Why doesn't caffeine keep me awake? A whole mug of tea later and I still can't keep my eyes open. I would be sleeping right now except I'm waiting again on someone else so I can finish up my work for tonight. Anyway, maybe blogging will keep me up. I'm going to do a wedding planning update especially for the ladies... namely Reg who loves weddings and any kind of wedding news ;)
January was a very productive month for our wedding planning. We booked a videographer, ordered wedding invitations, ordered tins for the wedding favours, decided on a centerpiece, decided on a colour scheme, decided on a menu card design, and booked a limo bus. Yes, a limo bus! Have you ever been inside one? They're not the best-looking on the outside but once you step inside, it's a whole new world. It seats about 30 people, has a full bar, plasma TV, a fridge stocked with drinks, a bathroom, and 3 complimentary bottles of champagne. It's going to be a blast riding around town in that all that luxury!
On Saturday I went to the downtown area where all the textile stores are located. Whoever set up all those stores on that one street was definitely thinking about brides-to-be! There are all kinds of stores that sell fabrics, ribbons, threads, zippers, wedding veils, tiaras, and a whole lot of other wedding accessories. The purpose of the trip was to find the fabric for my bridesmaid dresses. I'm having them made by one of my bridesmaid's mom who is an amazing seamstress. I had brought along a picture of this purple satin clutch purse that I found in an In Style mag because I wanted that exact colour but it proved difficult to find an exact match. After an hour of mixing and matching different fabrics and colours, I finally found the right combo of a satin and soft organza mix where the colour came extremely close! We even took it outside and took a picture to see what it looks like in daylight and on camera. It looked exactly how I imagined it would so I ordered it and will be picking it up next week. I love when things come so easily together like that. And I also love when people work with me to get things done quickly :)
Next we went to the ribbon store to find the ribbon sash for the dresses. Again, we were lucky to find the perfect sash for a great price. Here's a tip to anyone who will be planning a wedding at some point in life: always ask for the "cash" price. If you pay cash, most vendors are willing to knock off the tax which can be a huge cost savings. I haven't had to pay tax for anything related to the wedding so far!
After the ribbon store I went to this wedding accessories store where I found my tiara... since then I've probably tried it on at least once a day b/c I love it so much! lol... I also bought material for my wedding veil and swarovski crystals to glue to the veil. The swarovski crystals sound expensive but they were only $13 for 144 crystals. Okay, I'm no expert at how much they should cost but I thought it was pretty reasonable. Especially since the veil material only cost $9... $22 + $10 for the veil trimming is not a bad price for the veil considering most veils cost $175 and up.
I also got a ribbon sample for the wedding favours. Here's another tip... try not to use ribbon wherever possible b/c it is DAMN expensive! Steve and I measured and we will need about 215 yards at $0.65/yard. Of course the lady will have no choice but to give a discount b/c there is NO WAY I'm paying $140 for ribbon!
And finally, on Sunday, we finalized the guest list of our friends and co-workers. Our parents are still working on the guest list but their first draft has already been created. So far we are at a grand total of 460 people! Our limit is 400... so as you can see we have a huge problem here. The guest list will have to be revised probably more than once, but how do we decide on who to leave out?
I wish I had written down my 2007 resolutions so I could see how well I did this year, but I deleted my old blog and didn't back up any of my old posts. Here are the resolutions I came up with, and hope to keep, for 2008:
- Spend less, save more
- Get back into Pilates
- Stay up to date with current affairs (Read at least 1 world or business news article a day)
- Watch less TV
- Use my free time more wisely
- Eat more fruit (I don't eat any fruit! I know... very bad)
- Spend more time with family
- Read more books
- Try to follow the above resolutions throughout the entire year!
Looking back on 2007, I feel it was a great year for me b/c I accomplished a lot. I got to travel to Vegas this year for my sister's bachelorette party and got engaged there in the process! I was the maid-of-honor at my sister's wedding on 07.07.07 and challenged a personal fear of mine by delivering a maid-of-honor speech in front of 300 people. I bought my very first car which I am absolutely loving right now b/c it drives wonderfully in the snow. I paid off my student loan in full, which was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I opened an RRSP account with the help of my dad's push, but I'm glad I did it for my future. I finally made the trek to the States to do some shopping since our dollar went up. Okay, this wasn't really an accomplishment, but I feel as though I was the last Canadian here to take advantage of our rising dollar! And lastly, I got both a promotion and a raise at work.
What I am most looking forward to in 2008 is marrying my best friend, Steve, on June 28 =)
Happy New Year!!
