Why Didn't I Discover These Earlier?!

How cute are these custom hangers by Etsy seller Lila Frances? Perfect for THE wedding dress photo or as gifts for the special ladies in your bridal party! Unfortunately for me, the wait time is anywhere between 8-10 weeks - so it looks like I'm a bit too late for this awesomeness.



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Although... it has given me a few ideas about making my own type of custom hangers...hmmmm...

Sharin' Some More Blog Love

In the last year and half I have seen my fair share of fabulous wedding blogs and websites. The women who work on these put their everything into it, and I just wanted to show them a little gratitude for sharing their stories and inspiring me to put together the best damn wedding I can :)

As a token of my appreciation, I'd like to share a little blog love with this Best Blog Award.



The rules of this award are as follows:

1. To accept the award, you must post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted you the award, and a link to their blog.
2. Pass the award on to approximately 10-15 other blogs that you recently discovered, and think are great!
3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

In no particular order, here is the list of whom I'm passing on to:

1. Classic Bride - Modern is cool, but classic is forever...
2. Forget.Me.Knot.Weddings - The punny name alone drew me to this blog!
3. With This Ring - Awesome blogger, and owner of the cutest pup named Lola :)
4. A Million Little Details - Created by a dynamic duo of sisters. Awesome blog ladies!
5. The Green Wedding Blog - Go Green!!
6. Shaun And Renee - Could this photography couple be any more beautiful? Yeesh.
7. Here Comes The Blog - Love all the inspiration photos!
8. Pink Pearl Images - Searching for a Toronto-based photographer? Look no further!
9. Running From The Law - What started off as a marathon training blog has now evolved into a fun wedding planning blog :)
10. Newly Wed Adventures - Love her sense of fun and humour!
11. Newly Wed In New Orleans - Note to self...must visit Nawlins one of these days...
12. Kari and Raul - Love all the photos! What a cute couple :)

Thanks for sharing your ideas, discoveries, and stories ladies!!

xoxo The Office Bride

10 Things I've Learned About...

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1. Sometimes the person you believed would be the first to respond, will be the last.

2. Receiving RSVPs on a wedding site is fun and exciting. But there will always be a few guests, bless their hearts, who are technologically challenged.

3. Don't take it personal if people don't respond right away. Everyone is the main character in their own story. In other words, there's plenty of other stuff happening outside of one wedding.

4. After the invites are sent out, it's not a bad idea to casually ask if they've been received after a couple of weeks. In our case, a few never got to their destination! And we wouldn't have known unless we asked.

5. People love chicken, lol.

6. Getting a response is awesome. Getting a personal message along with the response is even more awesome.

7. If the invites were sent out more than 2 months ago, don't be surprised if people have forgotten dates and deadlines as you get closer to the day.

8. You will always get at least one or two casual "Yeah, I'll be there" or "Just count him/her as a yes"

9. Sometimes a "No" is more welcomed than a "Yes," as bad as that sounds.

10. I will always try to respond to future wedding invites early from now on. Karma.

Hula Hoop Your Way Down The Aisle

Who knew a childhood past time could be the latest fitness craze for women?!

Celebrities such as Marisa Tomei, Michelle Obama, and Liv Tyler are all fans of this retro toy-turned-waist-slimming-device. And I don't doubt for a second that it works, especially considering these ladies' fabulous physiques!

What I love is that this doesn't require a gym membership or an investment of thousands of dollars in workout machines. All you need is a good hoop from your local toy store and enough room in your living room to get your hips going! According to Celebrity Diet Doctor, "hooping strengthens your core, improves your balance and can even serve as a really good aerobic workout, adding variety to your current one."

I found this fun hula hoop workout video on Youtube.



I think a visit to Toys 'R Us this weekend is in order...

Let's Talk Music

As some of you may recall, last March the Office Groom and I booked our wedding DJ. After some debate on whether we should do it ourselves or not, we finally decided that having a pro look after one of the most important elements in a wedding reception (in our opinion) was the better way to go.

Luckily, we were referred to DJ Andrew Hussey by our venue co-ordinator, and we immediately loved his style when we checked out his site.

