Toronto Bees Brave the Rain

Last Wednesday the Toronto and GTA Bees braved a huge rainstorm and got together at Hemingway's for some food, drinks, and, of course, wedding talk.



From left to right: Arancia, Bakerella, Miss Knitting, Yes, Worldfairy, Marlew

Some of our favourite topics included saris (Arancia's having one made for her homecoming wedding reception in Sri Lanka), sparkles (Yes has decided on quite a few), new jobs and career changes (not exactly wedding related), raw food (go try out Raw Aura), wedding dress fitting and alterations, and the cupcake disappointment I've had (I'll tell you about it soon). All in all it was a great evening and I can't wait to do it again soon!

Flower Power

I was a bit apprehensive about my next bridal party dress finding adventure because of the fact that my first one wasn't very successful. Nevertheless I set off with my younger sister and FG extraordinaire with high hopes. In case you've forgotten why I have grown up FGs you can catch up here.

Unfortunately, here's what was waiting for us at the first store:



Oh no! Apparently I'm cursed to show up at closed stores for all my dress shopping outings. Luckily, they really were just closed for 10 minutes and we had a lovely time playing dress up in my favourite store. Unfortunately, no luck finding a FG dress here.

Luckily, we found the perfect dress at the next store we visited, HUH. Here it is:



I love it because it fits in the the colour scheme I want (some combination of burgundy, pale pink, and gray), but it is really a dress that fits the personality and style of my sister. That it's from an independantly owned local Toronto store makes it even more perfect.

Obviously she had to test it out for boogeying potential.



Now that one of my FGs had a dress, it was time to focus on my other baby sister. Instead of having her buy a dress it was determined she would borrow one. Obviously we had to make this into a big event that we titled "Flower Girl Dress Up Day".

It began with orange lemonade and strawberries. As you can probably tell from this picture, it's basically impossible to get anything other than a ridiculous picture of these two. As soon as I whipped out the camera they began talking in British accents and waving strawberries around in the air.



Then we began trying on dresses. Here's dress #1:



This didn't fit well at all and was definitely too short. On to dress # 2:



I loved this one, but it wasn't either of my FGs favourites so we moved on to dress #3:



I thought this one was lovely and it was both of my FGs favourite so that's the one we're going with. It photographs lighter than it is but even so, it's not exactly the shade of burgundy I had in mind. However, I'm not the sort of person too get too caught up in colour schemes. For me it's more important that she's wearing a dress she likes.

Next we had to make sure they looked good together and of course, test out the joint boogeying potential.





Next we tried out a few accessories I had lying around the house. Here are a few giant flowers I picked up at Fabricland last Christmas.



This is a Flower Girl cone I won from The Wedding Co.



Here they are in action, along with a Christmas basket I had lying around:







I think we still have some work to do in terms of making them properly accessorized FGs, but it's nice to have their dresses all set. It was also just a really fun way to spend an evening with two of my favourite people.

How have your wedding planning sessions turned into fun bonding moments?

It's Not Going to be the Best Day of My Life

I've heard a lot of people say their wedding day was the best day of their life or that they expect it to be the best day of their life and I just can't relate. I do not expect my wedding to be the best day of my life and, frankly, future me is going to be pretty disapointed if it is.

I love this guy, but marrying him better not be the highpoint of our lives:



Don't get me wrong, I am so excited for our wedding and I know it will be a very special day. It might even be the best party I ever attend, simply because I'm going to be surrounded by all my favourite people (and a couple strangers!). However, despite how excited I am and how much effort I'm putting into the wedding I really don't want it to be the best day of my life.

I sincerely hope that one day Mr. Knitting and I will have professional successes that make me even happier and more proud of myself and my husband than our wedding day. I firmly believe that we will have happier moments with our future children and I suspect that becoming parents may in fact be one of the best days of our lives. Who knows, it might even be a completely random day that ends up being the best day of my life.

Basically it comes down to the fact that while I expect my marriage to be an integral and very precious part of my life, I do not expect or want my wedding day to be the best day of my life. It will be a day, it will be amazing, it won't be the best.

Where do you stand on this?

Face Paint for Grown Ups

I'm currently in the middle of trying to figure out what to do about my makeup and I have to say I'm a bit stumped. I've had my makeup done once, and while the makeup artist did a good job, I wasn't the biggest fan of how I looked. I just didn't really feel like me.

Proof that not all makeup artists are worth the money (if you haven't read Mrs. Cupcake's post on her disastrous makeup trial do it now):


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I recognize that there are fantastic makeup artists out there who certainly would do my makeup really really well, but I'm not sure that makeup is something I want to spend $100 on (and that doesn't even include the apparently necessary makeup trial). Does anyone else think it's ridiculous that if someone is going to charge you around $100 to do your makeup they should be able to get it right on the first go?

