Bling Bling!

In March, Aaron, Lisa, Darren, and their son headed south of the border to the United States of America! We used staying at my Aunt's trailer as an excuse to finally purchase my wedding band!

I was anxious to find something that fit with my beautiful ornate ring, and stayed within our low budget. I had wanted to purchase the ring at Michael Hill in Canada where he bought my engagement ring, but I couldn't justify the kind of money they were asking, and the taxes that would be added!

So off we went to the mall... and there we stayed for several hours. I was so torn between 2 rings at 2 different stores. Lisa had an opinion on her favorite, and so did Aaron, but I couldn't decide. This beauty would be on my finger for the rest of my life! I couldn't make a rash decision!!!

So what did I do??? I had a horrible sleepless night (because of the horrible trailer bed, not so much the decision), and then Aaron and I went back to the mall the next day and picked out THE ONE!

We finally decided on this gorgeous ring that had the same miligrain design as mine. And although it was more expensive than I'd wanted, it was perfect, and Aaron wanted that ring on my finger forever.

HELLO LOVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ring a Ding Ding

One of the details that we're adding into our wedding (among a SLEW of projects) will be bells. I found a few containers of beautiful bells in shades of blues, silver, and white glitter at Michaels at Christmas time for 1/2 off, and scooped them up.

With the help of my lovely MOH, we created a little poem as follows:

In case you can't read it, it says: "Rejoice in the new husband and wife. Help ring in the Regehr's new life. Don't let this bell go amiss... You need it to see the couple kiss"

I cut the sign to size, punched a hole in them, and tied them onto the 100 bells with a green ribbon. Here is the completed project:



I placed all the bells in a black woven basket with a cute sign on the front. Our plan is to have our wedding party pass the bells out during our certificate signing, and have everyone ring the bells as we walk back down the aisle as husband and wife.

The guests will have to keep the bell at their table, because in order to have us kiss, they will need to ring the bell instead of clinking a glass, and then donate to one of the 3 charities we've decided on: Vancouver Orphaned Kitten Association (in honor of our kitties), The Alzheimer's Society (in honor of my Grandpa), and the Canadian Cancer Society (in honor of all our friends and family that we lost too early).

What do you think of our project?

PS - Sorry for my blurry phone camera pics!

MIA

Sorry that I've been so missing in action lately! This is my insane time at work, and I've been busy at home as well. I've completed a lot of projects from my to-do list, as well as coming up with some brand new ones to tackle!

But I have a wee bit of a confession to make as well... you see, I applied to Wedding Bee back in February, and I wasn't accepted. It sort of put a damper on my blogging, and I fell off the Blogging Hemisphere. However, I've realized recently how much I miss it, so I'm back!

First things first, I've purchased my engagement photo outfit, and I'm in L.O.V.E.! Take a peek!

We are having 2 looks, if you will. We will be going more urban in our dress and taking photos on Commercial Drive. I have an idea of what I'm wearing for that one, but not 100% sure yet. But then we're going a little retro and funky for our second look, which we'll be going to Trout Lake for - I'm stoked because there are tons of dogs there to play with! :)

Do you think it will work? Did you have engagement photos, and what did you wear?

A Little Wednesday Romance...

I decided to surprise Aaron with some Wednesday love... we needed to redeem our failed Valentine's dinner, and redeem I did!

I ran around to 3 different stores looked for fresh scallops, and paid a mortgage for them, but they were delicious! I set the mood with candles all over the living room, jazz on the radio, a tablecloth on our coffee table, and a chilled bottle of our favorite Riesling.

I made a creamy lemon risotto, seared sea scallops in a provencal sauce, and roasted asparagus!

For dessert, I served rich vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce.

We talked about our days, stared into each others eyes, and maybe kissed a little! :)

It was certainly the way we should have spent Valentine's Day, but celebrating a Wednesday is good enough for us!

Our Disappointed Valentine's!

This year we agreed to skip gifts for Valentine's Day, but we both lied and bought each other a little something!

Toy Story 2 for Aaron

Lady and the Tramp for ME!

We both surprised each other with these little acts of love because we wanted to, not because we needed to. But we had decided to order some Chinese food to celebrate... which turned into a Big. Giant. FAIL. They gave us inedible noodles, and piled pork on top of my vegetarian beans. I had next to nothing for dinner... and Aaron felt incredibly horrible!

I decided that tonight will be our Valentine's Day. I'm going to make it up to him, in every way I can!

What Makes Me Happy...

Today is the day of love, and as much as I didn't want to celebrate it this year in lieu of saving for our wedding and paying our bills, I couldn't help it. I broke down and bought Aaron a sappy card, a movie, and some chocolates. But moreover, I started thinking about what today means.

