I spent the last 2 days purchasing a frame and mounting supplies from DeSerres and had just finished mounting the photo last night, when I removed the protective corners and...
With a frantic call to DeSerres, they confirmed that I can exchange the frame after removing all the mounting hardware. Let's hope that's what happens in a few minutes when I visit the store.
Today was such a beautiful day and I decided to check out the place where we plan to have wedding photos taken: York University's Glendon Campus. The purpose of this visit was really to orient myself and to figure out which parking lot would be the closest to the prime photo spots.
Here is a close-up of the front door of the Historic Mansion.
Behind the Historic Mansion is supposed to be their "stunning" Rose Garden. Instead, I found a rather pathetic-looking one that did not even have a single flower at all!! The photos below do not really convey how pathetic the garden was. It was completely dead and dry-looking. Some people opt to have their wedding ceremony in the middle of the Rose Garden. I am so glad that we did not consider doing this. It was not a pretty sight.
So, I called Glendon Hospitality for an explanation. And I got a wide range of contradictory reasons. First of all, the guy started off by saying that this was the risk I took in booking an outdoor garden in mid-August as roses tend to die off around this time. This explanation does not make any sense at all because my florist told me that roses are in abundance during this time of year. Plus, he was trying to make it seem like I should have known better than to book photos at an outdoor garden in the summer. (Duh. Would I have had better luck in the winter?!?).
Then, the guy proceeded to tell me that with the combination of the excess rain and the fact that it has been unusually cool was another reason that the roses didn't thrive. I am no gardener but I have heard that the entire city of Toronto is more lush this year because of the rain.
Finally, another excuse the guy gave me was the fact that there is a Toronto-wide ban against pesticide-use. A bunch of hooey, if you ask me.
To give the guy some credit, he did explain where there were other photo op areas including the terrace behind the Historic Mansion and stoned stairwells sprialling downwards. These would be primarily historic architectural shots vs. gardeny shots. I was concerned that we would be limited in the types of photos we could take. I agreed with him; There are still some good photo opportunities...just not exactly what I had in mind when I imagined what my wedding photos would look like.
Thanks to Kirk, Chen and Charles for putting together a bachelor party for me this weekend! I know the timing of things weren't the easiest, considering that I live in Ottawa, but it was a great success!
Thanks also to the friends who made it out, even if it was only for part of the day. It was good to catch up and not have think about any planning.
For everyone else that is curious about what I did for my bachelor party, below are some photos. Remember, if its not documented by photo, it didn't happen :)
I took advantage of the government's "marriage leave" benefit. So, Friday was my last day at the office. I am so relieved that I don't have to think about work stuff in the week leading up to the wedding. Now, I can run wedding errands and take care of all the last minute details.
Tonight was an important night for us. Colin invited our Reception GM, our Emcees and other key helpers to his house for a BBQ so that we could have a meeting and go over the wedding itinerary. It's a jam-packed day and our team of helpers are playing important roles in executing it. It was a good meeting and I now have a good level of comfort that things will go according to plan...more or less. Don't worry, I am prepared for the possibility that things will go awry...Really, I am. :P
What's left in the final leg before the wedding day? We have to finalize seating plans, assemble programs, stuff wedding favour boxes, attend a wedding rehearsal...There is plenty to do before the big day.
This past Wednesday evening, Colin and I were "surprised" by a group of Ottawa friends with a party in our honour. The surprise party was originally scheduled for an evening in July - and it would have been a complete surprise at that time; However, we cancelled due to the fact that Colin was unexpectedly called back to Toronto for work.
Nevertheless, we were still surprised at who were among the guests including my curling teammates, my former managers, and Colin's former RK co-worker. We had so much fun. It was so nice to take a break from wedding planning and be surrounded by friends. Thanks to all who came for your support and well wishes.
Throughout the summer, I have been monitoring Toronto's weather. In June, it rained more than usual. In July, Toronto reached a new high record for rain that month. I am hoping that the month of August will be relatively dry since the last two months have been so wet. In particularly, I am hoping that August 23, 2008 will be dry. However, the weather forecasts have not been very reliable all summer. There have been countless times when the forecasts have predicted rain but the rain doesn't fall. And then there are days that start off with beautiful sunshine only to turn into thundershowers by mid-afternoon.
I am praying for sunshine on August 23 and I hope you do too. If Mother Nature has to let it rain on our wedding day, tell her to at least wait until 3:30pm. (By then, we'll be indoors.)
The last few days have been spent on important wedding details including recruiting helpers, working out a schedule for the day, and finalizing our wedding program.
The next step is to meet with the key players and discuss the final details so that the day will be executed the way we planned.
It's all starting to come together.
I woke up at 4:30am today realizing that our wedding day is now two weeks and four days away. Colin is heading back to Toronto today and won't be back in Ottawa until after our honeymoon. This means that I will be here...alone. In thinking about the wedding, I'm freaking out a little bit. I fear that our wedding will not go even close to the way we have planned it. I'm worried that my guests won't have a good time. I'm second-guessing all the decisions we have made so far.
There are times where I feel like there is still so much left to do. But then I know we're ahead of the game in lots of ways. All I can do now is take it one day at a time until August 23.
The majority of the RSVPs are in now (except for a few stragglers who we are following up with). Now comes the fun task of figuring out seating arrangements for our reception. Ultimately, the goal for each table is to place a group of people together who will have a good time. The challenge is trying to balance the actual numbers with people who are "naturally grouped" together. And then figuring out where to place other guests who may not "naturally" fit with a particular group but ensure that these people will still enjoy themselves at our wedding reception. Figuring out the seating arrangements is sort of like working on a jigsaw puzzle. At first, you don't think it would be that difficult but in reality, it's not as easy as it looks.
