1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12!

That’s right - I just quoted Sesame’s Street!  It’s the infamous counting song.  Why, you may ask?  Well, Monday was our 12 year dating anniversary.  Yup, yup, you read right - 12 years, half of which was long distance.  I must say, it hasn’t been easy, but it’s definitely possible.

We went out for dinner over the weekend and reminisced about our first date - it was a blind date at a Chinese buffet on the south shore.   Then, a couple months later, we officially started dating.  I still remember Pat buying me a mini stuffed frog from a vending machine in the lobby of the restaurant, while we were waiting for his parents to pick us up and drop me off at home.  Yup - in those days, Pat didn’t have his licence just yet - he got it shortly after actually.

All that to say, so much has changed and yet so much is still the same.  We’ve both matured as individuals and as a couple.  And now, in less than 4 months, we’re going to be husband and wife.  It gives me chills just writing it!  m.

Hello? ... tap... tap... Is anyone still out there?

 hello?  anyone out there?

Happy Valentine’s day!  And... I’m back!  Is anyone still out there?  It’s been a busy two weeks, so you will have to excuse the non-existent posting.

Quite a few things have happened - we had our cake tasting and it was AMAZING!  (Thanks, again Michelle!)  We had our alcohol tasting and it was AMAZING!  (Hee hee, thanks, Jelly!)  We’ve tweaked a few things, but we’ll keep the details a surprise.   All I can say is that our cake will be delicious and our signature drinks will knock you out.

wish we were there...  right in between those palm trees...

We’re still furiously house hunting, so that is contributing to our busy-ness.  In addition, we’re now actively researching honeymoon locations.  It’s tough because Pat and I have visited quite a few places and we’d like to choose somewhere that’s new to the both of us.  There are a few contenders - Barbados and Turks & Caicos being some of them.

 
So with all of this going on and with the wedding date being almost 4 months away (exactly 4 months and 5 days away, or 124 days - it’s still coming fast no matter how you say it), it was time to start delegating.  But first, we had to figure out our to-do list.  As expected, it was long.  Even after we knocked off a few items, it was still long... detailed, and somewhat painful.

sure feels like that’s our to-do list!

For now, we’ve delegated a few items.  It was definitely not easy to give them up, since some were things that I really wanted to do myself (for example, the favors, the scrapbook/guest book, honeymoon research...) but they needed to be outsourced.  Although Pat and I are still getting involved in them somewhat, we had to let go and start trusting others with them.  Not easy for me for some items (I’m not a total control freak, but you know when you have a vision?); alas, I will have to live with it.

So that’s my update!  Anyone else have a crazy busy two weeks???  m. 

"Dreams feel real while we're in them..."

"...  It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange."  Cobb, from the movie Inception.

Pat and I finally watched the movie Inception this weekend.  And I'm beginning to think that maybe someone is trying to pull an Inception on me.  A few nights ago, I dreamed that I had cut off all of my hair super short, like the old school bowl haircut.

  

Kind of like this, but less glamorous!

My makeup was crazy - almost clown like.  The wedding was less than a few days away.  I was in horror and completely regretted my haircut... I was panicking. why did I cut my hair?  And my junior bridesmaid kept telling me, it's ok, it's ok...  Thank goodness it was a dream!

Not sure what this all means... maybe because I have not done a hair trial yet?  Nevertheless, it definitely reminded me of how wacky dreams can be.  Let's hope that this will be the last of them!

In other news, we're currently in the throes of invitation designing.  And it's exciting!  I can't wait to see what the final product will look like...  We're trying to keep it modern, but Asian inspired for sure, as well as somehow incorporate the whole under the stars and Chinese garden feel.  How come I don't dream about fantastic wedding invitation designs???  m.

Don’t Panic, Just...

 

 source

The poster above was produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of World War II.  It was intended to raise the morale of the British public under the threat of impending invasion.  It was only recently that the poster was rediscovered and used as a decorative item for a range of products.  (Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On)

Anyway, the reason I used this image is because I had a (minor) freak out over the holidays.  In between all the eating, and family and friend visits (which seems somewhere far off in the distance now), I was able to have some time to look through wedding tasks.  The item that is always on my radar is the budget and the guest list - two key elements.

