The Invites are Sent!

Finally!!! The time has come! We have printed, stuffed and mailed our invites out to the masses!! Hurray!  Okay so if it didn’t feel real before it definitely does now!

Our Wedding is officially 112 days from today. 

EEK!

You know when you first start planning the wedding and you think to yourself “Wow! I’m getting so much accomplished.  If I keep this up it’s just going to be smooth sailing”.  But then 8 months slide by and you think to yourself “Shit! How is there more to do now than there was 8 months ago??”

Even though we took an extended break from all the wedding craziness, things are now back on track.  Last Saturday I had my bridal hair and make-up consultation and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the results!! My make-up artist/hair stylist is AMAH-ZING!  It doesn’t hurt that she is cute, young, fun and super out-going!  Getting ready for the wedding is going to be a blast!  Oh and if you have some upcoming nuptials and you are looking for someone good check out http://www.jaynamarie.com/JBMakeupArtistry/home.html but unfortunately she is completely booked for 2013.

A couple of weeks ago my super helpful second mother helped me hone my vision for the flower centerpieces by working with me to arrange flea market bought flowers in vases to get just the right formula.  Of course because she is brilliant we managed to find a look we liked in no time at all so we spent the rest of the afternoon sipping delicious margaritas made with love by my old man! 

The last couple of weeks have been amazing.  I have had the opportunity to spend my birthday with all of my friends and family, get lots done for the wedding.  Even though there is still so much to do I feel like things are starting to come together. 

Still on the list of things to do:

        1.      Hire a limo… preferably vintage…. And cheap HAHAHAHAHAH

        2.      Find a florist to make my bridal party bouquets

        3.      Find 3 more vases for center pieces

       4.      Decide if we are going to hire a DJ because they are very expensive and we can only really afford $600.00

       5.      Figure out what to do about the seating chart display

       6.      Get a massage

And the list goes on!  I’m not going to lie.  I’m so super excited to spend August 2, 2013 having the best time with everyone I love and can’t live without!

To save-the-date or not to save-the-date

That was the question but now it seems a bit irrelevant.  In my last post I mentioned that our save the dates were and sometimes still are a topic of contention between me and the future husband.  I had a plan, and it was a pretty cute one too.  But now that plan is, well in the same place most of my plans end up.  Sometimes I’m resolved with the decision we made and sometimes I’m down right resentful.

You see I happen to be the proud sister of an immensely (IMO) talented artist.  Using my sweetest politest suck holing voice I was able to convince my bother to design a picture for our invitations.  Not only did he oblige us with what is exactly the dead on the vision I had in my head but he also provided us with a beautiful water colour picture to use for our save the dates!  This was perfect! Totally original art for both the save the date and the invitation.  My plan was to collect all of our addresses and have the save the dates printed on magnets and send them out in January followed by the invites in May… 

… Has anyone received our save the date?  NO???? Oh right that’s because my plan got scrapped.  Why? You ask.  Well I asked Aaron to email and call everyone on his side of the family in November for their addresses.  I reminded him again in January.  I begged him in February.  It is now March and he received the last of his addresses last week.  So needless to say it is a bit late to send out save the dates.  Aaron and I discussed it and we decided that the word of our wedding has already spread to all of his and my family and everyone knows the date of the wedding so we would save the money on printing and postage and just send out our invitations a month earlier.  

On the one hand I am sad about not using the beautiful art my brother created, but on the other hand I am okay with saving the money and putting it towards something else like the food or the booze.  It is getting a little tiresome being asked constantly when we are planning on sending out the invites but I guess that goes with the territory of planning a wedding.  It is actually a compliment since everyone is excited to receive our invitation.  

This is a screen shot of a mock up save-the-date from vistaprint.

I’m curious when it became so common place to send out a save the date.  I don’t remember it being so main stream.  I think it is just another “must have” item invented by the wedding retail industry to spend more unnecessary money on.  Well you can’t have my money cause my fiancé is a procrastinator, so there!

This is enough

Sometimes, more frequently than not, I reflect on my life and I think to myself that this is enough.  I take stock of all that I have and I am content with the blessings that have been bestowed upon me.  Yes it is true that there are days where I fret over what other people have or how little they struggled to have such gifts or privileges but then I shake the crazy out of my head and thank my lucky stars for what I do have.

It makes me wonder why we are placing this burden of a wedding on ourselves.  I have always said that I refuse to forfeit special moments for other advantages. ie. I refuse to not have a  beautiful wedding in order to buy a house tomorrow instead of six months down the line.  But when I reflect on my life I realize that what I have is enough to sustain my happiness.  It's fear that pushes me to want things for myself that are not necessarily as important as say, having a solid support network or finding your soul mate... twice.  I fear that if I don't give myself the things I have always really wanted, you know the important things like a wedding, a house, kids etc. not the things like a flat screen tv or an ipad, I will look back on life and have regrets.  I already have so many regrets that I don't want the really big ones to be part of that.

