The wedding: the final week, and a video of the big day!

Okay, SPOILER ALERT:  The wedding was a huge success. I give you this spoiler now because I know you’re all dying for details, but I plan to start from the beginning of when I lost all blogging time: the week before the wedding. So before I tell you about our busy activities the week leading up to the big event, I want to assuage any fears you may have had: the day went off perfectly. The ceremony was breathtaking, the reception looked dynamite, the cake was to die for, my dress stayed clean all day, and we both said “I do” and used the right names. That’s all I’ll say for now, but if you’ll all be so good to listen to my account of the last week’s planning, I promise to fill you in on the intimate details and behind-the-scenes accounting of the wedding day itself very soon. But for those who just can’t wait, here’s a teaser video put together of the big day by our videographers, Bytown Productions:

We’ve just spent five days mostly alone since the wedding, mostly ignoring technology, and mostly relaxing. Frankly, it’s been a bit of a shock to the system; but the facetime with my new hubby was a must. My dad, a few days in, remarked that people would be looking for blog entries and shouldn’t we hurry up? I replied that there would be blog entries a-plenty, but they’d have to forgive us for a couple days while we focused on the being married part. He laughed and said, fair enough.

That being said, I’ve had a hard time keeping my fingers off the keyboard, as I do love writing and I do love blogging. I thought a good place to start, especially as we wait for more and more photos from our photogs to come in, was with a recounting of the day from our perspectives, with a little preamble first…

As the week before the wedding came upon us, with the BIG DAY looming ahead and scaring us both silly, we had some people provide moments of simple happiness along the way. Jen Winter of Koko Chocolates delivered a box of truffles to us as a wedding present. Fearing that they would spoil, we immediately set upon them. There’s nothing quite as awesome as losing yourself for a brief moment in the centre of a handmade chocolate, as every neuron in your brain is firing, trying to identify the myriad subtle flavours of the chocolate, the filling, the textures. So, a big thank you goes to Jen, who provided me several moments of zen-like ‘now time’ as I lost myself in the heaven of truffles.

Judy Ruggles, our consummate seamstress extraordinaire, also kept us sane through the last week, primarily by being a rockin’ awesome genius in her profession. Judy’s vests, seen on the boys in all the pictures, were stunning. One of the guys had mis-measured himself and Judy had to rebuild the vest from scratch, but it didn’t slow her down one bit. I found myself obsessing about a pleat in my dress that seamed to be sticking out, and Judy steamed that sucker to perfection. My crinoline was dramatically altered to fit the style and length of my dress, and overall, Judy just never let us down. I have determined that one of my first pieces of advice for anyone planning a wedding is this: no matter how tiny your budget, no matter what you have to trade, beg, or do to have this happen, you must have a killer seamstress on standby. Not the one at the bridal salon, who will often be too busy to help or who may work at a shop that’s not open 2 days out of 7. If you’re in Ottawa, go with Judy; if you’re in another city, ask around ‘til you find someone who can be super available, who is fast, friendly, patient, and creative. (Those of you out of town: good luck. Those of you in town: just go with Judy, save yourself the headache.)

We also received, though I failed to mention earlier, a lovely package from my friend Allison B in Newfoundland. Allison lives out there and writes a lovely blog talking a lot about cooking, and sometimes about her dog (that she is going to give to me one day, I know it), and once about wattles—not the turkey kind. Allison sent us a box of the coolest little pieces of nature from all over and around Newfoundland, for us to display on our In Spirit table. We did, and it was wonderful. I stopped and touched the worm-eaten wood at one point in the evening, and felt grounded despite all the colour and music and people around me. Allison, the arrival of this package was such a bright spot leading up to the big day. Thank you.

Photo by Adam Pap

Big love, as well, to Jon H. Jon is Sir Tam’s (the matron of honor) husband, and he saved the day a dozen times leading up to the wedding. He took over the task of the graphic design work for our cool placemats-cum-placecards that everyone’s been photographing from the wedding…a task that I reluctantly delegated simply because it would have been fun to do, but we had to start sharing the load. Jon made us such a beautiful design, and I think that shows in how many people photographed such a simple thing! Jon also came to our rescue by finding a freaking ton of cool lawn games for the big day, which we’ll talk a bit more about later…but considering all I was looking for was a soccer ball and some lawn darts, the horseshoes, croquet set, and baci ball were amazing! Thank you, Jon. You know what a role you played, and we love you for it.

Probably my favourite part of the week leading up to the wedding was my day out with my mom. Mom wasn’t at my bachelorette party (and that was a good thing, as some of the games we got up to, I just couldn’t play in front of a parent), but I was sad not to have some special time with her. So we took Friday off before the wedding weekend (crazy, I know) and spent the day together. First we went to my mom’s friend’s studio to have our nails done. Joanne did our toes and fingers for us, and we all chatted away while I got to hold her incredibly adorable puppy (note: there should be more puppies in every type of daily activity). Joanne didn’t charge us for the service and sent us home with the bottles of orange polish we’d used, so a huge thanks also goes out to Joanne for being a wonderful lady and taking good care of us. We then went for some lunch at a place called Bottega in the Byward market, splitting a sandwich and salad big enough to take down even Brian. After that, a flurry of shopping occurred as I searched for (and eventually found) a robe I’d feel comfortable wearing at the Bed & Breakfast after the wedding…I also picked up a little charm that I’ve been eyeing for weeks. It’s a compass, and Mom helped me pick it out. We both felt it was a symbolism for this era in my life. The day ended almost too quickly, with our extremities painted, our bellies filled, and our pocketbooks a little lighter. That happy day sustained me through the rest of the stressful week that followed. So, Mom, thank you for spending the day with me; it’s one of my favourite memories from this whole ten months of planning.

I feel like I should fill you in one some last-minute catastrophes or mixups that must have occurred in that last week; but truly, it was pretty darn low-key. I think a huge part of that was the fact that I realized there was no time left to fix much of anything, so anything that fell apart now was simply a casualty of war and we’d have to move on without it. I felt very at peace with this, with the exceptions, of course, that nothing could happen to the wardrobe, the cake, or the centrepieces…all the things that I felt would be the ‘pillars’ of the look and feel. With six pages of meticulous instructions printed out for the setup crew to assemble the décor correctly (I’m not joking, I did that), there was little room for error. Really, the last week was the best week for just drinking it all in, loving on good people, and being grateful for last-minute helpers.

