Decisions, decisions....

As soon as I came down from my floaty cloud of after-engagement bliss, I was very excited to get started on wedding planning.  I went out and bought some bridal magazines, started looking at bridal websites and researching online, and downloaded a wedding planning app for my iPad.  The iPad app is awesome because it allows you to organize your guest list, seating chart, budget, planning notes, and contact information for vendors all in one handy place.  But what caught my eye was the to-do checklist. 

 

I’m sorry, what?

 
135 things to do to throw a wedding?!?  That’s insanity.  So we decided to get cracking as soon as possible and learned it wasn’t as easy as we might have thought.  Okay, this looks easy.  Pick a photographer.  Well, you can’t find a photographer until you have a date.  You can’t confirm a date until you find a venue.  You can’t find a venue until you know approximately how many guests you’re going to have there.  You can’t know the number of guests you can invite until you’ve set a realistic budget.  And more importantly, you can’t shop for shoes until you’ve found a venue, chosen a theme and color palette that compliments that venue, chosen a bridal gown and evaluated whether you want colored shoes or white shoes to go with the gown, unless your bridal gown is ivory, in which case white shoes won’t work....and on and on.

 

 

Where do I staaaaaaart?!?!?!!

 

So after being at this since September, I am happy to report that we have made a couple of major decisions!  Hooray!

 

Our official wedding date is June 14, 2014.  I know this seems far into the future.  But the truth of the matter is, I love being engaged!  I’m sure that once the wedding gets closer I will be very anxious to skip down the aisle and become a Mrs., but you’re only a “fiancé” for a short time in life and I want to soak it up as much as possible.  Plus, this gives us a lot of time to plan the perfect wedding of our dreams.  Wedding planning can be stressful, but it’s also fun and I know time will probably fly by! 

 

 

“Yep.  I’m no longer a bride.  I’ll never be a bride again.  Now I’m just someone’s wife.”

 

 

“And I’m the happiest man in the WORLD!”

 

When it came to the ceremony, Eric and I knew we didn't want to get married in a church.  Neither of us are particularly religious, and we want the opportunity to customize our wedding ceremony to really reflect us a couple.  Not only have we asked longtime Dance Mom, Friend and Officiant Extraordinaire, Carrie Cassie, to marry us, we’ve also officially booked our ceremony space at the U of W Convocation Hall.  I absolutely love this venue for a ceremony, it’s so gorgeous!  I had never seen it before in person, but as I spend a lot of time on the internet looking at city weddings, I came across this space in the gallery and fell in love.  The lush red carpeting, high ceilings, large windows and light streaming in...Eric and I went yesterday to see it in person and we were both sold! 

 

 

Real weddings at the U of W Convocation Hall

 

As you can see it also has a balcony, which instantly made me want to recreate this scene from my favorite movie of all time, Love Actually....LOL!

 

And as I previously hinted at in this post, we officially booked the Millennium Centre as our reception venue on Monday night!  It was really an easy decision, as this space is beautiful and we were both very taken with it.  I also love how the high ceilings of the U of W Convocation Hall tie in with the high dome ceiling of the Millennium Centre.  Plus they have a really cool room off the main hall called the Tapestry Room which Eric loves, and has some fun plans for.  ;)  We are very excited to have an awesome party with all our favorite people in this place!

 

 

Love!

 

Phew!  So 3.5 months in, our to-do list looks like this:

 

Oh boy...

Stay tuned as we tackle the rest of the 132 tasks!  :)

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Wedding Traditions: Yay or Nay? (Part 1)

So when Eric and I started to get into some of the smaller details when it came to wedding planning, we found ourselves questioning certain aspects of traditional weddings and whether or not we wanted to include that in our day.  We are not terribly traditional, nor do we want a boring, cookie cutter wedding that our guests can’t wait to get out of and go somewhere more fun.  We also have a budget to stick to, so we need to decide what's really important to us and what we can feel comfortable letting go.  So today I thought I’d share with you some of the things we’ve been discussing and whether or not we’re going to incorporate it into our big day.

