Oh hi anxiety, lovely to see you!

Today I had my first wedding related anxiety attack.

Yes you read that right. I had a straight up anxiety attack.

 

I realized today that I have 6 different DIY projects to do for the wedding and I haven't started ANY of them. Yes, I may have 7 months of planning time left, but 6 projects is a lot. I figured I better get my butt in gear so today I started DIY project number 1 and now I feel a little bit better :) !

Here are my 6 projects:

1. Menu cards/Table numbers: I decided to combine these two to use up less table space!
2. Framing project: This one is a bit of a secret, but it's pretty cool! Stay tuned for photos
3. Programs: Still don't know what we're doing here because the fiancé and I can't agree haha.
4. Centerpieces: Fishbowls, water, and candles :)
5. Glitter vases: Exactly what it sounds like.
6. Guest favors: these are pretty wicked, not going to lie!

I started with a rough draft of the menu cards - it's looking pretty good.

I'll post pictures soon!

Stay tuned for more projects :)

Thanks for following blog readers,

xoxo

Khrysty



Planning Addiction

My favorite thing these days seems to be checking things off my list. Every thing I get done on the wedding planning front is one less thing needed to be done and this gives me a feeling of elation...unfortunately this feeling only lasts so long and then I need to do it again. It is starting to become an addiction - an addiction to plan. And as time quickly dwindles down (only 8 more months today) I realize that planning a wedding takes a lot of patience and a lot of work. Whatever you do give yourself time to plan!

 

 

Last weekend the handsome (although less so with his mustache) fiancé and I went to Halifax for the weekend and decided we might as well get some planning done while there. I received an email from Moore's Clothing for Men that I needed to set up my account before November 22, 2012 in order to use my $40 off coupons so that's what we decided to do. Let me tell you, this was FUN. I actually enjoyed picking out a tux. Maybe it's because my fiancé NEVER dresses up or maybe it's because I love clothes shopping - even for other people - but picking out a tux and all the accessories was some serious entertainment :)!

 

 

Or $40 if you go to a bridal show!

 

 

First you pick the style of jacket and pants you want: a jacket with one button? two? three? I honestly never thought about the difference in how a jacket looks until we were there but one, two, or three buttons can change the entire look.

 

We also got to pick color - grey or black for the most part - material and which style of lapels we preferred. And the choices went on...

 

 

Shoes. White or Black? Rounded or square toe?

 

Then there is all the other accessories: cuff links - there were four cuff links to choose from, suspenders, shirt style (yes there are different shirt styles), vest colors and of course the bowtie or regular tie option. We had already been on the Moore's website so we knew which vest we liked and it's even nicer in person!

Here it is in purple and platinum!

 

 

So many fun options to choose from :D

 

Thanks for following blog readers.

 

xoxo

 

Khrysty <3



Oh Flowers!

Why oh why are flowers so expensive?

 

This is my question of the day, lol. I was in Halifax for a day this weekend - yes I went down for one day. And while there I decided to get some wedding planning done. I went into a florist to get a quote and flowers are honestly SO expensive. I don't even like flowers! LOL.

 

Okay, I don't not like flowers - I just think they are a little overpriced and crazy. Sure they are pretty, and they smell nice but why do we have to pay so much for them?

 

All I want for the wedding is bouquets, some boutannieres and corsages and it's like $800!

 

This is my wedding rant of the day, haha.

 

 

 

Happy Tuesday blog readers!

 

Khrysty

 

xoxo



It has arrived...

...my dress that is!

 

And I am one excited lady :) but unfortunately it's in Halifax, boo. The dress store said it would take about three months for my dress to arrive but it has come in early and now I have to wait until November to see it. I'm not sure I can handle the suspense. I just want to try it on and look at it!!

 

Stay tuned for details on the initial dress fitting! YAY!

 

Thanks for following blog readers.

 

xoxo

 

Khrysty

Do it yourself...?