What makes me happy? What makes me smile? What makes me laugh? What makes me feel like life is going to get better when I'm sad?

1. Keiko cuddling up to my face in the morning


2. Aaron singing and dancing and being goofy


3. A good cup of latte


4. The smell of baking


5. Aaron's kisses and hungs


6. A sweet email from my mom


7. My friends offering support


8. A good book when it's raining outside


9. Aaron's laughter


10. My favorite blanket, knit for me by my mom's best friend Linda


11. Stories about my neice and nephew growing up


12. Any time Aaron touches me


13. The way Aaron looks at me when I laugh... I melt


14. Freshly baked cookies, especially peanut butter ones


15. The sound of my cats purring

What this list teaches me is that I love Aaron more than most things. He keeps me grounded, makes me happy, and teaches me so much about life and what I want from life. This Valentine's Day I feel lucky to be marrying him in less than 9 months. I'll be so proud to call him my husband.

Happy LOVE Day!

A Productive Weekend...

On Saturday, I went to my WW meeting (sigh), went for a quick walk (too sick to do much yet), then we met up with our DJ in Langley. Jared is a friend of a friend, and we are very happy with him and his talents! We know that he's going to get our party started and rocking all night!

After lunch at Brown's, we met up with Bev from Celebrate the Moment. She was the sweetest lady, and worked within our budget to get us our chair covers and sashes.

So 2 more vendors are signed on and done!

Sunday was a day of relaxation, cooking, and Dexter! :)

Aaron's bacon eggs benny

My eggs benny

Chocolate Khalua Cupcakes - best way to enjoy Valentine's Day

Cough Cough

Sadly, I've been sick all week long! I feel like a flaming bag of you know what!

But the saving grace of being sick has been the time I've had to think... and watch reruns of Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings!

One of the things I have spent a lot of time thinking about is the tone that I want to capture in our wedding. I think I've been so focused on the colors and themes that I missed the TONE of our wedding, and really, what's a wedding without tone? Tone-deaf? Out of tone? I don't know, I'm high on cough medications, don't hate!

Anyways, it's on my to-do list to really focus on this over the next month. We have a wedding post-it note hanging on our fridge with 4 notes for me and 2 notes for Aaron. He banged his off in about an hour, so now it's my turn!

By the way, one of the to-do's on Aaron's list was to confirm with his graphic artist friend Amit that he could design our guest book. They have a man date on Sunday to go over ideas! Yay for grooms who know how to get er' done!

Now I'm off to blow my nose, make a new cup of tea, and join my friend for a bowl of soup!

Things I *Heart*...

Or this could alternately be titled... "Things I *Heart*... but can't justify purchasing right before our wedding!"

ModCloth Picnic in the Park Dress

Cuisinart Soft Serve Machine

Soup and Sandwich Plate

Would it be bad to just purchase them and call them "pre-shower" gifts to myself???

All the Boys in the House...

I just realized that I haven't formally introduced you to the gents who will be standing next to Aaron on our big day!

They are all wonderful guys, and I'm so happy that each of them have agreed to be part of our wedding party!!!

Now, without further adieu:

Mike - Best Man
Mike & Aaron met when they were teenagers and bonded over their dorky ways, including discussing who would win between Batman and Superman, their love of video games, and their mutually crazy families! :) Mike and his now wife (newlyweds!) just had the most beautiful baby girl named Anna who has her daddy wrapped around her little finger already! Mike is like a cartoon character - full of charm and witty retorts to all of Aaron's jokes!

Cliff - Groomsman

Cliff and Aaron met in a roundabout kinda way... Aaron was dating a girl who was roommates with Cliff's girlfriend. Aaron and this girl eventually broke up, but remained friends with Cliff afterwards. Cliff has since married said girlfriend and had 2 adorable little boys with her, once of which is lucky enough to have Aaron as a godfather! :) Stacey and Cliff are the couple that Aaron looks up to because they fully support each other and have been great friends to Aaron through thick and thin!

Matt - Groomsman

Matt is Aaron's younger brother! They are only 16 months apart, but couldn't be more different! Matt was the cool kid with the mohawk or dreadlocks who played drums and got all the girls. Aaron was "Matt's brother" in high school, and he was okay with that. Matt is a funny, charasmatic guy with a lot of character and a lot of love to give, and is always very happy for Aaron and I no matter what we're doing! I can't wait to have him as a brother-in-law!

