What's in a name?

Yesterday we got our first batch of Christmas cards from family and friends. It helped us get into the Christmas spirit more as it doesn't seem very Christmasy living here with no snow! Anyway I was amused by the fact that no one properly addressed our names on the envelopes. People addressed it to either Mr. and Mrs. Michael Shires or Michael and Darcy Shires. Unfortunately people have forgotten that Darcy did not change her name! I don't think that Darcy minded too much about the snafus. But I recall just about everybody asking us at the wedding if Darcy was going to change her name and we said no. We sent Christmas cards to people and addressed ourselves in the sender corner of the envelopes as either Sharman & Shires or Shires & Sharman. Oh well, it's not a big deal in the greater scheme of things....

Housecleaning

This blog has seen a lot of spam comments, so I've changed the setting to require word authentication feature on the comments. If you'd like to leave one, you still can...you'll just need to take the extra step.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming ;)

Our favorite wedding photo

Here is our favorite wedding photograph so far as we don't have all photos from family and friends yet. It was taken by my stepfather, Rick, long after the ceremony had ended. It was terribly hot outside and I put on my shorts and took off my vest. I got a 4X6 reprint of the photo we put it in our new oval glass picture frame. We love the photo as it's not in your traditional formal wedding pose. Without sounding too sentimental I think it represents the intimate and down to earth nature of our wedding day...

101 days of newlywed life!

We have a white erase board in our master bedroom walk-in closet where we are keeping a married day count. We've now been married for 101 days! I suppose it's nothing exciting to mention but I thought it was worth blogging about. We've now entered into triple digits and it will be about three years before we reach the magical 1,000 day mark. In late September I organized our Honeymoon photo album. We bought the album at the Jasper Tramway Chalet on Whistlers Mountain. We are awaiting for a few other wedding photos to be sent from family and friends. Then we'll do up our wedding album.

Life routine is monotonous that has, unfortunately, somewhat dulled our newlywed lives. Last Saturday we renewed our apartment lease for seven months. So D-Day will be August 31, 2006! I need to finish the excel spreadsheet of all the wedding gifts we received. We have just over $1,000 USD to spend. We're thinking of saving it and buying a good bed when we return to Canada. Our Aerobed is nice and suits our purposes here in Florida. But it would be nice to have a real bed at some point. That's all for now.....

newlywed blog

I'm long overdue for posting an entry. Well, we've been married 39 days and it's not been as different as I though it would. I knew that it wouldn't be a radical change of life as I attributed that to us moving in together at the end of January. Our sad return to hot, humid south Florida and resumption of the daily work grind didn't add any zip to our lives. But it does seem different to call Darcy my wife in conversations. We have begun adding our respective names as beneficiaries to life insurance and retirement policies. We've joked with each other that the plans don't have enough money if one of were to die!

But enough of our bland lives in Florida. Our wedding day went off without a hitch! I got a bit teary eyed during the ceremony while strong, resilient Darcy didn't shed a tear the entire day!The weather was excellent (maybe a tad hot but I didn't complain too much). My stepdad is compiling a DVD of the day with still photos and video. We have been receiving photos from friends and family as we obviously took no photos ourselves. The photos show how colorful we are were with our different attires with the lush, green backdrop. We were fortunate to have the great weather as it was literally a window of only a few days of good weather. We cleaned up the backyard the night of the wedding and it started to rain when we finished at 7:00 pm!

Our honeymoon night at the Union Bank Inn felt magical. As people said I tried to take in all that was happening. I remember sitting at our dinner table and seeing other young couples (at least two must have gotten married as there were two wedding receptions there that night) and thinking *we just got married and are now newlyweds*! It felt surreal that I was now in that exact situation but it was a nice feeling. The other couples looked about ten years younger than us but no matter. Our suite was very nice and we enjoyed using the bubble jet tub after the long day.

