1ne more month.

Today is September 16, 2010. By this time (4:30pm EST) in exactly one calendar month, we will be officially married. Rings will be exchanged, tears will be shed.

The whole wedding will be more of an official celebration for us. What I mean is, we've already been living together for the past 20 months, so we've already worked out those kinks of living together. We got used to each other's habits, trying to change those habits, and tolerating those habits. So to us, it's a time to gather all our family and close friends into one room and celebrate.

Although it's been a long year of planning, I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Only once in my life will I be a part of planning my wedding. You learn a lot about yourself, your partner, and the two of you as a couple, when you're given something of this calibre, and succeed. Devika and I often look back at what we've done in our lives together and the year of 2010 will be on the top of our list.

- Dennis.

WWW...again.

So the weekend was productive, I must say. We started a little later in the day, but it went for most of the day. We started off by making a list of things that we wanted to accomplish that day (Saturday). We ended up crossing most of the items off the list, except for maybe two items, which we finished yesterday, actually.

All in all, it was a productive day. We took breaks in between here and there. I'll be honest, there was laughter, moments of silence, and a couple disagreements -- I think we both realized that those were coming. But after, we were friends again :)

So that was Saturday, most of the day. Unfortunately, the scheduled star gazing had to be cancelled. Instead, we went to Metro(!). We ended off the night by watching the movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was really good. Devika read the book so she wanted to watch the movie. The fact that I didn't fall asleep while watching the movie (we started watching it at 100am, and the movie is 2.5hrs) meant that it was a thrilling movie and I wanted to know what happened in the end.

Sunday had a few wedding related items, but it consisted of going out and picking up a few things. We went out for brunch with another couple, which gave us the chance to converse with outside three dimensional people. Later on that evening, we went to our softball game, which was the start of the tournament...we won! The finals will be this Sunday.

So that was last weekend.

WWW this time = Wild Wedding Week! It just never ends! Well, it will in a month, but from now until then -- it just never ends!

There won't be a day this week that either of us will go home right after work...

Monday, we went to the mall together to do some wedding things.

Tuesday, we met with the catering manager at Sunnybrook. The meeting was informative, and we have a better feeling now that the Sunday will be smooth. They have a maitre D that will oversee the entire day. These guys do this pretty much every weekend, so they've got the process down pat.

Today, we'll be meeting with our wedding planner at 600pm at a Greek bakery on Danforth. I think I'm looking forward to eating some Greek food rather than meeting with her! hah!

Thursday, we're going to Gerrard with my cousin to grab some clothes for the Friday/Saturday of the wedding.

Friday, we're going back to Whitby, which will be more relaxing since there won't be much wedding related items for that.

Then there's another WWW Part II!

On Saturday, we're meeting with the DJ. Sunday, the florist. Sunday night, softball finals. For me - Monday, I'll be heading to Seattle, getting back Thursday morning...then Thursday afternoon I'm off to Cuba to hang out with 'da boyz, back on Sunday. Devika will enjoy a time out with 'da girlz while I'm gone. We deserve a little time off from the planning, right? But after that, it'll be back to GO MODE!

I should get back to work.

- Dennis.

WWW

No, WWW does not stand for World Wide Web...but if you thought that, then give me a big computer high five!

WWW = Wild Wedding Weekend! That's right, tomorrow will be dedicated only for wedding planning purposes! Okay, maybe there will be a quick trip to Yorkville because Devika wants to do some star gazing, but other than that, Saturday will be mainly for wedding planning!

We finally got a hold of Sunnybrook's catering manager, so we're meeting with them next week, which brings us to a total of four meetings in six days. Tomorrow's WWW will consist of timelines, to do lists, and anything we can do now so that we don't have to worry about it later.

I will unfortunately be in and out of the country for a week in two weeks, so that's a lot of time lost in terms of planning, but I know we will get a lot done in the next week to make up for any lost time.

Sunday will not be so much planning since we have softball in the evening, and during the day will probably consist of home things, like grocery shopping and cleaning.

We'll update you over the weekend to let you know how everything turned out!

