honeymoon

So this weekend's wedding planning resulted in us booking our honeymoon! 

Both D and I agreed that our top honeymoon destination would have been Europe, but February/March weather was less then appealing, so we decided to postpone a return to Europe and focus on booking a week in the sun. We knew we wanted to check out an island we hadn't visited before and had heard good things about Barbados. We had dreamed of finding a place with it's own private pool but as my search began I realized it might be a luxury outside of our budget. I decided to take a look on VRBO yesterday and found this amazing penthouse unit at the condominiums at The Crane, which is the oldest resort on the island. I had looked at the hotel rates earlier in my research and the rooms with private pools were three times as much, which was way more then we could afford - so when I stumbled across this suite it almost seemed too good to be true! 

It will give us the privacy we are looking for, access to their beautiful beach, convenience of resort amenities (I definitely plan on visiting the spa!) and we can still get out and explore the island at our leisure. 

There's a lot to think about with planning the wedding so it is so exciting knowing that we have a week of lounging on those pool chairs to look forward to!

wedding update

As of today, we've been engaged for exactly 5 months and there is 5 months (+3 days) left until our wedding day! I'm happy to report that we've come a long way since the initial days of planning and have sorted out a good portion of the important details.

Invitations: We're working with Paper & Poste to create our wedding invitations. They've made so many beautiful invitations (just flip through a recent edition of Wedluxe to see some) and when we met with Lexi (co-owner and designer) it felt like we were just chatting and laughing with an old friend. We've come up with a simple and modern design and I can barely wait to hold the finished product in my hands.

Food: We recently sat down and chose our menu from a long list of options offered by the Food Dudes. Each and every option sounded incredible, so it was no easy feat. We've booked our tasting for later in October, which I'm expecting to be even more enjoyable than cake tasting!

Cake: Speaking of cake.. We had a tasting booked at Le Dolci, and unfortunately D got caught in traffic on his way downtown so I met with the designer to discuss the aesthetic we were looking for and ended up taking the cupcakes home with me. D and I had an impromptu cake tasting on the couch later that same night!

Hotel: We've chosen the Thompson Hotel for our hotel block and recently booked ourselves a suite for the night of the wedding. We're hosting a morning-after brunch in the rooftop space that has amazing views of the city. I can't wait to sip on mimosas and chat with family and friends about the night-before.

Photographer: We will be working with Hugh Whitaker on our wedding day(!!!) He is so uber talented and I love his artistic, out-of-the-box shooting style (as far as wedding photography goes). I have zero doubt we will end up with the most amazing wedding photos ever.

Given our relatively short engagement, there's still a few details on the to-do list...

- Final decision on band & florist (we have it narrowed down to our front runners)

- Suits for all the gentlemen

- Bridesmaids dresses

- Honeymoon

+ + + + +

Some fun facts about being engaged: 

- We call each other 'fiance' when we're home alone together (there's something corny and playful about it)

- I clean my ring obsessively

- strangers are so kind about congratulating us 

- we've learned the wedding industry in Toronto really isn't that big - everyone sort of knows each other and is familiar with who has what to offer (which definitely helps in terms of suggestions and feedback!)
- I play 21 questions with anyone who has recently attended a wedding - 'how was the food', 'did they have a DJ or band', 'what did the decor look like?'... I'm always interested to hear peoples feedback about what they loved or disliked

rehearsing in style

{ photo via 9to5chic }

A few months ago, after recently getting engaged I was browsing Pinterest for winter wedding inspiration. The Christmas colors and snowflakes were totally lost on me, but this winter white outfit was right up my alley and matched the aesthetic I had dreamed up in my mind - classic and understated. The sleek skirt paired with a chunky knit sweater was so effortlessly beautiful - I knew I wanted to recreate the look for our rehearsal dinner and have been on the lookout for pieces ever since.  I came across this J.Crew lace skirt and knew instantly it was my own version from the inspiration photo. Spoiler: my wedding dress has zero lace, so the delicate lace feels appropriately fancy and special. I'll continue to look for the perfect knit sweater and feminine heels to pair with it for our final dinner as fiance's in February. 

{ J.Crew lace pencil skirt }

P.S. Shopping tip: I realized after I had purchased the skirt that I had somehow missed a 25% off promo code. I called J.Crew and they quickly honored the discount, and applied a free shipping code that had popped up the day after my purchase. Apparently they will honor any promotions within 7 days of the purchase!

weekend in algonquin

We spent this past weekend on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park with two of our best friends who are visiting from Vancouver. I think this marked our third annual weekend together and it is always a summer highlight. We played frisbee golf, swam in the lake, sipped wine by the fire, caught up over amazing cheese platters and went crazy during hour-long dance parties. We came home with very happy, full hearts (oh and full bellies too, after a stop at Webers!). 

happy weekend

{ a beautiful birthday gift sent from my sister in Australia }

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of travel and celebrations. My birthday fell on the Tuesday after our NYC weekend and I was lucky enough to celebrate with a group of great friends over tacos and margaritas at Cafeteria. I was spoiled rotten and was reminded of how birthdays are such a special acknowledgement of how loved I am.

We went up to our friends new cabin on Lake Joseph in Muskoka this past weekend and swam tons and caught up around the campfire. I also ate my weight in roasted marshmallows...

We had a wedding appointment with a terrific florist this week (who I'm really hoping we get to work with), I went to a Blue Jays game with my co-workers and we caught up with a cousin who was visiting from San Francisco.

This weekend we're off to Algonquin Park tonight to spend time with friends visiting from Vancouver! I don't mean to share my life story, but hopefully reminiscing of recent days helps you understand why this little blog has been suffering lately. 

We've made some exciting wedding progress which I can't wait to share next week!

Whatever you're up to this weekend, enjoy yourself! This September weather is so enjoyable compared to the sweaty, sticky heat of August. xx

{ birthday gang at Cafeteria } 

(the restaurant didn't have air-con and I think all of us left 5 pounds lighter from sweating so much) 

{ a sassy clutch that I picked up in cottage country, of all places }

{ the sunniest day the skydome, which totally warranted ice cream }

nyc recap

{ we stayed at the Warwick Hotel in midtown }

So this recap is long overdue, but I thought it would be fun to share a couple of pictures from our recent trip to New York over the long weekend. 

The main reason for the trip was to celebrate my cousins recent marriage. We enjoyed dinner at her house on Saturday night, where we sipped on rose and ate shrimps with avocado creme. On Sunday was the main event, when she and her new husband hosted a reception at a local bar, there were yummy finger foods and it was interesting mingling with friends and family. 

We enjoyed some wonderful meals at new restaurants, visited an old favorite and made sure to fill up on NYC must-haves (ie. giant bagels and cheesy pizza). We toured around different parts of town - shopped in Soho, walked the Highline in the Meat Packing District and visited the 9/11 memorial in the Financial District. 

I think the highlight was winding down Sunday night at the Ace Hotel with cocktails and having fun in the photo booth. 

New York City never disappoints and I already have a long list of to-do's for when we return next!

{ the Ace Hotel }

{ cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese and bacon (to help with a fuzzy head) }

{ a ping pong table at Outdoor Voices (which allowed for lots of painless shopping)}

{ a quick walk through Central Park before flying home }

{ Soho architecture is my favorite }

{ one world trade center }