Monday, July 5, 2010

Our Wedding

Here is a small selection of pictures from my wedding.


It was photographed by Nika and Dusan from Wild Orchid Creations. They were wonderful and I would recommend their services. I found them to be very well priced - their work is very good and they were extremely helpful and professional.

My mother lent me an opal ring she wore on her wedding day. My engagement ring is a deep blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds - I love this ring (I basically had it custom made) and there are 15 diamonds which happily turned out to be our wedding date. This ring makes me smile whenever I see it.


My bouquet - It had ferns, ranunculus, lilacs, and some other flowers I can't remember now! It was beautiful, much beyond my expectations. It lasted all day and I was able to preserve it using silica gel - the colours are still vivid. I owe all my flowers to Roxy from Flower Parade.



Here we are at the church during the ceremony. D doesn't like the idea of being online so I don't want to show him much. Sorry! Rest assured he is very handsome :) I went through the RCIA program at this church so I was baptised, received my first communion and confirmed here. D received all his sacraments here too so it was important to us to be married here. Father Luigi performed the ceremony.




Here is a picture of me at the Presbyterian church at Black Creek Pioneer Village, where we had our pictures taken. This was the highlight of the day for me (you know, besides getting married). I love the history and the charm of the village. My father and I visit every year at Christmastime so to be able to take my photos here was a dream come true for me. It was annoyingly expensive and they have a lot of rules, but to me the pictures were worth it. Plus my bridal party, especially the guys and the children, were entertained by the village - this was a plus since they do a lot of waiting around.


Here is the cake with my beautiful cake topper. The cake was really tasty and decorated very simply. I ordered it from Just Temptations and I was really happy with them. The first two layers were "strawberry shortcake" and the top layer was chocolate mousse. We saved the top layer and I can't wait to eat it. I don't think I will wait the full year, though. I heard that 3 months is the max you should leave it frozen.


Here is the head table at Europa Catering, the hall where we had our reception. It was an old-school Portuguese hall, which was perfect since I married a Pork Chop. The food had to be perfect so we went with one of the best places food-wise. The hall was the nicest one I saw, since other banquet halls in the suburbs are all huge modern gymnasium-style complexes. Europa was in the city, and there are only three spaces that can be rented. We had the main room and I loved it.


Here I am with my Father. We danced to Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely? since I wasn't up for a sappy sad bastard father-daughter song. I am a really emotional person but at the same time my Britishness refuses to let it show. I knew if I had anything sentimental I would lose it and I wanted our wedding day to be happy and not a tear-fest. I am really glad I went with this song! All in all the day was great. We set a small fire in the church and burnt the altar covering and my dad got lost for an hour on the way to the hall but beyond that things went well. No disasters, no freak-outs. Our guests enjoyed themselves and D and I got married! Nothing could top that :)




I am in a funk

We are finally out of the basement and using the brand new kitchen!

Our fridge (or should I say the MIL’s fridge) was back ordered forever, and then the replacement fridge we ordered took another 2 weeks for delivery. Screw you, The Brick!

Anyway, its here and its a nice KitchenAid with the freezer on the bottom. I spent all of Sunday bringing up the stuff from the basement – food, pots and utensils. Then I put everything away in the fridge, freezer, drawers and cabinets. It was a big job and I was exhausted. I had to basically organize the new kitchen with someone else’s belongings!

It was really annoying and intimidating. Annoying because I wasn’t really up for doing that – like am I a built-in servant at this house now? (Wow that’s really grouchy of me!) And intimidating because the MIL will be back next month and I am sure there will be endless discussion of my choices, and I am not up for that either.

Basically I am in a funk about living in a house that isn’t mine. I feel like an outsider and I can’t get comfortable here. I hate cleaning stuff that seems like it was designed to need the most amount of cleaning possible. For example the vanity in the main bathroom is three tiers of glass, topped with a glass bowl. It shows everything. From the moment I clean the darn thing, it looks dirty again in a few hours. I can blame D. for picking that thing out when he re-did the bathroom a few years ago. It seriously haunts my nightmares. Plus it is the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen.

