Dress Update

The past could of days have been dedicated to finding the perfect dress. I went to Ruby's in Surrey and was not terribly impressed with the consultant that was there.

We walked in and she was busy with another customer but instead of saying, "I'll be right with you," she completely ignored us. When she finally acknowledged our presence, she pushed her opinions on me a bit too much. The good news is that the two dresses I found there I can easily get somewhere else.

I'm now down to 4 dresses that I am in love with and it's a matter of choosing JUST the right one. My mom says that there is no "wrong" choice and that if I choose any one of them it would be perfect. I am inclined to agree with her because I felt like a bride in all 4 of the dresses and they are all incredible.

I found one dress that I loved, but it had one flaw. Box pleats, which I discovered are not a girls best friend. However, I was pleased to find out that the designer who created the dress also created many others that were very similar which did not have the nasty box pleats.

The past couple of days have been dedicated to finding a sample of these dresses to try on, I refuse to buy a dress sight unseen.

Yesterday I was accompanied by Kristy to Luz Bridal in Victoria and while they were lovely the dresses they had in stock were not quite as spectacular as I want. There were 2 that I really liked but thinking back, I liked the ones on the mainland more. I also failed at finding the similar dress that I was after. Today I will be calling Sapphire Bridal to see if they stock the dress that I am after, if they do not then I will have to expand my search to the mainland where I will be calling Champagne and Lace.

Other then that, this past weekend my mom and I visited the Scottish Cultural Center and were pleasantly surprised. The caretaker was very helpful and it ticked a lot of boxes. I want to wait until Ian sees it but I am feeling cautiously optimistic. We may be able to pull off the wedding we want after all.

China Patterns

Since I got engaged (and even before) I knew that I wanted to register for china and crystal to start building a collection so that when the time comes where it would be appropriate to use it (ie when I brave cooking my first Christmas/Thanksgiving Turkey) I have something beautiful to eat it on. Without having to buy an entire set at one time.

As mentioned before it took a bit of convincing to get Ian to agree with my way of thinking but he has come around.

Yesterday we descended on The Bay (downtown Victoria) to attempt to pick china and crystal. After our 3rd "why registering is great!" speech we were set loose with our scanner.

We started with crystal. I had seen a pattern in the catalogue that I liked (Waterford Siren) and wanted to see, touch, feel etc. but sadly they didn't have it in stock. Below is a pick for your viewing pleasure (sorry it's so small).

To add insult to injury nothing they had in stock really leaped out at us as "we want to look at this for the rest of our lives".

Feeling discouraged we moved onto china. Ian and I had seen a Kate Spade pattern at the Wedding and Honeymoon Fair in Vancouver that we liked and they had the same pattern in stock. However... it was way out of our price range (I guess you pay for the name). So we moved on to slightly more inexpensive (but equally as pretty) patterns.

Some we liked but were still too expensive. Others that Ian liked I thought were boring. Ones that I liked Ian thought were either too frilly, girly or ugly.

We settled (after a lot of debate) on this pattern, my favourite and Ian said, "it's okay":

It's called Renwick Platinum by Noritake.

After leaving the store with little more than the china on the registry we decided to pow-wow about our "next move".

Ian was feeling a little restricted by the lack of selection that we have been seeing, I didn't think it was that bad but Ian being the internet guy is used to endless selection. We decided that the Sears registry was out because they seem to be only good for the small appliances which we really don't need. We still like Home Outfitters because so far they have had the best selection and we are sticking with The Bay for now as they have been the only ones that offer the fine china.

Ian also mentioned that he really wants a REALLY good set of knives and REALLY good pots and pans. Which I think is a great idea but so far we have seen very limited selection, especially on the knife front. So I did a bit of googling around and found that Bed Bath and Beyond has a great selection of... well everything. They even do fine china.

So I told Ian that I was impressed by their website and that he should have a look. Judging by the email that I just got saying that Ian had opened a registry I am guessing that he was equally impressed.

We need to get into a store to see for sure but I'm thinking we might stick with them. There is the small problem of the only two stores are on the mainland. However, we are over there almost every weekend so I don't think that will be a major problem.

SO - on to registry #4... Oi

Hair Progress Report

It has now been a couple of months since Ian and I got engaged. I'm not noticing a difference in my hair but then again, I look at me every day so the minute differences are hard to notice.

That being said when I look back at the pics, it's amazing how much growth has occurred. Here are a few pics to show you.

Freshly Cut in November (ish) - note the dorky smile... I'm not sure what was up with my face that day.

Engagement Length, (March 6) i.e. Jen needing a cut but putting it off praying that Ian would propose

Yesterday (May 16)

NOTE: Ian... I know it's a crappy picture but for the first time in months I was having a good hair day, I wanted to document it.

Sears

Yesterday was Sears. I was supposed to be joined by Ian, but he got called into work and couldn't turn down the shift because it was a very lucrative opportunity.

At the appointed time I walked into Sears and was greeted by Jennie. She walked me through getting the registry started (more more briefly than the lady at Home Outfitters which I was thankful for) and then I started with the little scanner thingy.

This time wasn't nearly as fun because Ian wasn't there. It was also frustrating because I was trying to predict what Ian would like and even after 6 years I'm still not great at that (he has very specific tastes). So I kept the scanning short and only scanned things that I was fairly sure Ian would like and that we might need. A couple sets of sheets, a soap dish and a matching toothbrush holder, THE kitchen aid mixer that we have been drooling over for years, and a set of square plates that match our current set. Ian had mentioned he wanted some square plates to add to our collection.