Tory - Groomsman

And then there's Tory... MY brother! I could go on and on and on about how much I love this guy! When we were kids, I was very protective of him, and never grew out of that. He's a wonderful human being. He loves people with all of his being... his family, his friends, his girlfriend Cindy (pictured below). He has a passion for cooking and hockey and adventures! He's much more like my mom than I am as well - laid-back, go-with-the-flow, and spontaneous! He makes me proud every day, and I tear up thinking about him sometimes (like right now) because we almost lost him in 2006 due to a terrible motorcycle accident he had while traveling through Thailand. He has plenty of scars from it, but at least he pulled through. In 2008 he went to Alberta to find work as an electrician, and we all worried about him being away again. But the evening of my 29th birthday party, he showed up at my doorstep as a surprise. I've never been so excited to see someone before! I love him with every ounce of my heart... I only have one brother, and I'm glad it's him. As a bonus, though, he and Aaron have acted like brothers almost from day one, and they even go to the movies without me! :)

Anyways, that's them, the guys that make up Aaron's wedding party. They are all very different, unique, caring guys that love Aaron and we're so excited to not only have them for the day, but to have them all in our lives!

Tying It Together...

I knew that I wanted to get the dads ties as part of their gifts, so when I saw a deal from Wagjag.com come through my inbox for half off a purchase at ties.com, I bought it without hesitation! This morning I placed my order for 2 Kelly Green Ties (although it's not quite our color, it's the closest I'll probably be able to find) for the dads, a matching little one for our ring bearer Rylan, and the Silver and Green plaid one for our MC, Dimitri.

I haven't introduced you to Dimitri yet, but I will in a later post! I promise... cross my heart! He's one of the best guys I know, so single ladies, keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming post!

The Momma Dilemma

I was recently reading a blog on my favorite wedding blog, WeddingBee, and Miss. Mink spoke very honestly and openly about her disappointments regarding the involvement of her mother in the wedding-planning process, but how she had come to terms with it and was going to enjoy having her mother as a valued and important guest.

I've had a few small hiccups myself with my mom along the way, but all in all, I've been so happy with the participation she's had so far!

My mom and I have always been very close, and I've always had her be involved in a lot of my important life choices. However, we are very different people. I'm much more like my dad - strong-headed, opinionated, vocal, and determined. My mom is much more laid-back, a home-body, and reserved in a way. But at the same time, I was also lucky enough to get both of my parents work ethic and creative mind.

Spending time with my mom has been wonderful! She's come with me to my dress appointments, shopped for hours in Michael's with me, fought off eager brides at the wedding fair, and helped me with many projects. However, it hasn't been all roses and rainbows! Our different personalities have clashed, we've hurt each others feelings (although NEVER on purpose), and we've had differing opinions on some of the projects I've taken on. But as we go through this very special journey together, we've grown closer. And perhaps more importantly, she's grown closer to my fiance.

At the end of the day, I'm so lucky to have a mom that wants to be involved, makes every effort to be a support system for me, and always has my back in the end! Love you Mamma Deb!

Hey Mr. DJ...

Our DJ choices are limited because we had such a small budget. I didn't want to spend $1000 on music, but knew that music sets the tone of a wedding, and I wanted a kick-butt party! So we discussed our options, and had a few people in mind.

We hummed and hawed and hummed some more. We had 2 or 3 friends that could do it, but one of them was the husband of a friend I've worked with for 12 years, and we wanted him to be a part of the wedding, not working it. Another one works with Aaron, and his personality didn't seem to be one that would entice people to boogey. But when a good friend reminded me about his friend that I've seen dj a few times, I put Aaron in charge of interviewing him.

They chatted yesterday on the phone, and it turns out that Jarod's full time job is creating playlists for multiple restaurants and businesses, so he's really the perfect person to give us the best ambiance and party that we could ask for.

We'll be meeting with him in a few weeks to discuss our vision and sign a contract, but I have no doubts about whether or not he's the right choice for us! He's $150 more than we budgeted for, but still less than most professional djs charge in the wedding industry!

So Hey Mr. DJ, play that song! Whoop whoop!

Showered with Choices...

I'm a dress-hoarder! It's official! I love dresses, and I'm known for my wonderful selection of dresses. It's become a bit of an issue in the last 3 years, and I continue to add to the dress section of my closet. Aaron just shakes his head when I come home with a new one, but at the same time, the first piece of clothing he bought me (which was just this Christmas) was a dress!

Anyways, I found this dress on ModCloth and thought that it would be the perfect Bridal Shower dress because it will be the fall which matches the dark colors of the dress, and I love all clothing that is pretty and retro!


I thought of pairing it with some cute chunky silver jewellery and a flower in my hair, with maybe some wedge sandals.

What do you think?

The Cost to Cover...

