If you want to jump ahead to the photos of our new house, go here.
Months before the wedding, we'd discussed selling our current house and finding something larger in anticipation that we'll have kids someday and the 2 bedrooms we currently have just aren't going to cut it. We'd thought about moving out to Oakbank but the commute is too long. Then we thought about going to East St Paul, but the houses are too expensive. Then it was St Andrews, but it tends to flood in the spring. We're starting to sound like Goldilocks eh? Too soft, too hard, just right.... We eventually agreed on the Kildonans and Transcona so we looked online at the MLS listings and Comfree for places within our price range that met our criteria (3+ bedrooms, 1.5+ bathrooms, double garage, quiet street) and went to some open houses. I won't go into too much detail, but some of the houses had some "unique" odors associated with them. Mildew, curry, and dog pee in some of them. We fell in love with a house on Alberhill and met with the seller's agent and had him draw up an offer to purchase, but unfortunately, lost the bid by $13,000.
Undeterred, we went back online and I found one on Kijiji.com that had had an open house the weekend before. We called them and arranged a meeting with the sellers to tour the house. It was 7:00 at night and on a street only blocks from his parents house (and where an ex-gf from high school lived). The online photos were truly terrible and we were both completely unmotivated to go see it and had convinced ourselves that it'd be another awful place. But, after touring through it for a half hour, we were absolutely in love! It doesn't photograph very well so please don't judge it from the slide show. It's a 4 bedroom (3 upstairs, 1 basement), large kitchen with newer KitchenCraft cupboards, new laminate flooring, A DINING ROOM, a fireplace, 1 full and 2 half bathrooms, and a walk-in closet in the master bedroom. House is 15 years old and a former Kensington show-home and the current owners are our age and we got along with them really well. While we were touring through, another couple came over to look at it, which was particularly awkward because we were filling out the offer to purchase and the deposit cheque! We discussed the details with the sellers and they called the other couple to find out how interested they were. They weren't seriously intersted so we got the house for $7k over asking price.
We finished the offer to purchase with the caveat that our lawyers would have to approve the offer, which is where things went off the rails. Our lawyer and their lawyer had communications problems but after 3 days of relentless phone calls and meetings, everything was approved and the house is ours!
We take possession on Feb 26th and aside from wanting to repaint the master bedroom and the second bedroom (the one with the exercise equipment), there's nothing much for us to do except sell this place. We're going to try doing it ourselves since it worked so well already. We're listing for $150,000 with possession after March 1st, so if you know anyone that's interested in a 2-bedroom, 1 bathroom, 750sq. ft. house in the West End near Polo Park with 2 parking spots, new eaves, new windows, new shingles, new insulation, new a/c, new monitored alarm, includes fridge and dishwasher, shed, patio, landscaped with perennial gardens and AMAZING neighbours on either side, give us a call!!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Honeymoon!
If you want to skip all the reading, just go see the photos here.
We went to Puerto Plata in the Dominican for our honeymoon. We stayed at the 4* Gran Ventana resort and we can't stop talking about how amazing the resort was. On the flight over, we got to talking to other passengers who were going for their second, third or tenth time. One woman we met goes to this resort four times a year for 2 weeks to 2 month stints! I want her retirement plan!! We got the VIP treatment right from the start, with personal check-in service from the manager of the hotel, to an upgraded room with ocean front view, a bottle of rum and a fruit basket waiting for us. The room was great but the tv turned itself on and off at random times and the a/c broke twice in the first week so we got moved to a different room where the a/c worked but the tv had terrible reception. Oh well, can't win them all.
It took us about 4 days to unwind completely and get into the "groove" of the whole honeymoon. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all buffets and the food was spectacular. We never ran out of options. The coffee was the BEST I've ever tasted, but probably it's because the beans are freshly picked and roasted from the local plantations. All our food and all our drinks were included and after a few days, all the staff knew who we were and always greeted us with a loud "OLA!!" and a big smile. We spent most days lounging by the pool, reading books, playing volleyball, swimming up to the bar for drinks from the best mixed drinks from Sanchez, and just generally, RELAXING. It was awesome.
We took three excursions from the resort. The first was the Outback Safari that showed us around the real Dominican. Parts of it were really sad, from seeing the "house" (more like a shack) without running water or electricity and using straw to cook dinner, to the schools, churches and hospitals that the Outback Safari company pays for, learning about how people make about $2/day but with a few cows and pigs that they can work their way out of dire poverty, the skinny kids running after the tour bus, to driving in the city and seeing the difference between rural and city living. We got to see a working plantation organized by and run by local women that grows sugar cane, tangerines, grapefruits, papayas, coffee, cocoa, pineapples and coconuts to sell at market to put their kids through school. We went on a brief river boat tour and a bumpy ride through the country to learn about the different species of plants and how their used by locals, and see the huge tracts of land bought by foreigners for their own personal resorts. Finally, we went boogie boarding in the surf at Carabrete beach, which was AWESOME!!
The second excursion was into Puerto Plata city. This was a disappointing tour since the tour guide wasn't the least bit interesting and it was more like a shopping tour than a city tour. We saw (and bought) rum from the Brugal factory, amber and larmar jewellery & hand rolled cigars (we got totally ripped off on these because neither of us like haggling). We also saw the Amber Museum (completely boring), the city centre (where we were swarmed with people trying to sell us stuff), and then went to the top of Mount Isabella by cable car. That was scary but cool. At the top was a statue of Jesus the Redeemer, but a smaller version of the one in Rio.
The third trip was to Ocean World and it was amazing, but ruined by the annoying and obnoxious guys from VIP World that kept harrassing us to go see the marina and buy into their time share. I've never in my life wanted to punch someone so hard as the forty-millionth time that Giovanny stood in front of me and kept saying "My Canadian friends...come come with me". Ugh. Aside from my violent tendencies towards the VIP World staff, the rest of Ocean World was really wonderful. We feed the love birds (they particularly liked Brendon's hat), swam in a pool next to tigers and watched the tigers have lunch, snorkelled in an artifical coral reed and Brendon got to touch a fish that was, no kidding, 2' wide! We watched the sea lion, parrot, shark and dolphin shows, watched a dolphin encounter (at $150 per person, we opted to watch rather than participate), and generally just enjoyed ourselves at the park. It was rather empty so there was lots of room to get up close to the animals and talk to the trainers.
