Lovely Wedding Details: Part Deux!

I wanted to share more details from our wedding.  Feast your eyes on the vibrant colours and enjoy!

Here is my bouquet and one of the bridesmaid's bouquet. The flowers were fresh and they were so beautiful. As soon as i saw them i cried because i thought they were so beautiful. (yellow cymbidium orchids and roses for me; yellow roses for the ladies).





My lovely shoes and the bouquet!



The florist did an amazing job on Mr. Pancakes' boutinniere. 
At frist he didn't want to wear one but i think he looked so handsome.
But then i always think he looks handsome!

My dress laid out, ready for me to wear!



I found these amazing crystals with Mr. Pancakes initials. 
It was definitely a highlight of my day!
He was totally surprised:-)



Mr. Pancakes shoes which he purchased the morning of our wedding. 
Yes, talk about last minute.  He would have worn running shoes if not:-)

Ahh the dress...it was lovely...the bow, the train and the veil was magnificent!
I was competely in love with my dress!

I brought the colours of our wedding to my bridesmaids' dresses.
 I loved how the bouquets popped against the royal blue dresses.



Mr. Pancakes and his groomsmen were able to add a touch of blue with their suit.  The yellow and blue came through their ties.  Mr. Pancakes wanted to surprise me and he managed to coordinate with me in a good way.  Thank goodness!





I managed to find a flower girl dress that was both cute, wearable and had yellow and blue.



Ring bearer wore a blue pintstripped suit with a yellow/blue tie.  He had on blue canvas shoes.
 He looked so handsome!

Ahhh...the dress and the bouquet!

Beauty shot! I think this picture is so lovely. 
Kudos to the photographer!

I loved my curls...anad my necklace and earrings...my something borrowed.

My sister wore a traditional Ghanaian outfit in my wedding colours and she looked beyond lovely!

 I love looking at my wedding pictures. 

 It was amazing how all the colours came together to create all these amazing lovely wedding details.



Jumping the Broom

I am originally from Ghana, West Africa but grew up in Canada and now reside in the United States.  I am all around girl but during the wedding planning process, there were certain things that we had to do because it was part of our cultures. 

The first was an engagement ceremony where the groom basically asks for the bride's hand in marriage.  We were going to do a semi-engagement party, the day before the wedding, however that was a disaster.  The food came late and my family was very late. Mr. Pancakes got upset because his family came early and waited around for my family who never showed up.  Needless to say mr. Pancakes eventually left and so there was no engagement party.  We hashed it before the wedding though! Obviously!

The second was jumping the broom! This is a ceremony dating back to the 1600s and derived from Africa.

The "Jumping the Broom" is a ceremony in which the bride and groom, at the ceremony signify their entrance into a new life and their creation of a new family by symbolically "sweeping away" their former single lives, former problems and concerns, and jumping over the broom to enter upon a new adventure as wife and husband. 

At first i didn't really understand this process however after i read more about it; and our pastor was perfectly fine to research and speak about it.  And in the end, it was fantastic because it was honestly one of the favourite parts of our wedding! 

It was definitely a great additional to our ceremony and so glad we decided to do it! 

Happy 1 month Anniversary Mr. Pancakes!

Our Wedding Details

In celebration of our one month wedding anniversary on 5.23.11..i thought i would share some of my favourite wedding details. 

Ahh...the wedding cake! i mean it was everything i wanted and then some! Our colours were blue and yellow and i wanted it in subtle places like the cake!  The cake topper was one of the best surprises of the wedding! It was so cute. Mr. Pancakes is holding a football and i was holding my iphone!  We also like to work out so we had dumbells and shoes! I loved the cake topper!  Note to bride: personalize the cake topper...you will love it later!

Mr. Pancakes' cousin made him a groom's cake: football on a football field! She did an awesome on the way it looks and the way it tastes! 

Note to Brides: Have a groom's cake! Make it unique to your man!

I loved how one of our engagement pictures  was framed behind our photo guestbook display.  I loved how they set up the display tables...so classy! I loved our photo guestbook which was a great way to display all our engagement pictures!

Another bride made the suggestion to tell people exactly what you wanted them to do in the guestbook since it wasn't a standard guestbook.  Such a good idea becase everyone did a great job leaving messages.  One bride reported her guests wrote just their names in the photo guestbook! 
                 

Note to brides: leave some direction for your guests about the guestbook!

I created the card box by myself because it didn't make sense to spend less than $20 for something i would only use one day.  I took a regular box and glued ribbons around the box in different designs!  You cannot see it of course however there are ribbons with our names on it in yellow!  I also made the sign and displayed around the table pictures from our engagement!

Note to Brides: Do a DIY...like the guestbook if you can!

I didn't want a regular escort table so my lovely co-worker completed a ribbon board for me using my wedding colours! It was so unique because i have never seen it before at a wedding.

Notes to Brides: Do do something unique at your wedding!

