And a happy new year.....

Well, Merry Christmas everyone!

In a couple days, we'll be cruising into 2008, and the year of our wedding! We'll be 200 days to the wedding, 200 days.

Wow! The time has really flown by, and I just can't wait for our new lives to begin!


Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone!

All I want for Christmas....

Well we did it. The one thing we've really been pushing off...... started our registry.

We went to the Bay, and scanned a bunch of things, but the prices were so high! So we ventured to Home Outfitters and scanned more stuff, then realized that the stuff we had originally scanned at the Bay, was cheaper at Home Outfitters! So we removed that stuff from the Bay and added it to HO. Now, I'm staring at the few remaining things on the Bay registry, about to take them off, venture BACK to HO and re-scan them there, to minimize the locations we're registered at.

*whew*

On top of it all, since this is our first home, we'll be registering for all kinds of things! Including outdoor things... so I'm trying to convince Rob to go to Canadian Tire... I don't think he's too fond of the idea of MORE registries as of right now... LOL

Personally, I'm easy to please. If I wouldn't buy something for myself, with my own money, it doesn't go on the list. End of story. But we've noticed that that's difficult to do! Sure, if I had endless amounts of money, furnishing a home, complete with accessories, would be easy! As it stands, I'm trying to be frugal... so do I register for the KitchenAid Ice cream scoop that I think is adorable? Or do I just buy myself one from the dollar store...LOL

The bottom line is that I appreciate any gift, because it's just that, a gift.

I'm not even sure I understand why people register anyways... it's not like most people even bother to check. Not that that's a bad thing, but I know a lot of people that will buy something despite the registry. Like lets say person 'A' registers for blue towels.... I know someone in particular that will by WHITE towels instead. Why? Don't know. Or person 'B' registers for a cooler to go camping with - instead of buying them the cooler they registered for, I know someone that would go buy a cheaper version that is entirely different than the one they asked for!

It's like:

"What do you want for Christmas?"
"I'd like a red sweater"
"Fantastic, I'll buy you a blue one."

Kenny G and all that Jazz...

Rob and I travelled to the village of Ajax on the weekend where we were greeted by Gwillimbury Music; more specifically Christopher Crossan.

When it comes to being a jack of all trades, this guy takes the cake! He plays a variety of instruments, most notably the flute and saxophone. On top of being a performer, he teaches music as well.

We sat down to discuss what Rob and I were really interested in for our ceremony and came up with some solid ideas. We booked him right then and there and are really looking forward to hearing him play at the wedding!

A welcome surprise!

TBA :)

Let there be music!

There hasn't been much to write about lately, so I apologize for all you avid followers! It seems like this is a slow time for Rob and I with the wedding planning.

There are a few cute ideas we've had, things to carry themes through the party... but no details just yet ;)

I did, however, make my way to the William Ashley Warehouse sale in Scarborough last week. My mom bought me my 8 place setting of China (Royal Doulton Baroness) which was really amazing! I also bought myself the 8 soup bowls that match the set (couldn't pass up the deal!). Shannon and my mom also managed to do a little shopping for my shower - little things that are really sweet!

I'm so excited that they're excited! It's nice to see that it's all coming together, not just for Rob and I, but for everyone else involved too!

Now, to the main point of this pointless blog.... ceremony and cocktail music. We've decided on the style of music we wanted, and now we're just trying to find an appropriate person to play it. There are so many options out there, we really don't know who to go with!

I'll keep you posted when we decide!

How sweet it is!

By far, my favourite appointment so far was the cake tasting! Rob and I woke up bright and early on Thanksgiving weekend and drove down to Steeles (Irressistable Cakes to be exact) to taste cakes!

For those of you that have never done this, it's pretty much exactly as it sounds... you go in to your bakery, sit at a table with a binder FULL of different cake designs, all of them are ridiculously expensive, and you flip through while tasting several different flavours of cake. I think we ended up tasting something like 12 different flavours, and landed on the 5 we wanted for our cake. Yes, we needed 5 different flavours for 5 different layers!

I'm not going to give away what the cake looks like though, so don't ask! I will however tell you that Rob picked the cake - without my help. Yep, I trusted him to pick the design of the cake LOL and let me tell you, I was amazed at what he chose... it was the exact opposite of what I expected!

