I’m a two shoe bride!

Confession…I bought my wedding shoes before the wedding dress. I think I also might have bought the wedding shoes before we got engaged, but the timeline is a bit fuzzy in my memory on that one…

At first I had visions of some pretty fancy shoes on my wedding day. Maybe this would be the perfect excuse for some Manolo’s???  (I may have been slightly influenced by Carrie Bradshaw…)

Image via Neiman Marcus

They are even called Something Blue! Reality set in when I found out how much they were on a shopping trip to Holt Renfrew. They had the potential to cost more than my wedding dress!

Instead I started looking for purple shoes. Considering the popularity of purple right now I thought there would be a ton of choices. There were plenty online, but I haven’t found a great place to buy shoes online in Canada.  Instead I set my sights on the Nine West Jojus.

Pretty, reasonably comfortable, and they don’t cost an arm and a leg…what more could a girl ask for? Plus my dress happens to be the exact right length in these shoes!

I then started to wonder if I might want a pair of flats for later on in the evening. I’m hoping to be shaking my booty all night long and I just know that will be a lot tougher in heels. I don’t want to ditch the shoes and dance away barefoot so I started searching for the perfect pair of purple flats. However…

Difficulty finding purple flats > difficulty finding purple heels…but hello lovelies….the Nine West Zalta…

So cute, right? Purple satin and all blingy! They cost more than my number one pair of Jojus though  I didn’t want to spend more money on a second pair of shoes compared to the first one.  I sat on the decision for awhile. The shoes were on sale in the US so surely they would go on sale in Canada soon, right? On the odd time that I would go to the mall I would pop into Nine West, but they were still regular price. Then finally one day I was out, running slightly late for meeting my friends for dinner, but I took a quick stop by Nine West on my way out of the mall.

There they were, in the sale section! And they had them in my size! I snatched those puppies up and made it official. I am a two shoe bride!

Are you planning a shoe change at your wedding?

DIY-ing on a Friday Night!

Your FH has plans with the guys on Friday so what do you do?  Plan to DIY!  How does it go?

1. First you get home, sit down on the couch and watch a bit of Sister Wives saved on your DVR.
2. Decide to walk over to the grocery store to buy some sushi for dinner.
3. Chat with your parents on Skype for like an hour about many things work and wedding related.
4. Finally decide that it is time to get a move on.
5. Move all of the milk glass collecting on your dining table to one end.
6. Pour yourself a beer.
7. Assemble all your materials.  Try to decide if you want a peony or a rose hair flower.
8. Cut away for awhile, then realize it is getting late, so call it quits.  Head downstairs and fall asleep on the couch watching Sister Wives until your FH comes home later that night!

Do you DIY on a Friday night?

Dressing the Groom

When I was a little girl dreaming of my wedding (come on, you know you did it too) I used to imagine that my groom would look something like this on our big day:

Image via Brook Taverner

Photo by: Ikon Pictures, PacificCoastNews.com via OK Magazine

I love the British morning suit with tails!  I think it has something to do with the fact that I grew up in England and it was the popular thing to wear at the time.  Times change though, and a morning suit does not go with the style of our wedding (not to mention the time of day). 

Mr. Gazelle has a pretty distinct idea of what he wants to wear on our wedding day.  Something along the lines of a three piece suit.

Image by Sakura Photography

Mr. Gazelle wants to use our wedding as a good reason to invest in a great suit.  I think that is a fantastic idea as we don’t want our wedding to be formal with tuxes.  Plus a well tailored suit will be something he can use for years to come.  This past weekend Mr. Gazelle went to scope out suits at two different stores – Harry Rosen and Holt Renfrew and it turned out to be a really informative shopping trip.

Mr. Gazelle learned that he can’t buy a suit off the rack.  He has a pretty broad chest, slim waist and long arms.  In order to buy a jacket that will fit his chest but be nicely tailored everywhere else is next to impossible.  An unfeasible amount of alterations would be required and it likely still wouldn’t look well fitted.  Instead he is going to have to go with a made to measure suit.  His measurements will be taken, a base pattern will be chosen that fits closest to his measurements and it will be altered to him specifically.  Both stores recommended that he order his suit early in the year as that is when lighter weight fabrics for the spring will be out.

