Wedding Wednesday – Stag and Family Shower Recap

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today is 10 days till wedding day and I have to say, I feel SOOO ready. Not only do I feel not a lot of stress but I feel fairly well organized and ready for the day to get here. Hopefully I stay like that…ha ha!

I thought on this second last wedding Wednesday I would recap a couple of special wedding events that occurred.

First, I would like to thank for wonderful cousin Sheila for all of the beautiful pictures! I so appreciate having them to look back on!

Stag  

Saturday, April 14th, was a date that was sketched into my day timer for over a year. It was our stag date. Now, my bloggy friend Nicole recently asked me what a stag is so I thought I would give you all the Pontiac, Quebec definition.

A stag around here is a big party (usually held in a bar) in honor of the soon to be husband and wife. The wedding party sells tickets for this party before hand and at the door.

Our groomsmen!

There are door prizes to be won and a yummy midnight lunch! 

All the yummy food!

The cake!

The money raised goes to the bride and groom!

I would be lying if I said I was not nervous for the stag. I don’t know what it was about this event but I was scared! We all gathered at Jill’s before hand for some pre-drinks and I don’t think I could have arrived at the bar without a few beverages in me.

When we arrived we did the ceremonial “first dance” to Every Rose Has It’s Thorn. We kept laughing throughout the whole song because it seemed to be the longest version ever!

After the entrance/first dance I was so much calmer and started visiting with all of the people that were there for us.

It was a very humbling feeling seeing all of the people that had made it out. The bar was packed!

Around 11:30 we got on stage to draw the prizes, say our thank you’s and a announce food is served!

Come midnight the place started emptying out and Ryan and I were able to spend the last couple of hours having a few drinks, saying our good byes to those leaving and dance!

 

Our stag was so fun and really, it was silly for me to be so nervous! I can’t put into words how thankful Ryan and I are for all of the work that our wedding party, friends and family put into the stag! We are so blessed to have such an amazing support system!

Family Shower

The month of April was full of fun activities. On Saturday, April 21st, I crossed the ferry with my beautiful bridesmaids to where my shower was being held in Kars, Ontario.

My dad is the only boy of his family. He has 2 older sisters and one younger. Over the years each family has grown and grown. Now, when we all get together we usually do it at a hall because their is just so many of us!

Some of us girls

Most of this side of the family lives over an hour away and so I was so looking forward to having a visit with them all!

There was so much yummy shower food and the decorations were adorable!! Every little detail was thought of!

We started off with a couple of games. A word scramble that I was horrible at and then make your own bridal gown out of toilette paper!

It was so hard to choose the winners but in the end I choose Emma’s group and Morgan’s Group!

After those fun games we all got to eat and visit!

Cousin Liz with her 2 girls

My (great) Aunt Elaine

Love this picture of Grandma giving me a hug!

After the yummy feast I started to open all of my beautiful gifts! I was certainly “showered” with so many thoughtful and beautiful items! I can’t help but get super excited as the date gets closer to start using them!!

Opening a gift with my special card reader, Faith!

Morgan, Me and Emma with my bow bouquet!

It was such a fun shower! I was so spoiled and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family!

Specifically, thank you Sheila (who took all of these pictures) for hosting and organizing such an amazing shower for me!

Love you!

xo

Bachelorette Weekend!

 

Happy Monday everyone! I have to give you all fair warning. With less then 2 weeks before wedding day except this blog (and my mind) to have only one thing to write about…Wedding Stuff!

When this weekend was originally planned way back last spring it seemed SO far away! April 28th seemed like an eternity! My bachelorette was something I had been looking forward to for months! I know with my group of friends we can have fun anywhere let alone when out for a bachelorette.

The weekend started out on Friday with a fun drive to Shawville for our book club meeting. Our host had a lovely spread of snacks and we had great discussion on the book, Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall.

Unfortunately, on Saturday I could not sleep in! This gave me lots of time to relax, get ready and pack to head to the city for my bachelorette!

My bridesmaids and I met at the ferry and then we checked into our hotel room and set up shop! Our own little personal wall of booze! Lots of wine and mix!

We went searching for a ice and then poured our first drinks. We sat back and snacked on some chips and chatted. Jello shots too!

