SUCCESS!

This past weekend was venturing BACK into bridal shops to shop for bridesmaid dresses. The first stop was Everything but the Groom in Langley. After choosing a large supply of dresses I got to take a seat with the note pad while my girls tried on dress after dress after dress.

I've decided that watching people try on dresses is very amusing, especially when the person you are watching is the tiny Sydney who is trying on dresses that are a size 12. That was comical. After much swatch looking and humming and debating we narrowed the field to two which everyone liked equally.

I had planned on using Bryan's Bridal as a backup in case we didn't find anything we liked. Everyone was looking at me to see if we were actually going out there considering how successful the first stop was. I felt very guilty but wanted to make sure we had the right dress so I asked if we didn't mind a trip to Burnaby. Being the wonderful friends and family my crew is they all said no problem and we were on our way.

One map book and a traffic jam later.... we arrived at Brentwood mall.

The girl looking bored at the desk at Bryan's Bridal said they were short staffed and we would be looking after ourselves. I was actually kind of pleased because the bored looking girl appeared to be a bit surly. We tried on a few more and it still came down to two - one that we'd seen at Everything but the Groom and a new one. Again both sides seemed equally pleased with both dresses.

I said I would ponder and get back - I am leaning towards one at the moment but haven't made my final decision. I will post a picture of the dress when I have made it. I promise!

6 1/2 Women.... 1 Dress

Tomorrow I will be venturing back into Bridal stores armed with my mom and brides maids (and Anastasia - hence the 1/2 of a woman...) to find a bridesmaid dress for my girls. I'll let you know how it goes.

Are you serious? We have a photographer?!?

Ian was very persistent about finding just the right photographer, for what I think are obvious reasons. I was also feeling very strongly about finding just the right photographer, I didn't want someone who was too "arty" or took too many of the same style shot or any of the other cheesey wedding photo things that make me want to vomit.

Here is the thing about the wedding photographers that meet the above description... they cost: an arm, a leg and your first born child. Ian and I decided that we wanted to keep our first born so we wanted someone a little more affordable. We looked and looked and looked. I looked at so many websites for photographers that I actually got tired of looking at other peoples wedding photos. Shocker! I know.

It was getting to the point where we thought that we would either have to give up our first born or we would have some horrible cheesy wedding pictures. Then one night, Ian and I went on a blitz through flickr. We went so many photos our heads began to spin and then a glimmer of hope. Some photographs that were pretty, well composed and not cheesey. Ian hunts out a website and suddenly after a look at the investment section we realize that this woman might actually work.

http://www.elainegebert.ca/

The contract has arrived and as soon as we get new toner I'll have it signed and sent back with a deposit.

An added bonus - there is a complimentary engagement session = more great pics of Ian and I. Something that we are seriously lacking even though we've been together for almost 7 years.

Progress!

So in the past week and a bit Ian and I have made great amounts of progress on wedding things, and this makes me VERY happy.

First: Ian made HUGE headway with the caterer! He managed to negotiate so that we could get the guy we wanted, the food we wanted for the price we wanted. I knew there was a reason I was marrying this guy! So the cheque is in the mail for a deposit and it appears that we might actually be able to feed our guests at our wedding. I like to think that's a good thing.

Second: Cake - Ian has been in touch with our recipe creator, ya we have one of those. She is getting to work on what will be the top tier of our wedding cake. This is cake that is Ian and Jen friendly. The best part? There will be a tasting soon! I like tastings.

Side Note: I still can't choose a design for our cake... it seems all the ones I've seen pictures of are ugly. Anyone got any pics of not ugly cakes?

Third: I ordered our favours! They will require some assembly when they arrive... but they are on their way. Maybe I can coax some bridesmaids into a night of favour making with a bottle of wine? Or two? How about wine and cheese?

Fourth: Invitations are coming together nicely, the rest of the materials have been shipped and should arrive within the next couple of days. Added Bonus - I'm actually on budget!

Fifth: (I'm shocked there is a fifth thing too!) Ian and I have come to some sort of agreement on the timeline for the day which means he can start negotiating with a photographer (we even have one in mind that we both like!!!!).