One last tip before I go...... the second layer of our cake, from the bottom, is Banana... and it's to DIE for!

Engagement pics!!!!

Oh lord... I forgot to post them :)

So the whole event went really well.... Jen (http://www.jenniferimages.ca/) is amazing and I completely recommend her to anyone looking for a photographer!

So, the long anticipated pictures were taken at the CNE. There were some beautiful architectural spots as well as fun spots for pictures....

Now, I'll stop yapping and post them up!

All these photos are courtesy of JenniferIMAGES (www.jenniferimages.ca)

Alas, an event I can't plan....

Well, we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later...

My shower.

The one event I'm not allowed to have any hand in... I can't know the where, when, who, anything.... and would you believe - I'm ok with that?!

I'm glad that I'm not going to have to deal with the stresses of closing my house, planning the wedding AND a shower!

I just hope that my bridal party knows that although I leave this in their hands, there are a couple things that I like (if they choose to listen lol):

1. I don't want my shower on a Saturday. I want a traditional Sunday shower LOL
2. I really really really really like the Italian shower cookies... incase you were wondering.
3. I don't want to show up looking like a bum, so if I look like a bum on the day, please ask me nicely to change. LOL

Thats all... simple isn't it!?

And I know I shouldn't expect a shower, and they don't have to throw me one... but I know they are :)

My one last wish is for all my bride's maids to help out... Shannon can't do this all on her own, financially or time-wise.... and I know you're all such wonderful girls that you'll offer anything you can ;)

Thats it.... bye for now :)

Tag... you're it?!

Ok, so I've been a lazy blogger... but I just noticed that I was inadvertantly tagged! LOL

My wonderful photographer has tagged me... this means, I should copy and paste the rules, tell you all interesting things about myself, and then tag 8 of my friends in their blogs....

Well, I had this all done, until I tried to find 8 people I know with blogs! LOL

I think I had 3... lol

At least we know I won't be naked!

I bought my dress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ha, no pics, no teasers, no descriptions, NOTHING!

But I bought it :)

The girls also decided on the bridesmaid dresses, which was nice! It was such a blast to have all my bridesmaids together for a day. It was perfect so that they all got a say in the style etc.

Now, for anyone even suggesting that I may be a bridezilla, I'd like to set the record straight, once and for all!

I went in to the big 'try-on' thinking I wanted my girls in a floor length gown-ish dress. I also wanted light green in colour. My bridesmaids had other plans!

They chose a short number (very beautiful, but not long) and they completely overruled me with the colour I chose!

Hot pink, here we come..... lol

But I didn't lose it, I kept my cool and figured - if it's what they're comfortable in, then it's what they get!

But I better not get any sideways glances when it gets closer to the wedding!

The Looooooooove Boat.....

There's really only one thing that Rob and I perpetually disagree on - vacation. He's a beach bum, and I'm a tour goer. He wants all-inclusive vacations, and I want to rough it and see the sights (ok, maybe not ROUGH it, but at least experience the culture lol).

This has obviously caused a huge thorn in my side when it comes to planning our honeymoon. We were posed the question "Europe or Aruba". And we were completly indecisive in the matter! I know Rob wants a nice relaxing honeymoon, I do too! But I also know that with a house and kids in our future, I want to have a honeymoon that will be a once in a lifetime event.

If you've read my previous honeymoon blogs, you'll see that we were completely torn! There was the land tour that did Italy, France and England - which would have been spectacular! And there's the Cayo Ensenachos, a 5+ star Cuban resort that would have pampered us beyond our wildest dreams!

What is a couple to do?

Well, no sooner than I was about to give up, and agree to Puerta Backyarda for our honeymoon, was I presented with the option of a cruise. And not just any cruise, but a cruise that leaves the monday after our wedding - thus having our flight from Toronto to Rome leave the Sunday evening after the wedding! A real honeymoon, we'll be real newlyweds! This cruise was literally made for us.... It has beautiful port cities, as

So without further adieu..... our honeymoon:

It looks like it does a lot of Italy, which it does... but there's also Barcelona, Cannes and Dubrovnik. Our schedule of events is like this:

1. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
2. Naples, Italy
3. Fun Day At Sea (which basically means by the pool, for some R&R)
4. Dubrovnik, Croatia
5. Venice, Italy (overnight)
6. Venice, Italy
7. Fun Day At Sea
8. Messina (Sicily), Italy
9. Fun Day At Sea
10. Barcelona, Spain
11. Cannes, France
12. Livorno, Italy
13. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

I know that some of the places sound a little different, but they're all really close to places you'd recognize... Like we can go and see Monaco (for the racing fans), and there's Pisa and Florence in Italy....

