ashhtayy

You girls are all so good at keeping on track. I'm struggling. The plan was to do AM works out and I can honestly say that has not happened once lol It's more a schedule glitch rather than laziness though. I am happy to report that I have been making it to the gym 3-4 nights a week after work and going to hockey every Friday night. The workouts haven't been my best but I figure going for a little bit is better than not going at all. My diet has been okay but there is always room for improvement. My coke zero addiction has also at an all time high. I wish I could trick myself into drinking water. Keep up the hard work ladies!

This is a time that I wish I had Facebook. I feel like I'm missing out big time on the stalking lol

@@acw271011 Yep, I balled my eyes out. Beautiful, Ann!

@@snswedding2016 CONGRATS! Can't wait to see more

I ordered our STDs from zazzle and although I paid more than I could have (didn't wait for a good sale). I was really happy with the quality. I even screwed up on the date (I think) and they had already printed and shipped. Because I realized right away and emailed them they credited me back for both the STDs and shipping. Since then I have ordered other items from the site and I have been really happy with them. Customer service goes along way and I'd be happy to recommend zazzle.

Sorry ladies! Yes I am in and my vote (although I am late so feel free to disregard lol) is Joe Badali's because it is SO close to union. I will go train in and that will take me about 40 minutes. My schedule is flexible so I will plan to arrive when the majority is. @ - perfect! i'll bring the cash --- Apparently I didn't read all the posts. Happy we are going to Badali's - the food is great! Excited

I just got the exact same email from Judy. Nathan at Stemple Shops communication has been amazing. No doubt you will love him.

@@deecol your dress is BEAUTIFUL!

@@vancouverpetunia - thanks for saying no one will notice and reaffirming that $10 is crazy for chargers. I want them so bad so I'll keep looking locally but at $10 per guest they're out of the question. And no, there is no making that cake work. It's so tiny! Back to the table when it comes to the cake decision lol That mad libs idea you have is interesting - never heard of that. Can't wait to see it! Our resort is small so maybe I shouldn't over plan for everyone. It's hard to let some things go because I want it to be perfect. I just need to get it through my head that we will never make everyone happy. Some people will want the week planned to a T and others won't. I'll have to find a compromise. @@calgarybride2015 - I definitely don't understand them taking the gazebo decor down. Fingers crossed they will agree to keep it up and not charge double or triple. Again, thanks for reaffirming the charger price is outrageous. Hopefully I can find something affordable to bring or else we'll go without. You ladies are right - no one will likely notice. Glad the times we picked for hair and makeup make sense. Need to leave time for food and this is the one day in my life I don't want to be rushing. Thanks for the helpful feedback ladies Marquee Letters Complete! I popped into Michael's today to pick up my 'A' at 50% and cut out the card stock tonight. I'm happy with them

January 29th seems to work for most. Location TBD.

Just to clarify I knew it would be fun, I just didn't want to be the only one showing up and planning to have a couple/ a few drinks lol Can't wait!

@@snswedding2016 IT'S YOUR WEDDING DAY! It will be perfect and I can't wait to read all about it. We wouldn't be upset at all if you snuck a picture to us All the best Enjoy every last minute of your special day.

@@yycbride2016 I’m a little behind in your thread. Here goes… Your guys will look really sharp. Love vests! I think your cake topper is perfect. Never too sparkly and I don’t think it’s hard to read at all. Congrats on booking your legal ceremony! Dinner with both sets of parents sounds perfect. I feel like only losing one guest is pretty good but never easy news to take. I would feel better after hearing their reasoning – not much you can do when starting a new job. I hope you’re happy with your guest list J Amazing news about getting the free passenger credit and it’s very kind of you to divvy it up amongst your wedding party – I’m sure they were so appreciative. Slumber parties are…the best. I am almost 30 and my friends and I still enjoy a good old fashioned slumber party. Your bachelorette sounds like a fun night. I personally like having a head table. I love Mike so much but we eat dinner together every single night. I like the idea of being there with my besties AND Mike J When my best friend got married she didn’t have a head table or a sweet heart table. She had two larger round tables and we were split up between the two and we got to sit with our significant other. I hadn’t seen that before and I loved it! Perfect for socializing. If you can get the smaller tables that @@Wafflesmom suggested that would be great. Bouquet – all are beautiful, you can’t make a bad decision. My vote is #2. Cake – love it! Couldn’t fit better with your theme. You’ll get through that list in no time – we all have faith in you!

