A Book Themed Wedding

The Office Husband and I are huge book nerds. My dad was a printer by trade in his earlier years, and that's where I grew to love and appreciate a well made book. And the Office Groom always has a new book or magazine in his hand, which he probably got after one of our many visits to Indigo.

We hadn't initially thought of having any theme at all, and it sort of happened naturally after we fell in love with an invite design found online that tells the story of how the couple met and got engaged. And that's when we came up with the saying "A lifetime full of wonderful stories," and a book theme was born.

We didn't want to go over the top and end up with a library for a reception, so we tried to incorporate the theme in little ways. Here are a few photos of how it turned out!

Guests could find out where they were sitting by referring to the seating chart, which was designed to look like a library reference list. I also added a few loose book pages to frame it.


Library cards were used as table numbers. You can find them on Etsy easily!


In lieu of the traditional flower arrangement, we decided to use books as the guest table centerpieces. Each table had a group of books which were specifically picked out with the guests in mind. It took a a lot of visits to the bookstore to do this, but luckily time was on our side. And we got some great deals just by looking throught the bargain bins and with the help of a friend whose dad works at a publishing house!


We made a donation to ABC Life Literacy Canada on behalf of our guests, and as a token of their appreciate the organization provided a small Robert Munsch book for each guest.


This was my favourite detail. To add a personal touch, we handmade these bookmarks for all the guests. But we went one step further and wrote a personal story for each guest. That took a few nights of sitting on the couch with some wine and recollecting our most favourite memories, but it was worth it! It blew the minds of so many people!


After a delicious dinner, the cupcake table opened up. I found this gem of a book at Indigo!


Photographs by Shannon Lepere and our family & friends.

Bustin' my a$$ to find a Busta Box

Busta Boxes, aka Wedding Card/Money Boxes, are not easy to find in Toronto. At least, not one that isn't over priced or shaped like a Cinderalla pumpkin carriage complete with plastic horse...not that there's anything wrong with that.

Office Groom's mom offered to rent one for us but when she told us that it would cost $50, I figured I could find something more affordable to buy. So I began my search at Etsy, where I found one beautiful box after the other. My favourite was from NY Etsy artist Ellen of BWITHU. She can customize boxes with a variety of sizes, shapes, colours, and fabrics. FAB! It didn't take me long to fall in love with this one:


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The colours worked perfectly, I loved the silver detailing, and the price was affordable. So where does this perfect match made in Craft Heaven end? When I discovered that to ship it to the Great White North would cost an additional $25 US. Le boo (That's "Crap" in French).

My co-worker who sits beside must have noticed my search and eventual fail because she told me about her own Card Box - a Martha Stewart design from Wal-Mart.

Whaaaaat?!

Searching for it on-line wasn't the easiest, so my co-worker stepped it up a notch and brought hers in today for me to borrow! Ok, so I'll admit that for a split second I had a Prissy Bride moment and thought to myself "But I want my OWN box!! Waaaaah!" But then I snapped back to reality and realized that I was stressing over a BOX (how many times have I written "box" in this post, geez?) and I was happy again :)

Hugging Books

How perfect would these for our book themed wedding?! Or just as home decor?


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Spelling Msitakes

The Office Groom and I printed out our invites last night! That part is a "YAY"! After hours of designing and wording, picking out the paper at The Paper Place, and printing them on one of the office printers at O.G.'s workplace (ssshhhhh), we had ourselves some really nice looking invites. I was so proud of them, that today I decided to take one with me to work and show them off to a co-worker.

The design is pretty different - it's a short funny story of how O.G. and I met. I was inspired by this invitation that I found online over a year ago, so there's a lot of text and in different fonts.

I thought I had proofread it a billion times over - so did OG - so when my co-worker pointed out that I spelled "treked" instead of "trekked" my heart broke into little pieces! That's the "GRRRR" part.

