November Updates!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have progress on the wedding front!

Only 141 days until we become husband and wife. Married! My goodness, where is time going?!

Our invitations are being sent after we okayed the sample that was mailed to us a couple of weeks ago. They are so pretty and so perfect and I couldn't be happier with them! Gosh, this wedding business is starting to feel more real! I can hardly wait to receive them and mail them out to all of our nearest and dearest.

Our reception is confirmed. We contemplated whether we were actually going to have one for a decent amount of time... but in the meantime I carried on making centrepieces and plotting out table decor. I'm glad we chose to go forward with it, and I'm so excited... this won't be your typical wedding reception.

I'm starting to get a little bit DIY happy. Through hours spent browsing multiple blogs, Pinterest, and a little bit of my own creativity, I've been coming up with idea after idea since the day we got engaged. Flowers and decor and favours... oh my! I love planning this stuff. I'd happily be an event decorator. That is the fun part. Budgeting and scheduling, not so much. On a side not, if any of my friends would like to hurry up and get married or have babies, I've got a million ideas for bridal and baby showers that I'm anxious to try!

This is where I'm torn... I created this blog to share my awesome DIY projects with you as I went. Now that I'm actually at the more-than-just-ideas phase, I want to share my excitement and post a billion photos.... but then there will be no surprise when you all show up on the beach in April. I will share everything in post-wedding blog posts, but in the meantime it's going to be our little secret. I've already shown the invites to far too many people that are going to receive one in the mail in the next month or so.

You wanna know something else that is really, really exciting?! .... We are going to be homeowners! That's right. We put an offer on a beautiful place that we both fell in love with and I still can't believe that it will actually be ours. We move in next month just in time for Christmas! Our house! Together!

Everything is so perfect right now, and I'm one very happy girl.

Food Addicts.

Not much has been happening on the wedding front! With everything booked, we are relaxing and enjoying the lack of stress. I'm sure that as the date grows closer I'll realize all of the little things that we've left too late, but that's typical Ryan and Krysta and it just wouldn't be our wedding if EVERYTHING was organized in advance. That's not who we are!

One thing that we really do need to get on is our workout routine. We were so, so good.... for about a month. With new jobs and new cities, we've fallen off the wagon and contributed to the profit of McDonald's more times than I care to admit. We've had so many "we'll start eating healthy tomorrow" that have only led to "well, we deserve chocolate today because....". They say admitting you have a problem is the first step... well I'm not going to even try to deny it. We have an addiction to junk food.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with my body and I'm not one of those girls who insists on losing half of my body weight before my wedding. My dress fits and looks great, but being petite by no means indicates being in good shape. I want to be able to run on the beach and go on a honeymoon to some place like Manchu Picchu without my lack of energy holding me back. I want to climb mountains in the summer with Ryan's parents and be able to keep up. Ryan feels the same way, and has some extra weight that he'd love to shed. We need to find the motivation, because apparently the thought of a wedding 5 months from now just isn't doing the trick! Somebody, help us!! Save us from our stomaches!

Love is in the Air!

This weekend Ryan and I attended a wedding for our good friends Mat and Mandy. It was a beautiful autumn day, the bride looked amazing, and we danced barefoot until the wee hours of the morning. It was such a fun day, and I'm so happy for the new couple!

When it came time for the garter toss, Ryan effortlessly caught it, reinforcing what we already knew... he'd be the next one to marry! Our wedding always seemed so far off.... M&M still had to get married 6 months before us. Now that they are newlyweds, it seems that the countdown is actually on for us. The next wedding that we'll attend will be our very own.... how crazy is that?!

Things are falling into place. I'm finishing training for my new job, and by next week I'll be taking to the skies again! Ryan and I are actively looking to purchase our first home, and 28 people have booked and paid to come to our wedding!

Last week I received this awesome wedding dress hanger that I purchased from a seller on Etsy....check out rockabuycreations, she did an awesome job!

