Nicole and Jesse

What the heck is this?

2009-11-30T09:21:00.002-05:00

Nicole has had a blog all this time?

Nah, I knew and I love reading it. One thing I didn't get a chance to do was say hello to everyone.

It's really hard to sum up all the emotions from the wedding in a tiny post, but it was the happiest and most fun day I've had to date. The night went by far too quick, but that's what happens when you have your 100 closest friends in one room.

Thank you Nicole for all the hard work you did on this blog, and the wedding. You're the best wife in the world!

Love Jesse

Les Fleurs

2009-11-29T12:54:00.011-05:00

I give a lot of credit to those brides and grooms who manage to pull off DIY flowers, because it is not easy! I did temporarily consider the DIY option with a friend of mine, but we weren't too successful at our first try. Also, during that mini-trial, I realized it would be a much unneeded added stress.

So in the end, we went with Les Fleurs... a local floral boutique. We had one meeting and I showed her some samples of what we liked. She blew me away and far exceeded my expectations, and managed to give us exactly what we were looking for. Jesse and I picked up all the flowers the day before the wedding and I could have cried I was so pleased (perhaps some other emotions were in the mix there too).

I don't remember the names of all the blooms, but here are a few: anemone, rose, kangaroo paw, lamb's ear, dahlia, and more.

All photos by Blair Gable of course.

Well well well

2009-11-27T07:20:00.002-05:00

We are incredibly happy with our wedding photos. I highly recommend Ottawa-based wedding and editorial photographer, Blair Gable. The photos absolutely tell a story of how the day went.

Stay tuned for more...

Anybody out there?

2009-11-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

Omg what a bad blogger I am. But yes, we're married! And yes, our photographer put up a sneak peak of our wedding photos this weekend. Go check them out here, at Weddings by Blair. Yay!!!

Cheers

2009-10-15T21:03:00.002-04:00

We had a beautiful honeymoon. Just killing time now until we get on the plane to head home. I heard rumours of snow in Ontario. Yikes!

I'll be back soon to provide some wedding updates. Really, it couldn't have gone better in our little opinions.

Here's a picture taken by a wedding guest - we're getting ready to lead a post-ceremony champagne toast from the museum steps. We get our professional photos sometime in November I think.

Aloha from Hawaii!

2009-10-11T14:21:00.002-04:00

Wedding was amazing

2009-10-04T23:56:00.001-04:00

Just a little teaser photo I found on Facebook.

Oh hi

2009-10-03T08:10:00.001-04:00

So we get married today!!

3 days

2009-09-30T19:33:00.001-04:00

3 more days til wedding and feeling good. In the middle of making chocolate chip cookies for our favours, 120 down about 120 to go. Picked up the dress tonight. Feeling happy and relaxed.

I thought I'd finally post some pictures of all the hard work my sister did to throw me a fiesta bacheloretta. Thank you D!!!

Oh hi. Just 16 days.

2009-09-17T08:54:00.000-04:00

So we're now 16 days out 'til the big day. SO exciting. My apologies for the lack of updates but work has been crazier than it has been in months. Perfect timing! Please stay with me as I promise I will provide you with lots of goodness closer to the day and post-wedding.

Sam Cooke

2009-09-13T20:44:00.000-04:00

Love this song. Came across it on The Flashdance. Thank you!

Bachelorette Tomorrow

2009-09-11T10:28:00.004-04:00

So pumped!! Jesse has his bachelor party too. Annd it's TIFF. Maybe we'll bump into some celebs.

Wedding and RSVP Website

2009-09-09T14:13:00.003-04:00

Our wedding website was a really fun project that Jesse and I tackled 100% together. We spent a Saturday in July working on the design, layout, and all of the features.

The most important feature was the RSVP... and something we had been brainstorming about for a while. Jesse was the mastermind behind the RSVP form, and the best solution for us was to embed a form that was connected to a Google Docs spreadsheet. So now, when anyone submits an RSVP, Jesse and I both get an email letting us know. It's also connected to our handy "guestometre" which tabulates our running total. AMAZING!!

Here are some other fun features of the site:

informs guests of more specific wedding details
asks (begs) guests to submit photos of themselves for our wedding-related photo projects
includes some other important info like directions, accommodations, parking info, registry, etc. etc.

Oh and we went with Wordpress instead of one of those prefab wedding websites. We just couldn't find one that didn't have cheesy photos/backgrounds/layouts/AUTOMATIC MUSIC PLAYING (gross).

I'll share some screen shots later tonight.

PS I'm bursting with lots of fun wedding-related projects, so hopefully I can increase the posting in the next couple weeks.

Final Florals

2009-09-04T08:52:00.004-04:00

I think we have found a good floral + decor solution.

Although the reception will be cocktail-style, we will still have (unassigned) table and chair seating for just over half our guests. Plus some additional loungey seating.

For florals, the girls - including me - will carry bouquets, and we will have centrepiece arrangements on half of the tables. The rest of the tables will have lots of tealight candles. At first I thought candles were not going to happen, but now I'm so happy we can use them in our decor.

We also secured some opaque ceramics for a great price. So we can just hand these over to our floral designer, and voila! We've chosen three different sizes in green and off-white: one square, one tall rectangle, and one low rectangle. Below are some examples of the square.

ONE month

2009-09-03T18:57:00.005-04:00

We are getting married in a month!

I feel so lucky to have the friends and family who are around us right now, and who will be there on October 3 .

Oh and also a LITTLE bit excited to go on our honeymoon.

