MOH-T and me, showing off my glasses that just happened to be new at the time of this picture
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Also on my list of things to do the other weekend was visit fabric stores. I was on the hunt for two different things.
First up? Ribbon for invites. I have a big idea in my brain for the invitations that I’m planning on DIYing. I can’t wait to share what these invitations are going to look like! I’ve already picked up almost all the materials to create a mock-up; I just haven’t had a chance to pull it together yet. I’m still looking for idea generation, though! For the closure on the invites, I found this picture for inspiration from Paper Circle.
Image via Paper Circle’s Inspiration Gallery
The other day Mr. Gazelle had some studying to do, so I decided to get out of the house and do something a bit out of character. I decided to hit up some antique stores.
You see, I blame Etsy. There is so much awesomeness on there! Pictures of beautiful ruffled hobnail milk-glass cake stands have me drooling over the idea of prettying up our wedding cake.
Image via havenvintage on Etsy
Mr. Gazelle and I wanted to get engagement photos taken, and in preparation for that I needed a little help on the makeup front! I don’t wear a lot of makeup anymore, and I figured if I was going to try and DIY my makeup for the engagement photos, I could probably use a little tutorial. I got home from work, changed out of my office clothes, and snapped a picture of my typical look:
Prior to getting engaged, I had only stepped into Michaels a handful of times. Now I’m obsessed! I’ve found a few projects I would like to DIY, so it is amazing how many trips to Michaels seem to be required. I blame their coupons! Forty percent off here, 10 percent off your entire purchase between 9 AM and 1 PM there… Never leave home without your Michaels coupons! Mr. Gazelle is a good sport and just chuckles.
Featured on Weddingbee
Unique Wedding Favors
“Add a memorable touch to your wedding with unique favors that match your theme.”
Initially I thought I wanted a pretty simple colour scheme.
Black and white.
As I started perusing wedding photos, I saw the amazing shoes that brides are wearing. The wheels started turning as I contemplated an awesome pair of shoes. I may have a thing for shoes. After all, who wouldn’t want to jump on the bandwagon after seeing some of these amazing shots (all courtesy of our fantastic photographers, Sakura Photography)?
Image via Sakura Photography
So…we had a wedding-dress emergency, so to speak. I had found a dress I really liked, I had put it on hold, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to go dress shopping with my mom. It was really important to me that we have that opportunity together, yet I also didn’t want to miss out on the amazing dress I found. There was no way that I could keep the dress on hold long enough for my mom’s scheduled trip out to Calgary several weeks later.
My mom also wanted a chance to go dress shopping, and luckily she and Dad were able to make the seven-hour drive out to Calgary the next weekend. I didn’t want to just show her the one dress, so I took Friday afternoon off of work so we could pop by a few other bridal salons. We started off at Ethos Bridal. We walked in without an appointment, and I had an amazing consultant all to myself. She let us peruse the dresses and pull some, plus she grabbed some dresses herself. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures, as we weren’t allowed to take pictures of gowns we didn’t purchase. I tried on a ton of gowns, but ultimately there wasn’t anything that I liked as much as the dress in Airdrie, so we moved on as soon as our parking expired.
From there we went to Belezza Bridals. Another very different shopping experience! The store was run by a little European lady. I showed her my pictures, she let me pull out some dresses I liked, and then it was time to get dressed up. I could tell if she didn’t like a dress that much, as she wouldn’t do it up nearly as well as the dresses she really liked. There was one gown that was completely different from anything I had tried on. It was an oyster coloured satin with some major pick ups, a bit of pleating in the front, a little bit of bling, and some rosettes. There were some embellishments hiding underneath the pick ups in places. It was somewhat similar to this Maggie Sottero.
The Allysa from Maggie Sottero
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
My girls were telling me that I needed a wedding-planning binder. Really? I am all about keeping things digital as opposed to hard copies. With so many wedding-planning websites to choose from, I was feeling a bit sceptical about needing a binder, but I figured I should probably check them out anyway. After all, one might be useful for compiling contracts and other bits and pieces along the way.
On a Sunday morning I popped into Chapters, a large Canadian bookstore, to scope out the selection. The binders were pricey and there were a whole lot of things that seemed superfluous to our wedding. I decided my best option would be to make my own, so off to Staples I went.
I picked a purple binder and printed off my inspiration board for the front cover. Open it up, and there is a pencil case in front.
I know a lot of brides struggle with whether to wear glasses during their wedding. For me, this is a no-brainer. I can’t wear contacts, so I have to wear glasses. It is a long story, but I seem to have major issues with dry eyes and contacts, so I gave up trying to find contacts that would work years ago. The glasses that I am currently wearing are four years old, though, and I just went through a significant change in my prescription. I need some new lenses!
