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On March 5th I officially became a Mrs, and it was quite a celebration to mark this event!
In my mind I pictured this being a relaxing and pampered day…but it’s a lot of work to get pampered! In the morning I had my nails done, followed by hair and makeup in the afternoon.
I wanted to have pictures taken with my husband when we had our wedding outfits on, and while we had full sunlight, but I didn’t want to interrupt our event between the ceremony and the reception…so we did things a little differently. We had our pictures taken before our actual wedding! It’s a tad unconventional for the groom to see the bride in her dress before the ceremony, but we’re not really conventional people.
coming to pick up the bride
When the photographer arrived we spent an hour and a half having our pictures taken. We posed and chatted and kissed for the camera. So much kissing! I’m not much of a camera kisser, it seems kind of cheesy to me, but every second picture our photographer wanted a smooching pose, until I said “enough!”
so much kissing!
After our pictures I went back to our room where my aunt and uncle were waiting for me. Originally I was going to walk down the aisle by myself, just because I’m that independent kind of girl, but it didn’t seem right. My aunt and uncle are like my second parents, and they, more than anyone, have mentored me, and guided me to become the person I am today. If anybody deserves the honour of walking me down the aisle it’s them.
So with my aunt and uncle we went to the gazebo where our ceremony was going to take place. We practiced our walk in the room, but when we walked down the aisle we were all in a different step! But even funnier than that…I forgot to show my train! My dress stayed in the bustle while I was walking down the aisle and throughout the ceremony. Even in the pictures before the ceremony. Ooops!
When I got to the gazebo and was ready to exchange vows I felt really excited and a tad nervous. I just remember having a huge smile on my face. It was a nice environment and I totally forgot that there were a bunch of people watching us in what I think is a very intimate experience. The only funny, and cheesy thing, was that when we exchanged our vows the justice of the peace gave us a microphone to repeat after him. Is that normal in weddings? It seemed very strange to me, but if we didn’t have them no-one would have heard us.
After the ceremony we had a champagne toast with the guests, followed by an outdoor cocktail hour. The whole week the evenings had been really chilly, but luckily on this night we had a nice warm breeze that was perfect for our cocktail hour. We had chairs outside, great music, some snacks and an open bar – everything you need for a cocktail hour!
finally a chance to relax!
After an hour or so of cocktail hour we went into the reception room and got ready for dinner. Since some of our guests had birthdays on our actual wedding day we decided to incorporate that into our wedding party. First, we had a three year old Isabella’s birthday song and cake. It was very cute! We also had a birthday at midnight for my new sister in law.
When dinner came we arranged for the kids meals, chicken fingers and French fries, to come out first, followed by the four course adult meals. Our first course was tomato and mozzarella salad with a pesto drizzle, followed by a Mexican lemon and chicken soup, and our main course of beef tenderloin. The food was excellent! We had crème brulle for dessert, but I was too busy having fun to eat any.
When the dinner was over we started dancing and getting wild. For Argentininan’s weddings are not formal affairs where everyone is on their best behaviour – instead it’s a time to get silly, have fun, and act wild!
the groom being thrown by friends
taking the groom to the bar
When the cake came out we were too tipsy and wild to enjoy cutting it, so we let it sit on the table, and decided to cut it the next day with just our family around. It was the perfect way to do it, because really we wouldn’t have enjoyed it doing it on our wedding night. We had done our obligations all week long, and the last thing I was interested in was doing one more thing that was formal and planned and involved us passing out cake and making sure we included everyone.
So instead on our wedding night we kept on dancing, drinking, and letting loose all night long. It was a very fun event, and definitely memorable.
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EEEKS!
I’ll let you know all the juicy details after the big do!
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When we arrived in Mexico it was late, we were hungry, and none of the restaurants were open, nor where there any front desk managers avaialbe.
So we all checked in and got ourselves sorted and just kind of “made do”. But when I woke up the next day I was not a happy camper. Because we are having a wedding in the resort we’ve helped to bring in more than 20 room reservations for our guests, and we have a hefty tab to cover for our reception…so why were we in this dark little room.
I woke up at 730 the next day enraged at the situtation…and quickly tried to figure out all our upgrade options and where we could move to and how much extra it would be. When I talked to the reception desk folks they were totally indifferent to my requests to get upgraded without paying since I’d help to bring in so much business.
So, our option was to upgrade our room, pay the difference and cut back the amount extra we had to pay on our room from our reception tab. It doesn’t make sense to give a resort more money when they don’t consider how much business we’re bringing in.
