Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Walking on Sunshine: My Somethings

I didn't have a chance to share my somethings with you before the wedding, so here we go!

Something New: dress, shoes, and jewelry

I loved my dress...
...and all of the detail on the waist...
...and the bust.
My bracelet was from J. Crew.  I thought the pearls and rhinestones echoed the detail on the waist perfectly.
My necklace was a gift from my mom.
 My earrings were the first piece of jewelry I picked for my wedding ensemble.
 My beloved purple Floral Fandango shoes from Anthropologie that I went to great lengths to get.

Something Old and Blue: antique gazelle pin

I wanted something to represent Weddingbee on me.  I found this gorgeous antique silver gazelle pin on eBay.  I tied a blue ribbon to it to represent my something blue.
I pinned the gazelle to the crinoline under my dress.


Something Borrowed: garter and bees

My friend Tara lent me her garter that a friend had handmade for her.  It was so sweet of her to let me borrow it.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  We did not do a garter toss so only a few people knew it was there.
I also had the travelling bees with me that have been making their way around the hive!  Unfortunately by the time I got them (darn you Canada Post strike!) I didn't have much of an idea for how to incorporate them on the day.  I carried the bees in my purse.
How did you incorporate the somethings in your wedding day ensemble?

*All photos courtesy of the amazing Sakura Photography*

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Walking on Sunshine: Getting Glam

You guys...this is exciting!!  We are at the part of the recaps where the professional photos start!

After the salon we rushed home to get our make up on!  The girls started getting glam on the patio with our amazing make up artist, Megan from ML Makeup Artistry...

I enjoyed some time hanging out with family and friends.  


My parents had ordered some pizzas while we were at the salon and I was starving.  I was worried I may not be able to eat later so I definitely made sure to devour some pizza.

In between bites the doorbell rang.  Our bouquets were here!  
Seriously you guys, when my flowers arrived it all really started to seem real.  The bouquets were perfect and just as I had visualized.  I loved them.

Soon the doorbell rang again.  This time it was our photographer Leslie!  Her husband Mark was dropping her off on his way to photograph the men getting ready.  She got to work photographing little details and it was my turn to get made up.

Megan did an awesome job on my makeup.  We talked about the things that worked from my makeup trial and the things to adjust.  She was so fun to be around and she made me feel beautiful.  I would not hesitate to recommend Megan!  Also having Megan come to our house was a fantastic idea.  She was able to make the girls look gorgeous while I was able to relax and hang out with the rest of my friends and family.




I was ready before I knew it.  Time to become a bride and get my dress on!



Was getting made up a relaxing part of your wedding day?

Monday, November 21, 2011

Back to my roots

Like most brides I grew out my hair in anticipation of the wedding.  It had been ages since I've really grown my hair out.  Post wedding I hung on to the length as I was curious to see just how long I could get my hair.  Well...how long it would get before it started to drive me nuts!

Wanna see?



Don't mind me while I whip my hair...


Well, four months post wedding it officially started to drive me nuts!  The ends felt dry and it was taking longer and longer to dry and style in the morning.  This weekend I said so long to 6 inches of hair.


I also decided to go back to my roots by getting my colour as close to my natural blonde colour as possible.  The slightly warmer blonde feels perfect for fall/winter and my hair is feeling so much softer (not to mention that it took much less time to dry this morning).


Did you wait a few months after your wedding before cutting your hair or could you not wait to cut it off?

PS - Yes, I own a lot of yellow clothing...

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Walking on Sunshine: to the salon!

Wedding morning dawned.  I'm normally a pretty early riser and today was no different.  I enjoyed some quiet time in the room by myself as Mr. Gazelle was checked in to a hotel.  I took the opportunity to read through my vows and to finish putting pen to paper, expressing what I wanted to say.  Soon it was time to emerge, say good morning to my family and friends all staying at the house, and then to make my way to the salon to get my hair done.

Myself, my maid of honor, bridesmaid and flower girl all had a hair appointment at Suki's Salon on West Georgia in Vancouver.  I picked this particular salon because they were open on Sundays and they had plenty of stylists on hand Sunday morning who specialized in up dos.  It is also where I have had the most amazing shampoo experience ever!  I was pretty excited when my stylist suggested that they wash my hair at the salon in the morning so she could dry it exactly as she needed it for my style.
I had originally thought that I would go for a low side bun, as per my hair trial.  The week of the wedding I found new inspiration while watching the Top Chef Canada finale.  I love the host's lost centered bun and the  way her hair looked from the front.  My biggest issue with my hair trial was that I wasn't a fan of how my hair looked from the front (that I sadly never got a picture of).  Here is my new inspiration, courtesy of Thea Andrews on Top Chef Canada:
Screen Shots via Top Chef Canada

My stylist loved the change so she got to work drying and hot rolling my hair.