I love DIY projects! You can do so much with so little if you put a little you into it I find. The projects I seem to have the most fun doing are the ones that have a bit of my own personality. Pinterest is a great tool for finding the best DIY projects for your wedding! You can search by type, color scheme, or theme and Pinterest brings up so many great projects.

 

DIY projects also save you money! And as I've said before, I love saving money :)!! I have a couple of projects on the go for my wedding so far and I am super excited about them.

 

Here are a few ideas I've found on pinterest that would be great for anyone planning a DIY wedding!

 

 

The possibilities for something this pretty are endless :) 

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

Happy Wednesday Blog Readers!

 

xoxo

 

Khrysty



I feel like dancing!

Another aspect of the wedding has been planned - the music! My wedding is all about the party in my opinion and therefore the music is an ESSENTIAL part. Yesterday we booked a DJ company I had heard of before - re: a google search of course - but encountered on my bridal show endeavours. They are called Atlantic Audio Pro and have an awesome deal right now using Bridal Bucks! I told you I just LOVE the bridal bucks :) !!

 

The fiance and I decided they were great bang for our buck - and they only wanted a $50 deposit - TOTAL WIN!

(Photos courtesy of Atlantic Audio Pro)
 

Pictured above are two examples of uplighting in my venue! And now the only decision we need to make regarding that booking is uplighting or no uplighting... what do you all think??

 

Comment below :)

 

Thanks for following blog readers,

 

Khrysty xoxo

Leanne's Wedding Update!

Long time, no post! No excuses really besides life being busy and I’ve been sick the past several days. Due to this there hasn’t been much happening on the wedding front so I thought I’d do an update post. Let’s just get into it…

1.       Venue – When we started thinking of where we would like our wedding to be we had two locations in mind that we both agreed on: the Tall Ship Silva or The Halifax Club.

       The following week I sent out e-mails to these locations and got them to send the wedding package details so we could compare prices and menus. When I googled one of the locations the search results brought up a hotel downtown; it looked really pretty in the pictures but seemed way out of our budget but I thought what the heck I will send an inquiry e-mail. I didn’t tell my fiancé I e-mailed this place because we had these two other options that I was sure we would choose from. When we looked over the packages the hotel actually seemed do-able which was lucky as the other two venues we chose were not wheelchair accessible and that doesn’t work for some of our guests. As soon as I found that out I made an appointment with Penny (the wedding specialist for the hotel) and waited (im)patiently. Tom and I headed over after work on a Thursday and were greeted and shown around. We are hoping to have our ceremony and reception in the same place so she showed us options of where this could happen. The hotel had an amazing rooftop patio with great views and a great layout…it was perfect! We are pretty much sold on it being our venue but I am still e-mailing with Penny deciding on pricing and little details. Stay tuned! 

2.       Shoes – Ohhhh shoes, I am much more excited about the shoes than the dress! I have been looking for wedding shoes since we got engaged, which funnily enough is when we expected our wedding to be in 2014! I have signed up to more sites than you can believe and it became a daily routine to check through the sites and see what styles I could find. Through this obsessive site searching I noticed I was always drawn to Badgley Mischka heels, they were elegant, simple and classic and would go with any dress I picked! They aren't the cheapest of shoes but they also aren't outrageously priced, but if I can cut costs then I will so I directed my search to eBay. One lucky day I typed 'Badgley Mischka' into the search bar, selected shoes, selected size 7.5 and there they were….

…they were stunning. Unfortunately, they were a bid item and not a Buy It Now item; they were listed at $65.00 and I thought the price is too good not to bid. For the next 4 days I had my eyes on these bad boys, it became an unhealthy obsession but I was not going to lose these! Then finally the day came and there is 9 minutes left on the item, I refreshed about 50 times hoping nobody would bid me up. My fiancé and I sat there watching the clock tick down as I was still the top bidder, then I kid you not in the last THREE seconds someone bid. Heart sank, world over, OMG what will I do now? I was devastated for about 10 minutes and then I realised that I had so much time until our wedding that I can find another deal and all will be okay J And I was right because a few short days later I decided to do a search again and found the perfect shoes, the perfect price and they were Buy It Now. I am now waiting for the arrival for them and I just can't wait!!

