Emma and Jackson

Still here...

Hey all,

Sorry for the silence lately but things have been very hectic at Camp Wedding. Michelle and I bought a house and have been moving in over the last week and a bit. It has totally consumed our lives but we are both very pumped about owning our own home.

The wedding planning has been...well...a little slow. We have about three months and a few weeks until the big day and our sloth is growing more apparent by the day.

We have been very pre-occupied by the house, but now that we're in, no more excuses. 

The good news is that all we really have left to do is print the invitations and send them out. And buy my suit, buy the gifts for the wedding party, final dress fittings for the bridesmaids, pick our DJ, buy our booze, finish our photography, choose our place settings, decide on decorations... Wow! I just started to sweat!

I better finish this post and get started.

Bye for now.

Go time

We're nearing the four month mark, folks. Things are happening. We finished registering, our reception menu has been tasted and chosen, and shower dates have been set. I'm feeling good about our progress, but there's still a long list of to-dos before the I-dos can go ahead.

I ran into a friend the other day and we caught up during a bus ride home from Toronto. He'll celebrate his second anniversary with his lovely wife in September, and the two of them are expecting a baby soon after that. When he asked how the wedding plans were going, I updated him on the details and mentioned how funny it is that we're putting so much time and energy into just one day. His response was, "Well, if you think about it, it's not just one day - it's your whole life."

His comment got me thinking about why we do all of this crazy wedding stuff. A wedding is one day that commemorates a lifetime - kicking things off with a big, wonderful, stressful party is just the very beginning. I was happy to get some perspective from someone who's been through it recently.

Now, if you'll excuse me...I've got a million invitations to address! More updates to come...including Steve's hunt for a tuxedo!

 

 

Lists-o-plenty

Wow! This whole wedding thing is really starting to get tense.

There is so much to do and we are running out of time for everything. We are nearly four months away and it feels like we have barely started our planning. 

Michelle and I enjoyed some cocktails on our rooftop patio the other day and went over what we still need to do and it is crazy!

Although we may have decided on a song for her to walk down the aisle to, there are many tasks that remain.

We have little things like cake pictures to go through, and massive things like our invitations too!

I am beginning to think a wedding planner may have been in order after all.

Nothing like the real thing

I could have sworn that I wrote this already but I guess it was lost in the abyss of the Internet and didn't make it to the blog.

Michelle and I were at a wedding last weekend and it really proved to me that all the bridal shows, wedding-themed TV shows and magazines can't hold a candle to the real thing.

The best way to find things you like - and don't - is to actually see them in use at someone else's wedding.

Although this one we went to was nothing like ours (it was a large Italian affair with well over 600 people in attendance), we still figured out a few things about our wedding.

For starters, the music is key. At our friend's reception, the DJ had the joint jumping with all the usual standards.

Second, keep the time between the service and reception as short as possible.

And third, make sure everyone has a great time. It is after all, a celebration. This wedding on the weekend was a blast and that is what I want people saying when they leave our hall in August.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great Easter. Bye for now.

I bet Michelle will love #51

So my last post concerning song choice caused a minor stir with some in the newsroom - mainly with Ken who was hell-bent on guessing the song for our first dance (he was way off!).

But Scott was kind enough to dig up an excellent list to steer me away from a wedding day slip up.

Let me know what you think.

My favourite is #42...

Play that funky music...

Hey all.

There is a big controversy brewing in the land of weddings - the tunes!

My fiance Michelle is great. She is smart, pretty, fun, exciting and a wonderful person that makes me smile. But her taste in music is pure crap. With a capital c.

I, however, am a student of great music. We are forever fighting about what to listen to in the car and constantly changing radio stations on the stereo in the kitchen.

My CD collection numbers well into the hundreds and my large and growing vinyl collection is becoming the stuff of legend.

There are about 10,000 songs on my iPod right now for goodness sake!

My taste is varied, vast and runs across decades and genres. And that is where the problem starts. I like a lot of music and Michelle is convinced I won't pick songs that people will like to dance to at our wedding (as if there is a person alive that won't dance to a Dick Dale & His Del-Tones rocking instrumental).

The DJ is included with our location but we can guide his choice in music as the night rolls on.

I am all for the wedding standards - ABBA, Jackson 5 and of course, the Village People medley - but I also want a little reflection of my tastes as well.

I think in the end I might concede this battle, though. After all, I won the big music challenge for the wedding... I picked the song for our first dance and it is a classic. No hints though. I want that killer opening bass kick to be a big surprise.

