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!
Monday, January 26, 2009
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)