Our Wedding: Part I - Getting Ready

I can't believe September is only a week away! How did that happen? Well, I'm trying my best to pull myself out of the lazy days of summer and get cracking again sewing and blogging. And since public promises are powerful motivators for me, here's one... now that we have our professional photos back I'm going to share all the details of our big day here every Friday for a few weeks. Good plan? Today, we start from the beginning.

Our wedding day began just like any other day. Having a later wedding and a venue that won't let you set up before noon allows such miracles. After waking up (sans alarm clock), I iced our wedding cake (yes, I did) and Mike biked down to Locke Street to pick up some bagels and muffins, which we then enjoyed with a coffee and tea on our patio. We marvelled at the beautiful weather, mentally walked through our schedule one last time, took deep breathes, and savoured our last moments as boyfriend and girlfriend. We were so lucky to have that time alone together before the craziness hit. At 11:30 on the dot our friends arrived to chauffeur me to my hair appointment and Mike to the venue to set up. "It's happening!"

My girlfriend (who drove in from Oakville just to keep me company) and my talented stylist, Ange Blomberg, managed to keep me relaxed, distracted, and "hydrated" for the 2.5 hours it took to do my hair. But wasn't it worth it? Ange did such an amazing job!

After the hair got did, we stopped by the venue to deliver the cake and check up on things. My perfectionist nature needed for this to happen. But thanks to Mike and our incredible friends and family, everything was under control and I was then off to the hotel to finish getting ready. 

I've only had my makeup done professionally a few times and I've never really been happy with it. I think it's my super pale skin -- makeup artists never have shades light enough. So after a similarly disappointing makeup trial, it didn't take much convincing for me to decide to do my own makeup. Most days I simply slap on some tinted moisturizer and mascara before heading out the door, so this decision made me pretty nervous. There were many, many hours spent researching new products and techniques as well as 3-4 trial runs. I highly recommend Lisa Eldridge's videos, by the way. I watched them over and over. It was kind of fun, actually. I haven't been that excited about makeup since I was a pre-teen buying up all the Wet N' Wild my allowance could afford. 

All that practice paid off on the day when I was able to go through the motions without having to think about too much besides steadying my shaky hands. And I'm really proud of how it turned out. It looked natural and like me... but better. Ha!

"The dress, the dress!" My dress was from David's Bridal, and honestly, that is something I struggled with for awhile. For one, I have pictured my wedding dress for a long time and I always thought it would be vintage and short. Two, I didn't really want to support the cheap, fast fashion that David's represents. The in-store experience didn't help either. Just as I was ready to run out the door, Carla pulled this last, lacy one from the packed racks. Fine, what's one more? I put it on... and I cried. Yep. Total cliche, but it happened. I thought I might just be tired, so I slept on it, tried on some vintage dresses at Sweet Trash the next day and then went back to David's to try it on again... and I cried. Again! What a sap. 

So my dress wasn't vintage, but I sure made up for it with my accessories. My earrings, belt and purse were all vintage from Sweet Trash and my hair clip was a vintage brooch I already owned. My bracelet was a wedding gift from my God parents and my shoes are Liz Rene from Sheila's Bridal Boutique. 

Mike and I didn't have a wedding party, but we did have amazing friends with us every step of the way and we're so grateful for that. My bestie, Carla, was with me all morning, driving me around, calming my nerves and passing me eyeliner. Can we also take a moment to admire her look and that amazing blue dress? Stunning! It's vintage and she found it at The Edit in Hamilton. If Mike and I had a theme to our wedding, it was local love, so I was pretty tickled that Carla played along, even if she had no idea and just liked the dress.

Carla gives her final stamp of approval.

Twirling for Dad.

All photos (except the cake) are by Hollie Pocsai.