A question of color...

How do you pick wedding colors? There are so many beautiful colors out there, and there aren’t many that wouldn’t work for any kind of wedding. So often we hear that certain colors are only appropriate for weddings in certain seasons (i.e. red, orange, yellow are fall colors, blue, silver are winter, and pinks, purples, greens are summer colors). Why do colors have to be bound to a certain season?

I have been flip-flopping between turquoise and yellow, and pinks and purples. Pink and purple are my favourite, but they’re also very girlie. I’m not sure how to do them so everything looks classy and not immature… I was thinking about adding charcoal to the mix.

Or how about apple green and black? Too trendy? Ack! How's a bride to choose?

I don’t know what has been happening to me lately but I have been looking at things like this:

As opposed to things like this:

Ah, homeowner-ship. Although we have 18 weeks before closing (but who’s counting?), I have been thinking a lot about how I want to decorate once we get into our new home. We just went the other day and picked all of our interior finishes. Think chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate! We chose lots of deep browns and light ivories… I think it’s going to look great. It’s pretty hard to picture everything together when you’re just looking at samples laid out on the floor, but hopefully we made some good choices.

Some more eye candy…

Ok ok. I promise there will be more wedding related stuff coming up soon!!

I know, I know, this is supposed to be a wedding blog right? But come on, there is only so much to write about 1.5 years away from our big day! Other important things are happening in our lives which give me a lot of writing material. Mr. Bluenoser and I have just purchased our very first home! We are so excited. We’ve been living together for about 6 months, but let’s face it: renting sucks.

So now we embark on this new and foreign endeavor. Our closing date isn’t until Feb. 26, 2010, but we’ve been visiting the site of our new home once a week for the last couple of weeks. The first week we went it looked like this:

This week it looks like this:

Quite a bit of improvement right? In two weeks we go to pick out all of our interior finishes and colors. I am up to my eyeballs in home decorating magazines and feverishly “googling” kitchen and bathroom ideas!

Here is some of our inspiration:

I think we have a pretty good idea of what we want and I cannot wait to see the finished product! Only 5 more months…

Photography!

After we booked the venue there was one other vendor we wanted to book early on: photographer! I did quite a bit of research, most of which ended in disappointed because our budget just wouldn't allow for most of the people I found. So I moved my search from trusty google.com to trusty kijiji.ca.

We found Pellerine Photography, a husband and wife duo. We set up a meeting with Kevin immediately. He has been photographing for many years, but just started shooting weddings. He is trying to beef up his portfolio, so they were willing to lock in 2009 prices for our 2011 wedding. We were very impressed with his professional attitude, and it really helped that he was from Nova Scotia!! Fairly quickly we decided to book and put down our deposit.

Boy am I glad we did! Their prices just went up, and by booking about two months a go, we're saving ourselves approximately 1K. Not bad eh? Check out their website:

http://pellerinephotography.zenfolio.com/

Adventures in dress shopping...

I have been dreaming about wedding dresses since I was a little girl. My tastes have certainly evolved. I am looking for something elegant, and want to stay away from poofy. I am fairly tall and I just feel like too much poof would make me look like a giant marshmallow. I'm sure my Mom is going to have different ideas on that front... Does every mother want their daughter in a huge princess dress?

This was the first dress I tried on that I liked. I like the rooching and the little detail under the bust. I also really like the volume of the skirt. Not too much, not too little. Perfect. But I didn't really get that "this is it" feeling that I was hoping for, so I tried on something similar...

This one was strapless (which I love) and had a similar but fuller skirt than the first one. I think I would get the neckline changed to sweetheart, but other than that I really liked this dress a lot. I felt very "bridey", and when the veil went on I felt a little teary! I decided to try on one more, with a little more detailing and "snazz".

This one had more detailing. It had some lace (which I loved). The straps were pretty, but I just wasn't feeling it. The skirt felt a bit plain. Also, it didn't have the fullness that I was hoping for. Which is funny since originally I thought I didn't want a full skirt...

I didn't find the perfect dress on my first outing, but that's ok. This trip was really just for fun. I know my Mom will need to be there when I pick "the" dress. It's important to her (and me as well!) that she be there. At least now I am one step closer to finding what I love: strapless, sweetheart neckline, rooching, and a bit of fullness!

And then came the venue...

So after we picked a date I did some major internet research to find the perfect venue. We're planning a small (~60 people) wedding, and finding a suitable venue proved to be pretty tricky! I knew I didn't want to do the usual hotel wedding. Sister Bluenoser got married in December and had an elegant restaurant reception for 22 people. I wanted to re-create the same mood and feel, but on a slightly larger scale. Luckily I stumbled upon this place...

The Courtyard Restaurant in the Byward market is exactly what we were looking for. They have a private room upstairs that has it's own bar! The maximum capacity is around 80 people, so it won't be too crowded. The place has been renovated since these photos were taken, the decor has been updated and it looks beautiful. We're so excited!

And first we picked a date...

We've decided to get married on May 21st, 2011. We're having a long engagement because the boy is working hard on getting his CA! The process takes about a year and it starts in a week or so. It works out perfectly because I have been dreaming of a springtime wedding with tulips for the last year or so.

I am imagining gorgeous photos at Major Hills Park with the tulips in full blossom. If possible I want to include tulips in all of the bouquets.

I sometimes wish we could have chosen a closer date but I am also really excited to have so much time to plan. Hopefully my crafty side will come out and I will have some kick-butt DIY (Do-it-Yourself) wedding creations!

So, do you wanna?

Welcome to my blog :) I am a 24 year old, Nova Scotian bride-to-be living in Ottawa with my sweetie. We have been together about two and a half years, living together for three months, and engaged for just over a month! We're planning a small intimate affair with family and close friends.

Much to the dismay of my parents, we decided to plan a wedding in Ottawa, where we live and where the Bluenoser Groom's family is. It was a bit of an internal debate I had with myself, I mean, traditionally weddings happen in the bride's hometown right? Well, after much thought (and some discussion), I realized that planning from afar would be unenjoyable, and I wouldn't get to be as involved as I would like. So here we are. We have set a date, found a place for the ceremony AND the reception, and booked our photographer. But more about that later, let's get to the good stuff!

I began to get antsy about a proposal almost as soon as we moved in together. I don't know what came over me but it felt almost like a biological clock for marriage instead of babies. I began to research, trying to be more reasonable with my ring choice (I originally wanted a Tiffany diamond). For as long as I can remember I have wanted an emerald cut diamond ring. After searching many websites, at long last I discovered the perfect ring. It was beautiful and reasonably priced. So of course I did what every other girl does, I visited

it. I went to the store to see it in person. And it was even more beautiful AND it was on sale. AND the reason it was on sale was because they were not going to be selling it anymore. So I did what any other girl would do, I had the lady write down the info and my ring size and I gave the card to Bluenoser Groom.

On a random Thursday when he could not bear to hold onto it any longer, he popped the question. We were in our spare bedroom and I was putting up a mini-blind, which required me to stand on a chair. He came in and I just happened to drop a screw on the floor, he knelt down to pick it up and when I looked down he was on bended knee, with the perfect ring, and he looks up at me and says, "So, do you wanna?"...