Three Years Ago...

I woke up at Hotel Max with my best friend and had breakfast at Le Pichet. Then we stopped at Nordstrom for some shopping before heading to my hair dresser to get our hair done. Along the way we picked up my other BFF (who flew all the way in from England to be at my wedding!) at her hotel.



After getting our hair done, we headed to the Blue Ribbon Cooking School which was also our reception hall to have our make-up done. My SIL and Mom met us there and we enjoyed some champagne and treats while prepping for the big event.



From there we moved onto the church where we met the rest of my bridal party and got dressed for my wedding. My flower girls were hilariously cute and one of them was very interested with my cleavage once I was in my wedding gown. I must admit that there was a lot of cleavage to be intrigued by.



Scott and I had decided to do a "First Look" and photos before the ceremony so that our guests didn't have to wait between the wedding and the reception. For my wedding gift to Scott, I made him socks and worked out a trade with a graphic designer for a special label for my gift. Scott wore the socks during our wedding and it helped keep his feet warm, thereby preventing any cold feet!



We then headed to Greenlake for some photos before hurrying back to the church for the ceremony. I was so nervous and I was grateful that my Father was walking me down the aisle. I needed someone to hold on to for the long walk. I was so excited that my knees were shaking. I remember standing in the stairwell waiting for our cue to head down to the church and telling my Dad that we needed to get this show on the road. The string trio started the music up twice which made me nervous but I later found out that we had a few late arrivals so they started over once they were seated.


Photo by Poopoorama

I wiggled through the entire ceremony and cried while Scott looked at me with tears in his eyes which made me well up! It was a wonderful ceremony watched by our family and friends. I still treasure the memories of looking out at all the people who came out to celebrate our day with us.



Once we were officially married, we headed out to the reception hall. The food was great! The atmosphere was fun and the company was divine! We had an awesome time celebrating with all our friends.



Our friends, Danny and Margaret took Polaroid photos for us all night long. We wanted some candid shots along with professional photos. Danny and Margaret love taking photos and had a great time mingling with everyone and getting photos. I think they look over 200 of them! I still have them in a box and I really mean to do something with them one day. I love sitting and looking through them and remembering the fun time we all had.



The next morning, I woke up as Mrs. Mongrain and while I may look surprised, I was thrilled. Scott and I spent a quiet day at home before heading off to Europe for our two week honeymoon. The short break between our wedding and honeymoon was very welcome. Planning a wedding is a lot of work!



Three years ago, I was lucky enough to marry the love of my life and today, three years later, I still feel blessed. We have an awesome kid, live in a delightful place and most importantly, we have each other. Scott makes me laugh everyday and is exactly who I hoped to marry. I am really one of the luckiest people. I love you, Scott!

Hitched!

We're hitched and riding off into the sunset! Tomorrow we head out to Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam for an awesome honeymoon. So far, I'm really liking this married thing. So much that I think I'll do it forever!

Two MORE DAYS!

I can hardly believe it but in just two short days, I'll get getting hitched to the most wonderful Smooshy in the world. (Yes, I call him Smooshy after my favorite yarn, Smooshy Sock).

Shortly after that, we're heading off on a honeymoon to Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam. I'll be back with wonderful stories and photos to share.

Right now I'm going to revel in being the luckiest girl alive, because right now I feel like I am!

Seven More Days of Being a Singleton

In 7 days, I will be getting married and all of this planning, stressing and hemorrhaging of money will be over with. I'm so excited to be getting married and even more excited that these last seven days will be spent calmly.

If I may brag a bit, I'm done with the planning, all done. All that needs to be done are those last minute details that just can't be done until well the last minute. For instance, I need to drop the programs off at the church but I can't do that until the Rehearsal and so on.

While I am an extremely organized person, the real reason that I'm done with the wedding planning so far in advance (I was done about a week and a half ago) is 100% due to the best iPhone App in the world.



It's called "Bridal Guide" and all I had to do was plug in our wedding date to get a list of "To-Do's". I love a good To-Do list with due dates and all that so this app was perfect. This guide has thought of every little detail and by following it, I didn't miss a beat.



The guide also has a contacts section, a budget guide and a planner section. I didn't use the contacts or budget section much but they were helpful. I especially enjoyed the planner section where different portions of weddings are explained. For instance if I wanted to know more about a groom's cake, the planner quickly explained it for me. (A groom's cake is typically shaped after the groom's interests and are smaller, masculine and usually chocolate.)