How could I have not noticed that? I feel like such an idiot! Here I am, putting in all this time and effort, only to discover 150 printed invites later than I have a typo. Sigh. Please, oh please, tell me that I'm not the only one out there! I wouldn't normally sweat the small things, but I took a lot of pride in designing them myself :(

We're not reprinting. It's a waste of money and paper. And I can only hope that either guests don't notice or don't mention it if they do. Although, having two parents for teachers, and a plethora of academic friends and family - chances are I'll have to develop thick skin after the invites get sent out.

"Treked." Pffft.

Summer Lovin'

Man on man is it ever beautiful outside today! The clear skies and bright sun was my inspiration for today's inspiration board. Nothing says summer like pink, green, and white :)



Flowers from Fleurs.
Shoes worn by beautiful bride Caitlin.
Bridesmaids photo from The Knot.
Cupcakes created by Mossy Cupcakes.
Wedding Dress by Stephanie James Couture.

Petal To The Metal!

Today marks the first official day that the Office Groom and I will start meeting with florist vendors. We've borrowed a car from Office Groom's parents and we're going to drive to different locations over the weekend, in search of the perfect Office Couple florist.

Do I like flowers? Yes.

Do I know anything about them. Ummm, no.

But I do know what "pretty" is, and I'm hoping that'll be enough to go on. Like most other brides, I've perused magazines and websites for some inspiration photos.


For my bouquet, I wanted something soft and romantic. I thought a scatter of light pink blossoms would feminize our overall colour scheme (navy and forest green) and would tie in perfectly with my blush pink heels.






For my lovely ladies, I've decided to go a bit untraditional. In lieu of a bouquet, they will each carry a clutch with a bonbonniere pinned to it. That way, they still have a flower but they can carry their lady secrets too, lol. I've just secured another Etsy desginer to create the clutches, so more details to come on that! The Groomsmen will have matching flowers pinned on their jackets.



I'm still debating on what we should do in the church. St.Patrick's is HUGE, and chances are we're not going to fill more than the first few rows! Luckily, the church was renovated just over a year ago and is absolutely beautiful on its own. So we'll probably just decorate the first few pews with something like this:



As for the guest tables at the reception venue, we've decide that using books would be the best way to carry out our theme. We might have a few rose stems lying on the top book, but we haven't confirmed anything yet.



What sort of inspiration did you find for your flowers?

Wedding sites to pass the time

You've finished your report within the first hour at work and now you have eight more hours to kill. An extended lunch perhaps? Or maybe a smoke break...even if you don't actually smoke.

Then again - you don't have to go very far to pass the time. That's where the good ol' www comes in handy.

Here are a few wedding websites to check out - some are useful, while others are just entertaining :)

Rock n Roll Bride - 'Cause even the most conservative bride has a bit of rock n roll in them :)

The Clever Bride has a great post on how to leave your guests speechless after making your own speech.

Catie Ronquillo's photos are fun and fabulous. Consider yourself lucky if she's in your area!

Wedinator isn't for the overly sensitve types. If you can laugh at yourself and the whole wedding process, then you'll appreciate this.

Partease has a cute post on everything butterflies. Love it!

From the Desk of... Amy

My co-worker Amy proves that planning a destination wedding can happen from the comforts of her work desk...

"Sometimes an overly organized, control freak needs a well deserved break! That was my attitude when my fiancé and I set out to plan our wedding. We opted for a destination wedding right off the bat – a chance to get away with our family and closest friends and a good way to sit back, relax and let other people plan it for you. Sure there was some stress, but all in all it was by far the perfect choice for us.

The first step was choosing our destination. We decided on the Dominican Republic as it was one hot spot that we both had never been to and we had heard from several people that the beaches were to die for – and boy were they right! We figured that choosing a resort was going to be the tricky part as every travel brochure makes every resort look good and the online reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt. I didn’t have to go very far to get some ideas; it was in my very own office that two people suggested a particular resort as their friends had currently gotten married there. I told my fiancé right away and to my surprise he said that his co-worker suggested the exact same place! Little did we know that the recommendations would keep flying in throughout the year ahead, as more and more people exclaimed how wonderful the resort was! It was certainly an amazing feeling knowing we had made the right decision.