Lots of wonderful stuff!

SO EXCITED, so it's booked... our flight leaves July 20, 2008 for an overnight to Rome.

So amazing!

2 weddings and a photoshoot...

So we've got a busy couple of weeks coming up!

This weekend, we're going to a wedding for Mike, Rob's bosses son. It should be fun, I hear there's going to be about 400 people!! Wowza! But the food will be great, and it will be nice to see all the guys Rob works with again, they're all such sweethearts!

Next weekend, my girlfriend Maria is getting married! I'm so excited for this one, I've seen her plan this baby for quite some time now - and plus, she's going to look absolutly gorgeous in her gown! It's an Eve of Milady gown, the one in the magazines that everyone loves, and no one can afford! LOL

Then on Tuesday the 28th, Rob and I are going for our engagement pictures. The venue and everything are a surprise until I post up some pictures, but you won't be disappointed!

When did I become so indecisive?

In the beginning, I had no problem to committing to something I wasn't 100% commited to. Take for example, the wedding bells I bought. They were these little silver bells with ribbon on them that people could ring when they wanted Rob and I to kiss. I bought them without a second thought. I then realized that I didn't want them, and thank God I found a taker, otherwise I would have been out $100 on something I didn't want! LOL

Then take my centerpieces, I found them, I ordered a sample, I loved it, I ordered them all. There was no thinking involved, no "will this go with my theme?" oh no, I just bought them. Thankfully, they helped me develop my theme, and I'm more in love with them now than when I bought them!

But why, all of a sudden, am I completely incapable of making a decision on my own!? I can't decide if the table overlays are the right shade, or the right length... maybe the material is wrong... no, the material is ok.. it's DEFINITLY the length... maybe it's the colour... ugh!

And the flowers, I love that bouquet, but I want more green, no thats too much... add the roses, nope, not the roses.. lillies? No, thats not it either!

Seriously, I need to know why planning a wedding would send a usually sane person into an absolutly insane spiral of indecision and madness!?

Why can't I pick something and stick by it? I know I should trust my judgement, but why can't I?

Where did the time go?

Wow, I just saw the ticker at the bottom of this page... 11 months, 2 weeks and 2 days until the wedding.
Yikes!

Some good news, Rob finally asked Jake to be his best man! I guess men just aren't like women in the fact that, I personally couldn't wait that long! There are so many things to do, so many things to plan.... I need my girls with me through all of this!

And the first bit of wedding blues that I've had that has been completely independant of my own family's issues: I was talking to Anna (FMIL) about table overlays the other day when FFIL came in and told me to stop talking about weddings. He just got over one and doesn't want to get started on another any time soon.....

Ok, well I have a problem with this.......... this is my only wedding. I want to be excited! I want to talk about it, I want to listen to other people talk about it! I want my future in-laws to be just as excited about their SONS wedding, as they were about their daughters!

I don't think I'm being unreasonable... am I?

Oh well, it doesn't matter too much, what matters is that I'm enjoying my wedding....
And the Save the Date cards are in the mail.... so check often to see it!

A couple more bite the dust...

Ok, so before we went on vacation, Rob and I finalized a couple more of our vendors. The actual final decisions on stuff like music, colours and napkin material hasn't been made yet - but we gave them money! LOL

Our videographer is Todd from Vision Digital Studios, he did Amanda and Vince's wedding and did a tremendous job! He's very personable and I felt very comfortable with him when we first met, and again at the wedding. After a lot of email tag, I was finally able to get dow to leave a deposit (through no fault of Todd's, I just couldn't find the time!)