Our invites are in the mail, and as tempted as I am to share a sneak peak, I'm going to resist... just trust me when I say that they are very awesome, and very us.

Now that things are booked, I'm beginning to see the fun in the wedding planning process!

6 months and 1 day to go!

Counting Down!

It's been FOREVER since I've updated you all! Life has been pretty eventful over the past couple of months. We spent 4 weeks on the road driving through the USA. When we came home, Ryan finished his licensing requirements and became an official pilot! We both started new jobs this month... him in Edmonton, me in Calgary. Once again, we are enduring a long distance relationship, but it's much different this time around. We see each other on weekends, and Calgary is only a temporary home for me while I'm busy training for my new airline.

We've been looking at homes, preparing for the next big grown-up step in our lives.

... Oh, and we've got a wedding booked!!

After many stressful weeks of struggling to organize things, we changed our plan completely. Originally set to marry in January, we'll now tie the knot on April 12, 2012. We did this for a number of reasons. More notice for our guests, better pricing, and most importantly... the ability to take time off of work. In my industry, vacation time needs to be planned long in advance. In fact, even from this point it's going to be difficult for me to get the time off in April. Bidding has already taken place and I wasn't yet eligible. I'm left to choose from what is leftover once everyone else has requested their time off. I've been reassured that the odds for April are quite favourable, much to my relief. It wasn't an easy decision to move the date, knowing that a lot of my family couldn't afford to attend both ours and my aunt's wedding, which is still taking place in January. In the end, we decided to do what was best for us. I would have been devastated to have booked and paid for it only to find out that I was unable to take vacation time.

Now that things are booked, a lot of the stress has diminished as we plan for our beach wedding. I have my wedding dress, it fits! Our invitations have been ordered.... although we already have 28 confirmed guests, not including ourselves. There will likely be more to join, such as my out-of-province and out-of-country friends... even my beautiful roommate Dubai plans to join in the celebration!!

We are very excited and counting down the days.... 196, in case you are wondering!

Home Sweet Home

Today marks 4 weeks that I've been back in Canada and I can honestly say... I'm so happy to be back! While Ryan and I did one heck of an awesome job maintaining an extra long distance relationship, it's such a relief to wake up next to him each day! We've gone on dates, road trips, and other fun things that couples do.

Now that I'm back, everyone seems to be full of questions about the wedding. Rest assured, we will have more information very shortly!

In other exciting news... My dress is finished!! I was able to see photos last week and I'm so happy with the results. I can't wait for it to arrive so that I can try it on and this will all seem a bit more real!

The Last Day of Long Distance

In recent weeks, the focus has been less on planning a wedding and more on preparing for my move across the world. I gave my notice of resignation on May 19th, and today is my very last day in Dubai.

The past 18 months have been extremely challenging, but I'm proud to say that we made it! When I first left home we heard so much scepticism and negative opinions in regards to long distance relationships. I can't tell you how many people told me that it would just never work out. While it was all very discouraging at the time, we made it work and here we are about to live in the same country again, happier than ever.

Long distance relationships CAN work, but you have to want it to work. You need to have trust, communication, and leave all jealously behind. I'm not saying that there won't be hard days. Coming home from a stressful day of work to an empty apartment can be pretty rough. Battling through terrible phone signals and slow internet just for a few minutes of conversation really tests your patience. We'd give up nights with friends for a few hours of chatting online. We sent dozens of letters, emails, and spent a small fortune on long distance phone calls and text messages. Was it all worth it? You betcha.

So here we are, ready to become a normal couple once again. Despite the distance, it's been a pretty amazing 18 months. We've had some incredible reunions, learnt to really appreciate the times that we are together, and we even got engaged somewhere along the line!

If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it's yours.

Well Ryan, I'll be back tomorrow. I think it's safe to say that I'm all yours!

Yes to the Dress.

Without having set a date, location, or any of that important stuff, I've crossed off one of the most exciting things on my to-do list... I've ordered my wedding dress!!!

