This is shoeaholic's Purple Wedding!

A lot has been going on right now, busy busy!!...one of the things is we bought a home. Its brand new, never lived in and its beautiful. We will be able to grow old in this home which is what I really wanted..somewhere for our future kids to grow up in.

And we finally got the keys today!! YAY! 2009 is looking good! :)

I'm not exactly sure how to feel about this....

In the summer my sister got engaged. That was nice. We were happy for her since she's been dating this guy for years. Some felt the only reason he decided to pop the question was that he felt like he had to compete with my FH (which really isn't a secret, since when they're together its quite sickening to hear one try to seem better than the other). Anyways, they were planning to get married in 2010. Then they said they didn't want to wait that long and wanted to do a destination wedding, which was odd for us that she was changing her mind but then again its her decision. Now, I was informed that they aren't doing that and are having their wedding 3 weeks after ours! That made me a tad upset. Not only did she not think about the financial responsibility for my parents but that she is invading in my honeymoon time.

I'm trying to think positive and not let it get to me and just think positive about it. My FH on the other hand is furious. A family member says its pure jealousy. I don't know what to think. Should I be happy or disappointed?

During the holidays we went searching for my FH's wedding band. We found one he liked (he is a simple guy, he didn't want anything fancy especially with no diamond). The best part is they were having a boxing day sale so it was 50% off! Whoot whoot!!

He's very very pleased!

So we made the best decision ever......we hired a wedding planner to handle day of coordination!!...and I just love her!

After having our engagement party last month and coming out of it feeling like it was more work than fun, I knew we had to do something so I wouldn't get the same feeling on our wedding day. After all the planning and hard work, I just want to have fun and party on our day!!.. This is where Jen comes in!

I met with her and instantly liked her, no bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. After speaking to my parents they agreed that it would be a good idea as they too didn't want to have to worry about things running smoothly. Its nice to know someone else will be handling all the behind the scenes stuff and I don't have to have someone whisper into my ear when there is an issue that day.

So yay!!

I bought some candles for the cake table but I wanted to spice them up. I grabbed some ribbon and jewels and voila!!

Also, I had won a plain cake serving set at a bridal show and decided to spice that up too. Thanks to Scheri for the idea, I incorporated our colours and a touch of bling!

More DIY projects to go but 2 more down! yay!

I picked up my wedding band yesterday. We had to have it custom made as my engagement ring was also custom made. It turned out beautifiul.

The picture is not exactly like my ring, I haven't actually taken a picture of it yet but this is similar, except my ring has two rows of pave diamonds not just the one.

I'm one step closer to getting married!..YAY!!!!!!!!

I got an email forward from a friend of these cakes from Kuwait. They are gigantic and so elaborate! I know in some traditions the wedding cake is very important. It is a sign of celebration and everyone waits for a piece.

We started our gift registry on the weekend. What an experience! It can be fun and exciting but tedious. I can't remember half the items we scanned. We started out at Stokes on Friday. I love the stuff Stokes has; however, wasn't very pleased when I got there and realized that it was done manually, not by scanner! Oh my! We had to write down the SKU of every item we wanted....let's just say, its a very short list. I wasn't about to write down every little item.

On Saturday we hit The Bay for the typical HBC gift registry and scanned away! We scanned a bunch of items that we would normally purchase there anyway; but I didn't want people buying certain items for double the price there when they can pick up the exact same item some where else....hence Sunday, I did a registry at Walmart! Got all the little things/gadgets for the kitchen there and some other things like corningware!

So that its for us...3 registries. How many registries are you having and what was your experience?

When my FH and I first got engaged (April) we shrugged off the idea of an engagement party. My FH isn't really keen on too much attention and so we decided not to have one. After a few months of planning and some rough times (trying to make everyone happy) and stress, I feel like I just need some positive re-inforcement. I thought maybe we could have just a little get-together with just family to celebrate our engagement and have a bit of that "bliss" that engaged couples should feel. I don't want anything fancy... no gifts. Just some little positive reinforcement. I really feel like I need it after all the drama, both my FH and I have had to put up with (that's a whole other post!).