I have an amazing step-mom.  She CHOSE us.  She knew going in that she was marrying a guy coming straight out of a divorce with three kids.  One still in diapers.  But she jumped in.  She forfeited the big fancy expensive wedding because buying a house and starting a life was the priority.  They lived out of boxes because they sunk all of their money into a home and she forfeited having her own kids because she agreed having another mouth to feed meant reducing everyones quality of life.  Now I'm not saying she made the wrong choice and I'm not even saying she has regrets but she made choices in her life that I don't think I would ever be strong enough to make.  And trust me I am thankful she decided to tough it out and help raise a bunch of kids that weren't hers! 

I guess I'm a bit of a contradiction because I am content.  As I write this I am looking at my future husband sleeping on the couch and I am filled with a feeling of thankfulness.  I am thankful that he saw something in me that made him want to stick around.  I am thankful that I have someone in my life that accepts me for all of my annoying idiosyncrasies, controlling tenancies and unapologetic craziness.  It's times like this that I appreciate as grounding moments.  I get caught up with the whole "keeping up with the Jones" mentality and then I have nights like tonight where I feel like telling the Jones to keep their facebook updates to themselves and shut the eff up!

And then I realized time was slipping away

Where does the time go?  I was sure just last month I was agonizing over what venue to book and what date we were going to choose.  The wedding is four and a half months away and what used to feel like a well oiled and efficient machine is beginning to feel like an over worked, seizing nightmare. 

I now know the significance of the engagement ring.  It’s to remind a future bride of all the work there is still left to do.  Just when you forget for a moment about the mile long list of to- dos for the wedding and fall back into the relaxing weekend routine you were once acquainted with, you look down at the beautiful symbol of your love and commitment only to think “Shit!” I haven’t booked the florist yet!  This is where I am. 

I allowed myself to take a break since I was right on schedule with booking all of my vendors.  I started a new job in February so there was no possible way I was going to be able to balance everything and keep my cool.  As organized as I like to think I am, I am also an avoidant personality and if I feel overwhelmed something gets put on the back burner.  So I hit pause on the wedding plans.  Now that I am feeling a bit more comfortable and confident with my work situation (even though it is still chaos working two jobs) I am realizing I am so far behind on my wedding planning. 

I asked Aaron in December to collect his addresses so we could send out the save the dates and invites.  Yesterday he finally got all his addresses and we have decided to scrap the save the date and just send invites.  This was something I was not happy with but he did have a point.  Why are we going to spend over $100 on save the dates only to send the invites two months later?  So we are sending the invites out a little earlier than customary.  This may be the biggest mistake when it comes to ensuring people are going to be able to come, but this was what Aaron though would be the best for our budget and our timeline so I am putting it in his hands.  I was able to talk him out of printing our invites on our home printer so this seems like a pretty good compromise.

I started making a list today of all the things I half started but have not quite executed and the list is quite a bit longer than I had estimated.  Looks like it’s time to hitch up my stalking and get back to business. I have a dreadful suspicion something is going to give though and I’m not really willing to lose anything I have in motion right now.  This is why people hire coordinators.  If anyone would like to be my coordinator for free or gift one to me I would not turn away help!

...This time that has lapsed since my last post!

Hello all!

It has been too long since I have posted anything.  My deepest apologies!  I have lots of news to come.  We have been busy little bees over here! 

This is just a wee little hello and hope everyone is doing well in this new year and please stay tuned for progress updates. 

Also February is just around the corner, and for those who don't know this, it can be one of the most depressing times in many peoples lives with the winter darkness, the weather, the financial whiplash from the holidays and the impending doom of Valentines day.  If you suffer from the blues as many people do, hang in there cause spring is just a month and a bit away!! Find a friend, talk it out and listen to some seriously upbeat music.  That always gets me to the next dawn! 

Sleep well my lovelies xo

It's the most wonderful time of the year.... unless you have to go anywhere, ever!

I love you more than... the feeling I get when I accomplish something (particularly on the wedding to do list!)

Goodness gracious, oh me oh my!  It is only just December and it is already CAH-RAZY out there.  My normally 20minute drive to work this evening took me 40mins!  WHY????!!!! Because it is gift buying season.  So everyone and their grandma is out behind the wheel of their vehicles driving 50 in the left hand lane getting in my way making me almost late for work! I'm telling you, if it were up to me (thank god it isn't) it would be a lot harder to get and keep your license.  I seriously want to know where some of these people got their licenses because I should have gone there!  New rule: stupid people are not allowed to drive.  Another new rule: If your not passing stay out of the effing left hand lane.  If it is evident the car behind you is going to go faster than you, get out of the effing left hand lane.  If cars are passing you on the right, get out of the effing left hand lane!!!