I read some great wedding graduate advice today over at A Practical Wedding (congratulations Meg)! Go check it out.

Bachelorette Party

2009-09-03T08:57:00.005-04:00

I am one lucky girl. My sister (maid of honour) is getting ready to throw an amazing salsa inspired bachelorette party in my honour. I will show the fun invitations later on but here's a sneak peak. We'll be spending the night having good food, sangria, and heading out salsa dancing. I'm looking forward to a night out with great girlfriends.

Wedding Invitations

2009-08-27T09:20:00.005-04:00

Now that most (almost all?) guests have our wedding invitations, I thought I'd do a little reveal. I've tried to simulate the way you would open up the invitation after taking it out of the envelope. The invitations were designed by our very talented friend Brock. Two sneak peaks were posted previously here and here.

Colour and Cake

2009-08-26T06:04:00.005-04:00

The darkest green and grey below, along with the lightest greenish colour, were all used in our wedding invitation. So this is the little colour list I made to send over to The Cake Box for our cake design. One of the creative parts of the wedding that we're really excited about is the cake. Not to mention the cake tasting we'll get to do pretty soon.

We have been busy

2009-08-25T08:14:00.002-04:00

And on Sunday, our families threw a beautiful shower for Jesse and I. How lucky we are to have so much family who love and support us!

"I am a triathlete"

2009-08-17T20:38:00.003-04:00

Coooll... wedding planning is still in progress but this is what I did this weekend.

PS do you notice the clothing optional beach in the background?

More shoes

2009-08-13T07:02:00.003-04:00

Came across these Brian Atwood shoes and they are definitely wedding worthy. But.... the price tag. Found on Bluefly.

Photo from here.

Online RSVP = the best

2009-08-12T19:48:00.005-04:00

How fun is it that some guests have already received their invitations and have already sent hilarious and/or heartfelt online RSVPs.

Dare I post an invitation sneak peak?

If the shoe fits

2009-08-11T22:26:00.004-04:00

Came across these at Heel Boy today in grey or black. Cute right.

Invitations are gone!

2009-08-10T16:31:00.004-04:00

They came back from the printers beautifully and our great friends helped prepare them for the envelopes. Jesse and I put them in the mail before work this morning and now it feels good to have another job done.

We'll post some pictures once we know most guests have seen them first! I do have a picture of the cute little international stamp we used for our one envelope heading to Europe. We went ahead with the Vancouver Olympics (instead of the rhododendrons we used for the rest). So adorable!

My second list

2009-08-07T22:16:00.007-04:00

About a month ago, I finally got around to putting a real list together. We're now running List 2.0.

Complete invitations and mail them

Invitations look amazing and we're halfway through addressing/stamping them. Yes! Can't wait to show you.

Find Jesse a suit

Earlier this week we came across a custom and off-the-rack suit sale at a local store. Ended up buying a beauty Boss off the rack.

Finish wedding website

We don't have too many DIY projects for the wedding but the RSVP website was definitely one of them. We had a blast doing it and we're really looking forward to our guests' reactions.

Register somewhere

Did it!

Finalize all things food and drink related

Doing this tomorrow!

Book honeymoon

Halfway there... just need to find a place to sleep now.

So here's what's left, among other things.

Order wedding rings

Figure out flowers

Create wedding guestook

Make/buy/don't have favours?

Get married

And the other hopeful accomplishments.

Run a 10 km race end of July and half marathon end of September

Modified this race to a 5km due to some little injuries. The race was a blast though. I would totally recomend The Beaches Jazz Fest Tune Up to any runners in the Toronto area.

Participate/compete in 2 triathlons in August

Training like a madwoman in between real life, wedding planning, and working. First tri of 2009 is next weekend.

Relax

See above. Actually, I did squeeze in a pedicure on Thursday.

Keep my job despite all the extra-curriculars

Still working ;)

A double anniversary

2009-08-05T05:44:00.004-04:00

So today is August 5 which means that about four years ago today, Jesse and I started dating, and exactly one year ago today, Jesse and I got engaged. Here are a couple more photos taken of Jesse in the act of "engaging me" as he likes to say.

Less than 2

2009-08-04T08:47:00.002-04:00

Yesterday marked the 2 month point. For some reason I was also a bit of a stressball yesterday but hopefully that will be short-lived. I will provide some better updates soon!!

Flights have been booked

2009-07-31T05:42:00.004-04:00

So we managed to book ourself a honeymoon and we went with Maui! So pumped. Flights are booked... just have to find accommodation now.

If anyone has Maui hotel, b&b, or condo suggestions, we'd love to hear them.

In the mean time, I'll just wait here for the sun to come up so I can go on my bike ride.

Oh and the photo is from gimpbully on Flickr here.

Photos of guests

2009-07-27T09:33:00.003-04:00

On our RSVP website, we'll be asking our guests to upload any photos of themselves with friends, family, etc. Fingers crossed that everyone will participate because we want to incorporate these photos into the wedding day (but not in a slideshow).

I already have a couple ideas on how we'll be doing this but do you have more? How have you seen photos displayed at weddings?

Ceramic flower containers

2009-07-24T21:47:00.003-04:00

Ah - okay. No decision re: honeymoon or Hawaii yet. Updates to follow (eventually) haha.

I did come across Jamali Garden today which may be old news to some but a first time for me. We've been looking for ceramic, opaque flower containers at a reasonable price and Jamali seems to have them all. Only problem is... they don't ship to Canada! No! I even emailed them while secretly hoping they'd just feel generous and make some sort of shipping exception.

