Due Date

Waking up on the wedding day sportin' his 4th hair cut.

Our little family.

My handsome men!
On Simon's due date, I was sad and lonely. My friend Nancy took me for tea and cheered me up.
Today, I was thrilled that Schmoo 2 decided not to make his/her appearance today (or yesterday).
I LOVED celebrating at Jared and Jeanette's wedding. They had the most perfect day. Both were beautiful and I'm so happy for them.
Today, I was able to go to a family brunch and play with Simon.
I'm going to do a little house cleaning and then, I'll take a nap.

Schmoo 2, we are NOW as ready as we will ever be for you. We don't mind waiting... do things on your own terms but, we want you to know that you can come whenever you want now!

Close

Every night, when I go to bed, I try to coax a promise from Baby that he or she will be late so that I can celebrate this weekend with my fabulous brother-in-law and his almost bride.
The wedding is Sunday and I think we're going to be tied up with wedding-y things until Monday afternoon. I'm absolutely thrilled for Jared and Jeanette so, I hope I "hang in" there until everything is done.
Simon gets to wear a suit (a gift from his Great-Grandma) and I'd hate to miss that as well. (Due to his incredibly difficult feet that we can never find shoes for, he'll also be sporting his super snazzy Tigger runners with the suit. Classy!)
I haven't swelled up too badly so, I think I can actually wear dress shoes instead of Crocs.
Trevor will be in a tux and I will be sitting pretty close to the front so, I anticipate making eyes at him through most of the ceremony. Simon will be at home napping so that he will be pleasant at the reception instead of a basket-case.
I love Trevor's family. It'll be fun to see and visit with all his cousins, aunts and uncles. I'm looking forward to that as well.
Therefore Baby, please, please, please, give your Momma a little bit of time to celebrate Uncle Jared's BIG day. After that, it'll be all about you, little Schmoo!

Some wedding pics

Shiya's dance troupe took her for a pedicure and then made her walk around downtown Victoria in this delightful hat.
The beautiful bride. Look for her cute little side curls!
Lacing her in. Love the black accents.
Shiya and her family (Nathan, Cindy and Dick).
The newlyweds.
Making our own breeze. We loved our twirly dresses and fab scarves.
Pucker up Marshall!
Mel made these fabulous cakes and and cookies.Happy honeymooning guys!

one hot wedding

YEAH! Shiya and Marshall are married and off somewhere romantic for their honeymoon.
I spent ~ 5 days in Victoria cooking for the couple and helping with some prep there. Then (after my second ever ferry ride - prairie girls get excited about ships), we headed for Abbotsford to do last minute stuff to prepare for the big day.
I bet no one could have predicted the incredibly INSANE heat.
The couple was beautiful, the bridesmatrons (yeesh, that sounds old) were delightful, the groomsmen were hot (poor guys in the suits) and the MC was amazing (yeah Trevor). I sadly have very few pics from the actual wedding day but, hopefully I will be sent a few. I'll try to post some a bit later this week.

Remembering...

I'm in Victoria at Shiya's cute litte condo, helping her get ready for her wedding (just a little over a week).
I'm remembering our last week of singlehood...
-we had just bought our house, Trevor had taken possession and, after finding out that all walls were plywood, Trevor was busy drywalling
-we wanted a contractor to mud, tape and sand the newly dry-walled walls and do our ceilings while we were on our honeymoon, so we scraped off all the painted over stucco
-crazy decoration making madness
-signage
-organizing and making food for my lingerie shower
-hosting friends and family
-living in the blur that I exist in for the first few weeks of summer holidays (when that cold catches up and the shock of not having to mark or be "on" every second of the work day hits me)
-longing just to be married

Being back in wedding prep mode has reminded me how HAPPY I am that we're married. Not as glamourous as being the almost married couple but, that's the way I like it. I wouldn't go back for a second!

Wedding Pictures

We finally got our internet hook-up so now we can do a wedding photo update.
We've been married for a month and a half now and it is the best thing ever. I love being married to Trevor. We are both busy at work and at home. Our house is a work in progress. We're really happy with the results so far. It'll be really great to see how the rest goes.
Well, here are some wedding photos:

The countdown is on...