Despite not following protocol with traditional weddings we did have our honeymoon the day after the wedding which made it seem magical. It's strange how many couples don't do that now. We headed out in our rental car to Jasper National Park and it was a wonder trip! Although the park is only a four hour drive west from Edmonton I had never spent a day there. It was the perfect place for us and to decompress. Weather co-operated for most of the time and we squeezed in much sight-seeing. Places included Mt. Edith Cavell, Maligne Lake, Maligne Canyon, Sunwapta Falls, Athabasca Falls, Athabasca Glacier, and a gondola ride to Whistlers Mountain. Edith Cavell was breathtaking with seeing the glacial lake and hearing the dull *thunk* echo through the air as ice cracked off in the distance. It was the coldest day of our trip as the temperaure hovered around freezing. The scenery, fresh air and our cozy cabin were heavenly. Our snowcoach ride up to the Athabasca Glacier was cool. Mt. Athabasca, Mt. Andromeda, and the Snow Dome are part of the Columbia Icefield that is the largest collection of ice south of the Arctic Circle. The Snow Dome hsa three rivers that flow into three different oceans (Columbia into the Pacific, North Saskatchewan into Hudson's Bay/Atlantic and the Athabasca into the Arctic.) Sort of a tricontinental divide - I forget the scientfic term.

Climbing the 1,200 feet from the Whistlers Mountain chalet to the summit was incredible! Despite the height (8,100 feet) I was not as out of breath as trudging up the three flights of stairs to our apartment on a hot, humid day. I now know that my body shuts down in the south Florida climate. Anyway we spent just about every night in the hot tub and I also got to chop firewood a few times. We had roaring fires everynight too. It was tough to leave Jasper but we know that we'll return again for a wedding anniversary visit!

Shopping up a Storm

Well, we've had a lot of fun in the past couple of weeks spending our wedding money! A lot of our friends and family gave us cash in lieu of difficult-to-transport gifts, so we decided that we would use it to buy many of the things on our Crate and Barrel Registry. So, we've got a pretty decently equipped kitchen now, and we got to replace a lot of our gathered-piecemeal-for-cheap-or-secondhand things.

Actually, I think that this was probably the single biggest shopping trip I have ever participated in. We took a look around the store, decided on the things we were going to get, and then just went up to the counter with our marked-up list and asked for everything. We ended up with five huge stuffed-to-the-brim shopping bags, and one large box of cookware. Needless to say it's been fun unpacking, organizing, and putting away everything. And I've been having a great time using all the supersharp knives, real mixing bowls, copper pots and pans, and nice dishes, flatware serving utensils, and cloth napkins. I'm also glad to have the correct tools to do things that I haven't been able to do in a while, like baking and so forth.

As for how we fared with Hurricane Katrina: we were on the northern edge of the hurricane-force winds and storm. Fortunately, unlike the usual scenario where the wost weather of a hurricane is concentrated in the north, Katrina's main force was on the south side. So while we ended up with lots of downed trees and no power for 55 hours, we had no flooding or structural damage and fared much better than those in Miami and parts south. And of course our experiences here don't begin to match those in Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf. So overall we are feeling pretty lucky right now!

We did it!

Well, as the timer at the top of the page says, we did it! We are officially married. I think things still haven't fully sunk in yet--sometimes I feel different, sometimes I don't.

Overall I don't think we could have asked for things to possibly go better than they did. The day was hot and sunny, and the backyard was lovely. The flowers that Hole's Greenhouses did for us were absolutely gorgeous, and the staff even included a complimentarly copy of Lois' book for me! The extra flowers we bought to decorate the outside tables, and the pots that my mom planted this year, looked great too.

We took photos with our families and attendants before the wedding. Our ceremony went off pretty much without at hitch. A lot of people have asked us about it and complimented us on it, so I'll put a link to it, as well as to photos and other items of interest, on the sidebar as soon as they're available. Our officiant was great, and in a nice stroke of luck a friend offered to lend her green robes and a wreath for her hair which were just perfect. I had been "vibrating", in my mom's words, for the entire day and night before as we made the last minute preparations, and I was very nervous as we walked down the aisle and began the ceremony. But, as Pam began to speak and call the directions, I took a deep breath or two, and everything felt right and fine.

