October, 15, 1999

This is my first post so lets get caught up to date!  On May 7th, 1999 Steve proposed to me on one knee in the middle of redlobster.  I was a bumbling, crying idiot but I did manage to say yes.  From the moment I put the beautiful ring on my finger I turned into Bridezilla...

Booking the reception hall:
We looked at about 50,000 different brochures but nothing clicked.  There were a few that we really liked but we could have only afforded them if we were rich (and we're not) So we found the most wonderful reception hall. We went in and had a meeting with one of the wedding co-ordinators. She sat us down and gave us details on what it takes to have a weddig at Embers. It sounded perfect.  The best package included everything from Dinner/DJ/Drinks to Invitations/Wedding Cake/ Hotel for the night; and you customized all of it too. I'ts not like you were stuck with whatever they give you. We got a tour of the place and the last room at the end was the nicest room with candleabras hanging fron the ceiling and little mini lights through ivy decoration much of the room.  After we were finished Gail took us into their dining room and gave us a complimentary brunch (and the food was yummy!!!)  Steve and I left that day intent on having Embers be our reception hall.
We were able to convince my parents that this was a great place and they joined us when we went back to book our date.  My dad made sure to ask all the questions Steve and I were to blinded by love to ask.  We paid our deposit, chose our car (56 Pink Cadillac) for the wedding day and crossed #1 off the list!

My first Bridal Show:
My mom and I braved a snow storm to attend my first bridal show (yes, I went to the bridal show before I was actually engaged)  I have to say, Bridal shows are very tiring and stressful.  I had vendors either ignore me or try and pressure me and boy there were alot of them.  Luckily we got to sit for the fashion show and see all the designer dresses that no one in their right mind could afford on an Accounting Clerks salary (but they were very nice!) I got tons of brochures, some samples and a mind full of ideas that I would mull over for the nex 18 months.

Booking the Church:
Booking the church was not as simple as we thought it would be.  Since we don't belong to a congregation we basically had to canvass for a church to get married in.  Since we are both Anglican we decided to go and investigate the Anglican church by my parents house.  They we un-friendly, un-helpful and un-responsive so we scratched them off our list.  The next church we tried was the United Church across the street from our house.  They said "SURE!!" but wanted $850 to do it.  A church. We passed.  I had almost given up. I slacked off on looking for a church. It's no use I said. But my mom kept at me "Did you get a church yet?" and we tried one more place. We called West Hill United Church and booked an appointment to meet with the adminsitrator.  She was very friendly and explained the whole thing to us.  $350, One weekend of marriage classes (October 23/24) and that was it! Great!! We booked our 2:30pm wedding and scratched #2 off our list. We had a wedding now!!

Choosing the Tux:
Took 2 seconds...Steve opened the catalogue pointed and that was it!! Men have it so easy!