Next entry, we’ll chat about the morning of the big day, and the ceremony. Hopefully with lots of pictures. Stay tuned!

One day to go: car dies, Brian freaks, and Jordan has no woodland help

Tomorrow morning, we will get up and get ready and get married. We’re both excited, yes; but we’re both very nervous, too. When I tell people that, they tilt their head, wrinkle their brow, and said, “Ohhhh. Really?” Like the fact that I’m nervous means I’m having second thoughts, or that I’m not a ‘good’ bride; that I should be skipping around the house each and every minute feeling great, as little birds and woodland creatures sneak into the apartment and sing songs to me while tailoring my dress and folding all my tissue paper pompoms with their teeth. The misconceptions we have of weddings and brides and the planning of weddings is atrocious. I mean, yes, if woodland creatures ran in here, Sleeping Beauty-style, and started organizing my living room full of decorations, while bathing me with buckets of rainwater and weaving flowers into my hair, I probably would feel excited every minute of every day leading up to this thing. But since they haven`t shown up yet and we have a large (and rather unusual) wedding we’re working on, and the closest thing to musical woodland help I have is my fiancé, who occasionally and inexplicably breaks out into ‘Man, I feel like a woman’ by Shania Twain…yeah, thanks for asking: I’m nervous.

Worse part? I’m nervous on two levels; and worse than that? People judge both. I’m nervous because I want our amazing project to conclude beautifully, with everything working well and everyone’s contributions shining; and then I’m nervous because we’re about to embark on this major rite of passage, this thing called ‘getting married’ where you go from a “Miss” to a “Missus” (or a “Mizz”), and people ask about kids and don’t believe you when you say “All I want are puppies.” I will be called ‘ball and chain’, ‘the wife’, and possibly even ‘nag’. Nooo, no: I’m sure I’ll be called nag. We are legally and spiritually bound to each other, and there’s just a real feeling of weightiness to that. So I spend my time oscillating between worrying about the wedding, and worrying about getting married. But, though I’d like to focus on the getting married portion, we’ve spent the last few days hyperfocused on the wedding…

I worked for hours yesterday on our seating plan, making sure everyone has a seat, and that everyone has a placemat with their name on it, and that the placemat has their table number and seat assignment on it. Then I redid several tables as people changed their RSVP’s. Then I redid it again when more people changed their RSVP’s.

Brian did a hero’s worth of little tasks, all these things that needed to happen last minute: putting tape on the back of a sign, coordinating rides for groomsmen, planning to get our car over to the hotel so we don’t have to drive the day of our wedding. He kept complaining of feeling lightheaded and I kept shoving glasses of water at him.

I had to call my parents several times to ask questions about the tiniest details, and to check on my dad’s car—the car that is driving all the girls plus myself to the venue—because its brake line gave out on Thursday and Dad had been left with nothing but a parking break on the middle of Fallowfield Road. Oh yeah, I don’t think I mentioned this yet, but the cool vintage car that was supposed to be my ride to the venue? Yeah, it broke down, too. Afraid to take a risk on an antique that none of us have ever driven before, we declined to see how the repairs turned out and opted to take Dad’s car. Then the brakes went. Well, they’ve been fixed but it’s been a helluva couple of days and I was so worried about my dad.

Anyway, then I kept wandering in and out of Base Camp, formerly referred to as our living room, trying to make sure that the fifteen boxes of decorations and incidentals was fully stocked. In the late afternoon, Brian just looked terrible. He’s very empathetic and the amount of stressed-out people that we were talking to, plus the ranting-raving stress of his blushing bride, meant he’d had his fill. I breathed in and out a few times and suggested he go for a climb at the rock climbing gym. I thought I’d have to really push to get him to go, but we both knew he needed it. Out the door he went, into our car, which has been notoriously loud for the last week…ah yes, if you’re not on Twitter, you haven’t heard, but Jude (our car) needs a new muffler, resonator, brakes, and drive belt. $1000 of repairs, all diagnosed by the mechanic as ‘Not critical and can wait ‘til after the wedding’. Phew.

About an hour later as I’m working away on something for the wedding that I, no joke, have already forgotten, I get a call from Brian on my cell. His voice has that gruff choked sound that he gets when he’s wept over something. And do you know what he says? “Hi; how are you?” Even though I can hear he’s in distress. He does this every time, this terminal politeness, and it means my response sounds jerky, but I just cut him off and say, “What happened.” He says he was driving home, and there was a terrible sound, and the exhaust system’s pipe fell down onto the pavement. He says he’s almost home but he has to drive really slow because the pipe is dragging the whole way along and the engine is very loud. This is where I go into Crisis Mode, which (lucky for us all) is where I become very calm, clearheaded, and resourceful. This is why I do well in social work: I am genetically built to deal with this kind of stress and get everyone through it together. I tell Brian he’s doing great, and to just get the car home. Then I hang up, try to get my dad on the phone for some advice, and only have a minute of puppy-like whimpering when I can’t get him.

Brian arrives, and I know this because I can hear Jude growling and screeling along from about four blocks away. He pulls into the parking lot and we both look under the car: there’s the muffler pipey thing, with the part that attaches at the front of the car dragging along the road. We discuss, with Brian using a lot of car words like ‘bracket’ and ‘pipe’ and ‘manifold’, maybe, and ‘warp core’ and ‘dilithium crystals’ I think; I say, Okay but we need a garage, yes? We have one we like, but we need the closest thing possible, so that’s Canadian Tire, 2 km (about a mile) away. Ohhhkay. I peek at the clock and see that we’ve got fifteen minutes before they close for the day, but I don’t say a word and I don’t say we need to hurry. I just let Brian drive Jude up the hill.

As we’re driving along, Jude is so loud that I feel pain in my eardrums. The jingly-clattering sound of the pipe is horrible and I keep worrying it’ll snag a pothole and somehow stop the forward momentum of the car or something. I keep looking over at Brian, with his tear-filled eyes, and back at the pedestrians along the way, who are gaping at us with complete shock. You can tell that every one of them thinks we mustn’t possibly know about the pipe, or that we’re lunatics for driving the car like this. We’re both so tense, though, I realize they have to know we’re not out for a joyride. Somewhere after the tenth or twelfth startled pedestrian, I start laughing. Brian peers at me from the corner of a watery eye and starts to snicker, too.