Of course this brings up another a-ha.  Even if we had wanted to go with tuxes it would have been next to impossible to rent a tux that would have fit him well.  So while this is a more expensive option for Mr. Gazelle, this is going to be the most photographed day of his life and he wants to look sharp in a well fitting suit.  As the night goes on he can take the suit jacket off and still look dashing and handsome in his vest.

Did you hubs decide to go with a suit or a tux? 

Shopping Scores!

Perhaps my vision of milk glass bud vases might not be so out of reach after all.  Milk glass is pretty prevalent in different antique stores around here but the prices can vary widely.Mr. Gazelle and I were up in Edmonton, poking around the Old Strathcona Antique Mall.  This place is an amazing mecca of treasures!  The building is over 27,000 sq.ft. over two levels with a ton of different booths inside.  Each booth belongs to a different vendor so there is a ton of variety over the whole store.  There was a vintage Burberry coat for a steal of a price…unfortunately it wasn’t flattering.  Old typewriter?  Old wedding dress?  A ceramic bar tool holder that says “Avoid hangovers – stay drunk”?I found two vases there that started it all – a beautiful trilled glass vase to hold a bunch of flowers and a hob nail bud vase.  Walking into the room and seeing the vases with fresh flowers totally puts a smile on my face. Pretty, right?

So today I scoured eBay and kijiji, plus I popped by Goodwill too with some success.  The best deal?  Two vases for $1.99 each from Goodwill!  Plus I also found a bird cage for $4.99 that would make a great card box.  Score! Hopefully I can find a few more vases for a good deal.  I’ll keep a few favourites after the wedding, but then likely sell the rest so it wouldn’t be an entirely sunk cost. 

Do you have any suggestions for places I can find milk glass at a good price?

Figuring the Flowers, Part II

Armed with my wedding binder and inspiration photos, I set off to meet with two florists for consultations.  I was interested in a bouquet with dark purple calla lilies, with other purple toned flowers and no greenery or crystals.  Something along the lines of these:

Image by East Main Photography via weddingbee

Image by Jose Villa via Get Married in Banff

I didn’t give the two florists a budget, I was more interested to see what they would come up with based off of my pictures.  I had a number in mind, so I was curious to see where they would come out in relation to that number.  As it turns out both florists were quite close.  With the quotes in my hot little hands I did what any good engineering nerd would do to compare.  I created a visual to imagine what all of the proposed flowers would look like together.  Enter Google search and PowerPoint!

Florist number one suggested (in a clockwise pattern):

1. Beautyberries (via National Park Service)
2. Allium (via PlantBuzz)
3. Dahlias (via Van Bourgondien)
4. Deep purple calla lilies (via The Observatory)
5. Sweet peas (via Unwins)
6. Freesia (via vernabob.com)
7. Anemone (via Tulip World)
8. Lisianthus (via Rain Flower Company)

They are all such beautiful flowers, but everything is somewhat monochromatic.  It is also a lot of different flowers!  I’m having a hard time imagining how any flower can stand out with so many different varieties in the bouquet.  The bridesmaid bouquets would contain similar flowers and be smaller.

Florist number two suggested the following for my bouquet:

1. Purple lisianthus (via Rain Flower Company)
2. Lilac toned roses (via Fifty Flowers)
3. Deep purple calla lilies (via The Observatory)
4. Purple fragrant stock (via How Stuff Works)
5. …with berries if available in season… 

For the bridesmaids bouquets she suggested

1. Cream lisianthus (via Valley Flowers, Inc.)
2. Lilac toned roses (via Fifty Flowers)
3. Purple fragrant stock (via How Stuff Works)
4. Cream miniature vendela roses (via Fifty Flowers)
5. Lighter toned purple callas (via Fifty Flowers) 

The idea is that my bouquet would be the more intense purple colour and the girls would have a lighter toned bouquet that will show up nicely with their deep purple dresses.  I love the variation in tone throughout all of the bouquets and I really think it will help each flower to stand out.  I had a really great feeling from florist number two, plus it is obvious from her portfolio that she has a really great eye for putting arrangements together. 

