Why Hello!

I'm hearing about everyone finally receiving their magnets this week. Hooray! It's such a relief with all of our delays on getting those right. Third time's the charm!

Lots and lots of things going on right now. My dress is being made, the invitations are in the works, groomsmen's ties have been ordered, massive quantities of envelopes and feathers have been purchased... more and more and more! The ball is really rolling now, and I can't believe how much there is to do. yikes. Every night is seems like we're working on something to do with the wedding...

On top of all this, we decided on a dime that it was time for a bigger apartment, so we went and looked at a two bedroom in our building and after a lot of negotiation we took it. We then painted, moved, and painted, and unpacked. It's been tiring!! But totally worth it: We're not facing a construction site -and- we have a second bedroom now. We even bought 'grown-up' furniture for our bedroom!

Keep checking back.. updates will be more frequent now because there is actually things to tell!

First and foremost: We mailed out all of our thank you cards from our enegagement party quite some time ago, and every month or so we've heard of someone who has not received theirs. I am so sorry from the bottom of my heart if this is the case for you, I very very meticulously listed and cross referenced all the gifts, and spent a lot of time writing cards and making them personal. We were totally blown away at the generosity of everyone, including people who didn't even make it to the party! So if you were one of the people who's card didn't make it through the mail.... I'll say it now THANK YOU! We really, really appreciate your gift.


____


Now, Perhaps I am not a typical bride, but there is a funny thing about your wedding day. You have to write this date over and over again that is in another year, and another time, and you've not necessary ever celebrated on that day before. Sometimes... it's hard to remember!!

In my last post I mentioned we took the 'plunge' and sent our save the date cards to the printer. We received the package, and we were so excited to see them in person... they were lovely! They sat on the table for a month or so before I started combing our lists and addressing them one by one. Two days in of doing this on and off I looked at one of the cards and realized that the date on it was June 19, 2009. We are 2 of about a dozen people who have looked at this card over the last few months and not one person has pointed this out.

I went to the computer and sent Greg a message,

"Our save the dates say June 19 2009"
"noo!"
"oh, yes. they do."
"they can't. no. .... no!"

Great.

Please save the date for Kelly & Greg's wedding... 6 months in the past. Please work diligently on building your time machines!

We ordered new save the date's this week: convenient magnets designed by someone else. Etsy is a magical thing! I had wanted magnets from the beginning but decided it was too expensive and went with postcards instead. The replacement magnets I have ordered have actually cost less than the original postcards I designed and ordered... but I wasted a lot less time... and had a third party proof reading my ridiculous mistakes.

In the past month or so we've also attended the wedding of our wonderful friends Claire-Lise and Cam. They had a beautiful fall themed wedding at the arts and letters club (which is only a three or four minute walk from the Hard Rock where Greg and I are getting married). Claire-Lise looked STUNNING, it was incredible. It felt very special to be a part of her morning and document her hilarious facial expressions as she got her make up done, and how out-of-her-mind-happy she looked when she got into the car with her daddy.

Since my last post we've:

-worked out of centre pieces and gathered all the supplies, to be assembled in the spring.
-acquired an amazing pen to sign our marriage license
-I've spoken with my dress maker... more details to be worked out there!
-decided on a theme... peacock feathers and electric blue!
-Added one of our dearest friends... Stephen Cmelak to Gregs side of the wedding party.
-Picked a site for our pictures
-realized there is a LOT of work to be done come January!

Now the holidays are approaching fast and I expect that we will be seeing a lot of you at all the upcoming parties! Notably Dad and Michael's annual holiday party which lands on Our 8th anniversary, and the 1st anniversary of our engagement! Time flies!!

So much is happening!

Well, it's real and it's booked! Shortly before the engagement party we sorted out all the details with the Hard Rock Cafe and put down our deposit. There's no turning back now, but you always knew we were a little bit rock n' roll right?

They have some neat 360 degree tours of upstairs that you can see... just a little sneak peak!
Here
And Here

With our food/beverage, venue, and ceremony set up taken care of... all that is left is the fun little details. I've started dress shopping, although you won't heard too much about that here.

We've been doing a lot of research about the building that the Hard Rock currently resides in, I think we have a fun little project in the works. Part of the reason we chose the Hard Rock is because it looks out onto the city and Yonge Street. We're kind of junkies for cityscapes and historical buildings. A look through the Toronto City Archives can reveal quite a lot about a intersection and Yonge and Dundas has experienced a massive transformation over more than 100 years. We're hoping to share some of it with you so you can look out onto the city and see what it once was while experiencing it what it's become.

It was SO wonderful seeing all of you at the engagement party. Greg and I were completely overwhelmed with all the love and generosity. Looking back we're still amazed at how many wonderful people we have in our lives. Thank you cards are in the mail!

The other BIG bit of progress we've had is getting our save the date cards ordered. I spent all weekend working on designing they and getting them just right. Monday night we took the plunge and sent them to the printer. I am so excited to see them!


I PROMISE to post more often. now that things are moving along, there's lots more news to read :)

Time is flying!

