Rehearsal Time

July 28, 2008

Today was jam-packed fulled of wedding stuff. My mom's dress got picked up. I had my second fitting for my evening gown. Andrew bought me some sparkly stuff to wear. We had our last meeting with Andrew's pastor.

And then the rehearsal began. I had this vision in my head that the rehearsal would go smoothly and that would be the end of the wedding prep. I'd have a week to relax and savour my last days of singlehood and well, newly added to the week of freedom, moving into our new place.

But of course, these things never go as planned and now I find myself with even more work than I had going into the rehearsal. Most of it is just confirming last minute details and making sure everyone knows what's going on. But other things are just needless stress.

However, to offset the negativity of the added stress, I had a really great time at the rehearsal dinner chatting with friends I haven't had a chance to chat with in a while. It was a good time of laughs. It's been a while since I've laughed so hard. It was refreshing.

The Diva's Back

July 27, 2008

After a late-night trip to my dress lady's home, I brought the (not-so) little Diva home with me and she's now sitting on her make-shift throne in my basement. Yay!

One Week Left

July 26, 2008

We headed into our reception venue today to give them our "final" numbers. I can't believe at this point next week, I will be at the reception hall one last time, partying the night away with hundreds of people!

And of course in true Bernice fashion, my body had to go ahead and fail me one last time before the big day (hopefully one last time). The dentist tells me I have an infection, which is causing all that pain I have been experiencing. She also tells me I have to get my wisdom teeth out but I'm not mad at her. Why? Because she's prescribed me some antibiotics and told me to take 8 a day to "whack that out of there". She also recommended that I "don't be a hero... take as many advils or tylenols as you need". She read my mind.

Guestbook

July 24, 2008

After packing a carload of my stuff (a.k.a. boxes of things that were on my shelf... only) and moving it to Etobicoke, I was ready for some stress relief.

Luckily, I got to meet up with a new friend today to finish up my guestbook for the wedding and can I just say how excited I am about it? With 9 days to go, it was about time for me to get this project over with.

For at least a year now I've been buying all sorts of scrapbooking stuff fully intending on making scrapbooks but never actually getting around to it and now... well now, I have a beautiful guestbook for my guests to sign, made almost entirely by yours truly!

I just hope there's enough space in case people want to write me a nice note or draw a picture or something (hint hint).

The Dress Is Here!

July 7, 2008

I actually got the dress June 30. I had to fight the post office to get it and when I finally got it and tried it on, I didn't like it. Yeah, you heard me. I didn't like it.

But now after a brief break from it and after trying it on again with all my "gear", I'm starting to like it again! Wanna see how it looks? Sure you do! (Except you, Andrew. If you look, you're dead meat.)

Front of the dress:


Just to show you just how big this baby is:


... And how much work needs to be done:


That's right. In case you can't tell, I'm standing in a pile of two pillows and a blanket. There's going to be some major reconstructing needed before I can wear this dress properly. With only 25 days left, I sure hope it can be done!

Oh and a very happy birthday to my dear little sister who turns 20 today!

One Month To Go!

July 3, 2008

There are officially 30 days left until the wedding! I'm so excited. And just to get the rest of you a little excited too, here's a little teaser:



Want more? Gotta wait!
(I know I'm mean)

Bridal Shower Number Two!

June 28, 2008

This weekend was packed with wedding activity. Yesterday my MOH and bridesmaids hosted my second bridal shower (turned bachelorette). So many of my friends from Waterloo turned up and it was nice to see everyone again.

The night was filled with good food, good drinks and great company. Presents were opened and dancing shoes were put on as we headed over to Mink Nightclub.

A full overview of each of the presents I got from those fabulous ladies will be given as soon as I get a hold of the pictures from last night but for now... I leave you with a group shot from the club.


Thanks to all the ladies who came out to make the night as fun as it was (and to the super special ladies who organized it)!

My First Bridal Shower

June 26, 2008

Tonight Andrew's church hosted my first bridal shower! Going against tradition, I asked Andrew to tag along to help open presents. He handled being in a large crowd of women well. Most likely because there was so much good food for him, that and he was like a kid on Christmas morning, opening the presents (although, he claims it was better than Christmas morning because there were more presents).

We were very blessed to have so many people show up to this party for us.

RSVP

June 3, 2008

As far as I know, all the invitations that were supposed to be sent out have been sent out. Yes, there are still a few that are lying around the house wondering why it hasn't been delivered to its rightful owner yet but let's just say that those issues are out of my hands and they will eventually reach their final destination (hopefully).

Just for fun, I'm going to do a count on the sidebar, just to keep track of how many RSVPs are still floating around out there, waiting to come back to me.

Fabric Frenzy

May 30, 2008


I was, and still am, a sucky bride by most conventional standards. I did not jump at the chance to buy my wedding gown the moment Andrew proposed, nor did I plan ahead very well.