I told Jennie that I wanted to keep it brief because of Ian's lack of presence so she was not totally shocked when I had barely scanned a page of stuff. I told her that Ian and I would be back when he was not working. She sent me on my way with a bag full of information, a cute little hand towel and a gift card for $25.00. Since the gift card was due to expire in a few days I thought it best to use it right then and there. So I hummed and hawed over the kitchen section for a while and decided on some mixing/prep bowls by pyrex that come with lids. There was even the added bonus of getting them 20% off!

So, for those who are keeping track the list of free stuff we have accumulated is:

2 Champagne Flutes

1 Hand Towel

4 Mixing Bowls with lids

1 $25.00 gift card yet to be spent at Home Outfitters

It is my opinion that if someone is needing things for the home to simply go and register with as many stores as possible, you'd be surprised what they send you home with. Anyone can say that they are getting married, the baby registry may be a little harder to fake.

421 days to go!

that's all!

Gift Registry (Part One of... ?)

When I attended the bridal show in April I got some information regarding registries for a couple of different places. Ian had his own ideas about registries (mostly that amazon was the way to go) but I quickly convinced him that maybe we should go in person and register for things that would touch and feel rather then pictures.

Our apartment is kind of a mish-mash of my stuff and a few little pieces of our stuff, Ian didn't have much stuff when we moved in together. We have some good quality stuff but not a lot and the rest of it is just... first time apartment type stuff that is mis-matched or cheap or both.

So I want to get a few things that are a little nicer, a little match-ier and maybe a few things that reflected my tastes now as opposed to my tastes when 5 years ago. I also want to start my collection of china and crystal because while we have no use for it now I feel that down the road it will be nice to have. Ian wasn't sold on many of these things initially but he's coming around to my way of thinking.

For me it wasn't a question of what I wanted so much as it was a question of where to find it. I googled around and was astounded at the shear number of stores that offered wedding registries. Since Ian and I wanted a fairly traditional registry we have decided to go with one of the more traditional stores. So tonight was a store under The Bay's umbrella Home Outfitters. We walked in were greeted with by a lovely lady who rambled on about the benefits of registering. I felt like saying, "you don't need to sell us, we're already here!" Oh well... after she finally stopped talking and after a brief how-to we were set free to start scanning. There were a few disagreements but for the most part Ian and I were on the same page. (Yay!) I am particularly excited about the prospect of bamboo sheets and towels, which are very reasonably priced for bamboo for anyone who feels like giving us gifts...? Just kidding :)

A few other little perks that came along with registering with them are a $25.00 gift card to blow on something fun, 10% on all our registry items up to 1 year post wedding (ones that weren't purchased), a nice set of 2 champagne flutes and a Companies Coming book.

I have an appointment with Sears on Sunday and I will make an appointment with The Bay next week and we will decide after the consultations if we are keeping all of them or just one or two. Stay tuned!

Secret Posts

The past couple of weeks Ian and I have shifted our focus from wedding to getting me a job for the summer and him a job on the island (we are kind of done with Ian never being at home). So we have put a pin in the wedding plans. Thus, sadly there has not been much to report.

That being said I did go for round 2 of dress shopping today. This time it was Champagne and Lace in Abbotsford, flanked by my Mom, Sister, Niece and Bridesmaid (Reiko). We walked in and the place was hopping with grads looking for dresses and getting fittings etc. etc. However the bridal side was much calmer and we immediately went to work pulling potentials. This time I was a little more organized and had a list of things that I wanted to try. This is what it looked like:

Things I want to try:

1. Something with lots of lace

2. A Satin Corset Bodice without rousing (something LIKE the following)

3. Something with BRIGHT colour

4. The Red Da Vinci Dress

5. Something that is not strapless

The red dress is something that Ian saw in a magazine that he loved. I really thought the idea of wearing a red dress might be kinda cool. I won't tell if I found it because I d0 want there to be some elements of surprise but... I'm not opposed to wearing a red dress if it happens to be the one.

Now you are probably wondering why I titled this "Secret Posts" this is because I am also writing posts that I'm not ready to share yet. There are a few things about the wedding that I want to remember but would like to remain surprises either for our guests or for Ian. I will post them post-wedding, so until then you will have to remain in suspense. It's only 1 year and 2 months away.

Venue Hunting Blues

Because of our very specific needs and very limited budget Ian and I are having major trouble booking a venue. We also don't want to set anything else in stone until we have a venue because we want to be able to have flexibility with dates. SO that has put pretty much everything else on hold until we have that booked. Which kind of sucks. We are waiting on a few places (one recommended by Fi, thanks dude!) but at the rate we are going... it's not looking good.

It's too bad really because I am officially done school and now have the time dedicate to it.

Totally unrelated note:

I have had a craving for hot dogs (I know... gross, right?) for approximately two months. See, there was this hot dog vendor down town and it smelled SO good... Anyway, so for the past two months I have had a hot dog craving but as many of you know I can't have wheat. So if anyone knows of any wheat/gluten free hot dogs buns that don't taste like cardboard (well actually I wouldn't mind a slightly cardboard-y tasting one at this point), please point me in the right direction.