That's a Wrap... for now

So as many of you have probably guessed I am having a lot of trouble keeping up with the blogging world. After much consideration I have decided to take an indefinite break from my blog. I'd like to say that I have the intention of returning to my blog, but at this point I just don't know.

As I mentioned previously my life is undergoing a lot of changes and as a result I just cannot keep up with my blog. For me blogging has been all about give and take and I have not had the time recently to give all of you the time that you so deserve. You have all been such an amazing part of my life for the last few years and I will never be able to thank you enough. I will keep up with people through Facebook and hope to maintain contact with you that way. I also plan to stop by your blogs once in a while because "I just can't quit you." (ha ha ha... yeah I went there)

Anyway thank you all again for your ongoing support, it has meant more to you than you will ever know.

Take care of yourselves.

Warmest regards,
Odette

The past two and a half months Part 1

Believe it or not I have about three full posts saved as "drafts" that I just can't seem to tweak enough to make them "post-worthy" so instead I am just going to give you a brief overview of my life since the middle of August. I will have to do this in a few parts, because this has been a busy few months!

So here we go:

Friday Aug 28th - I got married!

We had a small ceremony on the beach. It was nice and relaxed, since we had such a small group (there were about 20 people including the photographers, Officiant and wedding coordinator) we got most of the people involved in the ceremony by having them read our "reading" which is was more like a poem-y thing. Basically we broke it down so that my husband's mom and dad, his groomsmen, my bridesmaids and my parents all had a part to read. (I gave them each a cue card with their "part"on it.) The Officiant (The INCREDIBLE Brent Sheppard) was so impressed by the idea that he asked if he could steal it for future weddings (my Dad said sure, but only if we got a royalty cheque ha ha ha.)



So that's the pic of the ceremony. It's tough to find pics where I don't show anyone's faces!

The reception was great. It was in a tent in the yard of a heritage house right by the beach. I can't seem to get the professional picture to upload so I'll show you a pic that my friend took.


You can't see much but that's the tent taken from the house. :P

The decor worked and I got the mini lights that I wanted, so really that was all that mattered to me. We had the center pieces that we (my bridesmaids, my aunt, my mom and myself) made and our favours which were aqua, brown and cream m&ms in chocolate brown truffle boxes tied with turquoise ribbon (my aunt tied EVERY one!)



We had a great cake, it was chocolate with raspberry cream filling, I only got the bite fed to me by my husband, but that bite was good! There actually wasn't enough cake for everyone, which was too bad because it was so good! They're actually making us a small version of the cake that my family can eat over Christmas so that we can actually have a piece! :)




There was dancing, there were drinks (the head table toasted with the Bollinger champagne that my husband brought back from France) and food. I am not going to lie I hated about 70% of the wedding. After dinner I turned to my Dad and asked if I could leave. I was really really stressed and I felt like everyone wanted a piece of me and I couldn't just dance with my friends and enjoy myself. Everytime I had settled and was talking to someone or dancing and then someone else would come and pull me away. It was just so tiring. Thankfully everyone said that I looked like I was having such a good time, so my facade worked, but I was SOOOO happy when I woke up the next morning!

Speaking of waking up, we stayed that night at the Four Seasons and we were so so surprised to find all sorts of little treats waiting for us!



That's a personalized robe, (my husband got one too and this pic is taken at about 4am the night of our wedding) chocolate fondue (the best I have ever tasted) and an assortment of chocolate goodies (the inukshuk was a chocolate hazelnut rice crispie concoction and it was AMAZING!)

Okay so that's all for today. Tune in next time when I run down our somewhat ill-fated honeymoon and more random wedding pics! Thanks for bearing with me. I am in a somewhat scary, frustrating and maybe a bit exciting period of transition of my life, so I am not too sure that I will be posting regularly but I am not giving up... yet and I really appreciate that you all haven't given up on me!

This video cracks me up...

Yes small things amuse me!

My Guide to Planning your Wedding Part 1: Pick your help wisely

****Disclaimer this is one in a series of blogs that I am going to write about wedding planning and my wedding. This is by no means a permanent change, but instead a sharing of the lessons I learned. I will have pics from my own wedding in upcoming posts. So if you're not into the wedding planning thing, keep checking back cause I'll be switching gears soon. ****

As many of you know I planned my own wedding. I ruled with an iron fist to assure that my husband and I got what we wanted out of our wedding. I still had a wedding coordinator to coordinate and recommend vendors since I was in Montreal and we were getting married in
Vancouver and to suggest things that I may not have thought of. I am so glad that I did get a coordinator (even though she added some of her own stress) because I don't think that I would have liked wrangling vendors and handling the set up stuff that.