We get Jude booked in at the mechanics and reaffirm that the garage is open on Sunday and can work on her. I call my friend MJ, who lives just up the street, for a drive, and we sit on the curb to wait. I ask Brian, “Okay, so walk me through this one more time.” He retells the tale of leaving the gym, the desk guy giving him a free Gatorade, and the car falling apart on the parkway. The second time through, I stop him mid-story and ask, “Waitaminit, honey. It wasn’t the car that made you cry?” No; turns out it was the Gatorade and congratulations-on-your-wedding handshake from the gym guy…though the car, later, didn’t help. Well, I start to laugh; I’m not being mean but I’m sort of relieved. I thought the car was the last straw on poor Bri’s back, and it wasn’t: it was a bottle of juice and a handshake. Then Brian starts to laugh a bit and we laugh about how this sucks. We both say we are never, ever, ever getting married again, and then we kiss a lot.

MJ shows up, takes us home, and we splurge on some takeout from a pub on the corner. We eat in the bedroom—the only room free of wedding crap—and then we work on some more tasks, but at a slower pace with the list divided up into things that can be handled the next day. Around ten o’clock we turn on some old 30 Rock episodes, and somewhere in there, we must have fallen asleep. And here we are on Sunday.

We’ll update you hopefully later today. The car may be fixed on time, or it may not, I can’t control that. What I can control is organizing the bleep out of this wedding crap here at home. I can make sure everything is ready, and I can take good care of my sweetie, who needs a day of accomplishable tasks with rewards at the end. I think this wedding planning business is just an opportunity for a couple to practice being married, really: working together, dealing with stress, threatening to kill each other’s family…after planning this wedding, regular daily living will seem way more like a Disney movie than planning this thing ever did.

One day to go…

The full monty: our offbeat photoshoots

Three days ‘til the wedding. I find myself thinking a lot about photos, and wanting to share with you about Aiden Wolf Photography, the photographer who is doing our nude ‘wedding night’ shoot with us. We’ve had to postpone the couples’ shoot ‘til after the wedding for logistical reasons (which is actually alright because it’ll be fun to do it when all the stress is over with and my eye stops twitching), but we did our individual shoots a while ago. I think the feeling that all eyes will be on me in a few days has me thinking about that photoshoot, how nervous I was and how it all went down.

You know, this may surprise you, but it’s not every day that I take off my clothes in front of a near-stranger. I mean, like many teen girls I did wonder about being a model, and educated by film and television, I knew that would mean coming to terms with getting photographed naked…and that’s exactly why I never pursued any modelling. I have no problem being naked, and I’m definitely not a prude, but doing this kind of thing in front of a camera…it just seems so insane. And that’s exactly how I felt until I had my breast reduction, when I very suddenly changed my mind and decided I wanted photos done.

My reduction was a huge process, taking years for me to find the best surgeon and years to prep for the physical aspects of it. When it was done, I was able to move so much more easily, and except for nerve damage in my back that took a few more years to really show signs of healing, I felt like a new woman. It wasn’t out of vanity, but out of pride for my courage and perseverance that I found myself wanting a shot, just one good shot, of my new silhouette sans clothing. But, as I’ve already mentioned, I’m a scaredy cat, so I put if off for, ohhh, about five years.

When Andrew of Aiden Wolf Photography came along and offered to do some shoots with us in the buff, I realized my time had come. I’m in the best shape of my young life, I like my hair, and the simple fact is, this whole wedding project has been about ‘feeling the fear and doing it anyway’. So we said yes, and schedule our first shoots: the individual shoots that would provide us with some great shots that we could give to each other on our wedding night as gifts.

To say I was nervous leading up to the shoot would be an understatement. At one point the day of, I thought I was going to have to cancel or risk throwing up on Andrew. But I texted him throughout the day, asking questions and joking around, and he calmed me sufficiently to get me there. And, after only about the first half-hour, I was really quite relaxed, after all! Andrew has a very friendly, human way of talking to you while you’re in this incredibly vulnerable position, a little cold and stunned into silence by the glaring floodlight that’s illuminating your bare skin. Once we both laughed a few times, I could feel my muscles begin to relax and Andrew didn’t have to pose me as much; I started naturally falling into good positions. We did some shots with the full monty, but many with bits and pieces of wardrobe, and I like both types of shots equally. At the end of the shoot, I was genuinely sad it was over so fast.

I have been trying to figure out how to blog about this shoot for some time (and had originally hoped to blog about both the individual and the couple’s shoot at the same time, but scrapped that when I woke up this morning). The difficult part was figuring out, as a shy and not overtly sexual person, how to explain what these photos are like. Not one single shot has me licking my fingers or pouring icecream toppings down my chest. These are not Playboy photos, and wouldn’t even really be scintillating in a rap video. They’re just really beautiful portraits of my body, now as it will never again be, with lighting and talent to help amplify the pretty lines and underplay the…squishy bits. During the shoot, and upon seeing the photos after, I felt like Andrew had provided a safe place for my body to speak for itself: the scars, the muscles, and the softness, too. They’re not as sexy as they are beautiful, and that’s perfect.

Brian did his shoot with Andrew a couple weeks later. I have asked Brian repeatedly to tell me about it, and he just keeps saying it was great. I sometimes struggle with the fact that very little seems to scare Brian, so there was no internal journey for him to take off all his clothes and pose in front of another person. For Brian, he literally just thought, Now it is time to take off my clothes. It’s frustratingly zen of him, the way his brain works. Regardless, if Andrew had been creepy, rude, or awkward, that Brian would have commented on, and when I asked Brian said that he really liked Andrew and it was fun. I think he may share more with me after I get to see the photos, since I think he thinks I’m trying to find out clues about what they look like.