Since Ryan reads this (and probably only Ryan), I can't go into much detail. I can tell you that I'm a bundle of excitement combined with a good dose of anxiety. I'm having my dress custom made, which means I'm not going to get to try it on until it's all finished and in my possession! I'm pretty sure that it's going to be exactly what I want, and I'm not going to stress about it! All I can do is wait and see!

Also being made just for me is my veil! My talented grandma is going to make it all beautiful and I am anxious to see everything all put together. Yay!

We are getting married!!

Here Comes the Stress

When I first imagined myself planning a wedding, I was naive enough to picture myself clipping photos from magazines, designing my dream chocolate wedding cake, and spending my days blissfully happy chattering away to my fiance about how lovely our dream day would be.

Sure, I knew that the planning process couldn't possibly be flawless, but in my mind, it would be stress free. I was determined.

Here we are, 8 months from said wedding.

Cue stress.

While I've thoroughly enjoyed flipping through bridal magazines, cleaning my sparkling diamond ring, and trying on dresses, the rest hasn't gone quite as smoothly as anticipated.

The first issue, which happens to be a major one, is the fact that my lovely fiance and I are currently living over 10,000 kilometres away from each other. Therefore, we rely on internet chatting to plan the biggest day of our lives. Add this to the fact that we are trying to plan a destination wedding, and chaos ensues.

Naturally, being the boy that he is, Ryan is far less interested in pretty details and instead focused on budgeting and the practical aspects. This is good, but it leaves me to plan the rest alone, as my mom, my future mother-in-law, and all of my friends are in also on the other side of the world.

I do realize that things will fall into place, and that the wedding will be a dream come true. Until then, I'm a stressed out bride to be, binging on chocolate to calm myself when it all gets to be a bit too hectic.

Procrastinators

It has recently dawned on Ryan and I that we plan to get married in 9 months. It seems like a long time, until we consider the fact that we've been engaged for nearly 5 months and have yet to make any concrete plans.

We've got one particular resort in mind, that I happen to really love. The nerdy love of my life has been tracking pricing to find trends based on what day of the week we book. I'm so glad he actually enjoys making spreadsheets and graphs because I most certainly don't.

I've got an ever-expanding list of D.I.Y. projects that I'm dying to practice. If only Dubai actually carried craft supplies.

I'm missing Ryan a lot these days. Living on the other side of the world is definitely a challenge, but it will make our wedding even more fairytale happy ending-ish when we finally can be together with no ocean separating us.

I've been lucky enough to score not one, but two trips to Toronto in May, so it's likely that we'll be able to have a quick weekend getaway in a few weeks!! Things are looking up, summer is coming, and our wedding plans will start falling into place shortly!

April Updates

I'm back! I realize that I've neglected this blog in recent weeks, but I've been a bit too preoccupied to focus all of my attention on wedding planning. In fact, we've made very little progress lately. Dates and locations and still TBA, but it's most likely going to happen in January 2012, somewhere near Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We love it there, and you will too! As soon as we know more, I promise... you will too. For now, just anticipate a vacation next winter with us!

Last week I returned to Dubai after 17 fabulous days back home. I hear so much from now-married couples about how fun being engaged is, and while I won't deny that I love calling Ryan my fiance and talking about weddings, it's not as fun as it would be if we were actually in the same country more often. It was a much anticipated vacation and I loved every minute of togetherness! We went on road trips, dates, took hundreds of photos, and even tried on wedding bands... well, I did. Ryan is not sold on the idea of wearing a ring despite my many attempts to persuade him. If I can't convince him, nobody can. He's the only person that I know who compares to me in levels of stubbornness. I'm not done trying though. I think that he'd look good with a ring!

In more wedding news, seeing as how this is a wedding blog, we also attended an at home reception for our friends Jen and Alan, who were married in Mexico in January! Ryan was in attendance at the actual event, but sadly I was stuck in Dubai and missed out on all of the fun. Congratulations you two, can't wait to celebrate your anniversary around the same time that we say our own vows!

