ashhtayy

Okay so I have totally neglected my planning thread as well as many of yours the past month and a half. My love for the site has not faded - I actually can't wait to have the time to catch up on everyone's planning once life stops being so crazy. In the last two months my fiancé started a new job with a new company, I started a new position with my company, we bought our first house together and take possession on Wednesday AND I bought my wedding dress. Amongst the craziness my MOH insisted we go shopping for my dress. She knew I was nervous because girls that are getting married after me already had their dress. She pushed, I put it off, she went ahead and made the appointment and the rest is history. It was only my second time shopping for my dress. The first time was in April and felt more like a formality rather than a first dress shopping experience. My MIL and fiances grandma were in town from BC and my mom and I surprised them by taking them dress shopping. All I knew was I wanted was fit and flare, ivory and not too heavy (for obvious reasons). I ended up getting my dress at Tom Jeon at Steeles and Weston. I highly recommend them. Their service was outstanding and their boutique is beautiful. Specs: - Essense of Australia 1785 - Ivory - Ticket Price: $1450 (plus taxes) - My Price: $1000 (taxes in) - Alterations/Cleaning/Steaming: $200 (plus taxes) Besides feeling comfortable and loving my dress the next most important thing was feeling like I got a killer deal. I truly feel I accomplished that. They weren't going to sell the dress off the rack but after some super annoying persistence and offering cash they accepted. My dress is a size 10 and I am between a 4 and a 6. The seamstress was onsite and said the alterations I needed would be very easy for her to accomplish (thankfully!!). They agreed on $200 for the bustle, rounding out the bust area (super pointy design and not really my thing), hemming and taking in the waist. I hope you all love my dress as much as I do! Such a relief to finally have a dress

@@snswedding2016 these photos are amazing. you two look like naturals. your dress was perfect; you looked beautiful; sean looked handsome! some of the best engagement pictures I've seen!

@@vancouverpetunia would love if you wouldn't mind sharing your research! thanks in advance!

I thought of you this morning when I got the email too. Life got busy and I forgot to send. Happy someone else did

@@vancouverpetunia love the excursion idea. It's something everyone will always remember. Hrmm, maybe we'll do personalized shirts for us and the bridal party and an excursion for whomever is interested

I know you said your FI may make you wait until your one year for the second band but how can he? It looks so good with all three together. I love it! I hope he gives into you although it would be something to exciting to look forward to @@yycbride2016

I think OOT bags are a great option but I'm not sure our guests will need/use everything we out into them. I know I personally would pack everything I can afford to include in there and probably wouldn't use the bag because I would of packed one anyways. Has anyone done tank tops? Men's styled tanks. I'm thinking of having tanks with Mexico 2016 and maybe our hashtag or something on them. I've priced them out and think I can get them for about $8-$10 each and they're great quality. My friends and I get shirts made for most events and we love having them for pictures and as keep sakes. When we go on our annual weekend trips we always wear the year priors shirt the first night. I also think its a great conversation starter for people that don't know one and other? Thoughts?

@@yycbride2016 two wedding bands! lucky girl how do I swing this? advice please. ps. sooooooo beautiful! love the look.

@@calgarybride2015 @@TinkerSofi also a little bitch - I'd like some clarification too please lol

@@calgarybride2015 & @@Wafflesmom - late response but it's really funny to me that we are on here chirping each others hockey teams. our fiances & husbands think that all we do is "talk weddings" - mike was impressed when i said there was some hockey talk...until i told him it was not favourable for the Canucks lol ps: kim - i hope it wasn't a Kessel jersey! @ 50% off at Michael's and I bought the gold mercury votives!! it's official - our first decor purchase! i swear i am not trying to copy your entire wedding lol @@TinkerSofi thanks for your opinion on the colour palettes. its official (for now) - blush, champagne and gold. good point about the bridesmaids dresses. i was also thinking of purchasing non-BM dresses for them. more cost efficient and i think i will like them a lot more. @@Wafflesmom glad your meeting with the jeweller went well. i would love his contact info if you don't mind sharing. we leave friday and will be there for just over a week. should be plenty of time to reach out. thanks in advance!

@@TinkerSofi happy 16 days! so crazyyyyy. when i got on this site you were like 6 or 7 months out and i remember thinking "i hope i'm as organized as this girl!" and now it's almost time! stay strong these next few weeks. your day (and your week) will be perfect - i mean, it has to after all the thought you've put into it!

