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US vs Canada… Bridal shop prices

I was amazed by how much prices differed between the US and Canada.  Our Canadian bridal shops mark up their prices by double or triple but the kicker is the items are still almost double the marked-up American item!  Even our Michaels’ craft stores are much more expensive than our US counterparts.  I visited the bridal shops here in Vancouver and also Canadian websites across Canada.  Crazy prices.  $50 for 50 miniature bottles of bubbles???  Specialty paper prices?  Insanely high!  Even our selection of wedding items is minimal compared to the US shops. *SIGH*

To keep from going broke or sacrificing my wedding ideas, I did my research and bought most of my decor and accessories including veil, shoes, ribbons, tulle, CD jewel cases, unity candle, etc. from eBay or reputable online shops in the States.  I got the items shipped from the US.  The bonus was most of the items did not even get charged duty!  Even our Custom Gobo was still $50-75CAD cheaper than having it made in the US and courriered to Canada.  Oh!  Another charge I didn’t have to pay was the 14% GST and PST taxes!  Now that the exchange rate has the Canadian dollar at par with the US dollar, I’m sure more Canadian brides and grooms will be cross-border shopping.

Our guests mentioned how we must have spent a fortune on all the details.  Well… it still wasn’t super budget but we were able to have our fairy tale wedding without the huge price tag!  Yay!