It will all go well as long as we don't wind up with this DJ...

Let's Fly Away...

The Honeymoon. What to do?

Michelle and I love to travel and we love to get off the beaten path whenever possible. We have done the "all-inclusive" thing before but I am a backpacker to the core so we are thinking of going a little exotic for the honeymoon - assuming we can afford one!

With the economy in the toilet and a growing list of bills, we have been thinking of delaying our getaway for a few months until the coffers are replenished. 

Seeing the world and taking time off is very important to me so I know we will get away eventually, but if anyone has some suggestions for a cool trip at a palatable price, I am all ears.

We are toying with the idea of renting a house in Belize.

Thoughts?

Scan It

Thanks to Bon and Jennifer for your suggestions about registering. Michelle and I finally got around to it the other day and decided on The Bay and Sears.

It was not as bad as I had envisioned. Although it did take forever to decided on a pattern for our dishes. Michelle really liked a particular brand, and, try as she might to get me to care, I just couldn't get into it. 

I don't care what colour plate my food sits on - it's not like it will taste any better!

The rest was fun but I do have to agree with Emma here that the entire exercise feels a little odd.

The wise Wade Hemsworth (award winning Spec reporter) explained it somewhat like this the other day:

You are helping people who want to get you something pick a gift that you need. You make it easier for them to fit shopping into their busy schedules because they are going to buy something anyway. But, you take away their individual tastes and feel bad that you give them a list from which to pick.

Of course Wade was far more eloquent in his explanation but the point is the same.

I know registries make it easier for our guests to get us something we need but coming up with a wish list still felt foreign to me.

Oh well, it is finished now (almost) and Michelle and I were able to spend some time together which is always nice. 

Here is a picture of the pattern we chose:

The gimmie guide

Jackson has been totally kicking my butt in the blogging department lately, so I thought it was about time I chime in. I'm sorry for my prolonged absence — life has gotten in the way of blogging lately. Fortunately, the dust seems to be settling and I'm hoping to get back to posting on a semi-regular basis. 

The wedding is inching closer and closer and I'm getting more and more excited about it. The details are slowly but surely falling into place — my veil has arrived at the bridal store, my hair appointment is booked for the morning of the wedding, and some of the crafty projects are starting to get completed. I still have a long list of things to get done (including the invitations, which are currently sitting half-finished in a shoebox in my living room) but I feel like we're going to get everything done in time for the big day.

One of the things I'm really looking forward to checking off my to-do list is registering. Jackson mentioned a few stores he and Michelle are thinking about, and Steve and I are thinking of places along the same lines. Steve and I have decided we're going to register for china, formal cutlery, and some nice glassware along with the traditional array of towels, sheets and kitchen gadgets.

We're thinking of registering for a very simple, classic china pattern... something along these lines:

Pretty, no? I can picture many a Christmas dinner being served on these.

I have to admit that I'm really, really excited to register. The thought of choosing nice things for my home fills me with glee. I can't wait to serve my first dinner on my wedding china and sleep under my beautiful wedding sheets.

I was describing this excitement to Steve's sister Carolyn one day, and it occurred to me that it might be really petty of me to relish in these gifts. Weddings are supposed to be about love and commitment, not about all of the pretty stuff you get. When I asked Carolyn if being excited to register made me a selfish person, she replied, "I think it makes you someone who's been a student for a long time and is looking forward to having some nice stuff."

Even though I appreciate what Carolyn said, a part of me still feels guilty that we're going to pick out things for people to hand over to us. It seems sort of uncouth, especially in an era when money is tight for everyone. One wedding blog I read called the registry the "gimmie guide," which is a fitting way to describe the guilt a couple can feel about registering for expensive gifts.

So, readers, what do you think about registries? Do you resent having to pick a wedding present off a list of items selected by the bride and groom, or do you think they're a handy tool that takes the guesswork out of gift-buying? Is registering selfish?

Ringer

Get the big marker ready and cross another job off the list... we have picked out our wedding rings. 

This was one of the longer and more argument-inducing tasks on this long road of wedding planning but Michelle and I are both very pleased with our decisions.

As promised, I have attached some pictures of the rings.

Now there is only one thing left to do, figure out inscriptions before we pick them up.

At first I was thinking of a romantic saying or one of our cute little phrases we share, but lately I feel something funny or clever is the way to go.

I am mulling over "A deal is a deal" right now. Any thoughts?