We all decided it was time to start getting ready. 4 girls…one bathroom. It was tight but we managed to do it in less then an hour! We were all ready to go when the girls brought out my bachelorette gear! A veil, lei, bachelorette pin, bachelorette sash and my own little friend for the night, Pener!

We then loaded into Andrea’s car and found our seats with all the other wonderful girlfriends who met us there!

The Crazy horse is a country western themed restaurant/bar just west of Ottawa. It’s decor was neat, the food was good but what really made dinner fun was the waiters! They were a hoot and we had a lot of fun making them their own name tags and having them join in the check list fun!

Some of the name tags!

After supper the band got started and I got working on my checklist!

Find the cutest guy in the bar and ask him to help you practice walking down the aisle.

Find a single guy and ask him to buy you a shot.

It was SUCH an amazing and fun night!! It was fun being out with all of the ladies that I love the most and letting loose for an evening! Between having a blast with the girls and running around getting random congratulations it was a very special night!

Thank you to all the wonderful girls who were there!

The next morning…packing everything up…including Pener.

Thank you to (arousing) Amanda, (big balls) Bekk and (juicy) Jillian for an AMAZING time! You all did so much work to organize such a great night for me!

Thank you!!!!

xo

Happy 35th Anniversary

 

Happy Friday everyone! It’s finally Friday! It has seriously felt like a super long week! Kind of glad it’s over!

Yesterday I was running around like a mad women getting things picked up around our small town. One of them being two big boxes of white hats.

We work in a very dirty industry and white is not a commonly used color but we wanted to do something special to hand out to our clients for our 35th anniversary.

It’s hard to believe that my parents started up Mountainview Turf Farms over 35 years ago. A year before they were even married.

My parents have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into building what the business is today. Now, my brother and I are both part of the company and hope to continue to grow their legacy.

 

So, I just wanted to take this Friday to proudly wish Mountainview a very happy 35th anniversary!

Happy Friday!

xo

Wedding Wednesday – The Odds and Ends

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! 17 days till wedding day! Holy moly! Last week, reality struck me head on. I felt like my wedding was fast approaching. This week? Not so much. I am a lot more relaxed about everything still thinking that there is LOTS of time. In reality, I need to snap out of it because in a blink of an eye, the wedding will be here.

There are so many last minute details to take care of when you are planning a wedding. The jobs that you procrastinated on, the vendors you have to confirm and all of those last minute dress/flower/wedding planner/decorator meetings you have to go to. It really is a lot. I thought today, because of this very reason, it would be impossible to talk about just one wedding item. So, today you get three!

1. Table Numbers

I had mentioned before that my Dad help me build some table numbers out of old barn board that we had on the farm. They were great but they were missing one crucial element, numbers! I don’t know why I kept putting this job off. Maybe it was because the barn board needed to be washed first and then dried. But, when Ryan surprised me one afternoon by cleaning all the table numbers I had no excuse to not paint on the numbers.

I know now why I didn’t want to do it. Painting barn board sucks!

Being that these pieces of board are somewhere around 100 years old, they love the paint. After one layer of paint and the number not showing up because of the paint being sucked into the wood, I knew we had a problem. It literally took a dozen coats of paint on EACH table number to finally get the number to clearly show up.

Thankfully, the job did go by fast because I was watching a sappy movie! Not to mention I do love the result and I love how the table numbers turned out!

2. Flip Flop Basket

I am a “pack 2 shoes kind of girl”. What does that mean? Well, pretty much for ANY nice occasion I wear my nice high heels and then always bring a spare pair of flats for when my feet start to get sore.

This was evident at our stag. I wore my heels till midnight and then this Cinderella changed into flats! 

I had seen flip flop baskets on the internet before and I thought that if I was a guest at a wedding with flip flops I would love it! I knew I wanted to make one.

Upon searching the internet for the best deal on flip flops I quickly realized that Old Navy was the best choice. Not only could I choose flip flops in our wedding colors but they were also the cheapest. Perfect!

The hard part is picking the right sizes so I just took a guess and picked about 30-40 pairs of random sizes and colors.