MOH-T and me, showing off my glasses that just happened to be new at the time of this picture
*WARNING* This post contains pictures of me in wedding dresses…if you don’t want to see any pictures of me in a wedding dress then look no further! Yes, Mr. Gazelle, that means you. Thanks, honey! 
I mentioned in my previous post that the second store we visited, Embrace Bridal & Formal Fashions, was a bit more casual than the first. The girl working in the shop really let us explore the store on our own.
BM-D got in on the fun, trying on some crazy bridesmaids’ dresses, including this bright yellow tulle and disco-ball-stickered number.
*WARNING* This post contains pictures of me in wedding dresses…if you don’t want to see any pictures of me in a wedding dress then look no further! Yes, Mr. Gazelle, that means you. Thanks, honey!
When we last left off on dress talk, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I fit into the typical bridal style like most of the dresses I had seen on Say Yes to the Dress. And then I saw this picture from Justin Alexander:
Image via Justin Alexander Bridal
Confession: Mr. Gazelle and I started scoping out wedding venues before we got engaged. We knew we wanted a summer wedding and that we didn’t want to be engaged for too long. We had to decide on what was important to us for our wedding:
We never talked about getting married in our home city of Calgary, as we both preferred the idea of a destination wedding. Since most of our family would have to travel for the wedding regardless of where it was held, this made sense to us. We decided to search around Vancouver—a beautiful city with amazing views of the water and the mountains. It also happens to be the city where I went to university and a place that we both love to visit together.
One place that kept coming up as a great venue for weddings was the Brock House Restaurant. The Brock House is a beautiful heritage house built in 1912. It is located between Jericho Beach and the Vancouver Yacht Club, right on the water.
The front of the Brock House
I remember being a young girl around 11 or 12 years old. We were living in London, England and my mom and I were shopping at one of the department stores downtown. We wandered past the bridal department. They had bright white shiny dresses on the mannequins. I really did not like those bright white shiny dresses. I knew that whenever I did get married…several years later…that I would be staying away from shiny and bright white!
*Personal photo
It was sometime in university when I discovered it. When I realized that the definition of all things romantic, sparkly, and beautiful was contained in one place. In one blue box tied with a white ribbon. Tiffany & Co.
I always loved their jewellery, but I never really thought I would ever own anything from there. Then in 2007 I met up with two of my girlfriends to run the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco. The setting was beautiful, and the Ghirardelli chocolates served on the course were delicious! The icing on the cake was that the race medals were beautiful silver necklaces from Tiffany.
I raced in Ironman Canada in Penticton, British Columbia on August 29th, 2010. What exactly is an Ironman? It is a long-distance triathlon consisting of a 2.4 mi (3.8 km) swim and a 112 mi (180 km) bike ride, followed by a full marathon (26.2 mi or 42.2 km). It requires a ton of preparation in the months leading up to the race. Mr. Gazelle was really supportive throughout my crazy training, and he was my biggest cheerleader on the day. He drove me to the start line at 4:30 AM, was on the course throughout the day, and was at the finish line when I crossed shortly after 11 PM.
Once I found myself affianced, I knew I needed to come up with a special way to pop the question. You know, to ask the girls in my life whether they would do me the honour of being in my bridal party!
I decided to get in touch with my crafty side. As a kid I used to be pretty creative. I would write monthly newsletters complete with fancy formatting and clip art and send them to my friends who had moved to other parts of the world. I would create nifty travel journals full of stories, postcards, mementos, and drawings. I loved being creative, but somehow that desire had fallen dormant while in university, as I just never had time for anything but studying. I figured that planning a wedding was the perfect excuse to reawaken that side of me.
The day after getting engaged, Mr. Gazelle and I were going to have dinner with Bro Gazelle and my sister-in-law. We planned to spill the good news in person, and I wanted to ask my sister-in-law to be my matron of honour at this time. We stopped in to Michaels to gather supplies for this question-popping project, except I had no clear idea of what it was that I wanted to do.
Have you ever wandered into Michaels with no clear plan?
With a guy who really has no interest in shopping at Michaels?
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Ms. Gazelle, Calgary/Vancouver Age and Occupation: 32, Engineer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Technology Analyst Engagement Date: September 3, 2010 Wedding Date: July 2011 Venue: Brock House Restaurant, Vancouver About Me: I am a marathon runner, cyclist, Ironman triathlete and beautiful shoe fiend who also loves kicking back and watching Glee. I grew up a bit of a nomad as I traveled around the world with my family, living everywhere from Australia to England to South America and Indonesia. I finally settled in Calgary a few years ago and met Mr. Gazelle who loves me even though we cheer for different hockey teams. We are planning a bit of a destination wedding in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia and we can’t wait to share the day with our close family and friends.
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