This is joyfulsong's Red Wedding!

Yesterday, when I came home from work, I noticed there were messages on the message manager.

I went to listen to them, when my brother appears out of nowhere - he does that! - and tells me there's a message for me from the bridal salon.

It turns out that the bridesmaids dresses are in!!

I want to go see them so badly! I need to wait until the store opens. I'm excited, and nervous. I really want to go look at my girls' beautiful dresses. I want to imagine them in their silky claret coloured beauties.

What if they're the wrong size or colours? What if something is drastically wrong with them? I don't know if I have it in me to argue at all.

On a completely unrelated note, we now have 125 days until the wedding! Cool! *grin*

One fabulous bride posted a link to a very informative youtube video.
I made the mistake of not putting it into my faves immediately. I went
back to look at it again, but could not find it under the "site search"
feature.

Since posts can be easily missed, I also thought that it may help
someone else out.

The video is done with a former prima ballerina, and it tells you things
like how to get untangled from your train, and the best way to walk with
grace and poise while wearing a large wedding gown.

This is also my very first youtube embedding procedure, so just in
case it doesn't work, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=nNFnaAID9uw

FH and I decided to go make our registries this past weekend, only to learn that Canadian Tire and Walmart have taken out the gift registry option!

We live in a small city, so we don't have a Bay, Eatons, Target, etc. ...
where on earth are we going to register? If we don't register, what do we do?

We do have a Sears, but there's not a whole lot you can buy there. Everything is also super expensive, and not all that great quality.

Any advice? Suggestions?

Like everyone else, we have limited funds, and want to cut costs where possible. My roommate "L", is currently doing a one year photography program, and will graduate in June. She has offered to do our photography for free as her wedding gift to us. We would only need to pay for the prints we want. She does good work in general, but she takes a long time to set up a photo (because she's playing with the aperature and the iso and all that other stuff), and she doesn't own equipment like the lights & stands and stuff that other photographers would have.

Now, I know FOR A FACT that the instructor for this program is not considered a professional photographer by the other photographers in the city, and in general the students' work is sub-par. He (and his students) have such a bad reputation in this city.

What would you do? Would you hire a "real" photographer for a heck of a lot of money, or would you use a friend?

I have been to soooo many weddings in the last five years, so nothing seems unique anymore for the kissing game at the reception.

I want something that's original, and that fits our personality. I want something that's totally different than anyone else has done.

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now, and I've read every article I can find on the subject.

Does anyone have good ideas? Can you all give me your completely-wacky-off-the-wall ideas?? Please? Pretty pretty please?

I'll give you an example:
Friends of mine had a fairly typical kissing game, but before each kiss, she would apply bright red lipstick. The first few kisses were on his cheeks and forehead, so the "red lips" would remain. It wasn't until midway through the reception that she would kiss him on the lips. Each kiss got more and more passionate. The kisses during dessert were old fashioned dip-the-girl kisses.

I have finally ordered my dress and the bridesmaids dresses. I hope all the sizes come out correctly. She had me sign the back of the order slip saying that I wished to order xx size, even though we weren't measured there. She even had me sign the order slip that had my dress on it, even though she DID measure me. I'm all paranoid now, and worried that my dress will be too small, and my BMs dresses will be too large. Eep.

The girls will be soooooo beautiful. They each chose their own dress, as long as it was tea length and strapless/spaghetti straps. Two of the girls chose separate tops/skirts, so I've only shown the top they've chosen. They are Alfred Angelo dresses, and the colour is "claret".

I had a busy day today. I own my own house, and supplement the income with the basement apartment. Today, I showed the apartment in the morning, went to work, ordered the dresses, showed the apartment again, had supper, and then started sending emails to various vendors asking for more information. I'm soooo close to putting a deposit down on a venue. I really should do that soon. I'm getting married in 183 days, according to my countdown.

Today is so miserable. My mood matches the weather (icy, wet and
pouring rain). At least it will get rid of some of this snow!

There is just so much on my plate right now. My MOH has had a
ridiculously hard time these last two months, and is fighting clinical
depression. I'm really worried about her. She's super strong, but
she's had a lot to deal with lately, and she is prone to depression.

Then, both FH and I have new jobs. (Yay!) ....... buuuuuuut his job
requires that he works long hours, and doesn't even get weekends
off. I never see him anymore! He's tired in the evenings, and has
studying to do, and he volunteers once a week, and we take an
aikido class twice a week.

On top of that, I started a new job where I needed a car. It just so
happens that one of my friends went to Saudia Arabia, and didn't
need her car. I knew her parents, so I got a great deal on this car. It's
a standard, and I live in a VERY hilly area. I haven't driven standard in
6 ++ years, and I'm super nervous. Not only that, but I have a fear of
new jobs as it is, since I've been in some really bad work
environments. I need to be at work in an hour and a half, and I'm
dreading going there. This will be my second week on the job, but
I'm still so frightened. It's the kind of job where I work fairly
independently, and I don't get much feedback.

FH and I have been - well, not fighting, but getting on each other's
nerves - and that's not fun. I got mad at him yesterday because I
thought he had criticized my parking last night. I went to drive two
friends home, in the freezing rain because it's cruel to make them
walk. (Did I mention I only got this car on Friday, the roads were super slippery and I'M NOT USED TO STANDARDS!!!!!).

Anyway, we talked about it, and during the conversation we talked
about other random snippy comments we've said to each other over
the past few weeks. I just can't handle the stress.

A random aside: one of those "other" things I had gotten mad at him
for was he ran into a "friend", and invited him and his girlfriend of the
day to our wedding. This "friend" doesn't even know my name, I am
sure, is rude and loud, and I'm pretty sure that he only hangs out with
FH because FH will loan him tools. GAH!!




more animals

I'm just curious about something. My roommate (whom I'll call "L") made a comment about bridesmaids in photographs, and I decided I didn't agree with her. I'm looking for other opinions.