It's interesting the things you don't notice when you are absorbed in the moment. Afterwards, people told me that just as the ceremony was beginning, one of our particularly noisy neighbors came outside just for a moment, shouted something, and then went back inside. I had no idea that it had happened at all--I just didn't hear it! Likewise, my mom mentioned later that Michael's father had been quite choked up during the ceremony, and though I was standing pretty much right in front of him I didn't notice!

Right after the ceremony, Farahnaz, our bellydancer, performed for about half an hour. She was wonderful, and everyone, even people who had been a bit...unsure about what it would be like beforehand enjoyed her dancing immensely. She got just about everyone at the party up to dance with her at some point, and some people (ahem...CRAIG...) performed quite enthusiastically!

Much of the reception after that is a blur for me, as I was busy with last minute food preparation, serving, and so forth. Sounds strange perhaps but it is what I wanted and expected to do, so it was all good for me. We had a variety of appetizers and finger foods, fruit and vegetables, and of course dessert! Mom and I had baked shortbread heart cookies, I made Mocha Layer Cake, and Mom made Cheesecake with Strawberries for Michael. We must have planned all right because we had plenty of leftovers.

All told it was over all too soon, even though the party went a little longer than originally planned. Strange to spend so much time thinking about, planning, and preparing for one day and then have it pass in such a flash. Everyone did seem to have a good time, and a couple of people said that it was the best wedding that they had ever been to, which was nice.

We arrived at the Union Bank Inn about 8 pm. The site doesn't have a picture of the bridal suite we chose, but we went for the one that was "rustic in décor, and offers warm earth tones, pine and slate accents, with a pair of pine rocking chairs to bundle up in." It was nice and cozy, with a gas fireplace, a jetted bathtub with a prop to hold books to read, and Aveda products for bath and body. We ate at the hotel's restaurant, Madison's Grill; I had the Black Cod and Michael had chicken. Breakfast the next morning was included with the room--the citrus french toast and smoked salmon eggs benedict was heavenly!

We left for Jasper about 11 that morning. We loved the cabin we stayed in, and spent our days hiking the trails and seeing the sights, and the evenings in front of our wood burning fireplace. I took a lot of photos with the digital camera Michael's mother and stepfather gave us for our wedding gift; a link to the album is on the sidebar. Naturally, the vacation also felt way too short and it was very hard for us to leave. It's the first chance we've had to have a vacation longer than a day or two to really recharge and pamper ourselves in a long, long time.

So, after a night at my parents' place and a night at Michael's mom's, we're back in Florida and trying to readjust to real life. We actually had a bit of a scare at Immigration--even though the agents I had talked to before we left Florida said that there would be no problems renewing my temporary work visa while being married to a dual national, the agents at the airport said that there was a problem with me applying for a status that did not allow dual intent when I had a claim to permanent residency through Michael's US citizenship. Fortunately, after making us sweat a few minutes, they did decide to grant me the TN status and let us enter. I think the fact that Michael was born and raised in Canada and had only been in the US for a relatively short time was a factor, as well as the fact that while we didn't have hard documentation, we could truly say that we had given notice to work, family and friends that were were planning to leave next year. This has always been my problem with the TN status--the rules and the laws around it are so "fuzzy" that each agent can interpret them differently and still be within bounds. Thankfully this is the last year we will have to do this!

Wedding Day!

Today is the Big Day!! Even though the wedding blog timeline says *Just Married* we still have about five hours until the ceremony. We've been quite busy since arriving in Edmonton July 29. Wedding plans have gone fairly smoothly. Yesterday was the day of setting up the rental equipment and buying refreshments. I was worried that the 20x20 foot tent was not going to fit in the backyard comfortably. But it did! The delivery van came by at 8:45 am and Darcy's brother, her friend/maitron of honor Mike, and Darcy's brother helped me set up the tent. It looks great! We did more cleaning and preparing the yard and had the rehearsal and dinner last night. I've surprisingly not been too nervous until today. I've slept fairly well every night but just haven't got enough sleep. Poor Darcy has not slept well as has her mother. I slept five hours last night and did some yoga stretches this morning and walked just over a mile on the treadmill this morning.