 

Engagement photos

Luckily, we were both on the same page with this one.  We don’t see any need at all to spend thousands of dollars on photos of us in our plain clothes.  Wedding photos?  Ultra important.  Engagement photos?  It was hard to come up with a reason why.  Because that’s what you do?  To send out Christmas cards?  For a Save The Date card maybe?  To get comfortable in front of the camera?  We both just thought it was kind of a waste of cash, and we’d rather put that money towards getting a really awesome photographer for the wedding.  Now, I’ve talked to some other brides that have said when you book the photographer for the wedding date, sometimes they will throw in an engagement session for free!  In that case, we probably will but otherwise, we’re saving that dough for when we’re all dolled up.  (And we came up with a really awesome idea for a Save The Date card that will only require one photo of us, and we can do it quick and easy!  Boom.)

Verdict:  Nope.

 

Cute, but we can really do that anytime.

 

Open Bar

Oooh, the everlasting wedding argument.  Do you let your guests go wild on your dime?  Or make them bring cash to your party if they want to indulge?  I can definitely see both sides of this argument.  If you have an open bar, a lot of times people will get hammered, leave half full drinks everywhere, and a lot gets wasted that the bride and groom still have to pay for.  On the other hand, a lot of wedding guests say a cash bar is a hassle and just reduce the presentation they offer the couple to pay for their drinks.  Regardless of the pros and cons of each, it is very important to us to have an open bar for our guests.  We enjoy our bevies, our friends like to drink (a lot, as evidenced by our engagement party) and we know a lot of our other guests enjoy a sip or two now and then...Dance Moms, I’m lookin’ at you.  We don’t want our guests worrying about paying for drinks, we just want them to have a great time.  This is why it was important that the venue we book allows us to bring in our own booze.  We want to have premium liquor and a signature drink (cosmopolitans...natch), and we also have a little something extra planned between the ceremony and reception... 

Verdict:  Drink and be married!

 

Wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care!

 

 

 

This could be you.

 

Groom’s Cake

Neither Eric nor my dad (affectionately dubbed FOB on this blog) had heard of a Groom’s Cake before.  Basically this is a way for the groom to be recognized and represented on the cake table.  The wedding cake itself is usually a tall, white, sparkly beast – all things bride.  Groom’s Cakes are fun because they allow for the groom’s interests to be displayed at the wedding.  When I first brought up the idea to Eric, he was sort of indifferent and asked a few questions, particularly what would be on it.  When I said that it usually is the groom’s favorite sports team or something like that, he said “You had me at Oakland Raiders.”  Now, a Groom’s Cake would normally be considered a splurge because as we all know, wedding cakes are usually pretty expensive.  But because MOB is also the Cake Boss Supreme, we’ll be able to get Eric a ridiculously awesome cake for just the price of a few hugs.  Right mom?  Right? 

Verdict:  RAIDER NATION!

 

Like this, but way better.  Have you seen my mom’s cakes?  Check them out.

 

Awkward Wedding Party Dance

Why?  Just why.  The only reason I can think of why people do this is because it’s a tradition.  That is not a good enough reason to slam your bridesmaids and groomsmen together for 4 minutes of pure awkwardness.  I liken this dance to kids at a junior high dance.  You can’t dance too closely, but it’s also weird if you’re too far away.  You can’t chatter in their ear the whole time, but it’s also weird if you don’t talk at all.  You can make some small talk, but you are also three inches from their face.  It’s creepy to look them in the eye the whole time, but you also don’t want to be looking around either so your partner feels like you’re counting down the seconds until Amazed by Lonestar is over even though really, they feel the same way.  Nobody needs to see our wedding party dance with each other.  We want everyone up on the dance floor right away!  Finish your dinner and let’s party!

Verdict:  Save it for the sock hop.

 

Pretty much looks EXACTLY like this.

