Cookies?

When I saw the picture of "Snickerdoodles by Aunt Peg" in this inspiration board from Snippet & Ink, it reminded me of all of the batches my Mom used to make when I was growing up.

I tried my hand at making them over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to make. The boy quite enjoyed them as well, but had never heard of snickerdoodles before...I'm assuming they're a North American cookie!

All of the baking got me thinking about our UK reception. Maybe it would be a cute idea to have some 'North American' type cookies for the British guests to sample. But is it feasible to whip up many several dozen cookies in the 2 weeks between our return from honeymoon and our UK reception?

Perhaps it is doable...Lisa (from Blush) and her Mom made over 1000 cookies in 15 varieties for her guests. Aren't they just gorgeous? The tags on the boxes even acted as escort cards! Be sure to check out the rest of her wonderful wedding DIY!



Maybe it is a bit of a pipe dream, but at least it will allow me to rationalize the purchase of several large Sota jars from Ikea, which my inner tight-wad has been vetoing for months. I will of course be making my Mom's oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies. Any suggestions for typical North American (easy-to-bake) cookies?

DIY envy

I'm always amazed how creative people are when it comes to wedding-relating things...

I'm extremely jealous of Ellen's save the dates. Just gorgeous.

Random Easter DIYing

It was raining/hailing/sleeting over Easter and we were bored, so we decided to try and recreate this cute little card:

From the Knot or more pics on the photographer's website

We called ours "How well do you know the McWoods?" :)

There are 2 different cards, so each table will have 12 questions to ponder. As the back of the card says, hopefully this will keep our guests somewhat entertained during any boring bits (and may act as an ice breaker for guests who may not know each other).

A lot of green and white today

I'm loving the wedding featured at Style Me Pretty today. Just gorgeous.

Some more pictures via the photographer's blog:

{The boy particularly liked this shot of the guys as this is the look he has picked for himself and the groomsmen.}

And there is more green and white over at the Bride's Cafe.

I just can't get enough of this fab rug...

Chimney sweeps

My future mother-in-law first mentioned a strange British superstition to me about chimney sweeps a few months ago.


According to Wikipedia: "In some parts of Great Britain it is considered lucky for a bride to see a chimney sweep on her wedding day. Many modern British sweeps hire themselves out to attend weddings in pursuance of this tradition. It is also considered good luck to shake hands with a chimney sweep or to be blown a kiss by one."

When we met with the lady at the church (a lovely woman from Lancashire who immigrated to Canada in the 60's), she said that she knew of someone who would gladly dress up as a chimney sweep. It seems a bit cheesy but I'm also quite superstitious so maybe we will take her up on that offer...

Postboxes

I'd love to find something like this antique postbox to act as our card box at the wedding. I love the vintage look and ideally it could be lockable...

From Grapevine Weddings, via Snippet & Ink

I've had a look on Ebay and you can find some gorgeous antique Royal Mail ones for sale. Even though the red isn't in our colour scheme, wouldn't they still look fantastic?

Shame that they cost from 300 to over 1000 pounds and weigh up to 30kgs! The search for something similar, lighter, and cheaper continues...

1 LBD, 3 to go!

One of my bridesmaids is heading off to Africa soon and as she won't be back until a few weeks before the wedding, she recently managed to squeeze in some little black dress shopping time. Luckily in Toronto there is the Little Black Dress Shop!

I'm loving the dress that she bought, and best of all it was on sale!


Look at all of the LBDs behind her in the shop....

We're back!

We're back from our whirlwind trip to Canada. It really was a fantastic trip, albeit too short. I'm relieved as we managed to get a fair bit accomplished.

1. Met with the wedding co-ordinator at our reception venue. Much to my relief the boy loved the place as much as I do.

2. Saw the church for the first time and met with the Minister. He was such a warm and lovely man and has given us a lot of flexibility in our vows, the readings, and the music. We pretty much can write his whole sermon for him.

3. Met with our music guy - there will be a 3-piece jazz band during the cocktail hour, followed by a 8-piece band and then a DJ later on in the evening.

4. Had our food tasting - delicious, delicious, delicious!

5. Met with our lovely photographer and sketched out a rough outline of how she will document the day.

6. Tried on my dress - it is perfect in the length but too big in the bodice so I had to bring it back with me to England to try and find a seamstress (the only real disappointment of the trip). Luckily it isn't a massive poofy dress and fit easily in the overhead storage on the plane.

7. Booked hair and makeup for me and my bridesmaids at Keora Aveda Salon

8. Most importantly, got the boy on skis! :)

I've been tagged

I was tagged by Tara at In This Instance in the 'new rules & new ideas' game of tag.

The rules:

-List your top three favorite new wedding ideas.
-Link back to the post of the person who tagged you - this will create a continuous stream of posts that readers can follow.
-Tag a new person and share the rules.

Here is the link to Tara's post of new ideas.

I'm definitely no expert on what is new or hot but here are my favorite current ideas:

1. The use of Etsy

I know that Etsy has been blogged about heavily and there is of course the fantastic Etsy wedding blog, but I can't get enough of the website. It really is highly addictive and is great for bridal jewellery, bridesmaids gifts, general home decor, and pretty much anything else you could think of.

Vintage hairpins by OriginalsbyLynette

Cotton is sexier than plastic totebag by Melissa Vest Designs

French rap stationery set by OhSoSuite (as a former french immersion student I love these!)

Unfortunately I won't be able to use the totebag or the stationery as bridesmaids gifts as I have already received them as gifts from one of my fabulous bridesmaids (who I blame for my time wastage on Etsy)...ha ha.

2. Pre-owned is not just for furniture

I know it's not necessarily a new trend but I'm somewhat relieved to see that buying a pre-owned or sample wedding dress is no longer quite so unheard of. Websites such as Ebay, http://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/ or http://www.sellyourweddingdress.com/ or the dress boards on The Knot or Weddingbells are valuable resources. They enable brides whose expensive dresses are just sitting in their closet to recoup some of the cost as well as allowing brides access to some designer brands that may have been just too far out of their budget. I'm a happy owner of my pre-owned Melissa Sweet Hallie. :)

3. Super 8mm

I'm addicted to watching wedding videos shot on Super 8mm. The look is so classic and so beautiful. I love how it reminds me of the Wonder Years. Here are links to a few samples:

Mimmo and Naz
Joel Serrato Films
Layer Cake Films
Mrs Onion from WeddingBee

Unfortunately I don't think hiring a videographer to shoot with Super 8mm is in our budget so we have begun stalking Ebay as well as harassing members of our families to see if they have a camera sitting in their attic for us to use.

And now I'd like to tag Jessica of tying the knot!