In the Window

Wedding Dress Detail

My Dress, my dress, I LOVE MY DRESS!

I actually found my dress in Toronto, five and a half months before Husband asked me to marry him. My mom and best friend were both in town and we figured it was unlikely that we would be together again for awhile. I made it clear that we were just going to look and off we went to the first gown store I could locate. I was convinced that I wanted a mermaid style dress. But after trying a few on it became very obvious, mermaid style was just not "me". I didn't think I would want something "poofy" but as it turned out "poofy" was "me". One dress in particular made me feel like I was glowing. My best friend cried. I was pretty sure it was "the one" but I wanted to look around some more. My mom tried to get me to take photos of my top 3 favourite dresses but I really didn't want to. I figured if it was "the one", it would be memorable and I wouldn't need a photo to remember it by. I had the lady write down my 3 favourite styles and off we went to several other Toronto stores. I tried on about 30 dresses in total. It was a long day. Five months later Husband got down on one knee and of course I said YES!

We talked for a few days about when and where we would have the wedding. We wanted it to be sooner then later. After much deliberation and family coordination, we picked a date in November. I called the store to order the dress. They only had a size 12. I am not a 12. It was not possible to order the dress and have it in 4 months. 6 months, maybe, but not 4. I knew I had to have that dress. I had been dreaming about it since February. It was now July. I didn't need or want to look at another dress. So began the great Canadian search for my dress. I started down my list of Toronto stores. One place after another, it did not go well. I was told the dress did not exist and that the designer did not exist either. I was told the code was wrong. That dress codes have 4 numbers not 5. I was laughed at for the short notice. After 15 stores I was tired, ticked off and starting to panic. I searched the web. There was no record of the dress in existence. This was not good. I started calling places that were 2, 3, and 4 hours away, Sudbury, Windsor, Barrie and London. I could drive the distance. It would be worth it. No luck. Would I need to find another dress? I knew I wouldn't be happy with anything other than "the one".

Someone once told me that Kitchener/Waterloo had the most wedding boutiques per capita. I'm still not sure if that is true, but I was desperate. I called the first K/W location I found on the web and explained the situation. I was put on hold so that someone could look into it. It took a long time and I was impatient. I hung up. Accidentally, I re-dialed the same number. They answered and apologized for getting disconnected (little did they know...) A manager came to the phone. I explained the desperate dress situation. She asked for the dress code - not familiar. She then asked me to describe the dress in detail - that she said, was familiar. She would call me back in 10 minutes. Minutes later she returned my phone call... She had my dress.

The Chapel

Can you have a cake and eat it too?

I felt very strongly about not having a cake at our wedding. Sure it is was the perfect photo opportunity, but really, was I going to frame a photo of my cake? Was anyone is anyone going to frame it? As a wedding photographer, one of my favourite shots is of all the guests running like a herd of stampeding buffalo to get that one shot of the cake cutting. Everyone wants the shot – and it rarely even makes it to the photo album. Would mine make it to the photo album? Sure it’s an excellent style element and nice detail for the reception but could I do without it? I’d watched Bride & Grooms miss out on enjoying a nice piece of their cake because they were busy. I’d seen guests waste the wedding cake because they were full from dinner or worse yet, complain about the taste, the flavor, the icing color or texture. Why would I spend that much money on something that would possibly be wasted?
So I decided. NO CAKE!

Then it happened... Our friend *A*, announced that she was going to make our wedding cake as our gift. HUSBAND made it clear that if there was going to be a cake, he wanted it to be chocolate. He really didn’t give many opinions and I didn’t want a cake so – chocolate was easily decided. I wanted original. I wanted it to look and taste good. I didn’t want it wasted. I didn’t want anyone to have anything to complain about. After many discussions about what we (o.k. I) did or did not want, *A* came up with an excellent idea. She made us a solid milk chocolate sculpture, in the form of a cake.

It was fantastic. It looked just like a regular cake. We posed and pretended to cut the cake traditionally – then HUSBAND smashed it with a mallet and everyone was able to help themselves to a chuck of chocolate. When the wedding was over and we had come back from our honeymoon we pulled the leftover cake out of the refrigerator, melted it down and had a mouth watering chocolate fondue with 25 of our friends and family.

I am not suggesting that you don’t have a cake or that smash your cake with a mallet like we did. I am suggesting that you take time to consider your cake and plan it out. Do something different. You are going to spend a lot of money on your cake – make sure it tastes good. Go for a “taste test”. Make sure your friends will like it so it won’t be wasted. Make sure YOU will like it. Get one that will provide a nice wedding detail for photos. Have fun with it!
So, yes, you can have a cake and eat it too, we did and we loved it!

Plan B

I like these shoes. They were the backup-runner ups for the wedding. If I didn't find the shoes I really wanted, I was prepared to wear these. However, I didn't know what the shoes I really wanted looked like, so finding them was proving difficult. Time was running out and these little shoes matched so I bought them --- just in case. I really do like them and hope I get to wear them someday!