I frequent the Canadian Wedding Bells online forum and came across these really cool save the dates submitted by one poster. I'd love to receive something so unique and personalized!
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Brown paper packages tied up with string
I know that using baker's twine is nothing new but I just love the look of it tied around brown paper packages...I'm happy with how the chocolate bars will look wrapped with Kraft brown paper, but the plain white twine just wasn't doing it for me.
Lots of websites sell the different coloured twine:
Broadway Paper
But nothing came close in price to the Ebay seller wesellcoffee. I bought a 2-pound cone of green and white twine for $16 (shipped to a friend's house in the US). I figure that 2 pounds worth of twine will last quite a while and should be a lot cheaper than ribbon...
Lots of websites sell the different coloured twine:
Broadway Paper
But nothing came close in price to the Ebay seller wesellcoffee. I bought a 2-pound cone of green and white twine for $16 (shipped to a friend's house in the US). I figure that 2 pounds worth of twine will last quite a while and should be a lot cheaper than ribbon...
Chocolate is heavy...
I got a phone call from the boy at work yesterday. I was worried that something was wrong as he sounded out of breath and rushed. He yelled down the phone "Holland & Barrett [a UK health food store] are having a sale on Green & Black's!". Needless to say he was VERY excited and it always makes me happy when he takes such an interest in wedding-related crap.
I got a phone call later in the day to tell me that he had bought up all of the stock from 2 different stores - buying around 215 35-gram bars (I say around as we both had to sample a few to ensure quality control). He bought dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, mayan spice, and some butterscotch chocolate bars, which I had never had and were absolutely delish. We still need probably another 150 bars so that we provide our guests with 3 bars each.
We made sure to check the expiry date was after the wedding for all of the bars but we failed to consider the weight of the chocolate....I did the math this morning and realized that chocolate is heavy. We will need to lug just over 12kgs of chocolate back to Canada. As we always fly cheapo-air, that is over half of one person's 20kg baggage limit. Oh well...I guess that means the boy will be restricted to fewer pairs of shoes when we're next home.
I got a phone call later in the day to tell me that he had bought up all of the stock from 2 different stores - buying around 215 35-gram bars (I say around as we both had to sample a few to ensure quality control). He bought dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, mayan spice, and some butterscotch chocolate bars, which I had never had and were absolutely delish. We still need probably another 150 bars so that we provide our guests with 3 bars each.
We made sure to check the expiry date was after the wedding for all of the bars but we failed to consider the weight of the chocolate....I did the math this morning and realized that chocolate is heavy. We will need to lug just over 12kgs of chocolate back to Canada. As we always fly cheapo-air, that is over half of one person's 20kg baggage limit. Oh well...I guess that means the boy will be restricted to fewer pairs of shoes when we're next home.
Around 215 chocolate bars
Friday, 18 January 2008
Get a grip girl
I need to get a grip. I’ve come to realize that I’m spending far too much time over-thinking small details concerning the wedding. I never thought that I would spend so much time (honestly, it’s been hours) agonizing over what fonts to use for the invitations.
And don’t get me started on the amount of time I’ve spent trying to figure out the correct way of writing 3:30 pm on the invitations…
Is it “half past three” (or one of its many variations: half past three in the afternoon, half past three o’clock, half past three o’clock in the afternoon)? Or is it “half after three” (or one of its many variations: half after three in the afternoon, half after three o’clock, half after three o’clock in the afternoon)? Or is it just a simple “three thirty in the afternoon”? I’ve seen it written in so many different ways…
It will be great to add our own personal touches to the wedding, and there really is nothing nicer than pretty stationery or customized table numbers…but in the end they are just things really, just pieces of paper. We want to have a memorable day where our guests (and us as well) have a great time celebrating the beginning of our new life together.
My goal from now on is to keep in mind that it’s just one day. It’s one day that we’ll spend celebrating with our family and friends – all of whom after a few drinks won’t really care or notice that the font colour on the place cards does or does not match the colour on the menu.
Although I probably will… :)
And don’t get me started on the amount of time I’ve spent trying to figure out the correct way of writing 3:30 pm on the invitations…
Is it “half past three” (or one of its many variations: half past three in the afternoon, half past three o’clock, half past three o’clock in the afternoon)? Or is it “half after three” (or one of its many variations: half after three in the afternoon, half after three o’clock, half after three o’clock in the afternoon)? Or is it just a simple “three thirty in the afternoon”? I’ve seen it written in so many different ways…
It will be great to add our own personal touches to the wedding, and there really is nothing nicer than pretty stationery or customized table numbers…but in the end they are just things really, just pieces of paper. We want to have a memorable day where our guests (and us as well) have a great time celebrating the beginning of our new life together.