We also nailed down the decorator. We knew we'd be using Judi from Special Day Designs, but just like Todd, getting to see her to give her some money was almost impossible! Where did the time go!? But we did make it, and we discussed all kinds of options for table overlays, napkins, etc. And I'm going to be completly honest in saying that she is amazing! I wouldn't consider going anywhere else!

The other thing that had been bother us was the one limo. Granted, a limo is a luxury, not a mandatory item for the wedding - BUT since the company we originally booked with was SO much cheaper than all the others I've been looking into, we're able to book TWO limos for less than one limo at any other company. The best part is that I don't have to worry about the service being compromised because they're so much cheaper, they did Amanda and Vince's wedding and did a fantastic job!

So, now I need to look into a couple things... hair and makeup, dresses and accessories, ceremony music, wine and a couple other things....
It's all coming together, and it's so damn exciting!

Selfish?

I wonder, is it completely selfish of me to wonder how events occuring in my life will effect the wedding? I'm talking events that have far greater pull in my life than solely on my wedding, but inadvertantly, make my life a living hell.

And is it selfish to wonder why the people involved can't look beyond themselves, to the people they're affecting?

Like, how will we work the parents' tables, if mine can't sit together?

T-Minus...

One year, and counting :)

The calm, after the storm....

I guess thats what this is.....

Amanda and Vince got married on Saturday July 07, 2007. It was a beautiful ceremony, absolutly moving! Amanda looked breathtaking - if you don't believe me, ask her husband! He teared up as she walked down the aisle.

As with any wedding, there are problems you have to expect, and count on your wedding party to head them off so that the bride and groom don't get too stressed. I really hope we managed to accomplish that for Amanda and Vince.

The party was a blast, from the food to the DJ - limo to hotel after. I hope it turned out to be everything they have wished for - Amanda and Vince, congratulations!

So, I guess that makes me next?!

Rob and I will be in Halifax for our anniversary this year. Depending on how you look at it, it's either our 7th anniversary, or our 1 year pre-anniversary. Considering we're both huge lobster fans, I assume we'll be having some fresh lobster for our dinner!

This also means that I won't be able to blog to you guys about the time I've got left... so here's a preemptive heads up... NEXT THURSDAY, July 19th 2007 will be:

1 Year
365 Days
12 Months
8760 Hours
525600 Minutes....

And an eternity, until our wedding!

Almost in the homestretch!

I realized the other day that we were nearing the new hundred mark.... thats right, we've broken in to the 300's!!!!!!

Today is 398 days to the wedding - which, in case you don't know, thats:

1 Year, 1 month and 3 days
56 and a half weeks
9552 Hours
573120 Minutes

We're getting close! This is so exciting - apparently the next year is going to fly by! I can't wait... and I also wanted to let everyone know, that it's less than a year until we get the house!

This is so cool!

Euro-trip

It really is terrible how indecisive I can be. When looking at honeymoon's I flip flop more than most politicians! I'm starting to pull away from the Hawaiian cruise/tour, for no other reason than for the same (if not less) money, Rob and I could do a European vacation!

Amanda told me that the 2008 cruise prices had come out, so I looked at a couple of the Mediterranian cruises. But the fact of the matter is: If we went to Europe, we'd want to see London, England and Paris, France. unfortunately, those two particular destinations aren't anywhere near the Med coast. We would be able to tour a lot of Italy, some Croatia, a whole chunk of Greece - but we'd be missing 2 of the three places we both really want to see!

So we thought that maybe we should investigate an inland tour instead. The one that was recommended to us was Globus Tours. They have a great website: www.globusjourneys.ca that had more European tours than I knew what to do with! They ranged from Leisurely to Fast Paced, Countryside to City.

Below is the "Essential Europe" It does everything we'd be interested in as well as an extra stop in Switzerland.

A quick rundown of the itinerary:

2 Nights in Rome, Italy
1 Night in Florence, Italy
1 Night in Venice, Italy
1 Night in Lucerne, Switzerland
2 Nights in Paris, France
2 Nights in London, England

The other one I was thinking, gives us a little more time in each of the locations. We see less places - but each place more in depth. It's called "Rome, Paris & London":

The itinerary basically divides the time up fairly evenly between the three locations. We'd do 4 nights in Rome, 4 nights in Paris and 4 nights in London.

