial process creates cheap unhealthy food, pushes small producers out of business, and has potentially fatal side effects (notably e. coli and salmonella poisoning for consumers). On top of that, the companies that do the processing act like bullies: litigating against farmers who attempt to save part of their crop to plant the following year, suing anyone who openly speaks against their products, and lobbying various legislatures to pass consumer-unfriendly legislation. Special attention is paid to Monsanto, everyone’s favourite corporate Big Brother.

Ironically enough, Food Inc also paints large corporations as our potential saviors from this economic and health nightmare: they talk to the entrepreneur that started Stonyfield Farm² who gives a wonderfully cogent explanation of why companies can actually produce good food, and why companies aren’t necessarily bad. They even end up painting Wal-Mart as part of the solution. (I hope that the NDP listen to their new golden boy, Darrell Dexter and integrate this idea into their world view – but that’s a topic for another post)

Do I recommend it? Yes. But with a caveat.

If you haven’t read Fast Food Nation, the Omnivores Dilemma, or any of the other books on modern food production, then I highly recommend this documentary. It’s informative and engaging without being overly depressing. Perhaps most importantly, it ends on a fairly positive note: we aren’t as screwed as all this sounds – as consumers, we have the corporations who have built this system under our control. We can vote with our dollars, and vote with our feet. Industrial production methods can be reformed to produce healthy, tasty, and safe food.

Now, if you have read one or more of those books, and are up on the vague shape of the American (and Canadian) food production systems, then I still recommend this movie, but not as glowingly. It doesn’t bring a great deal of new information to the table, but it does give a succinct reminder for why you’re doing what you do. I’ve been falling off the conscientious objector train recently – I’ve stopped going to the farmer’s market, I’ve stopped trying to buy locally grown stuff, and I’ve been buying more and more junk food. The end of this doc was a not so subtle hint that I really should be paying an extra dollar or two for my grub, so long as it goes to the right people and supports a production system that has to get back to the main stream.

Overall? go see it. Seriously.

Images from Food, Inc website and wikipedia, respectively. Used without permission.

1. Okay, I don’t know if Michael Pollan is a real hippie celebrity, since I haven’t read his book. He may be a seal clubber in his spare time, for all I know. (back)
2. Makers of fantastic yoghurt, and with some legitimately green cred. (back)