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!