They both really seem like dream honeymoons! Rob's a little iffy on it - I think he's worried about the budget (rightfully so)but since he has his IATA card, we'd get a pretty sweet deal on the price of the tour! Also, I'm a realist - I know that realistically, once we have a house and decide to have a family, it's going to be really tough to get out and see the world!

We're going to have to see when the prices come out for July 08 what the actual damage would be. But for now, I can dream can't I?!

One down....

Amanda's shower was yesterday - It was beautiful! She got a lot of wonderful gifts and had a lot of people show up. The food was great, the people were great and best of all, Amanda really enjoyed herself!

This is one down for the summer, I don't even know how many more I have, for sure 2! Then Mel is in January.... before you know it, it will be time for my shower!

I noticed a lot of differences between Italian and Canadian showers. For one, the bride doesn't open her own gifts in the Italian shower. The bridesmaids open the gifts and they get put out on display. Second, the shower is held in a banquet hall, with a FULL meal. I'm talking antipasto, pasta, pasta (yes, 2 pasta's lol) chicken with veggies and potato, salad, dessert, cookies and cake. It really is a LOT of food! Personally, and this is only my opinion, I prefer when the bride opens her own gifts and gets to see them and then say a quick thank you to the gift giver. But, it's because thats really all I've ever known.

Either way, it was wonderful! Can't wait for my own!

Side note - Rob and I drove up to our dirt and saw that they poured the concrete footprint! I'll try to get up there tonight to take some pics, I can't figure out how to get the ones I have off my cell phone!

Counting Down

This blog is here to inform you that today is EXACTLY 15 months before my wedding!!!!

15 months.
1 Year, 3 Months.
457 Days.
10968 hours.
658080 Minutes.

Wow. AND, on May 5th It’s been one year since we’ve been engaged!

It’s so surreal.

Tsk Tsk!

I was just dropping in to my friend's blog, I realized that she hasn't written a new entry since March 22nd! Of course, I think she's slacking.

Then I came here and realized my last blog was BEFORE hers! Bad, BAD Jenn!

So, despite the fact that I don't have much to write about, I'm blogging.

We found a videographer that fit the non budget. He's in Peterborough, so this summer we're going to take a drive out and meet him.

Ok, sorry. I've got nothing else!

Aloha?

Rob and I were at my Grandpa's place on Saturday night, discussing travel destinations. I never knew that he had done so much travelling! The man has been into every Horse Race Track in North America! Not to mention his European travel including Germany (which he didn't like) and Switzerland (he said was gorgeous).

He did take the time to recommend Hawaii to us. He said it was a gorgeous place, breathtaking in fact. He couldn't believe the size of the volcanoes or the colour of the sand. So of course, I've done a little research (with the help of my trusty TA Amanda!) and found the perfect honeymoon for Rob and I. It's the perfect amount of Beach and sightseeing to make us both happy!

See below for a quick look at "Cruising Hawaii's Paradise":

Basically, we'd spend 3 nights in Honolulu visiting things like Pearl Harbour etc. Then we'd hop aboard our cruise ship and sail around the other islands for 7 nights!

Perfect!

The Honeymoon

So, I went to see my travel agent, LOL Amanda suggested a resort for the honeymoon that would be perfect!!!! It's a 5 Star resort in Cayo Ensenachos, Cuba. Now, I've been to Cuba before and I wasn't very keen on it - the food was almost un-edible. However, I've looked at the trip advisor reviews and this place sounds like it is really amazing! I mean, like Amanda said - I've never found a hotel that received such great reviews!!

Here are some pics for you to drool over!

There's also a new hotel opening up in Aruba that I'm pretty sure Rob has his eyes on.... Or Hawaii..... I've even been contemplating just going to Paris for a week....

We'll update you when we know more!

Just a teaser!

Ok, so we went to meet a decorator yesterday, Judi at Special Day Designs (http://www.specialdaydesign.ca). Everything went really smoothly! I won’t divulge too much information about this trip because you guys are going to know everything about the wedding before the day actually comes! I want there to be some surprise!

But, I just wanted to blog about the appointment. I can’t leave you all completely in the dark now can I?

502....501.....500!!!!!!!!

