Whish Wedding - Part Seven, Our Engagement Photos

Oh, hello there! It's been a while since I gave you guys a little wedding update! Now that Summer is over and the year is coming to an end, we've been kicking it in to high gear to try and get some things crossed of our wedding to do list. Things are looking great and we have a lot of the big things checked off our list, but still lots to do! We are now LESS THAN 7 months away (omfg) from our big day.

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of doing some engagement photos with our amazing photographer Jess! (check out her website!) Her and her hubby Jose (both of which have been friends of ours for a long time) met us downtown on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. I knew a perfect place I wanted to snap some photo's and that was at the most amazing and cute-as-can-be record store in Toronto - Sonic Boom ♥

Pete and I were a bit nervous and worried about being awkward in our photo's but we had so much fun! Jess and Jose made us feel comfortable and made us laugh and we had a lot great moments. Pete and I are so happy with how the photo's turned out! After spending some time in the record store, we grabbed some coffees and walked around the city to find some other spots. 

Here are some of our favourite shots from the engagement photo session! ♥

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Whish Wedding - Part Four, an update on our planning!

*Whish Wedding - An update on our planning to-do list*

Time is absolutely flying by. I can't believe it's been over 3 months since Pete proposed in beautiful, magical Ireland. We've made some serious progress in our wedding planning, but because it's Summer time and so many fun and exciting things are happening, we are trying to enjoy every moment and once the cold gloomy weather rolls around we will be in full force wedding planning mode! This has been so exciting already, I am just SO happy! We've crossed some big things off our wedding to-do list:

• Date confirmed for our wedding - Saturday, May 28th, 2016
• Super beautiful + whimsical wedding venue - BOOKED 
• Finished our guest list + gathered addresses
• Confirmed the bestest babes to do my hair + make up
• Bridal Party, we asked them + they said yes!
• Ordered save the dates + some crafted some cute extras to go inside
• Photographer confirmed - so excited :)
• Florist to make us the most magical floral arrangements
• Narrowed down the wedding dress hunt (it's SO hard to choose!)
• Live Band! Confirmed for the big day

// next up on our wedding to-do list:

• Mail our save the dates (this is what I am working on all weekend)
• Say YES to the wedding dress
• Book our Engagement Photoshoot
• Confirm our DJ for the night
• Book an efficient to marry us
• Choose bridesmaid dresses + attire for the groomsmen
• Start coming up with decor/DIY/craft ideas
• Look in to hotel rooms for out of town guests

Etsy Weddings - Paper Goods!

Happy Monday Gorgeous!

 I had an amazing weekend and seriously sweet birthday yesterday (more on that soon!) and today I am sharing another ETSY shop round up of some of my favourite shops. I am such a lover of paper goods, so I really wanted to share some shops that have absolutely beautiful handmade paper goods!

I just think that receiving a beautiful, thoughtful card, invitation, or save the date is so special. I know that in a digital world we won't always see these things as much, but I am personally someone who LIVES for this kind of stuff. I have said it before and will say it again - I was to shop local, and support Canadian handmade vendors as much as possible throughout our wedding. If I am not making it myself, I want amazing and talented Canadians creating the perfect pieces for us!

Here is my round up of ETSY Paper Goods:

*Blushly Designs Etsy Shop*

Toronto, Ontario

From Save the dates, to shower invitations to wedding invites - everything is beautiful to look at at. I fell in love with the way this menu looks on this table setting, so classy but also creative and timeless. Custom printing of all shapes and sizes for all occasions and everything looks SO.GOOD.

*Protea Press Etsy Shop*

Toronto, Ontario

I am in LOVE with this beautiful wedding day goodies from Protea Press. Custom pieces for your big day that are just lovely. I love the itinerary and menu and think that having these added touches at a wedding is so special. All patterns and themes are unique and wonderful. The ones in the photo above were my favourite!

*Wrinkle And Crease Etsy Shop*

Calgary, Alberta

Ok so can we just talk about this wedding card and how it's actually insanely perfect? I absolutely love this print and how simple yet gorgeous all of the cards and prints in this shop are! I also decided recently that anything with gold on it is something that I am going to LOVE 110%

*Paper Dainty Etsy Shop*

Edmonton, Alberta

This card just totally won over my heart because it's so simple but SO sweet and adorable. I LOVE the fonts on all of these precious wedding themed cards! For your flower girl, your bridesmaid, save the dates etc! Paper Dainty has such a consistent and amazing look to everything she creates.