We went to Puerto Plata in the Dominican for our honeymoon. We stayed at the 4* Gran Ventana resort and we can't stop talking about how amazing the resort was. On the flight over, we got to talking to other passengers who were going for their second, third or tenth time. One woman we met goes to this resort four times a year for 2 weeks to 2 month stints! I want her retirement plan!! We got the VIP treatment right from the start, with personal check-in service from the manager of the hotel, to an upgraded room with ocean front view, a bottle of rum and a fruit basket waiting for us. The room was great but the tv turned itself on and off at random times and the a/c broke twice in the first week so we got moved to a different room where the a/c worked but the tv had terrible reception. Oh well, can't win them all.
It took us about 4 days to unwind completely and get into the "groove" of the whole honeymoon. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all buffets and the food was spectacular. We never ran out of options. The coffee was the BEST I've ever tasted, but probably it's because the beans are freshly picked and roasted from the local plantations. All our food and all our drinks were included and after a few days, all the staff knew who we were and always greeted us with a loud "OLA!!" and a big smile. We spent most days lounging by the pool, reading books, playing volleyball, swimming up to the bar for drinks from the best mixed drinks from Sanchez, and just generally, RELAXING. It was awesome.
We took three excursions from the resort. The first was the Outback Safari that showed us around the real Dominican. Parts of it were really sad, from seeing the "house" (more like a shack) without running water or electricity and using straw to cook dinner, to the schools, churches and hospitals that the Outback Safari company pays for, learning about how people make about $2/day but with a few cows and pigs that they can work their way out of dire poverty, the skinny kids running after the tour bus, to driving in the city and seeing the difference between rural and city living. We got to see a working plantation organized by and run by local women that grows sugar cane, tangerines, grapefruits, papayas, coffee, cocoa, pineapples and coconuts to sell at market to put their kids through school. We went on a brief river boat tour and a bumpy ride through the country to learn about the different species of plants and how their used by locals, and see the huge tracts of land bought by foreigners for their own personal resorts. Finally, we went boogie boarding in the surf at Carabrete beach, which was AWESOME!!
The second excursion was into Puerto Plata city. This was a disappointing tour since the tour guide wasn't the least bit interesting and it was more like a shopping tour than a city tour. We saw (and bought) rum from the Brugal factory, amber and larmar jewellery & hand rolled cigars (we got totally ripped off on these because neither of us like haggling). We also saw the Amber Museum (completely boring), the city centre (where we were swarmed with people trying to sell us stuff), and then went to the top of Mount Isabella by cable car. That was scary but cool. At the top was a statue of Jesus the Redeemer, but a smaller version of the one in Rio.
The third trip was to Ocean World and it was amazing, but ruined by the annoying and obnoxious guys from VIP World that kept harrassing us to go see the marina and buy into their time share. I've never in my life wanted to punch someone so hard as the forty-millionth time that Giovanny stood in front of me and kept saying "My Canadian friends...come come with me". Ugh. Aside from my violent tendencies towards the VIP World staff, the rest of Ocean World was really wonderful. We feed the love birds (they particularly liked Brendon's hat), swam in a pool next to tigers and watched the tigers have lunch, snorkelled in an artifical coral reed and Brendon got to touch a fish that was, no kidding, 2' wide! We watched the sea lion, parrot, shark and dolphin shows, watched a dolphin encounter (at $150 per person, we opted to watch rather than participate), and generally just enjoyed ourselves at the park. It was rather empty so there was lots of room to get up close to the animals and talk to the trainers.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thank you thank you thank you!!
I can't say it enough, but "thank you" to everyone who came, everyone who helped, everyone who wished us well, to everyone... just one huge THANK YOU!!!
We had the rehearsal Friday evening and it went much faster than we'd anticipated so once we'd done a "dry run" of the ceremony and decorated the church, we headed over to Boston Pizza. Two problems. 1) There were 21 of us and we'd made reservations for 16 and 2) we were there an hour early and during the dinner rush. So we stood outside and waited, but it was worth the wait. The staff was great and the food was really good. We gave all the groomsmen (including Francis and Ash) Buck knives as their thank you gifts while the girls got a shopping basket with local, organic and fair trade chocolates, pastas, coffees, teas etc.
Neither of us really slept the night before, despite taking a sleeping pill. We were both up and nibbled at breakfast by 6am. Kathy picked me and the rest of the girls up before 9am and we headed to Puressence Salon for hair and makeup. The guys came over to our house to get ready. Chelsey, our photographer extraordinaire, met the girls at Liane's house and we did some candid shots in Liane's basement and back yard. Keith came and got us and took us to Assiniboine Park for photos of the wedding party together in the conservatory. (We're not superstitious or honestly believe that our marriage is doomed if Brendon sees me in my dress before the ceremony!!) We did photos for about two hours, took a break for cokes and granola bars, before heading back to the church. The next hour was a bit of a blur as I waited downstairs with my parents and my beautiful bridesmaids while Brendon and his guys were in the rectory, joking around with Father Mark. All of a sudden "it's time" and we heading upstairs to start the walk down the long long long aisle. It's a lot longer when people are staring at you, instead of when you're there on any other Sunday!! The ceremony was quick, or it seemed quick to me. Ash did first reading (Ecclesiastes 4:912), my parents did the psalms (34) and Francis did second reading (John 3:18-24). Father gave a wonderful sermon before it was time to exchange our vows. We were both tearing up at this point but we hadn't started crying (yet!). When it came time to sign the license, my hands were shaking so much that I misspelled my name. Yeah, I signed it "Elean" so I had to ink in the missing "i". Whoops!!
After the ceremony, we did more photos of the family at the church and headed over to the Irish Club for the reception. Just like last night, we were early so the dj hadn't arrived yet and there wasn't any music. We hid inside the coat closet while we waited for the dj to arrive, then the mike broke, then he blew a fuse so we waited a little longer for him to fix that. We did our 'grand entrance' and started the evening. Ash was our MC and he did a fantastic job, from his hilarious opening speech, to getting people up and playing charades to cracking jokes the whole way through. I'm still hurt that he thinks I'm a pizza hut driver.... (PhD... LOL). Francis gave the roast to the groom while Kathy gave me her roast. Both speeches were absolutely hysterical and everyone was laughing! We did our first dance (Faber Drive's When I'm With You), and were then joined on the dance floor by the wedding party. The dance floor was full the rest of the night and we closed the place down with people still on the dance floor! Leave it to my girl friends to make the night truly special!!
The Irish Club came through in spades for us. We had our concerns about them hosting the reception, but we couldn't have asked for a better spot! The food was absolutely indescribably delicious. Perogies, baked chicken and cabbage rolls; it's a Manitoba dinner at its best. Everyone was having a great time, mingling, drinking, eating, dancing.
My only regret is that I wish I'd spent more time going from table to table seeing family and friends but there was so much to see and do that night. If I missed talking to you, I'm very sorry and I'm very thankful that you made it to our party. Thank you for making it a wonderful night!
