First of all, Happy New Year and I hope everyone had a great holiday season!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, and frankly, not much has been accomplished wedding-wise since the onset of December. People said I went a “little crazy” at the beginning of our engagement, booking things and making arrangements, signing contracts – but I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. Many of our big-ticket items have been taken care of.

A couple of new changes…

++ I ended up signing a contract with Deborah Thomson of Figgie Photography for the wedding. Originally we had planned to have my cousin Remus do our shots, but we will be having him as a second photographer instead. If you haven’t already checked out Deborah’s work, you can view her portfolio here: (http://www.figgiephotography.com). She gave us a great deal and is pretty much ours for the taking from noon until whenever we need her! She’ll be doing three photoshoots for us: our enagement pictures on May 9th, our wedding on July 3rd, and then my “Trash the Dress” shoot later in the summer. I am so excited to get to work with her.

++ Adriana at Allegra has completed the first set of proofs for our invitations. I hope to have them set to print by March and in the mail by then (for our out-of-towners) and May for our local guest.

++ The past couple of weeks I’ve really been unsure of what to do for wedding favors. I know that I really don’t care for the little trinkets and rinky-dink items you get at weddings; they all seem good for taking up space and collecting dust. Originally I had wanted to stick with my “garden-esque” theme (I will be “Jasmine Lily Plante”, after all!), but it seemed like a lot of work for something only a handful of guests would appreciate. Both Nick and I sponsor children through Compassion Canada – a Christian organization that clothes, feeds, educates and provides medical care for the poorest children in the world. I’ve been on board with them and sponsoring Laura for over 5 years, and Nick for just over 2. I love the idea of “in lieu of” donations, so instead of a tangible gift, we are making a donation to one of their funds and will provide place-cards at the table, letting our guests know where our money has gone and how they can get involved in the organization. Hopefully our wedding can help more children get sponsored!

This month I really hope to get my flowers ordered, meet with my minister (he’s already promised us the date – it’s just a matter of booking our sit-down meeting with him!) and my musicians confirmed (a cellist and violinist from the Canadian Youth Symphony, both amazingly talented and in their teens!).

Nick and I have decided to forgo a DJ for a couple of reasons: 1) we already have an emcee of sorts in Sundeep, my MOH, and having someone else try and steal the show would be a little much, 2) soundboards, mics, wires and speakers might ruin the ambiance of the restaurant and 3) we both have such distinct tastes in music I doubt a DJ would play anything we really enjoyed. As Stefanie put it, “Music is such a personal thing” – we’ve decided to have a friend of ours, Brandon, work the iTunes for the night.

Despite all the already-made arrangements, I do realize I need to get my @ss into gear. Lately I find myself preoccupied with my guitar, which I have seriously begun to pick up again. In the span of 2 weeks a good majority of the fingerprints on my left hand are gone – a good sign! And as if I needed any more callouses I also taught myself how to knit! Work has been crazy – our fundraising fashion show is less than a month away so I have been busy designing advertisements for print, getting silent auction items stocked, etc.

I am pretty confident all will work out in the end!