Pat and I save our electronic stuff in a shared online server, specifically, www.dropbox.com.  We’ve been using it for awhile now, even before the wedding planning began.  It’s great - I upload something, and then he can view it and even download a copy to his computer.  It was pretty useful when he was in Toronto also.  Very reliable.  So now, we’re using it primarily for wedding planning.

You are probably guessing what happened next.  I was going to check up on the budget, to see how things were shaping up, what could I update, and yup, somehow, that day, I opened up the dropbox folder and almost everything was gone.  I thought... hmmm... I know Pat was updating his computer... maybe he removed the files...  which still doesn’t make any sense.  I didn’t panic.  But I called Pat right away since he was at his parents' place.

Mel: Hi.
Pat: Hi.
Mel: Ummmm have you looked at the dropbox lately?
Pat: No, not really.  I’ve been cleaning out my computer.
Mel: Yeah.  That’s what I thought.  Ummmm... (I am trying to find a non accusatory tone at this point).  I can’t find any of our files.  Our wedding files.
Pat: What?
Mel: Yeah.
Pat: Wait, let me check.  (shuffling occurs on the other line).  *$&%^ everything’s gone!  WTF?!

Moments passed, and Pat was searching for an undo function.  He checked the history.  It was quite strange.  Meanwhile, I was pacing up and down the hall with my phone in my hand.  The line was silent.  Luckily, after moments of torture, Pat finally found a function that restored everything and slowly we got everything back.  I immediately copied all the files to my Mac for backup.  And we changed our password, just in case.  Whew!  
 

Then, a couple weeks later, I had the strangest dream.  It was my first wedding related dream.  I dreamt that I was walking up the aisle, my dress was a little different from the one I choose, but that didn’t seem to bother me.  When I looked down at my feet, I noticed that my shoes were these big red clunky pleather flats, kind of like these 

 

source

Don’t get me wrong - I love me some compfy flats.  But these were obviously not my wedding shoes.  And this was precisely when I began to lose it.  I was freaking out and asking my MOH, where are my shoes?!  These are not my wedding shoes!

Thank goodness it was a dream.  My first wedding related dream...  Interesting that it was about shoes! m.

Let's Get Married... part deux

Hi blog followers... as you've already observed Mel owns like 90% of the blog entries... so I figured I should stop slacking and put in my two cents.

The following are my thoughts regarding Salon Marions-Nous.

This one-stop shop wedding exposition was filled with all sorts of vendors for every aspect of wedding planning: transportation, hotels, venues/rental halls, caterers, decor, photography, bridal shops, suits/tuxedoes companies, and even gift registries.  To the newly initiated (aka first time goers) I can definitely see how one can feel overwhelmed by the bombardment of information. 

As you may have expected, I wasn't really looking forward to attending such expositions, but I figured I should attend at least one.  Lucky for me 1) Mel's been to a few of these shows in the last year and has become a veteran as to how to approach the exposition in a time efficient manner; 2) because a lot of things for our wedding have already been taken care of (church, venue, catering, DJ, photography) - we were able to bypass a lot of vendors without much hassle.

As Mel has already covered most of the practical tips for attending the expositions, the following is more to help out the helpless grooms who are dragged by the fiances.

1) Bring a backpack!

These expositions need to attend a SAVE the PLANET seminar because they waste so much paper printing flyers with little information on them.  That being said, it would be wise to bring a back pack or tote bag to stuff all the papers into.  I opted to bring my back pack that has loops with clips on it.  This came in handy to hang all the bags that that we received while we were there.  (If you have carabiner clips, these come in handy too).

2) A recycling bag is not a bad idea.
It's useless to try and argue with a vendor that you don't want their pamphlet because one way or another it finds its way into your bag.  Perhaps a solution is to keep a separate plastic bag on you to recycle the unwanted flyers and ditch these on your way out of the exposition.

