Mini-post: pompoms

We visited our friend Katie last week and brought along some help, and made a million pompoms. I'm only exaggerating slightly.

Katie works at The Candy Store, the same place that's providing us with our candy buffet for the reception. We love the Candy Store, and we especially love Katie; she is the most enthusiastic candy lover we have ever met, and she also loves Jane Austen, making her my immediate friend. Katie offered to teach us how to make tissue paper pompoms for the wedding, and months ago, we agreed. We then put off doing it 'til the last month so that we'd be able to store forty of these fluffy suckers in our art-room-turned-wedding-lair, thinking these things would be puffed up and filling the apartment like a new species of Tribbles. We did not realize that the pompoms would actually stay folded up until their arrival at the wedding venue, however, so I shake my head a little at our silliness. Regardless, the timing worked great, and the evening provided another opportunity to unwind while still being productive.

Tissue pompoms are deceptively pretty for being so easy to make. Katie showed Brian, Sir Tam, our friend Jo, and myself how to fold the tissue paper like a giant fan, cut the ends into curves or points, and tie a twist tie 'round the middle. Fluffing is then done by spreading apart the layers into two fans (see Brian's tie) and then separating out each little layer until the whole thing looks like a dahlia. On this crafting evening, however, our job was simply to fold, cut, and tie...all fluffing, like I said, is done on-site. Well, apparently my over-stressed brain just couldn't grasp that, and I kept fluffing the damn things open. After the fourth or fifth one, people started shouting at me and I'd hastily put the pompom down, often half-fluffed, bewildered with myself for not being able to follow the simple instructions. So at the end of the night, we had a giant bag full of neatly flat-folded pompoms waiting for our wedding...and about a half-dozen dahlia-esque fluffed poms that I'd accidentally made while on autopilot. Let's be fair, though, people: I've been so distracted lately that I forgot to put conditioner in my hair the other morning (even though I've followed the exact same shower routine for ten years), and almost put toothpaste in my hair instead of hair wax. Making a few pompoms is less ridiculous than toothpaste head.

Everyone had a great time, and James--Katie's hubby and all around cool guy--took photos, and even gave us three albums' worth of music from his band, Reverb Syndicate, to play during our reception. This is wonderful because good surf music can be hard to come by. (If anyone wants an easy wedding gift, I'd love hardcopies of Reverb's three CD's. Just sayin.)

We ate cupcakes, folded and folded, and ended up with twice the intended number of poms at the end. This is one of those little moments where I indulge in the happy thought that someone else will have to fluff these while I'm off getting dressed that day. Sorry, decorating crew! Thanks again, Katie, for a super fun evening and for providing us paper and your genius for the craft! We're certain the poms will be the highlight of our decor.

Proposals and rings: two stories.

Brian's wedding band, from Fable Designs; thank you, Magpie. xox

About a month ago, Brian’s ring finally came in at Magpie. If you’ve had your eye on the ‘No Brian Zone’, you know that the ring, given to us by Magpie Jewellery, was offered and accepted a while ago, but had to be made-to-order for his finger, which meant a fair wait. Magpie is my hands-down favourite jewellery store in the city, with super friendly staff, a wide array of brands, and the most contemporary styling available. That sounds like a plug, but I have loved this place for years and so it was really wonderful when they got involved with P:P. Anyway, I don’t know how I managed to keep it a secret (aside from sharing the news with thousands of strangers on the ‘No Brian Zone’, of course), but I did. I will even go so far as to say, I credit myself with having done a better job than Brian himself had done with keeping my engagement ring a surprise..which isn’t hard to top, as Brian left the receipt for my ring on the floor about two weeks before he gave me the ring. (For the record, I showed superhuman restraint that day and the moment I read the jeweller’s name at the top of the invoice, I folded it back up, pretended I’d just found it that moment, and handed it back to Brian while pretending I hadn’t opened it at all.)

Anyway, I knew Brian’s ring was on the way to Ottawa, and I knew I wanted to do something special for him. So the day it arrived, I picked it up from Magpie at the Rideau Centre and hurried home with it, and then I waited, impatiently, til after dinner, when I suggested we take a drive up to Gatineau Park. Gatineau is where Brian told me he loved me, later asked me out, and later proposed, so it seemed like the right place to go. The only thing was, I had to take him to the main lookout instead of the smaller one we usually go to, because it’s so dark down there that he’d never see the ring…and where’s the fun in that! So, up to Champlain lookout we went, about a half-hour drive on climbing, winding roads hugged by dense green forest, higher and higher up into the hills.

I remember that same drive, the day that Brian proposed. I was so certain he was going to pop the question, but never thought he’d do it up on the hill as I had told him long ago that, whatever the proposal was, it should be done with friends and family present. Short of having a group of loved ones meet us at the lookout, it didn’t seem likely that he’d propose up there. So I’d been able to relax, thinking that this was just another happy visit to our favourite nature spot, suspecting nothing.

But back to my story: we got out of the car that night, sprayed on some bug spray, and went to sit on the stone wall where you can see a phenomenal view of the city below. As usual, several groups of French teenagers were around, the lookout being a favourite place to hang out after dark. The day that Brian proposed, the usual gaggle of teens had been present as well and he’d tried so hard to wait for them to leave that I’d almost unwittingly ruined the whole proposal by demanding he take me somewhere warmer—Brian’s proposal was in October, on a crisp afternoon. I couldn’t wait ‘til October for my ring presentation, however, so we sat on the wall, in the dark, on a hot summer night, with rowdy youth and mosquitos providing the ambience. I laughed about it and pointed out that noisesome strangers seemed to be present at every special moment we shared. Brian laughed but didn’t get the hint, remaining oblivious to what I was about to do.

I remember that October afternoon, sitting in Brian’s arms and enjoying the day, when he suddenly suggested we get up and leave. I'd looked at him a little puzzled, and said sure, standing up and giving him one more hug before we headed out. That was when I felt his heart: it was pounding so hard, I could feel the pulsations with my hand against his chest, and could literally hear the beats from a distance. Immediately I began plotting out how to get him to the hospital from the middle of the woods, as obviously the boy was having a heart attack. While I was pondering the fastest route back to town, Brian began speaking and the words had a certain weight to them, a certain seriousness that doesn’t colour our usual chatter. He said he loved me, and he’d always loved me, and some other sweet things that were drowned out by the rush of blood in my ears as I realized what he was about to do…and deep down, a sad little voice said, but our friends and family  aren’t here! I shushed it, realizing in that moment that this was the best—no, the only place that Brian could and should ever do this. He got down on one knee and pulled out a little box, and said, “Just like I told your dad, I promise to love you and take care of you forever. Will you marry me, Jordan?”

I thought about that moment as we sat in the summer darkness, Brian’s new ring burning a hole in my pocket. I had him sit on the stone wall while I stood in front of him, and I thought of how eloquent he’d been that day, how he’d melted my heart with his avowals of love…and my mind went blank. I had no idea what I was going to say to him, now that it was my turn. I’d have a moment of inspiration, a tidbit of thought would fleet through my brain, and I’d say, “Okay,” aloud, followed by, “Oh, uh…oh,” as the thought would vanish again. And meanwhile, distracted by rowdy kids and mosquitoes, Brian was pretty much trying to get up and take me back to the car. The result was me, holding Brian down by the shoulders, and repeatedly muttering, “Okay…oh. Ohhhkaaaay….uh. Oh. Okay! Um.” Finally I held him in a hug for a moment, calmed myself down, and looked him in the eye.