I cut out little navy card stock circles and little white paper circles that represented the size.

Glue both pieces together.

Punch a hole and attach to each flip flop!

Arrange in large basket and add a sign that reads; “Dancing Shoes. Please feel free to pick a pair”.

3. Ryan’s moving in…EEK!

Some of you may know that Ryan and I don’t actually live together. We would still see eachother all the time. He would join me for supper and then head home to his roommate in the evenings. His rent is up but he isn’t officially moving out of his place and into mine under after we are married.

To make the transition easier Ryan has started to move his stuff in before the wedding. And I have to be honest…I don’t like it. ha ha

For the last 3 or so years I have lived in my house and kept it just so. It was perfect for me. I got to decorate it the way that I wanted to and it was clutter free. Now? Not so much.

I am glad that Ryan is moving in but it’s been hard dealing with “boy stuff”. His jersey’s, a million hockey cards and giant beer bottle coin bank (that he insists should go in the living room!) are all taking over my once feminine home.

It’s going to be the first compromise session of our new lives together! Stay tuned for that! ;-)

Happy Wednesday!

xo  

3 Weeks To Wedding Weekend

 

*** Couldn’t post this yesterday due to our internet being down! Friggin’ boonies! ha ha! ** 

Happy Monday everyone! I REALLY need the weekends to slow down! They are whizzing by at lightening speed! For a long time, early in the wedding planning process, I was SO looking forward to April because even though I wasn’t getting married in April, it was packed will of fun, wedding related activities.

April 6/7 – Easter

April 13/14 – Stag

April 20/21 – Shower

April 27/28 – Bachelorette

It really is a good thing that the weekends approaching the wedding are busy. The busy weekends allows me to forget about the planning process for a moment and enjoy the certain party that is happening!

Friday started out by relaxing a bit after work and then heading to Shawville in the evening to take Tucker to the Vet’s for his regular shots. During his regular routine checkout the Vet found a lot of rotten teeth, normal for his breed. She immediately scheduled an appointment for him to have dental surgery to remove all rotting teeth. Poor little buddy.

To cheer me up after the appointment Ryan stopped and got me ice cream! That man knows me so well!

Saturday morning I could not sleep! I was so excited to get up and get ready for my shower across the Ottawa River which was hosted by my wonderful cousin Sheila!

It is over an hour’s drive and can be hard at times to see that side of the family. I had a great time just seeing and visiting with everyone!

The food…What is it about shower food that is so unbelievably amazing? Nacho dip, cheese dip, spinach dip, sandwiches, cheese/pickles/olives, veggies, fruit and cup cakes! Yum!

After my bite to eat I open all of my beautiful gifts! I am so spoiled! Every gift was so wonderful! You don’t realize it till you are in the bride position but you really do day dream about each item as you open it! I caught myself saying/thinking about the item and how/when I will be using in our future.

It was a great shower and I am so lucky to have such a great support group of people who are there for Ryan and I! Thank you Sheila and everyone else for such an amazing shower!

Sunday morning Ryan and I headed to church! It was Earth Day and the service revolved around that. We even received some  special planters with seeds from the Sunday school kids!

Ryan and I both agreed coming out of church that the service made us both excited to start our vegetable garden!! We love growing our own food and Ryan loves watching his giant pumpkin throughout the summer! We added “seed” to our city trip list.

After church we went to breakfast with Mom and Dad. It’s so nice having Sunday to visit with them outside of work!

Ryan and I immediately headed to the car after breakfast and started our drive to the city. When we got engaged we got a dinner gift certificate for a restaurant in Ottawa called Mama Theresa’s. We decided to use the gift certificate and spend the afternoon before supper getting wedding errands done!

I am VERY happy to report that we got ALL of our candy buffet candy! But not only that, it was SO much fun getting it! All the funny looks we were getting was priceless!

Supper was AMAZING. Mama Theresa’s = HIGHLY recommended!

It was a busy yet super fun weekend.

How about your weekend?

xo

I Will…

 

Happy Friday everyone! I hope that everyone’s week passed by fairly quickly. Even with all of the activities going on this week I still found my self wondering, is it Friday yet?