The couple pics here in this entry are to give you a tiny taste of how everything came out; we both chose ones that we’d a) be okay with showing each other a little early, and b) are okay with showing everyone on the internet. There will be a few more up on Aiden Wolf’s website, and you can always book an appointment to talk about your own nude (or fully clothed, traditional wedding) shoot, at which point you’ll probably see more of us in his hardcopy portfolio. But I warn you, be careful: some things seen can never be unseen, and I learned that the hard way when a former boss of mine was nude in a musical production I went to see; if, at the wedding, some of you blush when we try to make eye contact, I’ll know you’ve been checking out our photos, you sly boots.

Seven days to go: aesthetics galore!

Seven days to go, and the focus now shifts to looking good. We are about to take photos that will follow us through history, and that means we both want to look at least a little more spruced-up than usual.

We’ve started with our teeth. Dr Hill of Holland CrossDental offered us, many months back, two complimentary whitening packages as an offer for Project: Priceless. We said yes, and I especially was excited as I quit smoking last November and have really wanted to do this. We didn’t realize (I don’t know why) that we would be waiting until just before the wedding to do the treatment, though. Well, we went about a week ago and started the process.

Dr Hill has an office at the Holland Cross building on the corner of Scott St and Holland Ave here in Ottawa. We’d never been there before and we were really impressed when we went in: the office is very modern, bright, and huge. Several dentists use the space cooperatively, and the procedure rooms are small but very nice, indeed. My room had a flat screen TV installed in the ceiling, and I couldn’t help but think how much nicer that’d be to stare at during a filling than the poster of hot air balloons my own dentist has. The staff were super friendly, working quickly and cheerfully even when I started to gag and panic while they filled my mouth with some sort of quick-drying rubber that would become my dental impression. We were in and out in a flash after a quick hello from Dr Hill, and off we went to wait for the moulds to be made.

We picked up our equipment a few days later, got very specific instructions, and then began our whitening procedure. It’s a little intimidating, these two clear trays that slip over your teeth, filled with hydrogen peroxide-based goo, and let sit for up to an hour. But we bit the bullet (or the tray) and gave it a try, and now we’re several days in to the 14-day treatment and already showing results. So thank you, Dr Hill and the Holland Cross dental staff; our photos will stand as a testament to your generous gift!

We also saw Sarah Rogers at Living Colour Tattoo Studio this past week in downtown Ottawa. Sarah has been ill, but is on the mend (yay!) and was finally back on her feet enough to finish our wedding tattoos. Mine went splendidly, and I got to go first this time which I much preferred; and Sarah did well, looking healthy indeed and well-recovered; but Brian said this round hurt way worse than the first. We all decided it came down to simple biological reality: if you show up at a place at 4pm full of adrenaline, but have to wait ‘til 7pm to start the activity, you will have less adrenaline to use up. No matter; we gave him Sprite and suckers and kept him talking about other things, and Sarah did all the hardest parts of the tattoo first, so that eventually the pain wasn’t really that bad, after all. And the end result? You’ll have to wait a little bit while the healing finishes up…but it is absolutely gorgeous and Sarah is a genius with a tattoo gun.

I went for my hair trial the same day as our tattoo, as well. Character Salon is donating us the styling for myself and my girls on the big day, so I went to see my lady, Lori, for a trim and a practice run. Poor Lori remembered how freaked out I was halfway through the first attempt we’d done about six weeks back, but by the end of it I’d loved it, so I was pretty relaxed this time through. I love this salon, and I love Lori, who didn’t panic when I reminded her I was putting emerald green streaks into my hair, but instead gave me advice for optimum placement. I left with my fascinator in place, my hair done up fabulously, looking only a little silly in shorts and a t-shirt. On the way home I got a handful of compliments, so that tells you how awesome it’s going to look! I’m genuinely excited about the hair. I think it’s going to suit me while still being really funky.

Purple Urchin swung by Brian’s work last week as well, and dropped off the most delightful package. If you’ll recall, Purple Urchin (afantastic homemade soap company) offered to provide gifts for our wedding party, and we happily accepted. Sarah of P.U. dropped off a bag of wonderfulness, but I only go to see it after she was long gone. When I opened the bag, I saw gifties for Brian and I, as well! Sarah had included some of her irresistible Root Beer-scented lip butter (thank god, because all the stress has had me chewing up my lips), plus an extra aptly-named ‘Man Soap’ for Brian (same as his boys will have) and an extra Cocoa Butter Coffee Scrub for me (same as the girls, and my favourite product from Purple Urchin). I am thrilled, and very happy that the scents of oatmeal, chocolate, and coffee will be wafting all around us while we give each other root beer-flavoured kisses. Thank you, P.U.! (And here’s a hint for those who’d like to try, or are already addicted to, P.U.’s goodies: there’ll be an announcement soon about a permanent 7-days-a-week place to get your soapy goodies…shhh! Stay tuned.)

And we had one more aesthetics-related adventure recently. You may remember that the lovely Daya Organic Spa offered to do the makeup for myself and my girls. I went in and saw the spa, which is a lovely place; it has a very comfortable atmosphere and the vibe is actually very different for a spa, with lots of natural wood and greenery instead of the more typical sterile white atmosphere. Sara (have you noticed how many Sara(h)s we’ve had help out?) took me around and showed me the makeup line they use, plus how they avoid cross-contamination and maintain good hygiene practices. As a former makeup artist myself, I have high standards for these things, and with three finicky bridesmaids, I had the responsibility of scouting out the joint. I deemed it fit for faces, and we set up a trial makeup appointment.

I went in on my allotted day, and Sara did my face up. We did green around the eyes, and a light blushy colour on the lips, and a layer of foundation to hide my stressed-out skin. I left feeling like we had a good plan of action…and then something happened. I don’t know exactly what, but something. I went home and looked at the makeup, and felt like something wasn’t right. I left the makeup on and kept looking at it, but I couldn’t figure out what was worrying me. There wasn’t one particular thing that was standing out or looking unusual…and that’s when I realized what had happened. It was simply all unusual. I looked like a bride, not like Jordan. I was utterly and completely outside my comfort zone.

