Flowers!

Let us just say to start that ordering flowers is the most fun a person can have on a snowy cold November night in Edmonton. What a blast!! We spent an hour last night at La Piazza Dasee, a local flower shop, talking to Gordon, one of the designers there (and a fellow member of Da Camera Singers), about the wedding. And at the end of that hour, we had bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages all sorted out and ordered!

The bouquets will be made up of roses, gerber daisies, lillies, all in whites, creams, and butter yellow tones. There will also be various types of delightful greenery. And the boutonnieres and corsages will be either roses or mini-gerbers, depending to whom the flowers are attached.

It's amazing to watch a floral designer at work because in what seems like an instant, he takes a little bit of this and a little bit of that and TADA!! An absolutely breathtaking display.

Getting all these details into place just makes us more excited for the big day, and we're quickly realizing that the next 8 months or so are going to fly by!!

Bridesmaid Dresses

So!! The ball is rolling on bridesmaid dresses and it's exciting!! Norma (matron of honour)'s mother-in-law is a seamstress, and a great one at that, and she has agreed to make the dresses as soon as we find the fabric we like. We've decided to scrap our earlier design of the dress (the one with the poofy sleeves and all the bows) and go with something a little bit less complex. The goal is something simple, classic and elegant that will keep the girls comfortable on what might be a hot day, especially inside the church.

So Kathleen and her mom will be off to a fabric store in the near future to see what's available; hopefully the spring fabrics will be in stock, and we'll be able to find a nice sage green pearly satin. We're also on the hunt for material for the veil, which we're going to make ourselves because veils are ridiculously expensive. RIDICULOUSLY.

This afternoon, we're wading through the snow and cold to go and meet with a potential florist. More on that tomorrow!!

slowly coming along

Slowly but surely we are starting make our house a home. We still have many boxes to open, but today was the first day that pictures started to go up onto walls, making a marked improvement on the home décor. We decided to set up on the TV room in the basement, making the living room a space where we can talk and read and enjoy the sunshine through the windows. The basement has also become a place of interest for the cats, particularly the unfinished ceiling rafters in the laundry room where they can jump from the stairs and walk from above, a sort of “cat walk” if you like.

From a wedding planning prospective (which was the original intention of this blog after all), we are working on flowers, putting together an “arrival calendar” so we know when family members are getting into town, and firming up ceremony details. It seems for the most part that we have things under control, but we are aware there will be many hurdles to climb in the months ahead.

For now though – it’s back to opening boxes and putting stuff away. Keep an eye open for the housewarming party!

Starting to Feel Like Home

So, we've been in the house now for a week, and things are starting to come together. There are still boxes everywhere, and almost every day brings a new question about where we're going to fit everything, but overall, we're feeling pretty good. We've learned some valuable lessons this week:
1. Spacious basements make happy home-owners.
2. Not having a TV in the living room is a good idea!
3. Ikea shelves don't always come with mounting brackets.
4. Cats disappear in houses more easily than in apartments.
5. Orange is a hard colour to cover.

But #5 aside, the painting process last week brought us a lot of pleasure. It was great to see the main room lighten up, and the beautiful original features (doors, windows, fireplace) come to life. The final move on Sunday could not have gone more smoothly than it did, and we are eternally grateful to all those who gave us a hand! There's no way we could have done it without you!!

More pictures and more moving-in stories to come, as well as a reconnection with wedding planning, but in the meantime, here's before and after in the living room.

Moving Day!

Well, today is it - the BIG move. Think of us through the day - we'll see you on the other side with a longer blog entry complete with photos!

Possession day!

Last Wednesday, We picked up the keys to our new house (about 3 hours later than we had hoped, but we managed to kill time at Tony Romas, and Home Depot). While at Home Depot we managed to decide on colours:

Living Room – Toasted Chestnut (a warm beige)
Bedrooms – Egyptian Nile (a darker olive green)
Kitchen – Chianti (just like it sounds – the cupboards will be white in contrast)
Trim – Cream White
Study – some really cheap “miss-tint” which will inspire much productivity!

So far we’ve managed to put primer over all the ORANGE in the house, and put on first coats in the living room, hallways and bedrooms. Already, we feel calmer. We will post before and after photos once we’ve moved in on Sunday.

The only down side to all this painting and moving is that we’ve both developed muscle atrophy in our wrists and backs, and we’re fighting off colds.