My goal from now on is to keep in mind that it’s just one day. It’s one day that we’ll spend celebrating with our family and friends – all of whom after a few drinks won’t really care or notice that the font colour on the place cards does or does not match the colour on the menu.
Although I probably will… :)
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Overkill?
I'm trying to decide whether it would be too much of all things English if we hired a Routemaster bus for the wedding. I've never been a fan of limos - they bring back memories of high school formals, bad dresses, and bad hair.
We could hire Vera (the company names its buses) from the Burlington-based Double Decker Bus Co. I think it would make for some cute photos...
And depending on the cost, we could also provide transport from the reception back to the hotel as the bus fits 68 people!
We could hire Vera (the company names its buses) from the Burlington-based Double Decker Bus Co. I think it would make for some cute photos...
And depending on the cost, we could also provide transport from the reception back to the hotel as the bus fits 68 people!
Monday, 14 January 2008
Hilarious
Maybe we should do something funny like this couple did to greet our guests:
The rest of the pictures from this wedding are fantastic as well.
Friday, 11 January 2008
A winter wedding...
Seeing this girl's wedding makes me think that maybe we should have planned a winter wedding. I love the classic look of her fur jacket.
The rest of the pictures are fabulous as well....they had their wedding at the Fermenting Cellar, a rather unique venue in the Distillery District of Toronto. Gorgeous!
The rest of the pictures are fabulous as well....they had their wedding at the Fermenting Cellar, a rather unique venue in the Distillery District of Toronto. Gorgeous!
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Thanks for coming!
We didn't want to spend too much time stressing about the favours. We just wanted to make sure that our guests left with something little that said thanks for taking the time to celebrate with us.
Luckily we both agreed that food was the way to go. Neither of us are big fans of little trinkets, small picture frames, or other products flogged by the Knot. What do people actually do with these kinds of things?
Again in homage to all things English, we've decided to thank our guests with delicious Green & Black's chocolate bars. They come in little mini-bar sizes (35gms), so I think we will give each guest 2 or 3 bars. Maybe one Maya Gold, one dark chocolate, and one milk chocolate. Unfortunately my favorite, the mint chocolate, doesn't come in a small size. I'm assuming we'll buy them over here and just schlep them back to Canada....although I think they are now actually being sold in North America (which unfortunately will probably decrease the novelty factor, oh well).
The challenge will be to figure out how to package up the bars. The Green and Black's website has some bars wrapped up in single bow, but I'm not sure if I like the look and you would run the risk of them falling apart.
I tried wrapping 3 bars up last night in some Kraft brown paper left over for Christmas and really liked how it looked. Maybe wrapped with some green baker's twine?
Or would that be too labour-intensive? It would be fairly easy to shove the bars into some small Kraft boxes but the paper is so much cheaper...
Luckily we both agreed that food was the way to go. Neither of us are big fans of little trinkets, small picture frames, or other products flogged by the Knot. What do people actually do with these kinds of things?
Again in homage to all things English, we've decided to thank our guests with delicious Green & Black's chocolate bars. They come in little mini-bar sizes (35gms), so I think we will give each guest 2 or 3 bars. Maybe one Maya Gold, one dark chocolate, and one milk chocolate. Unfortunately my favorite, the mint chocolate, doesn't come in a small size. I'm assuming we'll buy them over here and just schlep them back to Canada....although I think they are now actually being sold in North America (which unfortunately will probably decrease the novelty factor, oh well).
The challenge will be to figure out how to package up the bars. The Green and Black's website has some bars wrapped up in single bow, but I'm not sure if I like the look and you would run the risk of them falling apart.
I tried wrapping 3 bars up last night in some Kraft brown paper left over for Christmas and really liked how it looked. Maybe wrapped with some green baker's twine?
Or would that be too labour-intensive? It would be fairly easy to shove the bars into some small Kraft boxes but the paper is so much cheaper...
Monday, 7 January 2008
My dress
I knew from the start that I did not want a poofy dress - they just were not me. The majority of the dresses at the local bridal shops over here were massive dresses with pick-up skirts (not to my taste). Again - thank goodness for the internet!
I fell in love with lace dresses, and one in particular: the Melissa Sweet Hallie.
