Lovely ladies in gray

So I know I should probably tell you about the "rustic chic" theme to segue from my last post. But I gots WAY more important things on my mind.

Boy/man and I had a bit of trouble deciding who to have in our bridal party. Mostly because he has a HUGE group of friends that have all known each other since they were 5. And I don't have that many friends. Just a few close ones. And they don't even all know each other!

Oh, and we also wanted our siblings to be part of that group - he has two sisters and I have one brother. So in the end, he picked his two closest friends and a best man, plus my brother and I picked my two best friends (one of whom will be my 'matron' of honor... I seriously hate that word) and his two sisters.

Then came time to decide what we want them to wear. I was almost certain I didn't want the whole matching bridesmaids look, but I hadn't really seen it done. And I really like gray, but again, I hadn't seen it done. (Mind you, this was WAY before I started obsessively checking wedding blogs daily. I have now come to realize that the whole unmatching gray thing is pretty popular these days. Figures.)

So I researched and put together a nice little collage of unmatching gray bridesmaids. I'll be sending these out to my lovely ladies (some of whom are still a bit skeptical of the whole concept).

Seriously? How can you be skeptical about this? 

top row: balloons; cute short dress;
bottom row: ladies with the bride; ladies without the bride.

top row: three lovely ladies; lots of pretty dresses
middle row: ladies; pretty pastel shoes
bottom row: can't find the link, sorry guys; j.crew 1 and 2.

top row: darker grays
bottom row: all j.crew: 1, 2, 3, 4.

top row: love that vest!!! am I too obsessed with vests and shrugs?
bottom: my bad. another link I can't find. but tell me if you do.

J.Crew dresses are all over these inspiration pics. That's fine for Canada. But what about my UK ladies? What to do for them?

And, also, how can I convince boy/man that his groomsboys should have mismatched gray suits? 

Anyone have good pics I can show him?

Where we're at - Part 1: Photographer + booth

One of the earliest vendors the boy/man and I booked for the wedding was our photographer. We had to choose one pretty quickly because we wanted to do our engagement shoot while boy/man was in town for 2 weeks helping me sell our life before heading back to London.

After scoping a few Montreal photographer blogs and websites, checking for style, prices and availability, and consulting with our potential wedding planner, we found one who fit all of our criteria: flexible, laid-back and super creative. (It helped that he used to work with Davina+Daniel, whom I love but are way too expensive for us.)

So in the nick of time (i.e. 3 days before boy/man was leaving), we signed our contract, made our deposit and a couple days later, off we went to our engagement shoot. In all the craziness of moving, selling our stuff, changing bank accounts, visiting wedding venues and spending time with family, the engagement shoot was amazing. For 2 hours, boy/man and I got to smooch, hug, relax, talk, whisper, laugh, and be together, uninterrupted, except for a clicking camera. It was lovely. And the pictures turned out great.

But in all the haste, we kind of overlooked our photographer's photo booth package. We've come to realize that it's pretty "bare" compared to what's offered by other photographers out there. We get a white backdrop and a camera with a remote. No cool hats, mustaches, or feather boas, nothing else.

So that's down to us.

We (well, I) decided to focus on the backdrop first. 

Here's what I have bought so far. (You don't know this yet, but our wedding theme is "rustic chic"):

Love it!
Woods by Cole & Son.

Bought this wallpaper on eBay (UK) for £29.99. Deal! And I will have leftovers for a little feature wall in our new flat in London... whenever that will be...

A cardboard deer head/trophy. How rustic chic is that?
Buck Micro by Cardboard Safari.

Found this little guy at Indianica in Old Montreal. About $15 and no shipping costs. I'm thinking of getting Fred the moose too. But that might be too much.

You like?
Am now looking for props. Preferably rustic chic ones. Ideas?

Where we're at with the wedding

Boy/man in Cuba a couple of years ago.
Pic by me.

So, I thought I'd write the next few posts to keep track of what's been going on wedding-wise before I sink any lower into wedding planning confusion.

Suggestions and advice are very welcome.

Hi.

It's 2:53 a.m. and I can't sleep. Why, you ask?

I've got a bunch of stuff running through my head:

1. I used to own two couches, a microwave, a Mrs. Tea. All sorts of pretty, useful things, filling up our great apartment. Alright, most of it was IKEA and Craigslist finds, but it was all lovingly collected over our 6.5 years in good old Montreal. 

2. I no longer own anything but my clothes, my laptop and about 7 boxes of antique mason jars and a big roll of burlap. 

3. I'm now living with my dad. 

4. I haven't talked to the boy/man since Thursday and I'm missing our Skype dates. 

5. We've been on different continents on and off for 193 days this year. I counted. It sucks.

6. I should really have spent my day writing my thesis instead of reading wedding blogs. But I think I'm in love. With a wedding. And a shrug. This one.

7. At this rate, will I ever finish my long-ass thesis and get out of grad school?

8. And move to London before February?

9. And find a freaking band who will respond to emails?

It's all a little disconcerting.

So, if you've read this far, hi.