Dress, Suit, Dinner & Honeymoon!

So, its been 7.5 months since we posted and to be honest, almost nothing happened that was worth updating until a week ago and since then - FIREWORKS!!

After a lot of deliberation, Erin and I decided to go to Bungalows Solecito in Barra de Potosi, Guerrero, Mexico about 15 minutes from Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. We got confirmation of our booking today and are super excited. Its a great combination of quiet and an empty 12 km beach and a village a kilometre or so away. Not too many distractions, but things to do if we want to head out. We're heading there for 12 nights. Can it be March now?

Also after deliberation and many trips to the fitting room and much assistance from her great friends, Erin has chosen a dress. I only know the rough idea of the thing, but I'll let Erin post if she wants to give details. She has had shoes for months as well - mere mention of the name Fluevog will earn you a showing in my experience.

I have, at least conceptually, chosen a suit. I just need to work platonically from the Idea to it's less real image in our world. I'm looking for a black three-button suit with skinny black tie. Early 60s or late 50s bop Jazz man more or less sums it up. I have a lead, but my consignment store shopping accomplice did not approve. I may go back and get it anyhow. I'm thinking I have the flexibility of boutonniere or pocket puff. Shoes are up in the air for now.

Dinner will be middle-eastern. I would call it Lebanese, but a Syrian guest of ours would facetiously lecture me on the subject for some time. In any case, expect falafel, baba ghanouj, baclava and other delights. Any suggestions? I mean, if you're going to go all the way to Ottawa, you have to engage the local delicacies. I prefer the shawarma king, but would sample the delights of more out of the way locales in August if anyone suggests them. Poutine was suggested, but classier tastes (obviously not mine) pervailed. That's alright - we can still have a rehearsal dinner at Elgin Street Diner, right? (we'll see!) Tarte aux sucre and Unibroue's Trois-Pistoles beer are making the menu as an homage to our Quebec meeting. Wine is not decided - what goes with falafel?

The First Dance question, colours question and floral questions are still open. We'd love first dance ideas if you have them. We also need to set the ceremony particulars, but we'll need to meet with our officiant.

I'll be researching room blocks at union hotels in IHG chain (Indigo and Crown Plaza downtown). I know the business, but people's preferences would be awesome to know. I expect we'll be able to get it down to $89/night between wedding-related negotiations and the Friends and Family discount you all theoretically get through me. It's also a weekend in mid March in Ottawa, not exactly high season.

The ceremony will be at 4pm Saturday March 12, 2011, so this should give folks lots of travel time that day and we're thinking of doing an "opening" the next morning. We're re-orienting the gift ideas towards a down-payment registry (on different parts of the future house) which we'll announce here when its a more-fully-baked scheme.

Anyhow, that's all for now, though our fevered brains are feverish fevering with more ideas!

The Plan So Far:

Just a few minutes ago, I heard back from the director of the Glebe Community Centre:




It looks like we are going to get the space for March 12, 2011. Just waiting now to hear back from the First Unitarian Congregation for confirmation of their availability for the same date - they seem not to have nearly the back log and we're more or less willing to go ahead with which ever time of day is available (though late afternoon is our preference). They do weddings of all kinds and have a beautiful hall for the ceremony which is neither cutesy nor religious, but still a space with the kind of seating and elegance we want for the ceremony.
As always, more to come.

Venues ups and downs

So in the last week, I've spent quite a few hours researching and calling various venues in which to hold our reception and maybe our ceremony too.

The options I looked at were:

-Glebe Community Centre - Cupola Dome and all
-> Booked for anything near our prefered times and they make you kick out your guests by 1am

-St. Brigids - they just didn't get back to me

-nor did the Legion

-nor did the Polish Combatants Hall

-SAW Gallery did get back to us and we were ready to book with them under a special provision that our event effectively fundraise for their awesome mandate
-> until we realised how tiny it is - it only seats 65 and my extended family is that big alone. My heart broke. And then broke again when I saw that their rate included all the AV equipment we could imagine.

Some other options:

- Museum of Nature on Argyle (seems pricey)
- Library and Archives Canada (seems more pricey)

And finally:

-Mac Hall at Bronson Centre
-> They are available for all our prospective dates - just waiting now on pictures being taken by a valliant friend. I'm pulling for this venue, especially in that it is right between Chinatown and all the awesome union hotels that we'd be recommending anyhow... Did I meantion that we could have the whole day and that it's only $50/hour... Here's hoping it looks alright.

More to come on the great ring search, on the possibility of using a honeymoon registry and on some fun and some nerdy ideas for the reception (big thanks to my coworker Linda for some great ideas)...

Need a Little Help from my Friends

I've never been one to thumb through bride magazines, the exception being when I was trying to help a couple of friends of mine when they were planning their weddings. So now I am a bit overwhelmed with all the options between venues, dresses, and rings. Do we want to go the traditional route or do we do do something a little more off-beat?

I'm already a little off-beat in that I don't like diamonds. We've been looking for engagement rings without diamonds and I didn't realize how challenging that would be. It's hard to find a precious gemstone ring without a few/several diamonds alongside. We like platinum but we also have discovered a likeness for palladium and cobalt. Most cobalt is mined in the Congo so cobalt is out, palladium or platinum it is then.

Brenden found the Scott Kay website and I like most of his "vintage style" engagement rings: http://www.scottkay.com/main.html. These designs are of the band so I can choose whichever gemstone I like. If anyone knows of any other designs that may suit, I would appreciate any recommendations.

All of my closest friends are far from me so I hope this blog allows us to share ideas and to get feedback. Hope to hear from you all.

Four days after the Question and the Answer.

Four days ago, Erin and I were hanging out and making gooey faces at each other and saying things that were too nice and it seemed like a good time, so I said what I had been thinking for a while that maybe 50 years wouldn't be enough and then... asked her to marry me. And... she said yes and I smiled and we cried and made out like teenagers.

Which brings me to this point, that after looking at rings and dresses and talking buffets and menus and venues and cities and relatives, we realised that we could not have a wedding as geeky as we are without teh nets being involved, and so this WedBlog was born.

It will be a good way to update people about things and get feedback etc. We are also pleased that we got such a sweet domain name for it. So, check back and as details become clearer, or at least in trying to clarify them, we'll post here. Erin and I will be posting from our own accounts and we'll add other interested parties with posting and modification permissions as time goes on.