Engagement Photos!

People are right – time does fly by! Life in general has been really busy recently, let alone planning a wedding!

We’re trying to squeeze in tasks when we have free time, which is difficult considering my fiancé’s condo flooded and I’ve been travelling a lot for work. But, last week we ordered our wedding rings! We are getting them engraved with our wedding date. We also booked our videographer, after lots of research (some of them are crazy expensive).

But most importantly, before the Canadian winter started we took our engagement photos! We just got the files last night and we love them!!  We had so much fun taking the picutres too. Our photographer is a really close friend of mine who is an amazing wedding photographer! She made us feel so comfortable and natural which I hope reflects in the photos. Here are a couple sneak peaks to preview:

The holidays are right around the corner, which I am just realizing are my last set of holidays before getting married!! The feeling has always been real, but the closer we get and the more tasks we complete, it just sets in a little more. There are only 338 days left until we tie the knot! 10.28.17

The Countdown is on! 1 Year to go…

The Countdown begins! It is exactly one year until our wedding day! I pulled out a wedding checklist last night that I bought when we first got engaged. Everyone keeps telling me these next 365 will go by so fast, so I have to make sure I am on track with everything. Sometimes I look forward to it with a bit of an overwhelmed feeling, because I have no idea what I am doing. But most of the time I am just really excited to marry my best friend and have a party with all my family and friends celebrating love!

After reveiwing the checklist, I quickly learned that not only am I on track, I am even ahead of schedule on some things (teamwork for the win!). Most of the checklists that I have seen suggest that 12 months before the wedding, you should:

• Come up with a budget and style for your wedding  – done and done
• Hire a wedding planner – lucky for me, my sister is a professional one and loves me so much!
• Pick your wedding date – 10.28.17
• Start planning the guest list – 400 people later, I think we have it down pat
• Book ceremony and reception venues – check
• Start registry – if you read last week’s blog, you know how much fun we had doing that

So, I have all those completed, and then some – we hired a photographer and I bought my gown.

I really hope this year doesn’t go by quickly so we can enjoy the process together, but if the last few months are any indicator, we are in for a fun ride!

365 days left until we tie the knot – 10.28.17

Registry Fun!

I used to sit with my sisters flipping through random catalogues mailed to our house, and when we turned a page we would all immediately point to what we would choose to have from that page. I got to do that in real life today!!

My fiancé and I went to a scanning event this weekend for our wedding registry at our favourite department store. Needless to say, it was so much fun – we got to decide what we wanted to prepare our future home together. We didn’t realize how many different kitchen tools we would need, nor how many different options there would be of everything.

I love learning new things about my fiancé. We have been together for 3 years and known each other for 4, so I have learned a lot, but there’s always something new. I knew we were compatible, otherwise we wouldn’t be engaged – but our vision for our future home together was so in sync. We were looking at a huge silverware wall with maybe 30 or 40 options and we both brought a fork to each other we liked and it was the exact same fork.

We spent maybe 5 hours browsing their home selection, and probably only completed about a quarter of what we imagined we would – but it was all such a great time. We had a blast (as always) and can’t wait to return and finish our registry. We both appreciate the same sense of style and it makes me so much more excited to build a home together with him after we tie the knot – 10.28.17.

 

 

I said yes to the dress!!!

I can hardly believe it!! I was definitely not expecting to fall in love with a dress on my first time shopping for one. But I did, and I am so happy!!

I was very overwhelmed walking in. There were rows and rows of dresses, all different shapes, different shades of white – it was crazy to see how many different styles there were. My consultant for the day was trying to ask me questions to narrow down her search, but I was clueless! Thank goodness I brought my sisters and my fiance’s sisters along. They navigated through the aisles together, coming back with a few dresses to start.

