Office Bridal Shower - Blue Cake

Just got back from The Office Groom's work, where his co-workers organized a shower for us! There was so much awesomeness invovled in this shower, I think I'll write several posts.

Although it wasn't a suprise, I was genuinely in awe of how thoughful a gesture it was. The entire...and I mean ENTIRE office gathered in the common room and OG and I stood at center stage while his very cool boss embarrassed us LOL. We did a quick game of Marriage Prepatation (we had our backs to each other and had to answer questions about who is more likely to--fill in blank). Then everyone enjoyed some yummy blue icing cake and within seconds everyone was sporting blue teeth grins. Love it!

Engagement Photos Can Actually be Fun

That's what the Office Groom and I learned when we did ours a week ago. We hadn't planned on doing any but when our good friend Wendy who is currently taking photography lessons asked us to be her guinea pigs in exchange for free photos, we figured, why not?

And we are so happy we did them! Not only did she take some amazing photos...

... It gave us the chance to get the photo shyness out of the way before the big day.
... We were able to be more "ourselves" and take less traditional shots.
... We now have really nice photos of us in everyday clothes and locations.
... We learned what our "best sides" are and what we should do more of / less of (eg. I will avoid tucking my chin in).

So, without further ado, here is just a sample of what took place. We walked around The Annex and took photos of us doing everything from kissing, joking around in a playground, dancing, reading, and more kissing :) If you're wondering about all the back shots, it's just to keep up the secret identity for a bit longer! And if you're interested in more of Wendy's photography, you can check out her blog!

Stealing a kiss in our secret garden path


Book Smooch (For our Book Theme!)


Peek-A-Book


Taking a stroll in our neighbourhood


We love to dance

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.

The Pros and Cons of a long engagement

A bit of a backstory. My fiance and I got engaged last spring. Before that we had been together for over four years (and living together for 2 1/2 of those years). While the actual proposal was a huge surprise to me, we had been having the marriage talk waaaay before it happened, and early in our relationship there was no doubt in either of our minds that this was *it*.

Thus, we had figured out quite a bit before we were officially engaged. We had talked about who to invite and how many, where to get married (in a church), where to have the reception (another post on that) - that sorta stuff. And thank goodness for that because I have heard one too many stories of couples getting into arguments after the engagement about things that were "just coming up" or surprises.

After the proposal we quickly brainstormed the best time to get married, and decided that we would give ourselves a year and a half to plan - and more importantly - save up for the big day. It's been eight months since that wonderful night, and we have already done so much! The church? Done. The reception venue and caterer? Done & done (and gradually paying off every month). The photographer, the groomsmen attire rental, my dress & shoes, *take a breath* and the invitations? Doooooone.

Needless the say, one of the pros of having a relatively longer engagement is getting so much done in advance. It has also given us enough time to pay things off with actual money and not pulling out the plastic.

But - there's a flip side to it. Doing so much in advance does two things. One - It gives you too much time to think and rethink. I am very happy with all the choices we have made so far, but I'd be lying if I said that I still wasn't mildly interested with new bridal gown lines coming out, or not questioning whether we were to haste in our decisions. Two - You have to do everything in your will power NOT to talk about your wedding on a daily basis, thus making frenemies with everyone who has to hear about it!

So - what's a girl to do? Well, in terms of the first point, it's really helpful to schedule when you're going to do things. This is easier said than done, especially for an on-the-fly gal like me. Luckily, there's no way we could get everything done *now* because of one important thing - money. There's just so much we can pay for at a time, therefore I have no choice but to wait to get the next thing done, and for that, I'm thankful :)

As for the second point, I've discovered that the best way to get wedding talk out of my system is not with my fiance or my best friends, or even my mom... but with other women planning their weddings! Wedding Bee - I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

And when even those two remedies fail at times, I find that doing something completely unrelated to weddings (or work, where I am stuck in front of a computer) help. For this reason, I now own a cat, have a gym membership, and produce live variety shows with a group of friends :)

To all those ladies out there, painfully counting down the days until the big day - I salute you. I also feel your pain :)