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 117 - Save the Date

It was a bit scary to do it but I've decided that we can make this work. So today I bundled up my wallet and shoved it to the bottom of my purse. Thus forcing inconvenient digging when spending is desired and saving me a dollar here and there. Well... my purse is actually about the same size as my wallet, so in reality I did this just in my head. However, I did send out my save the date video to all whom I intend to invite. 

It felt good to get it done and true to our style to send them out in youtube/video format. Done as a teaser I show all the dresses I have tried on up until now and end with a "to be continued" attitude. See the video above.

So success sandwich? I've had success with officially setting the date. No success in making Jer the marrying type...or at least the type to marry us. I discovered it is no longer permitted in our province to have a friend made officiant for the day. LAME!

However, I am now down 22.1 lbs! So... altogether not bad. Save the dates *check* Guest list tided up *check* wedding dress picked out *check* Down to last ten pounds *check* Solved first bridezilla crisis with rational and logical thinking *check* Saved money? *empties pockets and faints* lol

Seriously though, not bad overall. 

Day 6 - Red & Black..edit: Wine & Pink!

Today when discussing colors one of my neighbors suggested red and black. Although it seems obvious I hadn't previously considered it whole heartedly. I will have to think more on that now. The maid of honors would of course have their choice of combination. One combination would be Red Dress with black accents/sash and shoes with red bouquet and black accents/ribbon. The other would be the reverse. The bridesmaids would all have one combination and the maid of honors the opposing.

Right now I'm trying to find an old website I used once a million years ago to create my original theme. I was only playing around at the time where the whole thing seemed so distant. But my beast squealing "mom" in the next room isn't helping my concentration any. Overall life has mostly returned to normal.

Although I read this site about planning your wedding in 6 months and that'd be fabulous. I just don't think we can and by the time I know if we can it'll be too late to send out invites. I sure would love to get married this coming summer though. Maybe I should go look at dresses and start figuring out how much we could afford if we were to get married this summer. Pretty sure it's not happening though. Not on our budget. If I want to save up for this wedding I need a lot more than 6 months! We're still not even sure if 20 months is enough but damn it, it's going to have to be!

If I find that website I shall post some sample photos of color themes but if not, this is all until Monday from this hippie bride. :)

Edit:

I'm 99.6% sure these are my colors:

This color wine with a light pink accent. The men will have this wine color with light pink flowers.
The girls will have this wine color for their dress with light pink accents. Their flowers will be both light pink and this wine color.
FYI this wine color is the toenail paint color I've been talking about forever now ;p