I could write on and on thanking everyone in turn for everything they've done to make our wedding day the most amazing, special and fun time we've ever had and making the day so memorable. Thank you!
We had the rehearsal Friday evening and it went much faster than we'd anticipated so once we'd done a "dry run" of the ceremony and decorated the church, we headed over to Boston Pizza. Two problems. 1) There were 21 of us and we'd made reservations for 16 and 2) we were there an hour early and during the dinner rush. So we stood outside and waited, but it was worth the wait. The staff was great and the food was really good. We gave all the groomsmen (including Francis and Ash) Buck knives as their thank you gifts while the girls got a shopping basket with local, organic and fair trade chocolates, pastas, coffees, teas etc.
Neither of us really slept the night before, despite taking a sleeping pill. We were both up and nibbled at breakfast by 6am. Kathy picked me and the rest of the girls up before 9am and we headed to Puressence Salon for hair and makeup. The guys came over to our house to get ready. Chelsey, our photographer extraordinaire, met the girls at Liane's house and we did some candid shots in Liane's basement and back yard. Keith came and got us and took us to Assiniboine Park for photos of the wedding party together in the conservatory. (We're not superstitious or honestly believe that our marriage is doomed if Brendon sees me in my dress before the ceremony!!) We did photos for about two hours, took a break for cokes and granola bars, before heading back to the church. The next hour was a bit of a blur as I waited downstairs with my parents and my beautiful bridesmaids while Brendon and his guys were in the rectory, joking around with Father Mark. All of a sudden "it's time" and we heading upstairs to start the walk down the long long long aisle. It's a lot longer when people are staring at you, instead of when you're there on any other Sunday!! The ceremony was quick, or it seemed quick to me. Ash did first reading (Ecclesiastes 4:912), my parents did the psalms (34) and Francis did second reading (John 3:18-24). Father gave a wonderful sermon before it was time to exchange our vows. We were both tearing up at this point but we hadn't started crying (yet!). When it came time to sign the license, my hands were shaking so much that I misspelled my name. Yeah, I signed it "Elean" so I had to ink in the missing "i". Whoops!!
After the ceremony, we did more photos of the family at the church and headed over to the Irish Club for the reception. Just like last night, we were early so the dj hadn't arrived yet and there wasn't any music. We hid inside the coat closet while we waited for the dj to arrive, then the mike broke, then he blew a fuse so we waited a little longer for him to fix that. We did our 'grand entrance' and started the evening. Ash was our MC and he did a fantastic job, from his hilarious opening speech, to getting people up and playing charades to cracking jokes the whole way through. I'm still hurt that he thinks I'm a pizza hut driver.... (PhD... LOL). Francis gave the roast to the groom while Kathy gave me her roast. Both speeches were absolutely hysterical and everyone was laughing! We did our first dance (Faber Drive's When I'm With You), and were then joined on the dance floor by the wedding party. The dance floor was full the rest of the night and we closed the place down with people still on the dance floor! Leave it to my girl friends to make the night truly special!!
The Irish Club came through in spades for us. We had our concerns about them hosting the reception, but we couldn't have asked for a better spot! The food was absolutely indescribably delicious. Perogies, baked chicken and cabbage rolls; it's a Manitoba dinner at its best. Everyone was having a great time, mingling, drinking, eating, dancing.
My only regret is that I wish I'd spent more time going from table to table seeing family and friends but there was so much to see and do that night. If I missed talking to you, I'm very sorry and I'm very thankful that you made it to our party. Thank you for making it a wonderful night!
I could write on and on thanking everyone in turn for everything they've done to make our wedding day the most amazing, special and fun time we've ever had and making the day so memorable. Thank you!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
7....
days left. What happened to the time? Seriously! It doesn't seem like it's been more than a year since we got engaged!
I picked up my dress on Thursday. It fits perfectly and it's safely in storage right now at a friend's house because if it were here, I'd be wearing it every day!
Brendon's tux should arrive this week. Can wait to see him! I think he's going to look like this...
Only with an dark rust coloured tie and vest. :-)
I'm going for my hair and makeup consultation in a few hours, then to the airport to pick up my sister and her family. They'll spend nearly 20 hours traveling to get here and it looks like the snow has held off long enough for them to enjoy a Canadian autumn. Just hoping in the next week, the snow continues to hold off and we can have some outdoor photos too!
174.25 hours left until we walk down the aisle. Exciting!!!
I picked up my dress on Thursday. It fits perfectly and it's safely in storage right now at a friend's house because if it were here, I'd be wearing it every day!
Brendon's tux should arrive this week. Can wait to see him! I think he's going to look like this...
Only with an dark rust coloured tie and vest. :-)I'm going for my hair and makeup consultation in a few hours, then to the airport to pick up my sister and her family. They'll spend nearly 20 hours traveling to get here and it looks like the snow has held off long enough for them to enjoy a Canadian autumn. Just hoping in the next week, the snow continues to hold off and we can have some outdoor photos too!
174.25 hours left until we walk down the aisle. Exciting!!!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Fittings
So I went for my first dress fitting yesterday. I was pretty anxious about it because of past experiences with wedding attire fittings. At one wedding, about 10 years ago (I'm not saying which of my bridesmaid's wedding it was), our dresses were made by the mother-in-law and there was a "communication problem" about my measurements, so the MIL made the dress relative to the size of my chest. There was so much extra material that the MIL ended up having to crawl inside the dress (while I was wearing it) and sew the dress onto my underwear to keep the dress in place. The front of the dress was so low that the 'girls' made an appearance while I was signing the guest book. My mother was there to photograph that incident. A few years later, as a bridesmaid for my sister's wedding, we were getting our fittings done at the Bay where the crazy Russian saleswoman kept commenting about how small my chest is (the same chest that was too large for the previous dress!) and how large my gut was. She recommended that I invest not only in an super push up bra with extra padding, but a girdle to hold my pot belly in!
Yeah, so there was a fair bit of anxiety when I tried my wedding dress on again. I haven't worn it since February when it fit nicely, a little loose up top, but the rest hugged me perfectly. We've been doing the P90X exercise videos for 8 weeks now and I've lots a total of 4.25" in my chest/waist/hips measurements. The dress is still snug in the hips (despite them now being 1.25" smaller) while the rest needs to be taken in only slightly. I didn't think it needed to be taken in that much, but the two seamstresses kept tugging and pinning and poking and commenting, and ummmmm, manipulating (is that the right word??) my chest because "they're so big but your waist is so tiny". LOL The dress will be ready in 2 weeks, so hopefully I don't change size too much in the next 14 days or else I'll have to pay another $200 in alterations!