L is studying to be a photographer. One of her profs mentioned this, so she passed the info on to me. This is what she said.

"The eye is drawn to bridesmaids in red, and away from the bride in white".

Do you agree or disagree? Why?

I'm trying to cut costs with my wedding, so I went onto kijiji last night. I found a few classifieds of the dress/colour/size I want. Do I trust kijiji or not?

Anyone have horror stories about it? Rave reviews? Advice? I'd appreciate anything.

I don't typically shop online. This is a huge purchase for me, and I'm a little frightened about ordering a large purchase like this.

PS. I also checked craigslist, but didn't come up with anything.

Well, since I haven't touched my journal all Christmas, and strangely have no desire to write, I will blog. This is unusual for me, but I think it will be nice as well.

Christmas was great. It was quiet, but lovely.

As a bit of a back story, I own my own house. I pay for it through rental income. I live in one room, and rent the rest of the rooms out. I was young when I bought it (20 years old), so my parents cosigned the mortgage. Right now, my mother, my brother, and one "tenant" (a really good friend of mine and my photographer) are living in the house. My mom is staying quasi-temporarily, as she's doing courses at the University here in the city.

Mom left first, to go to their (ie. Mom and Dad's) house for Christmas. Roommate (Who'm I'll call "L", as I don't know if she'd like me putting her name on the internet ...) is from Ontario, and left next. She left a pile of presents for FH, Bro and myself, though, as her shopping was done.

After those two had left for Christmas, the house was quiet. FH is staying with us over Christmas, as he just moved back here. His family is from NS, and he just moved here permanantly, but can't get into his new place until Jan.

A few days before Christmas (the 21st maybe?), we decide to open the gifts from "L". Bro got a huuuuuuge canister of hot chocolate. FH got a brandless Nerf gun, and I got some writing supplies (did I mention that I journal, and that I write letters on a regular basis?) and some Crayola window markers. Too cool!!!

I proceed to decorate every window in the house with Christmas messages. ... fun times. :) The masterpiece is on the large living room window, overlooking the main road. I wrote a large "Merry Christmas" sign on it. I had to write it backwards, so people could read it from the road.

Above the fireplace in the living room, I have a huge (and very old) mirror. We learned that the darts from FH's gun stick to the mirror. So, using my handy-dandy window markers, I drew a target. Bro and FH had a ball trying to beat each other's high score by shooting the mirror target from across the living room. It was a sight to see.

On the 23rd, we decide that it is time for all of us to head out to Mom and Dad's house for Christmas. I learn that the bus has raised their prices. It will now cost 80.00 round trip each. That's 240.00 for the three of us. We could rent a car for less than that. FH and I decide not to go - Bro heads out alone. He has student loan money left over and nothing to do with it.

So, FH and I are alone for Christmas. Wheeee!!

On Christmas Eve, I start thinking about what to do for food. We haven't gone grocery shopping in a while, so we didn't have much. We were really short on cash. We decide to make a stirfry for supper on Christmas Eve. We made it together, and did some tidying, then walked to our church for the Christmas Eve service. It was about a 45 minute walk, and it was gorgeous. The service was lovely. After the service, FH got a fire going in the fireplace, while I walked to the nearby conveniene store to get some things. I bought 12.00 worth of groceries, which was enough to suppliment our Christmas Day meal - it was mostly dessert.

On Christmas morning, we woke up, drank some coffee, then opened presents. After that, I spent some time reading and enjoying the day while FH went back to sleep. He was feeling miserable. It poured rain alllll day. We didn't go out at all, which was very very nice.

We only got each other small gifts this year. His main gift to me was a figurine of an angel dressed in purple, with a gem at the top of her dress. Attached to her, on a little card, said "tanzanite: change and encouragement". My ring has a center gem of tanzanite, so it was very fitting for me. It was very sweet. ...

Since FH wasn't feeling well, I made the main Christmas meal. I made a maple glazed ham, with an amazing mustard sauce to go with it, mashed potatoes, carrots (also very nice with the maple glaze), and stuffing. I cheated with the stuffing, 'cause it came from a box, but everything else I did from scratch. We also had eggnog, and some baked goods and jello for dessert. Not bad for what was in the freezer + 12.00. :) We had another fire in the fireplace on Christmas, to burn all the wrapping paper that couldn't be reused. FH made drinks using the brand new ice crusher/blender from FMIL!! Wow!

On Boxing day, I was very sick. ;( I tend to get tension headaches, and I had gotten a moderately bad one, so spent the day in bed.

The 27th was the Saturday after Christmas, and everyone wanted to have a get together "before they left" that day. We went to three separate get-togethers on Saturday alone. It was very nice, but I consumed soooooooo many cookies and baked goods and such. If I gained any weight from Christmas, it was from that Saturday. We were a little partied out after Saturday was over.

Today, the first of my friends are leaving. Six of my fairly close friends have come home for Christmas, and they are all leaving between now and the 8th. *sigh* But I can't think about that now. I'm meeting up with my bestest bestest friend "C" tomorrow. She lives in England these days, and we've been writing letters back and forth. Over the Christmas holidays, we've been scrapbooking our letters. She brought all the letters I've sent her when she came, and I bought two matching scrapbooks. We have had sooo much fun designing the pages to make our letters look pretty. It's going to be a wonderful keepsake. Luckily, her and her husband are the last people to leave, so they're leaving on the 8th.

I've attached a few photos of the window decorations and the angel FH got me. I'm sorry for the bad photos - I have no flash on my camera, which makes for blurry indoor photos, and the trees in my front yard are in the window reflection for my "Merry Christmas" banner. But you still get the idea.