Ok, so today is a big day for us! It’s the day we break through to another level…. We move from the 500’s to the 400’s…. well, today is really the line between the two.

Yes, that’s right, you hard it hear first – Today is 500 days until our wedding!!!!!!!!
That makes it 1 year and 135 days….

Wow, time’s really flying by, but I’m not too worried, Rob and I are both so organized, I’ll be surprised if we don’t have everything done before Christmas!

Because you missed it...

Sorry guys, I haven't fallen off the planet... I've just had nothing really to blog about! Rob and committed our first act of B & E when we drove up to Barrie to see the same model of our house - in drywall stage. It was fun.... strangely dangerous! LOL

We met up with Crystal last week to drop off a couple of contracts and talk about a few things. She's incredibly thorough and I'm supremely happy with our decision to hire a planner - especially this planner! There are so many things that we didn't think about that we are now able to stress about LOL. Actually, all in all, there is very little stress in lately. This is an incredibly refreshing change from the usual 'wedding planning blahs'

Oh have i mentioned that I've turned a new shade of green?? Ya, Mel bought her wedding dress..... I'm like Andres the Jealous. LMAO

Playing House

The past week, Rob and I got a chance to give married life a shot. Sarah's mom took a little vacation and we jumped at the chance to dog-sit. The big bonus is that we not only got the biggest storm this winter, but we got to experience it with the same drive that we'll have when we move into the new house. Now, in no way will I say the drive is the same as it is from our parents houses. But it's completely doable.

We went grocery shopping, shovelled the driveway, did laundry, shovelled the driveway, cooked dinner shovelled the driveway, washed dishes and shovelled the driveway. All in all, our week turned out really well. Contrary to popular belief, Rob actually enjoys my cooking! Either that or he pretends really well so that he doesn't hurt my feelings!

Monday night, I made porkchops with corn and scalloped potatoes for dinner. Considering we couldn't find any of Kathy's pots and pans, dinner turned out really well! We were finally able to find all the pots and pans - after we cleaned up of course.

Tuesday, Rob made dinner. Let me explain what Rob's idea of dinner was: he stopped at his house and took one of his mom's Costco pizza's. He popped it in the oven and ta-da! Dinner.

The one things that I figured out during this experience was that making a roast beef dinner will probably be saved for when we have company over! I made a full roastbeef dinner on Thursday night, complete with roasted potatoes, corn and gravy. After rob and I ate dinner, we started to clean up and noticed that we had barely eaten half the roast!! Let me know when you'll be dropping by because I think roast will become a delicasy in our house!

Tonight is our last night, we'll be heading back home after dinner. Looks like we'll be able to handle this after all!

The wedding is still on.

Mini Me... Stop humping the "Laser"!

Our appointment at Platinum went well enough, they were a very professional DJ service and Alex was very friendly and helpful. We went through everything, from the actual service right down to the lights and haze. When we put together a package, Rob and I were stunned!

The first concern was that they charge overtime. So if you want them to play a second past 1am (we know you party animals will be up much later, still dancing) there is a $50/half hour fee. The second concern was that the lighting options they offered were probably older than we are... The effect was ALMOST the same as some of the others, but not quite. On top of being dated, they didn't offer a couple of options that we were interested in. Rob's main conern here was the lasers. Apparently you can't, and I mean CAN'T play Scissor Sisters without a slow-mo laser.

Alex put a quote together for us and gave us a couple of minutes to look everything over. When I looked at the quote, I was sure I could get Good Vibrations to come down to the same number, and we'd be getting more! We took a drive over to GV and spoke with Cristina, part owner. She hammered out a price for us that was more than reasonable, considering we'll have a whole nightclub at our fingertips on our wedding night! So be booked with them and now we have the final BIG thing out of the way..... now I can focus on the mind numbing details.

And who knows.... maybe someone will try to hump the laser!

Race... to the Music!

What’s a party without someone to play the music, right? And no, mom you can’t control the iPod…

That being said, Rob and I needed to begin our search for the perfect DJ. But where do you start?? Well, it’s always a good idea to start where the free stuff is, and we won that free dry ice show with Good Vibrations. So, we’ll start there.

