Day 611 - Last entry

Not even sure what to put here. I'm running around ensuring everything is ready for tomorrow but not the slightest bit scared. I was smiling at something David said yesterday that I thought I'd share with you.

Everyone keeps asking David if he is getting excited and/or nervous. He is so relaxed and laid back and he said one time when someone asked and he seemed casual they said, "Am I more excited than you?" he said, "I don't know how to explain it. It's not that I'm not happy, or not looking forward to it. It just .... it just feels right."

That about sums up the emotions in the house lately. Our daughter has been coming into our room in the morning counting down the days. I even accidentally captured her excitement at the rehearsal when I ended up recording her squealing about our wedding. I believe she thought it was our wedding that day and not just practice. Regardless she was extremely excited! I'm scared that I'm going to forget something but then I remind myself of just how organized I am so with the exception of mother nature and others I can't control what happens and I'm just going to have to relax and enjoy the day....YA RIGHT! ;p

But really, I've done this before. I've choreographed 24 kids into a shakespearing play which we then executed in front of an audience of their family and friends. I can choreograph a measely 70 adults to do the same....right? :p

No matter what happens tomorrow I will be happy because tomorrow I marry my best friend!

<3 your hippie bride, will return as a hippie wife 

Day 603 - Feels like home

With 9 days left until our wedding it's down to those last minute details. The flower baskets, the seating charts, the garter, the boutineers, the wedding favors, the bubbles....the emotions!

A few days ago while in the shower, very suddenly and with no explainable reason I started to bawl. It wasn't happy tears, I was sobbing and confused all at once. Just as quickly as it washed over me it was gone and I was content again. I stepped out of the shower still looking confused. I have shrugged it off as being tired and my body just needing to get emotional for no reason.

The last person I expected to be excited is perhaps more excited than all of us. Our daughter! She has been running into our bed in the mornings squealing, "you're going to get MARRIED! We're going to go to your wedding and you'll have your wedding dress and I'm going to stand and be quiet and watch you get MARRIED!" she bounces up and down with her eyes wide and her hands clapping together and flapping around. Every time she hears a song that has become associated with our wedding in some way she will stop what she's doing to look at us and squeal, 'THAT'S YOUR WEDDING SONG!" or "THAT'S THE SONG FOR YOUR WEDDING!" She has even decided that at our wedding she wants to dance to a song she now calls "our song" with her mommy and daddy. So in addition to having our first dance we are going to follow with our first dance as family with our daughter.

She has watched us practice our dance together and has even insisted that I practice our dance together. This mostly consists of her sticking her arms out and spinning around. But I play along and the day of the wedding I will do the same if that makes her happy.

I asked David the other day how he knows he loves me. He responded that it was just a feeling. I asked, "And what does it feel like?"
"It feels like home." I laughed and began to sing the song for a second before he continued, "a longing, comfort. Feeling safe. Not being able to imagine life without you." He said more and has had variations on the same thing but to be completely frank I must cut this short as my seating chart is quietly waiting for me to complete it and Uncle Jer has taken our excited daughter out for a smoothie. I must take advantage of the toy free floor. :)

<3 9 days <3

<3 your hippie bride

Day 583 - Dance till you drop

Last night was my bachelorette, a silly but necessary component of the modern bride's trip down the aisle.....okay, maybe not necessary but I can not imagine not having one.

For the purpose of being completely honest I shall tell you that my brain is fried. I am tired, I was drinking and as much as I am not hung over and wasn't drunk, I most certainly am finding it difficult to put words together this morning. Please ignore the choppy manner by which I relay the night to you.

timeline? Sure.... informal...choppy, perfect for a morning after blog entry.