Ugh I am seriously on a rant here.

I have been wanting to be a “good” wife but its hard to balance my ideals with my reality. In reality I get hyper annoyed by every little thing. In my ideals I can cheerfully maintain a comfortable home, cleaning and all. I think I need to grow up.

Monday, June 21, 2010

More pictures and thoughts on being married

I’m still getting used to being married. I don’t like being responsible for every meal we eat. I don’t like having to clean the bathrooms or mop the floors. 

Its weird, but even my ring finger is rebelling a little – the skin is red and peeling. Its only now beginning to heal. 

The second morning I spent here at D’s place was really strange for me. I had cleaned up the house, unpacked as well as I could and had done the laundry. My clothes were put away in various empty drawers in my MiL’s bedroom. My clothes were in her closet, which smells like old-fashioned perfume. 

My makeup case, in a three-drawer Rubbermaid container, had no place to go. It was on the floor in a duffel bag. I don’t know why, but this completely shattered my peace. I felt like crying as I went from room to room, wondering what I would do when I went back to work. Where would I get dressed? Where would I put my make up on? 

This seems silly to me now but I am such a creature of habit – I have lived in the same house all of my life. My bedroom has been mine since I was five years old. I loved my parent’s home. Change is really hard for me and it takes away from the happiness of being married, at last, to someone I’ve loved so long. 

Most of my negative feelings are about this house. I hate the neighbours, the sun doesn’t shine through the windows in the same way here, and there aren’t enough trees around. I set off the burglar alarm and now I am always afraid to open the door to go outside. This house isn’t ours – it’s my MiL’s. We are getting out of here once she gets back from her stay in Europe. I think I need my “own” space to feel comfortable. There’s no point in unpacking here because we are going soon. I wish I knew where that was…

Here are some more pictures from our honeymoon.

One thing I loved about Portugal was the lush landscape of the north. In the south, the environment is much drier. Its amazing how different one tiny country can be in terms of landscape and climate!

Another thing I loved were the traditional painted tiles that can be found everywhere in the country. We visited a private collection that included secular and religious painted tiles. They are all so beautiful and they really make the buildings beautiful. 


We visited a number of castles - which are completely foreign to my Canadian self! I was amazed to be in such medieval ruins - my university studies were not in vain! It was wonderful to see things I had studied for so long, in person!


The churches in Portugal are out of control. There are churches on the way to churches built on tops of various mountains. It was wonderful to see so many places of worship. Fatima was an experience I will never forget. The faith of the people really moved me. 

We enjoyed ourselves in the south a lot. There is nothing like eating at a patio right on the beach with palm trees in every direction. It was so relaxing. 


Wedding pictures coming soon!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

The Honeymoon's over...

I really enjoyed my first trip to Europe. The plane ride was good but horribly long and exhausting. I was glad to be on land and to be in Portugal!

Albuferia, Portual

We spent five days in the Algarve, in Portugal and in the South of Spain. The weather was great -just hot and sunny enough to go to the beach, but not broiling. From our hotel we made day trips to nearby towns and historic sites. 


Sagres, Portugal

We chose the best time to go, since school is still in session and the tourist season is not yet in full swing. We were able to enjoy the two countries without all the crowds you normally hear about.

Faro, Portugal


Its good to be home! More pictures to come.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Beautiful!

My cake topper arrived on Thursday!




It arrived so beautifully packaged.




This is the front-runner for favorite thing I've bought for this wedding. I love it!


Check out Perch52 here!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Last minute freak-outs

If you are planning a Catholic wedding, here is a piece of advice: Make sure the paperwork they give you at your marriage prep courses is acceptable to the people who run your actual church. I just found out that the papers my course provided and I filled in are not acceptable! (10 days to go!)