What's black and white and red velvet inside?

Both my FH and I are obsessed with cake shows (you know, Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, Food Network Challenge), so we knew when we started planning our wedding, that a great cake was a must.

While searching the Internet I came across some beautiful inspiration.

First, there's this beauty. I adore this cake with it's patterned fondant. The flowers seem to have been highlighted with some sort of iridescent food colouring. I love it's simplicity. I think it's very elegant.

via Nati's Cakes

Then there's this beautiful damask number. To make such a cake, one normally applies fondant first, and then uses royal icing and a stencil to make the slightly raised design. If we decide to go with this one, we'd change the blue pearls to black or white.

via The Artful Cake

Sticking with the damask theme, there's this lovely number. This damask appears to be hand-piped which makes it look more whimsical and less formal than the one above. I adore this cake and it's unique style, though I think I'd prefer it with black rather than white pearls (the design between layers).

via Tasty Layers

And finally, la piece de resistance. I have no clue how these flowers were created. Gum paste? Fondant? Royal icing? Buttercream? Regardless, they are gorgeous. I love how they just cascade down the layers.

via Donna Makes Cakes

I'm torn between a damask cake and something a little more unique. I adore the last cake, but I'm not sure if we could recreate it to my liking. Yes, I said we. As in, my FH and I. As in, we're making our own wedding cake.

I know, you think we're both crazy, but our need for perfectionism usually takes over any rational thought.

Don't worry too much though, this isn't our first cake. We've made more than 5 fondant beauties and countless buttercream wonders.

It will be our first wedding cake, however. OK, so we are nuts.

Why I've banned the band.

Yesterday we went to design my wedding band.

Cue sad music.

And now, I'm not getting one.

Crazy, right? Well, the engagement ring my FH bought me is AH-mazing. It's an emerald cut ruby set between 4 baguette diamonds on a palladium/18K gold band. It cost a small fortune (see my previous ER post), so we wanted to be a bit more practical with the wedding band.

I took my inspiration photo to the custom jewellery show and showed the jeweller. He liked it, but said he'd prefer if I got a wedding jacket. No, not a coat, but a wedding jacket. It looks something like this:

via Limoges Jewelery

Beautiful, right? It'll be fused at the bottom and my ring will slide into it, preventing any movement of the ER and thereby preventing any scratching. Perfect.

Well, Mr. Jeweller left and calculated our quote and came back with a piece of paper that said $3300. Um, not perfect. That's like half a house down payment. I could buy a car for that!

So, he offered to make just one band, as I'd originally wanted, for $1600. Still out of our preset price range of $1100.

Mr. Jeweller, clearly realizing that I'm in the midst of a minor panic attack, says he'll talk with the manager of the store and see what he can do. They come back with a new quote for the jacket - $2600.

Still far too much. So, we kindly turn down their offer and leave.

Yes, leave.

I don't have a wedding band and I don't really know what to do about it.

Should I settle for something not custom made, that will, in all likelihood, look like crap next to my beautiful ER? Or should I get a 3rd job to pay for my dream ring?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Me and my FH have lived together for the past 2 years and I have lived on my own since I was 18. So, we have lots of...stuff. We have towels, sheet sets, toasters (yes, plural), pots, pans, dishes, glasses, mugs, dressers (7 of them), cutlery (2 full sets), and just about everything else you need to run a household.

So, what to do about a registry? I'm sure a lot of people in our situation would register for nicer versions of the items they already own. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, my university town has sort of transformed me into a hippy. I don't want new items, I have ones that work.

But I can't not make a registry, can I? What will people buy should they chose to purchase a gift? Are they going to think I just want money? I'm really not trying to be greedy, I just don't want or need another toaster.

Perplexed, I began searching the Internet, only to discover the perfect solution. A honeymoon registry. Yes, they exist! Apparently, all the cool kids are doing it.

After discovering honeymoon registries, I knew I had to have one. And guess what? My FH wants one too. So now, all we really need to do is figure out where we want to go. I do have somewhere in mind, let me give you a hint:

Who's the leader of the club that's meant for you and me....

via Disney World

So, do you think it's weird to go to Disney World for our honeymoon? Do you think it's even weirder to have our guests help pay for it?

Let’s just say I believe in healthy love.