- Dennis.

Counting down

First of all, what's going on with the weather?! We have a stretch of humid days, then right after we get storm like conditions, and now it's fall weather! However the weather is now, we are positive that the weather in a month from now will be fantastic!

Secondly, with just about five weeks left until the big days, we are able to start working on a few things that we couldn't before, like making the labels for the favours, completing the RSVP list, or having the final meetings with the vendors. So far, we have three meetings booked with the vendors all within five days of each other, and we still need to meet with a few others, including Sunnybrook.

We find it weird that Sunnybrook leave the meetings so close to the date of the reception. We have not heard from them as yet and for two people that need to plan their wedding, time is precious! To us, meeting with Sunnybrook is one of the bigger meetings, if not biggest, as we have to discuss our food choices, drink choices, displays, setups, etc. We don't even know any details of what needs to be done, and if it's just the one meeting that we have to do, or if we have to go back. Hopefully they give us some sort of outline of what we need to prepare before going into the meeting.

And lastly, like I said before, time is precious. With not so many weekends left, we need to take advantage of the "free" time we have on the weekends. During the week isn't so great all the time, since we work and by the time we finish the day to day things, there isn't a lot of time to really get into wedding planning, BUT, we must. With little over a month left, we should try to squeeze in bits and pieces in the evenings during the week. We've been pretty good at doing that over the past couple of weeks, and I'm confident we'll be able to accomplish a lot in the next two weeks.

We'll try to update our blog more often from now until Octoberish...we wonder though; how many people actually read this? I personally wouldn't check a blog often if it hardly gets updated, so, since we're a proud owner of a blog, we should update often. Maybe after October, we'll continue on with the blog, called "Road after October 2010"!

We'll post some pictures soon of our fun filled weekend at the wedding favour sweat shop!

- Dennis.

September

It's September! Already, yes, we know. That means another calendar month closer to the big day. Our September is already looking quite busy with 3 of the 4 weekends already with plans, a. In my mind, once October hits, it's the final stretch...the last 100 metres...the final leg.

A new tip for future wedding goers; when you're ready to send out your invitations and you plan to have a RSVP card for your guests to send back, mark the RSVP card before you send it out. For example, put down a small number on the back of the card and mark it down on your list. We didn't do that, and you wouldn't believe the number of RSVP cards we received back without people's names on it! There's a spot on our card for people to write down the names of the people coming. If we had that number system, we wouldn't have to think of who it may be from, we'd just go to our list and cross reference it!

We had a productive weekend a couple weeks ago and we're planning for another productive one this weekend as well. We have some meetings set up already for some of the vendors as well. Also booked our hotel for our Chicago trip!

Blog to you soon...

- Dennis.

Tasted

So much for a sample. We were expecting small samples of appetizers and the mains, but instead, it was a six course meal along with wine pairings.

It started off with a trio of canapés, which consisted of tomato and bocconcini skewer, foie gras mousse crisp, seared scallop, and moroccan lamb chop to name a few. Devika and I each got a plate which had three samples of different items. This was the most important sample for us as we'll be having these canapés served during the "cocktail" hour before lunch. Each piece of these tiny pieces of food were heavenly delicious! We didn't have high expectations for the food here, although we wanted to, before getting there. But our minds were quickly changed once we had the canapés.

From this point on, everything we ate won't be an option for us to choose from as the buffet is a set course. However, we did enjoy sampling them!

We each received a small cup of soup, an Autumn squash soup that hit the right taste buds. Next was an appetizer which was either a salad or risotto. I'm butchering these items, as it was just a salad. It be exact, the salad was a Red and White endive bundle, with poached pear vinaigrette, candied walnuts, and roquefort. And my risotto was a braised short rib risotto, grilled fennel, roasted red pepper coulis, and shaved padano.

Next were the mains, and as if one sample of the main wasn't enough , they provided a sample of two mains. These plates were exactly what the guests would get at the wedding but the serving was scaled down. The mains were really good, all seemed to be fresh ingredients, and wasn't overpowered with too much salt or flavour. At this point, we were already really full...

