Bridesmaid dresses

Yea to people responding quickly to my emails! So here are picks of the bridesmaid dresses.

So they are from Le Chateau and they are purple in colour (ever computer I've been on they look a little different). I picked them for a couple reason.

• Kathryn said she really likes one shoulder dresses (and one shoulder means less falling down then strapless)
• Our wedding colour is Orange, but we added purple because lets be honest orange dresses are hard to pull off!
• I really wanted something with a little movement to the bottom, form fitted dresses felt to cocktail/night out to me.
• Both Julianne and Heather told me they were super comfortable and great fabric.
• Heather also said that they look good on various body shapes, so four people could wear them well.
• They even got the Mom approval from my Mom, so they must be suitable then!

So I'm super excited about the dresses. Now the issue is what to do about hair, shoes and accessories. I like the little bling of the pin on the waist, so I can definitely accent that. I think I'll dress them up for sure!

Shoes is an issue though. We will be outside all day, so spike heels are not an option (please no sprained ankles or sinking bridesmaids!). So that leaves basically wedge heels or nice flats. I'm not sure yet which I want for the girls, or each can each do their own thing. For me I'll get some wedge shoes for the day, but I'll switch into dancing shoes for the dance floor after the dinner.

Also is a side fancy ponytail to symmetric for the dress? I'm still working these details out. I'm thinking maybe headbands, orange ribbon, or flowers in the hair too. Gah so many choices!

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Please feel free to comment!

Working on it

So I guess my big news is that I am 30% done the paper cranes! I officially made it to 300 cranes! Yea! But we will keep working away at it, seeing as it is March now... but in my defence February was short.

Other news would be that my wonderful friend Jennifer has agreed to MC the dinner and things. Mike and I discussed this option at length, and decided on Jen because, while we have many great friends, Jen has a way with words that I great appreciate and she has no issues with a mic (that I’m aware of at least lol).

More news, and the longer story one, would be the bridesmaid dresses are bought! This made me realize I have yet to even mention our wedding party members in the blog! So here goes.

Mike has two brothers, Jonathon and Daniel, and one sister Kathryn. I have two brothers, Stewart and Grant, and two three sisters, Heather, Julianne and Meighan. So if you do the math that’s 4 guys and 4 girls. From the beginning Mike and I wanted our wedding to be as much of a family affair as we could. Loving in Japan has been great, and before that we were both away at University, so we feel we want to spend more time and strengthen our ties with our family, especially our siblings. After all Mike and I are beginning our own family together (just two for now! Don’t read into that), but we want to get closer to both of our respective families.

So it was decided fairly easily that Mike would have both his brothers, Jonathon and Daniel, be the best men since it would split the responsibilities and well to be honest make it more fair lol. I also had similar feelings, but having three sisters it wasn’t as straight forward. However I decided that Julianne and Meighan, who are twins, should be my Maids of Honour. As children the three of us would do EVERYTHING together, both willingly and begrudgingly, so I decided that they could both handle me and deal with the tasks I would be asking.

So Kathryn, Mike’s sister, and my other sister Heather are my bridesmaids as well, and my brothers Stewart and Grant will be Mike’s other groomsmen. It was hard not including friends, for we have many both in Canada and here in Japan that we care about deeply, but it’s honestly family that we’ve kept in touch with the most and family who we will never grow distant from

However all of the family has been great for helping out!

My brother Grant has been in contact already about when he should come from Saskatoon to Ontario to help with wedding preparations (this blew my mind a bit because he was so on the ball and I don’t even have a return date yet lol).

Mike’s mother Bernie and Kathryn have taken many photos of decorations and vases for me so I can see them in Japan and then she or someone in the family can pick them up. I’m hoping everyone has gotten their ‘Save the Date’ cards by now and noticed the rabbit theme, so Bernie will get some super cute little rabbits decorations since Easter is coming up.

All the bridesmaids have picked up there dresses, which I hope to post pictures of in the near future, so I am very glad that long and tedious internet searching, price shopping, covert change room photo taking, ordeal is over.