In the meantime the other girls were getting glam.  Our flower girl was busy colouring while she had her hair curled.
BM-D was getting a ton of volume added to her hair in preparation for her updo.
Unfortunately our flower girl spilled her hot chocolate while getting her hair done so she was a bit unhappy at times. :(
Luckily she came around later and wound up looking adorable.
Here I am getting the finishing touches on my hair.
After my stylist finished my hair it was time to put in my hair flower.  The one that I had worked so hard to make and absolutely loved.  Way back when I made it I had decided to just glue a barrette on to the back.  As my stylist placed the flower in my hair and closed the barrette it went SNAP!  The glue had become brittle in the months that I had made it and the barrette separated from the fabric.  There was no way to fix it at the salon and I had super glue back at the house.  I figured I would just fix it later.

Time was marching on (seriously...your wedding day goes by so fast) and we had to hurry back to the house to get made up.  Here's the finished do though...


My hair held up really well all day and night as well.  Apart from a few fly aways it was still structurally sound by the end of the night.
Big thanks to Brother Gazelle for being our photographer at the salon and for looking after our flower girl when she got a wee bit surly over spilled milk.

Did you run into any unforeseen issues with your accessories on your wedding day?

Get caught up with the Gazelle recaps!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Walking on Sunshine: Step by Step

A little music to help set the mood...
A few of my girlfriends and I had a hot date to rush to after dinner.  It just so happened that New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys were playing in Vancouver the night before I was getting married.  It was like fate!!

See, I loved the New Kids as a teenager.  I'm pretty sure I had The Right Stuff on constant replay on the boom box in my bedroom.  I even saw them in concert with Bridesmaid D on their last reunion tour a few years ago.
That time I dressed up in an old sweatshirt from grade 8 (that oversized monstrosity was labelled a medium), I tucked and rolled my jeans and bumped my hair.  It was awesome.  When BM-D found out they were in Vancouver she declared it fate and that we had to go.  Besides?  What better way is there to spend your last night as a single girl reliving your teenage dreams of yesteryear?  Yeah, we were all pretty excited.
I'm also a pretty huge Glee fan so it was cool that Mr. Scheuster (cough, I mean, Matthew Morrison) was the opening act.  He can really sing!
Pretty soon it was time for the New Kids and the Backstreet Boys to come out.  Yeah!!  (PS - awesome photo bomb BM-D!)

I know this can be a pretty polarizing topic amongst women but I definitely think that the New Kids trump the Backstreet Boys.  Their tunes are catchy and Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre sure can belt the songs out.  I may have screamed like a teenager as the guys came over to say hello to our section...

Plus they can still bust out the exact same awesome dance moves!  But, whether you are a New Kids or a Backstreet fan it didn't matter, everyone was a winner.  The show was fantastic in a totally retro 80s/90s kind of way.

There was only one thing that was bugging me at the show.

I still hadn't finished my vows yet!!!

I had actually brought my pad of paper and a pen in case inspiration struck while at the concert.  Unfortunately unless I was going to quote lines from Step by Step in my vows inspiration was nowhere to be found.  Mind you...maybe the concept isn't all that bad?

Step 1: We can have lots of fun...
Step 2: There's so much we can do...

Yes?  No?

OK hive, spill the beans.  Were you a New Kids or a Backstreet fan?  Or were you more into N Sync?

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Saturday, November 5, 2011

Walking on Sunshine: Last Night as a Single Gal

The night before the wedding Mr. Gazelle and I kissed farewell and went off to do our own thing.  He met up with his guy friends at the Pourhouse for a night of cocktails (which by the way guys, it was apparently amazing).  I met up with some of the girls for dinner at Glowbal Grill.

It was a great chance to see some friends that just arrived in town and to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in ages!  Even though a lot of the girls didn't know each other we had a great time enjoying some delicious food and good conversation.  It was nice and low key...just what I wanted.

Dinner was over too fast and soon it was time for dessert.  Our waiter told us about these special crème brûlée shots they had.

Interesting...let's give it a try!

Some of the girls got in on the action too.

Cheers!

Yum...

It was still early but a few of us had to rush out the door.  We had to hurry up and make it to our next destination...

What did you plan to do the night before your wedding?  Did you want something low key or did you whoop it up?

Get caught up with the Gazelle recaps!