In fact, I’m so excited about flowers now that I want to see how I can fit floral centerpieces for the tables in our budget.  Maybe some nice bud vases like these?

Image via weddingbee

 Source  Image by Evin Photography via Budget Savvy Bride

I love the idea of milk glass bud vases!  I haven’t found a place to get them super cheap around here, but I may have a back up plan…

What do you think of bud vases for centerpieces?  Did your consultation with your florist cause you to rethink your decorating strategy?

Figuring the Flowers

Oy…flowers.  The one downside of planning a wedding in a different city is trying to figure out where to go for flowers.  There are so many florists in Vancouver that it is so daunting to try and narrow things down.  I really wanted to set up consultations while we were in Vancouver in the fall so I tried two plans of attack for finding a florist.

Image by Next Exit Photography/Amber Events/via Style Me Pretty

Posting a question on online forums:

A few different florists were recommended to me via a query I posed on a few Vancouver specific online wedding forums.  I then scoped out their websites, however the florist with the most number of glowing reviews didn’t have much of a website to speak of.  No portfolio online at all.  I did e-mail her to ask about setting up a consultation but then I didn’t hear back.  Finally two weeks later I got a bounce back e-mail from her Blackberry saying that the message hadn’t been delivered.  Given the lack of pictures and the difficulty in getting a hold of her I didn’t attempt to contact her again about a consultation.

The Google Map:

Yup, I plotted up different florists in Vancouver on a Google Map and then started scoping out their websites.  I nixed anyone who mostly had standard Teleflora bouquets and arrangements posted on their site as I was looking for something a little different.  I then contacted two different florists.  One asked me right away what my budget was and could I please send him my inspiration photos so he could be prepared for the consultation.  Two days later he e-mailed me back a full quote on bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, arrangements for the church (?), and more things that I hadn’t actually asked for.  Then he told me that if I paid in cash he’d save me money and not charge me tax.  Sounded pretty sketchy to me so I declined to meet with him in person.

Image by East Main Photography via weddingbee

Despite these two not so great experiences I did wind up having two really great consultations though, so stay tuned for the results of that!

Did you have any interesting experiences while trying to arrange consultations with vendors?

Blitzing the Body

According to my checklist on The Knot (so far the one I seem to like the best) it is time to start getting in shape for my wedding.  For those of you who know me from my original blog, Runner Leana, you are probably thinking that I should be able to check this off right away.  After all, didn’t I finish Ironman Canada on August 29th?  And…aren’t I training for the Disney World Marathon in January? Sure, I am…but I definitely want to work on strength training to tone up.  After all, who doesn’t want to look buff in their wedding dress? 

I’ve been hitting up some strength classes at my gym on Wednesdays at lunch.  The most popular class is Total Body Blitz at 11:30.  Sign up for the class opens up 15 minutes before the class start and if you haven’t lined up for the sign up before that you are out of luck.  I just made it into the class today, but I realized that I had forgotten my sneakers upstairs in my office.  By the time I grabbed my sneakers and changed I was one of the last people getting set up in the studio.  All of the good weights were taken and there were only 12.5 lb dumbbells and 4 lb dumbbells left.  Yikes, 12.5 lbs is a little heavy and 4 lbs is pretty light.  I grabbed them anyway and hoped for the best.

We then ran through a whole bunch of upper body strength exercises using our heavy weights.  So many different variations on a bicep curl.  Who knew?  I kept up for the first bit, but as we neared the end of the upper body work my arms were super fatigued and my form was suffering.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to switch to push ups in my life!

Now?  I’m finding it challenging to lift my glass of water for a drink!  Reminder to myself for next time – get to class earlier so I can grab weights that will be more effective.  On the plus side, at least I know I worked my muscles today though!

What steps are you taking to get in shape for your wedding day?