Harry and Carol

re: last post and happiness

2009-07-14T13:17:00.004-04:00

the last post might've sounded like life and wedding's all doom and gloom for us. that is not so. we still find time for dates, simply hanging out by ourselves or with friends and the like. as well, these precious moments where we can't believe we're together and loved and going to be married are plentiful. God's sprinkling many drops of nourishing rain and much sunshine on us.

18 days

2009-07-14T10:33:00.002-04:00

18 more days to go. Carol and I have been saying lately that we just want this whole thing to be over and that we're not really looking forward to the day. But I think we still do. We just want the stress and uncertainty to go away. I'm sure the actual day will be enjoyable.

18 more days. This week will go buy quickly while we're trying to wrap up a few things. So will next week and then my parents and siblings are going to be here and the wedding day will come in no time. It's hard to believe we'll be married so soon. I'm sure it will only really sink in once everything is over and we start the daily routines of our new live together.

new home

2009-05-03T09:00:00.002-04:00

i'm all moved into our new apartment. i can't believe that in only 3 months carol is going to move in with me. it feels nice and strange at the same time but i'm sure it will end up being the most natural thing in the world.

we finally got some space now. it feels nice being able to walk around the apartment instead of hitting a wall or furniture after 4 steps. it is nice to have a living area to entertain people. i hardly ever had anyone over at my old place cause it was boring and there was simply very little space. now we can finally have friends over.

it feels nice to have an office/music room/work room. finally i'll be able to keep a good chunk of my gear setup so when i feel like brainstorming/recording/composing i can simply sit down at the computer and go at it. when carol moves in that room will also be able to accommodate her sewing tools so we can work away beside each other.

it's good to have friends to help with the move. i doubt we could've done this without them. but what's even better is having the future in-laws offer help wherever they could and help wherever they could. when the moving van u-haul gave me was too small for my stuff and we had to leave half of my stuff somewhere they offered up their living room. when i needed a place to sleep for two nights they offered up their home and when it came to move in to the new place they helped us a lot with the loading/unloading and drove one load of stuff while we were moving stuff into the new place. i'm looking forward to becoming closer with them.

i have to leave now to pick up carol and go to church. it's nice it only takes 10-15 minutes to carol's place now instead of half an hour.

Catering

2009-04-03T12:45:00.002-04:00

Today I finalized our catering. We are going with Daniel et Daniel which is the preferred vendor for our venue. It will be simple "grazing tables" with delicious food. We went their yesterday and Jake (our contact person) gave us free dinner takeout since they don't do tastings for grazing table stuff. So we had it for dinner last night and it was delicious. I'm looking forward to actually seeing and tasting the stuff at the wedding.

Additionally we'll have friends supplying cakes and desserts and a coffee bar. Most likely we won't have any alcohol.

One more big item down. A few more (slightly smaller ones) to go...

carol is awesome

2009-03-26T10:03:00.004-04:00

no, really, she is...

as our friends at natalie & daniel been talking about, once you're married you'll be dividing up the work. this is great especially since i horribly suck at a few things.

one example is cleaning my place. now i don't really mind vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, wiping surfaces, etc. the thing though is that i'm terrible at sorting stuff and getting stuff in its proper place. often this prevents me from doing the actual cleaning. the awesome thing is that carol goes nuts about sorting and loves it but dislikes vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms. what a great combination.

another thing is money. i suck with money. to me money is there to be spent. i also realize you gotta save but i don't find it easy to do. carol's much much more frugal and rational when it comes to money so i'm looking forward to having joint accounts and her taking care of the finances (and having to ask her first whether our budget allows a purchase or not).

of course she's awesome in many, many other ways. i can't wait to be married to her.

we will blow up

2009-03-25T07:30:00.002-04:00

Wow that countdown makes me think of BOMBS. and when it reaches zero, we'll BLOW UP. (are government agencies reading this?)

anyhow, the preparations are going. i spent the "march break" putting together invitations. the ones for the people in town are pretty much done; but now we just need addresses for people out of town. our reception venue is quite small, so it' a bit of a nuisance - not quite a nightmare, just a nuisance - to try to fit everyone in, what with all the people that we are obligated to invite -_- so, we regret, we cannot invite the world to our wedding.

our honeymoon is booked! woohoo! we are going to cuba! looks great, will be extremely hot, lots of beach lounging. please pray that we don't get hit by a hurricane!

catering is getting sorted out. we've somewhat settled on a menu and we just need to have a tasting meeting with the caterer. then we'll confirm the menu and rentals. mmm food. and also, if anyone is interested in showing off their culinary skills, we are asking friends and family to bring desserts that they've made. there will be cakes, a cheesecake, meringues, and who can forget the wedding cake which jen has so graciously offered to make for us!