But the question has come up...is it too late to have an engagement party?? I really am not sure. What do you think? Are we too late?

I've been searching for some nice little favors and just haven't found anything that has really stuck out for me and my FH until I came upon the beau-coup website. I found these little chocolate covered brownies or blondies that are decorated in the style of a bride and groom. I love them! They are sooo cute! Its a little more than I wanted to spend on favors so I need to decide if I should just suck it up or make my own. I'm a pretty good baker and decorator so it'll just come down to whether or not I'll have time to do so.

Do you think I can premake them and then just freeze them until the wedding? Hmmmm....

I received my garter on Friday. I ordered it from a lady on Etsy. Its so cute, I love it. I used to think that garters had to be boring, and plain..now that I'm a bride to be, I see the many options out there.

Either way, scratch another thing off the list! :)

I've been working on a few things this past week or two. I had purchased some baskets to hold my bubbles and programs, so I bought some gold spray paint and went crazy! They look fantastic, the picture doesn't do it justice whatsoever! I will probably add some ribbon to it as well.

Next project was the favor tags that I had started on. After printing, trimming, hole punching and threading with ribbon...all 200 are complete and ready to go on our favors.

I've also purchased the fabric for the aisle runner and did the print out of our monogram. I have no pictures of this cause I've just started it.

I also worked on the ring bearer pillow. It was plain white, now it is full of color. Added some plum colored ribbon in a bow, accented it with some green ribbon and added a green rhinestone to the centre. The pictures came out a bit dark but you get the idea. I think it looks fantastic.

This past week, I also bought our wedding flutes...I had a 25% off coupon so they only cost me $35! And I just love them, no need to decorate them. They're perfect. Will eventually put a picture up of them.

I ordered my wedding dress on Monday!.. I honestly can't believe that I made up my mind! I think its absolutely beautiful. Its a La Sposa gown. I can't wait to see my FH's face when he sees me...that is the one image I kept picturing in my head as I tried on the many different gowns!

I hope he loves it as much as I do.

p.s. i'm not placing a pic of my gown just in case we have some snoops!.. including my FH hehe

We booked our cake last night!.. Its exciting to see the different designs out there but even more exciting to see what our cake will look like!

Everything seemed to fall into place last night, the lady was absolutely wonderful, the cake design was beautiful and the cake tasted fabulous!!.. OMG!! So sooo good! I've never been a big fan of wedding cakes because they're usually so dry but not this one, its so moist and good!! I can't wait. We're truly going to have a piece of art that tastes wonderful!!

Here is a picture of what the cake will kind of look like. We made some changes, we'll have a scroll pattern, which will same our names in it, and instead of flower buds, we're putting bling on the cake! I think it'll look fantastic! and it'll be in our colors of course!

A little bigger than we were expecting, just the bottom two layers will feed 300 people, but we're so happy with it!! Let me know what you think!

I noticed that a bunch of fellow WBC brides used vistaprint so I decided to try them out when they were having a sale - 500 free business cards. All I had to pay for was to upload my design and delivery. Well, they arrived yesterday and I think they look great. All I have to do is hire a calligrapher to write the person's name and table on each card!

YAY!! Another thing to cross off the list!

Since I placed my ad in Marketplace, I've received a few emails about designing some so I thought I'd post some of the monograms I've done up for fellow brides.

If you're interested, send me a message.

I'm just wondering if anyone is having a hard time focussing on things other than the wedding?! I've got major wedding brain! I can't seem to focus at work, in the back of my mind I'm always thinking of what I need to do next.

Has anyone got wedding brain like I do?? See, i'm on WBC instead of working! haha

Here is my inspiration board.. a bit tweaked after viewing the many options out there!!

Enjoy.

I thought I'd post this up for those of you that need help with designing a monogram. I'm a graphic designer and would be happy to help you out....best of all I'm cheap to hire!! Message me for a quote.

