Shoes

Goodness! So much time has passed since our last post! Time is really flying -- it's so hard to believe there are now less than four months until our wedding! Eeep!

I will try to catch up a bit on what's been going on (yes, we have been working on stuff -- we just haven't been updating the blog) over the next week or so.

First topic: The critical issue of... Shoes!

People keep asking me if I'm going to wear Converse All-Stars. As much as I love 'em, I gotta go with pretty heels to go with my big fancy dress.

So I am currently shoe shopping. This has been a fruitless hassle for the last several weeks, but I have finally had a break-through this week and am now actually trying to decide between a few pair. Would you like to see them? Of course you would!

I would say this first one is the frontrunner right now. The heel is the right height (not too high) and it's really adorable. It looks kind of coral-ish in this photo, but it's quite red in person:

Pink Studio "Violet" in Red. I bought them at Nordstrom right here.

Next up is a very cute pair -- slightly lower heel, which may be good for all-day wear (I know! I know! I can change my shoes at some point. Honestly, though, I don't want to have to worry about it. I don't want to have a "Gee, my feet sure hurt" moment at our wedding where I then have to scare up a pair of more comfortable shoes. I just want to wear and go. It's just how I roll.)

I would definitely have to embellish these if I went with them -- they need flowers or some kind of shiny clip or something. That, of course, doesn't bother me since, you know, I like to make stuff. I like the shininess of them:

Perlina "Pamela" Pump in red. These were from endless.com.

The final contender would also require some embellishment in the front and, realistically, it's too high for me. From the front, it looks like a plain red satin pump. So why am I even showing it to you? Oh, the fabulous jewel-encrusted heels, of course (this photo does not do them justice -- they are very sparkly in person):

J. Renee "Bridget" pump in Cardinal Red. Also from endless.

Honestly, I'm pretty hooked on the first one -- I'm a sucker for a cartoon-ish shoe. I guess I was envisioning something a bit dressier and maybe with an ankle strap so that's my big holdup, but when a shoe makes you squeal when you put it on, I think that's a good sign.

Aaaand... if I do decide to change into shoes later in the evening, I think that these are probably the ones I'd have to get for that:

They're not just Chucks. They are red, sequined Chucks. Um, yeah.
-kelly

Photographer: DONE!

Ah, exciting news -- we've found a photographer and we are very happy! We found him via Flickr, where there is a seemingly endless supply of talented photographers to be found, if anyone reading this is looking for a photographer.

By entering the search words "toronto wedding photographer," we stumbled upon a group called "Canadian Wedding Photographers." Wow. Lots of good stuff to see there.

The photographer we decided on is Kevin Lam Photography. Takes great photos, seems like a stand-up guy, came with lots of great references. Win-win-win. You can click on that link to see his blog/portfolio. Just think... in just a little over 7 months, we'll be the couple on the front page. Wow!

And a lucky sixpence for your shoe

We all know the following part of the rhyme:

Something old,
Something new,
Something borrowed,
Something blue

There is apparently a final verse to this little poem: "and a lucky sixpence for your shoe." Leave it to my cute little mother to have a sixpence for my shoe that she's been saving for my wedding day:


Not sure how long I'll be able to comfortably wear that -- for the ceremony, at least. After that, I may have to remove the sixpence for comfort's sake.

There are more details on the back of the card:


She also lent me a diamond stud earring to wear in one of my upper earring holes, so I've got "Something borrowed" covered. That just leaves something blue -- I'm thinking blue toenail polish. ;)
-kelly

Wedding crafts: Bouquet

As I mentioned in this post, I am planning to make my own bouquet. One thing that I stumbled upon that was especially intriguing were the twisty bits featured in this bouquet, posted by Flickr user Little Chrince.

I contacted her to ask what the twisty bits were. She didn't know, but she had bought them locally. So she went and got some and send them to me. Yay! In exchange, I made her a bunch of polka dot buttons. Win-win. I love the internet!

So here is the lovely base for my bouquet:


Stay tuned as flowers develop...
-kelly

Earrings: Done!