As much as I love our venue, their chairs leave something to be desired. It was probably the first thing that I noticed when I walked in. Is it because I'm a bride to be, and notice everything when it doesn't suit my vision? Is it because I'm a detail-oriented gal who focuses in on the small minute touches in a space? Or is it because they are glaringly in-your-face chairs that can't be camouflaged in any way, other than with a cover. Their chairs are not only old (but in good condition), but they are black with a strange grey and purple fabric pattern. It doesn't match our "Whistler Chic" teal and apple color scheme... at all, even a little bit!

So as much as I didn't want to, I began researching chair cover companies last January. Yes, I realize that I was way ahead of the game, but when you're on a tight budget and have a 2 year engagement, a girl has to do her research!

Out of the three or four companies that were recommended to us by the DAC, I found one company that had the color selection that we were looking for at a great deal! However, after our 365 day mark passed, I found that when I was trying to make an appointment with them, they were impossible to deal with. So I moved on.

The next company I was dealing with was wonderful, and I had high hopes. However, their price was more than double what our original company quoted, so my fingers had some more work to do! I have some emails out to people to quote on our covers, but I'm just so amazed when a quote arrives in my inbox priced out at over $5.00 per chair PLUS set up fees! I should really just buy some and rent them myself to people - I'd make a killing!

Anyways, is this price normal for a cover and sash?

My mom questioned whether it was worth our money to rent them... well, if you take a look at the chairs at the DAC, you can see that there's no getting around it when they could look like this photo... classic, chic, uniform, and beautiful! I have given up many details of the wedding due to budget restraints, but this is one area where I just can't force myself to budge, even though Aaron can't quite wrap his head around my obsession with all things covers and sashes!

January is "Chilly" Chile Month...

So this is our modest opinions of the wines that we tasted:

Cono Sur - Gewurtzraminer

Tara: "It was fruity and crisp and easy to drink. I would buy it again, although it's not the best one I've tried. Weirdly, it tasted even better the second day."

Dona Dominga - Cabernet Sauvignon

Aaron: "Very smooth with little bite to it. It didn't go well with my steak, but it was a nice sipping wine. I doubt that I'd buy it again though."

My Weekend in a Nutshell...

On Saturday, we had a meeting with a chair cover company. She was delightful, organized, and knowledgeable. However, when we received the quote on our requirements, the pricing was ridiculously more than we had budgeted for or could fathom spending on chair covers. So we have had to pass!

After that, we headed to Guildford Mall. I received a $50 Sears card from the in-laws for Christmas, so I combined that with a $100 Visa card that Aaron gave me when he closed down his other bank account and bought myself a new espresso maker! It's wonderful, fairy easy (although Aaron is the only one that uses it to make my coffees), and makes a killer head of foam!!!
On Sunday, I went for a walk with my WW ladies, while Aaron headed to the gym and to return some games. When he got home, he handed me a gift card to my favorite store, H & M so I can buy myself something pretty to wear for our Valentine's Day dinner out in February.

Sunday evening, I made us my "famous" broccoli cheddar soup, with a prawn and tomato salad, and tried to make pretzels for the first time. The pretzels tasted good, but they were a little heavy! :)

Other than that, our weekend pretty much consisted of this:

I hope you all had a great weekend!

What To Wear?

I need to start researching some possible outfits for all of the fun occassions that will start happening soon - showers, stagette, rehearsal, etc.

Here are a few options that I like so far...

Wine of the Month...

Last night while sweating on the eliptical and daydreaming about the weekend, I decided that I wanted to introduce something new to our weekend. Actually, we tried this a few years ago, but it didn't last. I decided that every 15th of the month we'd invest in a bottle of wine from one country and see if we could gather some information about wines we enjoy to stock our wine bar for parties we'll have as the wedding approaches.

Because January is "chilly" I decided we'd start with "Chile"! Get it? :) I'm a corn-ball, I know!

So for myself, because I'm a white wine drinker, especially of the fruitier varieties, I started with the Cono Sur Gewurtzraminer.

For Aaron, I decided on a Dona Dominga Cabernet Sauvingnon. I mostly chose this one because the label said that it had won some awards for the best winery in Chile. I figured it couldn't hurt!


I decided that Friday nights would be our wine night, and because we rarely finish a bottle each in a night, we could enjoy a glass the next evening as well.

I'll update on our findings each Monday morning.

Next month we'll be trying February "France"... cause French is the language of love, and it's Valentine's Day month. Okay... I'll try to stop being so cheesy now, except that we'll be serving it with brie, and that's cheesy... okay, that's the last one.

My New Gym...