“Brian,” I said, “I love you more than I can ever tell you. You are so special to me, and I’m so glad you found me. And just like I had you tell your mom, the first day she met me: no one past, present, or future loves you as much as I do.” I got down on one knee, pulled out the box, and said, “So I’d also like to ask you, will you marry me.” Brian smiled, and I slipped the ring onto his finger before he could see it, but he knew as he felt the unique soft finish of the metal…he looked down, saw that it was the ring from Magpie he’d been coveting for months, and choked up. I held him, kissing his messy hair, while he wept with sheer joy at this gift.

I should also note that Brian immediately said yes when I popped the question, and that during his proposal, I did not. In my defense, however, it wasn’t meant to be cruel; I’d simply been so shocked and amazed with him that the words in my brain hadn’t found their way out my mouth. Brian, down on one knee in the cold October mud, had had to startle me out of my stupor by sharply calling my name, and I had finally stammered out a ‘yes’. We hugged, and kissed, and I had stared at the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen, this ring shaped like a vine of ivy, so perfect for us and reminiscent of our special lookout. Eventually, Brian corralled me back into the car and drove me home to get changed for dinner, with a strict ‘no cell phone’ policy the whole way. Brian said he didn’t want to start announcing the news to people ‘til we’d had our intimate dinner together. I agreed (I was pretty agreeable at this point), and we got dressed before heading downtown to one of my favourite restaurants…where our friends and family were waiting for us. Incredible. Brian had found a way for us to have an intimate proposal at our favourite place, followed by the most wonderful announcement to our friends and family all in one fell swoop. Well done, sweet boy.

Both proposals went perfectly. Brian got to surprise me twice—once with the question, and again with the family dinner. I too got to surprise Brian twice—once with the question in return, and again with the ring of his dreams. It’s really too bad that we only propose the once, because I have so many ideas of how I’d do it again and again, and I know Brian would, too. Maybe we will just propose to each other every year. I don’t really care how crazy that looks, I’m just really happy that I have someone I love so much, I want to tell him ‘yes’ over and over again.

Offers, Trades, and Goodies: a TON!

We have a lot of offers to catch up on. We’ve mentioned some of these people along the way, but somehow time just didn’t allow for a traditional ‘offers’ post in recent weeks…and a few snuck past us a while ago! Without further ado, let us bring you up to speed on the offers to date.

FASHION

A quick thank you goes out to former bridesmaid Jenn, who offered us a bridesmaid dress…as regular readers know, we actually were offered a set of specifically-made (local, Canadian, eco-friendly) dresses from So-Finedesigns, so we had to turn it down; but thank you, Jenn, for the kind offer! I begin to wonder how many bridesmaid dresses there are out there in the world, lurking in closets and taunting women who will never actually wear them to another event. Another reason I’m so so happy we found the Scube dresses by So-Fine: they are reversible and can be worn as a dress, a knee-length skirt, or a long skirt, which means the gals will be able to wear them time and time again. It feels good to have the girls in something far more reusable than the norm. And hey, for fun: if you know a store that carries So-Fine, you can actually get the Scube dress in a combo of apple green and royal purple right now, and then you will own our exact bridesmaid dress! (When So-Fine made our three dresses, they went ahead and made a run of the same colour combo for the stores…so for a limited time, you can have one, too!)

I and my girls will also be looking dapper with the help of the crew at Daya Spa on Dalhousie Street in downtown Ottawa. Jenn, one of the makeup artists there, found our blog and loved it. Daya is an all-organic spa, and they have stringent cleanliness standards, which is helpful as I have some very particular bridesmaids not even including myself. (Many years of working as a makeup artist myself has made me a bit of a germaphobe when it comes to cosmetics; and that’s not a bad thing, actually.) I met with Jenn last week and we talked about what I might like to have my face look like that day. I have fallen out of the habit of wearing makeup in the last few years, so I am actually not sure; but we’ll see what we come up with! Daya, thank you for being a part of our day!

Morganna and me--and my necklace!

And last but far from least, we have a necklace for me. Months ago we attended a craft show where we met Morganna the White, a fabulous textile artisan who makes the most bewitching jewelry from reclaimed yarn, fibres, baubles, and buttons. I fell in love with her work on the spot, but thought I’d better wait ‘til I had my dress before choosing jewelry. Well, I have my dress, and it’s been loved on by our seamstress Judy Ruggles, and while I looked lovely in it, I knew something was missing…and that’s when I remembered Morganna. I tracked her down through a shop she co-owns called Eclection in the Byward Market (Ottawa), followed her on facebook, and wrote her an email offering to trade some art for some craft. This was on Friday evening. I waited a whole two days before heading down to the shop, just to look around, as she hadn’t written back yet and I wanted to give her a chance to reply. Through divine providence, Morganna walked into the shop while we were there—even though she lives in Toronto! We chatted and she remembered us from the craft show, and immediately agreed to a trade: for one of her beautiful fibre necklaces, I will be doing a spot of graphic design work for her. We hugged on it, and I left the store with my necklace. It took me about five minutes to realize just how wondrous this was, how amazing and incredible, and then I…well, I just started hopping around on the street, in the shops, everywhere. I couldn’t stop hopping. Sounds insane; perhaps it is. I was just so overwhelmed by the incredible generosity of people, and the karmic joy of swapping talent for talent. Morganna, your necklace makes my outfit complete. I feel like a fantastic bohemian princess now. Thank you, from the tips of my bouncing toes to the top of my head.

VENUE

Just a quick revisiting of our wedding shower: if you’ll recall, our friend who offered to host had taken ill rather suddenly and seriously, and we had to find another venue. We ended up at an adorable little event venue downtown, but we had had another offer, as well, from John Marklyn, owner of Marklyn Management. He offered us the loan of a vacant rental space in the Westboro village where he owns some property. In the end, we went with the other venue but we were grateful to have so many options!

RANDOM COOLNESS

Our ceremony site requires the bride to approach from an angle that, if she were to walk it, would leave her exposed to onlookers while she traversed a dirt road or a rough field. Knowing my propensity for nerves and slapstick stumbling, this wasn’t something I was looking forward to. Well, my dilemma was solved! A friend of the family by the name of JP Walsh, a local real estate agent, has offered us the loan of his 1969 Vista Cruiser. Dad will drive me up to the beginning of the outdoor aisle, and I will step out of this fantastic yellow beast to walk right up to my sweetheart at the altar. Thank you, JP!

We found something cool to use for our ‘ring pillow’ a couple months ago, and we realized we completely forgot to blog about it. I was on my way to visit Brian at work and saw a sign for a pottery craft show. I got Brian to come with me on his lunch, and we found a little pot with a slot in the side, kind of like the slot on top of a piggy bank. This ingenious little piece of pottery is an egg separator: you crack the egg into it, pour the white through the slot, and voila! We decided we’d use this as our ring ‘pillow’, because it’s something we’ll use time and again in our kitchen, particularly when baking…so the pot will always remind us of our wedding, and we’ll remember it while making sweet things. The best part: this little pot was precisely ten dollars, which fits perfectly with P:P’s budget rules!

