This is amyautumn07's Chocolate Wedding!

So my husband and I have launched our own wedding business because we had such a hard time finding something like this for ourselves. Being designers, it was fun.

Finally - the old style "photobooth" had been redesigned with a modern and sleek look! You can now rent either a PhotoBot, or a VideoBot.

PhotoBots provide unlimited photos for a specified time, so your guests can pose for pictures as often as they want! The picture prints instantly with four copies, so your guests have photo souvenirs to take home with them right away.

VideoBots take short videos of each guest dancing, singing and telling stories about how they know you and love you! Your wedding night goes by so fast that you never get a chance to talk to everyone, but this way, your guests get the attention they deserve.

Please visit us at www.eventbots.ca for samples, videos and pricing. Let me know what you think! We've already had some great feedback from you brides! Thanks!

Cheers - Amy

In an earlier post, I showed you the dress that I bought for Sophie, our flower girl, and here she is with her dad, the best man, watching me walk down the aisle!

Here's a shot of our actual cake taken by the same friends who recommended the baker. In an earlier post, I mentioned that we were having a custom cake made and our baker/artist absolutely lived up to expectations! It was delightful.

Those little oranges you see are entirely made of marzipan! Apparently, there is one person out in Wisconsin (or somewhere like that) who makes life-size marzipan fruit!!! The kids had lots of fun with these afterwards.

In case I didn't mention it, our theme was oranges - because my grandmother swears that when I was a little girl, I would do anything for an orange. Needless to say, Denis keeps a secret stash of these.

Well, we did it! It's been 90 days since the wedding. We had an amazing honeymoon in Hong Kong, where the priorities were: Us. Eating. Shopping. Definitely hit all of those. Still can't believe everything that's happened over the past year! (but if I forget, I am reminded when I check the bank accounts..)

I do miss being a bride sometimes, but can live vicariously through my friends who have yet to get married. I hope to post a few more tips now that I've actually been through it in case there's anything I can help with. Will post a few more photos from the "day-of" as well.

Thanks to everyone for all their comments and advice leading up to the wedding!

Happy New Year!

(the new Mrs.)

Can't believe how close we are to the BIG DAY!

Sometimes, there's nothing like a pair of really special shoes to add something different to the wedding. All the maids and I will be wearing our own styles of gold shoes.. Mine have a bit of a "Dorothy" flavour, which works because one of Denis' all time favourite movies is The Wizard of Oz. Found these on shoes.com.

My wedding band, from the Experimetal line from Anne Sportun, will be similar to this one, but thinner, in white gold. Can't wait to see it!

Anne Sportun has a beautiful line of very combinable, wearable, yet unique jewellery. Highly recommended.

Denis has selected a very cool band by Jennifer Shigetomi of Matsu Jewellery. He describes it as "slightly irregular", just like he is. He's getting the white gold version. The shape sits very comfortably on the finger.

http://www.matsujewellery.com

"Only 51 days left and I still don't have my invitations which I ordered back in April! ..."

Update: Invitations have safely arrived! :)

A huge thank you to everyone who made our wedding shower a big success!

We wanted to have a Jack and Jill (ladies and gentlemen present) to be more inclusive and to make it more like an engagement party as well, since we didn't have one. The theme was based on our honeymoon destination: Hong Kong, and the idea for a travel inspired shower from Martha Stewart Weddings.

Wonderful decorations, food, special balloons and even Croatian wedding cookies were provided and planned by my matron of honour.

There was a "How well do you know Amy and Denis?" game, that featured trivia questions on our lives both pre and post our relationship, for instance how many bfs did I have before meeting the right one? and how many roses in the proposal? (answer is at the beginning of this blog!)

A second game was a "Battle of the Sexes" where each team of all males or all females was pitted against each other in a game of questions about knowledge the opposite sex would typically know. The boys won this one, but only because they had easier questions. :)

Thanks to my girls for planning this and running the show on Saturday, what a great opportunity to get some of our closest friends from different times in our lives together before the wedding.

If you have more than one location, have a wedding in a remote area, or just want to provide a fun way for guests to find your venue, I suggest visiting www.weddingmapper.com.

It's a great site that lets you create interactive maps that cater to wedding events! Not only is it super helpful for out of town guests, it's an easy-to-use tool for your service providers, and a nice thing to have.

It lets you upload photos and web links as well. One of the best things about it is that it makes it easy for you to post it on your own wedding website, or email it.

By the way, it's free!