Yeah, so there was a fair bit of anxiety when I tried my wedding dress on again. I haven't worn it since February when it fit nicely, a little loose up top, but the rest hugged me perfectly. We've been doing the P90X exercise videos for 8 weeks now and I've lots a total of 4.25" in my chest/waist/hips measurements. The dress is still snug in the hips (despite them now being 1.25" smaller) while the rest needs to be taken in only slightly. I didn't think it needed to be taken in that much, but the two seamstresses kept tugging and pinning and poking and commenting, and ummmmm, manipulating (is that the right word??) my chest because "they're so big but your waist is so tiny". LOL The dress will be ready in 2 weeks, so hopefully I don't change size too much in the next 14 days or else I'll have to pay another $200 in alterations!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Gov't paperwork
We picked up the marriage license from Vital Stats today. It's a very long boring piece of white paper. I'm rather disappointed that something so important is amongst the large stacks of other boring-looking white pieces of paper, like the ones to register births and deaths. I don't know what I was expecting, considering it's a government issued document. I'm so used to wedding related stuff having tacky doves and roses and embossed rings on them that to see the *actual* marriage license is just a bunch of check boxes and fill-in-the-blank boxes (in French and English) is a bit unusual! Course, because it is a wedding related item, it cost 10x more than what it is worth!
Have you seen this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff13zZ0h0k
Yeah, it`s like that. LOL!
Oh well, at least my PhD has pretty embossing on it. Cost me 150x more than the marriage license did so it should have some gold stamp on it!
It is weird to think about, that in 32 days, Derek and Jen are going to sign the license and make it a legally binding boring-looking document.
Have you seen this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff13zZ0h0k
Yeah, it`s like that. LOL!
Oh well, at least my PhD has pretty embossing on it. Cost me 150x more than the marriage license did so it should have some gold stamp on it!
It is weird to think about, that in 32 days, Derek and Jen are going to sign the license and make it a legally binding boring-looking document.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Dinner menu
We met with Anne (events co-ordinator) and Tony (semi-retired caterer) at the Irish Club to go over the reception details. Here's what's for dinner:
- Oven baked chicken
- Vegetarian cabbage rolls
- Green beans almondine
- Honey glazed baby carrots
- Perogies (fried, with onions)
- Sweet & Sour meatballs
- Pasta, tossed and caeser salad
- Apple Crumble with vanilla ice cream
Friday, September 4, 2009
Stagette & Shower
Liane, Jen, Kathy and I had a fun stagette last Saturday. Not the traditional, phallic-shaped objects and embarrassing the bride type, but something a little more...mature? Sensible? We started with mani/pedis at Tiber River Naturals, a spa on Academy. We got matching daisies on our toes. Our nail techs were howling with laughter as the four of us were giving them ideas on how to embarrass people on their staggettes and stories from our past. 
Since our toes were still wet, we wobbled over in our disposable flip flops (carrying our shoes) to Pizzeria Gusto for dinner. They have a great selection of Chianti wines that I had a hard time choosing a bottle from the extensive wine list. Despite my best attempts at warning the staff about my allergies to mushrooms, I think I ended up eating a mushroom so I was sick later on that night. Other than that, spectacular restaurant! Though there isn't much room to throw a punch. Kathy wanted to pay for dinner but I managed a few good smacks and she relented to let me pay. The waiter managed to get a good picture of us embarrassing ourselves at the restaurant as we wrestled for the bill!! From there, we headed for martinis at Liquid Lounge, only to find the windows boarded up! :( So we went to Saffron's instead. It's getting cooler and buggier at nights now so we opted for the indoor bar and managed to eat have one drink before the karaoke started. We left to get cheesecake at Baked Expectations. Mmmmm, super dark chocolate cheesecake!! (and I wonder why my diet isn't working???) From Baked, we went across the street to Academy Club (don't remember the name) but it was a smokey (fog machine) techno bar; not really our style so we went to Toad for beers. A creepy guy sat directly across from our table and just spent the entire time staring at us and refusing to move and it just freaked me out, so once our beers were done, we went home.
Due to the mushrooms at Pizzeria Gusto, I had a rought night and didn't get much sleep before my wedding shower the next day at Val's gorgeous house in St B . It was SO MUCH FUN!! It was a potluck that could have fed a small army! Chocolate dipped cream puffs, chocolate layer skor bar cake, chocolate chip cookie Kahlua cake, vegetarian sushi, blueberry cheesecake, lazy daisy cake, strawberry custard flan, oh it went on and on. Everyone brought the recipe for their dessert so I have a great recipe book now.
Liane surreptitiously emailed questions to Brendon that I had to answer to find out how well I know him. Well, I got an A (naturally!!) because I only missed a few questions. Woo hoo me! Bonus points because most of the married women at the shower couldn't answer the same questions about their husbands of 5-35 years! I got a pin for each one I answered correctly. As you can see, I did quite well!
Another highlight was a spectacular photo album that Sasha had put together of photos of us from university and afterwards. I nearly cried reading her letter; it was so touching and to see how much work she'd put into to, especially considering she just got married 3 weeks prior, just made it more special. Liane and Kathy and Jen had done so much work that I can't thank them enough for everything they did!
Since our toes were still wet, we wobbled over in our disposable flip flops (carrying our shoes) to Pizzeria Gusto for dinner. They have a great selection of Chianti wines that I had a hard time choosing a bottle from the extensive wine list. Despite my best attempts at warning the staff about my allergies to mushrooms, I think I ended up eating a mushroom so I was sick later on that night. Other than that, spectacular restaurant! Though there isn't much room to throw a punch. Kathy wanted to pay for dinner but I managed a few good smacks and she relented to let me pay. The waiter managed to get a good picture of us embarrassing ourselves at the restaurant as we wrestled for the bill!! From there, we headed for martinis at Liquid Lounge, only to find the windows boarded up! :( So we went to Saffron's instead. It's getting cooler and buggier at nights now so we opted for the indoor bar and managed to eat have one drink before the karaoke started. We left to get cheesecake at Baked Expectations. Mmmmm, super dark chocolate cheesecake!! (and I wonder why my diet isn't working???) From Baked, we went across the street to Academy Club (don't remember the name) but it was a smokey (fog machine) techno bar; not really our style so we went to Toad for beers. A creepy guy sat directly across from our table and just spent the entire time staring at us and refusing to move and it just freaked me out, so once our beers were done, we went home.