I talked it out with Brian, and he understood what I was trying to say. There are many aspects to our big day that we hadn’t always planned on having, and in the end, our wedding is actually far more elaborate and fancy than we ever expected…and this is wonderful, but I knew there’d be a line somewhere that I wouldn’t want to cross. Naturally, it would be my appearance, as that is definitely the most intimate (and controllable) portion of the day. As I looked at my face with so much sparkling colour, I realized that I felt too many steps away from my ‘real’ self. I laughed at myself that the ivory taffeta dress hadn’t done it, nor the peacock feather fascinator or the miles of green crinoline. I suppose there is something about one’s face, however, that would make it a bigger deal than any of the rest. Well anyway, I explained the situation to Sara, and that (I guess, naturally,) my girls wouldn’t want to go without me, so to my utter shock and surprise at myself, I was turning down this enviable offer. I surprised myself with this one, as we’ve turned down so few offers (unless we had too many duplicates) through this whole process…but having done wedding makeup about a thousand times, I always knew just which brides were the ones that would panic last-minute and would rub their faces clean the moment I left. Usually the less princessy the woman, the less she’d want that makeup on her face…and guess what, I’m not a princess. I was never able, given my job, to tell those non-princess brides to send me home and do their own faces; but I can do that today with my own face, and that’s what I’ve done. Sara was a complete and utter sweetheart about it, and I will thank her in person for her awesomeness when I go in this week for a short grooming appointment (I’m sure I’ll write about it, my first waxing experience). In the meantime, I’m experimenting heavily at home with colours and shades of my existing makeup collection, til I find something that feels really right.

That’s it for now, I think. Seven days to go. I woke up this morning with so much adrenaline pumping through me that I thought I might choke. Brian, to my awe and disgust, is sleeping in with absolute ease. Boys.

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.

Mini post: centrepieces, postal strike, and a chance for golfing!

Here’s the first of our mini-blogs…

Okay, first off: our friends at Boston Pizza Orleans are hosting a charity golf tournament. It's happening on September 6th, at the Grey Hawk Golf Course (Ottawa area). A foursome is $450 and there's only a couple spaces left! Your registration fee gets you the range, a powercart, dinner, and awards at Boston Pizza afterwards, with proceeds going to the Orleans YMCA/YWCA. But if playing golf isn't your thing, and you're a business owner, you can sponsor a hole for $75.00 and have your name on the course! Contact scottl@bostonpizza.com for info on foursomes and/or sponsorship. Boston Pizza Orleans has raised over $11,000 to date for the Y, so support this great charity venture!

We made centrepieces all this past weekend. I want to sound excited, and halfway through I was; but by the end of the weekend, if I never saw another tin can again, it would be too soon. Regardless, I think the finished product is pretty cool. We’re going to have three types of centrepiece:

 

There's more rosettes on the finished ones.

8 tables will have these unique bottles holding branches and feathers; the branches are decorated with the wool rosettes that Annie Bananie taught us how to make! Under all of the 25 centrepieces (25 tables, yyyyyyep), we will place a different cool sheet of cardstock paper…we have lots left over from Brian’s mom crafting our invites. The branches we gathered and the bottles were donated by a local person on a freecycle group, and the feathers were extras sent along by Angela Klassen when she made our aisle markers…so these centrepieces are 100% FREE.

6 tables will have these nifty clocks. I got these clocks about a year ago when a nearby house was being torn down and someone had pitched oodles of old clock parts on the street corner. I found these six lovely broken clocks, and they look great with a few rosettes and another sheet of decorative cardstock. Again: totally FREE!

And 11 tables will have these tin can arrangements. The cans have been gathered by blog readers, and from our own meals. The feathers are transferred from the aisle markers, and the candles that will reside in the remaining two cans (3 cans total per table) are from a giant pack of 100 that I got from Ikea. The ribbon for all the cans cost $3.00 total; the buttons came from my stash of craft stuff. The saucers were again donated by a freecycler, and this makes all 11 centrepieces a whopping $3.00 creation!

In other news, we’ve been really struggling with our guest list and RSVP’s. There was a postal strike here in Canada for about a week in June, and it has wreaked havoc on the mail. A friend just received an invite yesterday from us that was mailed in May. So we’re having to do a lot of follow ups to find out where people’s RSVP’s are, and see if they know they’re even invited. This slows things down, too, as we have people we’re happy to invite, if we know there’s a seat vacant…but when we don’t know, we can’t invite ‘new’ people. This has been one of those face-mashing sort of ordeals that just sucks.

We had a nice break, though, when we took a dance lesson from our friend Jo on Sunday. Jo is a champion dancer, and she taught us quite a lot of swing dance moves in the space of a couple hours. By the end of the session, my legs were aching and I was dizzy from all the turns. But she’s a great teacher, we had a really fun time, and there are apparently free-or-cheap lessons all over town, so we’ll be trying to get out to some more before the wedding…and I can see this becoming our ‘date night’ activity after the wedding, too! Jo also gave us a sneak peek at the wishing well she’s building for us to borrow for the wedding…the wishing well is where people can put gifts in envelopes that keeps them all safe, and it’s a play on the idea of ‘wishing us well’. Jo is an accomplished carpenter and the well is going to be amazing. She even made a table top for it, so when she has it at home between weddings (she’ll keep loaning it out for years to come), she can use it as a table. Amazing!

That roguish grin, as he works on his vows!

We also sat down to work on our vows. We haven't got them quite finished yet, which is stressing me out in exactly the same way I used to stress about falling behind in English class in high school. But it was a very emotional activity, and we both found it really moving to hear what the other one came up with. I'll admit: I shed a few tears right in the middle of Starbucks. I really think we're going to have a beautiful ceremony. 

Other than that, we’re trekking along. We took time out last night to hang out with Sir Tam and her hubby, and had a few glasses of wine. It was absolutely wonderful to unwind a bit, and I felt ready to tackle tasks again today!

We’ll write again soon! 27 days to go…well, 26 days and 2 hours!

30 days to go: stories of a licence, details, and a nerdfest called SoCap.

We’ve had lot of adventures lately and are eager to share them with you all! It’s been a real mix of meetings, deliveries, and pickups, and all of these items are towering on shelves and along the walls of the art room, threatening to topple and kill us both. (This is one of the inherent dangers with a DIY wedding: when you pay companies to provide you with day-of services, there’s less of a gathering process and thusly, fewer stacks of paper plates tucked around your house.) With thirty days to go, we’re both feeling a rush of excitement mixed with panic, as tasks we thought we’d finish months ago are carried over to yet another rewrite of the to-do list; various RSVP fiascos made up of family politics, postal strike aftermath, and last-minute mailers, have literally had me in tears several times…but in a way, that particular type of struggle at least feels a bit more like a ‘typical’ wedding experience, which is kind of nice when so much of what we’re doing is far outside the box, where it can get a little lonely and surreal.