What better excuse to learn how to dance together, than for your wedding?

Aside from how great a coordinated dance looks on the big night, the learning process is one that takes trust, willingness to learn and adapt, perseverance, and of course patience! Even for a couple who has been together for years, it can be a good reminder warm-up for marriage (but don't worry, even if you don't dance like the "stars" afterwards, you can still have a great marriage!) and it's the getting there that counts.

For the past few months, we have been trying to learn Argentinian Tango, which was completely new to both of us. It's certainly been a challenge. Dancing seems to use a different part of my brain that is sometimes there, and sometimes not! I have to hand it to my partner - who's great at leading, despite what he says.

Other great dances for weddings I have seen: my friends N and J did a great Samba routine, another couple I know did a lovely Waltz. Please comment if you've seen other wedding dances!

However we dance in the end - it's all about the passion and the smile, and that's something I think we can manage. (Um, and the dress... ! Any opinions on long vs. short?) :)

Photo credit goes to: http://blog.johnandrewsphotography.com/2005/11/25/lets-tango/

I've purchased the perfect dress for my flower girl. She's so lovely that a simple dress will look best, and it's a dress that she can wear more than once. By Burberry, it's made of a satiny cotton, and has no itchy places that might be uncomfortable for her. Aren't the little puffy shoulders adorable? It's a pale gold colour, with a brown and beige ribbon.

This will be great with ribbons in her hair, and flowers in her hands. Purchased at Holt Renfrew.

Brides may want to think about buying a stylish, yet practical dress from an upscale department store or other children's store, as opposed to a bridal shop. It can make more sense cost-wise, and children are beautiful and photogenic as they are.

I heard this idea from a friend:

For those of you ordering a fixed catering menu (appetizer, entree and dessert) and serving the cake afterwards, you might be concerned that people won't eat their cake since they'll be full from dinner - particularly if the dinner ends late at night. Ask your caterer if they'll substitute the dessert for hors d'oeuvres for the cocktail or pre-dinner hour, and then guests can help themselves to cake for dessert. That way, the cake gets eaten - which is great, especially if you've put lots of thought into your cake, and/or are having it made by a very good baker.

My friend did this successfully - her cake was very special, with each layer a different flavour that had a special significance attached to each. It was delicious! I had some of the carrot layer... mmmm...

I will also be using the same baker/artist! :)

The key photo here is from www.cakepower.com. The other photos are from www.velvetrabbitstudios.com/blog.

My very good friend N just had her wedding a few weeks ago and it was FANTASTIC. Very personal, beautiful and lots of fun! I had the good fortune of getting married in the same year, so we've been wedding buddies. She's just agreed to be my Behind-the-scenes Queen for my wedding day.

This is an invaluable role, and all you brides who are planning their own weddings may want to consider asking a friend to do this, if you have not already. I know that I do not want to be bothered by any details at all on The Big Day, and it's heaven knowing that there's someone I trust who is not in the bridal party, who will:

- Be the go-to person for all helpers
- Be the contact for all vendors: cake, caterer, dj set-up, etc..
- Be on what she calls "Martha Stewart duty".. is that napkin off-center? that flower-petal looks under-curled...just making sure everything looks lovely.

If you have a friend whom you trust that is willing to play this role then you are very fortunate indeed. If you can find someone who has planned a wedding recently, than you are even luckier, and honour them accordingly!

On my birthday, I thought I'd get my hair styled in an up-do for the fun of it. It turned out a lot like how I would do my hair for the wedding if I decide to put it up. (my fiancé likes it down - but it would hold better if up...) Here are a few shots taken after I'd been on a plane, and been rained on - not too bad! :)

As mentioned in previous posts, I plan to change dresses during the celebration. I'm very excited to have found my dream dress number 2 just this past weekend in Toronto. I first saw it while wedding dress shopping with a friend in Montreal the week before, and it was fate.

I wanted to mention that the first thing I purchased back in January was my wedding dress, about 2 weeks after we got engaged. It was the first dress I loved. Can you believe it? In the spirit of re-use and recycling, I was lucky enough to find my Justina McCaffrey dream dress online, gently used! Thank you former bride!

It's a perfect fit too - so no alterations! (as long as my body doesn't alter itself to the larger side between now and the wedding)

Went back to the gallery last night for another look.

We've decided to hold our ceremony and reception at the same venue. Although it doesn't leave time for pictures between the ceremony and dinner, it will give great continuity for the event, and people only need to get to one place (park once!).. The venue we have is very well suited to pulling this off, so despite any drawbacks, we will go for it.

