I thought I would write about our wedding book today. I had it made in December, but I thought I would post about it. You know. Full circle.

I created our wedding book via Apple. I like their clean lines and simple designs. I tried other outlets like blurb but sometimes I found all the stickers, doo-dads, and layouts distracting. I just wanted a simple book where the pictures were the focus. I ordered three of them (one for us, one for my parents and one for Shoes' parents) and the price was very reasonable. They also printed and delivered within the week!

I love looking at our wedding book. From beginning to end it tells a wonderful story of one of the happiest days of our lives. I've said this time and time again, but thank you Courtney for the beautiful pictures!

Last year for my bridal shower, my mom planted a bunch of flowers that I was particularly in love with but couldn't get for my bouquet because they were out of season and therefore way out of my budget. Here's a (slightly) blurry picture of the cutest little white anemones that she planted for me. What a sweetheart.

In other news, 5 days until school is done. Phew. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I'm just... ready for a break.

I haven't posted anything about the wedding in a while and I realized that I haven't done anything about 

 details so here we go. I thought I would post about our guestbook.

Instead of using a blank book or even a photobook. I had seen a pin where people used a beautiful on birds (picture encyclopedia type of thing) for a garden party theme. So I thought hey, why not use an actual book for our theme. So here it is! I bought this book for $10 at Barnes and Noble. It was beautifully illustrated and coincidentally red (our colour). I like that even today when I look through it I see a new signature, which is lots of fun!

Photos c/o Courtney

I had posted these before but I thought I would post them again. I love these photos, they are just lovely. I especially love the one on the bottom. Kate looks like she's having fun and is happy. Some of my favourites of the day.

Photos c/o Courtney

I thought that there was a lack of the guys on this blog, especially with the other post on the gals getting ready. These are my favourite photos of two very important guys in my life: Shoes and his younger brother Mark.

Photos c/o Courtney

From Top, L-R
1. The ceremony, right after our first kiss
2. Probably one of my favourite shots of the day. It's so sweet.
3. My uncle Andy (who acted as driver for the day for the ladies) found these balloons in the studio we were in. They added a fun aspect to our pictures. I forgot a lot of the props I had wanted to use (i.e. books, Starbucks mugs) but oh well! These were fun (as you can clearly see).
4. Courtney lugged this frame from her apartment. As you can see: totally worth it.
5. Shoes and me, just outside the school
6. Shoes and me. There are a few shots where he has a real, actual smile. This is one of them. I love it.

A features that will be coming up in the next few weeks: Favourite Things Fridays, Bridevice, and more wedding details!

Photos c/o Courtney

We also had a photobooth, for which I bought these fun props from Etsy. I technically also made that backdrop but I realized a little too late that I should have used a full sheet.... oh well! Old too soon, smart too late, as my dear family would always say. Anyways, these are only a small (small!) sampler of the photobooth pictures. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun and enjoyed the experience quite a bit!

Soon I will start posting up some pics from this past vacation (particularly the Christmas baking).

Photos c/o Courtney

From Top

1. This has to be one of my favourite photos of the day. Again, my red shoes, and Shoes's shoes (ha). He saw them at Kohl's one big shopping trip to the states and he just fell in love with them. His mom was like, "Are you sure? Maybe just get some black shoes, just in case." She was just horrified by the thought of brown shoes. In the end, he looked fabulous.

2. Our rings. His ring is actually his grandfather's ring, which means a lot to Shoes.

3. Us sitting on what was this kind of gross couch. It was also really deep and really squishy so it was hard to sit on. Of course, Courtney got a great shot.

4. Shoes

5. We got married at my old school's chapel. It was gorgeous.

6. Vows.

It's New Year's Eve! That means tomorrow we'll take a break from the wedding and do a Currently!

Photos c/o Courtney

The wedding party looked fantastic; everyone really stepped up their game, even Tyler (who I was afraid was going to show up with his PJs under his normal pants and his slippers as socks... that's how he normally dresses...).