Well, today, we will be meeting Andrew in person for the first time! The Office Groom actually met him a while back to give him our deposit, but today we will have the chance to sit down and talk about our music in more detail.

Not wanting to come unprepared, OG and I set aside last Friday to figure out what key songs we wanted for the night. With a couple bottles of wine, we chilled out in our living room and had a great time picking out tunes for entrances, the garter toss, special dances, and general partaying :)

We're hoping for some classic jazz and blues during dinner, and then the real fun begins for the dancing. We're going to ask that the night begins with some oldies but goodies for the older crowd - The Loco-Motion... Tutti Frutti..that kind stuff. Then we'll follow that up with some classic rock like More Than A Feeling, a sure hit with everyone especially our karaoke loving guests. Then some retro 70's to 90's (sigh, how sad is it that the 90's is officially retro? lol), and finally we'll end the night with some contemporary music that ranges anywhere between The Beastie Boys to Dave Matthews Band.

I'll be interested to know how open Andrew is to all this, and I hope our first meeting goes well! Fingers crossed!

"Discontinued" = Frustration

Here's my wedding rant for the week. I have to go back to the department store where we are registered to replaced a whole bunch of items that have been discontinued...AGAIN. Seriously, how many times do I need to scan a new toaster?!

End of rant.

Showing Some Book Love To Our Guests

What is normally a 20 minute commute to work on the subway took me FORTY FIVE FRIGGIN MINUTES this morning. They kept stopping between stations, so we just stood there in the dark tunnel, while someone on the intercom would explain what was going on, but all we could hear was "St...gre....bu....mor....ple...." Why do they even bother?!

So needless to say, I was a bit flustered when I got into the office, but my sour mood quickly dissipated when I noticed a package on my desk. And I knew instantly what it was...

The guests gifts had arrived!!!

I hurriedly set my purse down, turned on my computer, and got nice and comfy at my desk so that I could open the box. And there they were. 150 brand new, fresh smelling (it's all about the smell for me) Robert Munsch books and announcement cards. Le sigh...



Early in the wedding process, after OG and I had decided that we wanted a book theme, we came up with the idea of donating to a good cause that related to the theme in some way. Enter ABC Life Literacy Canada (formerly ABC Canada) - a non-for-profit organization that promotes the cause of literacy nationally through various programs, and helps adults with low literacy to develop the skills they need to succeed in reading, writing, and numeracy.

All it took was an e-mail, and soon I was in touch with the lovely people in the ABC marketing department. They set it up so that once we made a donation they would provide us with enough books for each of our guests as a token of thanks. How cool is that?!



We're also really happy that they've provided us with a title by Robert Munsch, one of Canada's most popular Canadian children's authors, and a personal favourite of both OG and mine (and pretty much every kid in North America, right?!).

I can't wait to see everyone open their little books at the reception, and I hope know that they were part of a good cause :)

We Got Our Bling!

Yesterday, the Office Groom and I picked up our wedding bands. WHOA!



Even though I've been sporting my fabulous engagement ring for the last year and a half, there was something about getting these rings that made it seem so much more real. Maybe it was because this was something we were doing together as a couple, as opposed as a gift from one to the other.

And I gotta tell you that it felt really good to put on my new ring, and even better to see OG with a little bling on his finger now :)

Our rings were custom made by a Toronto-based jeweller / friend-of-a-friend. The whole process was painless and intimate, and we got exactly what we wanted at our price range.

After we wrote a big cheque and walked away with our bling, we decided that a little mid-afternoon celebration was in order. So we decided on a chocolate brownie with some Tim Horton's coffee...



...What can I say? We're Canadian...

Wedding Planning...with a cat

This is what happens when I try to get some stuff done on the living room floor...



I'm not sure if it was the rustling of the paper, or the movement of the pen as I wrote things done, but my cute little kitty was all up in my grill while I was making some wedding related lists last night lol.

I will not pull an Alexander Skargard

Don't get me wrong, I dig the guy. He plays one of my favourite characters on "True Blood" and ok, fine, he's easy on the eyes. But dear god, doesn't the poor Swede know anything about mixing alcohol and digital video cameras?

To not possibly offend readers, or worse, scare Alexander fans, I won't post the video directly, but you can see what I'm talking about here.

