Offers: Round 3, Part 2

Here comes more offers...

OFFICIANTS:

 We have had a few offers of officiants, and have not chosen one yet. We have a friend who I was really hoping would be able to do the job for us (Hi, Kim!), but we have to see if that can happen yet…paperwork, blah blah blah. We want a pretty unique ceremony, and some pretty unique officiants have come forward…

Alan Viau has offered his services. Alan has a blog, weddingchaplain.wordpress.com that I suggest you check out. Alan books up way in advance, so if you’re thinking of booking him, act fast. (Just don’t take our date…whatever that ends up being!) Alan, we are so grateful for your offer and you know we’ll be in touch.

David Clemis has offered his services; he works with All Seasons Weddings, known for their handfastings (which we want). David is able to waive the majority of this officiant fee, making his fee only $150 for us. David, thank you so much for the offer. It’s very kind of you and we greatly appreciate it. While Brian and I have discussed the offer and currently cannot say yes to it, due to the fact that a) we have an important job with this project, in sticking with the rules ourselves, and b) we cannot currently budget for the fee…we are still very honored and find it hard to turn down an offer from a business known for its handfastings. David, thank you so much!

Rob Dale is our third offer. We’ll talk a bit more about Rob in the ‘venues’ blurb. Rob is the pastor for the Ottawa Biker’s Church. I have more to say about this, but in the interest of keeping organized, I’ll do most of my rambling when we cover venues. Let me just say: Rob, when we read your offer, I laughed out loud with glee. The wonderful idea of getting married at the Biker’s Church just tickled me in the best way. Since our mantra for this wedding is, “I acknowledge tradition; I just like to muck it up”, your offer seems very appropriate.

CAKE/CUPCAKES:

For those following posts this week, I think it’s safe to say, we’ve chosen our cake maker. Isabelle Crowe is a local cake-making genius. She shared the recently she came to the realization that she is destined to share her cakes with people, free-of-charge. Well we are so glad this is the case, and that Isabelle found us and wanted to share with us. Isabelle’s cakes are beautiful, original, and FUN—we are soooo happy you found us, Isabelle. We are still chatting with Isabelle about what she’ll make, and what size, as we have some other offers for cake-type things, and to avoid overtaxing any one baker, we may mix and match for the big day, or ask one of the bakers to make a cake for the engagement party, instead. But Isabelle, you have been such a sweetheart over the last week, and such a devout champion for us, that between your spirit and your beautiful cake designs, we are incredibly honored to have you make our wedding cake. Thank you so very very much.

Here are a couple of Isabelle's cakes:

We have offers from a couple other bakers, but we’re going to hold off sharing these until we chat with them a little further. This is to avoid confusion; we’d hate to misrepresent what people are offering, or put them in an awkward spot. Rest assured, we will let you know as soon as we get it worked out.

DRESSES:

Okay, so I feel we need to recap the dress offers thus far:

-My aunt Heather offered her dress.

-My mom offered my grandma’s dress from her second marriage.

-My cousin Sue offered the loan of her dress (I had a good laugh, Sue; you’re about as thick around as one of my legs. You sweet girl, you; thank you for thinking I’d ever fit in it.)

-Melanie Clement, Robb Kerr’s lovely girlfriend, offered her dress.

-This week, a woman named Tulin S. offered her lovely dress, and

-a woman named Karen Waters also offered her beautiful gown.

To my dismay, I have so far declined every offer. Every dress has been absolutely beautiful, and I have been in absolute awe of the number of women willing to share such a special item with another person. It’s so hard to turn any of these down, yet…I keep being told, seemingly by everyone I meet lately, that when I find the right dress, I’ll know it. I haven’t had that feeling yet, not even from the ones in the stores that I have tried on (though I’ll admit, we got pretty close that first day).

I have taken note, however, of the number of wedding dresses out there that people are willing to part with for the right cause, and I’m now going to be encouraging brides to donate to a couple of charities, if I decline the dress. There are a couple charities in the Ottawa area that will accept your wedding dress as a donation, and resell it at a very low price (estimated $300 and up) to new brides; the profit then goes to cancer research and care. There is a second one I’m researching that helps couples facing a terminal illness get married; I’m looking to see if they have need of dresses. I have offered, as a help, to pick up any of the dresses offered by brides to me, and if they’re not the one I end up wearing, I will take it over to the charity for them, to save them the trip and extra step.

I will write a post, soon, about dresses. It’s actually a good thing I didn’t write one sooner, as it turns out, my tastes have wildly changed since seeing what is out there. Until then, keep sending me your dress offers and I’ll let you know what I learn about the charities, and hey—maybe the right dress will be the very next offer.

I’m thankful to the deepest degree for your offers of dresses, ladies, and if you’ll let me collect your dress and bring it to a good cause, that’d be amazing, too.

JEWELRY:

The first offer I can highlight here (there’s a couple others pending) is from Frash Femme. Isobel at Frash Femme has offered to make an item for my bridal ensemble. I’m thinking, depending on the dress, something with pearls. We’re still encouraging more jewellery geniuses to step forward, especially those with edgy styles, as most of the potential wedding party is edgy and unconventional, with the exception of one young woman, and possibly the two moms.

On another note, Brian still needs a ring. We’ve decided, primarily for budgetary reasons, that my engagement ring is the only one I’ll have (it’s perfect though, and wide, so I don’t feel I’m losing out one bit), but Bri would like to have a ring, too, and I’m planning to oblige. Anyone know an independent goldsmith or jeweller they’d recommend? A favourite local shop?  Give us an email and let us know.