Hive member Couawilou sent over pictures and all the fun details about the latest bee meet up in Toronto!
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On Jan 27th we had a Toronto bee meet up. Eight of us met at Jack Astor’s in downtown Toronto for dinner and drinks. It was great to see some familiar faces from the previous bee meet-up and it was even better to be able to meet some new bees.
We took a picture of our bling and got a group shot!
Back Row: AlmostMrsDoc, GreenDream, mrsbruff2b, PurpleUnicorn.
Front Row: Couawilou (me), Ms. Martian, Keekalena.
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
It’s true. The Knitting’s departure from our wedding could not in any terms be called romantic or picture worthy. However, before I describe that, there’s a few more things that happened before the end of the night.
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
I had so much fun putting together the playlists for our wedding. It meant that we got to listen to a lot of really meaningful songs that we really love throughout our cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. Here’s a few examples.
“Little Jeannie” by Elton John:
“Little Jeannie” is my little sister’s “song,” so it was important to me to include it.
Hive hostess Bakerella has shared with us pictures from the latest bee meet up!
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We had a Toronto Bee meet up on Wednesday and I thought I’d pass along a couple photos! Who’s who, left to right:
Back row: Ivanna, Yes, Bakerella (ugh not my most flattering picture!!!), pancakeg, Couawilou, WorldFairy
Front row: Mrs Martian, lola2011, PurpleUnicorn, Tranquility
We met up at Southern Accent in Mirvish Village (downtown Toronto) where we had an awesome dinner and three of us had psychic readings. Read more…
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
After our first dance it was time for the Ukrainian kerchief ritual which I have written about here and here. Essentially, this is a ritual where the bride’s veil is removed and replaced by a kerchief, thus signifying her entrance into wifedom. My mom did this at her wedding and I was excited to do it at mine.
After we finished our first dance we cleared the floor and my sister explained the ritual to everyone.
I think normally the bride’s mom is the one who actually removes the veil, but Mama Knitting’s many talents do not really include removing a delicate headpiece without destroying my hairstyle, so I called my BM Rachel to help: Read more…
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
Before I got engaged I thought that women never removed their wedding or engagement rings. Both my mother and my sister never take off their rings and I thought that was the norm. As a result when I realized that I can’t stand wearing my ring around the house I thought I was super weird, especially since my ring (it’s an engagement/wedding ring) is a very wearable ring.
Here’s the thing: when I get home I’m pretty much always wearing something pajama-like, so wearing my pjs along with the most valuable thing I own (financially and sentimentally) felt really weird. To be honest it bothered me to the extent that I sometimes found it difficult to sleep while I was wearing it (obviously, I’m very easy going!).
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
I made a number of unconventional (but by no means totally unique) choices for our wedding so I thought a post on how they all worked out would be a good idea.
DIY Hair and Makeup
I was originally a bit worried about doing my own hair and makeup because I am not particularly talented at either. In fact, I’m actually pretty bad at doing my hair and almost always wear it in a ponytail so I don’t have to deal with it! However, I’m happy to report that I was really happy with this decision. I have no doubts that a pro would have done a much better job, but not to an extent that would have made it worth it financially for me.
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
After dinner was finished we all moved into the main lounge to cut the cake while the staff set up the dining room for dancing. However, before we got to the cake, Mr. Knitting’s parents and their friends took this opportunity to sing us Sto Lat. The title means 100 years and I like to refer to it as the Polish all purpose congratulations song.
Here we are being sung to:
When they finished the song, Mr. Knitting used that opportunity to give me a very big Hollywood style kiss, which is definitely really out of character for both of us! Read more…
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
In an effort to keep our toasts brief, we asked just our sisters to speak and we spread their toasts out a bit. As mentioned in an earlier recap, my little sister went first before dinner. After dinner we did the rest of the toasts.
Mr. Knitting’s sister went first and gave a brief and sweet toast:
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
Growing up, on the rare occasion when I thought about getting married, I thought I’d be at least in my late 20s. This is pretty common in Toronto amongst most of the people I know. Getting married any younger seemed really weird and like a surefire recipe for divorce. The prevailing wisdom both then and now is that people change so much in their twenties that they’re not possibly capable of choosing a partner before their late 20s.
Thus, it was a bit weird for me to realize at 23 that I was ready to get married. While I realize that in many other parts of the world this is a completely normal age to get married, it just wasn’t for me and I referred to myself as a child bride quite a bit because I sometimes felt a bit awkward about the fact that I was engaged at such a relatively young age.
Adding to this, Mr. Knitting and myself are by far the first of our friends to get married and we suspect there will be a few years before any more of our friends of the same age get married. Read more…
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
Our dinner began with some borscht and mushroom dumplings:
We picked borscht because we thought soup was a great way to start a dinner in December, we both love borscht, and it was a nod to Mr. Knitting’s Polish roots.
Then most of our guests were served a traditional turkey dinner chosen for its connection with Christmas:
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
After the cocktail hour ended our guests made their way into the dining room and found their tables. After a brief introduction by my little sis, Mr. Knitting and I joined everyone and it was time to eat!
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
After Mr. Knitting and I were down eating some appetizers, we headed downstairs to be with our guests and to have some drinks (amaretto sour for me!).
Mr. K spent some time with his high school friends:
Our guests enjoyed cocktails and appetizers: Read more…
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
It was really important to me to individually greet each of our guests so we chose to have a very small receiving line consisting of just myself and Mr. Knitting. We stood just outside the doors of our ceremony room and greeted everyone as they began to file downstairs. This had the added benefit of slowing the guests’ arrival at the bar, thus making our bartenders lives a bit easier!
I realize that looking at pictures of us hugging people is a bit boring so I’ll keep it brief.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