We started off July with an attempt to get our wedding licence near the start of the month. We travelled out to a township bordering on Ottawa, because the licence is $60.00 cheaper out there, and we would get to explore some nearby antique shops (where I found bridesmaid gifts that are priceless but only cost me the change in my pocket—but they’re a surprise so that’s all the detail you get). We started out a little late, partly because we both felt the occasion called for us to dress up, and as a sign of how romantic it all felt, I even permitted us to have matching outfits—something that I loathe and never usually allow. We stopped to eat a sandwich before heading to the town hall, where we came in, explained our purpose in being there, and received a cold reception.

Well, no worries, I thought; we may be excited, but not necessarily everyone around us will be. We took the forms and filled them out, returned to the window, and gave the woman our money. She then looked over our writing to be sure we’d missed nothing, and informed us we could come back in a week for the licence.

Waiiiiit a minute. A week?

In Ontario, there’s no wait period for your licence. I reminded the woman of that, and asked why we had to wait. She said, I don’t have time to type up your papers today. I said, I don’t have time to drive all the way back out to this town to get my papers next week. She said, You’re going to have to come back because I’m not filling in the forms today. I said, What needs to be done in terms of paperwork? She said, I have to type up this whole [one page, legal-sized] form. I said, Can I fill it in by hand for you? She said, No, it’s a legal document. I didn’t say, Well, gee, lady, what did people do before typewriters?

Brian wasn’t silent during this; Brian made a fatal error and attempted to get me to back down. Instead of siding with me, he told the lady that it wasn’t so bad if we had to come back in a week. The lady jumped on that comment, took it as proof that I could wait, and then added that we should call ahead to be sure they had a notary on site that day. It seemed pointless to try to explain to her that we have jobs and can’t be taking time off on the off-chance they may be properly staffed—or not—next week. Feeling helpless, however, and like we had very little options available to us, we acquiesced and headed to our car, and I’ll note that on the way out, I heard the woman telling another staff that she thought she might place a stationary order this afternoon—seriously?! Your letterhead takes precedence over my marriage licence?!

Once we reached the car, we proceeded to have a yelling, crying, ultimatum-flinging throw-down of a fight. Brian pulled over about a kilometre down the road where we sat and yelled at each other for about twenty minutes. In a momentary lull, I noticed the upbeat oldies song humming away on the radio, and became aware of the stifling July heat that was now baking us, pie-like, in the horrible hotbox of the car. A voice in my head said, this is ridiculous; another voice piped in and said, too freakin’ bad ‘cuz I ain’t done yet. We continued to fight as Brian drove back to the town hall, where I was demanding that he go in and ask for the manager. We compromised, and Brian went in to retrieve our money and forms. We then returned to the same dusty clearing where we’d earlier been fighting, sat in silence, and then grudgingly admitted we’d have to spend the extra money to get our licence on time, in the city. Through giant tears I tried to explain that getting this licence today was supposed to be a special, romantic sort of thing, and Brian became determined to resuscitate the adventure.

We drove into Kanata, to the government offices there, and entered in stony silence. A man behind the counter asked us what we were looking for, and we said we were there for our marriage licence. The young man brightened visibly and congratulated us, and in a matter of minutes we had the entire office coming over to say hi and ask us questions about the big day. We both began to relax, laughing and sharing tidbits about the wedding with the staff. We filled out the paperwork and a woman typed it up—in no more than fifteen minutes, which was great but sure added to our loathing of the rural office worker who'd refused us. As we were completing the process, one of the office staff came over to us. “Excuse me,” she said, “I don’t mean to intrude, but I was watching you two waiting, and you’re just so adorable together. A lot of people come in here, and they’re fighting with each other, and they’re just miserable, and you think, why are you even here? But you two…I can just tell, you two really love each other, and you’re not fighting.” Ohhhh, how we laughed. Which, incidentally, alleviated the last of the tension between us. We left the office sixty dollars poorer, but with an experience (and time saved) that was well worth it.

Anyway, some updates on logistics and wedding items:

First off: wedding favours. We met with Jenny of Geek Sweets Treats for a tasting, and what a tasting it was. Jenny arrived at our meeting place with a little wooden treasure chest of the finest little macarons for our testing pleasure. Macarons, for those who don’t know yet, are the world’s most delicious cookie. It is not the traditional coconut mishmash our moms used to make (though I do love those, too), but something entirely different. Picture two almond flour puffed biscuits, flavoured with any number of wonderful sweet flavours, and a layer of flavourful ganache sandwiched in between. Macarons come in every conceivable flavour, and Geek Sweets will be making us a selection of three: key lime, chocolate chai, and rocket popsicle. We cannot wait for these and admittedly may eat them before the guests ever arrive.

I also had the pleasure of stopping by Rehash to see Karie, and collect our bunting for the big day. Karie’s workmanship is lovely, and we now have ourselves an adorable line of flags reading, ‘SIDEKICKS’ to hang at our special day. Karie is such a sweet lady, and we are so happy to have a token of her talent and kindness for our wedding.

We received a package last week in the mail that was a pleasure to open and peruse. the crew at the UsedEverywhere.com offices put together a package for our In Spirit table: a piece of driftwood from the pacific coast with ‘J+B’ carved into it, and a bunch of British Columbia postcards. A water bottle and pen were also included and have been immediately put into use. We’ve displayed the driftwood in the living room at present and every time I walk by and see our initials inscribed into the wood, I smile.

We met with Kim this week, as well: a good friend who is part of our ceremony. I can’t possibly do justice in a quick post like this to the special role that Kim plays in my life; suffice it to say, Kim has been a spiritual guide for me, a sort of totem in my life…a living cairn, that bears witness to many pivotal moments in my life by being my confidante in times of change. Kim and we share certain spiritual perspectives, and she has been kind enough to honor us by agreeing to call the corners for our ceremony, as well as read our favourite poem. We met with Kim, and this was Brian’s first interaction with her…and naturally they both enjoyed each other. We sat with Kim for about an hour, reviewing the ceremony plan and talking about all manner of things. At the end, I felt rejuvenated down to my very spirit, and when she later sent us some suggested wordings for our script, I was instantly in love with it all. There are many wonderful things about our wedding, but having Kim with us is definitely one of the most special.