Anyway, here's what I like. If anyone knows where to find similar in Canada or at an online shop that ships internationally, let us know.

Need your help!

2009-07-23T14:38:00.003-04:00

We are getting so close to booking a honeymoon in Hawaii but curious to know if you can recommend a bed and breakfast, hotel, or resort??

And what do you think, Maui or Honolulu?

I know I haven't narrowed this down at all but any advice would be amazing.

To DIY or not to DIY

2009-07-17T10:38:00.008-04:00

I'm actually considering the possibility of creating our own flower arrangements for the wedding. Eeek! A friend of ours has graciously offered her help and expertise if we decide to do it. I want to use opaque vases and tight arrangements, so hopefully it would be on the easier-end as far as flower arranging goes.

As for the bouquets, I think I'll still have a florist do those.

Here are a couple arrangements I really like.

Edit: some great floral DIY videos here (using hydrangea as a base) and here (using floral foam).

First photo via The Bride's Cafe. Second photo, I don't know... let me know if you do.

Folding "garden" or "party" chairs

2009-07-17T09:05:00.004-04:00

We want to find the black version of the popular white folding party chair (usually made out of resin or wood). It seems that in our part of the province/country, the black chairs are not as popular!!

And that concludes the most boring post yet. You're welcome.

Invitation design selected

2009-07-12T21:48:00.004-04:00

So excited! We will be seeing a printed version this week (maybe tomorrow night). We also went with the following for our wording.

Together with their families
Nicole and Jesse
invite you to join them and celebrate their wedding

Short, sweet, respectful, informal.

I think I will share the invite design after our invitations are received by our guests. You're on the edge of your seats right? haha

Invitation wording

2009-07-11T08:26:00.007-04:00

Which version of the "join us" line do you prefer? Or is there something else you've seen and liked?

Together with their families
Nicole and Jesse...

request the pleasure of your company at their wedding
invite you to join them and celebrate their wedding
invite you to celebrate their marriage
invite you to join them at their wedding
or... anything else?

edit: I think I am leaning towards "invite you to join them and celebrate their wedding" - afterall, there won't be a marriage to celebrate until after the wedding.

We chose together with their families because it gives a nod to all the parents without being too formal or traditional.

But we're still undecided on the actual "invite you" part of the invite.

As for indicating the type of reception, I'm a little stuck there too. We're serving passed hors d'œuvres so option # 1 is "cocktail reception to follow". However, if we decide to serve the dinner-replacement amount of hors d'œuvres, how do we indicate that? Or does it even matter? Our caterer suggested that the time of the reception will give guests an idea of how much food there will be too.

OMG RSVP card found on Flickr. Photo from Kyle Jones, here.

"The Invitation"

2009-07-10T20:59:00.002-04:00

Looking for wedding invitation wording I came across this animated invitation created by an instructor of animation with the help of his students. Cute!

Twigs & Honey

2009-07-09T07:53:00.006-04:00

I confirmed with Myra yesterday that I'll be getting a beautiful hair piece to wear for the wedding! I've been following her blog/shop for a while now, so it'll be great to get something of my own.

You can find Myra (Twigs & Honey) at Etsy, her blog, and the official website.

The above hair piece is found on Etsy.

Officiant Confirmed

2009-07-08T11:01:00.005-04:00

Yay! We can actually get married. I got a call this morning confirming the booking of our officiant. Same guy who married a couple of our besties last year and my Mom and Rob this year. Aww.

One more thing checked off the list.

Underwater wedding pic from snikrap on Flickr.

An Italian-Canadian classic

2009-07-07T07:59:00.002-04:00

At all Italian weddings or events I've been to in Canada, you can guarantee you'll get to hear some version of "ti amo". It's a pretty classic song and my cousins, sister, and now Jesse, and I... all get a kick out of it. Jesse and I thought it would be a hilarious song to dance our first-dance to, however, most of our guests (non-Italian) probably wouldn't get the joke.

Anyway, if any of you are familiar with the song, please enjoy. It really picks up at 1:16 haha.

We also discovered it's all about "I love you, why did you leave me this way, etc."... so maybe not appropriate first-dance material anyway.

My first list

2009-07-06T17:25:00.009-04:00

Now that we're less than 3 months away from the wedding, I thought it would be a good time to write everything down we've yet to do.

Here are the items we have taken care of so far... I'll try to remember them in the order we did things.

Venue booked (same location for ceremony + reception)
Photographer confirmed
Caterer confirmed
Wedding dress (sample sale!) purchased
Cake arranged
Wedding website for RSVP, etc. set up
Hair appointment and hair trial booked
DJ confirmed - amazing!
Wedding decor almost figured out
Bridesmaid dresses purchased, ordered, and fabric delivered
Bridal accessory in the works (I'm really excited about this one!)
Invitation mockup designed
Officiant is semi-confirmed

Here are some of the big-ish items yet to be completed/confirmed:

Complete invitations and mail them
Find Jesse a suit
Order wedding rings
Figure out flowers
Create wedding guestook
Finish wedding website
Register somewhere
Finalize all things food and drink related
Make/buy/don't have favours?
Book honeymoon
Get married

So... there you have it. A little overwhelming but it's good to get it out there. I think we're in a good place right now with timing. I also made a detailed spreadsheet/Gantt chart for all the remaining wedding to-dos. Exciting!!

