Jen & Jeff - June 17, 2006!

Whew, we’re back and we're married!

Our honeymoon was relaxing and amazing - I would highly recommend the RIU Tropical Bay in Negril, Jamaica. Ya mon!

But onto the wedding – here's the full story.

As many of you know, we planned an evening wedding (7:00 pm ceremony) at a last-minute location (the Grist Mill) followed by a cocktail reception at the Walper Terrace Hotel. Needless to say, I had PLENTY of time to get ready – by about 5:00 pm I felt like I’d already lived a whole day and could hardly believe the wedding was still to come.


FRIDAY

The day before the wedding was pretty busy, but good. I went for a manicure / pedicure, met up with Alyssa (my Maid of Honour) and picked up our dresses, dropped by the florists to pick up the cake topper and dropped it off at the CakeBox, then zipped home to meet Lesley (my bridesmaid) and Jenna (a good friend who flew in from BC) who were arriving for the weekend. In the evening, the whole wedding party met at the Grist Mill to set up for the ceremony and do a rough “walk through” then we all went for beer and wings at the Heuther where Jeff and I gave everyone their thank-you gifts. Fun times!

We all came back to our place around 10:30 pm, I wrote up some super quick guestbook instructions, then Jeff and I said our goodbyes and he took off for Noel's house (the best man) and the girls stayed at the apartment with me. The only BAD part… I’d gotten my first ever bladder infection the day before (figured out what it was Friday night) and had an “episode” around 11:30 pm Friday night, so I didn’t get to sleep until about 2:30 am. Ugh.


SATURDAY

I woke up around 8:15 am, in mild discomfort, and debated going to the walk-in clinic to get a prescription for the darn bladder infection. Unfortunately, I couldn’t for the life of me find the listing in the phone book, so I then tried calling my boss, who happens to be friends with our family doctor, to see if I could reach him at home, but no luck there either. Instead, I contented myself with chugging back as much cranberry juice and water as humanly possible and prayed to the wedding Gods that I wouldn’t have another episode in the middle of the ceremony! By noon (after a delicious brunch with the girls) I think I’d managed to consume approx. 3L of liquids, lol!

At 12:15 pm, we showed up at the salon for our hair appointments. The girls were done quick – like 30 minutes quick – and my hair only took about 50 minutes. Yay for fast and phenomenal stylists!

Next up, Alyssa and I left for our make-up appointments (unfortunately we couldn’t get them all together so we booked two at 2:00 pm and one at 3:00 pm) and Lesley went to get her nails done. In the meantime, my mom met up with the boys at the florist's – the boys had just finished decorating / setting up for the reception! – to pick up our bouquets and floral arrangements.

Make-up went well, Lesley showed up for her appointment just as we were finishing up, and then Alyssa and I left to go “check” the reception set up. The boys had done an amazing job (with a little key "support" from Tiffany, Noel's fiancée)! The place looked near perfect and with just a few minor adjustments (mainly asking to have a table removed, and moving a couple tea lights) we were done. We checked into our rooms for the night, then headed back home making a quick stop at Subway for a bite to eat.

By this time, it was approx. 4:30 pm and everyone was reconvening at my apartment – Alyssa and I, Lesley and Jenna, and my mom (who had also brought my brother Max down earlier in the day). We all got dressed, with very little difficulty, and we were ready to go!


The Ceremony

I was determined to be on time, and we were pretty close! People were milling about outside the Mill (no pun intended, haha), so we parked down by the Perimeter Institute and then started walking up the sidewalk toward the Mill. Don (Perron), our amazing officiant, came out to meet us and give us the scoop on what would happen next. Emma (from BareBonePhoto) was already snapping photos and there’s a really funny one of Don carrying our purses back into the ceremony for us, lol.

The girls walked down the aisle and then my mom and I moved forward to stand in the doorway for our turn... just as I walked up, my heel slipped into a crack in the floor boards, but I don’t think anyone noticed – I covered it up pretty well and thankfully it didn’t stick on the way back out! As I walked in, I saw a few people that stood out, then I looked toward the front to see Jeff and there he was grinning away! The biggest surprises of the ceremony were that Jeff cried (it was so sweet) and I didn’t (I was focussing on reassuring him, lol), our brothers got up to do a reading (the hand ceremony) which was a surprise planned by Don and really sweet, and I made it through my vows without fumbling once – I think! We also got a moment to ourselves, out behind the Mill, while Alyssa and Noel finished signing the registry, which was really nice.

