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Weddingbells, a Canadian wedding magazine, invited its readers to share some stats about their wedding. Fifteen hundred of them obliged, resulting in the following facts and figures:

The Canadian bride is 29 years old when she gets engaged, and close to three-quarters of all brides-to-be are living with their fiance when he pops the question. Most proposals occur between December and February, with the weddings following up to ten months later, most between July and September.

Close to two-thirds of couples pay for their weddings themselves, and though they thought it would cost them around $17,000, in fact it generally cost something over $25,000. Isn't that always the way?

If you're a Canadian bride, check out the full list of statistics at Wedding Bells, and see how your plans and budget compare!

via: Canada.com

Looking for a creative, eclectic, one-of-a-kind gift for the bride? Seeking something truly unique to give your bridesmaids, your groomsmen, your mother? Hunting for that perfect something to dress up your new dining room?

You might find it at goodEGG Industries. A website dealing in hand-crafted items for home and play, goodEGG is the product of two crafty Canadian women, Laurel Raine and Jen Anisef. Together they have gathered together the beautiful, the quirky, the tongue-in-cheek, and the just plain fun, and are offering it to us!

With everything from bags, brooches and notepaper through table runners and stuffed gnomes, you're sure to find something irresistible!

Victoria is one of Canada's prettiest cities. It has the mildest climate in Canada, with flowers, so they say, year-round. It gets the most sunshine of any city in British Columbia (though we're not sure what that really says, given the amount of rain the west half of that province gets ...) The scenery -- ocean and mountains -- is spectacular, and Victoria, placed on an island, is about as romantic as it gets.

Want a beach wedding but can't afford Hawaii? Try Victoria. Are you the rugged, hiking-and-skiing couple? You'll love Victoria, so close to west coast skiing and Rocky Mountain hiking. Partial to nature? Want to include a little whale-watching in your honeymoon? Or perhaps you prefer a little civilization, fine dining and theatre? As the capital city of the province, Victoria has that, too.

Which is probably why Victoria is becoming a hot elopement destination in Canada. Sea, mountains, flowers, history, accommodation, tourism, natural beauty and city life. As a romantic wedding venue, Victoria has it all!

Challenge a bunch of florists to come up with floral art for the feet, and you'll get some pretty wild creations! Unlike the gem-studded beauties we showed you earlier, these are not intended to be worn -- but who wants to bet they're a whole lot cheaper? Yeah, some of them are a whole lot uglier, too, but given that the contest theme was "My feet are killing me", that's only natural.

Still ... the bride with a passion for flowers could find inspiration in these works of floral art. The picture to the right shows one that would be simple to incorporate into your barefoot sandals for your beach wedding. Other "shoes" show how you might add floral embellishment to a basic pump or mule.

If you seriously want flowers from head to toe, why not experiment on a cheap pair of shoes? Get yourself a few silk blooms and a glue gun, and see what you can do!

Tucked away in the forests of Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario is a gem of a wedding venue, honeymoon spot, or both! Arowhon Pines, with its central lodge and 13 cabins (with 50 individual rooms) looks rustic -- and it is, but rustic in the most gracious of ways. The setting, on clean and quiet Joe Lake, is far enough off the beaten path to suit any nature-lover. The aching cry of the loon, the far-off howl of wolves, even the occasional moose all attest to its rural reality.

In the cabins and the central dining room, civilization reigns. Each well-appointed cabin has a central lounge; each room within the cabins has ensuite washroom. Service is excellent, discreet and efficient. The hexagonal dining room has a massive three-story stone fireplace at its center; tables range around it -- and the food, which has been written up to great acclaim by many satisfied reviewers on at least two continents, is more than worth the trip.

The lodge has been owned by the same family since its inception in 1940. They have decades of experience, and it shows! Want a four-star reception in the heart of nature? Arowhon Pines offers it.

Ever felt that spending all that money on a single day was a little self-indulgent? Helen Sweet did, which was why she established The Brides' Project four years ago.

The Brides' Project is a full-service bridal salon -- Sweet can even officiate weddings! -- in which all proceeds after operating costs go to various children's cancer charities. The primary beneficiary is Camp Quality, a camp for children living with cancer. She's so invested in the idea she lives in her store, which is housed in a Victorian home in Toronto's (Ontario, Canada) south Riverdale area. The gowns get the main floors, and Sweet lives in the attic. Now brides can have their beautiful wedding, and know that they're helping children with cancer, too.

There are wedding coins that have ceremonial and symbolic purpose in weddings around the world. And then there are wedding coins that are real coins, manufactured by the Royal Canadian Mint. The wedding set comes with a quarter (shown), a fifty-cent coin, a dollar, and a two dollar coin, displayed in a decorative card folder.

