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an adorable couple...

    Gigi
    wannabe computer geek...

    Mike
    explorer- traveller...

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    aka navigator's log...

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This is where I keep track of what we've completed so far, and what we've got left to do.
Kind of like a checklist, sort of.

January 1st, 1996.
We officially started dating. :)

Jan 1st, 2003
Mike proposed!!! (And I accepted.)

January, 2003
We went to the wedding show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, walked around for about 7 hours, and came back with 3 bags of information to sift through. Poor Mike!

January-June 2003
I discovered FrugalBride.ca, a wonderful Canadian site for brides-to-be, and their forum, Babbling Brides, where brides-to-be and recent brides can swap stories and discuss the many issues relating to getting married. I spent many hours at this website, collecting information that will hopefully come in very handy later on in the planning process. And becoming familiar with the pitfalls to avoid.

February-April 2004
We started looking at the churches in the area in which we are going to live.

March-April 2004
I started looking at some wedding gowns. I've already found 3 that I love! (Including, believe it or not, one that I didn't think I'd like nearly as much as I do!)

May-June 2004
We met the priest, and booked the church.
I returned to FrugalBride.ca, as our wedding plans start to take real shape.
I spent several weeks looking at various reception halls around town, and discussed them with friends, family and other brides. As it turns out, the hall that we eventually chose was the first one that I looked at - and knew instantly that it was the one that I wanted to have our wedding at. It must have been fate!

June 19, 2004
I'm going gown shopping with my mother and two of my bridesmaids. It's coming down to the wire as far as ordering a gown, but I'm sure we'll find the perfect dress...

June 25, 2004
I spent the past week agonizing about where to buy my dress (it's gorgeous!), but I finally chose the store and paid the deposit. Now all I have to do is wait. Impatiently. :)
It's going to be tight, cuz the dress may not be ready until mid-October. (Only two or three weeks before the wedding!!!) I'm sure I'll be chewing on my nails by then... Oops! I don't want to ruin any manicure I may be getting. :)

June 28, 2004
We met the photographer that we've asked to do our wedding. Of course, as usual we went home to think about it, but we didn't have to think long. She's so wonderful!!! I can't wait until you all meet her. Her name is Cathy Chatterton, and her studio is Capture Wedding Photography. One look at the pictures and I just fell in love with her style. And THEN I met Cathy. And just HAD to book her. :)

July 2, 2004
Watched The Notebook with my friend... we should have brought more kleenex!!!

July 3-9, 2004
Started checking out invitations and deejays, and comparing prices. I actually have an idea of what I want for our invitations, so it's easier to narrow down what I'm looking for. We looked through some invitation catalogues anyway, and compared likes and dislikes.

July 4, 2004
Bought a small shelf for my living-room "wedding centre". It's going to get a LOT of use!

July 14-18, 2004
I met with some deejays (including Dee Dee Jays), and started adding items to our registry. It was very helpful to have a friend come with me, so I could get her advice when selecting items. I also went to Staples and bought most of the items we'll need for our invitations. Programs for the ceremony seem to be much harder to find, though. I'll have to keep looking.

July 25-29, 2004
This week I bought our wedding album, booked our deejay (Invitation to Dance), and started working on our invitations. Mike and I had our next meeting with our reception hall coordinator, although it didn't tie up as many loose ends as we thought it would. But it did answer a number of questions that we had.

August 2004
During the first two weeks of August, my focus was almost entirely on our invitations. And tasks relating to our invitations. I encountered a number of frustrating glitches, and missed my first self-made deadline. Fortunately, Mike is such a wonderful guy and helped calm me down enough to realize that I had more time than I thought, and that everything doesn't HAVE to go according to schedule. After that, it all seemed to go very smoothly, and I actually accomplished even more than I'd planned. :)

Battled with our wedding invitations. The picture that we scanned was 5x5 and we wanted to print 5x7, which wouldn't work no matter what the photo place tried. Just because of the aspect ratio. Until I played around with the image using Photoshop-type software (I increased the size of the "canvas").

Battled with RSVP cards. No printer shop in town was willing to print them for me on the cardstock that we bought at Staples. Because of the size of the cards, our printer kept giving us a "paper jam" error message, even though nothing was really jammed. The solution: I scotch-taped two cards together, so that they were the approximate size of a piece of paper. Then the printer was happy.

My family got together on a Saturday evening, and we all spent several hours addressing and stuffing envelopes with our invitations, RSVP cards, maps and other inserts. Warning for future brides - this always takes longer than you think it will. Start early in the day.

August 16th - invitations are mailed!!!

August 18th - we got our first wedding RSVP!!! This is getting exciting!

We also attended the marriage preparation course this month, which was better than I expected. And we came home with some useful tools. :)

November 6, 2004
OUR WEDDING DAY!!!