Wedding Wednesday - also known as I make pregnant ladies cry....

Welcome to Wedding Wednesday...or making pregnant ladies cry, as I like to call it. But we'll get to that in a minute....

So as you may or may not be aware, my Grandfather is a retired Baptist Minister (as well as a retired teacher, driving instructor, an author...the list goes on...).  Grandpa has graciously agreed to perform our wedding ceremony.  I'm really excited for him to be the one to marry us, it's a really sweet gesture and my heart of ice MIGHT melt enough that I tear up.  Might.  Anyhow, Grandpa recently sent us the lovely ceremony and we okay'd it and sent it back. He's working on memorizing it for us.  But today I got an e-mail from a family friend that made me want to change our vows.  It's too late so I figure I'll incorporate it into our program somehow but it's so true and meaningful that I wanted to share it with you.

And with some friends....one of whom just happens to be pregnant and apparently it started some tears.  My marriage vows are just that cool.  hehe!  Sorry C!



Enjoy:

Knowing that we are both selfish, weak and willful, I give you my love without conditions.

I will not forget that laughter heals, that resentment corrodes, and selfishness divides, that a child’s happiness relies on our happiness together, that love gives, forgives, and gives again.

I will not be your master nor your servant, but your lover, companion, and friend, your partner in parenthood, your ally in conflict, your comrade in adventure, your consolation in adversity, your confederate in revelry, your accomplice in mischief, and your associate in the search for enlightenment.

I will be your husband/your wife, and your mate and I will spare no effort to be a mate worthy of the love you have given me.

Windowshop Wednesday

Today I'm linking up with my wonderful friend over at The Katie Chronicles to participate in her FIRST Windowshop Wednesday.  We'll do Wedding Wednesday again soon, I promise!  But I thought this would be wicked fun so let's play along!  This week's store is Crate and Barell...so here's my wishlist:

I absolutely LOVE this Hamptons Dinnerware dish set

We disparately need a new bed and frame...so look at this gorgeous Bento Kona Bed.
All it needs is a wicked memory foam mattress  

And to go with the bed and mattress, I'll take this Vendome Nightstand.
It's a great match to my antique dresser, which you'll learn about in an upcoming post.

We actually have the space for this in the yard right now...the stones are there and EVERYTHING.
We just need a Black Square Firepit.

For my deck! Tons of them...let's put Mesh Lantern and Candleholders EVERYWHERE!

And last but not least I NEED one of these.  Love love love the Dakota 8-Bottle Wine Rack
 (and it would be an excuse to have more wine on hand!!).

That's all for now, folks!

Wedding Wednesday

So, I know I'm over-due for a Wedding Wednesday so let's get right to it.

I promise a full recap of wedding action in the coming weeks but for now lets stick with the topic of invitations.  As you may remember from this post, I was working on my invitations.  I was determined to make them by hand so that I could get what I wanted.  And I did.  And it worked.  And they're AMAZING. And not so expensive!!  Each breaks down to a mere $0.66 each! wo0t!  Oh, and here they are:

Beautiful, right?!

There's just one problem with my wonderful invitations; Canada Post has locked out its' workers!!  OH NOES!  But be proud, I didn't panic.  We've hand delivered the majority of the invitations.  I sent anything that was international while I was on holidays (crossed the boarder from NB to Maine and mailed 'em!) and we've e-mailed everyone else to let them know they're on their way as soon as the mail starts up.

So that's my story and that's my invite.  Now help me induce calm.

Batten down the hatches - storm's a comin'!!

It's on it's way.  The snow is almost here.  I've heard stories from the Mid-West, Ontario and the Eastern seaboard that this thing is going to be big.  Last night we got 10 cm of snow, today we're due for 25-45 cm.  With freezing rain tonight.  This should be a good one!!  With that in mind, Wedding Wednesday will not be seen this week, as I'm prepping for Snowmageddon!  Wish me luck!

