Tie One On

In the midst of my overwhelmingly stressful work situation (that is, 33 days until proposed submission date of my PhD dissertation, with a LOT of work still to be completed), I have been trying to win mini wedding-battles to at least maintain a rolling momentum. To be honest though, the wedding is NOT my priority, which, considering the short 3-ish months to the day, is slightly scary.

One of the items on the to-do list is to order ties for the groomsmen. I knew from way-back-when, that I wanted the geniuses over at the Cyberoptix Tie Lab (shout out to etsy!!) to create some magic for our men. I mean, not many people can make ties look original... think about it... you can head over to Banana Republic and get some nice ties for your boys, or splurge and go to Holt Renfrew or Harry Rosen (yup, I am a Canadian!!) to get the creme de la creme, OR, you can rock it out with some kickin ties that will make your boys look like they have a bit more personality than a young and cocky investment banker... ya, that sounds like a better option!!

Take a look at some of the beauties...

So, what's the battle then you ask?? Well, the biggest issue (in my bride-eyes) is the fact that her color selection for the ties themselves are not rocking my world... she has a decent selection, but considering our girls' different dress colors, I wanted to keep things pretty simple... I don't need people getting dizzy when presented with our bridal party!! Well, when I saw this...

... the battle was more of a slight conflict! Color matching people... this I can work with!!

So, I figured it would be simple enough to clip a tiny piece of fabric off each of the girls dresses from an inside seam or something, send it to the Lab, and order some rockin ties... not so much!! Clipping fabric was NOT an option. Bethany at the Tie Lab told me that digital pics would not be the best option, since, as we all know, the colors don't necessarily translate from reality to computer screen, let alone from one computer screen to the next. WELL, what to do?? I don't live in the same city as the dresses, but my mom (I LOVE YOU MOM!!) offered to take care of it... she came through, BIG TIME!! Bethany mentioned that a Pantone # would tell her all she needed to know... a wha?? I didn't even know what a Pantone was, and neither did my mom, but without stressing me out with the details, a few days later my awesome mom emailed me the Pantone numbers!! Victory!!

So, here they are... the official colors of the girls dresses (keep in mind that these are the colors, but in reality they each have their own unique metallic finish to them, but the colors are as shown) (SIDENOTE: the color palettes were all created over at ColourLovers.com)

Beautiful right?!?! You might remember my post about my color inspiration, where I showed you this palette:

Well, although none of the girls dresses match exactly to my inspiration palette, I think they look amazing. Actually, I think they do a better job of capturing the colors of the mountains than I did with my palette... yep, that's me, I'm a happy bride!

Ok, so I digress. I now have the Pantone #s for the girls' dresses, which means that I can (and have) ordered ties that won't cause dizzy spells with our guests (at least with the color anyway... stay tuned for the ties we chose). sigh. of. relief. I can now work work work, knowing I will progress through this wedding planning process one mini-battle-victory at a time!! I repeat... sigh. of. relief.

What online/long distance vendor required you (or your wedding helpers) to step outside the box and problem solve? Or, a more fun question, what off-the-wall wardrobe decisions are you contemplating?!?! Or, even better in the name of gratitude, who pulled one out of the hat for you and relieved some serious wedding stress??

somebody pinch me...

... because I honestly don't know if this can be real... it is toooooo amazing!!! I found this wedding over at the ever-reliable-and-inspiring Style Me Pretty, and it has left me breathless!! I will only post a few of my fav's, but definitely head over there to see the whole lot!

Let the parties begin!!

My first bride-party has come and gone... and it was A-MA-ZING!! Two years ago when my sister got married, my mom and I surprised her with a trip to San Francisco, a girls weekend, a mother daughter bonding trip, bride celebration. Well, the tradition continued this past weekend! The destination was a surprise, and a complete hit!!Yup... my girls hit the top of my cities-in-the-states-to-visit-list with an amazing long weekend in New Orleans. How fitting right, considering our Cajun inspired menu!! And boy let me tell you, we ate up as much inspiration as we could... food and music for 3 full days... bliss!! Yes, the pants all got a bit tighter on this little trip, but let's face it, it was soooo worth it!!

That's the three of us at the Court of Two Sisters Jazz Brunch for our first New Orleans dining experience. We sampled some of New Orleans' classics, including crawfish, bread pudding, cornbread, and the most amazing stewed sweet potatoes.... ummmm, hola!! This stuff was beyond a food experience... it was a lather-up-my-thighs-with-fat-cause-I-don't-care-how-many-calories-are-in-here experience!! I thought it would be a unique addition to our dessert buffet. Well, get this ladies, I filled in a comment card (glowingly of course, because the food and service were spectacular!!), and requested the recipe for this heavenly treat, and literally, the day I got home, they had emailed it to me... wahoo!! I see stewed sweet potatoes in our wedding guests' future!!