Countdown

2009-03-13T11:48:00.001-04:00

2009-03-12T08:13:00.004-04:00

we pretty much have settled on an apartment. submitted the application, waiting for it to be approved so we can sign the lease. its a 2 bedroom with a large living area and a balcony. woohoo! space for all our junk! and yay i get to decorate the place :D

looking for a photographer for the wedding has so far been the most difficult, especially since we're on a tight budget. they generally book 1-2 years in advance and charge a few thousand dollars, which is way more than we can afford. we're still waiting for a friend's mom to get back to us. she's not a professional but she's very artistic and good with a camera, and has a book published!

a lot of people have been asking about the colour scheme. it's red/pink flowers, and green dresses for the attendants. i know my colour choices are funny, but... it's kind of like my personal vendetta to prove that red and green doesn't have to look christmas-y. oh and i can't wait until my neighbour's pussywillow blooms so i can collect some! free flowers falling into my own backyard, isn't that great?! and maybe i can even cut and dry some lavender from the yard... (yeah im going a little bit crazy with all the flowers...)

our new home

2009-02-24T12:43:00.002-05:00

with getting married comes the need to have a home that we will share. looking forward to this home and looking for it is both an exciting and stressful process, stressful because you want to find the best and not forgo any great opportunities.

both of us have fairly space-consuming hobbies. my musical instruments need as much space as carol's sewing and drafting. it will be interesting to see how this works out.

this process is also a growing process, a time where we learn to get to know each other better and learn how to work listen to each other and find something we both like. it's pretty cool to go through that.

endless lists of things to do

2009-01-27T10:54:00.002-05:00

i swear, it's never gonna end. especially all the stuff i have to make!

August 1st, 2009

2008-12-05T10:48:00.003-05:00

We have a date. We have a venue. We have a church. We have a pastor.

Date:

August 1st

Ceremony:

Location: Good Shepherd Community Church @ Bamburgh Circle

When: Aug 1st, 10am

Officiating Minister:

Daniel Leung, our long-time friend (and catalyst for our relationship :P)

Reception:

Location: The Richmond @ Richmond & Spadina

When: Aug 1st, 2pm-6pm

Now it's off to the making the guestlist. It'll be interesting. Gotta keep it short for the reception since we can only have 120-130 people. Politics await (hopefully not).

Dresses dresses dresses

2008-11-29T19:23:00.003-05:00

Pretty much since the beginning I've already decided to make my own dress. I wanted one that's classic but unique, formal but fun, simplet yet complex... something that's uniquely me. People at work think I'm a little crazy for doing this (them advanced seamstresses know how much work goes into the making of a wedding gown), but I'm very glad that I chose to do this. 9 months to the wedding (one and a half since we got engaged), and I'm pretty much done! There are some things I'll continue to tweak, but so far I'm pretty satisfied with the results. :) yay!

So now, it's onto the bridesmaid's and flowergirl's dresses. Sophia came over for a quick fitting today, just to see if the chosen style will look good on her. I think it looks good - missing some details, but that will certainly be fixed!

I also bought a piece of fabric to make a dress for my mom, who wants me to make a simple and elegant dress for her to wear to the wedding. This will be fun, but it looks like I'll be busy for some time.

So there'll be a lot of dresses coming, not to mention bow ties and jewellery, among many other little things. It looks like our wedding will turn into a fashion show :D Maybe some of the pieces can be used for the next Project SWAP show as well :)

-carol (I'm writing this from Harry's computer!)

Um... Hi!

2008-11-26T07:02:00.000-05:00

Awwww, how sweet ;)

So far, my parents have been pretty supportive of our decisions regarding the wedding. Our whole family consists of the kind of people who don't like crowds and noise and overdone events, so I'm sure they'll enjoy something simple, short, and sweet, which is how I prefer the wedding festivities.

For those of you who still haven't heard the many reiterations of our engagement story, check out Harry's blog. It's pretty thorough in the details about ring shopping and the proposal. Much better than I can explain.

On a logistical note, it looks like we're ready to confirm with our venues and our officiating minister. No, you don't get to find out what's going on until it's all settled, but that should be very soon!

My Role In This Time of Wedding Planning

2008-11-21T23:34:00.000-05:00

A friends' blog (http://natalieanddaniel.blogspot.com/) and a dinner with other friends tonight got me thinking a bit about what my role should be when it comes to wedding planning.

First of all, this wedding we're planning is our wedding day, Carol's and mine. Yes, friends, family and parents are all part of this but ultimately it's not about them. It's about us and about celebrating what we're beginning. As that my first importance should be to care for Carol's wishes and for what is best for us as a couple on the wedding day and later on. I should shield her from outside influences and people that will want to try to run our wedding. I should not be swayed easily by other people's opinions but simply evaluate if they fit our goals and, if yes, maybe consider them, if not, simply toss them out. Simple boundaries is what it's all about.