• My maid of honor showed in the am to come with me to my make-up appointment. I had booked it for the bachelorette day so I could see how the make up held up through a full day. If it was successful and looked good I would have them do my make-up the wedding day. It was a success. 
• We returned home to wait for our "extra guest". The bachelorette was to be the bridal party plus one although later it was plus two. Unfortunately one of my bridesmaids found herself ill the night before so she was not able to make it to the bachelorette. :( But we will have to abduct her for another day out! A post-wedding celebration! 
• With our "extra guest" in tow we headed out to lunch at my friend's restaurant. I'm hoping to have our rehearsal dinner at the same location. 
• After lunch it was off to have a mani-pedi with the girls. We met up with my sister (other bridesmaid) at this point and the four of us laid back and got pampered. okay, perhaps 3 of us, my sister apparently does not find the pedicure process very pampering. We got a kick out of her squirming during the process though. 
• After this we ran back to my place to gather our gear for the night and pick up the plus 2. 
• At my sisters place we started the night with a sexy and the city party. Even cooler than I could have imagined. :) Won some awesome prizes too! 
• Then garlic fingers, penis cake and more booze. Followed by a trip to the club. 

I can say this for dancing or at least heading out to a club for a bachelorette, at least for me, is a very different atmosphere than just going out to the club. I couldn't quite peg it last night but looking back this morning I think a biggest thing is that your upcoming wedding is at the front of your mind the whole time. Not necessarily stressing you but perhaps distracting you or maybe even just adding an element to the moment. When you are going out dancing you are just going out dancing and to everyone around you that is the same fact. But when you go out for a bachelorette you are going out dancing to celebrate the end of your single life. Typically this involves some tell tale jewelry which results not only in free cover but also in congratulations from complete strangers and oohs and awws from girls who want to see your ring through their beer goggles. I had expected DJ's to be a little more attentive which at first was not the case. But when we switched bars or at least sections of the bar to another DJ he was a lot quicker to provide the tunes requested! Although, oddly enough for a bar scene, neither DJ had Shots - LMFAO something I've heard almost every time I've been out in the past year. But they did have Maneater - Nelly an older tune that my sister and I used to dance/drink to years ago. Just after that they played Low - Flo Rida a song which came out when I was pregnant and couldn't dance/drink to it at a club.
I think one of my favorite songs that the first DJ played was I will survive - Gloria Gaynor oddly enough a song I can't really stand ... I don't hate it, I just ... don't listen to it. If it is on an ipod I press skip. It's just...it is a theatrical song that you have to be in a theatrical mood to listen to. Sure enough, I dragged my Maid of Honor up unto the speakers and we belted it out to no one in particular and each other of course. So maybe it is a song I might at some point request in the future when out. Just a fun drinking out with the girls song apparently. Not a frequent one though, I put it on just now to see if I had a new love for it. I don't, in fact I'm about to turn it off when I finish this paragraph. However, it at least now has a memory to connect to it that will make me smirk when I think of me doing the running man on the speaker in my six inch heels while I told no one in particular to "go on now go! Walk out the door!" something I didn't realize was quite as dangerous until I did it sober last night. Those speakers have just enough space all around them for a heel to slip down and break a leg. Yikes, had I been drunk I think I might have injured myself quite badly! But I also wouldn't have been doing the running man on a speaker in 6" inch heels were I drunk. Nope...not a chance! 

OH another highlight of the night was that in the beginning on all the speakers there was a large group of people who were doing the same dance moves and getting the crowd in on it. They'd switch it up as if they were giving a fitness class or dance lesson. It was quite amusing. Although I didn't join in necessarily I did enjoy the random participation of the rest of the room.
Another would be this drunk girl who was loooooaadddedd t-rexing it all night. just back and forth with her trashed buddy up on the stage. she'd t-rex to one end of the room, sweep her hand through her hair then t-rex back to the other end. Ocassionally she'd switch it up by putting her hands on her hips and doing a move which can only be compared to the fresh prince doing Jump on it in high speed and then regaining balance to t-rex back to the other side of the room.

By the end of the night we were just getting goofy and having silly fun. I even tried to get a lapdance from a poor sap. All in good fun of course and didn't expect him to nor would I have let it go on for long, I guess you could say it was just me having fun at someone else's expense and seeing if they had the balls to put on a show for fun. When he didn't we just did ourselves, everything from mocking our t-rexing girl from the other bar to a quick spurt of thriller and then just random shit we named or associated with people or activities.