3.       Wedding Favours – Last but not least I have started purchasing things for our wedding favours. When we started planning our budget I put zero dollars towards favours. When I thought of favours I thought of matches and bubbles with our names and wedding date plastered everywhere...um no thanks! However, one day my sister was asking me what we were doing for favours and I told her we weren`t doing them due to cost and taste. She had an amazing idea for our favours and offered to do them to help us out J I'm trying to keep a lot of wedding plans hush hush because it will be a nice surprise for our guests so I won't be revealing what they are until after the wedding! I did buy two things on eBay for the favours – chevron yellow bags and grey heart stickers, so cute! I'm so grateful for her help and wonderful idea!

That is all that has been happening unfortunately, I wish it was more exciting but hopefully I can report back with something new soon J

Xoxo,

Leanne

Fashion Shows, Cake, and Wine!

As promised in my last post, I'm here to tell you all about the bridal show in Halifax last weekend! The wedding showcase was a lot of fun. I think it is a great idea to put everything a bride needs to plan a wedding all in the same place! It's a great place to get ideas and network with vendors.

 

The great thing about this years bridal showcase was that they added Bridal Bucks! Bridal Bucks are great because you can use them to get discounts at participating vendors. Some vendors take anywhere from $10 - $50 off your total cost! And as every bride knows, all discounts save you $ that you can use for your honeymoon ;)

 

 

I think that the bridal bucks are a great addition because I love discounts and now I am saving money on my DJ services as well as a few other things! They even have discounts on honeymoon trips!

 

The bridal show also included two fashion shows. The first one was hosted by Winchester's but I was too wrapped up in cake tasting, wine tasting, and photobooths to check out that show! I did check out the second fashion show though which was put on by Always and Forever Bridal Store. It was great to see all the different dresses and tux styles available.

 

 

I got in touch with so many different vendors that the day was a great success no matter what! Here are the buisness cards of the vendors that I am actually interested in. I got a whole bunch of cards from other booths that I threw out, lol! Just by attending some vendors give you other discounts you can use anytime! Moore's Clothing for Men gave me a coupon for $40 off each tux rental and I don't even have to use my bridal bucks!

 

Just spending the day with my Mom and my MOH made the entire day totally worth it but making connections was great as well :)! Can't wait for the next one.

 

Thanks for following blog readers!

 

xoxo

 

Khrysty

 

Planning, Planning, Planning!

As promised, here is the follow up to the rest of my busy wedding planning weekend :)! Saturday morning we were supposed to have our engagement photos done but the rain ruined all my plans
:(

Luckily the photographer had time to schedule us in for Sunday. So Saturday morning was much more low-key than expected! I helped my mother-in-law to be decorate the house for the party and got all the food ready! Then everyone showed up! It was a really fun time and after the family party we decided to go out with the bridal party (at least those that could be present) for some more fun!

 

Here are some awesome pictures from that night:

 

 

My awesome MOH and her boyfriend

 

Blog buddies :)

 

The boys (groomsmen) watching the band play!

 

My adorable fiancé and I :)

 

Another one of us :D

 

Thankfully my MOH is not the photographer ;)

 

Leanne and her fiancé

 

As the night wore on our dancing got better...and by better we all know I mean the opposite...

 

 

...and better, lol.

 

This night was the most fun I have had in awhile! We went to the Pogue and the band was really good... or I had a few too many drinks and thought the band was really good, lol.

 

Sunday was another busy day since we pushed our appointment with the photographer back a day! I was obsessively checking the weather network and praying it would not rain. At 8am when I woke up I had a message from the photographer asking if we still wanted to do the photos even though everything was so wet - I was like yes! I believe in the sun, it will come out haha!