The title of this post is a quote by one of my favourite people on television, Jillian Michaels (from The Biggest Loser). I love Jillian because she used to be overweight, learned to manage her eating, and now holds others accountable for their unhealthy lifestyles. She's a no BS kind of lady, and if you know me, you know that we have that in common.

My FH is blessed with an amazing metabolism. I really don't get it. He can fill his body with processed foods, candy, and sugary sodas, never exercise, and still weigh 155 lbs (and he's over 6'). So, living with the man is hard. SO HARD. Especially if you're a sugar-a-holic, which I am.

When we started dating (over 3 years ago), I gained some weight. Love tends to do that to a person. Why cook when you're in love? You can just eat Quiznos everyday. So we did. I kid you not.

Fast forward one year, and I weighed 10 lbs more than when we started dating. Now that's unhealthy love. I had no energy, and my skin was going nuts (acne and I have a long standing relationship, unfortunately).

What to do, what to do. Join a gym? I managed to convince one of my friends (now a bridesmaid) to join with me so that we could be healthy and hot. We went to the gym fairly religiously, but I sabotaged myself by doing something that many gym-goers are guilty of. I used the gym as an excuse to eat crap, i.e. "I can eat this bag of peppermint patties because yesterday I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes." I was so naive. I didn't lose weight, in fact, I gained more.

Then just this past spring (April to be exact), it hit me. I must exercise and eat healthy to be fit. I know, not exactly ground breaking stuff, but I really needed to come to that realization myself. And guess what? It worked.

So now, after being a member of my gym for almost 2.5 years, I've lost 17 lbs, and 6% of my body fat. I feel great, have tons of energy and I'm training for a 1/2 marathon that I plan to run 13 days before my wedding.

So for all you brides out there that don't think it can be done, it can. You just have to commit to a complete lifestyle change. It's hard, but so worth it.

Here's some brides looking fit that helped inspire my new lifestyle, and could help inspire yours:

via Love Bridal

via Fitness Magazine

via Brisbane Times

You can wear it again, but you won't.

In general, bridesmaid dresses are, well, tacky. They tend to be purchased in strange shades of blue, orange, pink, and green. They tend to be long, cocktail style gowns. And, they tend to be a style that flatters one or two of the bridesmaids, leaving the rest of the flock looking far from their best. The result? Most bridesmaid dresses are never worn again.

Not a big deal, considering many a dress is bought for a specific occasion and never worn twice. Well, the problem with bridesmaids dresses is that like everything bridal, they cost a small fortune. We're not talking about a $75 prom dress that will happily hang in the closet until you realize that you'll never fit into it again and then, reluctantly, hand it over to charity. Bridesmaids dresses cost upwards of $225!

Considering that many of my bridesmaids are just starting their lives (finishing school, pursuing new careers, get married themselves), I wanted bridesmaid dresses that:
a) could indeed be worn again, and
b) were relatively inexpensive.

So, I decided on black. I mean, what is more wearable than a LBD? And, I decided they need not be purchased from a bridal boutique. And, I decided they did not have to match.

I know, I know, I'm committing major bridal sins over here...black and mismatched. But, I am most certainly not the first bride to make such outrageous style choices.

Here's some of my inspiration:

Image via Trever Hoehne

Image via Weddingbee

Image via Weddingbee

Though I will put some limitations on the style of the dress (it must be black, tea length and not made of jersey or polyester), I think they'll enjoy that they'll be able to choose a dress that reflects their own personal style.

What do you think? Is mismatched ok, or is matchy-poo the way to go?

Chemistry is everything.

In case you missed my previous Save the Date posts, I'm planning on using a poem I wrote that gives a very brief history of how I met my FH. Despite the lovely rhyme, we've been having a great deal of trouble finding a picture suitable to grace the cover.

Then I had a light bulb moment...

What if we took a picture in the building where we met? Dressed up as scientists no less. CUTE!

Even better, there's a bright orange wall (yay for not renovating since the '60s) in the stairwell adjacent to my research lab that would act as the perfect backdrop (our wedding colours are black, white, and orange, if you recall).

Here's how I want us to be posed:

Image via http://hanssietrainorphotography.com/

Can't you just picture it with the white lab coats, goggles, and maybe even a beaker or two?

Timing isn't...everything, right?

