Wedding \\ Getting Ready - The Girls

The morning of our wedding, I woke up at the condo my parents had rented. N & I had opted to spend the night apart. Our wedding party would be joining each of us at our respective parents' houses, making things pretty easy for both of us.

There were seven of us getting our makeup done, so our day started significantly earlier than the guys did. We were all at my parent's condo by 10 am, whereas the guys didn't meet up until 1 pm. Until I booked hair & makeup, I had never thought about how much time goes into getting seven girls ready for a wedding. It's a little bit crazy.

We started our day with bacon, eggs, & coffee. No surprises there! It seemed like the day flew by from there. Somewhere in there we had lunch, cracked champagne, & exchanged gifts.

I gifted each of my bridesmaids (& my mom) a kimono robe. They turned out adorable for our pictures together & were perfect for keeping our hair & makeup in place. N's mom also stopped by as I was getting my hair done. She gifted me a tiffany bracelet (something blue!) & a favourite French perfume we had all received a few years ago (as a something borrowed). It was a really sweet surprise.

The girls all did their own hair since they mostly prefer to wear it down. I think they all did a beautiful job. For my own hair, I wanted to look like myself so we started with loose waves, but added a couple braids for a half updo. Kris at Inspirado Designs captured exactly what I had in mind. It felt special without straying too far from my normal look. I was equally pleased with our makeup artist, Bri. Both ladies were so professional throughout my whole experience & we all looked beautiful.

With our hair & makeup ready to go, we popped champagne for mimosas & opened the last few cards & gifts. N's gift to me was a beautiful pair of Tiffany earrings that match a favourite necklace of mine (complete with handmade card). We moved on to some photos in our robes before it was crunch time. These are some of my favourite photos with the girls. Can you really go wrong with a mini photo-shoot with your best girlfriends? (Made even better with our mimosas!)

We'd been pretty low key up until this point. As Carly (half of the wonderful 3 haus team) worked to keep us on track, we all got dressed. It definitely felt like crunch time by then as we were running a bit behind (of course). Right until the moment my mom zipped up my dress, I was a little bit nervous that it might not fit. Aside from a couple tricky clasps, it was perfect. That first moment in my wedding dress was really magical, but my dad seeing me for the first time was even more so. There are so many special moments on a wedding day & so many are captured here before the ceremony even began.

We did some final shots with the girls & my family at the condo before it was time to get in the limo & head off to Summerhill for the ceremony.

Six months later, I'm still having trouble narrowing down my favourites from our day. Thanks for letting me share another bit of our wedding with you!

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Wedding \\ The Weekend

I've been meaning to blog a little bit more about our Wedding, but have been going back & forth about how I want to discuss it. At first, I thought it would make sense to try & give some tips based on what we learned. As I've distanced myself from the day, however, I've realized that that's never been the intention of my blog. I'm not an expert on wedding planning by any stretch, just a girl with a lot of opinions. & this blog has never been of the advice-giving kind. I'm more about sharing stories. So let's get back to that.

Many of our wedding guests had to travel to our wedding. In fact, the majority of our guests had long drives or flights to join us. While it wasn't what you'd typically picture when you hear "destination wedding", it really was one. & it's for that very reason that we had things planned for the whole weekend. Our Sunday wedding worked out perfectly for organizing a true summer weekend in Kelowna.

N & I set out for the interior the Wednesday before. We would leave on our honeymoon immediately following the wedding, so we were pretty eager to say goodbye to work for a few weeks & start our vacation. We couldn't think of a better way to kick things off than by joining our friends for a quick visit in the Shuswap. We spent Thursday boating & hiking & learning new skills behind their beautiful boat. Our lovely hosts provided the perfect start to our weekend with good food, amazing company, & our favourite lake activities. We were so grateful for their invitation, & so glad we decided to take the extra vacation day.

A day on the Shuswap with some great people - photo from H

Wakeboarding & Wakesurfing

H showing off her skills while I'm just happy to be up!

The boys had a golf game scheduled early Friday morning in Kelowna, so they packed up the car & set out pretty early. We couldn't check in until the afternoon, so we took our time packing the cars & making the drive. Friday was pretty low key. We had lunch & drinks on a patio, settled into our accommodations, met extended family, & enjoyed the perfect Okanagan weather.

Saturday was a bit busier for the wedding party. We started the day at our venue, Summerhill Pyramid Winery, for our rehearsal. My parents, our commissioner, our party joined us to rehearse the ceremony for the first time. I blubbered through our I do's in typical Alanna fashion. It was ridiculous, but no one there was overly surprised. We left with explicit instructions to drink a lot of water & the knowledge that we were definitely going to forget parts of what we'd just practiced.

We had most of the rest of the day free to enjoy the weather (or finish up some last-minute crafts, as I think my mom did...) so N & hit the pool at his parents for a couple hours before convincing my dad to take us out on the boat. We both wanted to have one last wakeboard before the wedding, so a bunch of us loaded into the boat & went for the tamest wakeboard ride of my life. I don't think there could have been a more perfect way to spend my last day as an Adair.

