A Cozy Christmas Wedding: Kerchief Time

After our first dance it was time for the Ukrainian kerchief ritual which I have written about here and here. Essentially this is a ritual where the bride's veil is removed and replaced by a kerchief, thus signifying her entrance into wifedom. My mom did this at her wedding and I was excited to do it at mine.

After we finished our first dance we cleared the floor and my sister explained the ritual to everyone.



I think normally the bride's mom is the one who actually removes the veil, but Mama Knitting's many talents do not really include removing a delicate headpiece without destorying my hairstyle, so I called my BM Rachel to help:







Once my headpiece was off they secured the vintage scarf I found in Florence:






Guest Photo

And TAH-DAH I'm a wife!





I'm really glad I did this ritual. It was a lot of fun, very simple, and nice to do something traditional to my family since so much of our wedding was not. Plus it's now super cool to look at this picture of Mama Knitting in 1979:


Personal Photo

and then to look at this picture of me in 2010!



Unless otherwise noted, all photos by the wonderful Josh Levinson!

A Cozy Christmas Wedding: Our Inclusive First Dance

We got ready for our first dance by doing a few warm up stretches while we waited for our guests to trickle back into the ballroom.

I stretched out my leg while Mr. Knitting practiced his ballet first position:



You'd think from these stretching photos that we'd have something elaborate planned for our first dance:



But, no we didn't. We just shuffled around like this for a bit:







After about 30 seconds of this we had our MC/ my little sis ask everyone else to join us on the dance floor, resulting in our inclusive first dance. We figured that since we wouldn't be performing any kind of dance worth watching for more than 45 seconds it would be a lot more fun to have everyone join us!





This worked really well for us. We got to have a bit of a "first dance", but it wasn't so long that we felt too awkward. It was also just a really nice feeling being surrounded by all our favourite people!

All photos by the super fantastic Josh Levinson!

It's Gorgeous, but I Don't Always Want to Wear It

Before I got engaged I thought that women never removed their wedding or engagement rings. Both my mother and my sister never take off their rings and I thought that was the norm. As a result when I realized that I can't stand wearing my ring around the house I thought I was super weird, especially since my ring (it's an engagement/wedding ring) is a very wearable ring.


Image via Birks

Here's the thing: when I get home I'm pretty much always wearing something pygama like so wearing my pjs along with the most valuable thing I own (financially and sentimentally) felt really weird. To be honest it bothered me to the extent that I sometimes found it difficult to sleep while I was wearing it (obviously, I'm very easy going!).

My favourite look:



I soon decided that this was crazy and that it's just a piece of jewellery (it has a bit more sentimental value of course, but still). Just as I wouldn't wear a bracelet around the house, there's no need for me to wear my engagement/wedding ring around the house if it makes me that uncomfortable. Now everyday when I come home I almost immediately take my ring off and put it in its case. I'm very careful that I always put it in the same place because I'm always a bit scared of losing it while it's off my finger!

I'm very happy with this system because it makes me more comfortable, but also because I think it makes me appreciate my ring a lot more than I would if I wore it all the time. This way, it becomes this lovely accessory I get to put on every day, as opposed to something to something that has just become a permanent part of my body.

Where do you fall on this issue? Ring(s) all the time or just sometimes?

Weird Things and How they Worked Out

I made a number of unconventional (but by no means totally unique) choices for our wedding so I thought a post on how they all worked out would be a good idea.

DIY Hair and Make-up

I was originally a bit worried about doing my own hair and make up because I am not particularly talented at either. In fact, I'm actually pretty bad at doing my hair and almost always wear it in a pony tail so I don't have to deal with it! However, I'm happy to report that I was really happy with this decision. I have no doubts that a pro would have done a much better job, but not to an extent that would have made it worth it financially for me.

Yes, my hair clearly has some wispies:



but, I think I look just fine:



Verdict: Me = happy!