One of the things that I left until the very last possible moment was my bridesmaids' dresses. For months, I thought it wouldn't a problem finding three dresses for my girls. When I finished school, I headed out with one of my BMs to find out that I was very, very wrong.

The first store I walked into, the lady yelled at me for being an irresponsible bride. I'm sorry, I thought finishing my degree was the responsible thing to do! Anyway, after a whole day of walking around downtown Toronto with no luck, I turned to my lovely seamstress who is making my evening gown and asked her (nicely) if she could make the bridesmaids dresses as well. Luckily, she agreed to.

The next challenge was to find fabric. I was told to go downtown to the little fabric shops on Queen Street W. to find the colours I wanted. And that is what I did.

The first store, where I found the fabrics I wanted, was clean, neat and very airy. The next one we wandered in to wasn't so welcoming. It was piled floor to ceiling with all sorts of fabric. I'll bet they had anything you were looking for as long as you were willing to search for it.

Fortunately, I didn't have to. I just took a picture in it.

What A Deal Steal!

May 29, 2008

The other day as we were driving to the post office, my sister and I spotted a sign. And it wasn't just any sign. It was a sign advertising a sale.

My sister and I gravitate towards these signs like flies to a light bulb. We know we probably shouldn't wander in but we do anyway and almost always get burned... or at least the plastic starts to melt a little.

Anyway, the sign was advertising a sale (50% off everything!) at Value Village where things are already supposedly dirt cheap. We are by no means fans of the place and we were a little hesitant to go in. But the wedding budget was starting to burst at the seams and this was a necessary move.

We ended up walking out with a great few items, including this lovely piece. I plan to hang it in the front hall of my new place... (hah!) I'm sure we'll find some way to spruce it up.



AND! I found out last night that people have been receiving my invitations ALREADY! I can't believe it!

And They're Off!

May 26, 2008

The invitations have been sent! Well... some of them have.

I'm cutting it real close. With the international ones taking 2 weeks to mail, they'll have barely enough time to reply before my RSVP date (sorry)!

However, there are still a bunch more to go and hopefully they'll be done by the end of the week.

I'll post some pictures of them later, when I have them all out.

Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest

May 15, 2008

The wedding invitations were supposed to be one of the major DIY projects I was going to undertake. However, because we were so limited with time and resources, we ended up outsourcing. And when I say outsourcing, I mean we had them made in China.

The first part was pretty easy - coming up with the design and concept. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, down to the font and paper textures. Then, we sent an electronic mock-up of our invite, followed with a paper mock-up of the papers I wanted for good measure. This is where the trouble started - our printer had a little bit of trouble finding what we needed and took a few liberties of his own with the final design.

Needless to say, this did not sit too well with the control-freak in me (thanks, Jas and Kat). I wanted the invitations to be perfect but what could I do about something happening half a world away. So, we waited. Well, I waited because I'm pretty sure Andrew never really thought about it all that much.

I waited and waited and finally the package came - with half of the invitation. The other half, the main part of the invitations, had to be re-done because apparently our printer was not satisfied with the quality. When I opened the package, I was in shock because it wasn't quite what I had expected. But, when we put it all together, we loved it.


The more I think about it, the more I feel like this project was DIY. With the help of my brilliant sister and her boyfriend, we've:
- stuffed the pockets
- gotten more registry cards then we were entitled to (yes, a certain someone engaged in felonious activities in order to ensure that every invited guest receives a card with a coupon because we love our guests and want to help them save money)
- re-stuffed them with the new cards
- hand-made each "belt" for the invitation
- typed up each and every address in powerpoint

And now we're waiting for the final piece to come in so we can address them babies and send them on their way. I sure hope the recipients are impressed!

Re-Connecting

May 5, 2008

One of the things that was different about coming home this time was that I was coming home for good... at least for a little while.

As I'm settling in and trying to get as much wedding-related stuff done everyday as possible, I'm also finding that I'm getting more opportunities to meet up with people I haven't seen in a while.

While I see my cousin ever so often at family functions, we're getting the chance to hang out downtown, checking out dresses and such on our own time.

Andrew and I think that it's time we started spending more time with couples. Not that we don't love our single friends, but we also need to find people who are in the same "phase" as us. We got a little glimpse of what that would be like at the marriage prep course we went to this past weekend.

And finally, we got to meet up with some old friends, well, Andrew's old friends. We finally ran into them at church this weekend and they treated us out for a nice lunch at a country club. The best part of it was meeting the daughter again. She's in grade one and she was our first choice for flower girl but since we hadn't seen them for so long, we didn't know if it was appropriate to ask. But we took a chance and asked anyway and she gladly accepted!

It's nice to be back.