Oh, and did I mention that I tried on wedding dresses? How exciting!! My mom and I went to a small bridal shop in Red Deer where I played dress up, much to the delight of the employee at the store who kept bringing me dresses to try on just for fun. I tried on every imaginable style, and at the end of the day went back to one particular dress that I'd grown quite fond of. Once I tried it on with a veil, it all came together and I didn't want to take it off! I wandered the store in "my" dress, feeling pretty giddy as I realized that I'm actually going to be a bride. I don't think it had sunk in until that moment.

A few days later we went shopping again, this time with help from Ryan's mom and sister, and his cute little nephew Alex. After trying on several dresses that were beautiful but not "me", I found one that I really liked, perfect for our beach wedding. We headed over the mens section and chose an outfit for Ryan. Placed side by side, they looked great together. Had it not been for the steep price tag, I may have been sold right then and there.

I returned to Dubai with no dress, but 2 in mind that I absolutely loved. It wasn't a simple matter of choosing one or the other either, considering that they were both quite different. I turned to my friend Mona for help. A talented artist, she drew a sketch combining the aspects that I most loved with both dresses. It was perfect!

I'm hoping to use it to get something custom made some place in the world. I've sent a few emails inquiring and I'm waiting to hear back! Wish me luck!

Back at It!

Thoughts of summer followed by a beach wedding are great motivation to hit the gym. Let's face it, I'm completely unwilling to sacrifice my travelling diet. I'm going to keep eating my macaroons in Paris, fish and chips in Sydney, and even the occasional airplane meal, but it's time to begin introducing more cardio into my life as well! After only a few days at the gym, I feel great! I'm full of energy and it's a good way to pass my vast amounts of free time. Ryan has followed suit, renewing his gym membership and running laps every day!

In a way, I give some credit to fitness for helping to form our relationship. In the months before we were girlfriend and boyfriend, we were gym buddies. Nothing like bonding over sweat and push ups!

It Won't Be Long....

We are slowly narrowing down our choices from a massive list of amazing resorts.

The wedding will most likely be in the Mayan Rivera, Mexico. It's such a beautiful spot and obviously pretty special to us as it's where we got engaged!

I can't wait! By this time next year, Ryan will be my HUSBAND!

How weird is that?!

Together in Toronto!

Ryan and I had a fantastic weekend in Toronto, Canada. I was finally lucky enough to have a layover in my own country, and within minutes of checking my schedule and sharing the good news, he'd booked a flight to meet me there! As soon as I reached my hotel, he was there waiting in the lobby with a blue rose. Aww! We had an amazing 2 1/2 days together.

I've wrote about the entire weekend in my flight attendant blog. You can check it out here, or if you are short on time here is a quick summary of our weekend together:

Places we visited:

Tim Horton's, St. Lawrence Market, Wayne Gretzky's restaurant, CN Tower, Starbucks, Eaton Centre, Marche marketplace restaurant, movie theatre, cozy restaurant on Yonge Street, and of course, Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

(More importantly...) Things we ate:

Iced cappuccinos, chilli, and Boston Cream donuts. Homemade cookies baked by Ryan's mom. Tim Horton's breakfast wraps. Shortbread tarts and carrot cake baked by my Grandma. Hot wings, perogies, and poutine! Chai tea lattes. Frozen yogurt. Sushi (at 5 am). Bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns. Pepsi and gummy bears. Chicken sandwich, burger, beer and martini. Caramel frappuccinos. MORE hot wings. Chocolate.

And a few photos for your viewing please because that's what we do!

Counting Down!

One more week! 7 more days!!

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to reunite with Ryan in Toronto next Friday.

We are going to have an amazing weekend, and I plan to indulge in all sorts of yummy Canadian foods. Poutine date?

It's just a shame that it's so short! There will be tears Monday morning, that's for certain.

WHERE?!

Canada? Mexico? Jamaica?