Just hanging out inside the wake

Our rehearsal dinner that evening was on Earl's patio downtown. N's brother had worked at that location so he was able to get us good spot for dinner. N's mom even got to come by early & add some decorations. It was a great choice, as the patio overlooks the marina downtown. It's got one of the best views in Kelowna!

We shared a bunch of appetizers, & had some great summer drinks & a lovely meal. There were even a couple little speeches. I was so impressed with N's. He has a way with words that surprised most of the Wedding Party, since that's not a side he often let's anyone see. I even managed to get through the majority of mine without many tears. The entire Wedding Party still had money on me crying through the ceremony. I can't really blame them.

After dinner, N's mom had planned a party for everyone at the house they rented. She wanted to give everyone a chance to meet each other & mingle before the Wedding. We arrived to find the backyard set up with lights, coolers full of drinks, & even the cutest s'more roasting station. It was a really relaxed evening with everyone before the big day & gave us a chance to welcome our guests to Kelowna.

Adorable Smores by N's mom

At the end of the night, I said goodnight to N & caught a ride back to my parents place. We'd decided to spend our last night apart.

(Some of these photos are mine &some of them are from Instagram or Facebook albums. All of them are marvelous!)

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Wedding \\ priorities

Summerhill Pyramid Winery

Well that was an unexpectedly long blogging break, even taking into account my planned hiatus due to our Wedding & Honeymoon. Just goes to show that life doesn't think much of your plans - well thought out or otherwise. Last week, I unexpectedly had to fly to Toronto & despite my best intentions, that didn't lead to much writing. Luckily, it did lead to a little bit of photo-editing & a little bit of tumblr creation. So while I get back into the swing of writing & updating this blog on a regular basis again, you can check out my new photo-blog (I've decided that's a word - roll with it), WHOA lansi. It will consist primarily of photos, so if my writing was never your jam, maybe my photography will be. I took almost 2000 photos on our honeymoon so you're bound to stumble across one you enjoy, right? (Bear with me though while I figure out this whole tumblr thing. It's a different world, guys!)

N & I have been married over a month now, which makes me an expert on planning a wedding & marriage. Ha! I actually can't take all the credit for my wedding. While it was exactly what I wanted, the perfect execution was thanks to my mother. She took our personal styles & organized the logistics - something I'm certain she was born to do.

Now, that's not to say I had no role in the planning or execution. I'm not one to sit back & let anyone make decisions of any kind for me. I'm just a little bit opinionated when it comes to what I do & do not like & am usually happy to share my views. What I did do was decide what was most important to me & focused on those things. For the rest, I gave my mom a lot of free reign. She knows my tastes better than anyone else so I wasn't too worried & only spoke up here & there about details. It helps that she's a talented Interior Designer.

I said I'd post a little bit about planning a wedding once ours was over so I figured I'd start with the very first things we decided: what mattered most (besides actually marrying N, since that piece is the most important). I picked three things that were important to me, personally. I obviously wound up weighing in on other aspects of our wedding, but these were my top three. (They may not be the most important things for everyone, but they were my priorities.)

1. People
2. Venue
3. Photography

People were the most important piece for both N & I. We each easily chose four of our best friends to stand beside us on August 24. The hard part for us was the guest list. We obviously wanted to celebrate with everyone in our lives, but we quickly realized that wasn't realistic. (We're far too popular & N has a large extended family.) I can't recommend starting the guest list early enough. We put a lot of thought into ours & made some decisions pretty quickly in order to include as many important people as we could. At the end of the day, we decided what was important to us & compromised in other ways to make our vision a possibility. There are a million suggestions on how to create your own guest list & we didn't do anything groundbreaking there. My best advice is to decide who absolutely has to be there & be prepared to laugh off the last minute changes that will inevitably pop up.

For me, the venue was so important. I've been called a foodie many times so I needed a beautiful venue with incredible food. From the moment we got engaged, I started scoping out wineries in Kelowna. Having dined at & visited a few, I knew they would have a fantastic menu in a breathtaking setting. I quickly discovered that not only did neither of my favourite wineries host weddings, but there actually aren't many in the Okanagan that do. While I was hunting for our winery, I was given suggestion after suggestion for beautiful golf courses. Although I've been to many stunning weddings in such a venue, I knew it wouldn't be my wedding. I can't help picturing those awful patterned carpets that seem to be synonymous with golf course banquet rooms. I also don't particularly enjoy golf, whereas I consider myself a bit of an oenophile.

We found everything we were looking for at Summerhill Pyramid Winery. They created an organic & locally grown meal for our guests for which we've received many compliments. If there's one thing I love more than enjoying a delicious meal, it's sharing it with friends & family. It was the perfect fit.

My final major decision was the photography. As someone who loves photos & takes more than her fair share, I knew I wasn't willing to settle. For me, it's the one thing you have left after the last macaron has been eaten & your guests have stumbled off into the darkness. It's all over so fast that I knew I'd want to be able to look back on the day & remember it forever.