@@Wafflesmom I recognize this is not wedding related but can we talk about how awesome that table is in your living room? I love it! Please tell me that is a keg. Printing out lyrics from your first dance song is a great idea. Idea officially stolen. Thank you. I really like your ring box too. So cute and you can totally use that again. This is probably a really stupid question, but it is legitimate. I can’t remember if you have a ring bearer or not but if you do, will he carry the rings down the aisle in the box? Your table numbers are so unique and perfect. What a great way to include your fur baby Waffle in your special day J Perian killed it again! What a great find with the sign for your sweet heart table! And again, a great keepsake. Amazing coworkers you have. That cake is beautiful! I bet it was delicious too. Tell us you had a big piece? You’re on a roll! Can’t wait to see photos of everything all together.

@@deecol I think that is a great gift for your girls! Purchase

Some (Random) Updates Picture heavy – I warned you J Bridesmaid Dresses I have been waiting on one bridesmaid to go to the store to re-try on the dress so that we could confirm her size. That is now complete and the order has been officially placed! Dresses will be in mid-April. Ceremony – 4PM on 06/07/2016 I’ve rented two white sheers, a crystal chandelier and three panels of beaded back drop for the gazebo. @@TinkerSofi – if you see this, do you think two white sheers is enough? The WD said that is all we need but by the looks of most pictures they have 4. Is 2 enough since we will have the beaded backdrop along the back? Thank goodness I asked and didn’t just assume because I thought that since we were having our ceremony and reception on the Sky Deck they would leave all that décor up but apparently they don’t?! I made a request that they keep that décor up on the gazebo for the reception. If they are not willing to leave it up I may cancel the rental. Seems silly to pay all that money just to have them take it down 30 minutes later? I wanted to confirm the set-up of chairs on the Sky Deck so that I could decide how many flower arrangements we needed for the row ends. The WD said that is completely up to us but recommended rows of 4 or 6, aisle, then another 4 or 6. We have decided to go with 6, aisle, 6. Reception – 6PM on 06/07/2016 With the Always and Forever package we get white linens. Here’s the plan: Head Table – three rectangular tables covered with a white tablecloth and three sequin overlays in champagne (Mike & I + 5 Bridesmaids and 5 Groomsmen) Cake Table – square table with sequin tablecloth in champagne Miscellaneous Table – rectangular table – not sure if we will go with another overlay like the head table, a full sequin tablecloth or a runner. TBD. I think this table will be used for our guestbook frame, our pictures of our grandparents who have passed on, our polaroid camera and our place holders. Guest Tables –5 or 6 round tables covered with a white tablecloth and a sequin runner in champagne I’m purchasing three of @ ‘s runners as well as her cake tablecloth. I’ll buy the overlays and other table runners from the same site she did – Chair Cover Factory. I lucked out big time J I asked today about the cost of coloured napkins and charger plates. Coloured napkins are $5 each and charger plates are $10 each. I immediately decided to forego the napkins – white will do…UNLESS I can get a killer deal on some online. I REALLY want the charger plates since we are sticking with the white tablecloths but $10 each, really? Looking for other options and very open to suggestions J For our center pieces and décor we’ve purchased gold mercury votives, clear smaller votives, clear mason jars, tea lights, three different gold mercury larger votives and the ‘M & A’ marquee lights customized with gold and champagne coloured chevrons. The plan for the clear votives and mason jars is to spray paint them in gold. I’ve purchased the spray paint but haven’t started the work on them. Still deciding whether or not we need more décor on our tables. I've tried to create all our signage. I am good with computers but designing is not my forte lol I have 'designed' (I say 'designed' because it's amateur for sure) our table numbers and signage such as something recognizing those that have passed on, an itinerary, cards sign, hashtag sign, guestbook frame sign, etc. I still need to pick up frames for everything but I am holding off until I see how it all prints. Fingers crossed. Dinner - we’ve decided to go with the Italian family-style dinner. Mmm! Cake – so I saw photographs of the actual cake and OMG. We can’t do what we had originally planned. It literally looks like a cupcake on steroids. It is SO small! I knew the dimensions beforehand but seeing an actual photo of one decorated made me change my mind. Mike agreed. Thinking about upgrading to the one tier cake. I'm including a picture so you can see where I am coming from haha Where do they get off calling this a 'large cake'? DJ – We have to make a decision here too. Mega DJ, DJ All Music OR wedding