It was this girl's Knot bio that really did it for me: djrs. When I was back in Toronto for a visit we went dress shopping and I tried on over 30 dresses but could not get the Melissa Sweet dress out of my head. We went to Pearl Bridal House in Missisauga, which stock Melissa Sweet dresses and other high-end designers, "just to see" as it wasn't too far out of the way. I knew it was a rather high-end store and was worried that they would be a bit snobby but the assistant was very warm and funny (thank goodness). She brought me lots of non-poofy dresses to try on, which were all lovely. At the end of the visit, I asked if I could just try on the Hallie dress, just to see how it looked, as she hadn't brought it out. I tried it, loved it, and so too did my Mom, sister and one BM.
So the torture began. I knew that I couldn't afford the dress, even with the discount at the trunk show a week later. I cursed myself for even having gone in to try it on. We kept looking at dresses around Toronto but nothing clicked. When I got back to England my stalking of Ebay, pre-owned wedding dress websites and the Knot dress message board began.
I found a girl on the Knot who was selling her used dress and matching the veil. We emailed back and forth regarding price, shipping, dry cleaning, etc. She was very helpful and sent over lots of pictures of the dress and veil from multiple angles. She also agreed to ship the items via the US postal service instead of UPS or FedEx, as their brokerage/duty fees are significantly greater. After a lot of back and forth with myself, I decided just to do it. When I pushed the button to pay her through PayPal, I felt so excited but so sick. This girl could completely take my money and run...
But she didn't. The dress arrived to my parents' in a large box, the dress wrapped up safely in bubble wrap. My Mom called me at work and I got kind of veklemp during her call I was so relieved. My all-male team at work didn't really seem to understand the excitement...:) My sister (who is pretty much the same size as me) tried it on and says it's pretty near perfect on her. She said the dress may need some taking in around the waist but I can deal with that...
It was a rather big leap of faith for someone as risk averse as I am...but I'm so glad it worked out in the end. I guess there are honest, nice people still left in the world.
I cannot wait to see it in a few weeks' time when we're back to Canada for a visit...
I fell in love with lace dresses, and one in particular: the Melissa Sweet Hallie.
It was this girl's Knot bio that really did it for me: djrs. When I was back in Toronto for a visit we went dress shopping and I tried on over 30 dresses but could not get the Melissa Sweet dress out of my head. We went to Pearl Bridal House in Missisauga, which stock Melissa Sweet dresses and other high-end designers, "just to see" as it wasn't too far out of the way. I knew it was a rather high-end store and was worried that they would be a bit snobby but the assistant was very warm and funny (thank goodness). She brought me lots of non-poofy dresses to try on, which were all lovely. At the end of the visit, I asked if I could just try on the Hallie dress, just to see how it looked, as she hadn't brought it out. I tried it, loved it, and so too did my Mom, sister and one BM.
So the torture began. I knew that I couldn't afford the dress, even with the discount at the trunk show a week later. I cursed myself for even having gone in to try it on. We kept looking at dresses around Toronto but nothing clicked. When I got back to England my stalking of Ebay, pre-owned wedding dress websites and the Knot dress message board began.
I found a girl on the Knot who was selling her used dress and matching the veil. We emailed back and forth regarding price, shipping, dry cleaning, etc. She was very helpful and sent over lots of pictures of the dress and veil from multiple angles. She also agreed to ship the items via the US postal service instead of UPS or FedEx, as their brokerage/duty fees are significantly greater. After a lot of back and forth with myself, I decided just to do it. When I pushed the button to pay her through PayPal, I felt so excited but so sick. This girl could completely take my money and run...
But she didn't. The dress arrived to my parents' in a large box, the dress wrapped up safely in bubble wrap. My Mom called me at work and I got kind of veklemp during her call I was so relieved. My all-male team at work didn't really seem to understand the excitement...:) My sister (who is pretty much the same size as me) tried it on and says it's pretty near perfect on her. She said the dress may need some taking in around the waist but I can deal with that...
It was a rather big leap of faith for someone as risk averse as I am...but I'm so glad it worked out in the end. I guess there are honest, nice people still left in the world.
I cannot wait to see it in a few weeks' time when we're back to Canada for a visit...
Saying it like it is!
I just came across Monica's blog from J Cricket Events (via with this ring) and this post just summarized everything I'm trying desperately to do:
http://jcricketevents.blogspot.com/2008/01/stop-decorating-your-wedding.html
I hope to take it all to heart! :) Well written!
http://jcricketevents.blogspot.com/2008/01/stop-decorating-your-wedding.html
I hope to take it all to heart! :) Well written!
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