Yup -- it's two girly posts in a row. What can I say? It's a wedding. ;)

When I was in Ohio, my mom gave me the perfect earrings to wear. They were a gift to her from my paternal grandfather before I was born. He's been gone since 1987, so it's nice to have a little piece of the past with me on my wedding day.

These should qualify for "Something Old" as my mom has had them for over 35 years. That's old enough, right?

Don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the stones are rubies. It's as though my grandfather knew all those years ago that I would be choosing red and white for my wedding colors. They're perfect!

I just need to get them made from clip-ons to pierced earrings -- don't want to worry about losing an earring/family heirloom on my wedding day!
-kelly

Dress and veil: Done!

Warning: Super Girly Content follows... If you're not looking for the squeal-inducing details of our event, just skip on over this post. If you are, read on!

I went to Cleveland two weeks ago to try on wedding dresses. My mom is awesome and generously offered to buy my dress and veil for me and I have good news to report: I found one! And it's gorgeous! Yay!

My best woman Jenny joined us, so it was a full-on Total Girl Event -- we even brought some sort of pink mixed drinks in little airline bottles into the dressing room with us. (Go, Mom!)

While it was unnerving to try on dresses (I'm pale, the dresses are gigantic, and some of them were downright hideous), I am really excited about the one that I chose -- it's absolutely beautiful and I am so excited to wear it in less than eight (!!!) short months from now.

I won't post photos of the dress, but you can email me if you're dying to see it ahead of time and I'll send you a link. I will post this photo of my awesome tiara:

(Click to see a larger version.)

I'm really happy with it. It's so lovely! I just want to wear it All. The. Time. Whee!

Several people have asked how I'm wearing my hair, and I think I'm just going to have it pulled back in front with curls down my back (it's really long now -- so weird!) Kind of like this chick here, but my hair is longer. My veil is gorgeous and has a small edging of tiny pearls around it. It's really something. (Thanks again, Mom!)

And this ends the Super Girly Entry in our Wedding Blog.
-kelly

Our trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame

Well, our little wedding blog has been languishing, hasn't it? That's not to say wedding stuff hasn't been happening... we just haven't been reporting it. So now's our chance to catch up!

We went to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame in September (wow -- that long ago, already?! Time flies!) and it was AWESOME. The building is spectacular and the liaison we'll be working with is a great guy. If we weren't already excited before, this made us even more excited.

We didn't get a ton of great photos (excitement = camera shake), but here is a general idea of the place...

Here is the "front" door of the building. It's on the corner of Yonge and Front streets and is usually closed to the public, but it will be open for our event, which is fantastic:

(Click on any of these photos to see them larger.)

When you go through that door, you enter the room with the Stanley Cup (called the Great Hall), which is where we will be getting married. Whee! Check out the Cup:


There is a beautiful stained glass domed ceiling in that room. This photo does not do it justice -- it's really incredible:


This one is an even worse photo of the glass, but you get a better idea of the gorgeous ceiling:


After we get married in the Great Hall, the reception will continue down into the rest of the Hall of Fame. As we wandered through the place, discussing our "event" with the liaison, we kept getting distracted by all of the amazing things to see. Here are a few highlights...

(You can follow along on this map -- we'll get married at #12.)

There is an area called the NHL Zone (area #2 on that map) where we'll have hors d'oeuvres after the ceremony and a toast following the picture taking. There will be an iPod set up in this area for anyone interested in dancing. They'll move those displays out of the way, so it's just a big slate floor:


For the Wings fan in our lives [you know who you are], we took this photo. For your sake, we hope they win it again in 2009, so you can see a Wings-decorated HHOF!


For our friend who is a Canadiens fan, we took this photo -- it's the complete Canadiens locker room and, um, it's really flipping cool (sorry for the blurry photo -- you can get a better one at our wedding!):


There are super fun things to do at the HHOF, including interactive games (#6 and #8 on the map). It was too dark to get good shots of it, but here are a couple. You get to be the goalie:


Or you can defend against a goalie:

(Bill tried his hand against Ed Belfour but the photos came out even blurrier than these.)

If you're interested, you can see way better photos of the Hockey Hall of Fame right here.

We're so excited!