Lucky for me, I know a wonderful husband & wife team who were willing to travel from Edmonton to shoot our wedding. I'd been following their wedding photography for a few years & knew they were who I would ideally want for my own wedding. I thought since we were getting married in Kelowna, it wouldn't be possible. I talked to them about doing an engagement shoot & mentioned how I'd love to have them do our wedding & was surprised (& elated) when they told me they could make it work for us. Carly & Boe from 3haus Photographics are the lovely couple who photographed our Wedding. Their beautiful images have been featured on this blog over the past year, & we are so excited to see how they captured our day. I can't recommend them enough.

So there you go, the biggest three pieces of our Wedding & a little bit about how (& why) we came to those decisions. (I know it's probably odd that I haven't listed my dress as one of my priorities. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted, & since it wasn't strapless, I didn't have to look through thousands of dresses to find it.)

If you found this useful, let me know in the comments. Now that we're all done with the wedding (& subsequently, with the planning), I have substantially more time to discuss what was involved with our day.


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#llamarama

That was an unintentionally long blogging break. I knew this blog would take a back seat to Wedding Planning & I don't really expect that to change over the next month either. Speaking of which, we're less than a month away from the big day. A month, guys! Isn't that crazy?!

I haven't blogged a ton about our wedding or the planning - there are more than enough blogs out there that can tell you how to plan a wedding & I am no expert here. Maybe once it's over, I'll talk a little bit about what we did. It's turning out to be a big mix of DIY & non-DIY. Let's talk about the first "wedding event" though, shall we?

Last weekend was my bachelorette. We kicked things off at Hotel Arts on Friday, grabbing some cocktails by the pool despite the somewhat blustery day. The patio around the pool belongs to Raw Bar, which H & I were really excited about. We tried their Beef Short Rib Steamed Buns & they were awesome. We also ordered cocktails, all of which were delicious. I'd really love to try more of their menu sometime.

Raw Bar Cocktails

As more girls arrived & dinner time approached, we headed up to our room & ordered pizza from Bocce. None of us had tried it yet, but they were one of the few upscale pizza places that deliver so we went for it. Personally, I was quite impressed with their pizza: the crust was good, they had a good assortment of options, & they came right to our room. I'd definitely try them again. We ordered the Margherita, the Funghi, the Boschetto, & the Calabrese, I think (I didn't do the ordering myself). They were all really good, but I think the Funghi & the Boschetto were the biggest hits. 

We spent the rest of the night listening to music, chatting, playing games, & eating. We even took a little swim break right before the pool closed. We just had to get in there once over the weekend! It was a great start the weekend. 

Drinking Games & Raspberry Fingers

We mostly managed to sleep in the next morning, rolling out of bed around 10:30 am (although we had been woken up pretty early by some loud hotel construction that the front desk apologized for. Still - jackhammers at 7 am?) & heading down to brunch/lunch at Yellow Door Bistro just before noon. I decided to prepare for the day's activities with steak frites - not your typical brunch fare, but it was pretty much lunch anyway (& the steak at Yellow Door is delicious). 

Yellow Door Steak

After we ate it was pretty much time to get ready. People started to arrive to join us for drinks & some primping & before I knew it, it was time for the limo. The girls had rented a limo bus for two hours to start things off. We'd done the same for H's Bachelorette & it was one of my favourite parts of the evening. We actually had the exact same limo driver as we did two years ago & the experience did not disappoint. We drove around Calgary, blasting music, dancing, making speeches, & sharing drinks. We stopped for pictures in Crescent Heights & took a bathroom break at my Matron of Honour's parents' house before our second photo op at my High School.

Drinking Moonshine & getting ready

Lovely MOH & I

Starting the limo ride with champagne for all!

Laughing & dancing & drinking

Crescent Heights

Bridesmaids (without gaux)

Toasts

Abe

Abe

When the two hours were up, the limo dropped us off at WURST for dinner. We were downstairs at a long table in the beer hall. It's really the best place to be - there's an oompah band on Saturdays & they never fail to entertain. After dinner, they came over & had me standing on the bench, drinking my boot, as they played Here Comes the Bride. It was quite hilarious. 

Das Boot

Oompah dancing

Sufficiently full of "German" cuisine, we hopped in a couple limos & headed to our next stop: Cowboys. For most of us, it had been a long time since we'd been inside Cowboys. Most of the girls hadn't actually been to this third iteration, since it was more our style when we 18 & 19. It ended up being a really great time. There were a few more shots (mostly at the insistence of the Cowboys' managers) & a lot of dancing. H & I stayed until the lights came on & then headed over to Tubby Dog for a "night cap". I called that one. It wouldn't have been a proper bachelorette without Tubby Dog at some point.

Limo to cboys

Ready to dance at cboys

Speaker Dancing

The Bachelor Party I danced with

It was an incredible weekend! I felt so spoiled the whole time (& a bit like a celebrity with everyone wanting to be in photos with me!). It had been a while since I'd had a girls' night, let alone a girls' weekend. I definitely need to do that more often. Sometimes girltime is the best time. 

Thanks to all the girls who made my weekend such a success, & especially to my amazing Matron of Honour & wonderful bridesmaids. I love you ladies!! 

(Some of these photos are mine & some of them have been added to our communal Facebook album. All of them are marvelous!) 

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