 

And luckily for us it did :). I felt like that was an omen that our engagement is meant to be. The entire drive to the city was a coat of fog and I was starting to get super nervous that we would have to reschedule AGAIN, but as we drove into the city (15 minutes late, oops!) the sun broke through the sky and the fog lifted. It was perfect!

 

Here is a sneak peek of our engagement shoot! I promise to post more pictures as soon as we get them back.

 

 

This one is my favorite so far <3

 

Shooting with our photographer was a lot of fun! She kept making us laugh so the pictures would be more normal looking! I think that they turned out really great, although my fiancé thinks he looks "horrible" lol.

 

After the engagement photo shoot I had a bridal show to attend! Read my next post to find out about all the excitement there!

 

Thanks for following blog readers, xoxo

 

Khrysty

 

 

Have your cake and eat it too?

Today was an excellent day on the wedding planning front. It is really difficult to plan a wedding from a different province but I make the most of my weekends to Halifax! :) I feel like we got a lot accomplished today in particular!

 

Our first appointment of the day was with a cake decorator and all I have to say is who knew cakes were so complicated. First you choose a cake flavor: red velvet, lemon, white almond, or the classics - chocolate and vanilla. Not to mention you can mix and match: one tier chocolate, one tier vanilla, one tier white almond anyone?? ;) Then there is the buttercream flavors: lemon, strawberry, nutella (WHAT?), vanilla, oreo, baileys (YUM!), coconut, and duke de leche (HUH?). Some of these I've never even heard of! The best part of this meeting - taste testing :)! You also need to choose the number of tiers you want and the design of the cake of course! Here's what our cake is going to look like but with a little variation:

I like this cake with purple flowers! The cake decorator said it would be great with a purple ombre so that's what we are thinking. What do you all think?

 

Our next meeting was at the church. We hadn't been inside the church yet, we had only seen photos on the Internet but it didn't disappoint! The church is BEAUTIFUL! Here is the outside of the church:

 

This is the only part of the Church we had seen until today!

 

 

This is where we will be standing to get married :). I get goosebumps just thinking about it!

 

This picture does not do the inside justice! It was absolutely beautiful!!!

 



This is the organ! My fiancé is in love with the organ and is super excited that the church has an accomplished organist!

 

Meeting with the Reverend was definitely on my to do list and I am so glad we got that done this trip to Halifax! And believe it or not we have more wedding related events this weekend so stay tuned for Engagement photos and Bridal Show! YAY wedding planning!

 

 

Happy Friday blog readers!

 

xoxo

 

Khrysty

Budget, Budget, Budget!

The first step to planning your wedding is setting a budget! There are many factors that can affect your budget including guest count, location, and venue. Obviously if you are getting married in a big city like Vancouver or Toronto the cost will be a little bit more than a small town. Also, the biggest factor in planning a wedding is the guest count. A wedding with 200 guests is going to cost more than a wedding with a 100 person guest count.

 

Before determining our budget for our fairy tale wedding I did some research and discovered that the average Canadian wedding costs $25,000. And yes, people can plan a wedding for much less, and some people much more, but this number made sense. My fiancé and I decided that with our guest count - 230 people - and our location being in a semi-big city - Halifax - that our budget would be $25,000. Of course, we are always hoping to come under budget :).

 

As a general guideline, 50% (yes half) of your budget should go to the reception and rehearsal dinner (if you choose to do one), 10% to bridal attire (this includes the dress, shoes, jewelry, and undergarments), 10% to music (dj, band - it's your choice), 10% to photography, 10% to flowers, and 10% to everything else (this would be bridal party gifts, invitations and response cards, wedding license, transportation, favors, guest book, etc). Of course these figures can be adjusted accordingly. If you decide one aspect of the wedding is more important than others you can change your percentages.

 

I found the easiest way to keep track of my budget was to create one in Microsoft Word, I am sure there are easier ways to do this but this way worked best for me.