Wedding Wednesday - Invites

So we've only got 7 months til the wedding.  It seems like just yesterday we got engaged.  Where did all that time go?! I have a dress, I have a veil.  We have a guest list,wedding party, venue, caterer, photog....what else do we need....Oh yes, those ominous invitations!  Well, being the crazy that I am, I've decided to make my own invitations.  I want them to be fun, fit with the colours, simple and really just something nice that I can send to people.  Oh...and I'd like to not spend an arm and a leg or 4 months of my life making them.  Simple requests, right?  Well, maybe not.  I've spent MONTHS looking for invitations.  It's hard business. I couldn't find anything I liked.  It was too simple or it didn't fit or it wasn't what I wanted.  Here's some of the things I came across that were close but just not it...

It's alright..but not at all what I wanted.  First thing I found when I googled "red and yellow wedding invites".

This is super cute but it was out of price range.  And it's not quite right...

I liked this...in red and yellow.  But not quite it.

And then I found...

http://www.theuncommonbride.com/diy_thediyphoebe.htm

THIS!! I love it.  No it's not red and yellow but it's easy enough for me to switch out the black for some nice yellow patterned paper.  It's a DIY kit from the Uncommon Bride, which I believe is out of Montreal, and I'm in love.  I'm going to use this as my inspiration, tweak it a bit and let 'er rip!!  I'm quite excited.

I'll post pics once I've gotten a sample done.  Thoughts? Suggestions?

Wedding Wednesday - Shit just got REAL!

I ordered my dress less than 2 months ago.  I was told it would arrive in 4-6 months.  That would put me at Feb - April for the dress.  Perfect.  It would only sit in a closet for a little while and then it would be altered and ready to go.  Wellllll I got a call last night that my dress is in.  It's done.  Less than 2 months.  And my first thought was "HOLY CRAP! SHIT JUST GOT REAL!".  I'm not even kidding.  It all became real when they told me I had a dress.  Now I won't be in to get it until January, there's no time with family and Christmas and my birthday and the like.  But January 10, 2011 I will be going in to try on and pick up my dress.  For those who don't remember what it looks like...

It will be ivory when I get the actual dress...but they only had white in store.  Anywhore, this is my dress.  It's here.  And shit just got very real.

Holy crap, I'm getting married!!!!!

Wedding Wednesday ...

Wedding Wednesday- Ladies' Attire Edition

It's that time of the week again, Wedding Wednesday!!!

This past weekend the ladies and I went dress shopping (for them).  We were all anxious to get some wedding fun going and they all wanted to get the dresses sorted out so myself, Kim (my BFF and MOH), Kelsey (my sister and BM) and Maris (my BFF and BM) headed out to look.  Kaylee (my rockin' friend and BM) couldn't make it this trip.  But she's got something in mind, and I'm happy as long as she's happy!

So the only parameters for the dresses were that they be knee length and in cherry red from Alfred Angelo.  The ladies were supremely happy that I wasn't being fussy and all got to pick dresses they loved!

So without further ado here are the dresses:

This is the beautiful Maris modeling the color we will be using.

Kim aka MOH in her dress.  Doesn't it flatter her?! LOVE it.

Kelsey in her lil number.  I had to hold the back closed b/c
her boobies are too big! (ZOMG did I say that?!)

Maris in this REALLY cute one-strap.
Coincidently it's in the color we'll be wearing for her wedding! haha

So that's Wedding Wednesday for this week. What do you think of our dress selections?

Wedding Wednesday - Advice for brides to be...

Usually on Wedding Wednesday we concentrate on all things shiny, pretty and wedding-y.  Well this week I thought I'd take a different route.  I have a few friends that are getting married in the (nearish) future and for some reason I've become the group "expert" (I"m using this term VERY loosely) on weddings and wedding advice.  I'm not really sure how this happened.  Maybe it was my time on The Knot...or just my general "I need to know everything about this subject before I dive in" attitude but I've been getting some questions lately so I thought it might be neat to address some of them here.  So here we go:

Q) When should I order my wedding dress?
A) You should try and give yourself enough time that your dress can be ordered, made, shipped and altered without panicking the week before the wedding.  A good rule of thumb is order 6-9 months out.  Some designers take up to 6 months to create a dress and ship it, while others can rush it in a few months.  Either way, unless you're buying a sample right off the rack I would give yourself lots of time.  Better to have it sit in your closet for a month or two, then to be calling the store the month before the wedding.

