The veil

Some Brides envision themselves with a tiara in there hair, or a flower or feather, or nothing at all. I however, have always thought of myself as a "veil" girl…not for the symbolic reasons regarding wearing a veil…but for pure aesthetics. When I decided on a veil, some people were surprised that I wasn't going to go for a tiara - the running joke since my 18th birthday has always been referring to me as "Princess Ashley" on special occasions…I know it sounds terrible…but it is actually quite funny. My MOH Meg even ended her speech with a toast to us as : the Groom and "Princess Ashley"…too funny!

There are so many different types f veils to choose from…some with ribbon and beading, some with many layers, short ones, long ones, really, really long ones - you get my drift ;)

I'm really happy with the simple (yet lengthy) veil I choose…it looked lovely in pictures and seemed very "Bridal" to me

Because of the length, I opted to put the veil on myself after leaving the hair salon. Here are some "action" shots of me putting it on…lol:





Ta da!






One thing that is so great about a long veil - in terms of photography - is that you can do so much fun stuff with it:

You can play coy with it:


It can get caught in the wind:


You and your new hubs can hide under it:


It helps to disguise a hairstyle you don't love:


It blows nicely in the breeze:


Just make sure you don't mind when bugs get caught in it, people step on it or it gets snagged on something ;)

Getting The Dress On

As I mentioned in a previous post, the morning of the wedding woke up to a beautiful sunrise…I then turned the airconditioner off (Pat had turned it up to the max the night before - brrr…, checked the weather channel (no rain!) and promply fell back asleep. I awoke again a few hours later at 8:00am anxious for the day to begin.

My sister, Karen, was going to pick me up at around 9:45am to drive us to our 10:00am hair appointment…she was right on time :)

I really enjoyed the time alone in my hotel room - but at the same time, it did feel kind of lonely. I could have had my sister, or now sister in laws stay with me…but I think I really would have preferred Patrick to be there. I don't regret my decision to spend the night before my wedding away from my fiance…but I don't think I would have regretted staying with him either. I have always fantasized about seeing my hubs for the first time on our wedding day walking down the aisle…but I don't think it really would have mattered if he saw me in my pjs or jeans…the big reveal really comes when everyone is dressed in their finest anyway.

Just a little food for thought…I didn't really give it the thought I should've - espeically considering Patrick pushed to stay the night together…oh well!

Onto the getting ready part. Our photographer was set to arrive at 1:30-ish to take some pictures. The plan was for the 'maids to be dressed and ready to go. I would then get dressed once the photog arrived. When she got there I was in my customized tank (don't hate me for it…lol…I love personalized stuff!):



Before Melissa, our photographer, arrived I'd ordered up some OJ to add to the champagne I'd brought for mimoas…can you see my frugility here? So, we sat around and enjoyed these for awhile. I'd also bought a couple of donuts and muffins (I think only one muffin though…it was all Timmies had left - lol)…we munched on those too. It was funny that although I hadn't really eaten much the week before the wedding (I was PARANOID…like severly…that my dress wouldn't zip up - terrible feelings to have) and was often really hungry…I had like NO appeitie on the day of the wedding. This is not like me. I love food soooo much (hence the 5-7 pounds I've since gained back) - I guess my nerves were bothering me.

After the sitting around for a while (well, I was kind of pacing - I didn't know what to do with myself!). I opened the gift Patrick gave me…I kind of already knew what it was (shhh!)…but it made for some photo-ops:



I'm looking at my MOH, Meg, here…I think she was teasing me because she knew I knew what the gift was…lol - so contrived!







Before I knew it, it was time to put on THE dress :)

I'm a pretty modest girl…which made putting on a wedding gown in front of 5 other people an interesting experience! I made them all promise not to look ;) Of course it was a-ok for the photog to take a few pics…but none of me in my knickers!











Yay - it fits!!!

Over the next little bit I plan on doing a recap of our wedding day…but as I get organized for those, I'll leave you with a couple "teaser" pics ;)

The Day Before The Big Day

The day before the wedding was a busy one…probably the busiest. Our To Do List was as follows:

-Arrange flowers for DIY centerpieces (15 of them)
-Load two cars FULL of wedding décor, luggage, etc (and pray it all fits!)
-Drive to Kingston (from Bellville) and meet with our reception coordinator (the first time we met…or had really talked! I had been emailing back and forth with the Events Manager (?) previous to this).
-Check in to my hotel and his dorm room
-Make "Just Married" sign for getaway car
-Meet some family from my Mom's side for dinner (they were unable to come to the Rehearsal Dinner because my Granny requires dialysis several times a week)

(I'll be posting my DIY Flower Centerpiece Experience once the pro-pics are in I'm hoping within the week)

By the end of the day I was feeling great about the wedding reception stuff - the venue seemed to have it together, I realized that I wouldn't have to worry about any details and DIY anymore - whoot! However, my emotions about other stuff (mainly my Mom) were not doing so great. Up until dinner on the night before my wedding, I was under the impression that my mother WAS going to be there…although there had been many ups and downs about this during the week. It was my understanding until I had dinner that evening with the O'Connor's (Mom's side ;) that MORE arrangements had been made so she would come to her baby girl's wedding. It turned out that it was not meant to be…we have still not talked about it.

Here is a picture taken of some of the O'Connor side at one of my all time favourite (and yummy) places, Woodenheads - despite the cavalierly shared news of my Mom - it was a lovely evening…and really special to me that my family had made the effort and taken the time to attend this dinner:





Anyhoo, much to my fiancé's (at the time ;) ;) chagrin, we would be spending the night before our wedding separately…although we had been "Living In Sin" for nearly 4 years, we would be spending the night before our wedding apart - I'm still a bit of a traditionalist at heart…and a romantic.

Not only would we be spending the night apart, but it would be me in a cushy hotel room and him in a dorm room…lol I would have been happy to spent the night in a dorm room instead of a hotel to save some $$$, but because our photographer was coming to my room to take pre-ceremony pictures, I wanted them to be taken in a more visually pleasing location - he wasn't happy, but he understood ;)

I booked a standard (re: cheapest possible) room at the Radisson Hotel on the harbour front of Kingston. The cost was $199 - plus taxes and such. But, when we walked into our room - we were majorly upgraded - whoot! AND because we left at 3:00am-ish Sunday June 22nd…to catch our flight to Jamaica out of Ottawa - they only charged us for one night - wicked deal! I was beyond impressed with this hotel (even though the parking situation sucked…very expensive!).

I was able to wake up to this beautiful sunrise the morning of my wedding - it was bliss! :