Oh, and another wonderful delivery arrived! The bridesmaid dresses from So-Fine arrived, and they are adorable. Three perfect dresses, in reversible apple green and plummy purple, arrived and they are lovely. Like, I want one, too. You can actually get yourself one of these dresses, and a limited number of this season’s production line was made in our exact wedding colours, so you can even get the exact dress from our wedding…nerdy but cool. I promise if I see you in it, I’ll come say hi. (For those out there who bought the colour combo without knowing about our blog, I apologize in advance for the weirdness when I come greet you.)

Bonus: Social Capital Ottawa Conference

Today (Saturday) I attended the Social Capital learnathon here in Ottawa. A serious slew of social media fanatics gathered at the University of Ottawa, tweeting and blogging their way through a day of lectures, roundtables, and networking. On a rare day full of ‘face time’, I got to meet (or at least see from across the room) many tweeters, bloggers, and website owners that we follow with our own social media accounts. I learned about metrics, branding, the importance of values, and the importance of communities—excuse me, ‘channels’. I was a little nervous to be going, honestly; there’s something surreal about putting faces to names that you interact with regularly but have never actually met before. But I settled in pretty quickly and thoroughly enjoyed an environment where we were encouraged to tweet, text, and blog at will. Listening to super smart, marketing-savvy people helped me remember how much I freakin’ love marketing. I’ve made a decision recently that I’m going to start pursuing an actual career in this field, and this awesome day really drove that idea home for me. I left at the end of the day with my brain so full that I forgot which key opens my apartment (not my car key, turns out); after a bit of yoga with Brian and some dinner, I found myself a little sad not to be still immersed in the wondrous land of nerds. The San Diego Comicon is on this weekend, and that’s an event I’ve dreamed of attending for years…but I feel like SoCap provided me with a little taste of that nerdly comraderie this weekend. It was wonderful to talk about our blog, how we strategized for our project, and have people genuinely get it; someone heartily recommended we present next year, and I really hope we could.

Thirty days to go. We’re going to keep updating you as much as possible; this could mean some mini-posts in the next few weeks, but we’re going to keep you in the loop. This is the real home stretch, the last little bit that you all helped us reach. We’re excited, we’re nervous, and we’re way behind on crafting centrepieces. You all have the best seat in the house: the one where you get to watch but don’t have to interact with us crazy, emotional basketcases…though we do appreciate encouragement, so tweet us, facebook us, email us, and comment below!

50,000 hits: a commentary by Jordan's dad

We exceeded 50,000 hits this past week, and wanted to write a short entry about it. My dad, Bill, sent us a write-up he wanted us to put on the blog, so we think it says all we need to say at the 50,000 hit mark. Without further ado, here are the sweet words of my dad, who brings a tear to my eye with his unwavering support. -JK

I have never written a blog before so this should be interesting. This whole thing started a discussion about how people seem to be attached to their phones. I was telling the kids that spending your day telling people what you are doing was ridiculous [for example, on facebook or twitter]. Jordan explained to me that a lot of conversation was just that, however social networking could be a powerful tool for communication. She explained that there are online communities of people who support each other and work together to help each other. Not understanding the system, I changed the subject back to the upcoming wedding which we were previously discussing. Sue and I were bragging (for the hundredth time) how we had done our wedding for $700 and fed 120 people. She of course pointed out that that was in 1979 and that things had changed. I said why don’t you use your “social network” to help you hahaha (triumphant cackle)?! 

            “Dad! There are nice people out there. Look at my craft trading group [Craftster]. We make things for each other and enjoy the sharing!” “Well no one is going to give stuff to strangers.” I said. Jordan said, “We could trade or even just get things that are filling someones’ basement and they want to see it go to good use.”

Well I guess I have been proved wrong. But in return my faith in people has been renewed. None of these wonderful people or companies had to do a single thing. They did it as part of the experiment, but mostly they did it because they cared enough to do it. There was no promise of success or recompense yet they did it willingly. There have been over 50,000 hits and I am told this is remarkable for a private blog. Oh yes there have been negative people who wished they had thought up the idea first. But in any endeavour there are always naysayers. This from the beginning has been a labour of love from strangers and I for one feel better about the world for it!

PS: For any naysayers out there who think I am excited because this has saved me a lot of money, the kids were going to get married on their own and they had refused to take money from us for it. We are not a rich family and Jordan and Brian refused to put a financial burden on us. They are special kids.

-Bill 

We love you, Dad. :) Thanks for the 50,000+ hits, world! We love having you along for this journey. 44 days to go til the wedding, and only a handful of loose ends to tie up. Thank you, everyone!

Planning updates, and a visit with the Royals!

Here's a few updates, with a special treat for the Will & Kate lovers at the end!

YOU’RE INVITED: A PARTY!

We’ve had a busy two weeks, and we’re getting a little antsy as we get closer and closer to the big day. Less than two months to go, yet our minds are still pretty focused on our upcoming Stag & Doe. For those who haven’t heard about it yet, it’s being hosted by Boston Pizza in Orleans (a suburb of our city), on July 12^th from 5pm-close. As someone who goes to bed pretty early, the big question we’re pondering is, how late we’ll make it before someone has to carry me, asleep, to the car! If you want some more details, follow this link. Remember that we’re inviting all our lovely readers, friends, family, you name it! This will be our last chance before the wedding to get to meet some of you, and we really want to see you there!

We want everyone to have some fun, so we’re setting up some ‘Minute to Win It’ style games; come play, and every time you play you’ll be entered into a draw for a grand prize package. If you managed to actually win one of the games, you’ll get a boatload of extra draw entries. It’s going to be fun to try—and to watch. So far, the grand prize consists of:

-a $25 gift card for Boston Pizza

-a $50 gift card for Little Cakes Cupcakes

-a $35 gift card for Aeropostale

…and we’ll see what else ends up in the package before the party!