I'm also hoping to accomplish this over the summer:

Run a 10 km race end of July and half marathon end of September
Participate/compete in 2 triathlons in August
Relax
Keep my job despite all the extra-curriculars

Invitations - getting closer

2009-07-04T11:18:00.008-04:00

Yesterday we got a sneak preview of our wedding invitations. They're still in draft format but Jesse and I are both really excited about them. Our good friend is designing them so that definitely makes them extra special. I'm not sure when we'll share them on here yet... maybe after they've been sent out.

Some questions are now running through my head. What the heck do we write on these invitations? If we send them end of July, is that enough time? etc.

If anyone has any charming suggestions for modern invitation wording I'd love to hear from you!

I came across this one today.

You don't need a ticket
or advance reservation
just make waves
to our wedding celebration

Pardon?

One thing I know is that we definitely don't need a mini poem to kick off the invite. Anyway... wording ideas? Please let me know.

Photo of our wedding venue from here.

Bad blogger award

2009-07-02T11:32:00.004-04:00

For realz. Have been too absorbed in work and summer to concentrate on wedding planning or writing about wedding planning. I promise we will be turning a new leaf this month. Gotta get a to do list in order so we can see exactly what needs to be done between now and the big day. Tomorrow marks the 3 month mark. WHAT?!

We found dresses!

2009-06-21T12:27:00.005-04:00

Diana, Natalie, and I finally got a chance to be together in one city and look for bridesmaid(ish) dresses. The hope was to find something yesterday and not to have to worry about it anymore. We decided to start in West Queen West. We knew of at least a couple dress shops including Anne Hung, Champagne and Cupcakes, and Meg.

We started off at Champagne and Cupcakes and found a bunch of great options. The designer/owner Caroline was there, and her and another employee gave us the scoop on what was made by Caroline and what was from other designers. Anything made by Caroline can be custom ordered in your preferred colour and size. Perfect!

After trying on a few different dresses, D and N ended up loving the same one. So... easy peasy, the decision was made and we walked out with two custom orders and the dresses will be ready in the next month or two. They are satin, cocktail-length, sweetheart cut in charcoal grey. Beauty!

Overall we had a really positive experience at the store and I would definitely recommend it for someone on the search for any sort of bridesmaid/dressy attire. Check out the writeups at blogTO and toronto.com.

Image above from blogTO.

StillMotion

2009-06-13T10:04:00.002-04:00

I love StillMotion and I love when they post new videos/SDEs/photos on their blog.

amber + jordan's sde // stoney creek ON from StillMotion on Vimeo.

Dahlias

2009-06-11T07:39:00.004-04:00

Dahlias are available in fall. This bouquet of dahlias and roses is a beaut!

Photo from here.

Ranunculus

2009-06-10T22:53:00.002-04:00

Love this...

Photo from here and flowers by Janie Medley.

Another one from the wedding

2009-06-10T07:44:00.003-04:00

This kinda stuff happens at the house all the time. Bride on keyboard, groom on guitar, best man on bass, and my sis singing... with my cousin in the front row. Yes, my mom is in a band.

A beautiful backyard wedding

2009-06-09T18:37:00.013-04:00

Here are some of the post-ceremony photos that Jesse and I took of my mom and Rob's wedding.

We didn't get pictures of every course at dinner, but the food was spectacular. Below are the "beggar's purse" (Italian pasta filled with ricotta cheese), beef tenderloin, and cassis mousse surrounded by white chocolate.

We surprised them with a small wedding cake from The Cake Box.

4 months

2009-06-03T23:26:00.001-04:00

4 months until we're a little married couple.

I definitely get the "make sure to enjoy your engagement" thing, but aren't we allowed to look forward to the married part?!

Wedding cake from scratch. seriously.

2009-06-01T21:49:00.007-04:00

Well I don't have the progress pictures quite yet, but I do have a couple preview photos of what the cake turned out like. I mentioned here and here that my friend MB and I made a delicious weddingesque cake together (for a bridal shower). So here it is! It is certainly not perfect but not bad for a couple of amateurs right? It was a lot of work. Never made any sort of tiered cake before.

As a recap, it was vanilla buttermilk cake with mango curd filling and swiss buttercream frosting. Couldn't have done it without the smitten kitchen advice and recipes.

We learned soo much in the process. A couple key things: 1) don't try and make swiss buttercream while standing beside a boiling pot of water, under halogen lights, when it's hot outside. it won't work. 2) live close to a grocery store so you can get there quickly when you run out of ingredients.

Wedding guest

2009-05-30T15:27:00.004-04:00

I bought this Max & Cleo dress today to wear to my mom's wedding. My sister's wearing a black satin-ish, strapless dress.

I didn't buy it online but I did come across the photo here.

Holly Stalder does it again

2009-05-27T08:28:00.005-04:00

Saw this on Etsy this morning. Seriously. Beautiful.
I posted about another one of Holly's designs in this post.

The Canary Dress in Layered Silk Chiffon can be found on Etsy... here. Photos from the listing.

Lots happening

2009-05-25T09:33:00.004-04:00

A couple things.

My friend MB and I pretty much made a wedding cake this weekend (but for a wedding shower). Can't wait to share the pictures! What a hit! But oooh the struggle.
Did you know my mom is getting married 2 weeks from now in the backyard? Beautiful!! (Shh don't tell her I told you)

Amsale Bridesmaid

2009-05-22T07:55:00.004-04:00

I really like Amsale's recent bridesmaid collection. Beautiful! However, I have no idea what price range they're in? Anyone know?