So what can I say about the planning? Well, it was pretty much organized all over email. In a day’s work I would be corresponding with my wedding coordinator in the Dominican Republic, sometimes several times a day. She was so quick and thorough, answering all my never-ending questions. In the end, the wedding day was summed up on a one page questionnaire which allowed us to choose everything from the ceremony site to the dinner menu. Easy peasy! Since it was so easy, even the Groom wanted to get involved. As we all know ladies, sometimes it feels like the man’s only duty is to show up. Well, not in my case. The Groom was just as pumped about the destination wedding and just how simple it was to organize that even he had a lot of say…even though I had the final one haha!



One thing I would highly recommend is having a very good and efficient travel agent. I think our biggest stress was dealing with ours. She was always slow to respond to our emails and messages and even had the audacity to not respond to our guests’ questions. It was pretty frustrating, especially when we were only a couple weeks away from our wedding trip and we still didn’t have our tickets! It wasn’t until the week before the trip that she finally apologized and mentioned that her father was recently diagnosed with cancer and she was taking care of him. Now, I’m not a completely heartless bitch, but I really wished she had told me sooner than later or maybe passed her workload on to someone else in her office. It would have definitely alleviated some stress in our lives and probably hers.



Ahhh…the wedding trip. There was no disappointment here. The resort was spectacular and the wedding day was truly one to remember. I figure it’s a great compliment when all of our guests asked if we could all go back again in a few years to renew our vows. Hmmm...do I sense another destination wedding to plan? Definitely!"


From the desk of Amy

Opt for a 'Stache

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I didn't sleep very well (my cat running around in the middle of the night may have had something to do with that), and the moment I got up, I knew I was grumpy.

I took a nice long shower and used some Bath & Body shower gel, hoping it would relax me. No dice. I decided to pretty up and pair up the outfit with some power heels, but again no dice. By the time I was out the door and on my way to work, I still couldn't shake off the grrrs and umphs.

When I got to my desk, I did my best to stay quiet and hoped that I could get through the morning without biting someone's head off. Unfortunately, I had a meeting at 11 that couldn't be avoided, so I put on my best pleasant face and sat quietly through the hour. Not easy, but at least everyone kept their heads.

Then I returned to my desk and found an e-mail from my co-worker and I finally cracked a genuine smile.



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Created by Humunga, it's a toy for your dog, and endless laughs for you! And if you're one of those cool offbeat brides who are planning to incorporate moustaches into your wedding, hopefully you'll have a dog available who can partake in the fun.

Regardless, wedding or no wedding, this is still pretty damn funny, and just the remedy I needed!

Our Venue - A Brew for Two (and 148 other people)

This weekend my FSIL and her husband are coming down for the day to visit and since they haven't seen our venue yet, Office Groom and I thought it'd be a great chance to take them over.

Then it dawned on me that I haven't posted anything here about the venue yet!

So, without further ado...


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Yup. A brewery!

Here's the backstory... I worked at the Steam Whistle Brewery throughout university. It was one of the best places to work and I made a lot of good friends and have a lot of good memories there. At some point, my best friend and MOH joined in for the fun which only helped create a new batch of fun memories. And yes, most of these memories include alcohol :)

In my last year of working there, I met Office Groom. I was actually out with a few friends from work when we (literally) bumped into each other. And well, the rest is history!

Since then, Office Groom and I have enjoyed some great parties at Steam Whistle and we still pass by from time to time to say hi and hopefully grab a free pint! So when it came down to picking our wedding venue, it was an easy choice!

We are beyond excited to party it up there on our big day. So far every time we've told someone where we're having our venue, the first thing they say is "You're going to have a fun wedding!" That's what we're counting on!

The brewery is currently going through some interior redesigning and from the sounds of it, it will look AMAZING. Last summer they did a major makeover on the exterior and it looks fantastic!


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The building itself is known as the roundhouse, and it was originally used for trains. Now a few of the trains are prominently displayed outside.

Aside from the rustic beauty, great people, and awesome downtown location, here are a few other cool features:

Full access to the patio which has a view of the trains, and an even more spectacular view of the city and the CN Tower.