So my hopes of getting the wedding mostly planned by the time I go back to school is not actually that far off. I know I still have a long way to go but.... so far so good! Added Bonus #2: we still actually want to marry each other!

Shoes!!!

Over a month ago I was shopping with my mom and sis for... well I can't actually remember the reason we were shopping but we were.

Nearing the end of our trip I noticed a particularly fantastic shoe store and asked if they wouldn't mind taking a peek.

Rewind a few weeks... well more like months... well more like years... ok when did I start wearing shoes? The point is I have been thinking about what shoes I would get married in for as long as I have loved shoes. More recently (ie the past couple of years) I've known that they would be any colour other then white because white shoes are generally boring. Since Ian and I have decided on Red as a theme colour I thought Red would be suiting. My ideal colour would be blue (for my "something blue") but I didn't want to look like the American Flag walking down the isle.

Back to the shoe store on the shopping trip with mom and sis. They had a display of wedding shoes but they were all white and none of them were particularly spectacular, more kind of dull. So I started looking around the store and then I saw them. They were red (and a nice red at that), feminine, classy with just a little bit of flirty thrown in. I tried them on and wow, they were even comfortable. My mom reasoned that even if they didn't go with whatever dress I chose, (I hadn't chosen a dress at this point) they were a great pair of shoes. I knew there was a reason I loved shopping with mom! So I bought them.

Now the reason I have waited so long to post this is Ian said that he didn't want to know anything about my attire... however, in cleaning our apartment for a showing he came across them. It was actually quite funny. He pulled them out and yelled, "WHAT ARE THESE?" thinking I had bought them for fun and tried to hide them from him. Anyway, long story short, the cat's out of the bag with my shoes so I might as well post a pic of them.

For your viewing pleasure:

EEEE SO PRETTY!!!

Life Changes

This past week there have been a few changes with Ian and I.

First - as of August 1st Ian and I have been living together for 1 year and are officially Common Law... Sorry Ian, you're hooked! haha

Second - saving for the wedding and honeymoon has put a bit of stress on the fiances so Ian and I have been trying to find ways to cut and slash the budget. One of the ideas that got put forward was moving into a smaller (and thus cheaper) apartment. One such apartment happened to be available in our building so we made an appointment today to go and look at it. We decided that it was going to be way too small for us, we have a lot of junk. Our building manager asked if we wanted to see the 2 bedroom on the 4th floor that was open. Of course out of sheer curiosity we said yes. Ian really liked it and even though I wasn't sure, a good ol' pro/con list convinced me that a move to the 4th floor was a good idea. A quick phone call later I was filling out paperwork as Ian was taking measurements of our new place.

A few perks that we will get in the new place:
1. A balcony that we can actually use
2. Security and privacy that comes along with NOT being on the ground floor
3. The ability to leave our bedroom windows open at night
4. $20.00/month cheaper rent
5. A walk in closet in the bedroom

So now I'm tackling, wedding plans (latest things are a timeline for the day, registry organization, flowers, invitations, photography...), a move, and showing the apartment... oh boy! Maybe it's good thing that my temp agency has been MIA.

Mainland Adventures

I went to the mainland for my softball provincials a week ago which were a big fat flop. We lost four straight games... oh well. But that meant that Sunday wasn't going to be spent sweating it out on the ball field.

Since I wasn't going to be playing I decided to spend the time on wedding stuff.

Ian and I have been fighting over the center pieces since we got engaged and by fighting I don't really mean fighting but disagreeing. I wanted bird cages and he wanted Chihuly style blown glass. We compromised by not doing either! It wasn't that I was against the blown glass but I was fairly certain that it was beyond our budget.

So Mom and I ventured out to Ikea to look at alternatives that we could both agree on. We also were looking for a few other things and I wanted to venture into Bed Bath and Beyond to secure the registry stuff.

Ikea was very very successful, we picked up some options for center pieces (don't worry it won't be a bookcase). And then to Bed Bath and Beyond where Mom and I ran around scanning like mad to get things sorted for the registry.

The following day I went to a dollar store and picked up the last few elements to put together my sample center pieces. I really like them and now it's just a matter of selling Ian on the idea. Wish me luck!

Oh and by the way... I changed my mind a third time on the china pattern. It's now (and will be forever) Mikasa's Cocoa Blossom.