Craig and I need to go to Hole's Greenhouse in St. Albert this morning to pick up flowers. Then we'll do a few errands en route to the Sharman's house and be there by 11 am to help out with things. The weather has been beautiful (25 celcius or 77 farenheit) and a light breeze. So this is our last entry before the wedding. Unfortunately today will go by much too quickly. We'll try to focus on the moment and remember this special day for the rest of our lives....

last minute things...

I'm back at work on my day off doing last minute wedding errands. Am burning tracks for music on the big day. On the weekend Darcy and I went through my Real Player master player list of 400 songs and whittled it down to about 50 tracks. From that I will burn about four cds of tunes - the theme is naturally Middle Eastern with some Delerium, Tea Party and Loreena McKinnett and a few surprises sprinkled in. I'm sure that our selections will surprise people as I've never heard this stuff played at weddings I've attended. We will spend tonight frantically packing and will likely not sleep much. After speaking with my relatives I have a good idea of what my agenda will be for next week. My brother and sister-in-law fly into Edmonton today.

Luckily Darcy and I only have some anxiety about the wedding. I can't imagine the stress couples go through with planning huge weddings! Despite what Darcy has said I am a bit nervous about the Big Day! But I'm not too worried about the preparations for the event. But I won't be surprised if I'm a bit teary eyed during the ceremony. I'm very pleased with how the vows turned out. I'll be happy for us and my emotions may come through a bit. So you'll likely next hear from us in cool and dry Edmonton!

surprise showers

The people at my library threw me a surprise shower yesterday afternoon! There was lots of food, a few nice presents, and people from all over the library. Michael worked here before I did, so most people there know both of us. So here I was assuming that I would have no showers, and now I've had two!

Three more days until we leave for Edmonton, which seems totally unreal. I'm starting to wonder when I'm going to have time to do things like pack. We made up a list of things not to forget...hopefully that will help!

We are just hoping it will not rain...of course the forecast is for rain all this week, according to weather.com...send your petitions up to the weather gods now for nice sunshine next Saturday please!

2 weeks to go!

Ack! We are really into the home stretch now. Michael and I are in his office right now, selecting music to burn onto CDs for the reception--a long overdue task. Tonight, we are going to map out the major things we know we will need to do, and will need others' help with, before and during the big day. We also need to look at the ceremony text again, finalize who will be doing the readings, and block out the processional and so forth. I also keep on having to remind myself to bring henna, so we can do our hands!

Michael has pretty much finalized his outfit...he just needs to decide which of his 2 vests to wear. I finally managed to find shoes, so I won't need to go barefoot, but I haven't totally decided what to do with my hair. I will probably curl it, instead of fighting with its natural texture, and due to its length and weight at least some of it will have to be tied back or up, but that's all I'm certain on for now.

My mom has been busy preparing the house and yard. They have had French doors installed on their patio door (which they were going to do anyway), and the dining room has been rewallpapered. She has also spent a lot of time in the yard, weeding and planting flowers. She is very nervous but I'm sure the place will be lovely. She has also done a few test runs for our cakes, so she and Dad have had a lot of nice desserts lately!

I am starting to get quite nervous. I'm at the stage where everything seems a little unreal. I am naturally anxious about hosting a party, and wanting it to go well, but also anxious about the life transition--getting married, becoming a wife, and figuring out what it all means. Realistically I know that things will be fine if I just take life one day at a time, but it's still a little scary.

Michael, in contrast, doesn't seem to be nervous at all. Lucky him!

Second time around...

The link Michael posted to the picture of the shirt he bought for the wedding no longer works, so here's another copy:

Guess we were lucky to find it when we did...the store site says it's no longer available!

