Packed and ready to go

I think that I've finally managed to shove as much as possible into our 2 suitcases for our trip back to Canada. Fitting 10kgs of chocolate and the clothes necessary to deal with a Canadian winter has been challenging, but I think we'll sneak in under the weight limit.

This will be our last trip back before the wedding so there is a lot of things to get done... I'm so excited to see family and friends who I haven't seen in over 6 months. I've been away for longer periods of time before but not going back for Christmas was incredibly hard. And don't get me started on how nervous and excited I am about finally seing my dress, and of course meeting with vendors who we've only met via email or phone.

I'm really hoping that Lee is happy with the reception venue as he hasn't seen it yet, as well as some of the other decisions that were taken by me and my Mom. Hopefully in between all of this wedding crappola we can sneak in some fun time with family and friends...(And of course we will be trying to get the Englishman on a pair of skis!)

We've tried to lug over any wedding-related purchases on this trip, including the wonderfully tackorific Union Jack socks for the boys.

Soup up our kitchen

I've finally gotten around to getting some posters to brighten up the kitchen in our rented flat.

Found via, bought from

Found via, bought from

Now I just need to frame them... :)

Inspiration from Flickr

Darling Dexter (a gorgeous blog) featured a link to the Domino Magazine Flickr group. I think this one picture is a good summary of our wedding colour scheme and overall 'look'.

{picture from poopscape}

Looking through the Flickr pictures makes me want to get working on decorating our flat some more...but maybe that will have to wait until this wedding shindig is over.

My almost wedding shoes

Don't get me wrong. I like shoes, I really do. But I don't understand the obsession with finding the perfect wedding shoe or photographers' strange compulsions of capturing artistic shots of shoes.

That being said, I was gutted last night when someone on Ebay outbid me at the last second for a fab pair of brand new Paul Smith peep toe shoes. I love his classic signature stripe - I was so jealous when my Dad got a striped scarf for Christmas last year. I still think that people generally won't see my shoes but for the brief instances where they can, it would be fun to have something different than white.

I still have a while yet, so maybe another pair will come up...

Milk glass

Mom and I have begun collecting white milk glass tureens and compotes for the table centrepieces.



Style Me Pretty featured a gorgeous wedding where the bride collected 200+ pieces of milk glass- very impressive!

I just love the soft, vintage look that the milk glass brings to a space. Hopefully our florist can create low centrepieces filled with soft white and green flowers kind of like these...

Keep fit (and have fun)*

I'm sure that like countless other brides (and grooms), I've become a bit more conscious about what I'm shoving into my mouth and how much or how little I am moving my rear end. In less than 8 months, the boy and I will be photographed ad nauseum and I don't want too many shots of back fat or chicken cutlets (the bits of flab that hang over the dress under your arms) preserved for posterity.

Thank goodness for football. Sorry, soccer. (Again, I've tried to assimilate into English culture). I try and get to the gym but there really is no better workout than chasing some whippet-like forward with a football at her feet. I've been playing competitively since I was 11 and I still love the excitement and fun of the game (although it is a bit depressing when some of my teammates reveal that they were born in 1990....I started grade 7 that year!).

Lately though I've started to worry that football may actually be detrimental to my overall 'bridal' look....I'm relieved that I won't be wearing a cute knee-length wedding dress as I would need industrial-strength concealer to cover my bruised up knees! And it's not just my knees - I always seem to get random bruises on my arms and back after a match. Two years ago some girl broke my nose when she headed me in the face, so hopefully nothing like that will happen before the wedding...

Football will certainly help me to feel more physically confident for what probably will be the most photographed day of my life. Hopefully I won't be covered with strange bruises that look like the studs from a pair of football boots!

I'm the second one from the right. The English football season is September to May so we often play on wet and muddy pitches - hence the massive splodge of dirt on my forehead (although my childhood coach would be proud because at least that means I was heading the ball with my forehead and not the top of my head).

* in homage to the classic Canadian BodyBreak get-fit commercials starring Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod

Braces?

No, not for my teeth (been there, done that). But for the boys.

Lee has been talking about wearing black suspenders with his tux and maybe asking his groomsmen to do the same. I wasn't too sure about the idea, but I came across these pictures from Leigh Miller, and changed my mind. The boys are wearing pretty much exactly what my boys will be wearing (black tux, black tie, white shirt, no vest) and the suspenders do look pretty cool. A very fun looking wedding...




Sorry, braces is the English word for suspenders. I'm trying to assimilate...ha ha.