Ok, so I need to come up with a wedding timeline. Nothing too crazy, just a general idea of when the major events are going to take place, you know, ceremony, dinner, dancing, our exit.



Easy enough. Unless you're me, and you can't make a decision to save your life.

My problems with deciding on a wedding timeline include:

A) I don't know how long anything takes. Ceremony lasts 20 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour?
Group photos take 1 hour, right? How long does it take to eat dinner? In our house, 10 minutes, tops - but I'm assuming at the wedding we won't be munching down while watching Wheel of Fortune.

B) I don't know when the sun sets on October 30th. I checked the weather network and they tell me 6:50pm. Is this when it starts setting? When it's dark? I don't know. I need it to be light outside after the ceremony so that I can get some pictures of the wedding entourage.

C) I want to limit the amount of time the bar is open. My FH and I are not rolling in dough, so, limiting the amount of time the bar is open should limit the amount of drinks his friends pound back (you have no idea the amount of alcohol these men can consume).

D) I want to have energy after the day's events...to...you know...

Does everyone have this much trouble creating a wedding timeline? Or is my Type A personality simply taking over?

Sweet home Alabama.

Many years ago, my roomate (now one of my BMs) and I spent a Friday night in watching Sweet Home Alabama. My roomate found it overly mushy and predicatable - her honesty is one of the things I love about her. I, however, love me some Reese Witherspoon and I 'love the love' (as my FH always says), so I adored it.

One of the things that stuck with me from the movie, is the birdcage veil Reese Witherspoon sported. I'd never seen anything like it and I was intrigued.

I find traditional veils to be too a bit much, and if you read post #1, you'll know I can't stand tulle in any form.

So the question is, can I pull it off? I know my sister/MOH could work this, no problem. I'm just not so sure I can. It definitely works with the style of my dress and I think it goes with the overall style of the wedding, so maybe I should just go for it.

I think the FH will disapprove, but he's not exactly known for his style sense. I'm sure he'll equate it to me wearing a fish net on my head.

So what do you think?

Image via birdcageveils.com

ER Trauma (that's engagment ring, not emergency room).

I need to preface this post by saying that my FH and I are chemists. That's how we met, in a chemistry lab. Chemists know a lot about minerals, and semi-precious stones. In our inorganic chemistry classes we talk diamond to death. And, for this reason, we always knew I would never be wearing just a diamond on my finger (yes, I said just a diamond, I'm sorry to all the diamond lovers out there).

We wanted corundum (the red variety is also known as ruby). Why? Because rubies are rare. You see, in order to get a ruby, you need to have an aluminum oxide lattice with a 3% chromium impurity. Any more and it's not red. You can read more about it here, if you like (though you'll require more than high school chemistry to understand what's going on).

Easy enough, right? Um, no.

For some reason I thought a ruby would be cheaper than a diamond. I mean, I know they're rare, but they're also not that common. Turns out rubies are expensive because they're extremely rare and hard to cut (they're much more brittle than diamonds).

Despite the sky high prices, we decided to stick with a ruby. We went to a custom jewellery show and picked out a princess cut ruby set between two diamonds. Now because rubies are rare, and uncommon, we bought the ring without seeing the stone. MISTAKE.

Six weeks later the ring came in, and let me tell you, we were less than pleased. The ruby was pink and cloudy. How could we have paid $3000 for a stone that looked like this? We returned the ring (much to my dismay; I wanted to tell people I was engaged!) and booked an appointment for another custom show.

This time things went much more smoothly. The jeweller was much more understanding and even offered some design advice (after all, this was our first experience designing a ring). The only problem came when he looked in his large binder for suitable rubies. The nicest, highest quality ruby he had was also the biggest. With a price tag more than double that of our original stone, I had a breakdown. I started crying and left the store leaving my FH there to try and explain my erratic behaviour to the jeweller.

Turns out my emotional release melted the jeweller's heart and he offered us a 20% discount on the stone. To top it off, the jewellery store sponsoring the custom show offered us another 10% off. YAY!!

When my ring came in, it was one of the best moments of my life. It was perfect, but the process was by no means fun and easy.

And now, on February 23, we're going to another custom show to design my wedding band. Here's what I had in mind:

We're suckers for punishment.

Being cheap isn't all bad.