All around, a great night, and when I came home and curled up with my hubby-to-be it suddenly felt soooo real once more. He said the same, with all those last little details coming to a close it feels like that wedding is coming up. Which is good, since it is 29 days away! Now if only I could help his pen hit paper so he could finish start his vows! ;) 

See below the fold for a few pictures. Mind you there is a synthetic penis so this is not for the sensitive and/or virginal eyes. No babies, NSFW and don't come complaining to me when you walk away laughing.

<3 your happy hippie bride

Day 574 - Final details

Today was the day we confirmed our meal selection, went through some final details and picked up my wedding dress. If I could describe my feelings today as one feeling I would. However, my feelings are really just a cluster of random extreme feelings. Fear, excitement, butterflies, love... is love a feeling?

With the venue appointment I was so full at the end it was unbelievable. It was nice to sit down with our co-ordinator and put those final layout descriptions on paper. I now know where I'm going to put specific things as well as where I will be coming in during the ceremony and even discussed a room divider to add something to the room. The way the room is I will be coming into the room, turning left then right then right again at which point I will be facing David.

Because of this I thought the room divider would remove the visual part of the left turn and as a result I'd just be walking across the back of the room and then up the centre.

After filling up on food and details plus paying off the remaining balance of the venue it was off to pick up our wedding dress. First we had to drop the groom and children off at home so there'd be no worries about loading the dress in the car nor risk David seeing it. As I put it on I was nervous and excited all at once. I love how it fits me since I've lost all the baby weight, I am worried about how the bouquet may hide me as it's big and I'm small. I'm worried about the fact that it's not a sweetheart neckline and so I may look smaller than usual. I'm worried about armpit fat. I'm just worried about so many things but mostly just excited to be marrying my best friend.

Lately I have been listening to loving music a lot just to envision the day. I have even changed my ringtone to what my daughter refers to as, "your dress song mommy!" she of course is referring to the video I have of me saying, "Yes to the dress" where the song played in the background.

At the venue today while trying to envision the layout and deciding on where aspects would go, where the aisle would be, where the groom would be. We had David stand at the end of the aisle and I walked down towards him. It was the closest to "real" we've had so far. Makes me that much more excited for the next 38 days to go by.

<3 your organized hippie bride. 

Day 570 - My big confession!!

First off, the geek in me must proudly proclaim that there are 42 days left until my wedding! If you don't understand why that is important .... pick up a book!

Second thing on the agenda would be the surreal feeling of getting married. As I sent David out today to get the comforter from the laundry room I realized, for whatever reason, that we were going to be getting married! I do not know if I have yet mentioned this, however, several years ago I spent a good year being completely unable to wrap my head around the idea that I was dating him. I blame this on us having been best friends for so long. In fact early in our relationship I'd find myself missing my high school friend on msn. I would be sitting on the sofa beside David and wondering what David was up to lately. Of course it was more of a feeling than an actual inquiry but it was a very real feeling. The only comparison I can give can only be appreciated by parents. When your child grows from a baby to a toddler or from a newborn to a baby you know it's the same child but a part of you misses the other child they used to be as though you have lost the first child and this is a second. You know in your heart they are one in the same but they are also so different that there is a part of you that goes to that crib wondering what happened to your baby.

Fortunately I never had to truly mourn for my friendship with David as we have always and still are friends first. It matters not what the circumstances he is and always will be my best friend. I go to him for everything and have a strong rule with friends, don't ever tell me anything I'm not allowed to tell him unless it is a surprise for him. For as much as I don't necessarily run to him with every detail of my life or my friends lives I keep no secrets from him for David is my best friend and the love of my life.