Four weeks to the day, according to our counter. I'm excited but nervous too. Because of the nature of our plan, most things are going to have to be done in the week or so prior to the wedding, so all we can really do now is sit and fret! Hopefully things will come together...hopefully it won't rain...hopefully everything will be fine... and underlying all that is the nervousness at the life transition, about becoming something and someone different, and changing our lives. So part of me is really looking forward to everything, and part of me wishes it was just over and done already! ack!

shower fun

My friend Jamie hosted my Florida bridal shower last weekend. It was a really wonderful party. She and my friend Diana (of Indu-Zari Henna) did a lot of work to make it special. They decorated Jamie's entire house in an exotic Morrocan/Indian style. Diana made a fruit plate and a batch of cookies, all decorated with henna patterns in icing, chocolate and caramel. During the party, my friend Alina did my hair in "tribal goddess" style, and Diana did henna on me and on other shower guests. We also had a selection of videos for the night: Kama Sutra, Devdas, and Bellydance Divas. Thankfully, no silly shower games!

My friends gave me lots of nice gifts, and it was nice to be "princess for a night." No one has really ever thrown me a party before...someone I used to be friendly with tried to give me a 30th birthday party, but the idea unfortunately backfired. Needless to say I'm feeling really fortunate and thankful to have such thoughtful, fun people in my life right now. I don't know how I would have survived living in Florida without them!

You can see an online picture album from the shower by clicking here.

As Michael wrote below, we're more than a little unhappy that the postal system has conspired to ruin some of the invitations we sent out. Strangely, most of Michael's friends and family say their invitations were destroyed, while the people I've asked on my side say theirs are fine! I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's upsetting--especially considering that the post office worker here assured us that they would get special handling. I guess between USPS and good old Canada Post we should have expected it though. Anyway, we will be making more invitations, and if anyone whose mailing was damaged would like one, we'll be more than happy to hand-deliver on on before the day.

My search for a wedding shirt is over!

Well, I finally found a shirt to wear for the wedding! We tried in vain looking for one ten days ago at Broward Mall but had no luck. My trips to the Middle East and Thailand had influenced me to want a light colored banded collar (collarless) shirt with no front buttons. A few days later a work colleague told me to visit an East Indian clothing store. So we went there last weekend. They had a small men's section that contained nice attire with neat trimmings and embroidery. They were all very nice but unfortunately they were all full length gowns. I wouild have bought a shirt if they had had any in stock. See our March 16th entry for a photo of the gown I wore to the Bollywood event.

So we proceeded to the Sawgrass Outlet Mall and looked in a few stores. We entered one store and, in desperation, asked a clerk if they had banded collar shirts. She replied, "if we do then they will be on our discount rack." We finally saw our first banded collar shirt but unfortunately it was black. The clerk told us that they're not in style. I find that strange since I think it looks quite fashionable and it is such a refreshing change from the staid Western styled collared button up shirt. I had bought two banded collar shirts when I lived in Spokane ten years ago and I got many compliments from people. I should have bought more!

By this time I was beginning to get a bit despondent. Then we approached the Banana Republic store so we walked in and went to the men's section. I finally ound a rack with a few white banded collar shirts and my heart immediately leapt! Amidst the small sized ones I found an XL and tried it on. It fit perfectly and was exactly what I wanted. The shirt is called a linen banded-collar pullover shirt. To quote the store's website it's "designed in the lightest linen weave, this cool summer layer is a generous fit with a classic banded collar and buttonless placket for simple, unconstricted style. Pintucked detail adds a refined touch. 100% linen, banded collar, button cuffs and straight hem. It's also imported but I don't know from where. Plus it was on sale for only $38.00! I was relieved and I hadn't spent this much time looking for men's clothing in my life. I tried the shirt on at home with my darker colored vest that I bought in Turkey. Not sure which dark pants to wear but I will likely wear my shiny Florsheim shoes.