Due to the mushrooms at Pizzeria Gusto, I had a rought night and didn't get much sleep before my wedding shower the next day at Val's gorgeous house in St B . It was SO MUCH FUN!! It was a potluck that could have fed a small army! Chocolate dipped cream puffs, chocolate layer skor bar cake, chocolate chip cookie Kahlua cake, vegetarian sushi, blueberry cheesecake, lazy daisy cake, strawberry custard flan, oh it went on and on. Everyone brought the recipe for their dessert so I have a great recipe book now.
Liane surreptitiously emailed questions to Brendon that I had to answer to find out how well I know him. Well, I got an A (naturally!!) because I only missed a few questions. Woo hoo me! Bonus points because most of the married women at the shower couldn't answer the same questions about their husbands of 5-35 years! I got a pin for each one I answered correctly. As you can see, I did quite well!
Another highlight was a spectacular photo album that Sasha had put together of photos of us from university and afterwards. I nearly cried reading her letter; it was so touching and to see how much work she'd put into to, especially considering she just got married 3 weeks prior, just made it more special. Liane and Kathy and Jen had done so much work that I can't thank them enough for everything they did!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Wedding cake fun
We decided against having a traditional cake at our reception because 1) they're expensive and 2) they never get eaten. We've chosen instead, on having a large nanaimo bar slab instead since it's everyone's favourite. I went to Natural Bakery on Logan, who have the best nanaimo bars and they're walnut free, and asked how much it'd cost for ~200 pieces (enough for everyone to have 2 pieces). At first, they quoted me over $250 each ($1.25 per piece). When I called back to confirm the price, they said they wouldn't be able to get that much for us, but gave me the number of the bakery they buy the nanaimo bars from. I'd thought Natural Bakery made the bars on site, but it turns out, that they get them from Baker's Mark. So, I called Baker's Mark. They don't sell directly to the public, and the minimum order is $200 if I went through a commercial business. AND, Baker's Mark doesn't make the bars either! They're made by Mrs. Willamsen's in Calgary, frozen, and shipped to Winnipeg where Baker's Mark distributes them to other bakeries. I called Mrs. Willamsen's Bakery Inc in Calgary and they don't sell to the public either.
Now what?
Well, a co-worker suggested calling a different bakery so I went to Canada411.com and found Gunn's bakery and Weston bakery. Gunn's called back first and said that they make nanaimo bar slabs 24" long and 16" wide, enough for 192 pieces so everyone gets 2 1/2 pieces (if we cut them 1" x 2"). They'll deliver for an extra $8 and make it nut-free for me. Sweet!!
Brendon made our cake topper on a CNC mill. I can't really describe it, but it's so amazing that he should seriously think aobut buying and operating a mill from the basement just to make custom cake toppers!
My wedding shower is coming up in a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. Just hope the weather holds out and we get something resembling summer.
Now what?
Well, a co-worker suggested calling a different bakery so I went to Canada411.com and found Gunn's bakery and Weston bakery. Gunn's called back first and said that they make nanaimo bar slabs 24" long and 16" wide, enough for 192 pieces so everyone gets 2 1/2 pieces (if we cut them 1" x 2"). They'll deliver for an extra $8 and make it nut-free for me. Sweet!!
Brendon made our cake topper on a CNC mill. I can't really describe it, but it's so amazing that he should seriously think aobut buying and operating a mill from the basement just to make custom cake toppers!
My wedding shower is coming up in a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. Just hope the weather holds out and we get something resembling summer.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Random Update
I checked the Irish Club's website and found out that our caterer had decided to retire...again. This is his third retirement, the previous two from being the head chef at the Fort Garry and from the Ramada Malborough. It was a bit of a shock and panic to the system because it'd never crossed my mind that he'd even want to retire again! I sent an email to the club to find out if they'd found a replacement yet, and they have!! *phew* Sigh of relief. We're going to arrange a meeting with him (or her) in late August or early September, once they've recovered from the craziness of Folklorama.
We also have to arrange a meeting with Ron, our DJ from Topps Music, to pick out the playlist. Which means, we have to have a playlist. And playlists are made of songs and we had to pick "Our First Dance Song" (see previous blog post). We'd heard a song on the radio a while back that we both really liked, but neither of us can remember what it was so I've spent a fair amount of time online trying to track it down. When I finally figured out what it was, I made sure to write it down in three different places so we won't forget again! We don't have an "Our song" and I'm sure in 20 years, we'll play this song for our kids and they'll groan in embarassment. Sweet....
Another sigh of relief is having nearly all of the RSVPs in. We're only waiting on just a handful of guests now, so we know that we're going to have about 80 guests, which is the perfect size! It's unfortunate that some people aren't able to attend because of prior commitments, like amazing cruises through Patagonia and Turkey!!, but we know that we're in their thoughts and wish us the best of luck for the wedding day (and for the rest of the marriage I suppose?).
I can't believe it's only 3 1/2 months left until W Day and there's so much more to do! I haven't even tried my dress on in 4 months. I should really do that, but what's more important is renewing my passport so we can go on our honeymoon to Puerto Plata!! Sooooo looking forward to two weeks there!
We also have to arrange a meeting with Ron, our DJ from Topps Music, to pick out the playlist. Which means, we have to have a playlist. And playlists are made of songs and we had to pick "Our First Dance Song" (see previous blog post). We'd heard a song on the radio a while back that we both really liked, but neither of us can remember what it was so I've spent a fair amount of time online trying to track it down. When I finally figured out what it was, I made sure to write it down in three different places so we won't forget again! We don't have an "Our song" and I'm sure in 20 years, we'll play this song for our kids and they'll groan in embarassment. Sweet....
Another sigh of relief is having nearly all of the RSVPs in. We're only waiting on just a handful of guests now, so we know that we're going to have about 80 guests, which is the perfect size! It's unfortunate that some people aren't able to attend because of prior commitments, like amazing cruises through Patagonia and Turkey!!, but we know that we're in their thoughts and wish us the best of luck for the wedding day (and for the rest of the marriage I suppose?).
I can't believe it's only 3 1/2 months left until W Day and there's so much more to do! I haven't even tried my dress on in 4 months. I should really do that, but what's more important is renewing my passport so we can go on our honeymoon to Puerto Plata!! Sooooo looking forward to two weeks there!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Back it goes!
After picking up our rings and sorting out Brendon's, I finally had to concede that no matter how much weight I lose between now and October (less than 4 months away!), I won't fit my ring. For some reason, my engagement ring can come on and off my finger while my wedding band, which is the same size, goes onto my finger and won't come off. Some may see that as appropriate for a wedding band, but my finger turns purple if I wear it too long. I'm sure when Brendon said "Take your hand in marriage", he meant with all my fingers! So, back to Appelt's to get my size 5.5 wedding band increased to a size 6, while my size 5.5 engagement ring fits just fine.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Invitations are in the mail!!