Alas, for that first year I would randomly say, "I'm dating David!" aloud to no one in particular. I'm glad David never found this offensive although at first he found it confusing. What was so strange about dating him. I of course explained to him and being that he knows me so well he understood. Lately, I have had similar thoughts regarding marrying him. I will be standing there at some moment in my day, perhaps folding his boxers, perhaps putting his oatmeal packet into the recycling (because he always forgets to do that) and for an instant my mind flashes from age 10 until now and WHAM I say, "I'm marrying David!!!" I guess it's like I instantly say aloud to no one in particular, "if you had asked me when I was 10, 13, 17 any age before 22 if I'd be marrying David and I would have scoffed at you. He's my best friend, we're just friends." I'd have likely msn'd him that night and said, "Oh Em Gee you will not believe what my neighbor asked me today!" we'd have laughed, he'd have joked "What's so bad about marrying me?" and I'd have told him, "oh shut up!" he'd have likely responded in some pervy fashion and the conversation would have digressed.

Lastly on the topics today is the movie pick of the day. It's not exactly last on the conversation topics but it is related to the last one. Tonight's movie was Confessions of an American Bride I just realized as I typed that title that it is similar to my own blog title today. Not planned, happy accident.

Not a great movie as it was made for TV. However, the storyline was sweet, funny and put together nicely. If only they had a budget and could have bought some nice actors they might have had something. They nailed your standard bridal problems and bridal feelings pretty nicely. Of course not every bride cheats on her groom as was the case in this story but still, for the most part it was pretty bang on. I did laugh though and said to David, "I hate movies like this!"
David - "Why?"
Me - "Because this *gestures to scene* raises the romance expectation to completely unlikely heights. No guy is ever going to do that!!!"

It's funny because the date scene I was referencing was more romantic than the proposal scene. Yet the proposal scene leads to my problem. Worse yet, my problem is a little personal. I'm not ashamed of it. Audience just might be a little sensitive to it. To remove all chance that you can blame me for reading further while still increasing your curiosity I'm going to go ahead and say that the problem is of a sexual nature and that I'm going to put it under the blanket where it's safe from accidental site.

To save my hubby-to-be's ego though I can assure you it's not THAT type of sexual problem. Oh no! Anything but that sort of problem. No.... this a problem of traditional proportions... very traditional!

You have been warned, and perhaps you have become curious but mostly you have been warned!

Day 347 - Post Halloween invites

My hubby to be is the best the best fiancé ever! And who knew he looked so great in pink?

We took our daughter out trick-or-treating in our bridal fugly with her as a flower girl complete with curlers in her hair. It was super adorable.

 ♥ 265 ♥

I'm sending out the last of the wedding invitations soon. Once that is done I'll have to redesign the invitations a little and send out the open dance invitations. I'm not sure if I made an entry about that final decision, however, to balance the cost of a wedding reception with the desire to have everyone there we have decided to have people for the dance after the ceremony. Of course we ensured each person who would be invited to only the dance understood that it wasn't us shunning them it was us wanting to include them.

<3 your hippie bride

Day 309 - Party Rock was in the house last night!

The party went off wonderfully! :)
The theme, of course, was bridal fugly!

I had a fugly lace dress (old school) with homemade lace buttons that were so small and annoying it's amazing that this was legitimately someone's dress at some point! 



























One of my friend did my hair, it was supposed to be dreadful and dramatic but it ended up kind of nice just not my usual style :p

Wow can you see the size difference between the two of us here?! Oh my gentle giant! 

Terrible picture of me but I use it to show my over the top make up. I learned my lesson, when wearing a full body lace dress....don't wear metal chained beads 0_0 nearly killed myself on several occasions! Oh and David was trying to make our best man look at my ring which I had been attempting to have him notice. 