This has made me think that perhaps I should consider the DIY option. I'd be okay with splurging a bit on good quality products, because I can justify the cost since the products will last me long after the wedding. My concern with this is that I'm no makeup genius. I can make myself look decent with the small amount of makeup I wear, but I certainly have no clue on how to most effectively make my skin look good in pictures.

Basically it comes down to I don't really want to spend money on a one time makeup application, but I also don't want to regret my decision to do it myself. I need advice. Ladies who did your makeup yourself: were you happy with your choice? Any regrets? Any tips on how I can most effectively do my makeup myself?

Toronto Meet Up

Calling all Toronto and GTA bees. We're having a meet up on July 28th at 7pm at Hemingway's and I'd love to see you all there!



If you'd like to join us for drinks, snacks (mmm sweet potato fries), and of course lots of wedding talk, RSVP here.

Imperial Russia Meets Cozy Christmas Vintage

When we left off I was swooning over the look and design of Imperial Russia, but I wasn't sure if that could be worked into the wedding in any way. This past Sunday at the St. Lawrence Market Antique Market I found the perfect item to incorporate my love of Imperial Russia into our wedding.

Here it is:



What is it, you ask? It's my version of a ring bearer dish! I am in love with the Paloma's Nest Ring Bearer dishes and I'd been looking my last few visits to the antique market for something I could use as a substitute ring bearer dish. My original plan was to find a small Wedgewood Jasperware plate or small dish like this one.


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I see these all the time at the antique market and thought one of these would work really well, especially since our reception will be held in a room painted to look like Wedgwood Jasperware.

However, once I saw this dish I knew I had to go with it. It's so original and gorgeous and I think it's the perfect way to incorporate my love of Imperial Russia in a subtle way!

What are you using to carry your rings during the ceremony?

Adorable

I know I promised to reveal my Russian purchase today, but I was shopping at The Paper Place in Toronto and I found the most adorable jam labels that I just had to share.



I'm a tiny bit sad I've already figured out my jam labels, otherwise I'd be very tempted to make something like these...

Have you ever found something for your wedding, just a tiny bit too late?

Eggs, Dolls, Sisters, and Tsars

I love the look of Imperial Russia. I realize it was a problematic society, but I think the Russian court was so incredibly beautiful and stylish. I'm not totally sure where this fascination came from, but being half Ukrainian I was raised on many Russian fairytales and I think that might have something to do with it. I was also completely obsessed with the Romanov family after watching Anastasia when I was 10 and that's really stuck with me. Here's a few images to give you an idea of what I love about Imperial Russian design.

The gorgeous palaces. They're over the top and dramatic, but also seem like a fantastic place to spend a winter afternoon:


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Russian fairytales are wonderful. If you haven't read the Firebird or Vasilisa, go do it now:


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The always wonderful Faberge Eggs. My family has quite a few of the regular Ukrainian painted eggs, but nothing like these. The Met used to sell a Faberge Egg charm bracelet and I'm pretty sad I never bought it...


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Incredible clothing. Russian court dress was so over the top and glamourous. I think this dress is gorgeous and really wish I had some reason to wear things like this in my life. I need a fancier life:


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Matryoshka Dolls. I'm not sure if the ones in this image are technically Imperial Russian, but you get the idea. I grew up with matryoshkas in our house and I really love them. They seem to be pretty popular at the moment because I keep finding them and items inspired by them (jewellery, cooking items...etc) every time I go shopping in Toronto:


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And, of course the Romanovs. They were such a beautiful family. I especially love the pictures of the 4 Romanov Grand Duchess and wish that similar pictures existed on my sisters and I:


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When I was originally thinking of inspiration for our wedding I knew I loved the look of Imperial Russia but I suspected that it was really too over the top for our wedding. As a result, Imperial Russia won't have too much of an influence on our wedding. However, at my visit to the St. Lawrence Market Antique Market this week I found the perfect item to incorporate my love of Imperial Russian design into the wedding. Stay tuned to find out what it is!

What are some of your favourite design inspirations?

Favourite Things: Headbands

Until pretty recently I thought headbands were stupid. Whenever anyone mentioned headbands all I could picture were the hideous ones I owned growing up in the early nineties. Now that I've seen some of the completely gorgeous headbands that are around today I've completely changed my mind and am now pretty obsessed with gorgeous headbands.

This is the one that makes me a bit sad that I already have something to wear on my head for the wedding.