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A photo booth!


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A fun wedding party lounge


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Oh, and DUH. Beer.

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Jack and Jill...

...Party, that is. Not the cute rhyme we all learned as kids :)

Although J&J's are becoming more and more popular in the world of weddings, there are still a lot of people who don't know what they are or how to organize one. In fact, even after attending a few J&J's myself, I wasn't quite sure what they were exactly, other than a fun party with money making games.

Most online sources, including Toronto Brides, defines a Jack and jill as a co-ed shower.

Generally, J&J's :

- Are less formal than a traditional bridal shower
- Include both male and female guests, usually close friends
- Include games and raffles to raise money for the couple

Who organizes this?
Like a shower, typically your bridal party would take responsibility for putting this event together. If it hasn't been brought up yet, it never hurts to mention it to your Maid of Honour or Best Man, but then leave everything else up to them!

Who do we invite?
If you're not planning on having a separate bridal shower, than you can invite anyone you want, but preferrably from your wedding guest list. If you are, than typically you would invite those who are not invited to the bridal shower (friends, co-workers, etc). And yes, you may certainly have a J&J AND Bridal shower, as long as your bridal party is cool with organizing it. Just don't be surprised if friends and family can't make every event. Weddings and wedding-related events can be expensive for everyone.

The date's set. Now what?
Again, what you do at your Jack and Jill is entirely up to you and your fellow organizers, but generally J&J's have fun activities for the guests to take part in, and to raise money for the couple. You also have the option of accepting gifts, but if you decide to do games instead or to have a separate bridal shower, it's probably best to indicate that gifts are not required for the J&J in the invite. It's all about etiquette, ladies.

Not sure what activities to have? Here are a few that the Office Groom and I liked from other J&Js we've attended:

- Raffle. Simple and fairly easy to do. The tough part is collecting prizes. Now's the time to ask a few favours from friends with hook ups. Gift certificates, professional game tickets, a free car tune-up - anything and everything will help!

- Booze Coin Toss. This one's fun to play and watch! Simply place a large bottle of booze on the floor (preferrably not carpet) and have participants stand several metres away. They must toss coins (luckily, Canadians have $1 and $2 coins!) at the bottle, and whoever gets it closest wins the bottle. Great game if you know a lot of drinkers :)

- Orange Dance. Couples on the dance floor please! Oh, but not before you place an orange between yourselves before you boogy down! Last couple with an orange between them wins. I witnessed my parents doing this at my brother's J&J and it was both hilarious and traumatizing.

- Cash bar. Not really an activity, but still fun to have! Set up a bar and charge a small fee for drinks all night.

A Stress-Free Registry - Yes, it's possible...

When it came time for me and the Office Groom to start our registry, we were both really looking forward to it. The idea of walking around a department store, scanning whatever our little hearts desired tickeled our fancy.

That is, until we actually started the process. Stress levels gradually heightened as we perused the store. There were too many coffee maker options, disagreements between this pot and that pot, and the sudden worry that we were asking for too many things...and too many expensive things. After only an hour of scanning we were done for and ready to go home and deflate.

Sound familiar?

How happy was I when soon after that experience I learned that this is common for most engaged couples? What is suppose to be a fun experience somehow turns into a chore - but it doesn't have to be this way! After that first hour of registering, the Office Groom and I learned some valuable lessons which made the second visit (and third, and an upcoming fourth) a breeze.

So grab some paper and a pen from your top drawer, and take some notes on how to have a stress-free Gift Registry:

A good excuse to buy another magazine
If you have some room after purchasing a dozen so bridal magazines, pick up a few new ones with a home decor theme. Look through it with your partner and the both of you should point out details and items that catch your eye. This will hopefully narrow down styles and avoid any surprises on each others' style preferences once you hit the store. The internet is also a wonderful source for ideas! Check out Kitchen & Bath Ideas for some inspiration. Nothing beats a classic like Better Homes and Gardens. My personal fave is Fresh Home Magazine which has great DIY projects and more contemporary styles.