I guess even vampires can be, what my friend and I call, "drunk girls."

The Dreaded Aisle Walk

Our church is big. And I mean traditional Roman Catholic BIG. So the thought of having to walk down the aisle which feels infinitely long makes me a tad nervous. My mom, bless her, she means well, suggested that I walk on my own half way, and then meet her and my dad to walk the rest of the way. "I saw it done in another wedding and it looked beautiful" she reasoned. Riiiight. While I'm all up theatrics and choreography, there's no way I'm walking on my own for any length of time!

So I respectfully exnayed that idea and told her we were doing it the good ol' fashion way. That way I will have the support (literally. I don't think I'll be able to hold myself up on my own) of my parents as I make my way down to join my future husband.

Here's the other thing. The church may be huge, but the number of guests is not. So unless we keep the doors open and invite homeless people to join in and fill in the back rows, we're only going to fill the first three rows of the church.

Great.

The irony to all this is that being a stage performer, I never have a problem being the center of attention, as long as I'm not being me. So the idea of all eyes on me as me is really weird and intimidating! If there was some way that my parents and I could sprint up until we hit the first row of guests, that'd be awesome. But highly unlikely.

Looks like I'm gonna suck it up and find a way to hold my head up, and the rest of my body for this friggin' walk...

A Home Away Honeymoon

After nine different ideas about where we would honeymoon - yes, NINE - the Office Groom and I finally decided to go back to our original idea of Tuscany. Tuscany to me is the picture perfect idea of a romantic getaway. My favourite movie Under The Tuscan Sun may have a small part to play in this idea of course :) But Hollywood glamour aside, the thought of spending a vacation in a villa that overlooks the rolling hills of olive groves and grape vines, while enjoying a glass of the finest Italian red wine and devouring a delicious home cooked meal sounded right up our alley after all the wedding madness.

So when a friend of ours told us about Home Away, we discovered that we could have just that for our honeymoon!

I LOVE this site. Aside from the fact that I have this fascination with the way other people decorate their homes, the site allowed us to search for rental homes all over the world, at a wide range of prices and aesthetic requirements. We decided to focus around the area of Lucca, since it was the closest thing to an authentic medieval city, and was central to other cities of interest like Pisa and Sienna. The latter being top on the list of things to see for The Office Groom, since it was one of the filming locations for the last Bond film :)

We're film buffs, what can we say?

We decided on a beautiful old farmhouse located in a town just north of Lucca. It's very private with the most amazing views of the mountains. And the best part - it was only $800 CAD for a week and a half!! BOOKED! While I'd rather not say where exactly we're staying, I thought I would at least tease you with a few photos which the owner sent us. Mwahahaha!

The town



The view from our house



I love cobblestone



If you and your partner are looking for a quiet get-away honeymoon that allows you to sit back and relax and feel at home, definitely check out Home Away. Happy Searching!!

Great Finds At Winner's

This is why I shouldn't be allowed mid afternoon strolls in the underground mall! After sitting in front of the computer for a solid 3 hours, I decided that I needed a break, at the very least for my very sore eyes. It was too hot to walk outside, so I decided on the next best thing - walking underground and doing a little "window shopping" at Winner's. Which of course led to a full on shopping extravaganza. However, my reasoning was that I was looking for some little items to throw into the BM clutches and Flower Girl purses anyway so... *cough*

I couldn't resist this pack of 6 scented hand sanitizers by Simples Pleasures. Reasoning in my head - the girls are going to be shaking a lot of hands that day.





And then I saw this pack of Elf lip gloss, which I just couldn't put down. Reasoning in my head - Lips get chapped. C'mon! Every girl can use a little touch up throughout the day!



Finally, I stopped in my tracks when I saw these too-cute Hello Kitty lip balm phones. Reasoning in my head - Hello Kitty. Enough said.



I returned to my office, carrying a large Winner's shopping bag proudly, and realizing I needed to catch up on some last minute work... Oh, to be an Office Bride :)

Shoes & Cake

Why not combine the two and have a shoe shaped cake cutter?


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I know these have been around for a while, but as I was dinkin' around on the internet this morning, one thought led to another and these popped in my head.

You can pick up a pair...err... I mean one, at Amazon.

