I admit, we don’t pay much attention to our wedding anniversary. Usually what happens, is that just before the date, we remember that it is coming up and plan a last minute weekend get away…and don’t expect it to be all champagne & romance. We parent in an attachment style so our young children come with us (and we wouldn’t have it any other way!!!). ;)

And so this year was no exception. We came to realize that our wedding anniversary is just 10 days away…and it is year five. We almost forgot about the box!

If you attended our wedding reception, you will recall the box. We asked our guests to put predictions about us in five years. Well, this is the year we will open it. I wonder who will be accurate? I wonder who will be bang on? I wonder who will be totally out in left field (although I’m sure we will wish it was true!!)?

We’ll probably be away for the actual anniversary, but as soon as we have a free moment we’ll open it together for a good laugh…and I’ll blog an update in the near future. :)

Remember what this blog was originally set up for? Back in 2005, when we got engaged, it was a way for us to keep family & friends updated as to wedding details and as a keep sake for us as well.

On May 27th, we celebrated our third wedding anniversary. There is this….box that just sits at the bottom & back of our freezer: that we pretty much forgot about. This year, Rick & I remembered to TAKE THE CAKE OUT OF THE FREEZER. Yep. It’s part of our wedding cake. Meant to be eaten – or something – on our 1st wedding anniversary (does anyone actually do that???). Our plan this year: for the birds to feast upon!

*THE* cake, in all its glory…

There it is…out & defrosting…

It’s not in bad shape after three years. The flowers are no longer white. It was nice to see it again actually. Brought back happy memories.

Sophie has no idea what Daddy is taking a picture of, just that she wants in the shot…

Here it is…ready for the wildlife…I must say it still smelled really good. I can happily say there was a huge army of ants making short work of it shortly after…marching two by two…hoorah hoorah…

Not sure who or what else devoured it: a couple of days later we found the plate overturned in our herb garden below. Hope it was tasty!

I have been busily checking off the final things on the wedding to do list – with 3 weeks to spare. I want to get all the things in my control completed and ready to go so that we can handle the situations out of our control. Tonight I finished packing up all the reception items to go to our storage. It feels so good to have that done. Only a few extra things to purchase and the food. I finally have my room back and can now get into my closet…time to clean it out and sell some clothes on eBay. ;)

I also finished the reception projects – the photo presentation, items for the bar, tent cards & comment cards for the tables. There is one more left to do that is food related, I hope to tackle that one shortly.

I also finished my jewelry and it looks amazing. Even I surprise myself sometimes. I have one pair of earrings done for one of my bridesmaids…I am leaving the jewelry projects to last since it is what I enjoy doing the most. Other than that I have the programs to revisit, beads to add to my veil, and the detailed floor plan of the reception outlining each table section by section. I figure the more I have laid out now, the faster the setup will be for the guys in the morning.

I get to pick up my dress on the weekend and then off to the cleaners…it looks amazing – I so cannot wait to see it on!

Rick and I feel pretty good about where we’re at – we could get married this weekend and be satisfied, so that’s pretty good 3 weeks in.

So now the reason for the title of my post…hiccups are bound to occur which is why I am glad to have so much done. The first glitch was the Boat Club. I was assured when we did the inspection that the amount of tables mentioned on the website were the amount of tables available. I emailed my contact there because Rick & I didn’t think there were that many rectangular tables when we checked (we do not want to use round tables – when you see our layout, you’ll thank us for it). My contact assured me it was correct, then emailed me back a few hours later to say a couple were missing. Ok, last time I checked a couple was two…(Robbie you will chuckle reading this because I know how exact you are on the use of the English language…LOL!) there are FIFTEEN tables missing. So I asked that the Boat Club give us a partial refund, since it would cost us $200 to rent 15 more tables and they assured us it was part of our rental. The funny thing is, after I emailed my contact there, I said to Rick, “I don’t know what the problem is – they should just borrow the tables from another site in the city, because you know that’s how they disappeared in the first place”. No sooner do I say this and my contact emails me back – they will borrow tables from another site. HA! I love it when I am right. ;)