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It's a key! I am in love with vintage keys so this immediately caught my attention. I'm not totally sure if I love it as a headband or if I'm just really excited it's a key.


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I tend to squeal (in a grown up and sophisticated way), "Oooh poppies" whenever I see poppies, so obviously I'm a big fan of this one.


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A poppy field!



A few more bridal beauties.


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I'd love to wear one of these for our wedding, but between my headpiece and my scarf, I think I have enough head accessories going on. I'll just have to have these for other occasions. I suspect headbands will be making an appearance in many of my future formal outfits.

Are you a headband bride?

Flower Strategy or How Many Flowers Can I Do Away With?

Don't get me wrong, I love flowers. However, being a budget bride means that I really do have to pick and choose which elements are most important to me. I love fresh flowers, but unfortunately they are one of the items I'll be saving on.

Lovely centerpieces that I can't have:


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I originally thought I'd be saving on flowers by DIYing it, but then I remembered how I'm not very good at DIY and that having to produce a whole bunch of floral arrangements the morning of my wedding would probably kill me and make my wedding morning quite unpleasant and stressful. There would probably also be a lot of tears, which would interfere with my attempt to look lovely and fresh!

Anyway, my strategy now is to find as many floral alternatives as possible. Here's the two alternatives I've already decided on:

1) The Faculty Club will be decorated for Christmas, so I don't need to worry at all about any floral decoration for any of the rooms.

2) My bridesmaids will be carrying lanterns instead of bouquets. Here's an image of the Ikea lanterns I bought for my maids. I may have made my sister walk down the aisle in Ikea quite a few times before deciding on these ones.


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3) The ceterpieces are going to involve mason jars, candles, and perhaps some pine. They haven't really been figured out yet, but I do have a vague idea about what I want.

Here's the things I still need to figure out:

1) Boutonnieres and corsages. I think I could probably just do away with these and not bother with an alternative, but I'm open to any ideas...hint, hint!

2) Something for me. I would be open to carrying something non-floral myself, but I'm not sure what. I love the idea of carrying a book, but I don't know that I have a book that is special enough to Mr. Knitting and myself to warrant being included in our ceremony.

3) Something floral for the flower girls. I suspect even I can't get rid of flowers for the flower girls...

What's your favourite flower alternative?

My Bridal Opposite

...is my older sister. I feel like pictures of my sister's wedding turn up in a lot of my posts and I figured it would be a good idea to just come out and do a post about the wedding.

The gorgeous bride and groom:


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My post title isn't entirely truthful, as my older sister isn't exactly the bridal opposite of me. I think in the end we both wanted intimate little weddings, but while I am super interested in every little detail (font size, table numbers, including as many personal details as possible..etc), she didn't really care about any of that. She just wanted to get married and have a good time doing it.

Instead of doing a whole play by play of the entire day, I've decided to show you what kinds of things she did and did not really care about.

Things my sister didn't care about and didn't spend any time or energy stressing over:

Flowers


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She let her MIL pick the flowers out and had no idea what they would look like until about an hour before the ceremony.

Bridesmaids Dresses


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We each picked out our own. My sister could have cared less what we wore. You'll notice I clearly wanted to be identified as the MOH.

Centerpieces


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I don't think my sister would have even noticed if there hadn't been a centrepiece. Her SIL came up with these.

Things she cared a lot about:

The ceremony


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They wrote the ceremony themselves and it was fantastic. So incredibly personal and touching, but also really funny. One of the highlights was the rhyming poem my older sister wrote about their relationship and was read by my younger sister. I believe it began, "She met him at a party/ He did not want to dance/ He asked her for her number/ and soon began their romance."

Look how much fun our parents were having during the ceremony:


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Looking her best


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Like most (all?) of us, she wanted to look and feel her best. On an unrelated note, my sister is one of those people who look good even in a wetsuit. It turns out training for triathlons keeps you in pretty good wedding shape.



Throwing a great party

Ultimately, my sister and her husband really cared about showing everyone a great time. I think you'll agree that they did...


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Although in true opposite style, Mr. Knitting and I got tired early. We're not exactly the party animals of the family...


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I know a lot of us on the 'bee definitely care a lot about details and I know for myself that I can occassionally get caught up thinking that no one will enjoy the wedding if every single little detail isn't perfect, but I think my sister is a great example about how in the end, none of that really matters. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited about all my details and am always excited to hear/see what other couples have come up with, but in the end even if not a single detail of mine works out I know I can still have an incredibly fun filled wedding that will be very personal and really enjoyed by all our guests, just like my detail free sister did!

Do you have a bridal opposite in your family?