Thursday night, we stayed late after work, had some dinner at Shoeless Joes, and drove around a bit. We made it to Hwy 7 and 27 for our 8pm appointment and went in to meet Joe. We went in for our consult and everything seemed to go fairly well. Joe was very personable, he answered all our questions in a very professional manner and gave us a great first impression of the company. Rob, however, remained bored.

When the time came for us to be shown all the different “a la carte’s” you can purchase with your DJ package, we were hauled off to a little room, painted black. Joe showed us the one light you get with the ‘basic’ package. Nothing spectacular… Then, he showed us the semi-intelligent lights. Well, don’t Rob’s eyes light up like a little boy getting his first bike! I mean, the lights, the mirror ball, the smoke effects, he wants it ALL!!

When the demonstration is over, Joe brings us back into the office and goes over prices with us. I’m not surprised to see the prices, they’re fairly uniform across the board (I think). But I am surprised that we went from: “Just the DJ, no bells and whistles, we’re fairly simple people” all the way to: “We want everything. What’s your biggest package?? Perfect!”

Needless to say, we knew we needed some cool down time. We were clearly blinded by the lasers and we needed to take a couple days to decide. Lasers aren’t cheap you know LOL

When we tell Joe that we want a couple days to think about it, he lays it on SUPER thick. I mean, really… you’re telling me you have 9 weddings booked for my day, 17 months from now? You only book 10 weddings a night? The DJ you were thinking of for us is still available?? How wonderful a coincidence! Wow…. We better hurry!

Funny how up until now, all we’ve heard is: “you guys have LOTS of time” and now, it’s a race to book or we may lose them! Well, we’re taking our chances… we booked another couple of appointments with different DJ’s. Tonight we’re going to go see Platinum Music, highly recommended by a couple girls on CB and of course Amanda. At least if we book with these guys… we can see what kind of job they’ll do at Amanda’s wedding! Then we’ve got DJ Emporium next week on Tuesday and Veriation Music the following week.

I hope we can wait that long…. We don’t want to be left without a DJ….

We WON! Now, sign here....

Ok, so remember me telling you about that incredibly overpriced wedding expo I went to with Mel? Well, it wasn’t entirely in vain…. Rob and I got a couple of calls back with standard the “We picked your name” schpeel.

Now, to be fair – they were actually pretty good things we got called for. First and foremost, I was one of 10 people selected to get half price laser hair removal! For those of you unaware of just how good a deal this is, I’ll explain. Think of it this way: If you’re like me, you wax your legs once a month. To wax your HALF leg (to the knee), it costs $25.00. So in one year, on your legs alone, you are spending $300.00 just waxing your HALF leg. If you would like to laser your legs, your FULL leg is about $600.00. So with my ½ price prize, I will have justified this expenditure in ONE year. Keep in mind, laser hair removal is permanent – so after one year, I will be SAVING money. See, there I go, saving Rob money again!

Next, we got a phone call from one of the DJ companies we’re considering. When I say ‘one of’ it’s because we are the most indecisive people and we can’t seem to narrow it down. Thank GOD for this phone call – or we still may not have had a clue! We had narrowed it down to a couple different companies: Impressions Music, Good Vibrations Entertainment, DJ Emporium, S4 Sound Sensation, etc. Ok, so we didn’t really narrow it down, but we’re getting there! The phone call came from Joe at Good Vibrations – We had WON! We won a FREE, that’s right, FREE dry ice show at our wedding. Ok, so did you pick your DJ yet? NO? Great! This free offer is only good if you book with us!

Ok, so maybe it was more of a booking incentive… but hey – free is free, and they were on our list of maybes anyways….

Sorry if I've offended anyone....

Ok, let me please take this time to FORMALLY apologise to anyone and everyone whose picture I've missed in one of the albums on the website.
For future reference, and please feel free to email me if you've been left off THIS list as well, these are people that were left out of the New Years Eve pictures:
Diane Good, Kathy Kreuger, Shelly Johnston, Sue Feder, Larry (don't remember his last name)

It's not that I don't care, it's just that I didn't have full control of my camera, it was being passed around.

I promise, I will take EXTRA care in getting pictures of everyone I spend time with at the next function.

Promise.

The Greatest Scam Known to Man....