The second glitch is that the woman who was making our lumpia (Filipino eggroll) hurt her hand and needs surgery, so she cannot make them. Ok, my mind is saying, “What the hell now???” But my gut was saying, “This is just right”. Many of you know that I go on my gut instinct 95% of the time (and get burned the 5% of the time I listen to that darn head of mine). So as an alternative, I called a local Filipino restuarant here, and they are going to supply not only lumpia, but pancit (noodle dish) and fried rice. Something told me to ask the woman if she knew my Ninang Linda…and it turns out that Linda is ALSO her Ninang (Godmother)! She is giving us a VERY good deal on the food – so good I do not want to utter it out loud lest it be jinxed. Rick & I are elated. There will be a lot to eat folks – you won’t go hungry. Since we are getting the Filipino food so reasonably priced we are going to get our meat & cheese trays from Chris Bros. instead of making them up ourselves the day before. Less for us to do = better time had by all. :)

The best advice I can give to you out there who will soon wed is to not worry or stress about anything – there is always a solution; you may not get just what you want but sometimes the outcome totally exceeds your expectations!

If you are planning on booking hotel, or even if you are just considering it, please do it soon! We only have a limited number of rooms in the block for May 26th and 27th (which will be released April 27th), and the availability is tight for the 25th and 26th right now. I haven’t checked any other dates, but when I saw that I thought I better let you all know. There is something going on in this city…because I thought our room rate was high for Halifax, and then I started checking other hotels in the area. Holy expensive! The group rate at the Lord Nelson is one of the lowest rates…unless you want to stay outside the downtown, and that’s not so convenient, esp. if you plan to have a few libations. ;) If you are still undecided on the hotel, I suggest making a reservation and cancelling before their deadline if you decide you do not want it afterall.

If anyone needs hotel reservation help please let me know.

Also, April 15th is fast approaching, so if you haven’t RSVP’d yet, please do ASAP. Even if you can’t come, just let us know. We have guests confirmed coming from all over the world, so we will not assume just because you live outside of Nova Scotia that you can’t make it. We need to get the food amount on the go, so let us know. :)

…and I am very happy with it! This one is far longer than I ever thought I’d want a veil…but it lays much flatter and does not even compare to the first one I bought. I can’t believe they were both $39! This one has beautiful flower embroidery and I will add the light sapphire crystals to it. I have e-mailed the other company about returning my other veil, but for the price I doubt it will be worth returning. I’ll just sell it on my own. The company I ordered my new veil from would like a photo of me in the veil for their website. I am happy to oblige another small business owner.

I also finished the favours tonight…I had to wait a few days to work on them again as I ran out of ink in the printer, thanks to all the printing I have been doing. ;) So, after receiving a big fat residual cheque from the tourism commercial that was shot last year, tonight was the night to pick some up! :) I love US wildspots…big money! That 5 hours of work in Feb 2005 has proven very lucrative to me. Who doesn’t want to make money sitting around and doing nothing. LOL…what a pleasant surprise when these hit my mailbox.

I’m about to print out the “recipes” for the DIY Bar. Will say no more than that… ;)

Now I’m off to do my pilates abs workout!

Rick & I headed out today to gather the contents for the wedding favours. It was a lot easier than we expected, and they are almost done already! I just have to label them. The labels have been done for ages, so tomorrow I’ll stick ‘em on.

We also had some luck picking up a few other items…totally not trying. We found 12oz plastic cups for the bar, the perfect bins for the silverware (stackable and totally reusable…and only $8 for 8…surprisingly not from the Dollarstore, but the Superstore!), two electric blue ice buckets, half price, and two wine chillers (for the head table), also blue, also half price and also from the Superstore! Gotta love it. :)

So now we are going to settle down, do our marriage prep assignments over a glass of wine and some strawberries…might sound dull to some of you, but to us, a very nice way to spend a Saturday night! ;)

Yes, I did. Now that I’ve had the veil for awhile, I really find it rather plain and boring. Plus I ordered ivory, and I’m not sure if I like the colour. My dress is natural white, but it is certainly not ivory. Contrast wise with my hair, I think white would look better. It only cost $40…so what do you expect, eh?