Happy with our solution to keep on budget, but just move up to a bigger and more expensive master suite, we packed once again and moved on. And when we got to our new suite it was wonderful!
For me it was really important to have a nice big place where people would want to come visit us, and also a place where family can gather and relax where young parents don’t have to be so on guard with their children wondering off, and in case you just want to have a relaxing time with friends and family and gather and relax together, without the million other distractions an all inclusive offers.
It really is true, room upgrades are always worth it!
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When everyone arrives in Mexico they normally get off the bus, check in, and have several cocktails…
But when you are planning a wedding that happens in a few days that’s not quite how it works. You get off the bus, check in, and look at every single thing from cocktail glasses, to roofs, to bathrooms to figure out where your wedding should be, where the cleanest bathrooms are, and which drinking glasses you want to serve cocktails in. Not exactly relaxing!
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Last night my fiancé and I went out for our first real date in a long time. Our winter vacation, my condo sale, moving in, and planning a wedding have all added up to us having almost no time. Remember when I wrote about when there’s even too much change for me? Scratch that. Life has thrown us sooooo many balls to toss at the same time and we just have to learn to juggle!
After weeks and weeks of non stop action it was starting to take a bit of a toll.
So we took a step back, set up a date night and finally we had a proper date…and it was wonderful!
We went to Lucien Restaurant in Toronto. Thankfully for us (not for the restaurant) it was an Olympic hockey game yesterday, so the restaurant was empty. It was us and one other table.
We could hear the music, talk quietly, and really enjoy a great date night in peace. The restaurant doesn’t have that many tables, so it feels like a nice intimate dining experience. The decor is gorgeous, the lighting is dimmed, and the music and nice and calm…all the elements are set for you to have a nice, relaxing time with unbelievable food and wine!
For dinner I had a heirloom beet and carrot salad appetizer and roasted chicken main dish. The salad was great but the roasted chicken was outstanding. Almost every time I go out with my fiancé I taste his dinner and always secretly wish I’d chosen his dish. But not last night! I was thrilled with my choice and I think it was better choice than my honey’s beef bourguignon. His was good, but I think the chicken had so much more depth of flavours and the dark meat was presented like a warm terrine which was wonderful.
Of course we had some wine too….a gorgeous Amarone that was one of the best wines we’ve had in a long time!
It was so nice to sit down, spend some quality time, laugh together and forget about all the craziness for a few hours.
Of course, it really helped that we agreed not to talk about work at all, so we could focus on the sweet things in life instead of thinking about mounting to do lists!
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With Valentine’s Day around the corner it can be hard to come up with great plans when your pockets are light on pennies. But don’t distress!
Here are some great cheap and cheerful Valentines Day Ideas:
- Bake cookies together
- Organize your photos and make a photo album together
- Set up an at home wine tasting just for the two of you
- Find out which charity you would both like to support and ask about volunteering together
- Write out lists of your favourite memories together, things you did together etc, and share them
There are so many great and lovingly sweet things you can do together that require minimal money! The most romantic Valentine’s Day things you can do are things that come from the heart…so don’t worry about spending a bundle, just enjoy each other and remind yourself why you chose that person to be next to you.
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Recently I put out a call for guest writers here, so I thought it would be great to start off with one exceptional guest spot from Lilah, a blogger from Urban Sardines, a design and décor blog. Since I made the big announcement that I got engaged, it’s been a bit of a struggle how my fiancé and I are going to combine all our stuff into one small apartment (especially given my penchant for extremely girly home décor like hot pink walls). Enter Lilah, who’s going to offer up some excellent advice on how to blen your style with your boyfriends when you move into together!
Here’s Lilah!
When you move in with your man, you might expect to fight over who will do the dishes, who will take out the trash, and who gets to pick their favorite side of the bed…but you might be overlooking something far more fundamental.
Consider exhibit A:
If your bedroom looks anything like this, you may be in for a bit of an adjustment. Gorgeous though this room is, your man may feel a bit… um, emasculated…. In this space.
How do you reconcile your gorgeous, girly décor with his barcalounger?
Make It Gender Neutral
Finding neutral ground can be a great way to bond with your partner. After all, the space you live in is a significant expression of who you are as a person, so it should also reflect what you are like as a couple. A great way to find neutral ground is to figure out what colors you both like and build from there. To tone down feminine vibes, avoid detail, scrolling, and rounded edges in furniture and major pieces. Once you establish more “masculine” base, you can add pops of color and feminine touches without causing your boyfriend to need testosterone injections.
Here are a few examples of spaces that are “gender” neutral:
This bedroom from Kishani Perera has dark, masculine colors, but is also very elegant and vibrant:. The bed is a good balance between feminine and masculine, and the pop of color from the flowers brings a feminine edge to the room.