Everyone's costumes were awesome (I should know, I helped to pick them out and even sewed up a few of them ;p ) However, not everyone would want to be on a blog and so I will only show a few ;)

Our best man wore a red silk-like cowboy ... pj style top :p

Why do people insist on "eating pictures"? :p 

At one point he ended up wearing the beads apparently. Oh and taking pictures with two cameras :p

Not quite sure what we were doing here... oh yes, she was showing the multiple layers of her dress and I said, "I have multiple layers too!!! Then for whatever reason our multiple layers...erm...umm... humped each other? I'm not certain on this but take from it what you will. :p 

Also not sure what I'm doing here either.... I swear drinking was uninvolved in this party! Promise... my best guess is someone compared the color of her red hair to candy and I was implying she was tasty.... I do not remember this happening but it is my best guess

Even the beast got into play with her lovely "flower girl" ensemble. 

Beast getting ready for the party! 

Once everyone had noticed I'd received my ring back from being sized (after losing all my post-baby weight) I then showed it off to everyone. 

 Of course, as per usual in my line of work, the party was interrupted by some drunk (not my guest) who decided to jump a fence (not mine) and break his leg (also not mine :p ) and buzzed someone's apartment (not mine) and someone let him in (not me!) and as a result he became my bloody (literally bloody, bleeding) problem. Fortunately it was late in the night so we just bid our guests adieu and proceeded to get in our landlord scrubs. ;p Ignoring that, the party was so much fun. I should get engaged again so we can have another!!!

And the rest is history!

Day 301 - Addicted to RSVPs

I think I have reached a point where I might actually need clinical help! I log in as soon as I awake and squeal with excitement the moment I see that little rsvp check next to another guest.

However, a downside to this is that other guests who know they should be getting invites and have not yet received them are starting to question our friendship. David and I must hurry and finish up some more envelopes for the mail before we are disowned.

WEEEE WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING

I'm getting married! Yup, yup I am! *dances* 

Day 299 - Gift registries galore

I have a love hate relationship with gift registries. I love that they give people ideas of what to buy you if they are wanting to get you something. I hate that they might make guests feel like they have to buy something or even have to buy something from that registry or that store. However, I am making a list because there are more people that want a list than there are people who might be offended, and those who are offended can either tell me they are offended or deal with it. Right?

I have resolved the issues with my gift registry. Thanks to my best man letting me know. Apparently the sources page was changed and I needed to adjust accordingly.

Of course David and I need to sit down and look at the other registry. Perhaps even go into the store for an official scanning of objects.

But until then, the gift registry is back up and operational.

Oh....and by the way... SPARKLE SPARKLE!!! Picked up my resized wedding set today. All ready for the engagment party, <3 your hippie bride.

Day 276 - Take a photo, it lasts longer

Had our engagement photos taken today by Shawn of Artistic Lens Photography. Although I am aware he has a website it is still under construction. I will update with one later.
The morning started off a bit rough, we had foolishly stayed up until 2am watching old episodes of The New Adventures of Superman. I shot awake at 8am and then 9am both times concerned that we should wake. 9:30 work started with a loud annoying buzz at the door and the work phone calls had been ongoing since 8:30 so we gave up on sleeping in and the three of us had breakfast in bed. A quick text to the photographer to solidify times and we were off. I was barefoot for the entire photo shoot, of course, feeding into my hippie ways.

 We had 3 locations selected for our photo shoot. First was the parking lot where it all "began". This is the apartment complex where I lived when David first came to visit me in the city. It is where I was living when we started dating, when he moved in with me and where he would subsequently propose to me years later. So as much as it is only a parking lot to the naked eye, to us it is a starting point.

 

The second location was a drive down the road, it is a look off over the harbour.

 Such a beautiful spot where we would sometimes go to relax together. We had taken many friends there and had ourselves discovered it's existence quite by accident on a road trip one day. The location itself wasn't as meaningful as the other two but it is such a beautiful spot with so much opportunity for beautiful photographs that we simply had to go there.

On our way to the third and final location our poor photographer had a bit of car trouble. This resulted in an adventure addition as we abandoned the car with David and sought out water to help cool the engine. Once this was done it was off to our final destination.