Q) When should I ask my wedding party?
A) I'm a big believer in waiting.  You need to at least have a firm date and a venue before asking your party.  This means your contract is signed and it's a done deal.  We asked about 10 months out.  Normally I would say, again, 6-9 months out.  You don't want to ask too early because, let's face it, relationships can change.  But you also don't want to leave it to the last minute and have people scrambling for money.

Q) What do I need to do first?  What needs to be booked and when?
A) Big question.  Number one thing you need to do is the budget.  You need to know how much you are working with and then go from there.  After that you need a guest list and then move on to the date/venue/caterer/etc.  The Knot has a great checklist.  Or check out my to-do list on mine and Mr. Dan's  planning site.

Q) How many people should I invite? How do I know how big to make my guest list? Who goes on it?
A) That's a really personal question.  How many people do you want there? How many people can your venue hold?  Never invite more people than your venue can hold.  If you invite more and they all show up...well basically you're screwed!  I would suggest making a guest list with everyone you want to be there.  Make sure you ask mom and dad/future in-laws for names as well.  Then, if it's too large, go through and start removing people that you aren't that close to, or people that you haven't seen in X years, co-workers, etc.  Also, please don't make an A and a B list.  That is so rude.  It's like saying to the B list "You weren't important enough to come but now that one of my A's can't come...would you like to?".  RUDE.  And it would piss me off.  I'd rather not get an invite, personally.

Those are my basic wedding questions for today.  Please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail if you have any other questions!

Wedding Wednesday - Pretending I'm a wedding planner!

A good friend of mine recently got engaged.  She is a fantabulous , hilarious, wonderful person and she's getting married about a month after me.  We've been chatting weddings lately and she recently found her venue and  decided on her colors.  I'm pretty excited for this because #1) She's a good friend and I lurves her and #2) I lurves planning thing.  So when we chatted about colors I was more than happy to jump in.  So today I present you with Katie's wedding colors and inspiration; a collection of palates that I have collected for her to use as a guide and to add to.  It's obviously not the be all end all, but I'd like to think I helped her on her way.

Now, Kat's colors are eggplant (aka purple), navy and silver.  First thing I thought of was elegant, classy, a little flirty and plums (I love plums and they're a good purple color so it popped in there too!!).  Once I had some ideas and I chatted with her about it...where it was, when it was, etc etc I went back into my wedding binder (DUN DUN DUNNNNNN) and took a look at some stuff I had found while digging around for myself.  Then I ran to google, and some wedding websites, and grabbed a few more  Here's what I've come up with...

Classy and a little fun.

I thought this one was nice.  It's classy but it's still fun and young.  Kat is a really fun person and although I picture something formal(ish) I think it needs to have fun.

A little classier, more formal but the right colors.

I thought I'd throw this in because it has some different elements (the cake, favours...) and it gives her some more ideas as to where she can go.  It also gives a different feeling than the last one.  This one, to me, is more formal where the first is playful.

Look at the stunning purples!

I LOVE this one.  It's got a  touch of elegance but very fun...look at the BOLD purples and the neat centerpieces! It also shows longer bridesmaids dresses (first dresses we've seen!), which might work better for her considering late October in Nova Scotia is gettin' chilly!

Had to get some more navy in there!

And finally here's the last one I sent her.  This one incorporates more navy into the mix, not quite as much purple, but I thought it was really nice.  It shows how they can be mixed and matched and it's got a nice fun feel to it.

So those are just a few of the boards I came up with for Kat.  I hope they give her some ideas and help her find some inspiration.  I think no matter what she does it will be a BEAUTIFUL wedding.  I'm just so excited that she is going to marry the man of her dreams.  *dreamy sigh*

Wedding Wednesday...

No Wedding Wednesday this week, kids.  I'm sick as a dawg.  I'm hoping to post more on Thursday or Friday.  I know I still owe applesauce.  I'll be back soon.

Promise.

Wedding Wednesday - Turkey Day Edition

I'm a wedding planning machine.  That's right.  A MACHINE.  I got so much done this weekend, it's not even funny.