The dress above can be found here.

Non-bridal shop

2009-05-19T22:36:00.007-04:00

My sis found this dress at a store in Toronto. Really cute option at a great price -- plus no ordering, alterations, etc. Niiice.

Please excuse the cell phone quality pics but I wanted to share anyway.

On etsy

2009-05-18T09:14:00.005-04:00

Love this dress and shrug by Holly Stalder. Take a look at her etsy shop and website for the rest of her collection.

Photo from the listing.

Cake trial

2009-05-17T19:31:00.015-04:00

Next weekend, I'll be helping my friend with the dessert menu for a wedding shower she is hosting. Right now we're thinking of making one small-ish cake along with French macarons (I made them once before and mentioned them here).

After looking through a bunch of different recipes, I chose a wedding cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I love following her posts because she has great photos and lots of detail to go along with the recipes.

For a practice run, I made two very small vanilla buttermilk cakes with swiss buttercream and strawberries. Jesse and I had a taste after dinner and it was delicious! I would definitely recommend these recipes for anyone adventurous/brave enough to try a homemade wedding cake.

All dressed up

2009-05-14T17:04:00.013-04:00

I came across some pics today of our wedding venue, the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum, all done up for different events. Excited face!

You can find more photos and info at the museum's Facebook fan page.

chardonnay. wedding bustier.

2009-05-13T16:47:00.004-04:00

Found this on Etsy this morning by entering "chiffon" in the search box. Definitely a unique twist on the wedding gown. It is a strapless wedding corset paired with the seller's "vintage slip wedding skirt"... made by bustle. You can find the listing here. Beauty!

Photos from bustle.

Trying on dresses - part 3

2009-05-13T07:19:00.004-04:00

These two dresses are adorable. But we didn't get the names/designers... so right now they're in a mystery category.

Trying on dresses - part 2

2009-05-13T07:09:00.007-04:00

The next set we looked at were a couple of Dessy Collection and Dessy After Six dresses. These look great, are priced reasonably, and are available in lots of different colours.

Trying on dresses - part 1

2009-05-12T19:09:00.015-04:00

So the place my sis and I spent most of our time in on Saturday was Ritch é Bridal in Toronto. The first dress D tried on was an Enzoani "Love" dress. We both really liked it... but now after a couple days, we're not so sure it's #1. Hard to say at this point. Looking online, I think I prefer the less-metallic version (shown in green below).

What do you think?

PS Check out the cute jackets... they would be a nice addition for an October wedding.

Pics 1, 2, and 4 from here and the 3rd pic is of my sister taken by me.

Dresses, rain, and baseball

2009-05-10T22:46:00.007-04:00

I had a lovely two days in Toronto this weekend. My sis and I had a successful trip looking at bridesmaid dresses. We even had a chance to check out Fashion Crimes which The Professional Bridesmaid suggested. I'll share our experiences and photos this week.

Here's a funny story: After a day full of rain, it finally cleared up. Then, as we were walking down the street, an awning full of water dumped out on me!!! I was soaked with dirty rain/roof water. My sister stayed dry. At first she thought someone threw a bucket of water on me from an apartment window. lol. All you can do is laugh in these situations right? So even though that little experience put an end to our shopping day... we had lots of fun leading up to it. Later on we met up with Jesse for sushi at Yamato and went to Star Trek (I found some dry clothes first).

Today, Jesse and I decided to be Toronto tourists for an hour and tour the Rogers Centre. Jesse is a huge baseball fan so it was a fun little thing to do before we headed out to visit family for mother's day. We had so much fun!! Since it was a weekend with no game today, we got to check out almost every area of the stadium including the dugouts and field. Fun!

All Modern Bowl

2009-05-09T06:51:00.006-04:00

In the end of April I entered one of Vintage Glam's giveaways and I won! So I just wanted to say a big thank you to Amanda over at Vintage Glam Weddings. The bowl arrived yesterday and it is adorable. It is designed by Emma Silvestris who is a jewelry designer but also has a line of housewares over at All Modern.

Today I am heading to Toronto to begin the official bridesmaid dress search with my sister. I'm also taking my wedding dress to a specialty dry cleaner/gown preservation place, since it was a sample and needs a little clean.

Photos taken by me.

Hôtel Bourg Tibourg

2009-05-02T13:12:00.018-04:00

In May 2008, Jesse and I took a trip to Paris to see the sights and visit my family. Most of our time was spent at my dad's place outside of the city, but for a couple days we splurged on a nice hotel right in Paris. If anyone is looking for honeymoon suggestions, Paris would definitely be a great place to visit (#1 on Trip Advisor's Best Romantic Vacations list)... although you probably don't need Trip Advisor to tell you that.

Anyway, I was just reminicsing and remembered how great our hotel was. Hôtel Bourg Tibourg is a boutique hotel in the Marais neighbourhood of Paris. The rooms are small, but they were very clean and cozy. The hotel is decorated uniquely, has super friendly staff, and is in a great location near lots of shopping, sights, and good food. I would definitely recommend it for honeymooners looking for a city-stay in Paris. The price is a bit high so we wouldn't have necessarily stayed there for our entire stay.

Top left picture was the view from our room, taken by me. Hotel room picture from here, but it looks just like the room we were in. Bottom two pictures taken by Jesse of the lower-level breakfast room and the view from the street.

PS "Hotel Bourg Tibourg" is fun to say.