The invitations have been an endless source of frustration for me. We bought what we thought was a nice looking, easy DIY, kit from Michael's but what was supposed to be a quick weekend project has turned into a two month nightmare of epic proportions!! Most of the problems stem from computers and printers. We downloaded the template, included all the relevant information, and printed a "tester" only to realize that the font sizes and formatting was all wrong. After some tweaking, we got it the way we wanted and printed the first "official" invitation out. Only, my printer doesn't like printing on textured card stock so it smeared all the lettering. After getting permission from the IT department here (Shhhhh, don't tell!), I printed out the invitations at work early one morning...except the printer here doesn't have the same fonts as my PC at home so it substituted different fonts when I sent the first ones through the printer. Fixed that problem, but then the printer decided to randomly print invitations either left or right justified. Then one got stuck in the heat transfer unit and started to burn.
The next step was to punch out all the little oak leaves on the slider and thread the two brown ribbons through it, which seems like an easy task but when you have to do it 50+ times, it becomes an overwhelmingly tedious process. I did this (and made a huge mess) while Brendon was out at a hockey game. Kitty enjoyed playing in the ribbons and confetti as I wasted what few brain cells I earned at university, watching a marathon of Next Top Model (America's, Canada's and Britain's... the latter was the dumbest and most incoherent of the lot, sorry Patrick!)
From there, Brendon and I had to adhere the ribbons to the invitations to the decorative dark brown border and in the kit, they included 100 little double sided bits of tape which didn't hold worth a darn so we "borrowed" a few rolls of double sided tape from work to do the job. Surprisingly, Kitty didn't like being taped?
I have completely illegible handwriting, we decided to use my printer again to address each one. See above on my printer's dislike for textured paper...and as the week's dragged on and as the envelopes were moved around, all the addresses SMEARED OFF the envelope. I had to hand trace everyone's address back onto the envelopes so that Canada Post can deliver them correctly!
The final task was to seal the envelopes and when you see the stack ahead of us, the first thought was "Ugh, no way I'm licking all those" and attempted to seal the envelopes using a variety of different "time saving" methods...none of which worked and so, yes, we ended up licking each and everyone of them. YUCK! You'd think that the envelope maker would put some flavouring on the glue or something?! *shudder*
Long story short, they're on their way! Hopefully. I mean, we *are* dealing with Canada Post on a long weekend soooooo.... fingers crossed!
The next step was to punch out all the little oak leaves on the slider and thread the two brown ribbons through it, which seems like an easy task but when you have to do it 50+ times, it becomes an overwhelmingly tedious process. I did this (and made a huge mess) while Brendon was out at a hockey game. Kitty enjoyed playing in the ribbons and confetti as I wasted what few brain cells I earned at university, watching a marathon of Next Top Model (America's, Canada's and Britain's... the latter was the dumbest and most incoherent of the lot, sorry Patrick!)
From there, Brendon and I had to adhere the ribbons to the invitations to the decorative dark brown border and in the kit, they included 100 little double sided bits of tape which didn't hold worth a darn so we "borrowed" a few rolls of double sided tape from work to do the job. Surprisingly, Kitty didn't like being taped?
I have completely illegible handwriting, we decided to use my printer again to address each one. See above on my printer's dislike for textured paper...and as the week's dragged on and as the envelopes were moved around, all the addresses SMEARED OFF the envelope. I had to hand trace everyone's address back onto the envelopes so that Canada Post can deliver them correctly!
The final task was to seal the envelopes and when you see the stack ahead of us, the first thought was "Ugh, no way I'm licking all those" and attempted to seal the envelopes using a variety of different "time saving" methods...none of which worked and so, yes, we ended up licking each and everyone of them. YUCK! You'd think that the envelope maker would put some flavouring on the glue or something?! *shudder*
Long story short, they're on their way! Hopefully. I mean, we *are* dealing with Canada Post on a long weekend soooooo.... fingers crossed!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Follow up to last post
So our salesperson at Appelt's called to say that Brendon's ring had arrived and, after a little pressure on him by me ;) , we headed over to the store to pick it up. Well, *A* ring arrived but not *his* ring. We'd ordered a rìng with a distinctive bevel on each side. The ring that'd arrived was "bevel-less". On top of that, it was the wrong size. Two saleswomen tried to convince us that the larger ring in front of us was in fact, the one we`d ordered, so the four of us headed over to the counter where the original rings were to show that what we wanted and what was in front of us were two entirely different designs. Not to mention the wrong size. Our original saleswoman looked at the ring that`d arrived through her monocle and tried to say that there was a `slight` bevel. But we didn`t order one with a `slight` bevel, we ordered one with a distinctive one!! They`re sending the ring back, getting smaller one that fits properly, and hopefully will have a bevel!
Needless to say, I`m a little nervous about my wedding band...which hasn`t arrive yet & I`m getting a little anxious about it being the wrong one, or the wrong size.
Needless to say, I`m a little nervous about my wedding band...which hasn`t arrive yet & I`m getting a little anxious about it being the wrong one, or the wrong size.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Rings 'n' Things
We picked out our wedding bands a few weeks ago. We had one of those lazy weekends and heard a radio commercial on Power97 for Appelt's Jewelers "Wedding Band Blow Out" and thought we'd take a look. We've been searching for weeks for a band for Brendon, even going to a custom jeweler to see if we could get something designed for his, but nothing really suited his tastes. Plus, most stores have millions of rings for girls and usually only five rings for guys, none of which were good. Appelt's was the opposite, millions of rings for guys and only handful for girls.
Brendon's band is titanium, 8mm wide, with a beveled edge on either side. In the middle is a band of mokume game, which is a japanese technique where two metals are heated together and folded in half, heated again and folded in half. The result is a series of wavey lines of gold and copper. It's awesome! And it was on sale! Speaking of, a very similar band to match my engagement ring was also at Appelt's but for $280 less than what People's wanted so we bought my ring too.
We're still waiting for the rings to arrive, but as a thank-you for buying the rings, we got a gift certificate for lunch at the Gates on Roblin, which is an insanely expensive restaurant that we'd never go to...but if it's free we will!