So I found another veil for $39 that I ordered today. They are currently sold out but are expecting another shipment next week. It is white, two tier and fingertip length. It has a flower embroidery on it, so it definitely has more personality than the first one I ordered. It also lays more flat…the one I have now is two-tier elbow length and it’s kind of poofy.

I feel better now to have two options to try with my dress. The funny thing is, both the veils cost under $100, and since the average veil IS $100…I really can’t complain. I’m usually not so picky with these things, but you know when something just doesn’t feel right…

I’ll definitely contact the company about returning the veil I don’t keep, but with shipping it would be more beneficial to try to sell it here. Or I’ll just keep it. I can always use it for the rehearsal and other such fun activities. LOL! ;)

I think I have the content for the mass pounded out now in the programs. Now to add the Filipino portion of the ceremony. These programs are going to be several pages, but I would rather give everyone a step-by-step esp. with so many non-Catholics (and non-Filipinos, for that matter) coming.

Now, I am off to look for some drink recipes for the bar… :)

66 days and 16 hours until our wedding day…is what the counter says today. Holy S*** is all I have to say. LOL! We are so ready for it, in so many ways. It just becomes more real with every passing moment. 13 months ago it was just something we were planning for the future…now it is soon upon us. Party! :)

We finished session three of our marriage prep last night. We are settling into it wonderfully. It can get rather dry at times but for the most part, it has been very insightful and interesting. I also picked up some paper yesterday that I hope to use for the programs; I fear that it will be too thin. I am going to do a print test tonight to see if it will show through to the other side. If it does, back to the internet I go to find this paper on a heavier stock. It gets really frustrating living around here, there is just nothing for selection! I really want to use this marble-ly paper as it reminds me of sand, and it is also very elegant and appropriate for the church. Now that the invitations are out, don’t you think the textured paper I used was like white sand? I have gotten so many compliments on the invitations. I am glad the packages gave you joy to receive as much as they were a joy to make. Thanks to all of your who have RSVP’d already…that was fast! ;)

I also received an order for some Swarovski crystal pendants that I will use in my jewelry. They are just perfect – very elegant. I wanted something simple and understated for the earrings and these will work just perfect. They will also be great in the attendant’s necklaces and of course mine. :)

Ever have one of those days where you just feel gross thanks to not having a good night’s sleep? That’s how I feel today…urgh…is it bedtime yet? LOL!

I totally forgot to mention yesterday that the Party Store in the US sent us the last of our luau supplies. I do not want to go into great detail as it will ruin the surprise, but they are *GREAT* -will serve as a multi-purpose item- which is wonderful considering they screwed up our shipping.

When we ordered it about 10 days ago, we paid for 2 day shipping, because they ship with UPS, and we wanted to avoid their ridiculous handling fee (if you pay for the faster shipping, the handling fee is included – thank God – it wasn’t cheap!). So I started to have a sinking suspicion they sent it wrong when it didn’t arrive quickly (it got over the border just fine, we can track that through the UPS website). Lo and behold…Rick meets the dude at the door and on top of duty (tax to the gov’t…goooodie…) they charged a $39 handling fee! The box was clearly stamped “standard” so we knew they shipped it incorrectly from the states. So Rick fires off an e-mail last night to the company asking for a refund. We never really expected to hear back…but they wrote back today and they are refunding our ENTIRE shipping costs! That is so awesome of them! I love a company that recognizes there is a mistake and makes good on it. Yay for “small” business…you wouldn’t get this type of service from a large company (UPS a good example…$39 for handling…give me a break…Canada Post charges $5 and FedEx charges nothing! Talk about a cash grab!). I told Rick to make sure he writes a very enthusiastic thank you to them. That type of service is almost unheard of these days.