Last bit of news is that everyone that I've talked with has mentioned that their wedding invitation has been severly damaged in the mail. We're livid about this and especially with the American Postal service. The post office told us to pay extra for domestic mail so that the cards wouldn't go through the sorting rollers. We had even packed bubble wrap in the envelope. All to no avail. So far nobody I know received their invitation intact. Two people told me that their card had a hole punched completely though the card while others said that the little ball had detached. Only after I described what the invitation was to look like did they realize that their card was missing either the little ball and/or the bow. Another prime example of the horrible mail service. Luckily we bought enough material so Darcy can make extra invitations for guests who want a pristine copy. Anybody want a copy?

Overdue for an entry!

No, I haven't been deliberately avoiding posting an entry! I feel badly about not writing in ages but it's also been the case with my personal blog. Darcy and I agree that it's unfortunate that in many ways the wedding planning has taken a backseat to planning our lives together past next year. I guess it's hard to focus on one day (our wedding) when we aren't sure where we are going to be in a year from now! Plus there's no frame of reference since the wedding won't take place where we're living. We've done some planning and organizing that Darcy has mentioned previously. One thing I need to do now is find something to wear! I sort of have an idea but don't know where to look. I guess I'll try looking online first.

One big thing we still need to do is arrange the music. I have a lot of Middle Eastern tracks on my RealOne player. We have plenty of music at home too and just need to burn a couple of *Best Of...* CDs. It was a little dicey for a while but my brother and his wife were able to get plane tickets for the Big Day. They fly up July 28 and leave August 7. We've appreciated the help from Darcy's parents too so far. So things continue to move along slowly but surely. Which reminds me - I need to add a few expenditures to our wedding spreadsheet....

Flurry of activity

Invitations. are. out! Finally!

I finished decorating them on Sunday night. We mailed them on Monday morning. Hopefully the stitching will hold and they will all arrive intact!

We also finished working on our ceremony, and sent the text to our officiant, Pam. She says she really likes it, so that's a relief! We have tentatively set up the rehearsal for 5pm the day before.

My mom is going to go to Hole's Greenhouses on Wednesday to talk about flowers. We don't really need too many, I don't think, besides a bouquet for me and boutennierres/corsages for our family members. I gave her a picture of the kind of thing that I like--something loose and informal looking in white and green--something like this picture, maybe. Michael used to work at Hole's, so it would be fitting for us to go there. We're also talking about food and decorating.

Who knows, this thing may actually come together after all!

a shower in the forecast

I had not thought that anyone would do this for me, but my friend Jamie has decided to host a bridal shower later this month. Even better, she's arranged for my friend Diana to do henna at the party! Diana is a wonderful artist, and I love henna, so this should be a great evening. I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks Jamie!

Of course, this has necessitated a shorter deadline on populating our wedding registry. So I've had fun picking out things in Crate and Barrel, and the amazon.com one should grow as well. Not that I expect we'll be getting everything on there, but once you get into it picking things out is actually kind of fun.

Invitations have not been finished yet, but they should be soon--I'm hoping to get the decorations done this weekend. I'm pretty sure just about everyone on our guest list knows when and where anyway--one of the advantages of having a small party. Michael has arranged for some really nice wedding favours, too--handmade by someone he knows at work.

Hard to believe it's coming up so soon!

starting to come together

At least, I hope they are! Time is slipping away on us and now we're at less than three months!

As Michael chronicled below, we've had a heck of a time finding a photographer to meet our modest needs. I've emailed my brother today to see if he will be able to take some pictures; Michael's stepdad will take some too and hopefully we can rook in a couple of other friends. I understand that we do not represent "big business" in the wedding industry, but it is kind of depressing when people disappear or won't even lower themselves to answer your initial enquiries! Oh well...we didn't want to go that route anyway and now we're spared from feeling we "have" to.

I've been dress shopping a lot lately, though I still haven't found anything right. On my second expedition, I found a really beautiful dress at Dillard's department store. Very Old Hollywood Glamour. Ivory satin, with a cowl neckline and a skirt that draped down to flare slightly at the hem. Backless, with gathering at the base of the spine. The only problem? The cowl was, well...a little bit too cowl-y. After numerous wardrobe malfunctions in the five minutes I had it on in the dressing room, I had to admit that a dress that so easily slipped off my shoulders to expose me from shoulder to waist à la Tara Reid was not a good wedding day choice.