Too cute!

A Gift That's Close To My Heart

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated my best birthday yet. The Office Groom and a couple of my BMs oragnized a little at-home shindig and some of my closest friends came to party, and a few of them came with gifts which was so unexpected and greatly appreciated!

One gift in particular almost got me choked up because of the level of thoughtfulness that went towards it. My friend and fellow blogger, Rhonda, bought me this beautiful locket. Her husband and fellow troupe member, remembered that I loved lockets and passed on the info to her. Good memory!



But here's the best part. Inside the locket, she inserted hand drawn pictures of The Office Groom and our cat! How amazing is that?!



I'm wearing the necklace today, and will be sure to show it off as much as possible throughout the day :)

RAIN!!!

Finally!!! Maybe it'll cool down now, at least for a few days. The Office Groom and I are still living out of our bags, and crossing our fingers we can go back to our apartment soon. Ugh...not liking the heat right now. It's so hot, it's even hard for Jack Nicholson to stay cool, lol. I saw that online, so I can't take that line for my own :)

Have a happy (and cooler) weekend ladies!

A Funny Wedding Commercial

It Takes Two To Tango

Two Tango shoes, that is.

Check out these awesome pair of Kate & Mel flats I picked up for myself a week ago for my birthday!!!

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When I was a kid I had this fascination with black and white tango shoes - blame it on the movies - but I never owned a pair. Then in high school, I got my hands on a great pair for only $10, and from all places, Payless!

Side story - I wore them on my 19th birthday. In Ontario, that's the starting legal age for drinking, and I had a bit too much fun that night. One of the highlights was walking down a street with my friends and telling strangers that my shoes only cost $10, lol. It was a good night.

A few years later I found another pair, but as pumps. I can't find a pic of them, but trust me, they are damn hot (and high). And now I have these more updated versions to add to the collection :)

Now I just need to learn how to tango. In the meantime, I think I'll wear them when my troupe performs in the upcoming Toronto Just For Laughs Festival (sorry, shameless plug, but it's a huge deal!!!!)

Something Blue

How gorgeous are these Christian Dior Haute Couture dresses?!



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Heat Wave In Toronto

Ugh. Please for the love of all good things, don't let it get any hotter than this! Especially when we're still living in an apartment with no air conditioning!!

Is it just me or does it feel like Toronto and the area around it has fallen apart in the last couple of weeks? Tornados and earthquakes. The G20 choas. A major heat wave that will last for the rest of the week. Yeesh.

It definitely didn't make for an easy sleep last night. Thank goodness Office Groom's sister offered to let us sleep over (our cat included) for the next couple of nights until the weather cools off.

For anyone celebrating their big day in this heat - I'm sending positive and cool vibes your way :)

From the Desk of... Wendy

After another 4 day weekend - this time up north with the family for our annual camping trip - it's back to some normalcy at the office. I almost forgot what it was like to work 5 days a week after these last two weeks, lol!

And to start off this week, I thought I'd share the wonderful story of how my friends Wendy and Greg got engaged! It took 5 years in the same high school, 4 years in the same university, and then a graduation before these two scholarly lovebirds realized they were meant to be together :)



"It happened on October 28, 2005. Greg made up a story that his friend was coming in from London to celebrate a birthday (which is in November) - and his friend's girlfriend was hooking him up with a night at the Westin (I am super gullible). So he picked me up from work - and took me to the hotel. We went up to the hotel room, and we knock on the door - and no one comes to the door! I remember being SO annoyed that he didn't have things organized with his friends.

So I walked away from the door - and he actually calls another friend to keep up the facade that he was trying to hook up with everyone. And then I hear him say "What? The key's in my pocket?" I was so confused! I turned around, and he reached into his pocket - and there was the key to the room (it all happened so fast!).

He opened the door to the room and there were little white lights hung up all around the room, rose petals on the bed and a bottle of ice wine chilling in the ice bucket. Once I realized what was going on, I began to cry (blubbering in fact) and he got down on one knee. What he actually said still escapes me (and he won't tell me again!). Once I said yes though, I guess all of the pressure was off and he plopped himself down on the chair and opened the ice wine...and helped himself! Ha!"

From the desk of Wendy.