Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Dancing With My Dad

Meet my dad.135I have always loved and really looked up to my dad.015I appreciate his smarts and level headedness.  He is a big part of the reason why I went into engineering.  Here I am, following in his footsteps after getting my iron ring for becoming an engineer.056That being said, my dad also knows how to be a bit goofy from time to time.072I really wanted to find a song for our father-daughter that was perfect for the kind of relationship that we have.  It isn’t a shmoopy one, so when I googled “father-daughter dance songs” none of the songs seemed right.  I went through all the Top 100 songs from the 1980s and 1990s trying to find a song that we both loved.  The only thing I found was a bunch of songs that I had completely forgotten about and band names that didn’t ring a bell anymore (one hit wonder anyone?).  I wracked my brain thinking of artists I know my dad liked.

Men At Work?  Catchy tunes, but no.  Dire Straits?  The songs weren’t quite right for a father-daughter dance.  The Police?  Er, songs not appropriate.

Phil Collins?  None of his tunes that I remembered listening to as a kid were quite right…  But there was one song.  You’ll Be In My Heart from the Tarzan soundtrack.

As I listened to the song (at work, on my lunch break) it totally made me weepy as I imagined it for our dance.  It would be perfect, but I had to see if my dad like it.  I put it on a short list of songs and sent it off to him.  The next time he visited Calgary we listened to the tunes and tried to imagine dancing to the different songs.  Phil Collins was the definite winner.  An artist that I know my dad loved and a song that was perfect for a father-daughter dance.

What song did you and your dad pick for your father-daughter dance?

DSCN5119*Practicing our dance moves the morning of the wedding*

Monday, September 12, 2011

Making Memories for my Bouquet

I had a few special people that I wanted to remember on my wedding day who are no longer with us.  I’ve lost three of my grandparents and I lost my aunt about five years ago.  In some ways the loss of my aunt during wedding planning was particularly tough.  She LOVED weddings.  She was also my Godmother and I remember one day years ago that she proclaimed to me that she would host a bridal shower for me when it was my turn to get married.  Knowing that she was missing my wedding was difficult.

I was inspired by Mrs. Crab Cake’s post on bouquet charms using Scrabble tiles.  I bought the DIY Scrabble tile pendant kit from Annie Howes.IMGP3385

The kit came with almost everything I needed – Scrabble tiles with letters for the first names of my grandparents and aunt, glaze and heavy duty glue.  I did pick up a different kind of glue to stick my pictures to the tiles though.  I printed off some of my favourite pictures on regular paper on my colour laser jet printer.IMGP3600I added a dollop of glue to the back…IMGP3602And spread it with a foam brush…IMGP3603With the picture stuck on the tile I used an exacto knife to trim…IMGP3605Once dry I added the glaze to the picture on the front of the tile, using a toothpick to deal with any bubbles.IMGP3607The glaze was milky at first…IMGP3610But then dried clear.IMGP3637I used the heavy duty glue in the kit to glue the silver plated balls to the back.IMGP3638I loved how these turned out.  So simple.

How did you decide to remember loved ones at your wedding?