We mentioned this next serendipitous bit of luck before, but we didn’t officially cover it in a blog post: the tablecloths. We attended a thing called the Really Really Free Market, which was a giant collective FREE garage sale. You bring stuff, you take stuff, and either way it’s free. Anyway, we’d been blogging heavily about needing tablecloths, and a newlywed couple sent us an email. Kris, the bride, said she had about 40 matching cloths, but they weren’t white as we’d been asking for (we figured white was easiest): they were way brighter than that and she asked how flexible we are. I gave a rueful laugh when I read that, wondering what colour was about to become part of our theme now…but then I saw the photos, and behold! Kris was offering us 40 tablecloths the exact shade of apple-chartreusey green that is our wedding colour! Kris brought them by to us, and now, between the 15 white cloths we have and the 40 (much finer) green cloths, we will be well decked-out for the evening, with a wonderful splash of colour. Man, we love it when things come together!

A thank you goes out to a woman named Anstria, as well, who offered us a hodgepodge of treasures, including organza bags, a veil, and favours. We were well stocked in these areas, so we declined, but hopefully she will pass them on to another bride on a budget. Thanks again, Anstria, for thinking of us!

We also had an offer from a writer by the name of Sarah Lolley who offered to assist us with vows, speeches, or any other writing we may need. At present, we’re doing alright on our own, but we’re grateful for the offer and to know we have a helping hand out there if we need it! Thank you, Sarah!

We had a great offer that we had to, sorrowfully, decline at this time…but man, it would have been cool! Kristal from Rock Your Wedding & Events offered to teach us a choreographed dance for going down the aisle or for a first dance. Unfortunately, we just don’t have enough time this late in the game, on top of the swing lessons we’re getting from a friend (and Olympic-quality ballroom dancer) we know; but it would have been amazing and we’re so thankful for the cool offer!

And another quick shout-out to Koko Chocolates, who we’ve mentioned before but were remiss in thanking directly: Koko provided us with chocolate truffles to use as prizes at our shower. They were a hit, and we were glad to have them there! Koko, thank you yet again for the chocolates! Koko can do boxes, from favours to large gifts, so check them out…and yes, in case you’re wondering, they are too DIE for delicious.

FOOD

We got an email a couple weeks ago from a woman named Chrystal, who owns an online bakery called Chrystal’s Baked Goodies. Chrystal offered to make us cookies for our wedding, and I gotta tell you, we were so miserable to be turning down a dessert offer! But as blogged about before, our family friend Marta is making us a wealth of amazing cookies to serve and supplement the cake. Regardless, we were super grateful for the offer from Chrystal, and really just so woefully sad that we couldn’t justify having yet more cookies at our wedding.

This is not directly a ‘food’ offer, but a food vessel offer. Our friend Sarah asked us what we still had to find or do before the wedding, and we mentioned we’ve had a helluva time finding disposable wine cups. Sarah is an angel, and immediately said, “Done. I’m on it.” We recently got to contribute something to Sarah’s own special wedding—a day put together through the talents and resources of friends—so this felt like a lovely karmic ‘full circle’. Sarah, thank you for your support! We are so happy to know you.

VIDEO

We also met with the sweet boys from Bytown Productions, a videography company just getting started here in town. These fellas are complete sweethearts. We had the nicest first meeting with them, and we feel confident they are going to rock our wedding video. We’ll be doing an interview with these boys soon, so you’ll hear more about them. Bytown, thank you so very much for your contribution to this project! We hope this will give you tons of new, excited potential clients!

STAG & DOE

A little extra love goes out to The Comic Book Shoppe on Bank Street, who helped us out with our stag & doe by offering up two $50 gift cards for the silent auction and grand prize draw. These were highly sought-after items at the party and helped to bring in some great cash for us!

And of course, much love to Little Cakes Cupcakes for their awesome donation of a $50 gift card for cupcakes! This, too, was a coveted prize, and we just hope the winner invites us over to help eat them.

Much, much love goes out to Boston Pizza in Orleans (a neighbourhood of Ottawa), who hosted our stag & doe. We'll be blogging separately about the party later, but just a quick thanks for the space, the decorations, the promo, the 10% donation, and the $25 gift card for the grand prize package. You guys were the most welcoming, supportive, and excited crew. Thank you for making our party a huge success.

CONCLUSION

36 days to go, and so much love, for each other and for everyone. We're having the best time, getting to meet so many cool people and help spread the word about nifty businesses, too. There's lots coming up and despite the fact that we're down to the wire and super stressed with wedding tasks, we are committed to updating the blog as often as possible. Stay tuned. In the meantime, check out the links within this post and enjoy visiting virtually with some of the really cool people who we've fallen in love with.

Motorcycles, topless guys, and Brian's jacket found!

After work last night, I was a busy gal. I drove around my neighbourhood, running errands and picking up items for the wedding; I finished my relay with a trip to the gym, where I forced myself (despite being utterly disinterested today) to work up a serious sweat on the elliptical, followed by calisthenics ‘til my abs gave out. I drove home to an empty house, as Brian was working late—perfect. I made myself a giant veggie burger and some sautéed vegetables, put Anchor Man in my DVD player, and prepared to gather my sewing materials to work on my wedding dress. I got half-way through my burger before I felt pretty full, and I considered putting the other half in the fridge for later when I would be hungry again. But then the little voice inside my head reminded me that I’d been hungry all afternoon…that I wanted to finish my burger just for the tastiness of it…that I had nowhere to go, so I might as well stuff myself (albeit, with pretty healthy food) to the point of guilty-pleasure-discomfort. I complied, mowing down the burger in four giant bites, content with my distended belly, my gym-sweat hair, and my evening plans.

Then I checked Twitter. And there was a message. From HarleyDavidson Ottawa. Inviting me to last night’s big fundraiser, Precious Metal. “Oh, em, gee,” I said aloud. I had heard about Precious Metal, and had really wanted to go, but with 74 days ‘til the wedding, I just felt way too busy. Yet here I was, with an open invite to stop by the gala, on the house, and chat with Ottawa Harley about Brian’s jacket search. Hmmmmm.

First, I tweeted back that I had only just gotten the invite now, and it seemed too late. Then I tweeted that I would stop by. Then I waited to see if Harley would tweet back, maybe to tell me I shouldn’t come…but no such tweet occurred. A little reluctantly, I went and put on a little black dress, and ran my hot iron over my hair. I argued with myself that while, yes, this type of event wasn’t my usual thing (loud music, bar scene), and while I wouldn’t know anyone, nor would I be able to hear anyone because I never can in a bar, it did involve motorcycles and it may actually be fun, even flying solo.