All my sisters were busy hunting down possible dresses as well as searching out dress alterations for me, booking hair appointments, and even looking up rental washrooms for me.

Heather, seeing as it is being held at her house, has been great for all the silly questions I have to ask her. She has also been networking for us and found us our local caterer and suggested tent rental companies and things.

Even my nephews Darren and Kevin said they will clean their amazing two story tree house for the wedding.

Everyone has been super helpful... but we have so much more to do.

So as the things here in Japan continue to be busy I’m realizing I have to kick it up another notch.

Well cross your fingers and say a little pray because as of today I have 6 months and 2 days left until I get married to my wonderful man Mike! (That just hit me and I’m kind of freaking out!)

List of things yet to do:

·         Talk with Pastor Brian about the Ceremony

·         Confirm our DJ and figure out our sound system

·         Figure out hair, shoes, ties, ect for wedding party

·         Book portable washroom

·         Figure out flowers! (Bouquets, centerpieces, boutonnieres)

·         Flower girl dresses

·         Marriage Licence (pick up in Canada)

·         Alter my dress

·         Choose wines and beers

·         Make the Invitations

·         Block Book Hotel rooms for people from out of town

·         Pay, well, everyone basically



There is more, but that’s all the big things I can think of right now. Doing all this via the internet, and the phone and things wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the time difference!



Japan is the purple colour 'I' area and our families are the light blue 'R' area.



Food at the Wedding

Yesterday a student very kindly gave me some Omiogi (like food souvenir) from her trip, and as is traditional in Japan the Omiogi was kind of a local treat to the area she went to. It was whole crab 'cookies'... not sure of the proper name.

This got me think about the many interesting, new, and often tasty dishes Mike and I have actually enjoyed in Japan but have opted NOT to serve at the wedding.

Here is some of the many things you do get to enjoy/fear at the wedding.

The first being my Crab Snack. It was crispy (like a cracker) and kind of sweet, but seeing as it is a whole crab, eyes and all, I think it would be too off putting for more people.

The next dish on the menu would be something I have ate numerous times before someone finally translated for me and informed me that it was indeed jellyfish tentacles. Now it's usually just an appetiser, but I think we will skip it seeing as it has next to no taste other than the seasoning.

Of course the one thing everyone thinks about when they think of Japan is sushi, or raw fish. Actually sushi means like the rice it's served on, sashimi is actually the cuts of raw fish. Usually you just dip in a bit of soya sauce and enjoy, but sashimi is best FRESH and I can't imagine finding anyone good at preparing it in my neck of the woods.

Mike and I are actually opting out of the seafood idea due to cost, allergies, and the general desire to appease everyone. Yet we also thought we should stick to western cooking methods as well, so we won't be serving any sashimi beef pieces either. These thin slices of beef are so rare they are only flame touched along the edges, and again served with soya sauce.

Finally for the wine selections Mike has been looking into that end of things, but rest assured it is grape wines not Sake (rice wine) or Umeshu (plum wine) that we will be serving at the tables. Although you can make your own Umeshu (put plums in a big jar and add shochu [distilled sweet potato or rice alcohol] and wait) and it generally turns out much better than your average homemade wine. I can't imagine trying to get through customs with that.

Perhaps we will have some sake or Umeshu for sampling though... we'll think on it.

So while there are MANY other things in Japan that we have enjoyed in Japan, know that you the guest will not be having a cultural experience at your dinning tables for the wedding.

We are actually trying to do things locally. Mike is looking into Pelee Wines, because he likes them and they are local. And we 'think' we have a local caterer from Ripley who can serve Bruce County Beef. *fingers crossed* She's in the middle of renovating her restaurant, so we waiting to hear back from her on that. Nothing is set in stone... yet.

I just thought I would tell you all to relax and breath easy, not to worry about what to eat. I know I have been posting about paper cranes and lanterns and such, but when it comes to food for the wedding we aren't going for an Asian flare.


BTW Sorry if you found these pictures unappetising but while writing this I got kind of hungry. It must be proof that I have either acclimatized to Japan, or have been here too long.