Lists are your BFF
One big way to avoid the stress is to come prepared. Now that you and your partner have a sense of the style you want for each room, you should write up a list of items you would like / need on the registry. Walk around your place(s) and make note of which essential items are either missing or need to be replaced. When I first moved out of my parents place, I bought an inexpensive "kitchen in a box" at a grocery store that had every needed kitchen item. However, most of the stuff was either plastic or just down right poorly made, so a lot of it has to be replaced for the future home. Divide your lists by room: Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, Living Room, Dining Room.


Rome wasn't built in a day. Duh.
So don't expect to get your registry done in one session either. Pick a room and focus on that for the day. Trust me - on average couples work on the registry over 3 to 4 visits. It'll give you a chance to organize better and revise anything along the way.


Photo from Fortune Cookies By Gyda

Snow Day!

Remember the good ol' days of waking up in the morning to find a thick blanket of snow covering everything outside? And better yet - finding out that your school has been cancelled for the day?!

Sigh... I wish work would do that.

Nonetheless, being a Northern dweller, I've been a bit disappointed by the lack of snow this winter season, until this morning that is. I opened the bedroom curtains and there was snow everywhere! Absolutely beautiful. While some may groan, I think that snow can be an instant facelift to an otherwise drab and grey winter day, and I think anyone celebrating a special event should consider themselves lucky, if only for the amazing pictures they will be able to take.

Here's what I found on the good ol' www...

Why don't you Marry Me In Colorado?




Sadie and Loc celebrated their wedding on New Years Day, and Grazier Photography was there to document their special day.



An unexpected snow storm didn't stop this couple from having a winter wonderland wedding.



The perfect combination of tradition, season, and colour. LOVE her traditional Chinese red dress!!!

Stop Motion Wedding Invitation

If you and/or your partner have:

- loads of patience
- tons of time
- oodles of creativity
- great taste in music
- oh yeah, and an interest in stop motion...

...you should draw some inspiration from Corey & Rachel's wedding invitation:

Stamp of Approval

A while back a friend of mine was telling me about custom made stamps. She and her husband had designed their own with a photo from their engagement photo session and used them to mail out the wedding invitations (the only reason I didn't remember this was because she ended up giving us an invite in person).

So, I did a bit of research on it the other day - and all I gotta say is...

That's friggin' awesome.

Whether it's for a special occasion or just for everyday use, I think having my own custom stamps is a fun idea! After a quick Google search, I found sites for both Canadian and American stamps. The process is really easy and they cost just as much as a regular stamp (plus shipping costs).

I presented the idea to Office Groom last night, and after promising him that it wouldn't be a cheesy kissy-kissy photo of us, he was all for it. High five!

And while the idea of using a pic of my shoes is tempting (I can't help it, you should know by now that I'm obsessed with shoes), it definitely won't be this but I just wanted to give you an idea of what you can do!

Ladies - Start you engines...

Picture this: A gorgeous white limo pulls up in front of the church. Anyone lucky enough to be standing nearby can catch a glimpse of the beautiful bride, as she makes her first appearance. They catch their breath as the the driver comes to the side of the limo and opens the door. A cascade of beautiful white fabric falls to the floor, and underneath there's a slight hint of her crystal detailed shoe. The blushing bride begins to exit the vehicle, but her shoe gets caught on some fabric. "Rrrrriiiip." Getting out of this car is going to be a lot harder than she imagined. With a not-so-gentle push from her Maid of Honour still sitting inside, and the tug of the driver and wait, oh, now her mom, the now red faced bride finally gets out of the car, breathing heavily.

Absolutely beautiful.

Don't get me wrong. I love limos as much as the next person. But having been in my share of limos for past weddings and other special occasions, I can safely say this -they are damn hard to get of gracefully. And - it's been done.

So, if you're looking for an alternative mode of transportation for the big day, with either a touch of class, or a touch of "wow" or both, you might like some of these options:

Double-Decker Bus

No longer an exclusive vehicle to England, you can find these red buses in most major cities, such as Los Angeles for example. My brother and sister-in-law rented one of these for their big day and it was a big hit! After the ceremony there were several trips made for guests to check out the city before the last round of pick up for the bridal party to the reception. It's a great way to transport many people at once, and it's definitely got "wow" factor.



