November, already???

Okay, so I admit I've been beyond terrible with blogging lately.
I just haven't felt inspired, ya know?  Maybe it's because I've gone through Sydnee's, Rosie's and Shell's weddings all in the span of a year (as well as attended some other ones), and I just got wedding-ed out a bit.  And of course, there's the clichéd excuse that I've been busy.  Which I have.  Super busy.  And my thoughts have just been... occupied with something other than weddings lately.  I've taken over leading my church's pre-teen youth group. I'm working full-time at my job and am taking on some new responsibilities there (I just became a trainer and am taking over as Community Lead).  My aunt had a brain tumour and just had surgery on Monday, which has obviously been a stressor on the family.  (It sounds like she's okay, though.)  Plus, Christmas and all its craziness is coming up.
But I'm sure you're not here to read about all that.
I do wish, though, I could just take a vacation for a little while.  It's not going to happen, at least until the summer, maybe...
But, anyways, this is a just a post to say that I haven't forgotten about this blog, and I am planning on doing some more posts soon, if time allows.  I still have a million photos and subjects to blog about...  One day, I'll get through them all!

A Disney Princess Wedding: Ariel

So, the other day, I had just so much fun putting together an inspiration board of what a classy Beauty and the Beast wedding might look like, that I decided to make another post about a Disney Princess wedding right away.  Here is my Ariel-inspired wedding.

Ariel is another much-loved Disney princess.  The rebel of the lot, in many ways, she is not afraid to take charge of her own life and do something drastic, especially to have a chance at true love.  While she is admittedly a bit irresponsible and immature, her curiosity is wonderful and her thirst for knowledge, remarkable.  Ariel is the epitome of youth and her demeanor is as fresh and is imbued with as much texture and flavour as the ocean itself: she is altogether independent, a bit unruly, enthusiastic, and full of brilliant vigor.

More Disney Princess inspired weddings to come shortly! :)

A Disney Princess Wedding: Belle

I have decided to start writing a new series of blog posts, based off of Disney princesses.  The first up?  Well, as you can tell from the title, it's Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  Below is a collage of different pieces of inspiration I have put together, for a Beauty and the Beast themed wedding (click to enlarge)...

Belle is probably one of the most loved Disney princesses.  And for good reason!  She's smart, independent, loves her father, and is able to see past the Beast's exterior... and even his interior, to help him become a better person.  Her ability to inspire love is beautiful and her way of (gracefully) speaking exactly what's on her mind is admirable.  Never does Belle shrink away with fear, but she often shows bravery and demonstrates a willingness to be selfless when faced with tough situations.  And I have always loved the fact that she reads so much!  A heroine with a brain is the best kind, don't you agree?

Stay tuned for more Disney Princess inspired wedding ideas! :)

Note: the blog post was inspired by this one: http://burnettsboards.com/disney-princess-you/ -- SO amazing!  Seriously.  Check it out.

Save the date, k?

Happy August!  Well, ok, yes, I know, August is more than half over.  Just humour me.  I've always quite liked the month of August, and sometimes, I think it's the month I'd like to get married in... one day... Whenever it happens...  It's just a nice month-- one that is good, usually, weather-wise.  Right now, for example, we are going through a bit of a heat wave.  But it's just so nice to see the sun where I live.  Love it!

But anyways, I was browsing through... Pinterest?  I think?  I actually don't remember which site I was on at the time.  Anyways, and I found these cute Save-the-Dates.  Enjoy.

Ok, this first one probably doesn't exactly fit the description of a Save-the-Date, but it's close... And I thought the fingerprints making a heart was such a unique idea!  Only thing that bugs me a bit is the fact that it says "Were engaged."  Sounds like it's past tense to me.  I know, I know, it's supposed to be read, "We're engaged."  Well put a freakin' apostrophe there, then, k?  Haha.  That is my grammar rant of the day.

I love this next one.  Wouldn't it be cute to do some shots like that in an engagement photo shoot, and then print them off and just mail them as is?  Probably wouldn't be super expensive, either, which, as you may know, is a must for me.

This next one is AH-MAZE-ING.  Seriously.  What a cute idea.  The ring is just the perfect touch.  Brilliance.

Again, another cute idea for an engagement photo shoot, I think!  Almost like a two-birds-(two love birds?)with-one-stone kind of thing, doing a Save-the-Date shot during the shoot.  I lurve it.