Honeymoon ideas

Lee and I have started to try and give some thought to our honeymoon. We've both been able to get 3 weeks off of work without any real hassle (thank goodness for the UK's obscene amount of holiday time - well at least by North American standards). We'll arrive one week before the wedding via Canadian Affair, which flies directly from Birmingham and saves us the hassle of getting down to London or up to Manchester. After the wedding we'll have two full weeks to relax, spend some time as a newlywed couple, and visit with family and friends who we see maybe only once a year.

We've decided to honeymoon in Ontario as it makes the most sense financially and time-wise. Central Ontario is beautiful in the fall and as cheesy as it sounds, I just love driving through the countryside when the leaves are vibrant hues of red and orange. There is hardly any real colour changes in Britain and I always feel a bit homesick in October. There is even a website dedicated to tracking the best fall colours.


We plan to spend a few days right after the wedding just relaxing at my parents' cottage near Collingwood - cycling, going on drives, antiquing, eating, drinking, etc.

I am also keen to splurge a bit for a few nights, as it is our honeymoon. The Little Inn in Bayfield is gorgeous, has great food, and offers wine-tasting evenings, so is a definite possibility.

Further north in Muskoka there are lots of hotels and smaller inns...

We've also talked about going to the other extreme by staying in a yurt for a few nights. There are quite a few provincial parks that offer this kind of accomodation, which seems quite posh and would save us from trying to locate tents and camping equipment.


We still need to do a lot of research, but I think there are a lot of possibilities...

A summer country wedding

We decided to get married in October because we've both always loved the fall and I personally cannot stand the heat.

But if I had to have a summer wedding, I'd love for it to look like this wedding: casual, classic, rustic. Simply gorgeous.



All pictures by Andrew Adams Photography.

Fascinators

I LOVE the look the women in hats at weddings. I really do. I'm pretty sure that none of our Canadian guests will even consider wearing a hat so it is up to our British guests to make the fashion statement. I've pleaded and begged with Lee's mom and step mom to wear one but to no avail... Apparently they'll 'ruin my hair' or 'I can't wear hats'.

Failing in my hat mission, I've started to push fascinators to both moms and any of our female friends making the trip. They all probably think I'm nuts but I just think that they are such gorgeous adornments to a woman's outfit. They won't give you hat head, they look great, they will probably travel to Canada far more easily than a hat, and they aren't all that expensive at places like Accessorize!

I'd love it if someone turned up at our wedding in something like these:

Our guest book

The traditional white guestbook wasn't really our style so when I came across this gorgeous coffee tablebook of Edinburgh, I thought it would be perfect. The city is one of my favorites and is where Lee and I met, so it's got quite a special place in our hearts. I ordered the book off of a seller from Amazon for 5.74 with shipping (regular price 19.99). Deal!



I am a little disappointed by the size of the white borders around the pictures, as I was planning to ask our guests to write a little note in the white bits. But I really don't think that people ever write that much in a guestbook, and there are quite a few white pages at the front...So another thing to lug back to Canada in a few weeks! :)

Need versus want

The boy and I have been giving some thought to the whole registering process. There are some things that we both agree that we need and I'm glad that he agrees that we need new towels and linens, a Le Creuset dutch oven,

and of course the coveted KitchenAid stand mixer (which will be the only thing that we register for in Canada as it is twice the cost in the UK - we'll just have to use a special plug with it).

But I've come to realize that there is a significant amount of gorgeous things that I want, but don't necessarily need. (Which makes me feel horribly guilty and selfish but oh well).

Vintage 19th and 20th century pressed glass cake stands

French cotton stripe tea towels

White French porcelain

French Bee embossed glasses

All of the 'fun' stuff is from Re-found Objects. At least it's fun to look!

Another one booked sight unseen

I'm so relieved as we finally have booked the entertainment part of the wedding. Symmetry Studios will be providing a jazz trio during the cocktail hour/dinner, a band later on and then a DJ for the dancing part of the evening. My best friend went to two weddings this summer where this company was in charge of the music and and raved about the music.

It's a bit weird to not have really met this vendor, but it isn't anything new. This brings the tally of vendors booked without having met them to five (we've done the same with the photographer, florist, church and officiant, and the reception venue). My Mom has been an absolute trooper during the whole planning process - We did all of the the research from the comfort of our computer, while she has run around town meeting with prospective vendors. I trust her gut instinct implicitly and figure that if we like their stuff on the internet, they fit in our budget, and Mom gives her stamp-of-the-champ approval, that we should just go ahead and book with the vendor. Thanks Mom! ;)