Oh, I also got the flowers sorted out. The first florist wanted $352 for everything (included delivery from 'Scona). What bugged me is that she wanted to give each bridesmaid only 3 daisies for $25 each, but the sign behind her head said "5 daisies for $15". Huh?? So, I got the phone number of florist that works from her basement. She wants $260 for everything and the bouquets will be larger & more elaborate. AND, she'll make me a trial bouquet out of silk flowers as a template to approve, and I get to keep the slik bouquet afterwards. It'll all be daisies, sunflowers, and chrsythanemums with some fall leaves and berries wrapped in gold ribbon. The bridal party will have daisies. :-)
Brendon's band is titanium, 8mm wide, with a beveled edge on either side. In the middle is a band of mokume game, which is a japanese technique where two metals are heated together and folded in half, heated again and folded in half. The result is a series of wavey lines of gold and copper. It's awesome! And it was on sale! Speaking of, a very similar band to match my engagement ring was also at Appelt's but for $280 less than what People's wanted so we bought my ring too.
We're still waiting for the rings to arrive, but as a thank-you for buying the rings, we got a gift certificate for lunch at the Gates on Roblin, which is an insanely expensive restaurant that we'd never go to...but if it's free we will!
Oh, I also got the flowers sorted out. The first florist wanted $352 for everything (included delivery from 'Scona). What bugged me is that she wanted to give each bridesmaid only 3 daisies for $25 each, but the sign behind her head said "5 daisies for $15". Huh?? So, I got the phone number of florist that works from her basement. She wants $260 for everything and the bouquets will be larger & more elaborate. AND, she'll make me a trial bouquet out of silk flowers as a template to approve, and I get to keep the slik bouquet afterwards. It'll all be daisies, sunflowers, and chrsythanemums with some fall leaves and berries wrapped in gold ribbon. The bridal party will have daisies. :-)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Free Press Announcement
We posted our engagement notice in the Free Press. The girl at the FP office said that "it might" be in today's paper, so I didn't want to send out an email telling everyone to go buy a paper in case it wasn't published. However, it was so here it is for those without subscriptions.
No, Brendon doesn't have leprosy and lost his nose. It's just a scan from the paper. When the Free Press updates their "Celebrations" website, the original photo, nose included, will be online.
No, Brendon doesn't have leprosy and lost his nose. It's just a scan from the paper. When the Free Press updates their "Celebrations" website, the original photo, nose included, will be online.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Engagement photos online
We got the disk of photos from Chelsey today. Click here to see them. There are so many good ones, it's hard to pick which one is my favourite!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Marriage Councelling
One of the requirements of getting married in a church is that we have to attend a marriage retreat where we'll be discussing a variety of topics related to being married, including sexuality, money, family, etc. It's to designed to get us talking about the "big" issues and make sure we're on the same page for our future together. This is in addition to the PMI (pre-marital inventory) test that we took back in January and scored 93% on it. Fr. Mark pointed out that we are one of the oldest (or did he said oddest....) of the 8 couples going to the retreat so it's not surprising that we scored so high. One of the other couples at the marriage retreat scored 20%. I can't wait to meet them tonight....
I just hope we're not stuck with any real churchy people.
I just hope we're not stuck with any real churchy people.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Engagement photos
Our fabulous photographer Chelsey included engagement photos as part of her photography services for the wedding. Since it was included in the price, it'd be stupid not to do it! We agreed that after Christmas would be better, and then I got busy in January with my defense and my thesis revisions, and then the weather turned horrible, and then...well, there was always something that would come up. So, I emailed Chelsey and said "How about next weekend? Let's hope that the weather is nice." It was a random weekend that the three of us were free, so we met at Kil-Cona park, just off the Harbour View Golf Course in Transcona. The photo session was surprisingly fun. Chelsey's really laid back so we could just be goofy. I didn't really want lots of stylized posed photos of us looking awkward. I'd rather us look like us, so we have pictures of him throwing snowballs at me, me slipping on the ice and him "helping" me up (but more like pushing me around), me jumping on him for a piggy-back ride, playing on the swingsets, etc etc. She had some great ideas too, so we brought out mugs of hot coffee had close-up pictures of us canoodling in a tree with the steam coming out of the cups. I haven't got the proofs yet, but I'm sure that in the hour that we were knee-deep in snow, she managed to get a few pictures of us that don't make us look too dorky! One of the neatest things was the frozen pond next to the club house. The ice was perfectly clear and there were sections where a column of bubbles had frozen in the ice. Chelsey took photos of the frozen bubbles with my ring on top. I can't wait to see that picture!
The reason we drove across the city to go to Kil-Cona was that it was the site of our first "real" date. Not that we hadn't gone out on a date, but our first date was to Pizza Hut and renting movies from Blockbuster, and having a bbq at Derek and Faith's house for his birthday. Going to Kil-Cona park was our first romantic, out in public, new couple in love, afternoon together. Here's a pic from that afternoon taken in the paddleboat with his cellphone camera. Paddleboating with someone that can squat 200lbs isn't easy. The boat keeps going in circles!! :)
The reason we drove across the city to go to Kil-Cona was that it was the site of our first "real" date. Not that we hadn't gone out on a date, but our first date was to Pizza Hut and renting movies from Blockbuster, and having a bbq at Derek and Faith's house for his birthday. Going to Kil-Cona park was our first romantic, out in public, new couple in love, afternoon together. Here's a pic from that afternoon taken in the paddleboat with his cellphone camera. Paddleboating with someone that can squat 200lbs isn't easy. The boat keeps going in circles!! :)
Monday, January 26, 2009
And the winning continues!!
One of Brendon's tasks in helping with the wedding plans was to find the dj. At the wedding show, I picked up many brochures from different djs around town. Topps music was one of the booths I'd stopped at had a contest to find the hidden link on their website and email the secret code to their webmaster. The first email in to their office on Jan 25th wins free dj services at the wedding. He had everything ready ahead of time and found the website that tells the exact time. At 12:00:02, he hit send.
AND WE WON!!
Very exciting!!! Ron, the dj, called right away and I babbled incoherently about how happy we were to win this! Ron told us that people had been emailing 6 or 7 times trying to win. Brendon sends in one email and we win!
So my $15 investment into the wedding show has netted us a free dinner for two at Pineridge Hollow and a free dj. For all the craziness, the show was worth it!
AND WE WON!!
Very exciting!!! Ron, the dj, called right away and I babbled incoherently about how happy we were to win this! Ron told us that people had been emailing 6 or 7 times trying to win. Brendon sends in one email and we win!
So my $15 investment into the wedding show has netted us a free dinner for two at Pineridge Hollow and a free dj. For all the craziness, the show was worth it!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I'll try not to rant too much...