It was fun trying everything on. I was  surprised at how comfortable I felt in more than one style – which was only going to make it harder to narrow down my search! I tried on halter, strapless, sweetheart, illusion – I tried on mermaid, ball gown, sheath, a-line – I tried on lace, tulle, heavy beading – I tried it all on! (probably around 30 dresses) It was helpful trying everything on because I could eliminate certain styles or necklines.  I normally don’t particularly like trying on clothes for too long, but I was loving it. I felt like so beautiful in each dress.

At the beginning there were things I liked about each dress, but I just didn’t love the dress as a whole. I was imagining putting all the qualities that I  liked together to create my dream dress. Obviously I couldn’t do that, though. But my family was listening to the things I liked and went on a search for those qualities.

I tried on this beautiful one, and I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I loved it. I had the alterations lady come by and show us how she would bustle the train. I loved it, but I didn’t have the feeling that it was my dress. The next one I tried on I felt it. I didn’t even have to look in the mirror. It felt so light, which is perfect for dancing (which I will be doing a lot of on my wedding day). It fit me so perfectly. It had a soft a-line bottom, but the top is this beautiful, intricate lace with such a lovely soft pattern. I wish I could show you – but not yet!!

Needless to say, I am so happy and excited. It’s all becoming a reality – tying the knot 10/28/17.

 

 

 

 

first attempt at wedding dress shopping – yikes!!!

So this weekend, I have planned a date with my family and my fiance’s family (girls only) to check out wedding dresses for the first time (despite the fact that Canadian thanksgiving was less than a week ago, and I have probably eaten more than enough for two weeks in two days). I’m kind of excited, but also very nervous. Everything seems so real all of a sudden.

I love wedding dresses, I love browsing through them in the many magazines I have been gifted since getting engaged, but I have absolutely zero idea what I want for my special day. Unlike typical little girls, I never used to fantasize about my ideal dress, so I am a complete blank slate. Most people tell me that is a good thing because I will try any style, but I just feel a bit overwhelmed. Naturally, I am very indecisive, but think about it – there are like over a hundred different combinations of styles you can have: mermaid with sweetheart neckline, or how about mermaid with a halter neckline, maybe mermaid with illusion, or what if you don’t want mermaid? Maybe A-line, ball gown, peplum, and the list goes on. Maybe you want a combo of satin and lace, or maybe some tulle, heavy beading perhaps? Where do you begin?

As if those choices weren’t enough, I have 6 people coming with me (all who I love dearly) – which means 6 different opinions, 6 different sets of eyes!!

But like I said, I am excited. I think it will be a very fun experience. The reality of everything, I am sure, will hit. I am excited, because it is one step closer to my dream coming true. One step closer to tying the knot – 10.28.2017

we’re engaged. what’s next?

May 4th is a date I will never forget. Not only because my fiance is a bit of a nerd and likes Star Wars too much (“May the Forth be with you”), but because he also chose that date to ask me the most important question in both of our lives (“Will you marry me?”).

After a few days, weeks, months of letting it settle in that I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, I realized – oh crap! we have to plan this thing – our wedding. Where do we begin putting all of our ridiculous, silly, nonsensical, sometimes good ideas into reality? How long will it take us to plan this wedding? How much will it cost – especially since I am Greek, and have a big (albeit amazing) family? What is the next step? We talked about a budget once upon a time when dreaming of our future together, but how close was that going to be to reality? ***Spoiler alert: very far from reality!***

As we started slowly looking into things (and I mean really slowly – we didn’t want to get overwhelmed) we realized that whatever budget we thought we had was way off. I’m Greek, and although my fiance isn’t Greek, his family is almost just as big, so right off the bat, our guest list is much bigger than we initially talked about. We knew there were some cultural traditions we wanted to follow, but didn’t realize how many there actually were. We quickly realized we were in for a ride, so we learned to hold on tight, keep our hands inside the ride at all times, and try to have fun while screaming inside.

Follow along as we try to plan the wedding of our dreams – all the trials and tribulations we face, all the times we pretend to know what we are talking about, all the hilarity of planning a big fat Greek wedding in today’s DIY, creative world as we look forward to tying the knot…10.28.2017