I joined a new gym just after New Year's. No, it wasn't a resolution. It was more a case of not wanting to die of second-hand smoke. You see, my old gym was located in the same building as a pub, and in order to get to the gym, you had to walk by the pub entrance. And what do older folk that enjoy a few drinks at 4:30 in the afternoon like to do between their beers or rum and cokes? Smoke. They enjoy their smokes. And in BC, you can't smoke indoors, so these patrons would take their habits to the outside entrance, and I would walk through a cloud of tobacco on my way to bettering my health. It seemed contridictory to me.

So I joined a new gym. It's new and spacious and beautiful and full of toned and buff people. It's someplace I never thought I'd be. I love how clean it is. I love how large it is. I love that it has a women's only section, and 108 cardio machines, all with their own tvs and Ipod hookups. I love that the people who work there honestly make me feel like they want me to succeed! I don't like myself sometimes when I find myself staring at a hard-bodied beautiful women in Lululemon pants, working out her perfect butt and toned arms, wishing and hoping that I looked like her instead of my giggly, wiggly, round self. But in general, I love my new surroundings and my routine after work. Do I want to trudge up there in the snow, taking off my boots and putting on capri pants, NO! But do I feel great afterwards - HECK YA!

Anyways, the point of this post isn't to smack you in the face with my holier-than-thou attitude of working out regularly, but to tell you that I met a girl at the gym (one of the customer service workers) who just got engaged and is planning her wedding on a shoe-string budget (get it, she works at a gym, with runners - never mind) and it got me thinking about what is important to some people when planning their wedding. Something in me just shifted a bit.

I had been obssessing over people not calling me back or not showing enough interest in my little wedding world... but talking to K got me thinking that this wedding isn't so much about everyone else - it's about what Aaron and I want... to spend the rest of our lives together. And I can't wait to marry him. Yes, the details are important, and yes, I won't give up trying to achieve the perfect wedding for us, but I just need to focus more on what Aaron and I have, and less what we want.

Now off to the gym I go!

I made it...

It's not complete, but I made my own necklace.

Basically, I made 3 strings of pearls, and fastened it together. The little jewel that you see on the side there is a ring that my Nana owned. I didn't have a broach that I loved, so I just cut the ring part off! There were fake pearls in the setting that were peeling, so I popped them out and hot glued my owl pearls in the setting. I then strung the wire from the 3 strands through the holes, and kept beading it. It took me over an hour and a half to complete, constantly shooing Aaron out of the area of the living room so he wouldn't see my wedding accessories. I was honestly trying to do something completely different that I couldn't get to work, so this is what I ended up with.

I don't love it yet... it needs some attention and some tweaking, but I think in the end it will be lovely!

The above is a horrible Blackberry picture of me in my headpiece and necklace that I took at David's on Friday when I picked up my dress and tried the whole outfit on. My mom couldn't work the camera on my phone no matter how many times I showed her, so this is a self-portrait. Obviously I'm not going to reveal my dress yet, but you kind of get an idea. Right? :)

A little bling...

I'm still on the search for my bridal jewellery. I found something on Etsy (seller MissGlory) that would be perfect:

However, I can't afford the $115 price tag! I bought some glass pearl beads this weekend at Michael's in an attempt to possibly make them myself, but not sure how to do this crochet look. I might just suck it up and buy it since it's perfect, but I'd rather save the money and put my own personal touch to my bridal look.

What do you think? Should I attempt it or splurge? I'm trying to DIY everything myself (including all the jewellery!). So conflicted!!!

Our Wedding Year...

That's right... 309 days to go!!! We've been engaged now for 14 months, but because we were engaged in 2010 and we're getting married in 2012, it feels like it was forever ago that Aaron was down on one knee and I said YES! Now that we're finally in our wedding year, everything seems so final.

When things happen now, I think "Wow, that's the last (blank) that I'll spend as a single woman." This was our last Christmas before we're husband and wife, last New Year's Eve, last traditional NY Day dinner with my family and friends, last birthday. Upcoming will be the last Valentine's Day we spend as singles, last anniversary before we cancel it and celebrate our wedding anniversary, last presents that I buy for my boyfriend or fiance. As of November 10th, we'll be having all new firsts... turning 32 as a married lady, our first married Christmas where we get "married" ornaments, and the first gifts I get to buy my Husband!

I'm so excited to marry him, and he's finally started to get excited as well. He's thinking of honeymoon locations and researching them! He's listing me as his wife under emergency contacts (okay, to be fair I was "wife" because he couldn't spell "fiance" but still!!), and he sometimes just looks and me and giggles and says "We're getting married!". It's really sweet, and I'm counting down the next 309 days until it's official!