The final destination is the most meaningful of all and is in fact where we intend to have our wedding photographs taken. It is the location we went to the day I knew we would make it as a couple. I had been through the ringer with a previous relationship and had decided to never again date. He had been coming around most days of the week and had therefore stirred up conversation with many friends as to our future relationship. I had shrugged all these off until this day, March 23rd. I had worked that day and the whole time at work I was thinking about all the chores I had to do when I returned home. Laundry, dishes, toilet bowl, tub, carpet, make supper etc. etc. He showed up at the end of my shift to drive me home. I should have known then that something was up. He seemed so happy. I was tired already, thinking about all the chores that waited for me at home. I came inside and went straight to my room where I found my bed made, my laundry done and put away and the floor vacumed. I was shocked, turned on my heel to see him smirking. I peeked over his shoulder and the dishes were done, even the pots. I returned my gaze to him and he smiled, "I even washed the toilet!"
I stood there stunned....what was I to do with this sudden amount of free time? We decided on a roadtrip and ended up at the hill where we took video and pictures of each other goofing off.

We ended up with one, most meaningful picture. Realize that at this point we had not kissed, we were not dating, he was spending night after endless night by my side and although I kept telling him I'd be single forever...he just wouldn't leave. It was such a beautiful day I decided to get a photograph of us looking out over the city. I had him stand so I could position the camera to adjust for his height. Set the timer, ran by his side and at the last moment he put his arm around me. It caught me off guard at first but my walls were being tore down and at that point I knew.

We return to that location every year on March 23rd to take another photograph in celebration of another wonderful year together. Although our anniversary is April 23rd this spot has been monumental in our relationship.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2011 

2011

 Although we didn't go to the exact spot where we take our March 23rd photo due to tourists we did have our photographs taken elsewhere on the hill which is all I had intended anyway.
The next time we go there will be our last March 23rd before we are married. So excited!

 And of course a quick costume change before we were done. :)

There you have it, our engagement photos. Only a sprinkling of them of course. 

Day 274 - Legal...tender and fine

Well, hubby-to-be wins! After encountering some very near problems last night I am FINALLY updating my expired ID...yeah...expired since 2009....and still hailing from a different province. I guess I'm stuck here for good now. *sigh*

I had planned on doing it regardless as it is a necessary component in acquiring a marriage license. But last night when I was almost not allowed to go into the club due to my expired license.... well time to change up.

And as fun as last night was it was so nice to come home and climb into my best friends arms. Then today I sent out our first wedding invitation!

<3 your hippie bride

Day 243 - REBA! Dress fitting

I am absolutely psyched to be seeing Reba in 69 days!

Then of course marrying the love of my life in 370 days!

I will be trying my wedding dress on for the last time before final purchase in 2 weeks. I'm a little nervous considering I have lost another 10 lbs since my initial fitting. Will I have to exchange it for a more expensive smaller size of the same dress? We'll see...
In the end it's only $300 more if I'm too small. I guess that's worth it...right? 

Day 240 - Wedding website

I am listening to Beautiful Mess while updating our wedding website. That song sure does take me back to the old days with hubby-to-be.

It's amazing just how much life has changed in the past few years and will only continue to change yet those old songs still mean the same to us.

Day 238 - Wedding productivity

My check list

• Groom: Check
• Dress: Check
• Venue: Check
• Flowerchild: Check
• Ring Bearer: Check
• Flowers: Check

How am I doing? <3 375 days to go.

It's a busy house today, have my brother, maid of honor, myself and our two kids here. I believe we will take the kids to the playground later and then more bridal productivity with Jenny after that.

<3 your productive hippie bride

Day 211 - He's brilliant

I cracked open the wedding planning book today to get a few tasks organized. While doing this I asked that hubby-to-be give me a helping hand in making a list of what is important to him. 

This is what he gave me:

- Bride Happy
- None of your family {I told him some were coming and he then wrote}Sad panda
- No Pink Suits
Butterflies?
Big Screen in Bathroom$100,000 car to leave in
- Do whatever you want! 