Well, pretty soon I'll be a Mrs. I can't believe that it's happening so fast. It's so funny, I've been getting a lot of phone calls lately and the most common questions are: "Are you nervous?" and "How are plans coming?" The first question is simple: no! I'm pumped about marrying Trevor. He's my world. I can hardly wait until the wedding is over and we can work on our little house together and start our lives together. As to the second question, plans are going well. We're done the programs and the favours and what we can do for the centrepieces. We have church decorating day tomorrow and tent decorating day on Friday. My mom and Trevor's mom have been amazing designers and I can hardly wait to see the finished product.
Sadly for me, I woke up on Monday with this terrible cold and I can barely talk. It makes life a little awkward. Hopefully I'll be able to talk loud enough by Saturday to say my vows. Ah well, that's what happens to teachers in the summers (they get sick because they don't have to book subs).
Well, Trevor is making supper for my best friend Shiya and I. Lucky us!

Soon and very soon

The countdown is on! Our wedding in less than a month away. Actually, in one month today, we'll be in BC on our honeymoon.
It was so exciting to begin wedding plans back in November. I had all these great and grandiose ideas. Now, I just want to be married!
School is almost over. I have 1 1/2 teaching days left and then finals, and then grad. Whew! On Canada Day, I'll be leaving little Lanigan. I'm getting sad to leave the kids and my staff. I'm really excited about this new chapter in my life but, I'm really going to miss things here.
Trevor is hard at work renovating our house. Buying an old house has its pros and cons. We've had some happy surprises (like finished hardwood floors under stinky carpet) and some little surprises that have been not so happy. It's hard being in Lanigan. I really wish I could help Trevor out more.
It's a little weird owning a house. As first time home owners (and people pleasers), Trevor and I are always finding that everyone who comes to our house has some ideas on what we should and shouldn't do. It's BIZARRE the amount of conflicting advice we've been given. It would have just been nicer if people asked us what our plans for the house were and then only given advice on things we were actually asking about. Ah, but I don't think life works that way. Oh well. This is just part of the home-buying adventure.
If you have had any good home-reno adventures, Trevor and I would LOVE to hear about them. We need other people's adventures to inspire us and to remind us that renos are always a gong-show. :)

When it rains... it showers

Happy birthday to us on this rainy day in June. Today, I am 27. Wow! Trevor's B-day is on Thursday. It's a busy time for us. On Saturday, we took possession of our little home. It's sooo cute and we absolutely love it. However, we have our work cut out for us. In the morning, we lovingly explored our new home and did little jobs like line shelves and look at paint colours.

In the afternoon, we thought we'd do a little cleaning (silly us, we thought people actually clean their houses when they move out...)! I started wiping down the baseboards and realized, to my horror, that what I had initially thought was a little dust was really animal hair. The baseboards were covered in thick dark animal fur (2 cats and 1 dog lived there before us). BLECH! I think that there have also been some "accidents" on our carpet... thus the odd odour. Trevor took out the central vac and started to vacuum up the the fur. As he was vacuuming, I started smelling a hot cat smell. It turned out that the central vac was full of animal fur. Ew! Trevor cleaned it out and we're thinking about replacing the filter. It's a good thing neither of us have allergies.

Although kind of gross, this is really a small thing. We're okay with some hard core carpet cleaning and maybe lifting some of the carpet. We're also picking out paint colours and we'll eventually start that process as well. I know that I'd love a "ready-to-move-in" home but, I also recognize that good things take time (that's why they are good). We're ready to learn to make our home our own.

Also this weekend, I had my second bridal shower. The first was really small and silly. It was my staff shower and I wasn't the only bride so it was pretty easy. This shower was at Parliament. It was really wonderful. The ladies who planned did such a good job and I felt so cared for and loved. My goodness, I was overwhelmed with gifts. I can't believe that people (some I barely know) were so willing to go out of their way to provide Trevor and I with some material things that we really need right now. It was really awesome.

So, it was a chaotic weekend. One of many so far. However, we're getting closer to being married. I hope that we'll have pictures of our cute house that we can show you soon.

The pieces are coming together!