I've pondered many times the good old something new, old, borrowed and blue. The new is always easy!..we want everything new..our dress, shoes, necklace, earrings, tiara...and so on! But the old was always a toughy in my mind. The idea finally came to me when I was looking up bouquets... Back in the "motherland" my mother has her wedding dress stored in a box. She was planning on having it thrown out since all the feathers are starting to fall off (my parents married in December, hence the feathers on her snow white winter dress). I asked my mother if she would mind if I can have a piece of her dress and so I can have it wrapped around the stem of the bouquet. She was more than willing.

I think this idea is unique and will allow me to still have a piece of my mom's wedding with me. I can't wait to see how beautiful it's going to look!!

My FH and I have our engagement photos this weekend!... I'm so very excited but it seems to have been a nightmare as to what we should wear. I've read that it should be natural. My problem is that I know we shouldn't wear black or white but that's all my FH wears!! He is so not into color! (I'm trying to change that of course! hehe)

Anyways, what did you guys wear? Did anyone actually wear the dreaded black (dreaded from a photography point)??

I came across this post on another blog and thought it was good to share. If you're anything like me that seems to not know where to start when writing in any kind of card this is for you.



It’s good to give thanks. In wedding world, it’s especially good to give thanks in the form of a thank you note. What you should not do:

Send out mass thank you notes looking something like this:
“Thanks for coming to our wedding and for your generous gift. Love, Sally & Ed”
The only thing worse is not sending one at all (although if you send something like this, you’re not really accomplishing much).

Wait a year to send them out. People will wonder if you ever actually got the gift or if you got them and are just a particularly rude or forgetful couple. Your best bet is to get them out of the way as soon as possible! You can do it!

Think a verbal thank you is enough. For some people, saying thanks verbally is more than enough. But still, it is a nice gesture to send it in writing. It shows that you put some thought into it and took a little time to put it on paper.

With the should-nots out of the way, here are a few tips to make your TY note writing go a bit more smoothly.

1. Address the individual(s) the note is to
2. Say THANK YOU!
3. Mention the specific gift
4. Say why you love/like it and what you’ll use it for
5. Add any additional note or thanks you’d like to include
6. Close and sign your names

An example:

(1)Dear Hannah and Ryan,

(2)Thank you so much for the (3) Vera Wang wine glasses! We were so excited to receive them - we can’t wait to (4) use them at our first dinner party.

(5)Thank you also for coming from Chicago to share our special day with us. It was so great to see you again. We hope you had a wonderful time!

(6)Best wishes,
Katie and Connor


Hope you ladies, find it helpful!

I really want a unique idea for our wedding favors but seems like everything I think of isn't so personal or my FH doesn't really care for the idea.

I want the favors to reflect who we are. My first idea was to have test tubes filled m&m's in our colors. The test tubes because my FH is a microbiologist. He isn't so sure if this is a good idea or not..but hasn't said no yet.

Then there's always something a bit more practical for everyone to use, such as coasters. Which I would make a DIY with my sister. She has made some amazing coasters before and wants to know if this is the way we're going to go so she can get a start on purchasing the materials.

Another idea I've come up with is dolls from our origin. My FH and I met in our ethnic dance group (we're partners in fact!). I think that might be a cute idea and it'll bring some tradition to our guests homes.

I'm really starting to get stumped. I really would like something original. Anyone else have an idea??

So i've been hit hard with a cold...pneumonia in fact! I've been in bed for a few days but today have a bit more energy so I decided to not just lie down and watch tv but actually do something...I started working on some DIY projects. I started making my thank you tags that will go on our favors, and really it didn't take much energy and I felt somewhat productive while I heal.

Its funny that a bride is determined no matter what..even pneumonia. I'll post pics as soon as I'm done and feel better.

Having 6 bridesmaids, I thought dress shopping would be a nightmare but I am happy to report, it really wasn't. So here is the dress they picked. We'll order them in plum with "kiwi" for the sash.

There are so many cake design choices!! I'm having a hard time deciding on just one so perhaps I can get my cake company to design something that takes a bit of each design. Hmmmm...

which is your fav??

For placecard holders, we're using corks. All we have to do is make a few slits and voila!! My sister visited a winery recently and just mentioned my idea to one of the ladies there...well low and behold, the lady donated a box full of corks for my wedding! 750 of them to be exact!!

The best part....it was free!!!!!!! One less expense! YAY!!