The Mint sells directly to anyone in Canada or the US. If you live outside these countries, you'll have to contact a local coin dealer to arrange purchase. At about $20, it's a modest price for a memento that will last forever.

We don't use trains as much here in North America as they do in Europe, which is a pity, because we have it all -- mountains, prairies, oceans, forests, skies that go on forever, and cities dotted across all this splendor. You could take a plane and fly a mile up and miss it all, or you could watch it unfold, mile after mile, right outside your picture window.

Trains offer a variety of sleeping accommodations, services, food, and routes. A beach in the tropics has its appeal, for sure, but so does a snug and cozy bedroom that gently sways with a rhythmical thrum all night long.

In many destination wedding ceremonies, waterfalls are a popular backdrop. For the ultimate waterfall wedding, consider North America's premier waterfall destination -- Niagara Falls.

There are falls on both the US and Canadian side of the border, so you don't have to travel internationally if you are from either of those two countries to get married at Niagara Falls. However, the Canadian side is a bit more spectacular, and also more tourist-friendly. The American and Canadian dollars are equal right now, so as long as you've got a passport, crossing the border to wed on the Canadian side won't be much of a hassle. In fact, you don't even need a passport to cross from the US to Canada, as long as you have proof of citizenship.

You can get married right at the falls, but you may have trouble avoiding tourists, and setting up for a large wedding will be difficult. Many area wedding companies offer ceremonies somewhere nearby that is more private, with photography available at the falls themselves.

Winter is coming, and with it -- at least if you live where I do -- this means snow. Lots of it. Ditto for ice, and for cold. For some, this is a bad thing. And then there are those who see take the lemonade-from-lemons perspective on all that cold, snow, and ice.

THOSE people don't hide indoors, nor do they flee to a sun-drenched beach somewhere. Nope, THOSE people make a hotel out of ice. And when you have a hotel made of ice, why not make a chapel of ice? And have weddings there? The Ice Hotel in Duchesnay, Quebec has done just that. Chapel for the ceremony, hotel for the first night, complete with arctic-calibre sleeping bags, and (praise be) a HOT drink in the morning.

You don't have anything to WEAR to a wedding where the temperature hovers between -2 to -5C (23 - 28F)? Not to worry! They also sell bridal wear appropriate to the venue. If you're not afraid of the cold and are looking for a bit of adventure this might be the venue for you!

You've heard of "the reading of the banns?" Those who opt for it often see it as a quaint tradition, a pleasingly community-focused way to state your intention to marry, and a little more personal than merely paying a fee and signing the requisite documentation. In this tradition, some 800 years old, the minister of the church in which the couple will be married reads the banns for three weeks, after which point the couple can be married. Depending on the jurisdiction, a license may also be required, but not everywhere. In Ontario, you need only one or the other.

In December, 2000, Rev. Brent Hawkes of the Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto (Ontario, Canada), read the banns for two couples seeking to be married. They were read for the next two weeks, and on January 14, 2001, the couples were married. The happy couples were Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell, and Anne and Elaine Vautour.

As I've mentioned before, my husband is a wedding officiant. He's done hundreds over the years, but he took a break for a few years, and only took it up again a couple of months ago. So far, though it's legal here, he has yet to perform a gay wedding.

He's looking forward to it. His rationale is that, having been on the outside looking in for so long, that gay couples who decide to marry will have a sense of achievement that straight couples don't. Straight people can, after all, take their right to marry for granted. He anticipates a gay wedding might have layers of celebration he hasn't observed before.

It also presents him with a couple of small format issues. "The bride may now kiss the ... bride," I guess! And "I now pronounce you husband and ... husband?" It sounds a bit odd, I grant you, but that's only because it's a new variant on an established phrase. But with over 7,500 same-sex marriages in the province so far, it won't be long before it just sounds ... married!

Same-sex marriage passed the House of Commons in Canada on June 28, 2005 and became law on July 20, 2005. We've come a long way since 1965, when a sexually active gay man could be labelled a "dangerous sexual offender."

The debate has been going on for quite a while. Denmark was the first country to give same-sex partnerships the same rights as married heterosexuals, 18 years ago. Italy now allows legal rights to any unmarried couple, regardless of gender. Israel has allowed gay people married in other countries to be recognized as married within Israel. New Zealand recognizes civil unions, regardless of gender. The US still struggles. Spain, Belgium and South Africa allow same-sex marriage.

And here in Canada, two years later, life goes on. People are born, people get up and go to work, children go to school, people die, people get married. Just like every other day before June 28, 2005. Because love is love, a wedding is a wedding, and marriage continues to exist: a way of declaring a life-long commitment to your beloved. Except now, no one is excluded.