With so many amazing places in the world, how are we supposed to choose the best one for the biggest day of our lives?? One thing is certain, and that is that we (okay, probably mostly myself) want a beautiful wedding on the beach. We want to keep it simple and laid back. Having a big fancy shindig in Canada just doesn't appeal to us. We are in the process of narrowing down our options... not an easy task!! We hope to decide soon so that we can confirm our date and location!

On an unrelated, but also very exciting note... I've got my schedule for next month and I've been blessed with a 3 day layover in Toronto!! I was so happy I could have screamed, but I figured that my sleeping roommate wouldn't appreciate that. Instead, I immediately told Ryan, and within 5 minutes he had booked flights to meet me there! We are so excited... only 9 days and we'll be reunited! It was such great news!

More Planning... How Does a Photographer Hire a Photographer?

Despite the 11,800 kilometres between us (actually, it's about 13,000 at the moment, as Ryan is off lazing away in Mexico), we've still been busy planning our wedding for when we eventually reunite for good!

While Ryan thinks of the practical aspects such as setting a budget and drafting a guest list, I've been busy daydreaming away about colours and decor. Our minds are on different tracks, but together we'll make it happen and I'm confident that everything will be wonderful.

Some tasks have proved to be challenging... primarily settling on a good photographer. As I'm sure you are all well aware, I'm engaged to a very talented photographer who takes stunning wedding photos. Friends and family beg him to shoot their weddings because he just does just a darn good job of it. I remember years ago when we were nothing more than friends, I told him that when I got married, he'd be my photographer. Life had other plans, and now my photographer is going to be my groom. While he has expressed a determination to shoot the entire wedding himself, we talked it through and realized that those candid moments are actually pretty important to us. The problem is, we are both extremely picky when it comes to photos (especially him!) and if we are going to splash out the cash we couldn't possibly settle for anything less than perfect. After browsing a few photographer blogs and websites, we wondered if we'd ever find anybody that would live up to our standards, or if we should just rely on Ryan and his team of cameras, with his tripod and remote.

While browsing a forum full of destination wedding tips, I stumbled across a recommendation for a great team of photographers based out of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I was a bit wary at first, but after spending hours (in my defence I was too jet lagged to leave the house) going through their huge blog full of weddings they've shot, I fell in love. Their photos are great, even Ryan approves. Not only that, but they are a married couple who seem like a lot of fun and their little comments below the photos remind me a lot of ourselves... aside from the fact that I could only dream of taking such beautiful photos. No, we haven't confirmed that we'll get married in Mexico, and no, we haven't set a date or found a venue... but should that be the case, we may have actually found ourselves a photographer! Or 2! It might seem like a small step to some couples, but for us it's probably the most important aspect in the entire planning of the wedding!

I'd love to show you their amazing blog but until we have more definite plans, we're going to keep it as our little secret!

Back Online!

Have I mentioned JUST how incredibly amazing my future husband is?? Well, in case I haven't... he is!

Recently my trusty pink laptop stopped charging. After weeks without a computer, I was growing impatient and suffering from extreme internet withdrawals. That was until Fed Ex showed up at my door with a package addressed to me. I'd expected a new adaptor, perhaps... but I was so surprised and happy to find a beautiful new MacBook Pro! Ryan knew that I was planning on buying one the next time that I was in Canada or the States, but he saved me from the effort and the waiting period and sent it right to Dubai! As a nice little bonus, he threw in some photos of us which are proudly on display in my bedroom. So I'm finally back online and I couldn't be happier, thanks to Ryan!

More Happy Gushing..

As of yesterday, Ryan and I have been engaged for a whole month! I can hear you all now... "She's going to be one of those girls who counts down from the day that they set a wedding date." You bet I am. I'm very excited to marry Ryan!

To celebrate our first month of engagement and a brand new year, he sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers on New Year's Day! Aww. How lucky am I?
Also, we've set up at wedding website to place wedding information and RSVP since this blog just wasn't quite as functional!

You can view it at www.shippelt.com!