Can't Handle It

April 30, 2008


After putting off our wedding plans for so long, we finally started to get the ball rolling again. Andrew was assigned the job of booking our honeymoon. I started him off with a few suggestions to give him an idea of what I wanted and where I wanted to go. We picked Fiji as a good potential location.

But, after a lot of research, it sounds like we might not end up in Fiji after all, and it's all my fault:

They serve a lot of seafood (duh) - I can't eat seafood.

Some of the pictures of their more affordable accommodations look like prime locations for bugs to sneak in at night and crawl into your mouth - I am deathly afraid of bugs crawling into my orifices at night.

A lot of the places I really like are really expensive - my wallet can't take that kind of damage.

So, we've decided that I can't handle Fiji. It would have been nice to spend our days on the pristine beaches on the other side of the world but really, all the cons outweigh the pros in this case. I suck.

Hallelujah!

April 24, 2008


There were some points in the wedding planning process where I really wanted to have Andrew's input. I thought it was kind of important to get his opinion on things like the menu, items to add to the registry and so on. At other times, I just needed a little bit of reassurance to make sure my ideas weren't out of line.

And then, there are instances where I really don't want his input, but he gives it to me anyway. These ideas come as a surprise, neatly packaged as if Andrew's been working on it for a long time. They are covered with warning signs that caution you to turn around and don't look back but he disguises them with words like "I have a great idea! Want to hear it?".

I know you're itching for an example so here it is. This is Andrew's idea of how our vows should be.. he says it will make them "grand" and "unforgettable".

Upon waking up from his nap an hour before our very last final exam, Andrew gets an idea. He thinks we should sing our vows. Neither of us are particularly good singers, but he seems to like the idea of us singing... all the time.

Anyway, in order for it to be carried out as Andrew has imagined, a mass choir will need to be in attendance at the wedding:
(To the tune of Handel's Messiah)

Andrew: I, Andrew...
Choir: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Andrew: Take Bernice...
Choir: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Andrew: To be my wife...
Choir: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
etc.

Does anyone else find this a little unnecessary and inappropriate?


Edit: Another Hallelujah item:
Finally! I have written my last exam and handed in my last assignment.

As of 9pm tonight, my undergraduate career is complete.

Maybe some more profound, nostalgic post will follow.. but for now, I'm going to celebrate!

My Almost Venue

April 8, 2008

I almost had a Rich Bride Poor Bride moment this week. Over the weekend, I watched an episode with my sister where the couple decided to change venues, even after their deposit was put down. It turned out to be a good decision for them despite losing their original deposit because the second place looked much better. This got me thinking.

A while back, on the way to Ikea, we drove by a venue in Vaughan where a wedding reception was being held. It was dark outside and I could clearly see the bride inside in the foyer. In my mind, it was magnificent. Despite having already put our deposit down for another venue, I quickly scanned the property for the name of the building as we whizzed by. Bellvue Manor.

The name had been pushed to the back of my mind for all these months and in a moment of weakness Sunday night, I decided what I really wanted more than anything in the entire world was to have my reception at Bellvue Manor. I came up with all sorts of reasons why I should have my reception there. It has a stone exterior, which is something that has always made my heart melt. It would be such a beautiful backdrop for our wedding pictures. And for goodness sake, it's a "manor" and a little lady like me deserves a manor! (cue Bridezilla music)

Andrew and I compromised and said that if Bellvue had availability and we could get a package that fit our budget, we could make the switch. It turns out that they only had a room with a capacity of 200 people left. After finding out that their menu prices ranged from $125 to $150 per person, we decided in the end that it would not be worth the switch.

But that Manor really is beautiful (although I have never actually set foot on the grounds). My heart will ache for it every time I think about it and if one day we become rich and want to throw a big party, I am almost definitely certain that it will be there.

And thus ends my (unfruitful) almost RBPB moment.

Easter Egg Hunt

March 23, 2008

On Saturday, the one day stores were open this weekend, my sister and I went out shopping hunting. It's Easter eggs season and that only means one thing - Cadbury Mini Eggs are around! These little drops of joy are only available for a limited time each year so I have to stock up on them. Normally, I just buy a huge bag but since we I thought we might want to include these in our wedding some how, I had to buy more - lots more. My sister came along because as my Maid of Honour, it's her job to help me do these sorts of things. And it's a good thing she did because she was the one who swiped the "last" bag off the shelf, pulled me together when I had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the grocery store, talked to the police after the minor altercation and helped me lug a boxful of Mini Eggs to the car.

Warning for my fellow nut-allergy-sufferers! There have been traces of hazelnut found in the 39g package product. Fortunately, I bought the 1kg package. No worries there!