This week so many wedding related things were going on. I was hardly ever at home. On Monday (as mentioned) was my hair trial, Tuesday my wonderful bridesmaids and I went to get their dresses altered! Wednesday and Thursday I finished making all of the table numbers! So many wedding things crossed off the list!

Between work and wedding it’s hard to think what is on my mind more. I am in a constant state of over thinking. In the shower, running, driving….those are all of the places where my mind is being overly active. I always play things over and over again in my mind. One of them being my “I Will” list. A list that I thought I should share with all of you. It’s a list to my future husband, giving him fair warning!

1. I will…always be ready before you are! I am a very punctual person and I will always demand that we are somewhere early. On time is late!

2. I will…always nag you to pick up your hat, pay stubs and water glasses! I am not your mother (sorry Bev!) and you can pick up after yourself! Expect to be nagged!

3. I will…always ask you to take out the garbage and recycling. It just really grosses me out. Don’t worry, I will be very thankful.

4. I will…always look forward to the future more then looking at the present! I just get so excited for what’s next! (How many day’s till Christmas?)

5. I will…never cut the grass. I’ve never even drove a lawn mower before. Big tractor mower? Sure! Small lawn mower? Nope!

6. I will…clean the bathrooms. I know how much cleaning a bathroom (especially toilet) grosses you out! Trade off for the garbage, right?

7. I will…insist on some personal space. I talk and get talked to for almost 13 hours a day. Silence is necessary for my sanity. I need my time to unwind and recuperate. Also, I will cry at any moment! Whether it can be from stress or hormones, I truly believe in the healing power of a really good cry!

8. I will…never like horror movies! I’m scared of the dark! I will always leave lights on and I will always sleep with my blankie…it makes me feel better.

9. I will…always make you make the kraft dinner! It just tastes so much better when you do it! As a trade off, I will always make the pizza dough!

10. I will…always hit the snooze button! I hate waking up in the morning and I am in a bad mood if I can’t hit snooze once, twice, three times! I will be better to be around if I snooze!

Finally…..

11. I will…work my hardest to make you extremely happy. I will do everything I can to make us grow and succeed as a married couple. I will hold your hand through the hard times. I will celebrate your every accomplishment. I will love you!

xo

Wedding Wednesday – Getting Gussied Up!

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! This week is pretty busy as far as wedding related activities go. Pretty much every evening I have either something to do for or with the wedding.

I know most of you expected to read about the stag today. Which was kind of my plan. However, as someone who is usually trigger happy with the camera, I normally have a plethora of pictures. Being at this end? Not so much. It’s coming.

On Monday however, I did do a very exciting thing. I went for my make up and hair trial!

I can be a very untrusting person when it comes to my hair. I’ve had some nasty hair styles/cuts in my day! Lately, I haven’t had to worry because I have a great hairdresser and friend, Lisa.

Lisa, is married to Luc. Who also happens to be in the wedding as one of Ryan’s groomsmen. We knew that Lisa could be very busy the morning of the wedding between Luc and their two small children.

Since I wanted all of us girls to get ready together I started about thinking about the option of hair and makeup coming to us. It’s a very niche market but with some research I found…

Peggy’s Mobile Hair Care

I knew immediately, via e-mail, that Peggy was very professional and knew her bridal hair! Once I had booked her (almost a year in advance, Peggy is very busy with lots of weddings!) I never worried about how it would turn out.

Monday I was excited about my hair trial. My only worry was that I wouldn’t be able to express what I wanted as far as a hair style goes. Peggy started doing her magic and within 40 minutes I was coiffed as if it was my wedding day…it was perfect!

Here are my inspiration pictures taken from the Etsy store where I got my hair bling:

Via FineNFleurie

Afterwards, I went over to the make up chair where I met, Christina who did my make up. This wonderful girl came in with a suitcase of make up! Being that I don’t wear alot of make up I was a little worried about how I would look.

When Christina turned me around and I saw my face it was awesome. She had done just as I asked, natural but special.

My make up via Iphone picture.

I wish I could show you pictures of my hair but I had Peggy take it down so I didn’t have to fight with Bobby pins. You’ll just have to wait! :-)

Happy Wednesday!

xo