DJ app. I am terrified of the wedding DJ app (although I have read great things). Apparently we cannot even pay the vendor fee of $800 and bring in another DJ. I am not complaining, just a little surprised they aren’t trying to get that money from us too lol. The less options the better I guess J Flowers Following @ ‘s lead again and using her etsy vendor for our flowers – Stemple Shop. We have been speaking with Nathan for about a month and he is fantastic. We are ordering ivory and blush real touch peonies. Our order thus far includes my bouquet, 5 bridesmaid bouquets, 4 wrist corsages, Mike’s boutonniere, 5 groomsmen, father x 3 and ring bearer boutonnieres and potentially 8 aisle bouquets. All are wrapped with jute ribbon. Details… - My bouquet will be a combination of blush and ivory peonies (3 bunches) with lambs ear, baby’s breath and seeded eucalyptus. - My bridesmaid’s bouquets will be ivory peonies (1 bunch) with lambs ear, baby’s breath and seeded eucalyptus. - Mike’s boutonniere is a blush peony boom with a peony bud. - The groomsmen’s boutonnieres are an ivory peony bloom with a peony bud. Guest Book Frame I’ve known for a while I wanted a guest book that we could proudly display in our home. I found an etsy vendor that makes custom maps – HereAndThereShop – and we love their work. The picture I have included is just an example from their shop. We’ve chosen a map of North America that will be in a light grey. Both British Columbia and Ontario will be highlighted in white with a little heart as a maker. Both provinces will be connected by a dotted line that loops into a heart. From there a dotted line with a little airplane connects to Mexico which will be highlighted in white as well. I am SUPER excited about this purchase. I cannot wait to see their custom design for us. I’ve sent all our specifications and am waiting for their design J Hair & Make Up Made the reservation for my hair and makeup trials as well as wedding day appointments for myself, my mum and my bridesmaids. Waiting on the resort to confirm the reservation. We’ve decided to use our voucher from our TA for the Bridal Spa Package. This includes: manicure and pedicure for me, manicure and pedicure for someone in my bridal party, my rehearsal hair and makeup, and my wedding day hair and makeup. Thoughts on timing… I scheduled the rehearsal hair and makeup for the day before our wedding so that its done for our rehearsal dinner. If we are getting married at 4PM, does it make sense to start hair and makeup at 11AM? We are not doing a first look (sadly). Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner I was pretty bummed to find out that we won’t know timing for our actual rehearsal until we get to the resort. I get it, they want to keep their options open for other weddings but it would have been nice to be able to let the wedding party know in advance. Our rehearsal dinner will be semi-private at Flavors and we will have our bridal party, their significant others and our immediate family there. We still have to select the menu. I do not plan to have any decor for our rehearsal dinner. Is that okay? Wedding Week Activities I want to give all guests an itinerary that says what our plans are. Example: Monday – Pool Party! Thursday – Meet us on the volleyball courts! I do not want anyone to feel like they have to come I want to leave it optional. Unfortunately the “monthly activity schedule” doesn’t come out until a month before so it is hard to say when the volleyball nets will be set up. My WD said that making an itinerary could make guests feel like they have to attend even if we state it is completely optional. She said what some brides do is hashtag their plans. Example: our hashtag and then a picture of us in the pool. I like this idea a lot but in terms or social media we only have Instagram and LinkedIN (lol). Not everyone has Instagram so that may not work for us. Still brainstorming. My Dress My dress is still at the store that I purchased it from. I haven’t contacted them once and as I write this I am freaking myself out. I am going to call them Monday and schedule my fittings. AHH. Good thing I started back at the gym this week. Just kidding. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO GO BACK TO THE GYM? lol Mike, Groomsman & Ringer Bearer Attire I keep asking him what he wants to wear and he kind of shrugs it off; absolutely no sense of urgency when it comes to this. Work is a bit insane for both of us right now but as soon as it slows down we’ll get to shopping. I’ve shown him a few of these photos and he’s on board. We both would like to go with a grey but my concern is sweat. A friend of mine went to a destination wedding in Jamaica and she said grey wasn’t a good look on the guys because they sweat through their pants. I see a ton of ladies on here that go with grey. Has this been a problem for anyone?

I'm happy to go wherever! Are these bride meet ups the kind of thing I should drive to or go train? Aka. How late and how much fun do you end up having? If Remington's is in the plans I better take the go train lol