thoughts from a soon-to-be wife ...

I get married tomorrow. Less than 24 hours to go.  
It's so surreal. 

If you know me outside the context of this blog, then you know that I was that little girl who grew up daydreaming about her wedding. When I was about twelve, I started keeping a binder full of magazine clippings of wedding-related things that caught my eye and I've added to this binder over the years, all in preparation for my big day. And now that big day is here (or almost). Soon, that "wedding ideas" binder will be closed forever and placed on a bookshelf where it will likely collect dust for the next 20+ years.

In many ways, this wedding is the complete opposite of what I thought I wanted. I always said I would marry in the fall, not summer, and yet here I am getting married right smack in the middle of summertime. I always said I wanted a rustic, "woodsy" kind of wedding ... our wedding definitely has more of a "beach meets city" kinda feel to it. I never expected to get married on the west coast; never in a million years thought that there would be several close friends and family members from Montreal who wouldn't be able to attend. I certainly never expected to have to walk down the aisle alone, without my dad.

Despite being so drastically different from what I had planned over the years, my wedding just feels right. I know Alan and I made the right decision to marry in Vancouver, I know the venues and colors and decor we chose is gorgeous and picture perfect. I know we're going to have a great day. I know everything will turn out just as it's supposed to.

I'll be honest - planning a wedding in 6 months has been stressful, and definitely way more work that I ever expected. I'm SO looking forward to waking up Sunday morning beside my husband and beginning our lives together. I can't wait to be his wife and kick off the happily ever after part.

So ladies and gents, all that to say ... this is the last blog post I will ever write as a single woman. And I couldn't be happier.

Engagement Photos ... A Quick Peek

We had our engagement photo session with the lovely Mikaela of Mikaela Ruth Photography on Saturday. I think her work speaks for itself but I'm gonna say it anyway ... she is CRAZY talented. So excited & so blessed to have her documenting our special day.

For more of Mikaela's work (and to see more photos from our shoot) visit her blog -

http://mikaelaruthblog.com/

Be our guest ...

Everybody says that the invitations "set the tone" for the whole wedding, and being a scrapbooker I'm a huge stationary fan ... so choosing the perfect wedding invites was extra important to me. I briefly (VERY briefly) considered making them myself but soon scratched that idea. With only six months to plan everything, there was just no way I'd have time to hand-make 113 beautiful wedding invitations and get them in the mail on time. So, after searching around and comparing styles, we eventually settled on these pretties from Shine Invitations. We ordered them in a cheerful sunshine yellow, not blue, and we also customized the font but you can get an overall feel for them here ...

I knew that I wanted our invitations to have a splash of color and when I saw these I really fell in love with the damask look. They were elegant and classy, but still "young" ... and Alan was happy that they weren't over the top feminine. (He didn't like my idea of pink sparkly invitations with zebra print envelopes. I dunno why.) These invites weren't cheap, especially when you consider the $175 UPS brokerage fee I got slapped with upon delivery, but they were exactly what we wanted and well worth the splurge. Working with the designers from Shine was a piece of cake - they were all so professional and friendly and they got everything done in record time. 

We also decided to get our invitation envelopes professionally addressed with calligraphy, and we chose Rachel Carl &Co to get the job done. Rachel offered several fonts to choose from and we eventually decided on this look (black ink on white envelopes) -

Calligraphy, in my humble opinion, was totally, totally, TOTALLY worth every penny! It not only saved me a TON of time, but more importantly they look gorgeous. I think calligraphy just adds a little whimsical touch to wedding invites, and I'm so glad we decided to go with it. 


Last week, I had a little envelope-stuffing party with some of my bridesmaids and everything was all packaged up, sealed, stamped, and dropped in the mailbox. Now I just have to hope people show up! :)


Would you splurge on wedding invitations or are you more of a DIY yourself kinda girl? 

Girl Meets Gown

4 weeks ago, I said yes to the dress. I know this post is a little late, but I wanted to share anyway because better late than never, right? :-)

I know that most wedding professionals recommend brides begin shopping for their dress at least 9 months before their wedding. Since Alan and I are having a pretty short engagement (just 6 months) I really should have begun dress shopping the minute I got engaged. But I chose to wait. It was important for me to fly my Mom in for this very special shopping occasion, and I was willing to risk having to pay ridiculous "rush" fees to get my dress on time if it meant my Mommy could be here with me to experience it all. 


So, Mom came to town and the hunt for the dress began the first weekend in March.
And it ended about 2.5 hours later. 


I had no idea where to shop for wedding dresses in Vancouver, so I asked around and Lisa's Bridal was recommended by many. I booked an appointment bright & early for Saturday morning. After a quick stop at Starbucks for some lattes, Team Bride - me, Mom and 3 of my lovely bridesmaids - headed over to the salon. From the very moment I stepped into Lisa's, I was treated like a princess. People have asked me if it was anything like what we see on the wedding shows on TV and YES it was! It was all that, and more. 


