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.

The Bridesmaids Dresses

When I watched the first Sex & The City movie, I knew that I wanted something similar to Carrie's wedding. That each Bridesmaid should wear their own unique dress; colour, style and fabric. But when our own wedding became a reality, OG told me that he wanted his guys to wear kilts, and I had to reconsider my vision for worry that it would look too busy.

Thus, the idea of Same But Different came to be. Each Bridesmaid could still pick their own dress, as long as it was the same colour and fabric. It was a great combination of both visions as it allowed each woman to express their own personal style, and still look uniform. And might I say, I had the best damn looking ladies to back me up on my big day :)

All of these dresses are from the Dessy line which includes designers such as Alfred Sung, After Six, and Dessy. The fabric was matte satin (not too clingy and enough movement to make the dress flow) and the colour was midnight blue (a great colour for all types of skin tones!)

The colours of the dresses tied in with the dark blue in the kilts. Don't we look like royalty?! Prince William, take notes.


Tyra would be proud.


Here's a closer look. They're so pretty!


S.B.D.? Success!

Photos by Shannon Lepere and friends.

Oh-So-Delicious-Cupcakes

It has been a while...I know.

But would you believe that it has also been one of the busiest months EVER at work? I returned to Toronto completely rejuvenated and relaxed from a wonderful honeymoon, and was welcomed back with loads of assignments, late hours at the office, and work-related headaches.

Lovely.

It appears as though that storm has calmed, and some normalcy has returned to my life. And with it, I can finally get back to writing here with some more recaps of the big day. Can you believe it's already been two months since then?

Today it's all about the cupcakes. Mainly because for the next two weeks I've promised myself not to have any junk food (I've gained weight since the wedding...seriously?! And the OG and I are going away in just a couple of weeks down south, yikes!). So if I can't eat it, I should at least be able to talk about it LOL

My co-worker Julie was the mastermind behind these delicious beauties, and they were a HUGE hit at the wedding!

The cupcakes had a table all to their own. We saved a few of the hard covers books we bought over the last year for this table. Notice the geek reference on the top book? :)



A little touch of pink, of course! And the cupcake book was such a great find! (Indigo Bookstore)



How's this for detail? Julie actually recreated the pattern on the mens' kilts! AMAZING!



We had so many guests tell us how yummy they were. Sadly I had all of one bite out of one, but I'm glad everyone enjoyed them so much. And I can't really complain because I had my share of taste tests before the wedding :)

Photos by Shannon Lepere.

The Dress!!!

This was probably the HARDEST topic not to blog about the months leading up to the wedding. But with the Office Groom dropping by the site every once and a while, I just coudln't risk him finding out! So with begrudgingly tight lips, I've kept it a secret but now I can finally do the reveal!

I found my gem of a dress at Ferre Sposa, a small boutique located on Bloor Street West. After trying one too many dresses at other stores, I was about ready to give up until I discovered Ferre Sposa while on a walk. The dresses displayed on the window front immediately gave me the confidence that this store would not disappoint, and once I had a look inside I knew that I was right.

The dress caught my eye almost instantly, with his bedazzled sweetheart neckline and gorgeous ivory satin fabric. And when I put it on - WOW! I felt like a movie star (coincidentally, when I looked it up online after trying it on, the description included the words "old HOllywood").

Like most images online, the photos I found didn't really do it justice. Although one shot managed to capture the amazing train.


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I loved how simple yet elegant it was. Personally I'm not one for too much beading and lace on a dress, but the Swarovski crystal detailing along the neckline was just perfect! Guests told me later that when I walked down the aisle of the church I was sparkling (literally and figuratively!).

Ok, ok... enough babbling! Here are a few photos of ME in the dress :)


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I'll have more photos soon of the detailing once I get them from our photographer!!

The Office...Wife

Hey ladies! Exactly one month ago from today, the Office Groom and I made it official!!!! I can't believe the time has come for me to say that, since it truly feels like I just started this blog last week. For the next little while I'm going to recap different details of the big day and eventually our honeymoon. Who knows, maybe some of you bride-to-bes can still benefit from it? And ok, fine...I'm still on a high from that day and am in no hurry to stop talking about it LOL

Today, I just wanted to simply say this - it was an amazing day. All the planning, ups and downs, compromises, changes, arguments - it was worth it. I have never felt so much love, or that special than on that day, and if I could somehow bottle it up to have whenever I'm having a bad day, I would :)

If any of you are going through a down point right now while planning, remember why you're doing it (marrying your soul mate, I hope), and that it will all be worth it at the end!

*Out Of Office*

Today is my final post as an Office Bride! In just a couple of days the Office Groom and I will share one of the biggest moments in our lives together and with our closest family and friends. This morning my entire department celebrated with me in my boss' office with some champagne and warm wishes. And later in the day some of my lady co-workers surprised me with some naughty gifts for OG and I! Side note - why are edible boxers not chocolate flavoured like the panties? Pina Colada? Gew.

I'd like to thank you all for being my extra eyes and "ears" throughout this whole process. What started as a means for me to get wedding talk out of my system became something so much more. Thank you for following my blog, for your kind responses and for sharing your own stories.

Still haven't decided yet whether I will continue this blog after the big day - I have a few new blog ideas I'd like to try, and hopefully a few of you will continue with on with me :) I"ll definitely do some recap though - I haven't revealed the dress yet after all!!

But either way... thanks for reading! And for those celebrating soon, best of luck!!!!

The Office Bride

Cramming in some Crafts

With just 4 days left until the big day (CRAZY!), I have been in Super Craft mode. The Office Groom and I have been collecting books for the last year and a half and I was finally able to put them to use. The photos don't do any of our arrangement justice, especially with all the crap behind them, but hopefully it will look awesome in the actual space with everything else.

GUEST / GIFT TABLE
A stack of books with a flower arrangement (the pink box is just a plce holder) on top. There are loose book sheets underneath. The gift box and guest book tie in our colours.



DESSERT TABLE
I'm all about recycling and reusing. So when I saw these pots at my bridal shower, I wanted to use them again. Luckily the ribbon around them mathces our colours (and OG kilt) perfectly! There will be cupcakes in the pots, and then rest of them will be scattered around the books.



DINNER TABLE
My personal fave. We picked up books with all of our guests in mind. Everything from music, comedy, video games, hockey, and travel. Hopefully most of them will notice the titles and realize the connection :) At the end of the night one lucky guest at each table will get to take the books home.



There were a lot more crafts done over the weekend with my BMs. More photos to come!