Well, fun would be understating it! The event took place at a lounge called My Condo on Clarence Street in the market, a cozy little club with a good atmosphere. I knew I’d found the place when I saw the half-dozen Harleys lined up outside—one in our wedding green, which I took as a good sign. Inside, there was a station to get your photo taken on the back of a Harley, a spot to get your hair made over with a stripe of pink added in, a couple different makeup stations, and cupcakes from a new shop, The Cupcake Lounge, that just opened in the market. A guy was teaching girls on the dance floor how to stand up a fallen motorcycle (something I really want to learn how to do but not in a skirt and heels, thanks), while a silent auction took place and women tried on pink Harley gear upstairs. The entire event was put on to raise money for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.

I asked the bartender to make me up something virgin and pretty so I wouldn’t feel empty-handed, and made a tour of the stations. I explored the clothing, got my hair made huge and wavy with a pink streak added in, and got my photo taken with two topless fellas while I straddled a big hog. In a moment of unusual bravery, I introduced myself to some strangers and made quick friends with them, chatting with them throughout the evening. I managed to find out who mans the Twitter feed at twitter.com/#FreedomHDOttawa …we chatted briefly before she had to take care of some stuff around the event, with a promise to reconnect later. I bided my time, because I was, naturally, very curious about her interest in Brian’s motorcycle jacket search.

I forget sometimes that not everyone reading the blog has been reading since day one, so let me quickly get you up to speed: motorcycles are what brought Brian and I together. Bri and I were friendly for about a year before he got Sookie—his little Honda Magna that he reconstructed from broken parts by hand—but we became real, fast friends when Brian got his bike. Actually, that’s not accurate: when Brian first got his bike, I wasn’t interested in the slightest. My dad had put a serious fear of bikes into my head, and I had no intention of ever getting on one. Brian pleaded with me for weeks to take a ride, and I just laughed. He told me he’d bought a helmet just to get me on the bike, lying and telling me he’d gotten it on sale for thirty bucks at Canadian Tire so I wouldn’t feel badly if I really didn’t want to go. I still said no. He finally got me to try it when he threatened to take a different girl out, wearing “my” helmet. My pride was piqued, I told him to be at my house at five, and I was standing on my doorstep, trembling, when he showed up.

He explained the rules of being a bike passenger, got me strapped into my helmet, and promised to take me just around the block. I remember hanging onto him with all my strength, convinced that my pride was going to get me killed. Three minutes later, we stopped at Starbucks and Brian pried me off of him and took me inside to get a drink. As we stood in line, me still in shock, I turned to him abruptly. I grabbed his jacket in two shaking fists and said, “I know you want a coffee right now, and I know we just got off the bike, but I really want to go again.” Brian obliged me, and we were on Sookie non-stop for the rest of that summer. It was our chance to spend real quality time together, our last chance to hang out before he moved away in September to Calgary—a story for another time, but the end result is, I rescued him three months later and brought him home…and in exchange for that, he bought me my cowboy boots, which I love to ride in and which I’ll wear down the aisle.

Brian had wanted to paint Sookie; I obliged by surprising him.

So this, readers, is why Brian is going to wear a motorcycle jacket down the aisle instead of a regular suit. Between Sookie and Calgary, Bri has always been my cowboy on a steel horse. And surprisingly, finding Brian a jacket has been one of the hardest parts of our wedding project. We knew we had to look second-hand, or hope for someone with a new one to offer it up; trouble is, Brian is larger than a lot of actual vintage jackets. We were ready to trade an old vintage coat of my own, but we just weren’t finding a jacket that fit and looked right. Brian is, if people haven’t caught on yet, very easy going, and a few weeks ago I was telling him how upset I was about the jacket search going badly…to which he replied, he didn’t care if he had to marry me in jeans and t-shirt. If you’ll recall, I informed Brian that if I started down that aisle and he was not wearing a leather jacket, I was going to turn right back around and not marry him. While I admit that this is a bluff, the emotional sentiment is genuine: I want to walk down that aisle and into the arms of my steel-horsed cowboy, waiting for me in proper attire. (To revisit the original blog entry where I melted down over the jacket, click here.)

Well, it looks like we’ll have that dream of a jacket realized!

Towards the end of the Precious Metal evening, I reconnected with Jennifer of the FreedomHDOttawa Twitter account, and she brought me to meet the manager. We chatted, and they offered Brian a jacket. We haven’t seen it yet, but we will post pictures as soon as we can! I was speechless, and in total shock, and I can’t imagine how that looked to the Harley ladies. I just couldn’t believe that this last non-negotiable ‘must have’ element of our wedding was coming together. With 74 days left, we were realizing our vision. I told the ladies that we were thrilled, and so appreciative, but that given the generosity of the offer, we’d like to help out with volunteer hours, art/design, or whatever else, for their next fundraising event. We shook on it, and a wonderful trade was approved by all.

Ladies of Harley Davidson Ottawa, I can’t thank you enough for a wonderful evening of fun, motorcycles, and cool women. I still have 74 days to sew the detailing onto my wedding dress, so I’m really glad I made the decision to roll my full belly out of the house, put on a dress, and come visit. I’m looking forward to the next Precious Metal, and I strongly suggest that all you lady readers out there join us for the next one!

Our wedding tattoo, part 1

Last Tuesday, Brian and I got up just like any other day…and finished the day changed a little bit forever…for Tuesday was the day we began our wedding tattoo.

Thrace and Anders on Battlestar Gallactica

Now, I know there’s a lot of mixed feelings out there about tattoos, and I would say there’s also a lot of misinformation. I don’t want to go into a long diatribe about tattooing and its history, modern regulation, and so forth. Suffice it to say, I never do anything without thinking, researching, and considering carefully, and tattoos are something I have loved for a long time. I also realized and accepted early on that I was not likely getting picked up by an agency to model on the covers of Vogue at any point really, so my skin was my own and I have a series of ‘cairns’ now that mark my adventures through life. Brian, too, is a tattoo lover, so it was very natural to explore this idea of getting one together. We came up with an inspiration, connected with my favourite artist, and the idea became a plan…

 

We’d seen the design the week before, and were really freakin’ excited. Sarah Rogers, our tattoo artist at Living Colour Tattoo here in Ottawa, had us in to see her sketch. She had been well briefed on our ideas and inspiration—namely, the tattoos on Kera Thrace and Anders in Battlestar Gallactica—and we were nervous but hopeful. The Battlestar design is cool but not quite right for what we wanted, and if redesigned in the wrong direction, could actually end up looking like the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter. And I am not a Harry Potter fan.

In any case, Sarah pulled out the design and gave us a very modest preamble about being willing and able to start from scratch if we didn’t like it. I’ll admit I was feeling really wary, as it’s rare that I leave a tattoo design completely up to the tattoo artist; also, because we really hadn’t planned out what the piece should look like at all, I was feeling a little disoriented…a bit like when you’re searching for a building where you’ve had an appointment before, and you know you’re in the right area, but until you see the building, you won’t know what it looks like. That’s basically where my head was at, until Sarah flipped the page over and showed us her incredible, awe-inspiring design.

The wing was just gorgeous, inspired (according to Sarah, and we could see it right away) by the Art Deco era, like the Hoover dam. We both loved it on first sight. My feelings of trepidation melted away; this was a tattoo that I would love because it went with Brian’s, and also just on its own. Brian was thrilled for the same reasons, and we approved the design. A deal was made: we're trading Sarah for her talent, and in exchange, she gets ours: we're going to be giving her intensive lessons and technical support for her technology, social media, and everything she needs to move beyond the rotary telephone, heeheehee.