Not Rehearsing the Ceremony

A few of you lovely readers and a few people in my "real" life expressed concern over how we were choosing not to have a rehearsal. Now that the wedding is over I still stand by my choice. The ceremony definitely would have been slightly more seamless had we rehearsed, but not to the extent that it would have been worth to get everyone together for an hour on a work/school night. Our ceremony was so simple that rehearsing really wasn't a necessity. However, I fully admit that for a more complicated ceremony rehearsing might be an excellent idea.

Verdict: Me = happy!

Mismatched BM Dresses

I really loved having mismatched BM dresses. I think my ladies looked great and I was happy they were able to choose gorgeous dresses that really suited each of them at a price point they were comfortable with. In fact, one of my BMs wore a dress she already owned! I think this one really just comes down to personal preference. If you like the mismatched look - great! If not, don't do it.



Having a King's Table

I LOVED the King's Table. This was one of my favourite things we did at our wedding. If you're not familiar with a King's Table it's basically a long rectangular table that we sat at the head of and our wedding party and their dates sat along each side. I loved this option because it allowed our wedding party to sit with their dates and for us to sit with lots of our favourite people. This worked out really well and I highly recommend it.



Verdict: Me = happy!

Using a Laptop Instead of a DJ

Like my feelings about hair and make-up I have no doubt that a pro would have done a better job, but not a $800 better job. Overall, I'm really happy with how using a laptop and speakers worked out. My favourite thing about this was that we got to choose all of the music for our wedding and we were able to include a lot of meaningful songs.

However, if I was ever doing this option again, I'd be a lot more selective with my song choices. I was worried about not having enough music so we downloaded A LOT of music and as a result we weren't actually able to play all the songs I wanted to because our wedding and reception weren't 25 hours long! We also had an interesting moment where one of Mr. Knitting's parent's friends went over to the laptop downloaded a song and then played this song. This would have actually been fine if it had been a lively Polish folk song (because those are awesome!), but no, it was a really long (think 7 or 8 minutes) boring song that was really difficult for anyone except this couple to dance to. Obviously this problem would have been avoided with a DJ!

Don't worry we were only here for a moment:


Guest Photo

Verdict: Me = happy with some minor reservations!

How did some of your more unconventional choices work out?

Unless otherwise noted all photos by the wonderful Mr. Josh Levinson.

A Cozy Christmas Wedding: After Dinner Fun

After dinner was finished we all moved into the Main Lounge to cut the cake while the staff set up the dining room for dancing. However, before we got to the cake, Mr. Knitting's parents and their friends took this opportunity to sing us Sto Lat. The title means 100 years and I like to refer to it as the Polish all purpose congratulations song.

Here we are being sung to:



When they finished the song, Mr. Knitting used that opportunity to give me a very big Hollywood style kiss, which is definitely really out of character for both of us!


Guest Photo

Then it was time to cut the cake. As you may or may not recall, instead of having a wedding cake, we had a dessert table with desserts made by a number of different family and friends. However, we still wanted something pretty to cut so we bought a Red Velvet cake from Bake Desserts in Toronto for that purpose. This is pretty much the best cake ever and if you live in or near Toronto you must give it a try!



We fancied up the cake with the vintage cake topper given to us by Wedding Bee Hostess Extraordinaire, Bakerella, some pearls I found at the St. Lawrence Market Antique Market, a Christmas ornament, and a gorgeous platter that's been in my family for years.

Here's a closer look at the topper:



Side View!



I actually really loved the set up the Faculty Club had arranged for our cake cutting. My favourite part was the huge Group of Seven painting (I think it was a MacDonald) that was behind us. What a great backdrop:



We then fed each other cake. We're definitely not the cake smashing type of people!





Sadly, that was pretty much my only taste of that cake that night. Eating more just didn't appeal to me right then, which made me sad the next day. However, I've consoled myself with the fact that now I have the excuse to buy us that cake at least once a year!

Did you manage to eat a lot of cake at your wedding?

All photos by the wonderful Josh Levinson.