So if you are getting married and have an iPhone, RUN and get the "Bridal Guide". It will seriously save your sanity and help you relax in those final weeks before the wedding.

Getting Hitched

This past month has been full to bursting with so much activity. We decided to get our condo ready to sell and on Friday it goes on the market. It's been A LOT of work but I know that it will be worth it in the end. *Fingers Crossed* that it sells quickly.



While in the midst of getting the condo decluttered, painted and spruced up, we've been working on the wedding. Our lovely invitations were completed and sent out. We used Clarie Yam for the wedding invitation set and I couldn't be happier. These are the invitations I imagined when we set out on the invite road.



And while I anxiously await RSVPs, we've assembled the favor boxes and filled them with Jelly Bellies, wrapped the attendant gifts and then took everything to my parent's house for storage.



At this point, we're almost done with the wedding planning. There are a few more details to finalize along with a few more checks to write but we're feeling good about the wedding. Now if only the condo sells quickly so we can buy a house!

Engagement Photography Fun

Photos by Baisa Fotograferie

Scott and I recently had an engagement photo session with our wedding day photographers, Baisa Fotograferie. We visited the Seattle Outdoor Sculpture Park, the Seattle Public Library and the W Hotel. All of these places hold special memories for us and so we were excited to have them documented.


Photos by Baisa Fotograferie

I wasn't 100% sure what one did on an engagement shoot but Jackie was great about letting us know what we needed to plan for and gave us all sorts of poses to do. In return, we showed her our silly sides and ended up having a day of laughter and fun.


Photos by Baisa Fotograferie

We completely lucked out with a beautiful sunny day for our shoot so I guess my bargaining with God really paid off! It was great to work with Jackie and Rick before our actual wedding day. I can now say that they will take great photos of our special day and I'm so excited that they will be there to document it. I highly recommend doing an Engagement photo shoot. It will give you a chance to work with your photographer before your big day. It's a great time to get to know then and gives them a chance to get to know you as a couple. Luckily for us, Jackie is a friend but since I had never worked with her on a professional level, this was still a great opportunity to figure out her working style.

Jackie even wrote up a great blog post about her day with us. I think she had fun too! You can read the blog post here


Photos by Baisa Fotograferie

Wedding Madness

I've gone insane. I think about my wedding all the time. I yap about it non-stop. I swear people are going to be so excited when I'm finally married and shut up about it.

But I am being efficient in-between my yapping. I give myself weekly tasks to get done. This week is booking the rehearsal dinner location, booking the ceremony musicians and starting our registry.

So much to do and I'm having a great time doing it.

The STD's (Save the Date's)

This past weekend, Scott and I put our respective minds together and cranked out our Save the Date cards. I'm really proud of what we created together and feel so very lucky to have a Web Graphic Designer as my partner. He makes good stuff!

Scott is also working on the finishing touches to our wedding website and decided to use the same design for our STD cards.

I developed the initial photo concept and then we tweaked it together until we got a shot we both loved. I have some experience in taking pictures of myself (due to my 365 self portrait project) so I was able to draw upon that for our shot.

We decided to send out the STD cards via email to save ourselves some wedding funds. I however am insisting on paper invitations because I'm insistent that way.

And the best part of all of this is that I was able to cross yet another thing off the wedding to-do list of doom!

Bridezilla

unrelated photo that makes me LAUGH!

I've been obsessed with planning my wedding for the past few weeks. We've booked the church, the reception hall (which includes the decorations, flowers and cake), the photographer and reserved some hotels.

I've purchased my wedding dress (well my lovely Mum did), got my wedding shoes, purchased bridesmaid dresses along with sweet flower girl dresses and have begun planning the favors. I'm zooming through this process! I love zooming!



I have to honestly say that I'm not sure why you would need a year to plan a wedding. I think it would be nice if you like to take your time but me, I want to get married NOW! However we're getting hitched in April and that will be great since my wonderful wedding dress doesn't arrive until March 1. Yep that is what takes forever and is why you need so long. You need all that time for your dress be made and shipped to you. Whew!

AND we've booked our honeymoon! We're going to Paris and Amsterdam. I can not wait to enjoy Paris with Scott. Well I guess you all know why I'm so anxious to get married, I really just want to go to Paris with a very special man that I'll get to call my husband. I'm so very lucky.