Yesterday, I tried on a dress at a Susan Rose, created by a local designer. Again, it was beautiful, but.... it was a nude-colour fabric, with blue beading details, fitted to about halfway down the thigh and then with a deep ruffle hem that was shorter in front than in back (slightly lower than mid-shin in front, and draping to a small train in the back). Kind of a 1920s flavour. However....seen from a distance, I looked naked with a uterus drawn on my belly in blue beads! A situation only exacerbated by the blue rosette design on the back, below the base of the spine. Plus it was eight hundred dollars.

Sigh.

However, I did try on a dress afterwards in Caché that I really liked. Imagine, a slim, sheath-type dress actually cut so that it hides any bulges in your stomach and thights, instead of emphasizing them! Without lining! I don't want to describe it too much because I might end up getting it, and I'm not sure if I want Michael to know about my dress beforehand or not. I will say it's very elegant, a little different, and a bright colour.

This week, we'll be working more on our invitations and the ceremony. I want to get our invitations sent out in the next week or so. My mom is coming to visit in early June--I suppose we will talk a lot about party menu, decorations, and such then. Plus, hopefully we'll be putting more things in our registry soon.

No photographer

Well, we have stopped looking for a photographer after a few months of on again and off again searching. We had first corresponded briefly with a photography student at NAIT but we gave up after they seemed to disappear from the face of the earth by not returning our emails. So Keith gave me a name of a photographer who had done his sister-in-law's wedding. However, the individual had decided to not do weddings. But he gave me a contact at Studio9 Photographics. Unfortunately, theirlowest priced package was still too expensive for our needs. Next I emailed administration at the University of Alberta's Department of Art & Design and Grant MacEwan College's Visual Communications Design Program. The U of A quickly got back to me with a contact at Living Images Art and Photography. But they have a wedding scheduled the same day and were not available. So we did our best but, I think, it came down to the fact that most professional photographers want to do big weddings. We didn't want dozens of candid photos and tons of official portraits and having to buyan expensive leather bound album. We refuse to be sucked into the wedding industry trap of paying gobs of money for stuff because it's what's expected. So we'll go with plan B and have friends and relatives take photos. We're both comfortable with that. More news later....

Shall we Dance?

There have been a variety of things distracting us from wedding plans lately--the move, difficult negotiations with my band, and my dad's illness, among others. But we finally have some updates!

Firstly, I called the bellydancer our officiant recommended, Farahnaz. She doesn't seem to have a web site, or else I'd post a link to it, but from what I learned talking to her and from references on others' sites she is from Iran, does Persian dancing as well as bellydance, and spends the bulk of her professional time teaching in various studios and performing at middle eastern weddings. All of which adds up to a pretty good-sounding addition to our party! There are pictures of her performing Persian dance in a couple Edmonton dancers' photo galleries, which you can see here and here.

Most recently, I finally went to look at dresses and entered The World of the Bridal Store. Quite an experience. I visited A Bride's Choice, which is close to where I live, because their web site stated that they carried evening dresses as well and I was hoping that would mean a wider variety of simpler, more comfortable selections. Well....maybe not. This was a full-scale, poufy white dress after poufy white dress, salespeople who come into the dressing room with you, mirrored room with pedestals for you to see yourself to full advantage, veils and tiaras coming at you from all sides bridal salon. The kind where they tell you not to consider practicalities while dress shopping because it's your day and if you find the dress you can't deny yourself by rationalizing that it won't work with the type of wedding you're having, the location, and the things you'll be doing that day. Because you're the bride, after all!