@@yycbride2016 decor - wow! PB jars? well done! they look great and definitely something you can use around the house or in the back yard after gifts/escort cards/placement cards - the gifts look great all wrapped up. how amazing is dollarama, right? my parents are moving in a month and when they showed us the house one of my first comments was "and you have my favourite dollarama down the street!" ps. huge steal on your cards. i think they look great how you wrote the name; i wouldn't change a thing. i always love the sentimental touch of our own hand writing. rant - omg. so...are you still going to their wedding? call me spiteful but i would have a hard time going after seeing that ridiculous post. i mean, it's only an 'e'; relax Mariann!!

@@Wafflesmom i love the personalized wine bottles - great proposal!!

@@calgarybride2015 I refuse to like your post and I seceretly hope no one else does LOL Canucks garter is a great idea! That way I can hide it and no one will have to look at it

@@Wafflesmom you are such a better fiancé than me lol I'm going to remember this post but am not going to share the idea with Mike haha he would insist this happened. You are right though. It would be a great surprise for him that he and half of our guests would enjoy. The other half are die hard leaf fans like myself; maybe I'll have to incorporate both the Canucks and Leafs! Decisions, decisions!

@@Wafflesmom yay! so happy you started a planning thread. love your story. my gf has been online dating for about a year now - hasn't found the lucky one yet but (most) of her date stories are amazing. it is incredible the people you meet through online dating that you wouldn't have otherwise. i couldn't agree (and relate) more - things happen when you least expect them to. derrick sounds like such a character! such a fun person to share life with. love that he teased you so much about the proposal and that in the end it came to you as such a surprise. what a beautiful spot to be proposed to! btw, i also LOVE the list he made and am so happy you thought to take a picture - great keepsake! your resort came recommended to me from a girl on my hockey team. she went to a DW there a few years ago and instantly fell in love. i think they have a sky deck too? interested to read where you've decided to say your 'i do's'. can't wait to read more!

@@Wafflesmom exactly - it HAS to match. again, mike DID NOT agree when i told him that. "it's a drink - who cares what colour it is as long as it tastes good!" thanks for your input as well. don't get me wrong, i like pink but i am not a 'pink girl'. blush looks so beautiful and romantic though. i think i will ex the rose and go with champagne, blush and gold with a pop of greenery in the flower bouquets and centre pieces.

@@snswedding2016 @@calgarybride2015 @@yycbride2016 thanks for your input on our potential colour schemes. i think i like a combination of the two - perhaps gold, champagne and blush. we'll see! it isn't unreasonable to think i will change my mind 15 more times before committing lol so many decisions! @@TinkerSofi i checked our "sky wedding ceremony package" sheet and it says: sparkling wine, traditional mojito, bellini, blue lagoon, mango mojito, sangria or mango margarita. if the bellini is not frozen, i'm out! mike is interested in the mango margarita, frozen bellini and the sangria...ah, no decision yet

@@snswedding2016 thanks again for posting the chair dimensions - so helpful! adorable vow books. i'm starting to feel like i jumped the gun a bit on ours. i LOVE them but i wish i had her write "Ashley's Speech" instead of "Ashley's Vows" (Michael's Speech instead of Michael's Vows). the more and more i think about it i don't know if we will write our own vows. oh well - cute picture regardless and i can always put our speeches in there too

@@vancouverpetunia both invites are beautiful but my vote (if you are unsure of your colour) is option two because it has less of the teal/green. I like the cohesive-everything-sort-of-match idea but you are 100% right - no one will notice. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

I googled bellini's after reading your post and no they don't have to be frozen but in my opinion they ALWAYS should be. I am totally craving a Milestones bellini right now. Also, don't judge but I didn't realize bellini's were an Italian thing?! BAM! Just selected our welcome cocktail and in turn can hopefully score some points with my FI's Italian family haha

does anyone know if the garden chair that @@snswedding2016 posted above is the exact same chairs that we will have on the sky deck? i did a search of this thread and i believe someone referred to the sky deck chairs as the garden chairs. thanks in advance! and thanks to @@snswedding2016 for posting the dimensions almost time to pick @@yycbride2016 's brain for chair sash inspiration