Hi!
This is Trevor and I'd just like to clarify some things about this wedding blog. First of all, all of the entries below this one are written by Jill. So yeah, I haven't gone on a vacation to Mexico with a friend named Shiya or enjoyed wedding dress shopping with my mom (even though the entries have my name below all of them). Second of all, I'm excited that you've taken the time to come to this blog to read about myself and Jill.

This has been a very exciting week for Jill and myself. On Saturday we spent more money than any other day of our lives. We bought wedding bands for each other. (that was really fun, we customized them together and they're going to look great!) We also bought a house! The house is a 3-bedroom 1050 square-foot bungalow. It has a detached, insulated, two and a half car garage. And it's right near the Park. Jill and I are really excited about moving in together there. And we're both getting ready to be homeowners by visiting Home Depot at least three times a month! I'm also trying to learn about different colors like mauve and burgandy. And Jill is getting me really excited about doing "man things" like removing stipple and painting.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to check out this blog. Jill and I would really appreciate any comments you have about first-time houses, or anything else for that matter. If you leave a comment, I guarantee that you'll make Jill and myself very happy. And I promise to stop stalking other blogs and start leaving comments myself. I love you all. Have a great day!

Trevor

Caterer Debate - Your Feedback

Officially, we're at the 1/2 way point until we're Mr. and Mrs. YEAH!

We've decided to hire Charlotte's Catering for the reception. They have 2 basic meal choices: turkey dinner or roast beef. We still need to decide which people would like better. We'd really appreciate some feedback to help us with our decision. Leave a comment and let us know which you'd prefer.
Thanks!

Dresses and flowers and Dave... oh my!

Every week-end has become an opportunity to tackle a new project. Trevor's ingenius sleuthing helped us track down an awesome caterer and a very creative photographer (for a really great read, check out our photographer's bio at http://business.accesscomm.ca/oktoberrevolution/main.html).
This past week-end, I went material shopping for the girls' very elegant dresses. I think that a nice shade of periwinkle is divine. We're making the dresses in hopes to save our girls some moolah.
Mom and I checked out a flower shoppe. We wandered in on "bride-day". Yikes! Weddings can either be really elegant or really, really cheesy. My goodness! After sifting through some pictures of the "cheese", we had an idea of what would work.
Pastor Dave has been real swell to take pre-marital counselling from. He's so down to earth and practical and wise. We've really appreciated our sessions with him. We've learned our "love languages" (to find out more about your's, see http://www.fivelovelanguages.com/). We've also talked through some potential "issues" like family planning, individual time and couple time, finances and household chores. All in all, it's been very good.
We'd love to get any suggestions you have about cool invitation ideas.

Bridal Convention in Mexico

Due to the serious stress caused by all the wedding plans, I have decided to attend a relaxing Bridal convention in Mexico. No gentlemen allowed (sorry Trev) so, my best friend (and maid of honour) Shiya and I will have to go. We'll attend such sessions like:
1) lay on a beach and read novels
2) work on tans (remember those tan lines need to match wedding dresses)
3) plan the girly stagette
4) snorkel (to see if any of the tropical fish would make good centerpieces... or guests)
5) giggle
6) check out the local market in case I find the china pattern of my dreams and,
7) eat fresh fruit.

Ah, it is a rough life for this bride-to-be on her winter break. I hope that Shiya and I can survive our Mexican Bridal Convention.
Adios...

Bridezilla

Yesterday, I went to a Wedding Expo with my mom and my lovely bridesmaid Tif. It was a really good experience. I got some good ideas, picked up a few freebies and ate all the cake samples I could.
I also met my nemesis: Bridezilla. I knew that she was out there lurking. I just didn't know when or how I'd meet her.
In university, I worked in a floral store and I dealt with a lot of brides. Some were a little high-strung and others were down-right nutty. I made a promise to myself that when the time came for my wedding, I would be calm and focused on my marriage, not just the wedding day. No Bridezilla-Jill! However, walking through the bridal expo, I came up to a photography booth and she appeared in my head: Bridezilla. I was looking at this fabulous wedding book. It was a digitally produced album that was gorgeous. My scrapbooker's heart was in love with it. All these beautiful pictures done up as the story of Jill and Trevor.... and only for $3000. I didn't even choke at the price, I just ooohed and aaahhed. Sure sign of Bridezilla taking over. I realized what was happening and ate another wedding cake sample, took a deep breath and went over to a cheesy invitation printing booth to clear my head. Slowly, Bridezilla disappeared and my frugal self came back.
Of course, there will be no $3000 wedding book in my future and I am good with that (although, it was gorgeous). I'd love to think that that was my one-time meeting with Bridezilla but, I have this sad feeling she may be back... around the time of invitation creation or flower selection. Erg...