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Steven Gambrel’s living room design is a great inspiration for masculine spaces that are elegant and gorgeous. It’s a great balance between masculine and feminine. The colors are warm, but masculine, the lines are clean and simple.
Here’s another great Steven Gambrel living room. The orange bar station is modern with clean lines, but the pop of orange has a feminine vibe.
Understand Each Other’s Cleaning Habits
Before you move in together, get an honest assessment of what your cleanliness habits are (I’ve known both men and women whose partners complain about each others’ cleaning habits). If your habits differ, consider some modern appliances (without a dishwasher, my boyfriend and I would have split long ago!), and if you can afford it, consider handing over some of the responsibility to the pros. My boyfriend doesn’t do laundry, so he sends it out to an affordable local cleaner every week. Problem solved.
Consider Ditching Some Items
Review each other’s furniture and decide what you can both live with. When I moved with my boyfriend, he got rid of a clunky, broken desk, and I got rid of my extremely feminine bedding. We are both happy with the results (although I miss my lacy bedding sometimes, and I’m sure he misses his desk).
Make a Man Cave
If you have the space, let him create his man-cave while you create your girly haven. For my boyfriend and me, this isn’t an option (living in a small urban space, you usually don’t get a few extra rooms to play with). However, I know a lot of couples who have separate offices or art studios where they can decorate to suit themselves. If I had such a space, I’d channel all my girly instincts into that one spot, and let the leather furniture take over in the living room.
Compromise, Compromise, Compromise
Finally, when moving in with your man, remember it’s an exercise in compromise. You may have to live with his leather couch, but hopefully, he’ll graciously live with your perfume collection, giant collection of heels, and blanket your Grandma crocheted for you.
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Lilah is a writer living in a small Victorian in San Francisco, California. Her small living environment inspired her to explore the world of small-space design. Along the way, she started the blog, Urban Sardines, to share what she has learned about creating a warm, inviting home in a small space.
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It’s official! Our wedding invitations have been sent out!
It was a lot of fun creating them and making something that looked fun, sophisticated, and adventurous. I wanted to go with bright and fun colours that represented the kind of experience guests will have at our wedding. Also, I must confess, I chose orange and blue as the theme colours so we could plan a cocktail menu with these fun colours!
Here’s what they look like.
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Just for the record I’m not a typical bride. I’ve never dreamed of what my wedding would be like, I’m not that worried what my dress looks like, and dealing with everyone’s requests and suggestions makes everything seem more like a hassle than fun.
And it’s not that I’m not excited to get married. I’m very excited to share my life (officially) with my chosen one. It’s just the whole procedure of the wedding seems a bit much.
If I had my way we’d be going to city hall, sharing a glass of champagne and then going on a cool trip. But…my Latino fiancé and his big family would never have it. And I don’t want to be the evil gringa in the eyes of his family. So, a big wedding it is!
Our compromise is to do it in Mexico, as a destination wedding. And based on all the schedules in the wedding magazines I’m already late. Everyone says you should do this 18 months to 6 months prior to your wedding. Holy Cow!
So three months out I hit the streets in search of a suitable wedding dress. I had a vague idea of what I wanted. Fun, light, flowy, pretty basic – and not expensive. I am blown away at the $2,000 price tags on so many dresses! And I’m a girl that likes to spend money on things I love, but a dress I wear once just seems crazy to spend so much money on.
I’d be happy with a $50 dress. I can digest $300, but more than that makes me wiggle inside.
Armed with friends and family we went on a search for a dress. We went to three different stores, and tried on a few different dresses at each place. It was so much fun to wear princess dresses and try everything on without looking at the price tag. Of course that wasn’t my reality but I just wanted to have fun and pretend I had no limits.
It was fun but also pretty tiring. Who knew wedding dress shopping was so much work!
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Since we’ve decided to have a destination wedding there are heaps and piles of details that need to be figured out.
Are we going to have an event each night for our guests?
Are we planning daily activities like boat trips, and snorkelling and cultural excursions?
Is there a theme?
How will the wedding day work?
Yup, there are many, many questions coming our way. And just about everytime we get one of those questions the answer is “We don’t know”. And we really don’t know.
But one of the cool things about not knowing what you’re going to do on our wedding day is that all your options are open.
You can look at crazy fancy decorations. Or tiny little seating cards. Or simple and sleek flower arrangements.
You can look at pretty much anything.
So until we have a budget figured out, the world truly is our oyster.
Photo Credit: Wedding Chicks