The Canadian Wedding Expo was this past weekend at the Rogers Center. (Side note: I think changing the name of the Skydome to The Roger’s Centre was absolutely ridiculous. Ted Rogers is an incredibly vain man.) Mel and I woke up early and made the trek down with our coffee and bagels in hand.

When we made it to gate 7, we paid our admission price, a hefty $22 each. We went in and registered for our free wedding dollars that we’ll probably never spend and began to search through the maze of vendors for the things we will actually need, then, sift through those for the ones we could actually afford.

I can only speak for myself when I say that weddings as a whole are extremely overpriced. I mean COME ON PEOPLE, what a money grab! Tell me any other time you will spend upwards of thousands of dollars on flowers or decorations or photos….. You can’t think of one can you???? That’s because it doesn’t exist! I think that the ‘group’ of wedding vendors all got together and decided that this was a great way to ruin a beautiful thing for two people in love….. over charge them.

The one thing I found that I was actually considering – for a moment – was a fireworks display at the end of the night. How awesome would it be to begin your new life as husband and wife with a huge display of fireworks?

For $1500 – I’ll pass. That’s a 3 minute display I can live without!

My Addicts....

I can't help but smile..... I have groupies!

You know who you are.... you wake up first thing int he morning, stetch a little bit and make your way to the bathroom.

On your way to the bathroom, you feel a sudden pull. You're not sure what it is at first, but as you continue down the hallway, you know it's definately there.

This urge comes over you - your palms begin to sweat, your temples throb and you know you can't wait any longer.

You quickly turn into the room, turn it on and the faint glow of the screen warms your skin. You begin to feel your joints release the pressure as you slowly, methodically type your destination:

w w w . j e n n a n d r o b f o r e v e r . c o m

LOL and you guys thought we didn't know! I can sign in everyday to our site and see how many people have been on for that day. This morning, I came into work and wanted to quickly upload the rest of my Christmas/New Years pictures, I logged into my site and do you know what I saw?? 4 People had already been on! BEFORE 7:45am!!!!

Now, that takes devotion!! I wonder, do you read my blog too? DO you come on here and check to see if I've written anything???

This is awesome, maybe I'll think of a little thank you speech - acknowledge all of you jennandrob junkies at the wedding......

Is the bobby pin is SUPPOSED to be IN my skull???

This was yesterday's blog... but the site was down and I couldn't add anything.....

Yesterday I had my first ‘hair trial’ with Sam. I have to admit that even though I was a little nervous (I’m always nervous… see previous post about bridezilla for reference material) she did an amazing job!

We started with a low bun-like thing that, I have to be honest, I didn’t like too much. It’s not that she didn’t do a great job – she was CURLING my hair in ringlets with a flat iron! Now that’s something to blog about! I just wasn’t fond of the curls in my face. I HATE my hair in my face! You’ll rarely ever see me with my hair down for that exact reason!

So we moved on to the second ‘do. This one was much better suited to my style! It was perfect should I choose to wear a veil or tiara or both. It was elegant and fun.

Granted… when it comes time – we’ll have to make it a little neater… but this was done in my living room with little or no lighting, no hairspray and just for fun.

I'll blog more about my hair next time! Sam also said she'd be asking some of her girlfriends from the hair academy if they'd be interested in making a little money..... I'd love to have a bunch of them come to my house to do mine, and the bridal party's hair on my big day!

Our wedding... take one!

Happy New Year!

This year is bound to bring great things. One of the greatest things being that I can officially say I’m getting married NEXT YEAR!!!

1 year, 6 and a half months!
80 and a half weeks!
564 Days!

Wow. I sat here today, trying to bargain with the person I’m getting my centerpieces from , and I realized something. I actually have to start making decisions. I mean, when you book a florist, or you book a photographer, you basically give them some money and hope for the best. There’s no product that changes hands; just a contract. The contracts held me over for a while but now I’ll actually have to accumulate stuff. I’ll have to decide on the centerpieces and actually commit to them. I can’t be wishy-washy! A month ago, I would have told you that I’d probably do this, or that… depending on my mood. I’d want fully floral arrangements then I want the lanterns…..

Now I have to decide.

That’s right – my wedding is ACTUALLY happening. :)