Have you ever seen a unique Save-the-Date?  And another question: do you think Save-the-Dates are 100% necessary, or just an extra little thing to add to the wedding planning?  I had the thought of skipping them altogether, when I get married, but after seeing these, I might just reconsider....! 

Late Night Wedding Dress Designs...

Fun with Abbey-Shae! :)  This is the dress she created... I made one, too, but...... Yeah.  I'm tired.  It's late. Enjoy Abbey-Shae's wedding dress.  Hehe.

Lights&Lanterns.

I was just looking through my "Wedding" folder on my computer and found these photos.  (Yes, I have a wedding folder.  ...How could I not?)  These are just some pictures I found online of beautiful sparkling lights at weddings... I'd love something like these at my own wedding, in the future!

        

There is just something I love about floating lanterns.  I think they remind me of Disney's animated movie, Tangled - one of my favourites.  I don't know.  They're so... romantic, in a way?  Imagine the amazing wedding photos you could get!  (However, my practical side says: I'd love to do a lantern-release at my wedding, though I'm not sure how that would work...  Like, do you have to get a permit to do so? Is it really safe to send up paper bags with fire into the air?  Even if you don't use a lit flame, and it's really a battery-operated light or something - would that work? - are you allowed to just send them into the air?  Do they make a lot of waste when they fall?  Umm... Hmm...  In any case...)  Aren't they beautiful?

Shell's Bachelorette

So, on with the saga of Shell's wedding!  As you can see about the title, this post is going to be about her bachelorette... It definitely wasn't the conventional one, that's for sure, but it was super fun!  Only bummer was that it absolutely poured rain that day.  But oh, well!

First, I went and picked up Sydnee and we arrived at Shell's house together.  Rebekkah (Shell's sister), Linnea, and Frank's sister Annabelle were there already.  We picked up another girl, Debra, and then headed off to our destination......  The oh-so-risqué...

Aquarium! (Betcha didn't see that coming!  ...Well, unless you saw the photo below :-| )

Photo cred to Sydnee Sagalla! <3

Right away, we divvied up into groups: Sydnee, me, and Linnea on one team, and Rebekkah, Annabelle and Debra on the other. (Shell split her time between the two groups.)  Linnea and Rebekkah had prepared a super cool photo scavenger hunt and we were sent on the mission of photographing a whole bunch of things from a list.  On the list were such things as:

- Get a picture of the group looking scared in front of the shark tank!

- Photobomb a tourist's picture

- Leap into a photo with some frogs

- Find Nemo!

- Get the group to agree on the cutest animal

- Find the biggest fish you can

- Take the most unique picture you can

... and two others stand-out photographs:  Get someone to wear the "Bride-to-Be" sash Shell was wearing (we got this old, grumpy-looking employee to wear it!  It was amazing!) and get someone to propose to Shell.

Here is our team's version of the proposal.  We got another employee, this young, geeky, cute kid to do it.  I edited up the picture, to remain Weddingaholic Anonymous, but I just had to include his face so that you can get an idea of what the picture looked like.  Because it really was amazing in real life!

I'm pretty sure it was one of the highlights of the bachelorette - just SO incredibly funny.

After about an hour and a half of getting pictures, we just kindda looked at different exhibits (is that the word when talking about an aquarium?  Or is that just a 'museum' word?), such as the dolphin tank, and the otters, and sea lions.  The two groups got together and we then got something to eat at the food bar.  We just kind of took it easy for a bit and sat down underground, by the beluga tank, out of the rain, munching on our food.  Then, it was time to leave.

After the aquarium, the seven of us went out for sushi (which a coworker of mine pointed out was kind of ironic, non?  But sushi is one of Shell's favourites).  I just got some plain old California rolls - but they were so good!  I'll have to remember that sushi restaurant and return there sometime... It was really pretty inside, with cherry trees to decorate it.  We all just hung out and chatted.  It was a lot of fun!

And that was pretty much the whole bachelorette!  Definitely not the conventional kind, which I really loved actually - it really was just so much fun!  I couldn't believe, though, how quickly Shell's wedding was coming up....  It was great to celebrate her last days as an Upton because, very soon, she would be Mrs. Rios!  Wow!!