Well, we're heading up on the engagement party on the 20th... a lot has happened since I blogged last!

We went and saw a few more venues and quickly realized this was something we were going to get burned out on FAST. We want something cool, slick, and downtown... That can still host a dinner, a dance, and a ceremony. In the range of offbeat wedding venue choices I was starting to feel as though we were being reduced to old smelly castles, and places where the coordinator doesn't show up for your appointment! Then, on a whim, I handed Greg a post card from the wedding show for the Hard Rock Cafe.

I said, "they must have a hall or something"
And Greg called to make the appointment.

Do they ever have a hall! The second floor above the restaurant is a huge space with a wall of lighted guitars, a stage, a racetrack bar, and enough seating space for all our guests and a small dance floor while we eat! The whole thing overlooks dundas square and at night you can see all the lights in the city twinkling through the shades... ! It's different, its offbeat, but at the same time it's still an event space, and we're not asking anyone to put on their starfleet uniforms and pointy ears. We want to see everyone dressed up like they are going to a slick cocktail party!

There's been a huge amount of back and forth and heartache with the Hard Rock to get things to a place where we feel like we can book this and get on with the party. We're finally getting close, we're going to a tasting in a week or so, we've worked out a budget, hopefully this is it!!

I want to be able to see all your faces at the engagement party and tell you with certainty that it's the very first day of the 365-day countdown to our wedding.

As soon as it's booked, I will be mailing out save the dates. Which is when I think many of you will be introduced to this blog!

Here We Go!

Alright, so it's all starting.

Tuesday night we went to an open house at the Berkley Church at Queen and Parliament downtown. Now this might have been a terrible idea for several reasons. First and foremost I was in love with it before I walked in the doors. The church it's self is far too large for our purposes, but the Field house behind the church is the perfect size... includes outdoor space, an amazing lounge with a bar to use as a bridal suite, and an air-conditioned TREE HOUSE for use by the groom/groomsmen, and later as a quiet lounging spot for guests.

The problem with this venue is really that there is nothing included in the $3,500/day rental fee. And while some things sound fantastic... like being allowed to supply your own liquor... the costs quickly rack up and the per person price is far beyond what larger/newer/fancier venues are charging per person.

The food was good, the bartender was pleasant, but it took us forever and ever to pin down a co-ordinator to take us on a tour. *sigh* I knew this wouldn't be easy, but I never counted on falling in love with something right off the bat.

There are lots of other places on the list to call & e-mail still. So we see how that goes!

There are lots of things pinned down. More than I think many people have checked off their list at this point.

I have chosen my wonderful Photographer .. Samantha Darcy.
My lovely Mummy is doing all (four) bouquets.
We've got Alex a date with his friend Jon Brown who is going to do sound for us.
We've both picked whos going to stand up for us.
We've got our "colours" picked out.
We know we want the ceremony and reception in the same place.
We know we want to keep it as small as possible.


More to come... Stay Tuned!

The Ring!

It's hard to follow this post

So I'll share my story about the most important thing after the bride, the ring!

I'll admit, the ring purchase was not a surprise.

I know, I know, this broke some rules. However, I had always felt that getting some input from Kelly would only be beneficial in the long run. After all, would you like to wear something every day that you don't like?

We went shopping. I don't think either of us enjoyed it, but it did serve a purpose.

We talked about what we both liked, and came up with a bit of an un-conventional idea.

We didn't want a ring that had it's own gravitational field, and let's be honest, that wasn't even an option. We also didn't want a ring that had a stone that was substantially raised above the band, something that would get in the way, or get caught on things. I wanted a ring that Kelly could wear everyday, and not even think about it.

And then I took over.

I had gone to several stores with an idea in my head, and I had received mixed things back from the people behind the counter. One store had, in not so many words, told me that no, I actually didn't want to buy a ring. That was the real curve ball that I didn't really expect. Maybe this was due to the fact that I knew exactly what I wanted, and was asking too many odd-ball questions... like the metal content used in the band.

Yeah, I went there.

The large stores seemed unwilling to work with me with some of the things that I wanted.

Hey, I can be a difficult customer, and I know that. I was prepared to shop around a bit.

I was having trouble finding a band that I liked. I would have liked to walk into a store, point at one, and walk out. If you know us, me specifically, you would understand that that would be a tall order. I like to know the specifics of just about everything. I couldn't find anything in a display case that I seriously considered.

Needless to say, I was relieved to find someone who was willing to make the ring that I wanted. That's right, make. From a mold. And I got to look at the stone through a microscope.

I was sold.

And I was blown away when I first saw it.

And she was too :)

Click for big!
The day that I picked it up was the day before our Anniversary. I was a bit nervous all night, and was still blown away by how well the ring turned out. My initial plan was to wait till our Anniversary dinner... but that was not going to happen. I had managed to smuggle a bottle of champagne in without Kelly knowing, somewhat difficult on a day that she was home before I was. I still wanted to wait till our Anniversary. I like December 5th :)

I managed to hold off until the stroke of midnight, when I opened the champagne and got down on one knee.

Without hesitation, she answered yes :)