The big screen in car were making fun of a groom on some TLC show. Otherwise, cute, loving and so not helpful. ;p

Day 207 - Venue with tears

After the heartbreak of last week we walked into the venue hubby-to-be had selected and found THE VENUE!
I am not going to post any photos as we are sure this will be our wedding venue and therefore a surprise to the guests.
It was not the curvature of the earth, I don't think visually anything can truly compare to that particular venue. But it was much more personal and warm. When we went to the room where the reception would be located we saw there on the wall a painted portrait of the hill where we have our annual photograph taken overlooking the city. I choke up immediately and hubby-to-be silently smiled.
We told the story to the co-ordinator who then herself choked up. You know you have the right venue when not only do you choke up but you make the event organizer tear up.
All we have to do now is review the contract, set aside enough money for the deposit and we're golden.

<3 your hippie bride

Day 201 - first heartbreak

No one said it was going to be easy. Sticking to a budget means giving in here and making compromises there. Sometimes it means forgoing something entirely.
Today I was in e-mail communication with the co-ordinator at the venue I'd fallen in love with. I was asking a few more questions regarding pricing and planning when I mentioned how I'd trimmed my guest list down so as to fit the venue within my budget. She slashed my dreams when she returned with this e-mail (censored appropriately)

Hi Bwings,

Along with our wedding packages we also offer reception packages that are less expensive.  It's the difference between a full dinner or a stand up reception.

Please note that we won't book the ________ Ballroom with less than 100 people.  We do require a minimum of $3000.00 in food revenue ($30.00 per person for 100 people) in order to book this room.

If you are looking at 50 people, we could certainly look at booking part of our alternate Ballroom.
Cheers for now,

Slightly injured but not ruling out the alternate ballroom I responded asking if there were photographs of the alternate ballroom. She returned appologizing that there were no photographs of that room. She then admitted that if someone has already seen the ballroom that I had viewed that there really was no comparison. And then my heart was broken. I added and subtracted for the next fifteen minutes and just couldn't rationalize the cost of the venue of my dreams over the wedding I'd always wanted. The deposit was $1000 which, although manageable, we do not comfortably have right now. The minimum revenue made it necessary that we have 100 guests which meant we would no longer be alienating anyone. However we would arrive in paper bags since that's all we could afford. A minimum revenue of $3000 plus tax of 15% and gratuity of 16% meant we'd be looking at $4000. Add in the socan fee to permit a dance that's another $60 and then there is the bartender fee if bar sales are less than $300 of $75 for 4 hours and $15 for each additional hour. We would be looking at roughly $4200 leaving us with $800 for our venue!!! I teared up a little right then and there I have to admit.
Time to reassess the situation with David. .... But.... bbbuutttt I want to see the curvature of the earth. :'(

After showing the figures to David and choking back the tears we scrapped the beautiful wedding venue and are back to square one. In the end it does not matter where the wedding is as long as I'm marrying my best friend.

It was time to send out massive amounts of e-mails. This time I included in my list of questions for the venue co-ordinators "Do you require a minimum revenue to secure your location?" In an effort to cheer myself up I tried to rewrite a holiday carol into a wedding song. "Just hear those wedding bells jinglin', ring ting tinglin' too! Come on it's lovely weather for a wedding day together with you! ... umm... Giddy up Giddy up Giddy up let's go?"

I hadn't realized just how many wedding venues required a mimimum revenue. I know it makes sense but you would think if they were going to charge a minimum revenue they would put that somewhere on their cost list. Or at the very least they would revise the cost to say, "$3000 to book the room. This covers meals for up to 100 people. $30 for each additional person." Then you know you are paying for the room and not the food. What a pain! At this point I just want to give up and elope in a really pretty already paid for dress!!!

Just as I gave up I passed the laptop to David who was quietly minding his own. SMACK laptop hits his lap. He nervously questioned, "What...is this for?" I said, "if you want to marry me you're going to have to find the venue because I can't find anything!"