We were so excited through the weekend, and Tuesday rolled around. I was nervous, Brian was excited…this is the natural order of things. We headed down to Living Colour after work, and began our adventure.

We had some visitors for our session together. Laura, of Laura Elizabeth Photography (one of our amazing photographers) came and snapped shots the whole evening like a trooper. And we are over-the-moon, through-the-roof amazed with her shots!!! All the photos here are her work. She ducked in, out, and around Sarah and Brian as I watched her apply Brian’s stencil. When we saw the design inked onto him, I was just blown away by how great it looked. By my side was Sir Tam, Matron of Honor extraordinaire, who I can trust to tell me if something is good or bad: she approved of the design wholeheartedly. As the gun buzzed and we began to get tattooed, another new friend and bride-to-be Sarah R stopped by and said hello. Later in the evening, Laura’s sweetie of a boyfriend stopped in, too, and we all had a grand chat about monkeys, Thailand, blood sugar, ketosis, flying squirrels, and about a hundred other things. There was a real sense of having lots of love and well-wishes in the room with us the whole time.

Sarah, trooper that she is, got through the first stretch of both our tattoos, leaving only some feather shading work to be done in a month’s time. We didn’t get to put our two wings together that night, as that would obviously be unsanitary, but the first thing we did in the morning was clean them up and put them together. Ya’ll won’t get to see that picture just yet…let’s wait a little bit, ‘til the work is done and the design can be truly appreciated. But they really are beautiful, and the slide together perfectly.

I did have some worry the following day. I’ve never really wanted to get a tattoo with someone before, and naturally, I had a moment of panic. I texted Sir Tam that I was worried I’d just marked myself as belonging to someone. Tam, amazing and levelheaded girl that she is, wrote back,

‘It’s not that you belong to each other: it’s that you belong with each other.’

Hugs to you, Tam, for silencing my inner critic.

It would be hard to feel anything but happy, in any case, when my sweet boy makes me take my sweater off every two minutes to show another person our cool combined tattoo. I love that he’s so proud, and I feel proud, too. This is a wonderful way to mark this wild and wonderful time in our lives. And what a great story to tell the neighbourhood kids when we’re old, in our rocking chairs on our porch.

Stay tuned for part 2 next month! Below: more photos of the session. All amazing work by Laura.

A handful of offers with 91 days to go!

We’ve had a busy week and a busier one is yet to come. Expect potential multiple entries this week! Right now, though, we want to focus on some offers…First up is

FASHION

First off, a huge thank you goes out to The Comic BookShoppe on Bank Street. The Shoppe helped us out with finding Brian an official Mad Hatter’s hat for our upcoming shower; this was something I coordinated with the owner without Brian knowing, so when the hat arrived and we showed it to Brian, he was floored. Bri is a huge Johnny Depp fan and an even bigger Alice in Wonderland fan, so to have a hat this cool has made him very happy. He took it home, stuffed MY blanket into it to form the shape, and has been begging me to find him a full purple suit. Which I won’t do. But The Shoppe on Bank Street: thank you for the hat. :)

FOOD

Jen Winter owns Koko Chocolates, and we’ve had the utmost pleasure of connecting with her over the last few months. Koko Chocolates specializes in amazing truffles made with Belgian chocolate. Her creations are delicious and irresistible…and right now as I write this, I have almost two dozen of them in my fridge that I’m not allowed to touch. Jen has given us two batches of her chocolate truffles to use as prizes for games at our upcoming shower. This is wonderful for the game winners, and wonderful for our shower…it is currently torture for me here at home. Koko Chocolates, thank you for sharing your lovely goodies with us! Brian is eagerly anticipating the return of your bacon truffles in the fall. Best of all: Koko is offering Project: Priceless readers 10% off all online purchases of $25 or more ‘til the end of August. Just write ‘10% discount” in the ‘special instructions’ section. Head to the site now!

RANDOM COOLNESS

A big, big thank you to Fran (Brian’s mom) this week. We received our invites and they are just gorgeous! We hope to post a picture soon. The fact that Fran made all 106 invites by hand, painstakingly stamping, cutting, and gluing each layer, means that each and every one of these cards is a treasure. They are so perfect, too: not at all your typical invite, done in our crazy colours and incorporating wonderful random deer, owls, and sparrows. In addition, Fran donated the remaining stamps we needed for the invites. This is a huge stress off our plates and (as long as the postal workers don’t strike) will really help things along. Thank you, Fran, for your love and hard work. Everyone LOVES the invites. Well done!

We had a great opportunity to help out one of our peeps by connecting them with another one of our peeps this month. Aiden Wolf Photography was looking for a new logo design, so we connected Andrew from Aiden Wolf with Stephanie A. Fox, a talented (and sweet) graphic designer in Delaware. Stephanie helped me with another logo I’d done in the past, and we think she’s the bee’s knees. Check out Stephanie’s portfolio here. Stephanie, thank you for helping us, and Aiden Wolf, out! It’s so much fun when we’re able to help people with their own projects through our project.

We have also received an offer from Katerina Pek, a massage therapist who specializes in Orthokinesioloy, a fascinating specific form of pain therapy. You can read more about her practice here. Katerina has graciously offered to see Brian and myself: Brian, to see if she can help with his scoliosis, and me, to see if she can help with my ankle, which I damaged last year. Thank you, Katerina, for the offer. I have seen Katerina in the past and I’m hopeful that she can show us some techniques we can utilize at home to work on these sore spots. Then I’ll hopefully be more comfortable in my cowboy boots, and Brian won’t be hunched over at the altar.

We also had a really cool, really special, really amazing offer come through, but I’m hiding it from Brian. Go check out the No Brian Zone when you’re doing reading this entry. (Don’t you dare skip over there yet!)

Our blog was talked about on Offbeat Bride this week and it resulted in a huge amount of hits on our site…so first off, thank you, Offbeat Bride, for the shout-out! From those hits, we received an offer from a woman named Candace from Florida: Candace is sending us a whack of crayons for our placemats at the wedding. Candace, thank you so very much for your offer! Candace is getting married soon too, and we wish her and her fiancé all the best!

And last today, but certainly not least, a big thank you goes out to Westfest. Westfest is a cool three-day festival that takes place in Westboro village here in Ottawa. From June 10-12 this year, there will be concerts, street performers, sidewalk sales, and more, all down Richmond Road between Kirkwood and Golden Avenue. And the coup de grace: Bif Naked is performing on Saturday night. Well, our friend MJ is insanely into Bif Naked, and so we talked with Elaina, head of Westfest…and scored VIP passes to see the concert from the very best possible seating. We presented the passes to MJ on the weekend, and she is thrilled. Westfest, thank you for getting Bif into town, and thank you sooo much for making us the coolest people ever for being able to give our friend such an awesome birthday gift. I believe we`re going to find leather pants this week. (Westfest, by the way, is free. Check it out here and maybe we`ll see you there!)