Several people came up to us afterwards to say how nice the ceremony was and one friend said it was the nicest ceremony she’d been to (and she’s been to a lot of weddings in the last little while!) which was a great a compliment. I can’t wait to see the video.


In Between

While the guests headed off to the reception, the wedding party and immediate family stuck around for photos, which turned out amazing!

The major things of note here were that I realized I’d forgotten to put on my garter (lol) and as we were finishing up, Mike (Jeff’s groomsman) realized that his wallet was locked in his car and he’d given his keys to some family members who had already left for the reception. There’s a funny shot of Emma, using a some “telescoping stick” (I’m sure it has some photography use), to try and jimmy the lock through the window which was open a crack!


The Reception

For the reception, we had 3 rooms at the Walper – the Oak Lobby (main room), the Oak Room (food room), and the Barrister’s Lounge (the bar). The funny thing was, most of the time people migrated to either the Oak Room or Barrister’s Lounge and at one point, it was just me, Jeff, and Jasmyn (the DJ) in the main room, lol!

The night definitely whizzed by, although by this point I felt like I’d lived at least 2 days in one and was maybe working on a third, lol! We got a bit behind schedule, but that wasn’t a big deal, and like everyone says I barely tried any of the food because A) I wasn’t hungry and B) I was never in one place long enough. I also didn’t have anything to drink except cranberry juice and water – Jeff said he had about 5 or 6 drinks, but figured he must have “sweated it all out” because he never felt tipsy, haha! – and the wedding Gods must have been listening because thankfully I felt fine all night!

Overall things went very smoothly – we did a few speeches, had our first dance, tossed the bouquet and the garter, and mingled and chatted with our guests. The only bummer was that the lights in the main room couldn’t be dimmed, so it was a bit “too bright” all night. That was really our only “complaint,” if we could even call it that, so not bad at all!

After everyone had left, we quickly tidied up, then headed up to our “honeymoon suite.” There was champagne and truffles in our room, so Jeff and I plopped on the bed, had a couple drinks and a couple chocolates, and chattered away for a half hour, 45 minutes or so before heading off to bed... ;-)


SUNDAY

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early, and headed down to the Terrace Café for brunch at 9:00 am. We’d made reservations for 20 people – mainly family, wedding party, and out-of-town guests – and since it was Father’s Day, we had to get in there pretty early! Eighteen people showed up and we had a nice brunch before packing up our stuff and heading home.

Back at home, my mom and brother stuck around while Jeff and I opened our cards and gifts – we got so many wonderful things, we couldn't believe how generous everyone was! And by the way, Jeff has to be the cutest thing I've seen when it comes to opening presents. He gets right down on the floor, takes everything out of the boxes, and sets them all up. I wish you could have seen it! The 2 of us bundled up in our sleeping bags in the middle of the living room floor, dishes and cutlery washed and on display, appliances and cooking stuffs oohed and ahhed at... He's a bit like a kid in a candy store, but a very responsible one that wants to make sure he has looked through every candy and sorted them just right, lol. ;-)

After my mom and Max left, Jeff and I set about getting ready for our honeymoon -- picking up last minute items, and packing our bags. We left Monday afternoon, spent a wonderful week relaxing in Jamaica, and arrived back early Tuesday morning. And that was that!

Honeymoon!

We just booked our honeymoon to the RIU Tropical Bay in Negril, Jamaica. I'm super excited!!

The beach is supposed to be phenomenal and it's an all-inclusive resort so we're all set!

May 17th -- an exciting day!

Yesterday, May 17th, was our "one month to go" date and it was a pretty exciting day!

To start, of course, it's ONE MONTH TO THE WEDDING -- Wow! It was also our official RSVP deadline and we've received all but 2 RSVPs -- not bad.

Next up, I got an email from our photographer confirming our meeting for that night. The meeting was awesome -- it really got Jeff and I excited about the wedding. Thinking about the photos we'd be taking made it feel so real! That, and we're bringing a rugby ball for some of the shots. Thinking about the possibilities had us laughing in the car the whole way home. :D

Upon getting home, we got even more exciting news that friends of our are engaged -- yay! Congratulations guys!!