3) Sign up for gift registries on site.
A lot of stores that are present have incentives if you register with them at the exposition.  Also the note that Mel wrote about getting a separate email account is also very helpful when signing up for things.  Just note that you should try and keep the email address short and simple.  Ours is simple but rather long and I ended up with hand cramps a few times.

 

 

4) Enter the hall with a plan of action. 
It's unrealistic to think that you can visit, plan and execute every aspect of your wedding in one afternoon.  If you can, kudos to you... you're not normal!  In our case, because we already took care of various aspects of the wedding we were mainly interested in suit rental places and decor.  This made our trek up and down the aisles more efficient and we didn't feel too overwhelmed and bombarded by the cornucopia of vendors.

With these tips, hopefully you'll survive the Salon Marions-Nous.

- P

Let’s Get Married

All the oldies out there will know the song that the title refers to is by Jagged Edge:

“Meet me at the alter in your white dress
We ain't gettin no younger we might as well do it
Been feelin' you all the while girl and I must confess
Lets get married”  

source

Here's the YouTube link for the young ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF8IaExPv7s

Anyway, the reason for this title is that this past weekend was Let’s Get Married’s Grand Salon Marions-Nous exposition at Place Bonaventure. http://www.marionsnous.ca/.  It’s a huge hall where hundreds of different companies set up their kiosks to display what they can offer you for your wedding day.

My maid of honor (MOH), my best man and our flower girl’s mom joined us when we went already last year, so were not going to go again this year.  However, we got free tickets so decided to go again.  Free is a very uncommon thing when it comes to weddings!  This time around, it was my MOH, best man, Pat and myself off to check out the show.  He actually survived!  I guess I mentally prepared him.

 

maybe I should get this for Pat...

The salon is a great start for brides to get ideas from.  There’s a fashion show of wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, tuxedos, suits...  It’s also a super crowded event, with tons of people so it’s recommended that you wear a light coat, comfortable shoes, and bring snacks and water.  Oh, and your fiancé - he’ll come in handy when the bags get too heavy.  And he’ll be helpful when speaking to vendors, too, of course.  Others have also suggested that you create a separate email address for signing up to contests and even making labels with your name and contact info so that you don’t have to write it out each time you enter your names in a draw.

The best part is really all the freebies or “swag”.  You get free magazines, tote bags and other goodies.  I think it’s worth it to go just to get the free wedding magazines, considering if you were to buy them at a bookstore, they are well over the ticket price of the salon.  The event can be very overwhelming though, especially if you are already stressed about planning!  

Any body out there have other tips for future brides and grooms attending these salons? m.

A Super (Ring) Bowl

Happy New Year everyone!  

 personal photo - waving sparklers at the stroke of midnight

Sorry for the delay in posting.  The holidays were busy - they quickly came and went!  I was back to work on Monday.  Which also means back to wedding planning and blogging!   

Today's topic - ring bowls.  The first time I saw a ring bowl, I loved it.  For those who don’t know what it is, it is an alternative for a ring pillow.

 source

Since we are not having a little ring bearer, this would be perfect for our best man to have with him.  Of course, it costs $38 US.  Hmmm... for clay and string?  I don't see Pat agreeing to this expense.  I asked... He said no.

So it was time for me to put on my crafty hat.  And to do some research online.  Someone MUST have tried to make it themselves at some point.  And of course - someone did!

It was actually not too hard - I ended up testing several different air dry clays and buying stamps from the $1 store.  Ribbon too.  It did take a few tries but I love it.  Plus, we can use this after the wedding too - we can put our rings in it before going to bed... we can hang it on our Christmas tree...  The best part is the fact that I made it myself and it only cost me a few dollars!

Here it is in all its glory.

 personal photo

Please excuse the lighting.  As you can see, I kept it simple - just our wedding date.  In the picture, I attached my engagement ring.  On the wedding day, we'll add our wedding bands and the whole thing will be placed in a deep blue velvet pouch.

I can't wait to get glamour shots of my hard work!  m.