I joined a group of friends at the annual Wonderful Wedding Show on the weekend and I have to say, it's more crazy, more intense, more crowded, and more surreal than you can even possibly imagine. I wish I could have taken a picture of the throngs of people surging through the Convention Centre, pushing and shoving to get brochures and enter draws for the free stuff. By the end of the three day show, over 10,000 people had gone through (at $14.50 per person) the main doors and into wedding craziness. It really was bedlam with laser shows, djs blasting music, PA announcements for prize winners (including me!!), girls running around in ball gowns and wedding dresses, getting accosted left-right-&-center by salespeople vying for your attention. At some points, I said to Kathy "I'm starting to feel anxious and claustrophobic". It really was overwhelming the number of people and the amount of noise!
I went Kathy and with another bride, her fiancee, her three other bridesmaids, our shared maid of honour, one of her flower girls, and I think a sister(?). Kathy and I had a plan. We mapped a route (counter clockwise). We synchronized our watches and took off, ditching the rest of them to manage on their own. Sorry, it's evil to ditch, but a necessary evil when you're in crowds that rival a Bejing marketplace.
I needed to find a dj and a florist. It occured to me about half way through that Brendon might want to wear a tuxedo, so I picked up brochures for him. I entered contests at many displays, hoping to win something else. We were done seeing everything in about three hours. Exhausted, sore, bruised, and hungry, we flopped into the chairs and tucked in for the fashion show. The fashion show was entertaining, and not in the "Oooooh ahhhh" good way. It might have been the low blood sugar and the blistered feet that brought out the snark in me, but I know I said "Oh sweet merciful crap, what the???" more than once. We had to keep the language PG because there were kids around in earshot. The highlight of the fashion show...ok, the two highlights for me, were 1) the extra long veils and skirts that kept getting stepped on or stuck onto the runway and watching the models trip and get yanked backwards while maintaining a fake smile. And 2) the overly tanned, silicon enhance, pouty model trying to "strike a pose" at the end of the runway which may work if she wasn't wearing 40lbs of crinolins and satin and lace. It's hard to jut out a hip and look all Tyra Banks ANTM when your dress walks into a room 5 minutes before you do!!
After getting home, I dumped out my goody bag of brochures, recycled 90% of them and kept the info on djs. There weren't very many florists there, but I did get a chance to see House of Silk's bouquets. What I want, a simple daisy/sunflower bouquet, is about $160 at one of the florists. House of Silk was $38. Our $200 budget for bouquets/corsages/boutonneires (sp?) is really tight so House of Silk might be a viable, but still gorgeous, option. Kevin and Jamie used their services and Jamie raves about how realistic and beautiful her bouquet was. Hmmmm, something to ponder.... We have to decorate the church and if we decide to go with flowers for the church, they have to be alive and stay at the church afterwards. I don't know what we're supposed to do. I'm planning on wearing my mother-in-law's veil during the ceremony, but remove it for the reception and replace it with flowers in my hair. Live flowers may not survive a night on the dance floor but silk ones will!
The upside to the show is threefold for me....
1) All the vendors you can possibly think of are under one roof. It's one stop shopping but it's easier if you have only a few things you want to look for. It's not the perfect place when you're indecisive or thinking you can plan for everything all at once.
2) I met a financial advisor and we're meeting her next week to discuss retirement planning strategies. It seems dumb to some people, but long-term financial well being is more important to me than $160 bouquet I'm supposed to (but not) throw away at the end of the night!
3) I won a door prize for a dinner for the two of us at Pineridge Hollow in Oakbank, which will be lovely in summer when their massive gardens are in full bloom. Very romantic!
We're going to premarital counselling next month. I'll post more on that later. Should be fun. We're the oldest couple going (ugh) but also, according to Fr Mark, the best matched. Can't wait to see the young, poorly matched couples!!
I went Kathy and with another bride, her fiancee, her three other bridesmaids, our shared maid of honour, one of her flower girls, and I think a sister(?). Kathy and I had a plan. We mapped a route (counter clockwise). We synchronized our watches and took off, ditching the rest of them to manage on their own. Sorry, it's evil to ditch, but a necessary evil when you're in crowds that rival a Bejing marketplace.
I needed to find a dj and a florist. It occured to me about half way through that Brendon might want to wear a tuxedo, so I picked up brochures for him. I entered contests at many displays, hoping to win something else. We were done seeing everything in about three hours. Exhausted, sore, bruised, and hungry, we flopped into the chairs and tucked in for the fashion show. The fashion show was entertaining, and not in the "Oooooh ahhhh" good way. It might have been the low blood sugar and the blistered feet that brought out the snark in me, but I know I said "Oh sweet merciful crap, what the???" more than once. We had to keep the language PG because there were kids around in earshot. The highlight of the fashion show...ok, the two highlights for me, were 1) the extra long veils and skirts that kept getting stepped on or stuck onto the runway and watching the models trip and get yanked backwards while maintaining a fake smile. And 2) the overly tanned, silicon enhance, pouty model trying to "strike a pose" at the end of the runway which may work if she wasn't wearing 40lbs of crinolins and satin and lace. It's hard to jut out a hip and look all Tyra Banks ANTM when your dress walks into a room 5 minutes before you do!!
After getting home, I dumped out my goody bag of brochures, recycled 90% of them and kept the info on djs. There weren't very many florists there, but I did get a chance to see House of Silk's bouquets. What I want, a simple daisy/sunflower bouquet, is about $160 at one of the florists. House of Silk was $38. Our $200 budget for bouquets/corsages/boutonneires (sp?) is really tight so House of Silk might be a viable, but still gorgeous, option. Kevin and Jamie used their services and Jamie raves about how realistic and beautiful her bouquet was. Hmmmm, something to ponder.... We have to decorate the church and if we decide to go with flowers for the church, they have to be alive and stay at the church afterwards. I don't know what we're supposed to do. I'm planning on wearing my mother-in-law's veil during the ceremony, but remove it for the reception and replace it with flowers in my hair. Live flowers may not survive a night on the dance floor but silk ones will!
The upside to the show is threefold for me....
1) All the vendors you can possibly think of are under one roof. It's one stop shopping but it's easier if you have only a few things you want to look for. It's not the perfect place when you're indecisive or thinking you can plan for everything all at once.
2) I met a financial advisor and we're meeting her next week to discuss retirement planning strategies. It seems dumb to some people, but long-term financial well being is more important to me than $160 bouquet I'm supposed to (but not) throw away at the end of the night!
3) I won a door prize for a dinner for the two of us at Pineridge Hollow in Oakbank, which will be lovely in summer when their massive gardens are in full bloom. Very romantic!
We're going to premarital counselling next month. I'll post more on that later. Should be fun. We're the oldest couple going (ugh) but also, according to Fr Mark, the best matched. Can't wait to see the young, poorly matched couples!!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
Hoping that everyone had a wonderful holiday and celebrated in their own way with the people they love! Cheers!
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