Then, I checked my email and had a message from Bryn at SOOS that our jewellery samples are ready (I'm getting necklaces and earrings done for the girls and I). Very cool. I also had a second message from Alyssa that her aunt could get us a deal on Reid's chocolates (for our favours) and just needed to know what we wanted so she could get a quote. Nice! And finally, a third message from our DJ to give her a shout to go over songs for the wedding and that she could give us some ideas for our first/last dance songs, which we're struggling with :P

So... a very exciting day, and as I was in the middle of writing this, I had a friend drop by to tell me she's engaged! A second engagement announcement in 2 days!

That's a lot of excitement for one day.

In the past week I've also booked our chairs, picked up our marriage license, chatted with our officiant, visited with the florist, had my 2nd dress fitting, updated our registries, and received the invite to my bachelorette (woot!).

Not bad for a week's work. Now I just have to finish those shower thank-you cards, d'oh I'm slow!

< 6 weeks to go!

I had to dig up the ol' ticker -- look, only 6 weeks to go!!

Jen & Jeff ~ June 17, 2006

I haven't really done anything new concerning the wedding, mainly because it's been so busy at work, but I think I have everything more or less under control... And I've booked off a bunch of time in May, so that should give me plenty of opportunity to get all the little things done :)

Kick-ass shower

I had my very first bridal shower last Sunday (it was also one of the very few bridal showers I've ever attended) and it was awesome!

It was hosted by my good friend and maid-of-honour, Alyssa, and her mother, Brenda. They did an amazing job planning the event and the food was awesome, the games were fun, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. My other bridesmaid, Lesley, had to work but she sent the cutest little shower favours for all the guests! I'd never even heard of shower favours, before Alyssa showed me one from a friend's shower a few weeks before.

As soon as I have some pics I'll post them up :)

The new addiction

Wedding planning seems to come with new and strange addictions.

First, it was paper. Even now that our invitations are done and sent, I still find myself drawn to advertisements for cool paper, fonts, and invites. I must have been a graphic designer in another life.

But now I have a new, more shameful addiction -- checking our registries. Who would have guessed?! After all the stress of creating them you'd think I'd want to avoid the darn things. But recently I've become addicted to checking them... yes, sometimes multiple times a day *gulp*... telling myself, "I'll just have another peek."

It started off harmlessly enough, with checks to make sure that our registries were up-to-date and accurate, then one day an item was missing... "Where did it go?" was my first thought until I noticed a little "completed" note beside it at the bottom. I had a jolt of excitement and felt a bit like a kid at Christmas, realizing I'd stumbled across a stash of presents I wasn't supposed to know about... and then feeling torn between looking further and covering my eyes so I wouldn't ruin the surprise.

The urge to look won out and now I fear I'm fully addicted. So I made a deal with myself -- I won't check the registries for the next 3 days. Daydreams of that 5-piece flatware setting should get me through (when did I turn into such a nerd?!), but then I'll probably need another fix and I'll likely justify it by saying, "I'm just making sure it's up-to-date" -- yeah right!

I'm starting to think that registries are the crack-cocaine of the wedding world... the high of choice for the wedding addled, less than 2 months to go, stressed out, bride-to-be. Oh well, at least it's not really bad for you ;-)

Details, details, details

We're getting really close to the 2-month mark (it's coming up on Monday, in case anyone other than me is counting) and now it's time to focus on all the nitty-gritty details.

I met with a friend / quasi wedding guru at Chapter's last night to go over what I had done and what I had left to do. At the end she said, "Sounds to me like you've thought of everything -- now you just have to do it!"

Yup... gotta get it done.

I bought a new little notebook to help me keep track of everything, but it's just so darn cute that I can't bring myself to scribble in it -- I feel like I need a "plan" for how I'm going to write in my notebook.

I know -- it's a notebook, it's meant for notes! I'll get over it. But for the time being I've just been carting it around, opening and closing it, and thinking, "Not yet... I'll wait a bit longer..." I feel like that dorky kid in The Neverending Story, reading the book up in the school attic and rationing his sandwich -- "No, not yet... I should save some for later." That was one of the worst-acted scenes ever, but man I love that movie!

Right... details, my mind is full of them.