...but who can pass on dessert? We each received a trio of dessert samples. Each plate had three different samples of a potential dessert. Devika and I mixed and matched, and nibbled from each other's plate. The dessert wasn't the greatest, other than a couple items, compared to the quality of their other food.

So two and a half hours later, we were pleasantly happy with the quality and deliciousness of Sunnybrook's food. It was a non stop sampling of food. We felt like we were on a cruise again! Although we couldn't try any of the food that will be served at the buffet, seeing and tasting the chef's food gave us confidence that the food served at our wedding will have the same standards.

Not only did we have a nice meal, we also met some nice couples who we sat with. They must have purposely sat us together as everyone's wedding at the table was in October. It's comforting to talk to other couples who are going through the same wedding planning as you are.

Until next time...!

- Dennis.

Tasty!

Tonight is the tasting night at Sunnybrook, where we get to have a sample dinner for the reception! Unfortunately, they're just going to give us a random sample of the food they prepare, and not the actual food that we'll have that day. The reason being is that there will be other couples there doing the tasting as well. If we luck out, an item they serve tonight may be an item we have on the menu on our day. They plan to discuss other information about our day as well, including any questions about the set up, decorations, etc. Should be a fun time!

- Dennis.

Tips

Many of my posts have been focused on updates on the wedding plans but I thought I should share some of my new found wedding planning knowledge (it’s very limited) with future brides and grooms:

Tip #1: Work from a budget (include the small things). It helps you stay on track.
Tip #2: Think about making your own favours, invitations, table cards etc. It's one way to add a personal touch to your wedding and save money.
Tip #3: Don't be afraid to ask for help. If family and friends are willing to help out then get them involved.
Tip #4: Use the library – it’s a great way to get books on wedding planning, do it yourself ideas and wedding etiquette. The one book that I recommend is, Miss Manners' Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding. It’s helped me keep my inner bridezilla hidden!
Tip #5: Have fun! At times it may be stressful but it will all be worth it in the end.

With only two posts this month you are probably thinking, what are they doing? Taking a break?! No, we’ve actually scratched off a few things from our list: We’ve ordered the wedding favours, I found a great pair of shoes, and we’ve booked a tassa band. In case you were wondering what a tassa band is, here is a link to a YouTube video of group we’ve hired for the Hindu ceremony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD2JO_K9H28

Tassa drums are found amongst Indo-Caribbean people. The word "tassa" comes from the Persian tash and Hindi tasha, which both mean "kettle drum". Aside from India itself, tassa groups can be found in Trinidad and Tobago, Florida, New York, Canada and Texas and various other places where the Indo-Caribbean communities are found. Tassa drumming can usually be found at a various Indo-Cultural events such as Hosay, Hindu weddings, or even parties and certain clubs. Reference: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tassa

Enjoy the long weekend!

-Devika

Shout Out

I guess I'm suppose to update this too, right?

The time is winding down and although we would like to enjoy the summer months, we can't help but need to keep on preparing for the big day.

I wanted to say thanks to Devika for always being on the ball with things and keeping us on track. Planning a wedding is a once in a lifetime experience, so we should take advantage and enjoy the planning, which we are. Although deciding what to do, where to do it, and how to do it can sometimes be stressful, it's very rewarding at the end.

- Dennis.

Monday night

It's almost 11pm on a Monday and I'm reviewing our guest list because we are so so so so close to finishing our invitations. I printed the directions today and counted the number of stamps we need to purchase and an exciting trip to Kinkos is planned for tomorrow to print the RSVP cards. It starting to feel like we're working towards a magical and happy moment in our lives and I get excited when I start thinking about my speech. There's so much to say, so many people to thank and I don't want to say that this will be the only moment I have to say these things but it'll be a special time to say all of the things I want to say because everyone we care about will be together.

So the invitations should be crossed off our list shortly, wedding dress alterations set for August, and I think the next few weeks will be spent doing the not so fun things: writing the programs, shoe shopping (that's right, shoe shopping is not fun), creating the seating chart and list of fun goes on.

More soon...

Devika