We went and visited with my grandpa this weekend.  The Reverend McC has generously agreed to marry us.  Yay for officials!

We also went and visited with Mr. Dan's family for the Canadian Turkey Day weekend.  His mother and I sat down on Saturday night and she offered to grow ALL of our flowers.  She is a gardener (has worked at a green house for YEARS) and has huge beds to work with.  You may squee now.


We're going with a variety of small(ish) sunflowers, red/white/yellow zinnias (in a variety of styles), red/white/yellow asters and red/white/yellow chrysanthemums.  That way, we can work with whatever blooms and go from there.  She's sooo sweet!!  We worked it out together with Mr. Dan's iPhone and her gardening catalogues as references!!  The girls will each have 2-4 sunflower bouquets, just something simple that will really pop with their cherry red dresses and I'll do the sunflowers with red/white accents.  Like so:

Less orange,more red!

I like the way the purple sets it off...but I think we'll use white/red.

Also we went to Sarah aka Mr. Dan's sister aka grower of my niece/nephew.  (Let me just say, I love this woman.  She's FANTASTIC!!)  And we chatted with the whole clan.  We updated everyone, Nanny  and cousin Jennifer were particularly interested in wedding planning.  We also asked his cousin's son to be our ring bearer.  He said that "Mom says only big boys can be ring bears."  So I asked if he was one and he goes "Yeah! Of course I am!!'  So I think he's in.


All in all it was a productive Turkey weekend.  What about you?

Wedding Wednesday...yes I know it's Thursday.

So I know I'm late on the Wedding Wednesday, but I've been sick for a few days so bed has been my constant friend.  Anyways, today let's chat about my maid of honor and bridesmaids...oh and their dresses!!  I have 1 maid of honor and 3 bridesmaids. 

My maid of honor is Kim.  We've been best friends since we were about 5. She rocks. 

Kelsey is my little sister.  She's been a constant inspiration and great friend since she came into my life as that teeny tiny little baby.  I lurves her.

My other BFF, Maris, is another bridesmaid.  We've been super close since 12th grade.  She's basically my twin.



And last,  but defiantly not least, my really good friend Kaylee.  Kaylee and I met in university and I road trip to visit her and her family at least once every few weeks.  She's amazaballs!



We haven't been dress shopping yet but we've chosen Alfred Angelo dresses.  In a knee length in cherry.  The rest is up to them.  Kaylee will be ordering online, since there are no stores near her, but the rest of the ladies and I will go shopping the first week in November.  Here are some suggestions that the ladies have made.  I'm really open to whatever they'd like. 

Kim likes this...but in cherry red.

Kaylee thinks this is really cute.  I totally agree.

Kelsey isn't really keen on low-cut so I thought this might
be a good option for her.

So what do you think?  Any suggestions?

Wedding Wednesday!

It's that time again - Wedding Wednesday!!  Today I'll be talking about cake.  Delicious, wonderful, chocolately-vanillay- strawberry (or whatever flavour you're into) cake!!  Now, this is not something that just popped into my head last night on a whim...it's been inspired by a friend's cake.  In fact, it's been inspired by my friend's groom's cake!   Basically, they had the COOLEST groom's cake ever - and they've been featured on The Knot so they're basically famous (or at least the cake is!).  So without further ado the groom's cake:



Photo courtsey of TheKnot.



 

Isn't that en EPIC cake?! Lindsay's husband, Brad, slew the fierce cake with a sword! 

 

So now for my part of this Wedding Wednesday - my cake.   Because it's all about me!

 

I picture a fairly simple cake for our wedding.  Dan says I can do what I want but I know, from pictures I've shown him, that he prefers something simple as well.  Probably 3 tiers, something delicious like chocolate and probably white with some fresh flowers or ribbon.  We want it to reflect the easy, fun feel that we're going for with the rest of the wedding.



This one is nice but I think it has a few too many flowers.
Maybe plainer icing too...



This is stunning!  I love the delicate little flowers.



This is fun and simple and the one that I'm
really leaning towards.

 

 So needless to say I've got some scouting to do over the next few months.  I'll keep y'all updated.

 

What do you think about the cake choices? Any other suggestions?