Hopefully I'll get over my fixation with pretty paper products soon and actually start putting that cute little notebook to use :P

Ugh... chairs

Who knew renting chairs for the ceremony would be so complicated?!

Well, actually, it's not the renting part that's complicated -- it's the "what do we do with them afterwards?" part that's causing the problem.

Basically, the rental companies are only open until 5:00 pm on Saturdays and they're closed Sundays. So we can get the chairs, but then we need to find someone (preferably not attending the wedding) who can take them down after the ceremony, transport them somewhere, and store them until Monday morning...

Anybody know someone with a truck or mini-van with some time to kill on a Saturday night?!

"The Dress"

This is hilarious!

Jennifer's wedding day was fast approaching. Nothing could dampen her excitement-not even her parents' nasty divorce.

Her mother had found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the best dressed mother-of-the-bride ever!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father's new young wife had bought the exact same dress! Jennifer asked her to exchange it, but she refused. "Absolutely not. I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I'm wearing it," she replied.

Jennifer told her mother who graciously said, "Never mind sweetheart. I'll get another dress. After all, it's your special day."

A few days later, they went shopping and did find another gorgeous dress. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "Aren't you going to return the other dress? You really don't have another occasion where you could wear it."

Her mother just smiled and replied, "Of course I do, dear. I'm wearing it to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding!"

I took a gamble and it paid off!

I can't remember if I've posted about our photography plans or not, but I got some really great news today!

But let's provide a bit of background shall we?

About a year ago, when we were first hashing out our budget and realizing that paying for a wedding was uber expensive, I knew we were going to have to "get creative" in order to keep things within a reasonable cost. Photography is one of the most expensive elements of a wedding (after the reception costs) and as I was doing my research I discovered that the average cost of a professional wedding photographer in the KW area is around $1,600 -- and those were last year's prices! So I set out to try and find a deal, while at the same time knowing that photography was important and hoping the "deal" wouldn't backfire...

Sometime in late April 2005 I emailed an acquaintance, who happened to be a professional photographer to see if she would mind providing me with some tips. At the time I was thinking of posting an ad at the colleges to see if there were any senior photography students that could shoot the wedding... My photographer acquaintance didn't think this was a great idea. We discussed budget and length of time needed, and came up with a goal of $500 for 3 hours of photography, which she assured me was doable and that she would get back to me.

BTW -- I've since discovered that this acquaintance is one of the most sought after and frequently recommended photographers in local wedding circles. She shoots in a photo-journalist style, which I love, and gets so much word-of-mouth business it's insane. You can check out some of her current work, here. Her current base price is $2,100 for 6 hours of wedding photography, and she's already booked up halfway through 2007! But I digress, back to my story...

So I waited several weeks with no word, and then early in June of 2005 I got the news that her assistant would like to shoot our wedding -- yay! -- and that we would touch base closer to the date.

A couple of months passed, and our wedding plans changed, so I emailed the photographer to give her a quick update. She wasn't convinced that her assistant could handle the new locations, but once again assured me not to worry -- she'd figure something out.

Several more months passed, but I didn't want to be a pain, so I managed to wait patiently for word from the photographer. Then one day in late October 2005, I got an email that said "great news -- I have 2 new assistants and I'm going to send both of them to shoot your wedding!" Sweet!! Now we were getting 2 assistants, fully trained by this professional photographer, to shoot our wedding. It was left that we should meet this spring to go over more details, so once again I set out to wait patiently for word from the photographer...

Five months passed, and I was starting to think about timelines for the wedding day, but needed more information about photography so I emailed the photographer to see where things were at...

Today I got an email back and it said:

"Hey Jen -- Looks like your the luckiest bride [around]! I'll be shooting your wedding after all. I have a new assistant that wants to become a main shooter and I want her to get the experience. But it will only be her second wedding. So I'll be the main shooter and her the second."

Holy crap! I nearly fell over when I read the news. We're getting one of the most sought after photographers in the area, plus an assistant, to shoot our Saturday wedding (prime time) for only $500!!!

I'm almost afraid that writing this down will jinx it, but what can I say? I took a huge gamble and it paid off! I never expected that she would be shooting our wedding, and I am SO excited -- all that nerve-wracking waiting, half expecting to hear the news, "Sorry, I can't find anyone after all" was apparently worth it!