*The Little Card Co Etsy Shop*

Port Colborne, Ontario

These cards are extra crafty and lovely because they are all water colours and Eco-Friendly and Plantable Greeting hards which I absolutely love. I thought these ones were absolutely perfect! I also loved to see options of "groom and groom" "bride and bride" along with "bride and groom" - very sweet!

Whish Wedding - Part Two, Bridesmaid Proposals

H  A  P  P  Y        S  A  T  U  R  D  A  Y !!!!

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunny Saturday. I am so excited for this post since I've wanted to post it for a while but I had to wait until last night happened.

Speaking of last night. I had the BEST night. We had dinner reservations at the restaurant where Pete and I are getting married, and I invited my bridesmaids and maid of honour to go out, see the place and have some dinner and drinks. Oh, and to officially ask them to be a part of our big day.

The girls LOVED the venue and I took them all around so they could see. It made me even more excited about our decision. I know we picked the perfect place for us! We had an absolutely delicious dinner, and A LOT of wine. We chatted, laughed, talked about the wedding, the bachelorette, and about our plan to start saving for Vegas (lol)

I've got 4 very special girls to stand up for me on my wedding day. It was a no brainier on who I would ask and I knew right away. These are the sweetest most special girls in my life and judging on how much fun we had last night I know this is going to be an amazing year of fun!

I will talk more about my girls and why I chose them soon, but for now...the proposal! I knew I wanted to craft something and do a fun DIY but I wasn't sure what. I absolutely LOVE the movie Bridesmaids, and one day while thinking about it I thought of this idea! I said I would buy 4 copies and craft a bridesmaid proposal on it. I was so excited to give these to the girls and they absolutely LOVED them. I want everyone to know that I did not use the internet or pinterest to think of this idea and I am very proud of it! Hahaha :)

So, first they opened their "Will you be my Bridesmaid?" DVD, and next they opened their "party in a box" that I made - the box was filled with confetti, glitter, a noise maker, a balloon, a party hat and a lollipop. They turned out pretty cute!

Oh everything turned out so perfect and I am so happy! This is all happening and it's amazing. Now that we've got our venue booked, and I got my bridesmaid locked in - it's time to get some more planning going in the next few weeks. SO.EXCITED!

Whish Wedding! - Part One, The Ring

Oh hello there + Happy Tuesday! Today the sun is shining and life is extra happy and sparkly. I am beyond excited to share my first installment of many (fun) wedding posts! Not sure if I mentioned it before but once Pete and I tie the knot, I am going to have the most wonderful last name ever - Whish♥ I know right? My friends and I used to joke about me some day marrying a guy with the last name Christmas, so I could be Julie Ross Christmas and then I happened to fall in love with a handsome fellow with the last name Whish! That's about as close I'll ever get. I am so excited.

I'm going to call my series of wedding posts "Whish Wedding" (and our wedding hashtag will be #whishwedding) I am looking forward to sharing some tips, tricks, favourites and inspiration when it comes to planning my dream wedding. Now that we're engaged I am loving reading blog posts about weddings on all kinds of blogs, and I hope you'll enjoy mine now too.

So, first up - the ring! When Pete proposed (read the story here) he used his Nana's beautiful vintage ring to ask me. It was so special and thoughtful of him to do this and it was perfect in every way. Pete knew he was going to propose for months, and he wanted to use this ring so that I would be surprised (which I was!) We were never the type of couple to go "ring shopping" and I never really knew what I wanted so it's not like he knew what to get me for the big moment.

After Pete proposed he said that we could work together to create a ring that would be perfect for me. I started doing some research online, and looking at all kinds of styles to get some inspiration for what kind of ring I wanted. We went to Say Yes Diamonds in Toronto and Alan listened to us as we showed photo's and explained what kind of ring we wanted to get made. I knew I wanted a yellow gold band that would be thin, and I loved a round cut. Pete and I brought some of our grandmothers old rings to incorporate them in to this ring, and we will also use some of whats left to create our wedding bands.

I am over-the-moon excited about how my ring turned out! I can't even deal with how beautiful and sparkly it is. I keep catching myself looking at it in the middle of the day and smiling. I love that Pete and I got to come up with it together and that Pete made everything a surprise, which is much more us.

Yesterday on my way home from work I spotted the most beautiful pink peonies and picked some up for our place. They are just perfect, and I was excited to use these in my photoshoot of this absolute beautiful ring from my future hubs. 

Here are some snaps of my ring!" I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it"