A Mixed Bag

I know, I KNOW.  I missed my blog again last week.  Thankfully I didn't get too much heat for it, I think everyone in my life knows that tax season is a gonger and some Wednesdays the blog takes a backseat to the sea of files in my office.  So if you see some sporadic posting between now and June, you'll know why!

 

"Yeah.....you're going to have to work this weekend."  I feel you Milton.

So I was very much looking forward to this week's blog, because over the weekend, I finished the ruby slippers I was strassing!  If you remember this post, I did them as a practice run for what will ultimately be my awesomely awesome bridal shoes.  And I am glad I did, because I learned a LOT that I will apply when I tackle this super DIY project.

...but you will have to wait to find out what that was.  I was so excited about the shoes that I took them to the dance studio on Tuesday to show them to my little Dorothy and let her try them on.  Of course she looked fabulous in them, I mean come on.  But then I let her dance in them - and unfortunately one side of one shoe lost a lot of rhinestones.  I started strassing using one specific type of glue, but it was thin and didn't stick well and halfway through I thought better of it and switched to E6000.  So the side that had the crap glue on it now looks pretty bare.  So I have to go back and fix that and unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of the shoes before they got all patchy.  So that post will have to wait!  The good news is, the other shoe didn't lose a single stone, so I know I've got the right glue product now! 

 

It's my turn next!  Yayyyyy!

So until I can fill you in on all the details of that particular DIY success, I thought I'd share a few updates with you and then gush about a couple of featured weddings that I am obsessed with these days.

I'm happy to announce that Eric and I have booked our photographer and videographer.  Two more things off the list of 135 things to do, done! 

Carrie takes such pretty and dreamy photos...

We have also decided that we are going to have our social centered around St. Patrick's Day next year!  So if you are reading this, consider yourself booked for March 15, 2014 for an evening of fun and frolicking amidst prizes wrapped in cellophane, plain chips on paper plates, plentiful booze, and cheese cubes.  And Eric and I will have tons of inspiration for our social, because........wait for it.......

 

SQUEE.

We are heading to the beautiful Emerald Isle this year!  Hooray!

I am so unbelievably excited for this trip to Ireland, because I have always wanted to go there.  It made the short list for our honeymoon, but after we picked South Africa it was put back on the "someday" shelf.  Well someday is now September 5, 2013!  Hopefully while we're there we'll get to see the ruins of McAuliffe Castle and have a pint of Guinness with some locals.  I'm especially pumped to visit the Cliffs of Moher and find me a horcrux.

Reeeeeeeteeteeteetee!

Anyway, back to the wedding blog. 

I just love glamorous, sparkly, elegant weddings.  I know I harp on it a lot, but I am so not the vintage lace/mason jar type of bride.  So when I see a wedding that gets away from that trend and goes big and beautiful, I gobble it up.  I wanted to share with you a couple of weddings that I found on Weddings In Winnipeg that I absolutely adore. (Click on the photos for a closer look!)

The first is one that I bookmarked a long time ago.  My absolute favorite part is the way that the stationery and design is incorporated into every aspect - their seating chart, menu cards, table cameras, favor cards, table numbers, everything!  And what a beautiful bride!  I envision myself with a goofy smile on my face all day so I really loved the photos of her looking so happy.

 

 

 

 

 

So pretty!  See the full post here.

 

 

The second is a wedding that was just posted today, and the photos caught my eye instantly.  Gorgeous dress, gorgeous bouquet, and gorgeous décor!  Love.

 

 

Beautiful right?  See the rest of the photos here.

And so ends today's hodgepodge of wedding blogmania!  See you next week, fingers crossed!


Happy Wedding Wednesday!!!


~M

Let's Just Skip To The Happily Ever After...

 

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.  Eric and I certainly did – we spent a lot of time with family, ate delicious food, drank a lot of wine, and indulged in some much needed rest and relaxation.  But now it’s 2013, and our wedding is officially 17.5 months away, so we are ready to concentrate on wedding planning this year!

(PS:  I got a lot of heat for taking a 2 week hiatus from the blog!  I will try not to let it happen again!)

One of the things that Eric was most excited to talk about and plan regarding the wedding was the honeymoon!  For those of you that don’t know Eric too well, he is very well-travelled and has been to many places around the globe, including some that most people wouldn’t even dream of.  He loves to visit new places and experience new cultures, and a big trip like a honeymoon is right up his alley!  So naturally, he got right on it.

It didn’t really matter to me too much where we decided to go, because travel means a lot to Eric so I want him to have a really cool experience, and we manage to have a blast no matter where we are.  But, I did have a couple requests so that we didn’t end up honeymooning in a Mongolian mud hut:

1.       No hostels, dirty places, scummy areas, or dangerous parts of the world.  I’m kind of a princess like that.  Eliminates: places like Iraq, Afghanistan, the bowels of South East Asia, Serbia, Israel and Palestine, etc.

 

 

“I don’t care if you are on your honeymoon, get in line!”

 

2.       There needs to be a good mix of fun activities and places to just chill and relax. I am not really looking to lie around on the beach for 10 days, but I also don’t want us to be hiking up mountains every day either.  I would like us to spend some parts of the trip enjoying each other and relaxing after all the wedding stress, and some parts doing some crazy fun once in a lifetime activities.  Eliminates:  resort-type places like Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas, Dominican, etc.

 

Definitely nice, but gets kind of boring after a while.

 

3.       There had to be some kind of romance factor.  It’s our honeymoon, and it should feel like it!  Eliminates: places like the aforementioned Mongolian mud hut.

Oh come on...a little candlelight, flowers, soft music, and this place is romance-central.

 

4.       It has to be somewhere Eric has never been.  I want us to experience everything together for the first time.  You’d think this would be easy but Eric has been all around the world!  Eliminates: the following countries - Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Ghana, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Rwanda, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Vietnam.

 

Hey Eric, how about a gorilla trek?  Oh.

 

Let’s go check out some traditional African celebrations!  Hmmm, never mind.

 

We could ride camels in the Sahara desert?  Oh right.

 

 

 

Ooh, look, the tallest building in the- damnit!

 

 

Those are all real photos of Eric's.  Wow right?!

 

So through some discussions we came up with a few contenders of where we both might like to go including the Mediterranean, Ireland, and the British Virgin Islands, but then decided on the best option....South Africa!

 

Helllloooooo Cape Town!

 

This is really the best option for us because it has everything we could possibly want in a vacation.  We are close to some nice sandy beaches to relax and sprawl out, but there are also a ton of really awesome things to see and do in that part of the world.  Some of the highlights that we are looking forward to:

 

Wine Country – As lovers of wine (or as we are more appropriately named, winos) we will be pretty close to heaven in the South African wine region.  We have had a great time touring the Niagara region and most recently the Okanagan (where we got engaged!) so visiting the wineries, tasting great wine, and bringing home many souvenir bottles will definitely be in order.

 

Don’t mind if I do....

 

Safari – No way are we visiting Africa and not going on safari.  We will head up to Kruger National Park, where I will probably pee myself with glee when I see my first big cat.  Lions and elephants and giraffes, oh my!

 

OMGOMGOMGOMG

 

Shark Cage Diving – Boom.  Up close and personal with the Great White.  I’ll probably pee myself again, not out of glee but out of sheer terror. 

 

View from the cage.  Pretty awesome!

 

So while we have lots to look forward to with planning the wedding, our social, our bachelor and bachelorette parties, and then experiencing the big day, we are pretty excited about jet setting off on our honeymoon too!

 

Happy Wedding Wednesday!!!

 

~M