Our Wedding (Getting Ready)

All photos in this post are courtesy of my amazing photographer Lew D'Souza of Engaging Images. 

It has been nearly two months since our wedding and I'm so excited to start sharing some of the details of our big day.  I was worried that this blog was a little wedding-d out this summer but now I have tons of reno news so I don't feel guilty for peppering in a few wedding posts. :)

Considering we are in the midst of renovating our own new/old house, when Corey and I were touring reception venues, we felt most at home in a stately old heritage house which was situated right in the heart of the neighbourhood where I grew up.

One of the nicest things about The Heintzman House was the upstairs dressing rooms.  They allowed the bridal party lots of space to get ready and hang out in the morning before the ceremony.

You may recall the challenges I had in choosing a style for my wedding dress as a pregnant bride.  I happened to be particularly swollen on my wedding day but I still loved the dress and the French lace and crystal details made me feel pretty despite my cankles. 

My wedding shoes turned out to be a brilliant idea.

Remember the fabric I chose for my bridesmaids dresses?  Well, they each had a dress made to their own taste and ended up looking fabulous.

Cheetah was a naughty boy and ate an entire pack of gum which he found in my friend's purse that morning.

Corey looked dapper in a suit he already owned with a new shirt and cuff links.

He asked his groomsmen to wear white shirts with light or medium grey suits and he gave them each a tie.

The necklaces I had made for my bridesmaids were a little long but they were (luckily) adjustable and they looked sweet on them and sort of tied their looks together.

We waited for "first look" photos, which were nice but I think I would have preferred if Corey had helped me get ready.  I missed him so much during the emotional (and hormonal) morning that I almost called him in early several times because I just wanted to talk to my best friend.

Corey's identical twin (Jeff is on the left) flew in from Australia to help us with the big day.

I was thrilled with the way my bouquet turned out.

We all toasted (I had a tiny bit too.) in our own vintage champagne flutes which I've been collecting at thrift stores for ages.

Barkley and Cheetah just had water.

I was totally Bridezilla when it came to a secondary location for photos with Corey.  I chose a place on the opposite side of town, which would be difficult to drive to and difficult for my pregnant self to hike to and I refused to back down when friends (and our photographer) offered alternatives.  Looking back, it was actually pretty crazy of me but Corey and I were both thrilled with our photos and so was our photographer!

On our way to the ceremony, Corey and I stopped for iced coffees (and so that I could use the washroom) and enjoyed a half hour of just reflecting on how the day was going so far.  I put my feet up in the back of the car and for a few minutes, it just felt like a normal day.  It was lovely to come back to reality together before the actual ceremony.

I'll share some ceremony details next but I hope you enjoyed the pre-wedding festivities.