So, any of you that know me, or read this blog often, know that my FH is one of the cheapest men on the planet. There is no real reason for his frugality, it's not a learned behaviour, he's not in dire financial straits. I think he just likes hoarding. EVERYTHING. Including money.

Anyway, in talking with my FH about the guest book platter, he tried to lead me down another route. ANY route that didn't cost $100+.

We were already planning on having a photo booth. Our photographer is going to take the pictures for 2 hours after dinner, so my FH suggested we make the photo booth our guest book. But, how to do this? Well, in browsing some wedding blogs, I found these pictures.

Image via http://lucida-photography.com/blog/?p=501

AMAZING!! A guest book/photo booth, and all we need is speech and thought bubbles! This should be much more cost effective (probably around $25 with supplies) and it's way more fun.

So now I just need some blackboard paint, a jigsaw, and my FH's artistic abilities. YAY!

Comfort vs. Cuteness

Ok, so anyone that knows me, knows that I love online shopping. I can't tell you how many pairs of shoes I order online in a calendar year. Yesterday, while perusing Aldo shoes, I came across these very cute, gold, open-toed pumps.

I LOVE THEM. And they're on sale for a mere $39.98 CDN.

Only problem, can I dance the night away in these babies? They're super cute but I think the 2.5" heel (though slightly compensated by the small platform at the front) could leave me paralyzed by night's end.

Would you sacrifice comfort to look cute on your wedding day? Or is your big day one in which fashion just can't win out?

Only 21 km from Kitchener to Guelph!

Ok, so I recently told my sister (and MOH) about this blog I'm writing. She read it, and was able to provide me with some ideas for some of my unfinished details. She has heard about this company - Kettle Creek Weddings - that provides officiating services to most of southern Ontario. She apparently talked to some of the staff at a wedding show she attended (though she's not yet engaged, and I wasn't with her - perhaps some news is on the horizon?)

They seem very professional (http://kcwguelph.com/) and affordable.

I think we'd probably go with the elite package since I'm so type A that I can't imagine foregoing a rehearsal. So, $475 for the package, plus $.50 a km (there's only 21 km from point A to B), for a total of $495 CDN for the whole shebang.

YAY! Now to book them.

Oh, on closer inspection of their website, it says before calling to check availability, I need to determine not only the date, but the TIME of my ceremony. Yikes! I hate making big decisions. 5pm? 5:30pm? 6pm? When does the sun go down in October? I want pictures taken outside AFTER the ceremony...it can't be dark.

Perhaps this isn't getting scratched off of the to-do list.

More awkward than signing the weird kid's yearbook.

I know since I've solidified VERY few of the details for my wedding (i.e. only the venue and decorator), I should be concerned about the big things (i.e. officiant, DJ). Well, the big things are overwhelming, so it seems I am stuck on the little things, like a guest book.

Guest books seem so BORING. What do you write? At a wedding I recently attended, 99% of the comments talked about how beautiful the couple looked. Um, what? I don't want a book filled with "You look gorgeous" and "I love your dress" that's as bad as having a yearbook filled with "Have a good summer" and "See you next year."

And where do you put this book? I already have a slight hoarding problem (my sister will say more than slight), I really don't need something else to store in my non-existent storage space.

So, what are the alternatives? Well my FH's co-worker mentioned a guest book platter. A ceramic piece with a monogram or picture on it that guests sign. Because space is limited no one feels as though they must write something...so in theory only meaningful comments will be shared.

AND, I can put it out as a display piece rather than jamming it into one of my already overfull closets.

Only problem, these pieces aren't exactly cheap (~$100 CDN). So, do I splurge on the platter or stick with the traditional guest book?

The issue of a picture, says a thousand words.

So, today I decided that I needed a picture to grace the front of our save the dates. Unfortunately, the FH and I have not had engagement pictures taken, and every picture we do have together is either a poorly-taken self portrait (you know the ones), or a drunken and messy party/bar picture. What to do?

Well, if you're me, you get frustrated. You question the entire wedding. You worry that maybe this is a sign. You decide not to send out save the dates. You even cry.

If you're my FH you come up with a plan. You call the photographer on campus and arrange for a mini photo shoot. You tell me that everything will be fine.

Ah. Funny how not having a photo for our save the dates makes me realize I'm marrying the perfect man.

BLISS.