I am feeling kinda sad today…I think it is because May & Marie’s (bridesmaids) auntie passed away last Friday. May emailed me today with a few details of the funeral…my heart goes out to their family, esp. their uncle, as he is now alone. He said something so beautiful when the casket was being lowered…”if I had to do it all over again, I would. You made life”. Isn’t that the most beautiful thing? I really feel their sadness today, just as I did last Sunday when I heard she had passed away. I met her a couple of times and she really was a wonderful person. The whole family is close as Filipinos are, so I know they will get through it. She battled illness her whole life and was truly a fighter, may she bask in the glory of the afterlife!

So my appointment today at the hair salon went wonderfully…Betty is a sweet European woman who has very similar ideas to me. I think the whole appt. took 7 minutes! I showed her the tiara, told her I thought up would be good for my fine hair, and that I like curls rather than a slick/tight bun or french twist. In less than a minute, she whipped my hair up crudely, but enough for me to know I was loving where she was going with it. She obviously is a creative person…she said she will get a feel for my hair on that day, so she didn’t want to do a whole consultation and complete the updo…it is hard to replicate exactly the same on the day; something that I can relate to when I do makeup consultations, so I knew exactly where she was coming from.

So…I will be getting my hair done at 7:30am on the 27th…she wants a good hour and a half so she can take her time, and two girls will go at 9 and two more at 10 (we’ll have Betty and one other stylist). So that’s great, I can be done around 9am…I will go back to my room and relax a bit, have some breakfast. Like I said before, I am SO not a morning person, but this day, the earlier things are done the better. I’d hate to be rushed, and I also hate being late! We can’t be on Filipino time for the wedding…we have to be ON time…2:30 is the ceremony, 3:30 we will be done, and mass usually follows at 4 or 4:30…so that doesn’t give us a lot of time for family pictures in/around the church. So I don’t want to be late! :)

I also stopped by a lingerie store today and bought a beautiful corset bustier. I am having a heck of a time finding a strapless bra that I feel would stay put with the dress…so I am so glad the sales clerk suggested the corset. Not only will “the girls” stay in place…but I’ll have perfect posture, too! LOL! It fits like a glove…I wouldn’t recommend one for you well endowed ladies (you might poke an eye out…LOL!) but great for us smaller gals.

Okay…I will stop talking about female anatomy; I’m sure some of you are either turning red for getting shifty-eyed. Hee hee hee! ;)

We stopped into the drink store in Parklane, but they didn’t have any tropical drink mix. I have a recipe for a yummy one that contains vanilla ice cream instead of ice…I may make a batch of that instead. Seems a shame not to have a tropical-type drink for the reception. So far we only have beer, wine and champagne picked out.

I also stopped into the spa and booked my waxing appt…for Wednesday the 24th, since Sharleen is off Thursday as well. Geez Shal, I am going to put you to work, all this time you have off on/near the wedding! LOL!

On to bed I go…g’nite everyone!

So we met with the florist this morning, and much to his & our delight/relief it did not take long at all. I guess I really did know what I wanted, after all. He was a big help with the arrangements for in the church. We are going to do something tropical with a lot of green for in front of the alter, and then a basket arrangement with some blue. The only thing I forgot was the toss bouquet…but I will let them know about that later. That’s an easy one. ;) It feels so good to have that done…it’s nice to know the cost and know that it’s off the “to do” list.

After the florist, we stopped by the new Atlantic Wholesalers to see what we could find. Costco did not seem to have the plastic wine goblets in stock; we wanted to get them for the champagne/toast. This wholesale store does not need membership, and they also had the goblets. Yay! We also got our coffee stir sticks and toothpicks here. Their sizes are not so biggie sized as Costco…I did not want to buy 5000 stir sticks! LOL!

Tomorrow I am looking forward to my hair appointment. I am amazed at how well things are coming together…easy easy easy so far. The next nice day we have Rick & I will be out hunting for the content of the favours…can’t tell ya, wait and see. ;)