I arrived with a very specific idea in my mind of what I wanted. I wanted something feminine and flowy that would complement my curves - because, in case ya missed it, I am a pretty curvy girl. I wanted lace. I did NOT want a big ballgown or a full ballerina skirt (did that for prom, so been there/done that). I was definitely leaning toward a mermaid style ... tight and form-fitting at the top, flaring out at the bottom.


I showed Rita, the consultant, some magazine clippings of styles I liked, and she pulled some dresses for me based on those. She also pulled some dresses that she thought would look good on my body. I tried on a few of the mermaid style ones that I had been eyeing, and they just totally weren't cutting it. They didn't flatter my body at all. At the end of the day, the lady with 25+ years of experience was right. When I slipped on one of the dresses she had chosen, I got those little butterflies in my belly. When she brought over some lace sleeves that we could add on to the dress and held them up, I gasped. When I walked out of the dressing room and saw the looks on everyone's faces (and the looks on the faces of the group beside ours, too) I knew without a doubt. It was *the* one. 


The dress I fell in love with is absolutely gorgeous - it is everything I wanted, but nothing like I expected. It's a couture gown from Australia made of soft organza and dolce satin. It has the most intricate designs on the bodice and skirt, and it really fits my body well. To be blunt - it makes me look (or at least feel) like a super model. What more could a girl ask for, right? Done deal! 


It was only dress number 6 or 7 that I tried on. I thought about trying on more, just for comparison, but in my heart I knew I would never find another dress as perfect as this one ... and even if I did, I didn't want the agony or stress of having to choose between 2 or 3 gowns that I loved. So I committed right then & there, and ordered it. And, in case you were wondering, I ordered it just in time ... no rush fee necessary! Woot. 


So, 99 days to go until the wedding.
99 days until I get to wear this beautiful dress for all to see. 


And, on a completely random note - the show Girl Meets Gown on Slice is a bazillion times better than Say Yes To The Dress on TLC. If you haven't watched it, you should.


xox

So, I've been kinda busy ...

... busy loving this awesome guy! :)

With less than 4 months to go before our big day, wedding planning is definitely in full-force and, therefore, is taking up about 85% of my time. 10% of my time is spent at the office doing my "real" job and the remaining 5% is devoted to eating, sleeping and other elements necessary for survival. I'm swamped, but it's happy swamped. This is such a happy, happy time in my life. I just can't stop smiling.

Many people have been asking for wedding details, so let me fill you in. We've having a medium-sized wedding with less than 100 guests. Our ceremony will be at our church (we're getting married in the very same place we first met - how cool is that?!) and our reception will be at a nearby mansion by the beach. My wedding dress is everything I dreamed of and more ... wish I could share details, but I'm afraid the Mister might be snooping around on my blog and I don't want to spoil the big surprise. We have a pretty big bridal party, and TONS of friends and family who are over the moon excited and eager to help us plan. We're definitely blessed. July 7th just can't get here soon enough. :)

I'm off to read all of your blogs now ... blogs I haven't had time to read in AGES. While I catch up on all of your lives, please share any wedding planning or marriage advice you have. Wisdom is always appreciated.

love love
xoxo

this is the story of a ring ...

... a ring I've waited my whole life to wear ...

... a ring that was custom-designed, hand-crafted and purchased with love by the man of my dreams ...

.. my beautiful engagement ring. 

LOVE.

And the princess wore lace ..

Soooo ...did you watch it?! Did you watch it?! I sure did. We turned our apartment into Royal Wedding Headquarters last night, setting up camp in our living room. We dragged a mattress into the living room - along with tons of blankets, pillows and hot chocolate - and Katie, Xinxin, Marcy and I nestled in for a long night of wedding watching. I don't wanna brag, but I think us west coasters were the most committed. The footage started at 2am our time. We watched the entire thing, from guests arriving to the kiss on the balcony, and only fell asleep around 5am PST.

It was so beautiful. SHE was so beautiful. Proof -

That dress ... gosh. Be still my heart. I am such a sucker for lace and definitely want some on my wedding gown, so watching her step out of the limo in that stunning dress was a thrill. She looked like a living, breathing, real-life princess. Oh wait. She is! :)

I'm so glad I got to watch this historical event with my west coast besties. We giggled, we ooohed, we ahhhed, Katie and I may or may not have gotten a little teary during the ceremony. Maybe I'm just a big hopeless romantic, but in a world where the news is all about war and crisis and destruction, it was such a pleasant relief to relish in the joy and hope of a young couple in love for a few hours.

I hope they are blessed with many, many happy years together. xo