Weddingbee

Yay! Mama Milkshake number two (Mr. Milkshake’s mom) bought two hot little numbers for herself. It’s so nice to see our mothers in dresses, so here’s her very own tribute in the few photos I was able to snap of her. This particular store in Vancouver’s Chinatown had tonnes of dresses that were in the $50-99 price range and alterations seemed to be complimentary! They have a good handful of these stores in Vancouver’s Chinatown, and I realized a little while ago that Seattle offers nothing of the sort. My friend rented a Cheong Sam from a local Seattle shop for her wedding because that was the only option.

Miss GB 2.0 and I decided to take a few dance lessons before the wedding so that we could avoid the old sway-back-and-forth junior high version of slow dancing. We were really excited when we found a dance studio in Vancouver called Not So Strictly Ballroom, which specializes in same-sex ballroom dancing. The only beginner’s class available that fit our schedule was the slow waltz so we signed up for it. We had a blast at the class, but then we realized that most of the songs we considered for our first dance are not waltz appropriate. The song that comes up when you google “first dance” and “waltz” is Ann Murray’s “Can I Have This Dance.” I do have a soft spot for Ann Murray since my mom used to listen to her when I was a kid, but I think this is probably one of the cheesiest songs ever! (No offense meant if this is your first dance song).

Here are some more of the engagement photos that we took with Carlton Chan. Carlton’s interest in wedding photography developed after his wedding, as he wasn’t happy with his own wedding photos. He discovered that wedding photography is something he and his wife enjoy doing together. Carlton is great to work with because he’s passionate about photography. He says that he likes photography because it lets him exercise both his creative and technical sides. We had a lot of fun working with him and are looking forward to him shooting our wedding in a few weeks.

A while back I posted about wanting to be considered married on our honeymoon. This follow story is a frightening reminder of why this is so important. It’s also a good reminder to me to carry a copy of our marriage certificate when we travel abroad, including to the U.S.

A lesbian couple from WA, who were a couple for 18 years, were in Miami on vacation with their three children. Thirty-nine year old Lisa Pond collapsed suddenly and was admitted to an area hospital. Her partner, Janice Langbehn, and their three children were denied access to her for eight hours, because they were not considered family. Lisa died without her family and the state wouldn’t release the death certificate to them either because they were not recognized as a family.

(image source)

You can click here to read more about the story and see Janice Langbehn talk about her experience.

If I could only have one beauty product on my wedding day, it would be Bumble and Bumble’s Sumo Tech, hands down. I ran out of it shortly after moving to Vancouver, but decided that I should get a hold of some with the wedding quickly approaching. I grabbed some up just in time for our engagement photo shoot. Phew! Man, I forgot how much I love this product. It’s a must have for a short haired bride who wants good hold that is light weight and gives plenty of texture and shine.

(image source)

If you could only have one beauty product on your wedding day, what would be your must-have item?

Monday was a crazy day that involved visiting our ceremony venue, picking up a photo printer for our faux photo booth, doing our makeup trial and getting our engagement photos taken. We hadn’t originally planned on engagement photos, but it seemed like a good way to practice before the big day and get comfortable with the camera. Before I get into the details of the photo shoot and show you a bunch of pictures, I’ll tell you about the makeup trial.

We went to Beauty Mark in Yaletown. They charge $35 (per person) for makeup application in store and $80 if they come to your house. Jacqueline did both of our make up. I’ve never seen Miss GB 2.0 with makeup on and she was a little freaked out about being made up. I think Jacqueline did a great job keeping her natural looking and Miss GB 2.0 was very comfortable with what was done. I’m not a big makeup wearer either. When I do wear makeup, my makeup routine is usually black eyeliner and some random lipstick. I told Jacqueline that I wanted dramatic eyes. Once the makeup was applied, we rushed home to change clothes so that we could head out to take photos with Carlton and Aki. I didn’t even have time to snap a photo of us after the makeup trial. I’ll just show you a couple of Carlton’s photos to give you an idea of what we looked like (and I’ll post more of the engagement photo shoot in another post).

Seeing the last photo is a good reminder to put "buy lipstick" on my list of things to do. Clearly, I could use a reapplication in the last photo. Any recommendations for lipstick? Any other gentle, loving suggestions about the makeup?

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What a difference a visit makes!

Seeing the pictures of St. George’s Parish online gave such a different impression than seeing it in person…

Mr. Shortcake and I are completely in love with our tiny, pre-(BC)-historic church. Or should I say chapel? The church is TINY!

(The Family Shortcake, circa, the Jurassic Era. Do you see the lanky Miss Shortcake on the very right? Awkward! Awkward! Aughh, the pubertal angst!!)

Just joking. But that Drumheller church does bear striking resemblance to our real one:

So cute, right? I pretty much heard the Dixie Cups singing "go-ing to the chap-pel" as soon as we got out of the car, it was that adorable.

Some side views/gratuitous preciousness:

It’s so…churchy. And our priest (Anglican), didn’t laugh at me when I listed that, either, as one of the reasons we chose St. George.

It has a pretty memorial garden on one side as well that we can use for group photos after the receiving line:

Now, the inside, as befitting a 250 year old church, is VERY retro; lots of dark wood, gorgeous stained glass windows, more dark wood….

Seeing it in person knocked any ideas of pew decorations out of my head - it’s just too small - I’ll barely fit down the aisle as it is, and would rather not knock over every pew adornment on my way down! I’ve cancelled our altar arrangements, as the church altar guild provides fresh flowers every week, and can special order arrangements at no charge for a wedding.

Seeing the church in person has also made a huge difference in our music selection. The church is too cozy, too intimate, for some majestic march. And the aisle?

Holy moly.

You’re seeing it in its entirety in the next two photographs:

That’s it. Mr. Shortcake timed me walking down it at a stately snail’s pace - and it was (wishfully rounding up) thirty seconds long.

So, I have thrown away my beautiful classical pieces, and am now looking at meaningful songs that can put across their message and their melody in about 60 seconds.

Why 60 seconds? My floral designer made an excellent suggestions for short-aisled brides:

When the doors open, stop and pause and take in the scene. This gives your attendant time to arrange your train, veil, etc (if necessary), and gives you some precious moments to drink in all the loving faces around you.

I love this suggestion, as I’ve heard too many friends say that they don’t remember their ceremony at all, as it just went by in a huge, mushy, blur. And how dramatic would that be? Opening the doors, and just standing there in my dress, smiling at Mr. Shortcake until it hurts?

So here are the songs, I’ve narrowed them down to three retro-riffic choices:

1) Percy Faith & His Orchestra: ’Theme from a Summer Place"

lyrics here

2) The Beatles: "Here, There, and Everywhere" (note: would have an acoustic guitar player instead)

lyrics here

3) Cat Powers: "Sea of Love"

lyrics here

Which would you choose?
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