1. I was adjusting to married life?
2. I got busy?!
3. I got lazy?!
4. I got a puppy?!
5. I was learning how to cook for a man?!
6. I got a new job?!
AND
7. My computer took a turn for the worst!
A combination of all of the above occurred, but here I am! Brand new Mac and Mrs. Jones is back in action!
I guess I owe an update on the last year and 3 months. When I was looking over my blog the other day I realized I really did do a good job of updating it for a while - I hope to get back to that. Not that anyone reads this, but for my own sake.
I guess I will start with our wedding. It was a magical winter wonderland, surrounded by friends and family, and I got to marry the man of my dreams and - Thank God Its Over! #anyonelse? JK...no I'm not.
As an event planner that reaction may make no sense, but let's cut the shit on the whole wedding spectacle. It's an overwhelming shit load of decisions on things that don't really matter. The man matters, your friends and family matter and sharing your unity with them is wonderful - it is the hours of choosing the perfect invite and font and days I won't get back from pinning DIY projects that I don't have the time or talent to complete I have a problem with. I am not a patient person and wedding decisions are not quickly made. I drank a lot of wine during my year of planning haha seriously though it all paid off.
The best decisions I made regarding our wedding:
1. Doing a first look (as recommended by our photographers). It allowed Jeff and I to share our first moment seeing each other privately (minus the photographers, videographers, my hair dresser and my mother and 15 of our closest friends hiding the background haha). The pictures from our first look are some of my favourite and I treasured that moment of seeing him. For us the pressure left at this moment and when we reunited an hour later at the church it was STILL magical but without the nerves of seeing each other while 200 other people looked at us. I recommend this for everyone!
2. Doing a winter wedding. I always dreamed of a winter wedding and it could not have turned out more beautiful - the weather even held up lightly snowing.
3. Getting a wedding cape. It was like being 5 and playing dress up - only better! I almost loved it more then my dress, and that is saying a lot!
4. Going on a honeymoon 5 days post wedding. This allowed us time to hang out with our family and friends (some of whom travelled from Australia), celebrate new years with everyone, have time to relax and pack and then leave winter in the dust for Antigua - so amazing!
5. Hiring 2 photographers. Ours were a young husband wife team(Ilo Photography) that were the perfect people to have around all day. Dana felt like another bridesmaid and was such a calming influence on our long crazy day. They got so many amazing pictures - captured everything we wanted and more. Having them both there helped speed up picture taking time and get more in. I cannot say enough good things about them!
6. Hiring a videographer. I have heard not getting one is the #1 regret of brides and I can see why. The day passes in a flash and in watching our video I got to see so many moments I missed or forgot about during the day and it is a timeless keepsake with our friends and family included. Our video was magical I watch the highlight reel often, like just now haha. Gino Mancusa from Zoom HD is a wedding video wizard. Here is a link to our highlight reel: https://vimeo.com/91397317
7. My bridesmaids. I was surrounded by the most amazing woman I know, I felt so lucky to have them by side (all year and always but on our special day day). Getting ready with them and my mom in the morning was such a fun part of the day!
Bad decisions I made regarding our wedding:
1. Ordering my cake decorations (beautiful edible snowflakes) from someone on Etsy. I ordered them a month before our wedding after speaking with the lady an ensuring she could make them and ship them on time. Day before our wedding they had not arrived and the lady was a total so-and-so about it. They ended up arriving a week after our wedding. I was not impressed, her business is cake decorations all of which have deadlines. This was upsetting although our decorator decorated the cake and looked just fine to me! so it all worked out
2. Not getting a wedding planner (not that they exist in our city but still). Being the bride is awesome... having staff run up to you in a panic about where so-and-so is sitting is not. It would have been amazing to dedicate someone to being in charge of everything all night including things like getting your great-grandmothers wedding cake cutting knife back and ensuring your wedding envelopes are packed away safely. I found being the planner took away from the enjoyment of being the bride.
3. Not having enough time for family photos. *cue the stress* You want mama to get her photos (trust me) but you have to corral your father and brother-law-in and uncles and people loose their shoes and forget their jackets and go to the bathroom lol so allow more time then needed and if you can do these before wedding party photos...do it!
That's it really, no real complaints. Your wedding is just a day, (a day you plan for a whole friggin' year lol) so don't worry too much about it and enjoy it...but most importantly remember the day after the wedding that's when it all really begins!
Okay enough of the blabbing...here are some pictures from the day from our photographer's website http://ilophoto.ca/blog/http:/ilophoto.ca/blog/alexandra-jeff/
Some of my favourites...
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| At our first look |
Be back real soon...so much to cover!