Before you go to a wedding coordinator (or to vendors if you aren't using one) it is important to have an idea of the type of wedding that you are looking for. Have an idea of the number of people, style (whether it be a formal wedding, or a more casual one) colors, theme, everything. This is your chance to browse magazines, websites, (there are SO many! I like the knot, weddingchannel.com and weddingbells.ca) blogs (I love The Offbeat Bride ) etc to get ideas. Think about weddings that you've been to. What did you like about them? What didn't you like? Was there something extra special that you'd like to do? Talk to your fiance and figure out what YOU BOTH want, so that you have a starting off point from which to approach the people and organizations that are going to help you realize your vision.

With all this in mind my tip is choose your wedding coordinator (and all vendors) wisely. Ask her for references from people that SHE (or HE) worked for directly. Make sure that your references are from people whose events she was the LEAD on. You want to make sure that you are not getting someone who has never coordinated a wedding before (this is an easy mistake make.)

When you are checking references make sure that you check who they had for their vendors (many Events coordinating companies use a few different caterers, DJ's etc.) You want to make sure that you are getting good reviews for the same vendors you will be using. Basically you just want to make sure that you are getting what you're expecting.

The good thing about using a wedding coordinator is that you can "audition" a few of them. They will write you up a proposal with a list of vendors and a plan of what your wedding will look like, what services they offer and (the most important) a break down of cost. Most of the time this will be a watered down cost break down, so you'll have to account for things like tax and any extras that you add on after. So make sure that you give yourself a buffer of about 15 to 25% extra on your estimate. Make sure that you are clear on what the coordinator is offering and what is not included in the estimate (for an example venues etc.) Make sure that everything you've talked about is in that estimate, so that you can make an informed decision.

Cheaper is not always better when it comes to weddings. There are things that you can do to cut costs, but you want to make sure that you are putting your money where it counts. If you don't care about flowers then don't spend a fortune on flowers, if you don't care about decor then cut costs there. There are always places that you can cut costs, but make sure that you are sure about what is important to you because that is where you want to spend your money.

Make sure that you have a chance to see (or taste) a sample before you commit to that vendor, or that item. If you have a food tasting and you don't like the food that's offered find out what you can do to change the menu or the vendor. Caterers, Djs, florists, cake makers etc are a dime a dozen so there are ALWAYS options. Don't get pigeonholed into accepting something that you are not 100% sure about because there are always other options. "No" is not something you should hear from vendors. Remember they work for YOU! Your wedding is YOUR day make sure that you get what you want out of it, otherwise you will not be happy. It's all about choosing the right people.

Once you choose your vendors you are ready to take the next step in planning your special day. The key for me was to OWN the event, not to let the event own me.

Hope this helps! Next time I'll talk about my ceremony and what we did to make it our own.

Changes coming....

So another cop-out post. Sorry.

I have not had the motivation to blog lately, so I have decided that I need to make a few changes. Nothing drastic, but I am going to take things in a bit more of a "direction" instead of just random bitching and moaning.

So as I am a newlywed (yes I WILL get to the wedding talk) I am going to document my new life. I have hobbies! I love to cook, bake and decorate. I am going to talk a little bit more about that with a recurring "What's for dinner" segment and talking about my latest inspirations. I am going to talk a little more about my on going job hunt (the never ending job hunt!) I will also talk a little bit about being a newlywed and the stuff that I wish someone had told ME! :)

All and all I think that this will be a new and improved "My Life as You Know it" and I hope that you will stick around and enjoy the ride! xoxo

I'm Alive!

Okay so this is a complete cop-out post, but I have been so busy! We had our wedding, went to Alaska, then I spent the last 2 weeks getting ready for my friend's wedding (I was a bridesmaid.) I am just tired and unmotivated. I know that I'll get back into this whole blogging thing soon, but for now if you are looking for wedding info or pics check out this post by my real-life/ blogger friend Lusty.

A Bientot!

T-23 hours!

So busy can't blog! Sorry been delinquent. Full sentences not possible. Married tomorrow. Back soon! xoxoxo