Following the fashion

2009-04-30T12:26:00.010-04:00

Ladies, Bottega Veneta dress on mega sale at the Outnet.com. How could you pass on the 50% off deal?

Oh wait. Still $2000.

the Outnet.com sells designer clothing and accessories at outlet prices. Although many of the top designers are still way out of my price range, there may be the occasional product to keep an eye on. It's a nicely designed web site too (in my non-expert opinion).

Be sure to check out the section called "investment buys". I assume this is where shoppers can justify the $3000 trench coat and $2000 cocktail dress.

PS I still think the dress is absolutely gorgeous despite the steep pricetag.

Nearly 5

2009-04-29T19:17:00.005-04:00

We are nearing the 5 month mark! Love it.

Caterer. Check

2009-04-27T21:55:00.004-04:00

We confirmed with our caterer last week: Dana Shortt Gourmet. She is so professional and organized so I really look forward to having her a part of our wedding. Yay! We did a lot of research in the catering realm so I'm really confident with this decision.

Photo from ulterior epicure on Flickr.

Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner

2009-04-23T19:58:00.010-04:00

Another venue we considered was Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. It is open during the day for lunch but on evenings and weekends, it turns into a beautiful event space. The menu they offer is inspired by Jamie Kennedy's local food philosophy. I talked with the venue event staff briefly and they were very helpful, friendly, and had lots of information and resources to share.

photo from End User on Flickr

How to host a cocktail wedding reception? (part 2)

2009-04-22T17:39:00.008-04:00

Okay, I don't know the answer to this question yet. I first brought up the subject of a cocktail wedding reception back in January, which also led me to my love for the lounge area. The jury is still out on the lounge area, only because furniture rental in our area isn't too practical. We'll see though...

In the past few months we have gathered lots of information on catering and the different ways to host the meal part of a wedding. For the record, we've decided on our caterer, but just haven't signed on the dotted line yet.

Here are some thoughts to keep in mind if you're thinking of having the hors d'oeuvres/stand-up type wedding reception.

What time are you getting married?

The time of your reception may signal to your guests how to prepare for the night (should they eat something first? or can they expect lots of dinner equivalent food?). If your reception begins over the dinner hour (this might be 5 or 10 pm, depending on where you live!), then you would probably want to serve enough food to be a "dinner replacement". If your reception is later in the evening, then maybe you would choose to serve more of a "light appetizer" selection. Up to you!

How about costs?

In some cases, the passed appetizer option works out to the same cost as a sit-down meal. This will likely depend on the types of food you choose, how many staff your caterer need, timing, etc.

What type of atmosphere are you trying to create?

The type of party you want to have and the venue you choose will probably point you in one direction or the other. Our venue is a fun, open space, and we think the cocktail reception fits perfectly.

So... based on all of the above, we have chosen to go for the cocktail, stand-up type reception. I use the term stand-up loosely, as we will definitely have lots of places for people to sit and rest their feet.

Here's another pic of our venue, just for fun.

PS any thoughts on the whole stand-up vs sit-down dinner debate?

Some links:

Advice on fitting in the seating area
A little bit about a late-evening ceremony followed by a cocktail reception
Budget friendly Cocktails and Hors D'oeuvres
Hors d'oeuvre, canapé

A little something about fitness

2009-04-21T12:30:00.009-04:00

I've briefly mentioned my interest in triathlon before. Living in Canada, the triathlon season is unfortunately short (compared to those lucky ducks in California and Florida). That being said, as a first-timer last summer I did pretty well (training/racing from June to September).

I am slowly building the motivation to start training harder now that the weather is warming up and the daylight is increasing. Trust me, going to the pool at 6 am in the face of icy roads and feet of snow is not easy... or fun.

I used sweat365 to track my workouts last year and found it really helpful. It's a great way to analyze what your workouts look like by the week, month, and year. Logging in now (after a long hiatus) I came across a summary of 2008. I'm impressed by the stats!! I'm hoping to exceed this for 2009 and to continue through the winter as best I can.

It seems like lots of brides- and grooms-to-be are interested in fitness and diet... especially as you near the wedding day. Something like sweat365 may be a fun way to track how you're doing and look back on your accomplishments. Whatdya think? Do you guys and gals use any other fitness-tracking applications?

these stats are mainly from the months june-september 2008

june-sept 2008

Local Bridal

2009-04-19T22:59:00.005-04:00

Driving through Forest Hill today in Toronto, I noticed Hoa Bridal. I did some research when I got home and learned that brides can choose from their sample collection or custom order. Lovely designs (and... currently having a sample sale)!

Hello

2009-04-16T10:12:00.010-04:00

Wedding planning these days has been sparse.

We have lots of other things going on… like… going to work, watching Lost, playing Rhythm Heaven, and picking up furniture. One other item that is high priority for me right now is preparing for my designation exam coming up in early May. Certified Human Resources Professional here I come.

We are hoping to firm things up with our caterer ASAP. As soon as we do that I will share the beginnings of all of our foodie plans! Once we have a contract in place with the caterer we will move on with more decor decisions.

In the meantime, have you seen pacing the panic room?

Oh and for a little Canadian Content, have you been to Little Thoughts? Very cute Toronto-based-style-blog.

Photo of Yulanda from Little Thoughts, used with her permission.

le macaron

2009-04-12T20:04:00.015-04:00

I mentioned earlier that I would love to learn how to make the French macaron. I thought this weekend would be a good opportunity since we were having a little Easter get together today and I could bring them as a dessert contribution.