Bridezilla Attacks Guests

March 6, 2008

So now that we're less than 5 months away from our wedding it's pretty much crunch time! At the beginning of the year, I decided that I'd consciously try to be a little less stressed out over things. Needless to say, with grad school applications due at the beginning of the term, a shortened school week with a constant barrage of exams and assignments plus the added workload of wedding planning (or lack thereof), the chances of achieving my goal has been kept to quite a minimum. For the most part, I think I've done pretty well keeping my cool. Sure, I get those moments where I get really worked up about something but I'm sure everyone does. But then, there came a point where I just snapped. And when I snapped, this little monster jumped out from inside of me and took over my body. This little monster? I call her Bridezilla.

I think I've mentioned before that I like to have control of things. But hey, we're talking about my wedding here, I think I'm allowed to have a bit of control. The one thing you can't have control of, though, is other people. So far, I've had a pretty good time with all the vendors I have to deal with (despite my anti-social nature) and even my family has been pretty good with accepting my non-traditional tastes. So what's my big problem? Guests.

The task of making a guest list is a pretty stressful process. Who do I invite? Who do I not invite? These decisions can potentially have a lot of consequences. I've been reading a lot about wedding crashers and unexpected/unwanted guests lately so this notion has been pretty fresh in my mind. How can I possibly control who shows up and who doesn't? We've been trying to limit our numbers because if we really did invite everyone, I'm pretty sure something along the lines of our first home being a cardboard box would follow.

Most of our friends are very understanding but at the same time, we've had to deal with a handful of not-so-subtle self-invitations. Maybe it's an error of enthusiasm but where are your manners, people? You don't just go ahead and invite yourself to someone's party (or assume you're invited), never mind the fact that it's someone's wedding. And telling me that you're just going to become best friends with my bartender that night? Just go ahead and un-invite yourself now - save me the trouble of doing it later. RAWR.

I apologize for the angry nature of this post. I promise the next wedding-related post will be filled with love, joy and colourful pictures!

Love (Tech) Support

March 3, 2008

I just read this on weddingbee and thought it was quite entertaining so I thought I might share it with you all. Enjoy!













Source
Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

***

DEAR DESPERATE,

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and don’t forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) Also do not attempt to reinstall Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

I forgot to mention that you should be sure to purchase the latest version of Husband 1.0. I understand that, if you run an older version of Husband 1.0, Hot Lingerie 7.7 might crash your system. If you decide to run an older version of Husband 1.0, then run Flannel Pajamas 7.1 instead of Hot Lingerie 7.7 just to be on the safe side.

Good Luck,

Tech Support

Request for Technical Support, Incident #99-02-14-01 (Installing your Wife)

Last year I upgraded Girlfriend 1.0 to Wife 1.0, and I can find no documentation on several features. For example, Wife 1.0 installs itself into all other programs and launches during system initialization where it monitors all other system activity. Applications such as RunAnywhere 10.3 and StayOut 2.5 cause freezes. Also, the new program has spawned a couple of unexpected child processes that have taken up a lot of space and resources. I was considering going back to Girlfriend 1.0 but there does not seem to be a “revert to previous state” feature.
Can you help me?

Registered User #10-1-13-5-19

Response to User #10-1-13-5-19, Incident #99-02-14-01

We receive many inquiries to this perceived problem. However it is almost always the result of a common error.

Many men upgrade from Girlfriend 1.0 to Wife 1.0 with the idea that Wife 1.0 is merely a Utilities & Entertainment program. This is a serious misconception. Although Wife 1.0 includes many Utilities and Entertainment functions, Wife 1.0 is actually an entire Operating System. It has been designed to run everything.

Warning! Do not try to: un-install, delete, or purge the program from the system once installed. Trying to un-install Wife 1.0 can be disastrous, resulting in the loss of valuable system resources. You can not go back to Girlfriend 1.0. Wife 1.0 is not designed to do this. Many have tried “workarounds.” These only complicate the situation. For example, some have tried to install Girlfriend 2.0 or Wife 2.0 and found the problems persist. Others, in an ill conceived attempt, have tried to run Girlfriend 2.0 in the background while Wife 1.0 is running. This almost always results in serious system conflicts, possibly leading to a non-recoverable system crash.

We recommend you keep Wife 1.0 and adjust a few user input parameters. I might also suggest you read the entire section regarding General Protection Faults (GPFs). Should a GPF occur, the best course of action will be to push the Apologize Button then Reset Button as soon as lock-up occurs. The system will run smooth as long as you provide needed maintenance time. To free up CPU time and improve performance, be certain that you have terminated your several search and scan routines. Because each copy of Wife 1.0 is a uniquely configured system, no single manual will cover all enabled features. New users should first consult with those who have been running Wife 1.0 for many years before installing a copy yourself. You should consider joining one of our established local users group to discuss your specific configuration. Remember, the installation of Wife 1.0 can allow maximum system potential. There are no plans for upgrades; Wife 1.0 was designed to work for a lifetime.