Planning... and still planning...

As a teacher, I spend much of my life planning. However, a wedding is a little absurd in the amount of little details that need attention.
This Christmas, Trevor and I spent some time (while we were not feasting) getting some details organized. The guest list is a scary thing. 353 people on it? AHHH! I feel like I need a scalpel and a lot of morphine to make some painful cuts.
I also found a dress. My mom and I spent a few days shopping in town and then we were off to MJ with my Aunt Leone and we found the perfect one. It's really simple and elegant (yes Trevor, with poofy sleeves and a high collar and a hoop skirt).
As the six month mark draws closer, we're getting more and more excited. :)

Reception Site and Date

Nobody ever told me that planning a wedding would be such work. Some things are going to be a lot of fun because I really like creative things. However, finding a reception site was more of a challenge then I had anticipated.
It's my fault really. I want a really fun reception. I didn't want a classy hotel. I wanted something outside. Now, we have booked the Sherwood Forest Golf and Country Club's picnic site: Nottingham. We're renting a great big tent and we're dreaming of bonfires and fireworks and a big starry sky. If the weather cooperates, it should be gorgeous.
We finally have a date. We're to be married on July 15th. YEAH! Only 7 months away and counting.
So, if you have any "planning" advice, let us know in a comment. We'd love ways to hear how you avoided stress during your engagement.

Sherwood Forest website link:
http://www.sherwoodforestcc.com/

The Proposal

Trevor called me in the middle of the week to suggest that we have a winter adventure. I was secretly hoping that we'd go Geocacheing (scavenger hunt using GPS unit). I had no idea what I was in store for. I was so excited when, on Saturday, that we were going Geocacheing.
Trevor's instructions were that this was a night Geocache and we had to look for hints that were red.
The first location we went to was at the U of R. I commented that it was really cool that our Geocache was starting out at the glass building where Trevor and I hung out a lot in university (still no clue). I looked around for red objects. When the leftover fry box and garbage can yielded no messages, I kept looking. Then, I saw a red rose with a letter wrapped around it. The letter talked about our friendship and how we really got to know each other every other day, eating lunch together at the U of R. I decided that this was a romantic Geocache and was ready to continue on. (Still no clue... Trevor can be a pretty romantic guy...)
The second location we went to was the fountain near the Legislature Building in Wascana park that we had jumped in on our first date. Once again, there was a rose and a letter. This time, the letter was about how we became romantically interested.
The third set of GPS coordinates took us to Kiwanis Park bridge where we had our first kiss. Once again, there was another letter and rose. Ah... the romance continues still.
The last set of coordinates took us to the pumping station that overlooks Wascana. As we approached I could see the glow of candles. My heart beat faster and I think I knew but, I didn't really want to guess. Trevor had asked friends of ours to place roses and candles all over the balcony area over-looking Wascana. Again, there was a letter and rose. This time, Trevor read the letter to me, got down on one knee and proposed. :) Of course I said yes!

Being newly engaged is a little overwhelming... and fun. I'm really looking forward to being married.

Trevor and I love to tell our engagement story. It's fun and it helps us relive it. Since Saturday, we've had tons of well-wishers tell us their engagement stories and we've really enjoyed that too. This BLOG gives people a chance to interact. We would LOVE to hear your engagement story. If you have some time, write it out for us and others in the comments section. Thanks, Jill and Trevor :)

Welcome here

I'd like to welcome you to a blog about Trevor and Jill's wedding plans. We'll see how regularly we can update this site. You'll hopefully be able to read all about our adventures planning a wedding and a life together. If you get a chance, please drop a comment so that Jill and I can know that you've been here.