I spent Saturday morning investigating recipes and gathering ingredients and equipment. I literally devoted at least 8 hours to these stupid little "round cakes". I tried two recipes: one from Martha Stewart and one from the Gourmet cookbook that The Gourmet Project had posted.

In hindsight, they're not terribly difficult to make with a little baking experience... but they are very sensitive little rascals. So don't try to cut corners (like I did - when around batch 2.5 I got frustrated and a little careless leading to more macaron batter in the garbage).

My best macaron advice:

don't you dare get even the tiniest bit of yolk in your egg whites
watch your little cookies like a hawk, because they will burn the second you turn your back

Martha's recipe was great and I really liked the shape the cookies took once finished. I added a bit of "burgundy" food colouring to make them light pink. They were adorable, but I unfortunately burned about 95% of the batch.

The Gourmet recipe was chocolate and they looked and tasted great. The chocolate recipe was the last batch I made so I was pretty much a professional by this point.

And that's that. Jesse and I took these pictures and my macaron debuted to rave reviews.

PS Martha says (in this video) that making the French almond macaron is as simple as can be. haha okay.

Will you marry me

2009-04-10T12:23:00.003-04:00

Jesse loves Improv Everywhere so I thought I'd share the Will You Marry Me? video we watched the other day. Watch as real life husband and wife set up a proposal on the subway.

Maldives

2009-04-09T16:16:00.010-04:00

To set my honeymoon expectations at the ultimate height of unrealistic, I choose Maldives. The Maldive Islands are a group of islands southwest of Sri Lanka.

A quick search of flight + hotel reveals week long trips costing approximately four or five thousand per person. Eeps! Then how do you eat?

Anyway, although beyond our honeymoon budget, it's still fun to imagine. Some more realistic honeymoon ideas for us right now range from Hawaii to Northern Ontario. In the end (or beginning in this case)... all that actually matters is to find a beautiful place to relax and hang out as h and w.

Photo of a resort on the Maldives from Flickr by romsrini

44 places to go in 2009

2009-04-08T14:05:00.005-04:00

Jesse and I have been doing a lot more honeymoon daydreaming than wedding planning these days. Time to get down to business I guess, in light of passing the 6 month mark.

I did however, just come across a post on Apartment Therapy referring to the New York Times 44 places to go in 2009. Looks like some good honeymoon inspiration! You can also filter the places by categories like luxury, frugal, culture, etc. Maremma, Italy pictured below is number 11 on the list.

Photo from Flickr.

Just a wee 6 months

2009-04-07T18:29:00.007-04:00

We are now 6 months minus a few days away from being married. Yay!

Photo found on Flickr from gruntzooki.

Here come the brides

2009-04-01T12:38:00.010-04:00

I want to do one half-marathon in 2009, and ideally by the end of the summer or early fall. Is it a bad idea to run my half-marathon one week before the wedding? haha Okay, okay, maybe I'll find one 2-3 weeks before the wedding instead.

I promise not to wear my dress while running the race.

Photos found on Flickr of the 2008 Here Come the Brides race by chip's not dead yet.

Nice shots

2009-04-01T07:18:00.004-04:00

Refreshing wedding photos over at The Bride's Cafe today (Nancy&Adam). Go check it out.

Photo from The Bride's Cafe real weddings.

Cool

2009-03-29T21:32:00.003-04:00

Came across Etsy seller Pom Love via lillyella uniquely you. I like the pistachio colour.

Photo from Pom Love.

Wedding films

2009-03-28T08:31:00.006-04:00

It seems like "fine art" wedding films have become very popular these days. Which I'm sure is an improvement from what wedding videos used to look like. Despite all the talented wedding filmmakers out there... many of them will still let a little cheesiness creep in there (but cheesiness is really subjective opinion right?).

Anyway, my point is this. Stillmotion photo + cinema creates beautiful wedding films. I love watching what they come up with on their blog. It's also awesome that they are a Canadian company and I have fun picking out their shooting locations, venues, etc. (they are available internationally, though). Here are some recent highlight clips. Enjoy!

Michelle + John Highlights from StillMotion on Vimeo.

Tiffany + Ryan Highlights // Jamaica from StillMotion on Vimeo.

"Your responsibilities will increase. But your love and joy will be multiplied..."

Ladurée

2009-03-26T17:51:00.006-04:00

Looking at these pictures, I'm a little regretful for never going into a Ladurée shop in Paris. Homemade macaroons would be fun to incorporate into a wedding.

Images from bhamsandwich on Flickr.

Tacky Weddings

2009-03-24T20:38:00.006-04:00

A friend of mine sent me here today. And why hadn't I been to Tacky Weddings before?

Image via Tacky Weddings.

Solid First Dance

2009-03-20T18:20:00.011-04:00

I have been feeling wedding uninspired this week but then I came across this video on YouTube. Here's what I love about it: it is not cheesy, both the groom and bride have some serious dancing skills, and of course, the tight choreography. I was a competitive dancer for a big part of my life so seeing this kind of choreographed thing warms my little heart. So there you go. Please watch.

Bridesmaid Style

2009-03-18T17:12:00.017-04:00

My sis showed me these bridesmaid dresses yesterday! Très belle.

Images via Jim Hjelm. Dresses 1 and 2 from Spring 2009 collection and dress 3 via Fall 2008.

Caterer

2009-03-18T11:43:00.003-04:00

Looking forward to talking food with a potential caterer on Friday.

Image via smcgee on Flickr.