That’s it for now, peeps. This week, we`ll be blogging about:

-our tattoo appointment

-our engagement photo shoot

-our shower

-and random other things that come up.

Stay tuned and be ready for multiple entries! 91 days to go, everyone…we are so excited and so nervous; and so close to the finish line! Just a couple more items we need to secure and we`re ready to take a long walk down a short aisle.

Good week/Bad week...and a really cool venue

How was our week?

It was a random lottery of meaningless tragedies, and a series of near escapes.

On Monday, we discovered that the wobble in the car is not an unbalanced tire (good thing), but a broken brake (bad thing).

On Tuesday, I met with a personal trainer (good thing) who pushed on my knee in a weird way, and then it couldn’t bear weight anymore (bad thing).

On Wednesday I rearranged my work schedule to help out with a special event (good thing) only to arrive on site and be told that the event was cancelled but I just hadn’t heard about it (bad thing). We also got word that our friend Anne is still sick (bad thing) and that planning to have the wedding shower at her place was probably unwise (bad thing). We began searching for a new venue immediately…more on this.

On Thursday, work seemed back to normal (good thing) until someone knocked a coffee onto my laptop (bad thing), and then another meeting got cancelled (bad thing) while a different meeting had been moved to today instead of next week, at a time I couldn’t be there (bad thing.) I went to pick up my engagement dress crinoline (good thing) only to find that it wasn’t quite ready yet (bad thing) because Linda wanted to fix it up for me (good thing); so I could have either not driven out to Kanata at all, or I could at least have picked up Tamara from work and had a companion (sigh). I made some time to work on the blog when I got home and discovered that Blogger had a giant glitch which wouldn’t allow us to access the site and had also temporarily erased all entries from the last seven days (bad thing).

Continuing with Thursday, I got home and opened my computer to find that we were unsuccessful at getting all the coffee out of my laptop (bad thing), as evidenced by the fact that whenever I pressed ‘y’, an 8 also appeared (bad, bad thing)…and soon discovered that other keys were also not working. I googled ‘how to fix coffee spill on laptop’ and found a tutorial (good thing), only to find that the first step was to turn off your laptop immediately…but then how would I read the rest of the steps? Brian came home (good thing) and began dismantling my computer (bad thing, turns out), and in the end, we managed to further mangle the keyboard…which BestBuy says will cost me $250.00 (so very, very bad).

Friday was the 13^th, and while I don’t typically care much about that date, I will admit I took some superstitious precautions this time ‘round. By the end of the day, things were looking up, and now, halfway through Saturday, I’m feeling good about things getting back on track. Swinging that black cat around my head three times really helped things out.

Okay, but seriously, we found a new venue for the shower, and we are the most excited about it! Actually, we had two offers (one from Waterfall BBQ & Catering to use Smithvale Stables, which we’re hoping to use instead for our stag & doe), which is just so great because, well, this week was pretty dismal and such kindness really reduced the amount of time I spent crying in the dark in the shower. (I’m kidding…mostly.) 

We went with Izabela’s offer to use her venue, From This Day Forward (http://www.fromthisdayforward.ca/ ) We connected with Izabela through twitter, via Lilac Lingerie who is providing my bridal underthings; we checked out her site, and went today to visit the venue, and we are thrilled.  FTDF is super chic, and just the right size for fifty-ish guests. Izabela has created a posh, bright atmosphere with stonework, vivid artwork, and a very, very cool acrylic swing chair. A large screen TV allows you to play a slideshow or video, and a great surround system means ample music for any sort of event. I personally love the ‘bride’s room’, where the wedding party could get ready before walking down the aisle. The little kitchenette means it’s easy to prepare some coffee, tea, and juice; and the venue can be set up for row seating or for a cocktail reception. If we were getting married with a smaller guestlist, I’d be all over this venue.

But what’s also great about FTDF is that it would be perfect for any number of classy fundraisers, meet & greets, and parties. I found myself thinking of other events where we could return to this venue.

Izabela herself is a highly experienced professional, having worked in the wedding industry at some major local wedding venues. She envisions her space as being perfect for young couples, vow renewals, and second trips down the aisle.

Sir Tamara and I just loved this place. I think we’re both looking forward to having the party in such a gorgeous setting, so intimate and put-together. This is definitely something that went very, very right this week; and that’s a (good thing). 

 

Follow Izabela's growing business on facebook and twitter...it's always fun to watch a new enterprise grow!



Photos: Anne-Marie Bouchard from AMB photo

April showers brought May offers!

It’s finally warming up here in Ottawa, which is nice but somehow feels like too little, too late. Last year, Brian had his bike out in February and was riding full-time by March; this year, we went to Walmart tonight on her and I’ve had a chill ever since. Anyway, with weather inclement and frigid, you’d think we’d have tons of time to be indoors and working on P:P…not so! The spring season seems to bring so many types of awakenings, and suddenly every project is coming to a head. Well, enough is enough; Brian is working on the dishes, we have a Kevin Smith movie playing in the background, and so allow me to present our latest round of offers…worth the wait.

FASHION

Linda from Hopes & Dreams Bridal in Kanata (where I got my dress: http://www.hopesanddreamsbridal.com/ ) has gotten creative to help me find a tea-length crinoline to go under my amazing Vivien of Holloway dress for the engagement photo shoot. Unable to find a supplier with short crinos, Linda improvised and has ordered in a children’s crinoline. We’re hoping this will work out, and I’ve got a good feeling about it! I’ll update you all soon, but regardless, Linda: thank you for trying so hard to help out. I can’t wait to come by this week and try out the crinoline!

Our bridesmaids are going to be beautifully dressed, thanks to Karen of So-Fine Designs. So-Fine is a Canadian-based company that focuses on being ‘fashionable, functional, comfortable, and fun’. This is exactly what I wanted for the bridesmaid dresses! Not something overpriced, awkward to wear, and never reusable. We happened upon So-Fine’s dresses when we happened into a boutique here in town called Workshop; I saw a flash of apple green on a rack, pulled out the dress, and realized it was pretty much perfect. An email chat with Karen resulted in four bridesmaid dresses being ordered, in our apple green and purple. The Scube dress that we went with is reversible and can be worn as two different skirts or a dress…this means that my girls will get tons of wear out of this dress/skirt and should even love the colours. Karen, thank you for helping us find dresses that met our wedding vision of avoiding the matrimonial industry hype and sticking to great items that aren’t marked up by the wedding retailers! Visit So-Fine at http://www.so-fine.ca/ .

We also have four necklaces for the bridesmaids, custom-made and awaiting pickup, designed by Isobel from Frash (aka Bel, her wedding collection). You can check out Isobel’s work at http://frashfemme.com/ . We haven’t seen these puppies yet, but I am very excited to see what she’s come up with. Frash, thanks for being a part of our special day and helping my girls feel gorgeous!

Wonder of wonders, and miracle of miracles: I finally found an apple green crinoline. Well actually, I found a woman who makes them, and is going to make me one. Ann of Swank Underpinnings (http://SwankUnderpinnings.Etsy.com) makes absolutely amazing crinolines and has the most amazing array of colours! I connected with Ann through her Etsy shop and I’m so very, very glad I did. She’s send me some samples to be sure we choose the right colour and type of fabric (again—we are learning about different kinds of fabric!) When Ann confirmed her offer, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Our long-term readers know that my outfit is one of the few things I have been pretty insistent on having ‘just right’; thanks to Ann at Swank Underpinnings, this can be a reality now!

