Oh so exciting

So went to my first wedding show this weekend. Well scratch that; first wedding show as a bride. It's a lot different as a bride then as a bridesmaid. You actually have to think about a lot more ideas and keep track of prices and detail. As a bridesmaid I just had to worry about shoes and a dress and sit back and enjoy the cake. Well no there is a little more to it then that is there. But anyways what fun the show was. My Matron of Honour was so sweet. She carried my bag around so I wouldn't have to carry anything and therefor just concentrate on talking to the vendors and getting ideas and prices. Apparently we offered this treat to her so who am I to argue.

I think the best part of these shows though is the cakes. I don't think I've seen so many different types of wonderful cakes in one place. And best of all you get samples! I think I must have eaten about 5 different types plus a strawberry dipped in the chocolate fountain. Mmmm was that ever good though. Don't think we need that at the wedding but they do look cool. My only thought was though after eating all this "where's that wedding crunch boot camp booth. I think I need to sign up for a session now.

So this upcoming weekend is going to be interesting. I booked a time to go try on dresses. Not sure how I'm going to react when trying them on but I guess we'll find out now won't we. I just hope it doesn't hit me like a ton of bricks. Don't need to go soaking up the dress before the big day. But I'm looking forward to it so who knows what will happen. It's very exciting but kinda nerve racking at the same time!

Can I Relax Now?

Well I'm finally feeling like things are going our way. We've got a ceremony location and now we've also got our reception location booked. Yes that's right the Scottish Cultural Centre got back to me and the dates are all confirmed now. Feels so good to know that things are finally progressing after so many months of waiting and not being able to do anything.

We went and took a look at Van Dusen on Friday and were very happy with it. I think we're going to go back though and see what other options we have for ceremony layouts if the weather is good. She only showed us the area where a tent could be set up if it rains so we want to see what our other options are. We're also going to try to scope out photography locations as well since they claim they can be quite a popular location for wedding photos during high wedding season.

We go on Thursday to sign the contract with the Cultural centre and have a walk through. It will be nice to see what we can work with so I can start getting ideas for decorations and layouts. We were suppose to have done our engagement shots today but the weather didn't agree with us so they've been put off another week now. Everything just seems to be coming along either fast or nicely. I haven't decided what. With photo shots, venue walk through's and upcoming wedding shows I just hope I can keep up with it all and stay on track!

Two steps forward, one back

So we thought everything was moving along swimmingly when we got a taste (again) of a minor set back. Turns out that FCYC is booked for a venue already on September 13 so looks like we're back to the drawing board on finding a reception venue. Going to start calling around at the Scottish Cultural Centre and Shaunessy Restaurant at Van Dusen. The SCC would be well in our budget and allow us our own food and beverages, but the restaurant is right on site and could be a nice place for people to go to get drinks and food right away if they want. If neither one of those work then I guess you'll be finding me next to the phone calling up every hotel, community centre and hall in the Vancouver area!

Let the planning begin

Hooray! We FINALLY have a date. So I'm a little miffed though that Van Dusen was taking bookings during the strike and did not inform me of this when I first contacted them. It just means though that we didn't get our first choice of dates but we did get our second so September 13, 2008 it is! Oh it feels so good to actually have something secured now. However poor dear fiance of mine will now get the joy of hearing me plan and sort out all the other details to come. He's a very good sport though and I think secretly deep down he likes it. However there still comes the fact that we have not viewed the actual location we picked to be married in so I will still have to contact them sometime next week and set up a viewing. Also we do not have a contract drawn up since that has to be done with the booking coordinator who doesn't know when she will be back to work. The lovely strike...um strikes again? The inside workers have made an agreement but the outside workers have not so until everyone is happy, no one works at Van Dusen yet. Oh well the most important thing is we've reserved the date, it's more than 11 months away and now we can start planning all the rest of the fun stuff. YEH!

Home sweet home

So we're back after an amazing trip. Ireland and Scotland are two very beautiful countries and it was very tough to come home. Can't believe though that when we did come home the strike was still on. I wouldn't have thought it could go this long. I thought for sure everyone was going to want to be back to work before Thanksgiving. Oh well. Not much we can do now but still sit back and wait.

So I didn't end up getting my tartan like I had hoped in Scotland. It turns out there are many different dye lots and patterns to choose from that we decided to do a bit more research at home here and then just go to our local Celtic heritage store and talk to them and have them order it in for us instead. Not quite the same I know but at least this way we know we get what we want.

Otherwise planning is still at a standstill right now. May start picking up the stuff for the invitations soon (paper, embellishments, etc.) but until the strike is over I don't really have much enthusiasm to want to plan anything right now. It's not exactly fun yet so I hope that changes real soon!