 

Here is what my budget sheet looked like :)

 

 

I think one of the best ways to stay with in budget is to shop around. Although, sometimes I find that all I do is shop around for the best deal and this can be stressful. But in the end it will totally be worth it! I also found that a good way to stay in budget is to budget in all the things you know other people (like your parents - if they are helping out) are paying for because if you budget in that cost and then don't actually have to pay for it you have the money left in the budget and you will come in under budget, yay!

 

I'll let you know how my budget turns out!

 

Happy Sunday blog readers,

 

xoxo

 

Khrysty

Bride or Bridezilla?

While bridesmaid dress shopping I had my first (and hopefully last) bridezilla moment... I'm sure every bride has at least one of these moments but thinking back it is so embarrassing!

I had envisioned exactly what I wanted my bridesmaids to look like and once I found the dress I was pretty dead set. The only problem was my sister (who is one of my bridesmaids) and I didn't exactly agree on the style. She a wanted a long dress to cover her legs like the one featured below:


                                                   

She tried this dress on and totally loved it, and as cute as it is, it just wasn't the look I wanted. I wanted something a little more fitted - and with a little bit of sass:

In my opinion this dress has it all. It's cute and sassy! And in purple, totally perfect for a summer wedding. Eventually my sister caved and said she would wear whatever I asked her to wear (it is my wedding, right? lol) but at first I really thought it was going to be bride wars between us :).

Thanks for reading!

Khrysty

xoxo

Leanne's Wedding Dress Ideas/Inspiration

A month ago I went shopping with Khrysty to help her find her wedding dress. She did an amazing blog post on her experience so if you haven’t read it...go now!

Since I am miles behind Khrysty on the wedding planning, it won’t come as a surprise that I haven’t been dress shopping, and to be honest I don’t plan on going anytime soon. However, I have been looking online and in magazines at what I would like in a dress. I thought it would be fun to share what I like and then when I finally pick my dress we can look back and see if it was anything like I thought I wanted. So here goes… 

1.       Silhouette – In my opinion, the silhouette of the dress is the most important part. I don’t have the perfect body and I’m not the most confident so I want something to flatter what I enjoy and hide what I don’t! Because of this I can rule out that I don’t want anything form fitting, specifically a mermaid or drop waist dress. Not that I find them ugly, I just think they will look ugly on me.

Right now I would say I am most attracted to ball gowns. There is something about feeling like a princess on my wedding day that draws me in. Also, it doesn’t hurt that they are very flattering around the tummy!

 

 

 

 

The other silhouette option I like is an A-line dress. I want to feel beautiful and relaxed on my wedding day and if I can look great and avoid looking like a giant cupcake then it is a win-win!

 

 

2.       Sleeves – All of the above pictures I posted were of strapless dresses. I am immediately drawn to strapless dresses but through online shopping I have found quite a few dresses with straps that I wouldn’t mind trying on. Here is one I absolutely adore, but unfortunately I don’t have her height or body!

 

3.     Neckline –As a member of the itty bitty titty committee I don’t want to look out of balance and lost in my dress because I am lacking some curve! My favourite neckline is definitely sweetheart but I am not going to rule out other options. I want the dress to flatter me in all areas so this is one area where I find myself not being too picky. 

 

4.      Detail – Now this is probably the most exciting part of the dress to me…the lace, the sparkle, the flowers oh my! The more sparkle the better I say, so bring on the detail! If you have ever watched “Say Yes to the Dress” then I am sure you have seen Pnina Tornai dresses. Every time I see them my jaw drops, they are honestly so amazing; if it was in my budget I would be buying one of her designs.

 

So there we have what I am looking for in my wedding dress. My bets are on a mermaid gown with full sleeves and no detail whatsoever ;). I hope I have a great experience dress shopping, stay within budget and pick something my fiance is going to love!

Stay tuned to see what I pick or leave a comment/link with what you think I should get.

Xoxo

Leanne