I'm back

Well, yes, I disappeared. Which is unacceptable blogging etiquette, I know. I have excuses, which I will list here (in bold). But I completely get it if you left and never wanted to come back, but now are just taking a sneak peak cause you've seen I've added new content and might give me a second chance??? Will you? Please?


A few bits have changed pretty hugely since my last post.


Firstly, well, I am officially a bride, and in London. So the blog title is still apt. Just saying.


The becoming a bride bit took place last September (3rd) and it was pretty fantastic. I'll have some recap posts and lots of pics for you soon.

A little wedding teaser.
We did have an arch in the end.
Birch trees and flowy white fabric.

The London bit is nearing a year (!!)... in two months! Will soon have my Spouse Visa and be allowed to live here for the rest of my life, should I feel the need to do so. (Well, it's good to have that option...)


Have (nearly) finished the bloody awful, long, painful, thesis-writing process. (It went down to the wire. Handed it in on the absolute final due date, four days before the wedding! I had to... boy/man said he would not marry me otherwise. I know he would have anyway but it was pretty darn good motivation.) I am now working on my final (minor) corrections and get to forget about this 200-page stack of papers filled with long words and theories for the rest of my life in 3 short weeks. I can't wait.


I found a new job! A proper central London one in a big office by the Thames! (Well it's no longer new cause I started in November, but still pretty cool!) It's all about projects and details and research and events and educational stuff and coordination and writing. Loving it so far!


Boy/man and I are finally beginning our Great British (well, North London) House Hunt. It was the only item outstanding from my list of 2011 goals. Not bad, considering. I'll have an upcoming post about the London real estate market. Let me just say the real estate agencies are manned by a bunch of good-for-nothing scumbags. Yes - I went and used the strong language. There's one agency we've now nicknamed BairfacedThieves. It rhymes with the real place but I won't name it here, in case we do find a place through them. But so far, they suck. All of them. And I will soon tell you why.


So that's a bit of a life update. I know you're on here for the wedding stuff. Or the London stuff. So I'll get onto those soon.


Thanks for coming back... I missed you.

Learning British - Six Cuppas a Day*

One of the less tacky ones I've seen.
Royal Wedding mug via Claryce Design.

Cuppa tea that is. English Breakfast, extra strength.


A typical day goes like this:

One cuppa in the morning when I wake up.

One cuppa with breakfast. Usually cereal.

One cuppa mid-morning with a little snack. Perhaps a yoghurt.

One (or sometimes two) cuppas with lunch. Of course. Cause they go so well with salad, hummus and pita.

One cuppa mid-afternoon with a Ginger Snap... or 10. My favourite. Deliciousness.

One last cheeky cuppa just after dinner. On its own or with a newly-discovered Malteaser Easter bunny.

Equals: the shakes.

Which is why I am slowly moving on to mint and ginger-lemon tea. If I'm gonna learn British, I gotta keep up with the cuppas. Just not the caffeinated cuppas.


And no, I don't have a Royal Wedding mug. Not yet.


*This is the norm, people! Once I work in an office, I can apparently nearly double this amount. Need to practice. And expand my bladder.

Current Obsession: Paper crafts

I've developed quite the obsession with hand-crafted paper décor in the last few weeks. 

Garlands, banners, buntings, rosettes, pinwheels, wreaths, flags. They're all beautiful, easy to make, and super inexpensive. Plus, you can use (or reuse) any paper you like.

top: a. hana design paper rosettes, oh shnykies, can't find the source
middle: amy atlas candy shop dessert table; another link I can't seem to find
bottom: spirograph wedding; paper link chain display

I was trying to find a way of working these paper lovelies into the wedding decor, but then I thought perhaps they would be perfect projects for our rehearsal dinner BBQ the night before the wedding.

I'm still not sure about the color scheme. I'm really, really liking the newspaper look, but it definitely needs a pop of color. I also have a vintage book of Shakespeare's works, whose pages are falling out, which may have found its purpose:

Vintage paper bunting by twoandsix
(with a tutorial!)

Here's some more vintage paper and newspaper craft inspiration for you. So pretty.

top: printed paper garland from Project Wedding
middle: circle paper garland; handmade paper bunting
bottom: book page wreath (with tutorial); vintage storybook paper garland

This neutral, grey palette sooo matches our rustic chic wedding décor. Might just have to add it to the (never-ending) to-do list.

London-Bound: The date is set!

Random, I know. But I love Sticky Toffee Pudding.
And that's one sweet thing I'm looking forward to in London. YUM!

Yep, that's right. I finally booked my one-way ticket!

I leave for London exactly three weeks from today. 

It's a tad bit scary and overwhelming, considering I have yet to finish my thesis, and need to finalize quite a few wedding bits before I go. (We won't be back until about 10 days before the wedding! ACK! That's when my first dress fitting will be AAAAACK!)

Plus I need to make sure to say goodbye to friends and family properly.

And pack.

But besides all that, I am pretty darn excited. A new adventure is about to begin! And I cannot wait to see the boy/man again!

Where we're at: Part 4 - The Theme

I meant to write about this a while ago, cause I know I left you all in the dark about our super inventive "Rustic Chic" wedding theme*.

This is pretty much my perfect rustic chic look
via Style Me Pretty

So before even deciding on our venue, boy/man and I (well, mostly I) started thinking about the general direction we wanted to take with our wedding. Since we knew we wanted something outdoorsy/woodsy and "Canadian" to move away from the typical hotel reception hall wedding, I started searching Google Images for inspiration. 

At first, I started with broad searches, like "outdoor + wedding" and then eventually came up with a number of elements that spoke out to me (and the boy/man, although he didn't know it yet). 

We hesitated about a travel or maps/globe theme (since I am Canadian, he is British, and we met in Brazil). Then we thought we should do only Brazilian. Then we realized we couldn't find the right vendors in Montreal for that.

Then one day, in my web perusing, someone somewhere in the wedding blogging world had an inspiration board they called "rustic chic" and I thought that was exactly what we were trying to achieve.

And, after much obsessive blog scanning, I now have created a mighty huge Word document of all the images I love. So far. (It is 60 pages long, has a table of contents and sections. But I don't have all the sources for the pics, so can't really upload it all here. However, if you want it, just leave me a comment and I will gladly email it to you.) 

These are the elements that make up a rustic chic wedding to me:

Wood
Tree trunks, bark and branches for invitations, decor, and signs

Burlap
For table runners, around the flowers and as bunting and décor

Antiques and vintage finds
Mason jars, milk bottles, old crates and vintage, beat-up suitcases

Romantic-y things

Lace, moss, chiavari chairs, and white hydrangeas, and roses

And LOTS of candles and lighting
Including mason jars (hanging and on tables) and strings of twinkling lights

 Yep - so that's our rustic chic vision. You like?

* I thought it was inventive at the time, but this was before my wedding blog obsession began. I now realize that 90% of weddings these days (at least those features on said wedding blogs) incorporate some or most of what I consider to be "rustic chicness." But I don't care. It still looks good and not everyone is wedding blog obsessed, so they won't know our wedding is un-original.