STAMPS, STAMPS, STAMPS

Very special thanks go out to Crystal, who has sent us yet another bundle of stamps in the mail. Crystal, thank you so much for helping us out with this! Crystal sent us a bundle in the last round of offers, and we were touched to find another envelope in our mail box. Crystal, if you mail us anything else, consider including something that we can put on the In Spirit table (see the ‘In Spirit’ project in the tabs above) that will remind us of you…even just one special stamp, or a little drawing.

And thanks go to Fran, Brian’s mom, who has offered to help us out with the last of the stamps we’ll need to send invites and RSVP’s. Fran, the invites you’re crafting are looking amazing and we appreciate so much your effort…and now we also thank you for the help with the stamps!

TATTOOS

Another wonderful and miraculous thing happened to us recently: my tattoo artist, Sarah, and I finally connected. It’s been a while. Sarah is pretty notorious around Ottawa for her killer tattoo work, and she did a great job on my last one. Sarah works at Living Colour here in town (http://living-colour.com/wordpress/ ) and yes, she is the Sarah who was here, then moved to Calgary, then (like Brian) came back! Anyway, Sarah and I connected to have a consult on an old tattoo of mine that needs some sprucing at some point, and we ended up talking about the wedding tattoos…and Sarah offered to trade for them: we’re gonna tutor her in social media/marketing in exchange for them. Ah, such relief and joy! The offer from the other studio was very kind, of course, and we are still forever grateful; but I know Sarah, I love Sarah, and Brian has been dying to get some work done by her. If you want to see some of Sarah’s work, head on in to Living Colour and look through her portfolio; tell her that Brian and Jordan love her!

RANDOM GOODIES

First off, a special thanks to Jim, who answered our call-out for old, cool-looking liquor bottles on Freecycle. We will use them to make our table look amazing! And to the stranger who dropped a box of bottles off for us but left no note: thank you also for your contribution! We are getting closer to our goal.

A huge, warm thank you goes out to Penny, who also answered a Freecycle request for tea cups and saucers. Penny has given us oodles of both cups and saucers, and we will use these to craft lovely pretty things for the wedding shower, that we will reuse at the wedding. Penny, thank you; you’re amazing! Another kind person had donated a small box of cups and saucers to us, but I cannot find the name…lovely person, thank you as well, and if you read this feel free to remind us of your name!

A big thank you to Lte. Judy L, who cooks for our military, and is gathering cans for our candle holder crafting, for centrepieces. Judy, we look forward to connecting with you and are very grateful for your gathering of 40 cans and counting!

As well, a shout-out to Andrea of Signature Ceremonies in Omaha. Andrea has offered to help us plan out our ceremony. You can check out Signature here: http://signatureceremonies.net/ . We love that our project is so far-reaching…Omaha! Imagine! Andrea and Signature Ceremonies: thank you so very, very much!

DÉCOR

Another lovely offer towards our décor has also come through. Chris of CRL Construction (http://www.crlconstruction.ca ) has offered to build our wedding arch. This will be so beautiful and we’re so excited to have something just for us. We’ll chat more about this as we’re able to give him measurements for the ceremony spot, and then we can really start planning this lovely project with Chris!

That’s it for our offers today; we have quite a few more lined up, just waiting for final confirmation, so stay tuned! More should be up as early as next week.

We’re getting so close to the finish line now, and the next step will be revisiting offers and artisans as we wrap up all the logistics…just a couple more things to find! Check our wishlist posts for details on what we still need, if you’re curious.

It’s taken a global village to get us so close to our goal, and we’re certain you’ll all help us reach it. And what a wild ride as we go along.

Spotlight on: FASHION, part 1

People are loving the spotlight posts, and so are we. We love revisiting the cool people who are helping to make our big day happen...so here's a new spotlight post, highlighting 'fashion' related peeps. (There'll be at least one more post for 'fashion' after this one, and we're thinking an entire separate spotlight purely on wedding dress offers. Lots to come!)

What is your name? : Lori

credit: wikimedia commons

What is your business’s name? : Character Salon

How can people find you? : 728-HAIR...1099 Wellington Street

How did you hear about P:P? : Heather (The MOH)

What are you contributing to the project?: Hair (and a fun atmosphere for an emotion-filled morning!)

What made you want to help out with the project? : It seemed obvious, after meeting Jordan!

What is your favourite thing about weddings? : The love in the air and of course, the dancing!

What do you hate about weddings? : Watching people get stressed over things that don't matter...at the end of it, you're with the one you love!

What’s was your most unusual gig/project/product you’ve created? hmmm...I just try to keep being creative everyday...

What warms your heart? : Laughing with my family :)

What’s was your most unusual wedding moment you've ever seen? : The Bride and Groom dancing on the table and playing air guitar to GnR...AMAZING!

What's your advice to a new couple? Love each other first!

*    *    *

What is your name? : Stephanie Breitenstein

How did you hear about P:P? : Jordan is my cousin.

What are you offering to the project?:  Making her bridal purse.

What made you want to help out with the project? : She's my cousin.

What is your favourite thing about weddings? : The family.

What do you hate about weddings? : The length of a ceremony.

What’s was your most unusual wedding moment you've ever seen? : I haven’t been to a lot of weddings, lol!

What warms your heart? : My daughter.
What's your advice to a new couple?  Always tell the one u love that you love them because you never know how long they'll be with you.

*    *    *

What is your name? : Judy Ruggles

What is your business’s name? :  JRCreations

How can people find you? :  jrcreations@hotmail.ca

What does your business do? :  I sew purses/handbags and my daughter makes jewellery.

How long have you been in business? :  1 year

How did your business get started? :  My daughter wanted me to sew a purse to match a dress I made her.  People saw it and said that I should sell them.  I started attending craft shows in the fall and hope to continue this year.

credit: wikimedia commons

How did you hear about P:P? : Read an article in the Ottawa Citizen online edition and have been following the blog ever since.

What are you offering to the project?:  Originally I offered my dressform to show off the "green dress", but now I am offering my services as a seamstress.  So far, I will be making the gents’ vests, but am willing to work on the girls dresses, guys ties, or any other sewing project needed - just let me know.

What made you want to help out with the project? :  I love to sew, and I remember what it was like planning a wedding - every little bit of help helps.

What is your favourite thing about weddings? :  I love to see the bride and groom at their happiest moment ever - and their family and friends just as happy for them.

What do you hate about weddings? :  How some couples spend way too much on the day. 

What’s was your most unusual wedding moment you've ever seen? :  I would have to say it happened at our wedding.  We had the reception in a building that had two reception halls and there was another wedding reception going on at the same time.  My husband's cousin happened to be in the other wedding party but came over to ours to congratulate us.  When she went back to her party, she ended up bringing half of their reception over to our side because our reception was more fun than theirs.  After 21 years, some of our wedding party still talks about how fun our reception was.