  Another driving note: if you are on your way somewhere and your route takes you past a mall, alter your route.  People on their way to the mall to buy presents are insane and will drive accordingly.  Also, apparently there are no rules in a mall parking lot.  For some reason the moment drivers enter a mall parking lot they completely forget the rules of the road misplace their common sense, go blind and drive like idiots.  This is my observation.

I love Christmas, but this time of year has gotten out of hand.  I actually would rather not give gifts at all.  Screw the consumerism.  The whole point of this holiday is to be with family and enjoy the season.  Somewhere along the lines it has become more about who bought who what and how much it costs.  I have never really bought into needing to have the new gadgets or the name brand jeans.  Maybe in high school it was important to me but once I got my first job and started being responsible for buying my own clothes it was about looking good on a budget not paying $200 for a pair of jeans (but they were on sale from $375).  I honestly dread Christmas shopping.  Dealing with the traffic and the mall parking lot and the rude people bumping into you in the stores and the craziness involved in finding the best gift for your friends and family, not to mention the ridiculous amount of money everyone spends (do people really get cars for Christmas??).  I am so over it!  We are suckers to think that if we buy our spouse just the right gift for Christmas it means we must really know them and love them.  I'm not deluded to into thinking anymore that if I get my dad just the right material possession he will love me more than my brothers or be more proud of me than he already is.  Why do we allow ourselves to be sucked into this extravagant gift giving.  i have requested of my family to consider a gift free Christmas.  I'm pretty sure they're not going to go for it but I had to try.  I want to rid myself of unnecessary stress this holiday season so i can trim my tree with my family, do a little baking, go out and enjoy all that Vancouver has to offer and spend my time with the ones I love instead of racing around crowded malls.  If not this year, maybe next year!

I'm a blogger slacker

I love you more than... cheat days!!!

Okay, so I hit the blogging road hard and fast with consistent posts right out of the gate.  And then I got caught up cause not much was happening on the wedding front.  I pulled an Aaron and I got side tracked by life; and really that's how it should be.  It would be silly to sit behind a computer talking about all the things you want to do instead of out there living life.

Most everyone knows I am dieting/changing my nutrition habits for the wedding (and hopefully for life) because it's all I ever talk about.  So to say I love Aaron more than cheat days is HUGE for me because there are days I would trade my right arm or my first born for poutine.  There are actually truly, no word of a lie days where I would throw Aaron in front of a train if he jeopardized my cheat day.  And I think only people who have actually changed their eating habits drastically and resist the hourly temptations that come at you from every direction can really understand when I say that.  I went from eating fast food every other day to eating almost completely clean.  For me, who literally used to eat whatever I wanted and followed every culinary whim this has been a challenge (UNDERSTATEMENT). 

Okay, Wedding News:


1) We have booked our marriage commissioner!  This is both wonderful and not so much.  Why? you ask is it not so much? Well I will tell you.  She is based in Maple Ridge.  We are getting married in Port Moody.  We pay $84 for an hour.  This includes planning, travel and performing the ceremony.  Has the math hit you yet?  Yup that's right! Between driving to Port Moody from Maple Ridge that's 40minutes, the ceremony is 20minutes... wait, that's the hour.  SHIT!  Okay don't stress, it's still going to be cheaper to pay the travel cost (which will be $26) and if we go over a bit of time than if we booked a private officiant (the cheapest I was recommended started at $275).  The woman we booked sounds lovely and she is very cute so hopefully she gets our names right and is on time!

2)  The area we plan on having our ceremony is going through a new booking process.  Originally because the area is part of Rocky Point Park, operated by the city of Port Moody we would have only been permitted 5 chairs, no decorations and a 20 min ceremony.  Now they are changing the booking process so the good news is we might be able to have chairs for everyone and flowers at the ceremony, the bad news is we will probably have to pay to book it. 

3)  We are still researching caterers so hopefully we will have one chosen by the end of the week.  Almost all of the caterers we looked at include staff, linens, cutlery and flatware! That will save us about $400.  Hurray.  That's money in the bank thank you very much!

4)  Received a pretty amazing quote for our cake.  A few different options at different costs.  We are still waiting to hear back from a friend of my cousins.  Hopefully she can beat the $250 I was quoted by Pink Ribbon in New Westminster to feed 100 people. 

Making progress though it still feels like there is too much to do.  I think I will feel better once we know for sure what is going on with the ceremony venue and we book our caterer.  Everything else is the extras. 

Oh and for everyone who keeps asking me if I have started looking for dresses, the answer is no!! I am waiting until the end of November when the Spring dresses are on sale and the Summer styles come into stock.  8 months is plenty of time to buy a dress, and no I'm not worried :)  I have a list and I refuse to get side tracked and miss out on a really great vendor at the ideal price because I got caught up fixating on one aspect of the whole wedding.  All the details will get ironed out, they just have to be done one at a time, not all at once.  I'm only one person!