 

Bouquet and Garter Toss

Yet another tradition that nobody seems to question and therefore it’s included at every wedding.  Let’s break this down.  When a single girl is at a wedding, she’s probably feeling a few pangs of jealousy as it is.  Not saying that every single girl is dying to get married, but I’m sure there are a few fleeting moments of wondering when her prince charming is going to come along.  Do you think it makes said single girl feel better when suddenly, the party is stopped.  The lights go on.  The DJ booms over the microphone “LET’S GET ALL THE SINGLE LADIES ON THE DANCE FLOOR!”  Then people around her start pointing it out to her.  “Go on, you’re siiiiinglllllle!  Get up therrrrrre!”  So she begrudgingly goes to the dance floor with all the other single girls, on display for everyone to see.  Yes everyone, I’m single!  Take a look!  Nope, no man over here!  Then the bride turns her back and shuns her poor, lonely single friends, and tosses her bridal bouquet over her shoulder.  Take my used scraps losers, I’m married now!  And since it’s well known that the bridal bouquet is the last chance any of these single girls have at romantic happiness, things can get a little vicious.  Clawing, pushing, shoving, scratching...until finally, one single girl emerges victorious and can dream of the day she gets to throw a bunch of flowers in her single friends’ faces. 

 

 

Let’s tear it to pieces in a humiliating display of self-loathing!

As for the garter toss, hilarious.  For as excited as the single girls get when they see the trajectory of the bouquet heading straight toward them, the guys could not care less.  Most of them are three sheets to the wind already and don’t even know what they are doing up there.  Not to mention the awkward moment where the bride has to sit on a chair and her groom has to root around under her dress to find the thing.  And if it takes any longer than 8 seconds, people lose interest.  Why stop the party for this?  Worst.

Verdict:  This tradition needs to die.  Now.

 

 

Could this be more awkward?

 

Fireworks

 

 

Come on, a girl can dream can’t she?

 

Verdict:  I think they are illegal downtown.  But if I could get away with it, I would.

 

Funny story:  When I asked for Eric’s input on this list, he came up with tons of good examples and the list ended up needing to be split into 2 parts.  Then he goes, “your shoes? ;)”  My groom thinks he’s pretty funny!  But seriously, those were never anywhere but the “Absolutely Necessary” category.

 

Happy Wedding Wednesday!!!

~M

A Grand Celebration!

This past weekend Eric and I celebrated our engagement with our family and close friends at our engagement party, hosted by our parents at my MOH’s beautiful home.  I am so happy to be engaged to my handsome fiancé and was very excited to celebrate our upcoming nuptials!

 

“I love you.  And I just wanted to shout it from the top of a mountain.  But I didn’t have a mountain.  I had an engagement party.”

 

I ordered the invitations from Wedding Paper Divas.  I love this website, especially all the customization features and the fact that the invitations are budget-friendly.  We were able to put anything we wanted on it, and even included a photo from our proposal on the back. 

Eric’s middle name is Andrew.  Not Jehoshephat.  Long story for another blog post...

 

Of course, my DIY streak was in full force and I wanted a keepsake for each guest to take away from the party without breaking the bank.  I picked up champagne glasses from Dollarama for $1 each (love Dollarama!) and rhinestones from Michael’s, and decorated each one.  Then I had my MOH, who is also Scrapbooking Queen Supreme, make a pretty tag for each glass with a message from us.  We used the glasses for the toast at the party, and guests got to take them home! 

 

Bling!

 

 

 

Our little thank you...

 

 

 

Ready for the toast!

 

I was overwhelmed at how much our family and friends came together and helped with the party.  MOB, who is also Cake Boss Supreme, made us a pretty engagement cake along with some ultra yummy red velvet cupcakes that were positively to die for.  They were all decorated so beautifully – I loved it all!

 

So pretty!

 

 

 

Eric and I got special cupcakes on the top tier...

 

 

 

The theme is “bling”.  Can you tell?

 

Eric’s parents made the most fabulous cheese spread I have ever seen with every type of cheese imaginable, and even made cute little signs to stick in the cheese.  Eric’s brother Adam brought a yummy fruit platter, Eric’s sister Marita made delicious punch, and we had hors d’oeuvres catered by Amici Catering.  It was all very tasty!