Shoes and I are blessed to have such good friends and family, especially these 6, to help represent us and celebrate with us.

Next up... the bride & groom!

Photos c/o Courtney

From Top, L-R

1. My shoes. They were red! Both my mother and my mother in law were exceedingly amused by them.

2. My bouquet. I saw pictures on Pinterest (of course) of people with these gorgeous paper flowers and I thought that it would match our theme perfectly. Plus I get to keep mine and it will always be beautiful and perfect!

3. My dress. There were these beautiful little ferns all over the bodice that were so delicate and (again) seemed to just go with everything. I really like it... I also really liked...

4. The train. I decided that since this is the only time I'm getting married, I'm going all in. Huge, bride-iest bride's train. Well, I guess it wasn't that huge. It wasn't like this. But it was long enough for me.

5. There were also buttons all down the train of the dress. One of my favourite features.

6. A shot of all the dresses. Each of the girls had a different dress, which I personally prefer the look of.

More to come!

Photos c/o Courtney

From Top

1. In the hotseat (i.e. getting makeup done)

2. I like (surprise, surprise) apprehensive

3. Another surprise - frantically on the phone trying to contact people.

4. Earrings in and ready to go.

5. Kate getting a lesson on how to put on (and take off) the veil.

6. I am extremely graceful.

7. Mumsy helping strap me in.

It's been a busy couple of days! The other day I had to go to a work function for Matt and some of his family was there, particularly his mother, his brother and his brother's girlfriend. She asked me the other day if my ring meant anything special. Thrown off-guard, I said, "Oh, nothing particularly special," and we just laughed.

Driving home, I realized I did myself and Shoes a huge disservice with that terrible answer. The ring does mean a lot, but not quite what people think. People are often like, "Oh, is that a love knot?" and I'm like, "Sure?" Because I guess it is. But it's really more than that.

I saw a ring like this in a magazine years ago. It took my breath away. It was rose gold (just like mine) and just so delicate and beautiful. The moment I saw it, I was like, "This is my ring." I showed the magazine to Shoes and he kept the magazine. When he was ready to pop the question, he went and had the ring made.

The ring may not be the love knot or whatever, but I feel like it signifies so much more. It reminds me how long Shoes and I have been together, how long we were thinking about sharing our lives together. It reminds me of how he, no matter what, always tries to make me happy. It reminds me of how much he cares. And really, isn't that what your ring should mean?

So, that's that. Thought I'd mention it.

PS - tomorrow - gingerbread house decorating party!

I noticed the other day that I have posted very little about the wedding other than that wonderful gem of Courtney. I figured I should post a few things now and then!

The night before, I spent the evening with my lovely bridesmaids, Gennie, Madeleine, and Kate. We went out to Bangkok Thai for a wonderful dinner and then spent the night at an awesome hotel in the heart of the city. We had a few drinks in the lounge and then headed to bed quite early since we had to wake up at a stupid early time. I guess it was a self-inflicted wake-up call, though, we (and by we, I mean Kate and I) decided to wake up and walk over to a nearby Starbucks. And as you can see we had some fun with the names on our cups. We then walked over to The Forks and enjoyed some free cinnamon buns from Tall Grass Bakery (sweetest people ever) and then went to go get ready...

More to come!

From Top, L-R

1. Group shot!

2. Gennie

3. Madeleine

4. Kate

5. Me!

6. Partners in crime

What am I going to do on Pinterest now?!

So I'm back! I've been gone for...way to long. Failed miserably at the photo challenge. MISERABLY. Wow, well done me.

I'm married! It was last week and it was so much fun, but it's so weird. I spent all year planning, pinning dozens of wedding ideas on Pinterest, creating, dreaming, thinking... and it's done! It's a surreal and odd feeling. However, I came out of this with a husband and many wonderful memories so I guess it was all well worth it. I can't wait to see the photos but here is one that I love. It has Courtney, my photographer, and me and it looks like we're having fun.

More photos to come soon! Plus a plan for a new hobby! Ha!