I will post a whole wack of pics soon, but since I have been off work for 5 days, it is time for me to hit the books!! Stay posted!!

Are you there venue... it's me, bride!

We haven't been out to our venue (3 hour drive away) since New Years, and like my dress, I have been missing it lately. With all the wedding planning that has been surging through our heads/bodies/and home, really all I want to do is curl up in front of the gorgeous picture window where we will be having our ceremony... and RELAX!! BUT, no rest for the weary... this PhD has some serious momentum, and wedding to-dos are getting checked off the list as efficiently as possible. So until I feel even remotely confident that I will in fact finish this PhD on time, for now, well, it's just day dreaming about the beauty that is our wedding venue... the Elk View Lodge!!



Well, our boys over at 6:8 have done it for me again... pictures that will, at least for the rest of the day, inspire my daydreaming, have popped up on their site. They did a whole blog post on our venue, and answered my question... are you there venue, it's me bride?! Yup, she's still there, in all her glory... check her out!!

from the driveway:

... where the magic of the ceremony will go down

yup, this is part of the dining area for the reception... we will be using rectangular tables, and will have the room to the left of the window (shown below) for extra space...

This is the second room. This will be our chillaxin zone for the rest of the weekend when we don't need to fit 120 people for dinner... gorgeous right??

Check out my master bath people... holla!! Can you say pamper me dear hired help?? YUP, I will be soaking in the star treatment in this beauty! Might need to wake up a few hours early to accomplish all the pampering I plan on accomplishing!!

And finally, the kitchen!! I am MAJOR into cooking, so it is safe to say that the day before the wedding, I will be getting my nerves-killer-cookin on!! The kitchen is my safe place in times of stress... cut, fry, bake, saute, slice, grate... oh yeah baby!! This is definitely gonna see some magic over the weekend!!

So, there you have it... my venue-spiration for today!! I hope thinking of your venue puts a smile on your face as big as mine is now!! Thanks Kevan and Duane for these little treats on this otherwise grey and gloomy day!!

Hello old friend

My dress is currently being stored at my sister's house, which is in a city 3 hours away from me... so needless to say, sometimes I wonder about her, how she is doing, how she feels, and occasionally, I wonder how she is fitting (read: have I gained/lost anything that is affecting how gorgeous she will look on September 6th!!). I have only tried her on about 4 times since I bought her online (that's 4 times total I have tried on ANY wedding dress), and it has been a good couple of months since I have seen her... until today!!The pictures were found over at Style Me Pretty... and definitely go check out this post... many great shots of the beautiful wedding over there!!

I am still in love with my dress, and when I see such gorgeous pictures of it, it makes me smile!! It also makes me hungry.... you can tell the dress doesn't leave anything to the imagination!! MUST STOP EATING CHOCOLATE!!!

Have a great day!!

Movie Mixin for Novices

Alright, I think this could be a winning tip for all you brides out there that don't have the time, resources, or interest in learning moving mixing programs. This is the easiest, breeziest, coolest movie mixer I have seen, and it literally requires you to upload your pictures, then your song, then click GO!! I found it over at animoto.com, and tried it out myself...

The free movie mixer can only be 30 seconds long, but for a mere $3, you can produce a full length video, mixed to the beat of your song, with no joking, 3 steps. This sample took me about 2 minutes to create!! Done and Done!!

PS... scroll down to see the movie (sorry, I embedded it right from animoto... convenient, but wasn't exactly sure where it would show up!!)

Movie Mixin for Novices

What's for dessert?

Our reception menu has been a process, as one would expect... this is a party for 120 people after all! We knew we wanted it to be casual in feel, but downright tasty. It should be a meal people talk about afterwards, but one we can afford. We are stoked with the menu that has evolved, and while the cocktail hour menu still needs a bit of tweaking, the Cajun feast we have planned is gonna rock the socks off our guests!! But, when the meal has been served, the dishes passed, the bones sucked dry, and the wet-nap used, the end to the meal has to be similarly fun, interactive, and meaningful. Yup, the dessert has got to pack some punch ladies!!

