alright lets get into this.

I've been avoiding this since i offered it out in that poll but im gonna give it to you nice and easy. maybe with a little bit of shock and awe thrown in the mix. let me forewarn you though. i am NOT taking the time to place pictures after or before each caption/blurb/mind blip. cool? cool. that shit takes forever.

THE DATE

I was never really into a long engagement. im way too impatient for that. and i LOVE LOVE LOVE Fall and couldn't imagine waiting a year and half to get down with this crazy party so i threw it out there and said November 6th. my mom is pretty much the greatest person that ever lived and she made that date happen.

THE VENUE

Joe and I were always supes in love with the U of T campus, specifically the hart house. it's got this radical old medieval vibe and a beautiful outside garden thang going on. I went to a crystal castles concert there one night. i got picked up by a lesbian. i was wearing sperry's, a baseball T and some khaki's, and my hair was majorly short so im not gonna bag her on her move. it was flattering. i digress...

so when we started looking for venues that place was off the charts the most expensive ever. plus you had to buy some $800 thing to let you take photos on the grounds. ah yeah pass thanks anyways. so then my mom (again, greatest person that ever lived) suggested the king eddie. i was immediately smitten. we went on a walking tour a couple summers ago and i have to admit when the historian gave us the lowdown on that hotel i was into it. never forgot about it. its old, its beautiful, its a hotel. i love hotels.

wow this is far too in depth, im not even close to the wedding part. let's get this into fast forward yeah?

BUILDING THE LIST

this is a tough one, everyone who's ever been married knows its a tough one and you can be sure that it is impossible not to offend anyone. our list was 300. our venue held 180. long story short people were offended they weren't invited.

THE INVITATIONS

joe found an idea online. my brother and sis in law made it happen. we LOVED them. i'll try and post a pics of these below. i dont know if i have one on this computer.

THE DRESS

by far the best pre wedding thing for me. trying on a wedding dress is life altering. its magical, its beautiful, its emotional, its more then you ever imagined. the dress is it. i've honestly never felt more gorgeous then when i put 'the' wedding dress on. my mom knew. i knew. it was a moment.

sidenote: my mom is the visionary for alterations. i think after about 10 minutes in 'the dress' she said... hmm wouldnt it be awesome if you added a zipper in and zipped it off for the dancing part? UM YES THAT IS THE GREATEST IDEA EVER.

THE FLOWERS

i honestly didnt have a preference for this one. i had some flowers i definitely wasnt into so those were openly ixnayed. i didnt really care if we had them or not. but i guess you have to have them, so i found some i liked on style me pretty, looked for anything that came in black or spiky and then Hayley took the reigns and went looking for them on her lunch hour. my sis in law reco'd a place that we ended up going to the day before the wedding. bought a boatload of them and threw them together. my mom (again, this woman never stops) bought the vases, and threw out some ideas and BLAM there you have the arrangements and bouquets and boutiniers. the funny thing was my bouquet was sittin pretty all on its lonesome and hayley spotted it immediately. love at first sight. i was tres tres contente with them.

THE MC

Joe and I have been super into live comedy since we started dating. it's way better then a movie, then standing in a small tight club watching live music (ok i may have to argue a bit on this one. live music small venue omg orgasmic), dinner out, whatever other typical date shit there is out there. you're laughing. for 2 hours. do you know how good that feels? anywayss... joe has been good friends with Dan Galea since he was a little dude. Dan is amazing on a mic, always makes us laugh, is witty, smart, and knows a crowd. we didnt have to think long and hard about this one at all. he was perfect, we knew it and we couldnt be more honored that he said yes when we asked him to MC.

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

you already know this one. it got its own post. photography is my secret love.

THE DJ

this is an easy one. Joe's sister and I share the same love for the same kind of music so BLAM! she reco'd her friend whos a DJ who had a playlist of everything i love and made it happen. one meeting, one itinerary sent and he killed it.

THE BAND

this is a funny one. i always wanted live music, but hiring a band costs about 10 grand. that is ridiculous. so i politely asked around and my dad was all "what about my 2 besties and my brother" um yes all over that and then i said can we add James and Bryan to that? and voila a band comprised of my uncle, my dad's besties and my besties and there you have TOXIC DREAM. i think that's what they were called. im sorry but how amazing is it when the old guys jam with the young guys? no offense older guys. but that is pretty epic. perfect. hilarious. awesome.

we had the live band play immediately after the ceremony. we wanted a party. what starts a party better then live music, free booze and a sick venue? done. and done.

THE DETAILS

my mom (see what i mean, she is amazing) took it upon herself to: make my veil (her design), make the table name cards, handle all the booking, planning, organizing with the venue, im pretty sure im missing 500 other things here, etc etc.

MY KIT

we already talked about the dress. let's talk about the other stuff. i found my jewelry on queen. it's by alexis bittar. i wanted snake skin but in a metal glass kinda way. shockingly i found that. i also found the earrings i seriously envisioned. it was weird.

i searched for the shoes forever. i eventually found them the same day i found the dress. i bought them at balisi on yonge. they were jean paul gaultier's. they tore my feet up within the first 2 hours. they were bleeding. they got blood on my dress. but they were worth it. i fucking love those shoes. and im not even a shoe person.

the head pieces. i found some hats by dior about 2 years ago. i saved them. i searched around toronto looking for a hat designer. lilliput can suck it. i've never experienced worse customer service then i did there. queen west art crawl rolled around and i bumped into lori-anne. i'll link her later. she was divine. the moment i talked to her i felt a great vibe. i knew she would put the time and effort into what i was looking for. sent her some pics of hats i loved, inspiration for things i was into at the time, had a couple meetings chatting about art and style and she created within 2 weeks 2 of the most fabulous pieces i have ever seen. having things personalized for you is fantastic. FANTASTIC.

MAKE-UP

my very very good friend erin winn did my make up. she also did my wedding parties make up. we looked beautiful. i wish i had her every morning to do that for me. love you lady. looooooove you.

HAIR

Steve Kwok - Vidal Sassoon. need i say more? sleek straight touchable. my favorite.

holy shit i havent even talked about the actual day yet. ill save that for tomorrow. this is ENOUGH! LOL

this is the most I've written in a very very very long time. did i include a thesis? 3 proof points and back up? LOLOLOLOL. oh highschool i miss you.















all photos by jon loek.