What warms your heart? :  Seeing parents and kids having a fun time together.
What's your advice to a new couple?  Keep the lines of communication open - talk about everything.

*    *    *

What is your name? : Bree Peister

What is your business’s name? : BridalGarters.ca

How can people find you? : Online www.bridalgarters.ca or on Facebook www.facebook.com/bridalgarters.ca

How did you hear about P:P? : Through a friend who was also helping out with the project.

What are you contributing to the project?: The bride's one-of-a-kind garters.

What made you want to help out with the project? : The fact that it's trying to keep things as local as possible and involving as many starving artist types. We've got to stick together!

What does your business do? : Designing and distributing unique bridal accessories.

How long have you been in business? :Less than 6 months.

What is your favourite thing about weddings? :Getting dressed up and dancing to those songs you only hear at weddings, like the locomotion and the YMCA

What do you hate about weddings? :Lengthy speeches, and those photo montages that make everyone cry.

How did your business get started? :I started designing accessories for friends and then for friends of friends, and the more I made the more I got asked to make. Pretty soon I realized if all these people were asking me for these special accessories, they must not be readily available. So I decided to make them available, and BridalGarters.ca was born!

What warms your heart? :Baking. And watching people enjoy the things I bake. I also love laundry (I know it's weird and my mom can't figure out where I got either of these qualities.) I'm afraid I'd make a really great 50's housewife...

*    *    *

What is your name? : Kate Arnold

What is your business’s name? : Flights of Fancy from Bombshell's Closet.

How can people find you? : bombshellscloset.com and on the facebook page!

How did you hear about P:P? : The article in the Citizen from last year.

What are you contributing to the project?:  "Flights" for the Bridesmaids and Jordan's "Flight" [a trade for an art piece].

What made you want to help out with the project? : I think what you guys are doing is fantastic! A really wicked experiment in human kindness as well as social networking!

What does your business do? : I create one-of-a-kind hair accessories, from tiny pieces to wear everyday to runway-ready glamazon pieces.  My favourite thing to do is to design a piece with the lady who's going to wear it!

How long have you been in business? : It all started in October 2010, but it feels like I've been doing it forever!

What is your favourite thing about weddings? : Getting to be a part of someone's wicked day! You get to see two people who love each other come together, tell everyone that they love they're going to be there for each other the rest of their lives... and then the dancing! I love a good party!

What do you hate about weddings? : Incredibly long speeches... This isn't to say that I hate speeches, just speeches that make you want to take a nap.

What’s was your most unusual gig/project/product you’ve created? : hehehehehe... HRH Prince Frog.  He's a frog on a lily pad covered in jewels.  He was going to be my Valentine's Date, that was until I met my man friend.

How did your business get started? : 

The Origin Story...

I started making my "flights" for a few reasons.

- I love wearing things on my head, but having a large head makes hats less than flattering.

- I hated spending so much for hair accessories that weren't what I was looking for, and that were made so very far away.

- I couldn't find what I was really looking for.

- I had just started taking Burlesque classes and was inspired by the fantastic ladies around me.

- I was extremely bored! What better way to assuage that boredom but piles of feathers and sparkly bits.

So I started making fascinators of every size and shape.

What warms your heart? : My family, especially my beautiful niece Sofia; every time I see her, my whole body, not just my heart, yearns to be closer to her!

*    *    *

model: Erica Warc

What is your name? : Emilia

What is your business’s name? : Lilac Lingerie

How can people find you? : 307B Richmond Road (Westboro, near Churchill Ave) and www.lilaclingerie.ca

How did you hear about P:P? : A friend mentioned it.

What are you contributing to the project?: A lingerie set.

What made you want to help out with the project? : It is unique and personable.

What does your business do? : We do lingerie and bra fittings. We have basic, fashion, nursing and bridal collections.

How long have you been in business? : 8 months

What is your favourite thing about weddings? : The party. 

What do you hate about weddings? : The photo ops set up.

model: Julia Vorob'eva, photos by Tina Picard

What’s was your most unusual gig/project/product you’ve created? : I just got interviewed by CBC news to comment on a federal government website auctioning lingerie. Besides that, the Grand Opening party for Lilac was an interesting event. We had a model posing for a photo session on site. It was a bit of a behind the scenes for people + we got all the pictures to use for our promotional materials.

How did your business get started? : Out of passion for lingerie. I always wanted to have a business, something intimate, personal, one on one service. Lingerie was the perfect fit.

What warms your heart? : The smile of my daughter.



 *    *    *

What is your name? :Vivien

What is your business’s name? : Vivien of Holloway

How can people find you? : They can either visit us in our London shop, or if they are online they can have a browse through our website which is www.vivienofholloway.com

How did you hear about P:P? :Through an email from Jordan after she had fallen in love with our dresses online!

What are you contributing to the project?: We are giving Jordan a lovely new dress to wear for her engagement shoot. We're very much looking forward to seeing the photos!

What made you want to help out with the project? : It was an interesting and romantic idea and we thought that we would love to  be part of this! Weddings are ridiculously expensive today, and this idea to ask for help from artisans and companies was fascinating. Weddings are traditionally about offering help to new couples and helping them to start their new lives together! It would be great to reach some new customers in Canada too.

What does your business do? : We design 1940s and 50s styled clothing making the world a more glamorous place! Our clothing is all made here in London and we ship all over the world. Our boutique shop in North London is a treasure trove of all things 1950s, and we love to help you get the look you want right down to the accessories!

How long have you been in business? : The business has been going for over ten years, beginning as an online venture then opening a shop.

What is your favourite thing about weddings? : It's a fabulous excuse to dress up and wear a hat and it's lovely to see what the bride finally chooses to wear as she becomes a Mrs! Weddings are absolutely lovely days for catching up with old friends and family and making new friends.

What do you hate about weddings? : The sheer expense! Weddings have become days to show off your status and money, when it should be about showing your love and having a special day with your family and friends. 

What’s was your most unusual gig/project/product you’ve created? : At Christmas time Vivien does charity work doing wardrobe for Fulham and Chelsea panto. This mean she is making anything from Mummy outfits to skimpy jungle costumes mostly still with a very 50's twist of course.

How did your business get started? : Vivien began by making her own 1950s style clothes for herself and her friends, and once she realised how popular they were becoming she started to sell them at a market in London. The dresses used to be sold on eBay aswell, before the website began.

What warms your heart? : Old movies and good old fashioned romance! 

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What is your name? : Isobel Walker

What is your business’s name? : I have two frAsh and  bel.

How can people find you? :www.frAshfemme.com or belbridal.com

How did you hear about P:P? :Through Kijiji and your blog.

What are you contributing to the project?: Custom necklaces for the bridesmaids.

What made you want to help out with the project? : When I got married everything cost too much, it is a great idea and I would love to help out!

What does your business do? : Custom and Ready to Wear Jewellery

How long have you been in business? : 8 years

What is your favourite thing about weddings? : Family togetherness and the laughter.

What do you hate about weddings? : That they are too expensive!

What’s was your most unusual gig/project/product you’ve created? : Earrings for a 8 month old flower girl

How did your business get started? : 2 girls bored over a summer.

What warms your heart? : My son's laughter or any baby giggling.