So. I tried on three dresses. I liked the first one best. It had a mermaid silouhette and halter neckline with a short train, and flowery, viney, three-dimensional appliques. The saleslady liked this one the least, I think because it flaunted the fact that I have curvy hips. The second one--strapless, corset bodice with lace overlay, sheer lace overlay skirt and train--was beautiful, but it was a Nicole Kidman/fairy princess dress. By which I mean it was matched the image other people have of me more than what I want to express of myself. Then we get to the third dress. I had talked about perhaps going with a colour instead of white or ivory. So I got....PRINCESS BARBIE!! Imagine a bright red, strapless dress, with rhinestones edging the top of the bodice, the waist, and the hem. Make sure the skirt is wide and poofy enough to be twice as big as your average doorway--before the crinoline petticoat is added. That is the picture of this dress! This was the point where the saleswoman (or the "wedding specialist associate") pulled out the tiara to put in my hair. Whew! It was a look that I would have loved when I was fourteen...but...seeing as I'm over twice that....

Anyway, though I knew I probably wouldn't find anything there the minute I stepped in, it was kind of fun to put on all the big dresses and pose on the pedestal. I still plan to find something simpler and off the rack, but playing "bride" for a couple hours won't hurt anyone!

After escaping the bridal store, I went to our local outlet mall. I did find one dress I kind of liked--the one in this picture, only in ivory. You can't see it in the picture, but the same beading pattern continues along the back neckline and down the back seam of the dress. The thing is, I think I like it in theory better than in execution--this is a cheap dress, not really worth even the low price it's selling for, and it shows in the beading detail. Plus, I would need major underwear to smooth, shape, and prevent unsightly bulges. I'd rather wear nice underwear on my wedding day than the modern equivalent of a girdle if I can help it!

We have given up on the photographer we'd been communicating with at NAIT--he hasn't got back to us in over a month and we're worried about reliability given our sporadic correspondence. We are contacting other people and places, and have a couple of referrals.

We are also thinking about our invitations, which may end up being as casual as these because we like the style. We are planning to send them out in May.

Here's a photo of Michael and me that was taken at the NSU Library event, Bollywood comes to Broward. Michael was one of the models in the fashion show of Indian clothing.

photography news

I just emailed a photography student enrolled at NAIT's Photographic Technology and Graphic Communications Program. The name was given to me by my friend Ed, who works at NAIT, who contacted the program's Chair. Apparently our request is a common one so we were pleasantly surprised. Darcy and I don't want to pay an exorbitant fee for a professional photographer. Actually, for the few numbers of photos that we want taken, it is virtually impossible to secure someone. Hopefully this strategy will work out. Other bit of news is that I confirmed our reservation at the Alpine Village in Jasper for our honeymoon. No other news to report besides the fact that we are moving into our new apartment this coming Saturday! I don't think this was *officially* communicated on the wedding blog. The day after we returned home from Edmonton, I called the Atriums of Plantation complex to inquire about vacancies. They said two were available so we took one that overlooked a water canal. That boosted rent an extra $30 a month but the calming view should be worth it. It's also very quiet. So we rushed over a few hours later and signed more paperwork. Our name had been on file since December. We have both been busy packing our respective places and have not discussed wedding plans at great length. Obviously this will change once we move...

post-Edmonton news

We're back in Florida after our trip home to Edmonton...we both miss the cold weather and wish we had had more time there! From -20 C to +25 C in 8 short airborne hours...

We actually didn't get much concrete planning done while we were there, but we did manage to talk a bit and clarify some of the things we want, so it's all good. We visited the Special Event Rentals, where we'll be getting our tent and other party supplies, and got to see the stuff in the catalogue firsthand. We talked with our parents a bit about food, decorating, logistics, etc...Michael's stepfather graciously offered to provide the beer and wine for the party as part of their gift, which was wonderful and unexpected. We also got lots of offers of assistance from friends, which is a relief for me personally. I had felt kind of strange about asking people for help at an event that they will also be attending as guests, so it's nice to know that they don't mind!

We also got to meet with our officiant, whom we liked a lot. She gave us some sample ceremony scripts to deconstruct and play with, and some sample readings etc. She also says she knows an Iranian bellydancer who is really good...so maybe we will have her as the performer at our wedding!

Last bit of news is that we finally registered at a couple of places online. Not much on there yet, but we'll be adding to them as we think of things. If you want to check them out, the links are to the right.