What does the bugger do? He opens google enters the exact same search I had entered and opened the first window I'd already opened. He scanned and I scoffed he smile and I shook my head. Finally he spoke up, "This one here seems like it might work." I rolled my eyes with my arms crossed tightly around my chest, "Yeah, I already looked at it. I can't remember what was wrong with it but something wasn't right."

He read over the description of cost and it ended up being a lack of something. A lack of words that made me feel as though there were strings attached. Upon contacting the staff we discovered there were no strings attached. Well, it must be a horridly ugly place! He returned with, "Actually my boss got married there and a co-worker said it was a really nice place."

Still seemed to good to be true and with my heart already so vulnerable from the last venue I skeptically scheduled an appointment to view it on the 14th. We'll see then what the location holds for us. Until then, my heart weeps for the most beautiful venue I've ever seen. 

Day 181 - I've seen the curvature of the earth!

The guest list has now entered his dreams evidently. Earlier yesterday he had commented on how he felt I was looking thinner. I didn't comment then but later in bed I asked him what had made him notice. His answer will make you snicker.
Him - I don't know if it was from the address book or something but you chose female guest.
Me - I chose female guest?
Him - ummhmmmm
Me - Why don't I have my camera on?
Him - MMMMM you're sexy! *snore*

Today, flustered with David, I grabbed the beast and went for a busride together. We had no destination in mind, out was the plan. While the bus rounded a corner I saw one of the venues on my list of places to look into. I pulled the cord and we were off. As the elevator climbed I thought about what colors and views the room would hold for me.

I am here to tell you, I have fallen in love. I am scared to even ask the price. There is no way I can afford this view, this absolutely, fabulous view!

But I had to ask. I took the information and tonight David and I will set down and hash over our guest list. Trimming the fat to see if we can minimalize the guest list in order to maximize the view! So beautiful!
I am thusly trimming the list and preparing the "sorry" lists. I wish I could invite everyone but if I am to be able to afford this venue I will need to cut back drastically.

Day 173 - Sparkle sparkle

After much browsing and frustration we finally have our rings picked out. 

There were two variations of mine. I like the second one more, however it was not within our budget. The positive spin on this is that we could upgrade my set later by just exchanging and paying off the difference. 

David wanted to integrate black in his ring, he managed to do this through the aide of black diamonds. 

I wanted my rings to fit together like a puzzle with a certain amount of sparkle and shine to them. I did this with this beautiful bridal set, captured with a terrible photo :p 

Day 131 - Food for thought

Although we have not yet booked our venue I am browsing through the menu of the main venue option we have right now. As a vegetarian with a vegetarian daughter I am admittedly a little flustered at the idea of spending thousands of dollars for a bunch of plates of death when my lifestyle choice is significantly less expensive!! Then to have to decide which plate of death is to be served when I myself could care less.... a little difficult.

I began discussing this openly on facebook when I was reminded about allergies, of course our best man is allergic to fish which is the only meat option who's price matches that of the vegetarian option. Now I feel guilty picking it though as that would decide for him what he was eating. I then turned to the pork and was reminded that 3 of my guests are jewish. I threw my hands up in the air, "Vegetarians, allergies, religions...anything else to consider when working out a menu? Can't we all eat salad and dance the night away?" Amazingly all of my friends piped up saying I should just order all vegetarian since it's my wedding and people should just be happy to spend it with us. As much as that thought sounds great, I don't think it would resonate with the less open minded more obligatory guests on my list.

Speaking of guest lists I was reviewing my electronic guest list today and discovered a few doubles. I was inviting the same guests twice. That's what happens when your guest gets a divorce and you add them once by their maiden name and once by their married name. Both times adding their children to the list as well. Whoops.

Everything aside I seem to be on the ball more than hubby to be. I have my wedding dress, I am 90% sure I have my venue, I have my bridesmaid, I have my photographer, I've decided on my venue. But still no groomsmen from David. *le sigh*

I'll get him on it sooner or later. <3 your hippie bride