Aside from the games, there will also be a silent auction. Everything, from Marta’s homemade cookies (you will LOVE them), to a $50 gift card for The Comic Book Shoppe (thanks, guys) will be up for bidding. A full list will be posted here soon.

As well, you can just come by for some munchies; put your receipt in the provided bin, and at the end of the night Boston Pizza will give us 10% of the bills gathered!

All these fun and games are going to help us out with some of the incidentals for the wedding that simply can’t be found another way, like the marriage licence, some cleaning supplies, and so forth. If there’s anything extra, we talked about putting it towards our ‘aftermath week’—since we’re not having a honeymoon after the wedding, we’re going to have a stay-cation here in town. But hey, even if you don’t want to play any games, bid on any cookies, or eat any pizza, we are also happy just to have you stop by and share some love with us! This may also be a good time to drop something off for our In Spirit Table!

A WORKSHOP FULL OF AWESOME

The felted flowers we made!

Last week, a gaggle of our friends and family participated in a workshop with Annie Bananie. Annie had contributed a workshop for our wedding, and offered to teach us how to make felt flowers that we could hang in the braches in our centrepieces. (Annie also blogged about the evening: read it here.)Annie was hard at work before we got there, making a huge piece of felt by hand. Our friend Anne brought wine and snacks, and we settled in to learn how to make these flowers. Even Dad Kent got into it, and he did a swell job, we thought! It was really wonderful, having friends and family together around a big table, making tiny pretty things and learning from Annie, who eventually sat with us and became another member of our circle, chatting and sharing. We ended up going through two sheets of felt, as everyone was having a great time and didn’t really want to stop. By the end of the night, we had a shoe box overflowing with little rosettes, and I promised Annie I would repurpose them after the wedding. We had such a great time, I cannot wait to join in on another workshop with Annie in the fall.

Fun with Felt at Annie Bananie's!

THE FINE DETAILS

We had a meeting with Christina, owner of The FlowerFactory, who is contributing our bouquets, boutonnieres, and head table accents. Christina was one of our first contributors, and she’s been the brunt of several panicky emails about wedding drama that has nothing to do with her, herself…but she’s always been a sweetheart, emailing back with words of wisdom and calm. Christina’s arrangements are beautiful, and we trust her imaginative talent so much that we have literally just told her to go wild. Our only request: lots of non-flower things happening. I’m not a feminine gal in the traditional sense, and we really want the wedding to be man-friendly, so sticks and twigs and greens and berries, etc. is really more gender-neutral. It’ll also bring a nice touch of nature, which we both love. We chatted with Christina and her partner over hot bevies for a while, and it was great just to have the chat time with her again! Because we’ve been so open with the plans for floral arrangements, this is one of the details of the day that I am the most excited to see. And this right here is a great example of why our wedding is going to be so cool: there’s a lot of ‘wiggle room’ where even the bride and groom will be surprised.

We also, thank the heavens, have confirmed a videographer. Neither of us was panicked about the possibility of not having a wedding video for ourselves, but we both really wanted one to be able to share all the love and awesomeness of the people who helped bring this wedding together. So we were super excited when we heard from Bytown Productions, offering to film our wedding! We met with Ryan and Andrew, and these sweet young men were really great. They showed us a sample video, and we talked about what we like and don’t like in wedding videos. They’ve promised to get us a short web-friendly video as soon as possible after the wedding so that we can blog it for all to see. We’ll chat more about Bytown in posts leading up to the wedding, but this was a major wishlist item and while a small detail, is one we are incredibly happy to have confirmed!

FOOD: SOLUTION

As you probably know, we’ve been struggling with some food issues for the wedding. We aren’t able to use the fridges, stoves, and microwaves in the kitchen for liability reasons, which has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into our dinner plans: a potluck that needs to be kept fresh for two hours (plus the hour that most people will have spent in the car to get there). We’ve decided to simplify: have all guests bring cold dishes that can be served cold, and have them bring everything in coolers with ice, with enough to keep things cold for the full three hours (travel + wait time at venue). This will likely limit the amount of ‘filling’ dishes, however, as there’s more risk with high protein foods. Well, my cousin Steve has come to our rescue. He is arranging to cook a big side of beef at his work, and bring it with heating equipment on the day of the wedding. This news was some of the best we’ve had in weeks: the huge reduction in chest pains was so appreciated! While coolers and a giant beef order may not be the most elegant solution to our food storage problem, it is definitely the simplest! Steve, thanks for being awesome.

A SPECIAL TREAT: WILL & KATE

This past weekend, we also had a nice little treat between various errands, wedding tasks, and Canada Day festivities. Brian and I were invited to attend a private reception of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they visited the Canadian War Museum! We went to the museum on Saturday morning with my parents, and were put into lockdown for a few hours while guests arrived and security was checked. Kate and Will visited with veterans and war brides before making a hasty trip through the reception area we were stationed in, and we applauded as they walked through.

I’ll admit, I was a bit shell shocked, what with all the pomp and applause happening, and so many cameras—though none of the guests themselves were allowed to take photos (I snuck a couple shots with my phone before the royals got there). As the royal couple walked by our little group, an arm’s length away, we applauded, and William actually waved at me…but in my utter surprise, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything at all: I just kept clapping and smiling what I’m sure was a ridiculously wide-eyed smile. Gahhhh. Ah, well; at least I looked fantastic in my Vivien of Holloway engagement dress that I was gifted! Naturally that’s what I wore, as I love the dress and most importantly, I love to dress on a theme; so my dress from England was worn to greet our guests from England. And however socially stunted I was in the moment, it's not everyday you get to attend an intimate reception for the Royals, so really all I had to do was stand there, look pretty, and smile. Right?

Bri and my parents at the reception

So many people waiting outside for a glimpse!

THE UPCOMING WEEK…

Really, for the next week, I think we’ll be focusing mostly on the Stag & Doe. We really want everyone to have a great time, and we’re so lucky to have Boston Pizza’s help with decorations, space, food, and other details…so we can focus this week on putting together some fun games, a great auction, and a fun grand prize! We hope to see you there; it’ll be a nice fun night in the midst of wedding chaos and we’d love to chat with you. In the meantime, stay tuned for more blogging as things continue to heat up around here…