Flowers in Fall

2009-03-15T12:54:00.011-04:00

According to about.com, in-season fall flowers include aster, chrysanthemum, dahlia, marigold, statice, and zinnia.

Images via Green Heat, Aunt Owwee, and Satrina0, all on Flickr.

I need to find this girl

2009-03-12T20:36:00.004-04:00

I know I would like someone to do my makep for the wedding. Problem is, most times I've done this as a bridesmaid or elsewhere, my face ends becoming shiny way too fast (I definitely appreciated the $10,000 wedding post on the subject). The only professional makeup artist who has been able to pick the right colours for me and managed to keep my face totally matte is this girl pictured. For my friend Jenny's bachelorette, we had the pre-party at a MAC makeup store on Bloor. She did such a fabulous job, and the makeup lasted beautifully all night! Maybe I should track her down.

Love this

2009-03-12T17:06:00.011-04:00

Go see the original post at Green Wedding Shoes. Beautiful photos. Beautiful wedding.

Photo via Green Wedding Shoes .

Simple Silhouettes

2009-03-10T16:55:00.013-04:00

I can really appreciate the simplicity and quality design provided by Simple Silhouettes for bridesmaid dresses. Now I can't speak for their wearability (post wedding) but my guess is that they would be wearable? Who knows, really. I have yet to see a bridesmaid wear her dress any other time than the wedding. Please share if you do know such a wearable dress!

Here are some of my favourite Simple Silhouettes dresses that are conveniently available at select Canadian retailers and online. You can find them in Canada at White Toronto and Frocks in Calgary and Vancouver. This reminded me of The Professional Bridesmaid's post on a new dress shop in Toronto, which conveniently, she posted about today. I'm psychic! I'm going to keep an eye on Cynthia Martyn Bridesmaids now.

Images are the following dresses, all via Simple Silhouettes. Violet, Magnolia, Aster, Iris, Angelica, Sweet Pea.

Hello from the capital!

2009-03-09T19:59:00.003-04:00

I'm in Ottawa for a couple days this week. I've only been here once before so it was nice to walk around today after work and check out the city. As a bonus I got the chance to meet our wedding photographer for the first time. Photography was one of the first decisions we made. It was important to find a quality photographer with a photojournalistic approach. Mission accomplished. We're super excited to have Blair Gable as our photographer. It was also great to meet him face-to-face today. Go check out his pictures so you can stop looking at my BlackBerry-taken photo of the Centre Block at Parliament Hill.

Vintage Wedding

2009-03-07T11:05:00.008-05:00

In 2007 we had a surprise 50th anniversary party for my grandparents. For the event, my mom scanned in a few of their wedding photos to use for different keepsakes or at the party. I remember seeing these pictures at my grandparents' house when I was a little kid and still love looking at them now.

Handsome couple aren't they?

Here they are at the party with my sister:

Moo Invites

2009-03-06T06:34:00.007-05:00

Isn't this a cute invitation suite? I came across it while looking for pictures of The Drake. The couple used Moo for the whole thing! Check out their story here.

Images from hfabulous photostream on Flickr.

Wedding at The Drake Hotel

2009-03-05T20:53:00.021-05:00

Let me say this. The Drake hotel is a pretty cool place to host an event, stay, have brunch, party, etc. They virtually have a room for everything (including Toronto International Film Festival events). When I came across their impressive website and event options, I was completely intrigued. Jesse and I investigated further about having our wedding there. Really, it would have been pretty cool. Realistically, it would have taken us over our ideal price limit.

So we didn't. But that doesn't mean I can't share it, because I still think fondly about it. Also, I thought their customer service (from the events staff) was stellar and they had a great-looking menu.

PS to save some money, you could probably have a fun daytime wedding in their Sky Yard complete with brunch and mimosas. That'd be worth looking into.

Image of the Sky Yard at The Drake Hotel by bk dauphin on Flickr.

Lights part trois

2009-03-04T16:57:00.008-05:00

I came across this photo today at A Tale of Two Brides where Victory Bird featured her wedding photographer.

I love the idea of using lighting (or other decor) to mark the ceremony seating and aisle instead of flowers or a traditional "~~red~~ white carpet". Now whether it's budget friendly or not, that's yet to be determined.

Image by Alea Moore, found here.

Blog Award

2009-03-04T16:52:00.005-05:00

I know this is a bit late, but just wanted to say thanks to Krista at Canadian Bride for nominating me for this lovely little blog award.

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.”

How to get married in France

2009-02-28T12:42:00.013-05:00

After too long, I finally transferred files from my old laptop to my current computer. I rediscovered a great collection of photos I haven't seen for a while. One set was from when my dad got married in 2005. The civil ceremony was at a town hall in France followed by an intimate reception of about 40 people in a town just outside of Versailles. The photo below is of Domaine du Verbois, the chateau where the reception was held. Looking back, it was a pretty special wedding/location/weekend.

The day after the wedding, I went with my aunt and uncle to explore Fontainebleau and Versailles.

Photos taken by me in Neauphle-Le-Chateau and Fontainebleau, France.

Lights part deux

2009-02-26T14:41:00.002-05:00

I love these. Where can we find them in Canada?

Image via kaboodle.

Lights

2009-02-25T12:01:00.014-05:00

I came across these lights today at not on the high street.

The cherry blossoms and fairy lights (plus international shipping) are a bit cost-ineffective for us. But they're still fun to look at right? My decor obsession is definitely lighting (maybe because we're not allowed real candles at the venue).

Photos via the links above.