We knew long before we had a menu planned, that we would not have a traditional wedding cake, and while cupcakes are cute and occasionally tasty, they really don't do it for either of us. Baking is a family treat, a pass-the-ice-cream-it's-nana's-pie experience, not simply a sweet treat you order at the end of the meal. Our families have got some ladies who can cook. I mean, eyes-roll-to-the-back-of-your-head gooooood cookin!! My aunt learned the art of fine chocolates from Bernard Callebaut himself (that's THE chocolate guy out here in Alberta), my grandma makes the best berry crumble I have ever eaten, and my nana, well, let's face it, cooking for 6 kids plus all of us 27+ grandkids has got her into the swing of things... pies are her trademark, but personally, I love her sex-in-a-pan the best!! My man's side is Danish, so the baking is a whole new world, and his favorites, by his grandma, are waffle cookies (they have this delicious icing in the middle of two waffle-like pastries... soooo good!!), and his aunt has been known to bake a traditional Danish wedding cake.

Danish wedding cake found here

So, it soon became clear that we a) wanted to represent the women in our lives who have baked their way into our culinary memories; b) wanted a variety of desserts for our guest to enjoy; and c) didn't want to be paying our caterer to mass produce a generic dessert as the fourth course in a pre-set meal! The DESSERT BUFFET became an obvious choice, and our moms, aunts, and grandmas became the chefs of choice... it is them, after all, that have the expertise, the recipes, and most importantly, the heart that they could pour into our dessert course, making for sweet treats that meant a lot to us, and hopefully to our guests!!

Some of my favorite dessert buffet shots were found over at Snippet and Ink:

from here

from here

from here

and a couple of my downright favorites:

from here and here

I love the fruit plate in the last picture... probably wouldn't have considered fruit, but hello, totally makes sense!!

Check back for a line-up of our confirmed dessert sponsors!! PS... what would be your favorite dessert item to snack on over a wedding slide show?? Light and juicy, or chocolaty and rich??

What about this as a backdrop??

So one of our photographers (Kevan, of Kevan and Duane from 6:8 Photography) emailed me the other day, to ask me about our plans for photography for the wedding day. He wanted to suggest a location that was spectacular, but needed ~ 35 minutes (and a 4x4) to reach. The pros were... amazing photos, totally different from our engagement pictures, oh, and did I mention spectacular shots?? The cons were... took a bit of time to drive to, which would cut back on the number of shots we got in Fernie, and we needed a 4x4 to get there. BUT, to these I would argue, Fernie is cute and all, but let's face it, we are there for the mountains, not the 1 street downtown. We got our engagement pics done all urban-ed up, so we really aren't concerned about getting any skyscrapers in our pictures (of course there aren't any anyways in Fernie). And is a 4x4 trek on your wedding day ever a con?? I say heck-no, let's crack a road-pop while we're at it!! (PS... road poppin in Western Canada is totally legit, although never legal!!)

How spectacular would the shots be you ask?? Well, feast your eyes bride-buds...

(picture borrowed from Kevan's email, props to 6:8 Photography)

Not bad right?? The only thing I posed to Kevan was my deep, undying love of wheat, and all things grass/fields/meadows... and he assured me that we would get our meadow shots!! He suggested we set-up our 'first-look' shots in a field (since we are doing our photos before the ceremony), and then go from there.

So, what do you all think?? Is the 30 minute drive worth it?? I think the beauty of the location speaks for itself, and since we have allotted a very generous 3 hours for photos, I think we should be ok... but would love to hear your thoughts on this one!! help!!

She Weds She Weds... that's Miss Budget Savvy Bride!!

Jessica, aka Budget Savvy Bride, got married on the weekend, and she has been posting quick sneak peaks of the pics the last couple of days, and I just watched the slideshow from their photogs... seriously, you have to check it out!! The emotion captured in the pictures is beyond... just beyond raw! The happy couple look like they are in a state of bliss the whole day... and the details... WOW! This wedding makes me wonder how I will feel on our day. I have been following Jessica's blog since, well, since I got into wedding blogs, so in a strange way, I do feel like I know her. So when I saw the pictures, I felt like it was all coming true... all of her hopes and dreams for her wedding day. I hope I will be as relaxed as she looks in these pictures, and while I am sure the day flew by, it looks like she was present the whole time, soaking it up... I want to be able to do that!! I hope she was able to appreciate all the details that came together so perfectly... the colors so coherent, the wine labels and programs, her jewellery... was she able to really see it all?? I hope so, because she did a great job, and she deserved to revel in it!! WOW!!

PS... I am getting married in 4 months today!!! HOLY CRAP it is coming up fast!!! I will be back soon (honest) to update you on the latest in the planning!!!