 

We also received a special set of engagement presents from our parents!  I have been eyeing the Swarovski Crystal Champagne Flutes for a while, for Eric and I to have as our toasting flutes at the wedding.  They have a crystal base as well as hundreds of tiny crystals in the stem.  They are positively divine and I couldn’t imagine us using anything else to toast to our new life together. 

 

SQUEE.

 

So I was shocked and delighted when we opened a box from my parents to reveal these gorgeous goblets, and then unwrapped a bottle of very fine champagne from France from Eric’s parents!  So thankful and so excited!!!

 

Look at that handsome man....

 

All in all we had a fantastic engagement party and fun was had well into the night.  I want to thank everyone who attended and made it so special for Eric and I, we are overwhelmed by your love and generosity.  <3

 

 

One happy couple!

 

Happy Wedding Wednesday!!!

 

~M

Say No to the Dress Shows

I went dress shopping again!  SQUEE!

 

 

You can almost hear the angels singing...

 

For my second dress appointment, I decided I wanted to try on dresses from the Vera Wang White line. I absolutely love the floaty, soft, romantic quality of Vera’s dresses, and I especially like that she has created this line for those of us who don’t want to spend $20k on a dress but still want something interesting and designer looking, and not made entirely of shiny white satin.  So me and MOB went to the dress shop that carries them to check it out. 

 

 

Sigh.  So gorgeous....

 

The Vera Wang White line is beautiful, and I had so much fun trying on these dresses.  The fabric is luxurious, I love the interesting way it drapes and falls, and the dresses are definitely budget-friendly.  At the end of the day I didn’t choose any of them, mostly because the line is quite outdated by now (brides who had their weddings in 2011 have worn these dresses) and I’m still not ready to commit.  Just like you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince, you have to have the same patience when choosing a gown to marry him in!  ;)

 

Here are the two biggest lessons I’ve learned from dress shopping so far.  The first: it’s a mistake to focus too much on gown photos.  Every website that offers tips on dress shopping will place “research dresses and find out what you like before coming to the store” high atop the list.  I understand this, if you have no idea what kind of style you like, the consultant has no idea what to pull off the racks or where to start.  But I have found it is also a bad idea to over-research.  I have spent hours upon glorious hours looking at wedding dresses online, dreaming....admiring....fantasizing....and after heading down to the store excitedly clutching my magazine clippings and ready to see the gowns in real life, I expect to waltz out of the dressing room looking like this:

 

 

 

And sometimes, here’s what I actually look like:

 

 

 

Damnit.

 

So a good trick I learned is to stop poring over the bridal sites where any dress can look gorgeous on any model, and start focusing on real brides.   This is why I love the Maggie Sottero website – she has the dresses on models but on the same page there is a section called “Real Maggie Brides” where you can click on pictures of real brides actually wearing the dress on their wedding day and see what it looks like on.  It can definitely change your perspective on a dress, good or bad!

Model bride vs real brides:

 

 

Looks different on everybody!

 

 

The second is, it’s a mistake to wait for the “Say Yes to the Dress” moment.  I have probably tried on about 20 dresses so far, and have not so much felt a spark of electricity in a dress when I have been expecting lightning bolts.  There are some that I have liked, even loved, and some that I have downright hated, but I’ve never put a dress on and squealed with delight while crying a river of tears like some brides do on that show.  Maybe it’s because I’m overly analytical or maybe it truly is because I haven’t put on the right gown yet, but I think it’s important to enjoy bridal reality shows for what they are and be a bit more realistic when shopping for your own dress.  I’m sure when the right one comes along I’ll know, but I know not to reject a dress just because I haven’t cried over it! 

 

This is my dreeeeeeeeeeesssssssss!

 

I am very excited for the Wonderful Wedding Show coming up in January to try on some more dresses. But I’ll probably schedule another appointment before the end of the year...it’s too much fun!  :)  The dress shopping saga continues...

 

Happy Wedding Wednesday!!!

 

~M