Streetcar

Live in a city of rails? Then why not use a streetcar to travel between locations? Toronto charters two different types of streetcars, one vintage and one modern. The price is a bit $$, but there's some satisfaction in having control over a public transporation vehicle :)



Karaoke Taxi Cab

The idea of singing "Chapel of love" on the way to the church makes me giggle. I'm also at my desk, so I have to stop thinking about it. One Dublin taxi driver knew how to do it right in his hometown.

From the Desk of... Marcie

Nothing says "Love" more than matching outfits and a Sears photo shoot. Read how Marcie and her husband Jon pulled off one of the best and most original wedding invitations I've ever seen...

"Ok. Here is how it started. Jon came across a Christmas calendar with David Hasselhoff. It was hilarious! Jon finds these types of pictures really funny, the kind that are super cheesy and ridiculous. We also saw these pictures in American Pie, Juno, and some other funny movies.

We decided to make a Christmas card that was really cheesy and similar to these types of photos. Our first card was the two of us, sitting by our tree, in silly sweaters and santa hats, holding all three of our cats. This became an annual Christmas tradition.

When the wedding was approaching, we wanted to save money and do a wedding invitation that was similar to our Christmas cards since we got such positive feedback every year for the hilarious pictures. Jon thought that it would be a good idea to get the pictures professionally done.

We went to Sears and asked the photographer to do really cheesy poses. We got our outfits from Value Village and just happened to find a pair of yellow shorts and a yellow skirt that matched perfectly. We found two white turtlenecks and two pairs of white golf shoes. We were a matching pair.

I decided to do my hair and make-up like I was from the 80's. We changed at the photography place, although I had to walk around with my 80's hair and make-up, and the photographer was awesome with understanding the exact cheesiness we wanted. We had the photos on a CD and just placed them on card in powerpoint and printed it off on blue paper. We kept the large 8x10 photos, framed them, and displayed them at the wedding.

It will haunt me until the day I die."

FRONT OF INVITE



INSIDE OF INVITE







From the desk of Marcie

How low can you go?

I'm not very good with hair. There, I said it. I've got a lot of it, and to be honest the lack of effort on my part is mostly due to the fact that I don't have enough time in the morning to do anything fancier than a pony tail (and I still manage to stroll into work 10 minutes late, wtf). So, no time to do hair = no time to develop skills.

BUT - I love hairdos. I appreciate the fine art and skills behind a braid or a bun, and secretly wish I could look like Evita every day. OK, so maybe not every day. But certainly on formal occasions. I'm thinkin' low and in a bun for the big day, which to me looks romantic, slightly more laid back than an updo, and has a touch of spanish flair to it (paying homage to my ancestors).

Here's what I found on the good ol' www:



Although I don't trust myself to pull off any of these looks on my own, it would be fun to experiment at home, and wear it out for a night on the town. Youtube to the rescue!



(The music is a tad annoying in my opinion, but still a very helpful tutorial)



(Unenthusaistic, but nice outcome)



(Very clear instructions. I love how it sounds like a corporate video LOL)

Inspiration Board: "Merry Wedding"

Christmas and Wedding Planning. Two of my favourite things.

Inspiration Board: "Blue & Hot"

When things are a bit slow in the office, I like to play around on Photoshop. Helped a lot when I was deciding on color scheme and themes, and I had so much fun putting together an inspiration board, I thought I'd create some more for other office brides out there! I'll also be sure to list what each item is and where you can find them on-line!

Introducing my first Inspiration Board - "Blue & Hot"



DRESS: Vera Wang
EARRINGS: Pookie and Pierre on Etsy
SHOES: Steve Madden Women's Trickked Pump
BM DRESS: J.Crew Embossed shift dress
BOUQUET: Botanica Floral Designs Blog
CUPCAKES: Coco Cake Blog