Ceremony to take place at sunset.

What can I say? I can't help but want to dress them like dolls. I'm looking forward to doing a wedding photo with just all the children present at the wedding. We're predicting many of them (our friends have been busy). In fact, probably 1 in 5 guests will be knee-high or so. This will make us feel tall. (for once)

I'd love to say that I discovered Holly, but in fact, she found me and sent me an email via this very blog. Holly is the owner and designer of TearDrop Weddings, and if you're in the market for invitations or cards - she does some brilliant, delightful and original work, which you can see from her website. If you're in the market for anything else wedding related, especially in the Toronto area, she reveals a treasure of stylish and contemporary resources in her blog: Brides in the City.

I foresee a shopping trip to Toronto in my near future...

http://www.teardropweddings.com

http://www.bridesinthecity.typepad.com/

Thanks to Natalie for the links to some yummy chocolate brown looks!

So a good friend of mine recently prodded me in the direction of tuxedos - apparently, men should really wear tuxedos all the time! She's slightly spoiled of course, having been treated to the sight of her man in tuxedos at fancy parties in the UK - I have never seen Denis in a tuxedo once! Thanks to N for the great tip!

Here are some nice wedding choices I've picked up so far from The Knot. Any votes ladies? Best tuxedo? (or model?)

We have now selected our photographer! It was a difficult choice, but in the end, we selected the most professional and artistically uncompromising studio with the most consistent portfolio in a style we love. It didn't hurt that they are passionate about Ottawa, and the National Art Gallery in particular. I'm looking forward to going through the details, and shooting the engagement portrait!

You can view photolux's website portfolio at: www.photoluxstudio.com.

We've already decided not to use a limo, and will be using MINIs instead. What are the chances that both the bride and the maid of honour each happen to own matching pepper white MINIs?

Still looking for the 3rd MINI for our parade - so if you know anyone who has access to a MINI in any colour (though a white cabrio would be perfect!) and might be willing to rent it for the day in Ottawa - please let me know!

My collages - I'm continuing to play with different colour schemes. May end up with some combination of two accent colours. I apologize for any blurry quality in these collages, I threw them together pretty fast. I love all of these colours!

Please leave your comments on the page if any! :)

My entire life I've been looking forward to having some lovely frocks to change into during my wedding banquet (yes, profound - I know... easier to imagine the dresses than the groom, no?)

Certainly, the best way to find dresses will be to go to the stores in Toronto, now that I can't find the time to go to China, but there are a few cute gowns I found online and thought I'd post. When I go to the stores, I'll take some pictures.

No doubt Denis' mom will want to help choose the chinese bridal gown for our Toronto chinese reception, which is fine with me. I still get to choose gowns for the Ottawa reception, and at least one of these will be Chinese.

Would love to find out good sources for stunning dresses, Chinese or otherwise for the receptions. Ideas?

We did so much research, thought I'd post some of the pictures and info, even though we've already decided on the Ottawa reception venue (see below). If anyone knows of any pretty smallish churches that would be great for a ceremony - please leave a comment and let me know! We already have a pastor who will officiate and are now scouting locations.

Nothing is harder for me to decide on than the colour palette and flowers. So many possibilities! These are some lovely ones.

Future brides: For your amusement only. :)

Credit goes to Patrick for posting this article on his Friendster site.

We've always loved the art gallery, and it's been a special place for us since before we knew each other. Look for the giant baby head installation on your way to our reception - we had little choice in the matter and will probably set up a curtain so it doesn't distract. :) Some people might think it means something.

Thank you BCBG! 3 gorgeous gowns and the beautiful maids and matron to wear them. Now will one of you please teach me how to be as thin as you are? How about tall?

I love my ring because he designed it. It has a twist and moving parts. And it's shiny. Thanks for restraining yourself hon (i.e. laying off with the flashing LEDs)...

Sent me out for sugar and to return videos. It was New Year's eve, so the lines were incredible. He had some excuse to stay behind. Of course I was suspicious since he cleaned the condo while I was sleeping, but that small compared to the surprise I received when I got back. 500 long stemmed roses waited for me! Apparently the florist had to make a special trip to Toronto to obtain this large number of roses, and then he was on stand-by for a few days waiting for Denis' phone call. Good thing the florist's shop was across the street from our condo. I say it was all worth it. :)