Day 3 of the photo challenge! Today's theme is "far away". The first thing I thought of was Disney. And not just geographically.

Shoes and I are planning on going to Disneyworld for our honeymoon. Being a teacher, I can't going at just any time (alas!). And also, honeymoons are expensive so I guess we should pay for the wedding first and then save up so more money for the trip. We plan on going July or August 2013 and it feels so far away.

So there we go. Far away. Ta-da!

Yesterday my mother threw me a bridal shower. It was the third shower (!!). I am so blessed to have such a loving family (new and "original")! We had lots of fun playing games and sharing memories. It was just a nice day hanging out with friends and family! Here are some images from the first two (mainly the second and one from the first) showers; I will hopefully get the other ones soon!

From top, left to right:

1.) Apparently it was a long day; Madeleine, fast asleep.

2.) Me and Shoes

3.) The bridal party (minus Kate) at the first shower.

4.) Me and Kate

5.) The spread at my mother's shower

6.) The beautiful towel cake my aunt made. My mother made my father and brother haul up my old dresser to the front and it was a beautiful little table at the front with a guestbook and memory box. It was such a lovely touch!

7.) Me, with the wonderful hat Madeleine made (she was always on hat duty).

8.) Guests at one of the showers. You can see in the background the bridal party in cahoots planning the third shower.

9.) Madeleine, making my hat.

10.) Us "in action." My flower girl helped me open gifts which was fun! This was the beautiful teapot Shoes' grandmother gave us.

Wedding prep time again! Two of my bridesmaids came over to help out again. With their help, I managed to get our table numbers done and the backdrop for the head table! It was quite the chore, but luckily it's always made more fun with a stream of movies (Tangled, Enchanted, Hairspray, Robin Hood...), food, and chit-chat!

(1.) Gennie and Madeleine, hard at work. (2.) The base for the backdrop. (3.) The backdrop finished. (4.) Work tools after a long night. (5.) Table "numbers". They're authors and the books they are known for.

Countdown, a photo by edgeandvertex on Flickr.

I play ultimate frisbee with a very good friend, Guida. She has two little girls who are my ringbearers. They always seem to have some sort of countdown going on: how many days until we ride an airplane, how many days until you go to tennis camp, how many days until so-and-so's 6th birthday. I noticed the countdown this week, which is the countdown to my shower. Kyla, one of the little girls, is coming and apparently she is so very excited. It just made me giggle to see the board.

I finished sending pretty much all of my invitations today. Phew! That was something that has been freaking me out: trying to get them out on time. I am very excited to start receiving replies in the mail! Yay for mail!

I bought an invitation set from Target. Unfortunately, I should have bought two because barely half a year later I returned only to find that my set was discontinued. *foghorn*. So I really had to get my craft on to try and recreate the basic idea. Anyways, I designed the invitation myself. It's very simple but I think it gets the point across!

Reply cards

Invitation in the pocket.

To be honest, I don't think I would have done it this way again. It was very hard and very frustrating. I'm not a professional printer so I therefore do not have large quantities of the correct paper nor do I have printer that can handle many different paper weights. In the end it all worked out, but the headaches may not have been worth saving the money. Oh well. Looking at them now, I'm really happy with their look. I'm sure a few more weeks will allow me to forget what a pain in the butt it really was.

Tomorrow I start working on placecards and programs!

Planning the wedding has been both fun and tiring! I've taken on a lot of stuff that I'm sure most people delegate to someone they pay. I now see why, it's a long process! I am very lucky, however, to have all of my ladies helping me as well as my parents. My mother has been picking up tea cups and I've been making stuff. I don't really know why I decided to make a lot of the stuff because I'm really not that crafty... but ah well, at least I have crafty friends!

A finished rosette. So adorable.

The ladies, hard at work!

My mailing work station, complete with Big Bang Theory Season 2.

Buttons from The Scrapbook Cottage... Gennie and I had to go through a giant jar to find the right colours!

Gennie made a fabulous test rosette!

Finished rosettes