My 2nd photographer has the evening pictures so you don't get to see the lovely lights!  However i loved the reception hall.  The room was round and the chandelieres were beautiful! At first i didn't want a sweetheart/head table however on the encouragement of our photographer and others, we had one and i am glad we listened.  It helped Mr. Pancakes and i to actually sit and eat our meal.  Although i never did finish our dessert! Note to Bride: Have a sweatheart table! 

The tables were fantastic! I wanted to save some money so i opted to using the framed pictures of us (pix of Team Pancakes was everywhere!) and framed table #.  It was a good idea and simple and so worth it.  I loved how it turned out.  I added napkins that said Eat, drink and Be Married with our names and wedding date on them in blue and yellow! 

Note to Brides: You do not need to use flowers for your tables! Be creative!

I made a list of our favourite things including one of our quotes from the wedding.  Our fav things like movies, food, activities, sayings and tv shows! This was a lot of fun to do and display! 

Notes to Brides: Do something fun!

The church..i love our church! It's been around for 100 hundred years! So much history and we were glad and honoured to be part of the history! Since the church is already beautifully decorated, we chose to use some flowers on the pews! I did not want tulle but since this was done without my knowledge, i let it go and did not make a big deal when i saw it walking down the aisle...i was a little mortified but then i saw Mr. Pancakes and nothing mattered but our love for each other! 

Note to Brides: Do use some flowers in the church! Don't fret the small stuff!

The programs were truly my favourite part of the wedding planning.  It was very time consuming but it was so worth it for me to do these! It was like a mini book with thank you page, our two readings, ceremony layout and some fun tidbits!  And i am so glad i preserved and finished!                             Note to Brides: Channel your inner creative diva! Trust me she is there!

And just because i loved how these turned out, i wanted to add a pictures.  For our cocktail hour, we used small napkins with Mr. Pancakes initial on them! I  was so excited when i saw displayed like this!   Note to Brides: Do have cocktail napkins and Do get them to fancy it up like so!  You never really know how the details of your wedding are going to turn out in the end but they do all come together beautifully in the end!

I hoped you enjoyed some of the details of Team Pancakes wedding! I will attempt to share some things once a week! (Dress and flower details to come later!)

My 2 Photographers...

I always knew that our family photographer would be the main photographer of our wedding!

We are definitely not the Royal family or the President however we do have a photographer that has taken most of our family events and functions. However, a friend of mine also knew a photographer that we used for our engagement pictures!

And i have always wanted a photographer all to myself and of course i felt that Mr. Pancakes should have his own photographer.  In the end i am glad we did this because each photographer had time to spend with us separately and was able to capture some amazing moments during our wedding. There was of course some tension because i did not have time to introduce the photographers so i think there was some tension during the ceremony.  I believe during some moments they were in each others way however needless to say, there were some amazing pictures taken! 

If you chose to use two photographers (from differing companies):

1. Have them talk to each other before the wedding!

2. Tell each of them the shots you want both of them to take.

3. Use their time wisely

4. Enjoy being photographed the whole day!!!

April Storms: May Flowers

I braced myself and checked the weather and there is a storm apparently acoming in our wedding day! I am not sure how I feel right now about it! I am just excited to get married to Mr. Pancakes. I am more worried about everything going alright and nothing going too awry! I know I cannot control mother nature but I can control when our flowers are delivered to the church! All in all the day is going to happen the way its supposed to happen! And at the end of it all, we will be family Pancakes!

LongLazySunday: Wedding Programs : Done and not DONE!

Working on the wedding programs has been a labour of love and finally i have given birth! From the cover sleeve to the yellow rose decorations, i have made something that i am proud of.  I have killed many trees along the way (don't worry i recycled the paper), stapled myself a few times, got glue and ink in my finger nails and fingers but finally ladies i am done and DONE!

I was planning to complete my wedding programs by the beginning of April however that plan did not happen.  I found out very quickly that a DIY program is not an easy task especially if you are technologically inept! I then sought out the help of THE YOUTH in the family who thank God are more savy with the new form of microsoft word that i am.  Seriously microsoft you couldn't make it easier for us older folk??  Anyway THE YOUTH was able to put something together that worked with my vision!

Ok so that was my initial blog entry saturday morning.  Come to find out in all my excitement, i forgot to proofread again and again and again.  As i was going through the program tonight, i realized that i had missed a few lettters off of two words...two mistakes which is not detrimental but still not great...i am now in the process of completing it and then i will be assembling them.  

Next up on the DIY projects...to bird seed or not to bird seed...that is the question.

I will be showing more pictures after the wedding i have time!

Final Dress Fitting: The Arms Issue

Today is my final bridal fitting and i am pumped. I cannot believe this ladies but our wedding is only ten days away.  When we got engaged i was initially obssessed with losing weight but then i fell off the wagon more than once.  I have reached my goal of looking a little less heavier than usual.  My face looks slimmer and my body overall is much more tonier!  One of my most problematic areas has been my arms! You see i have always had toned arms however as i have hit my 20s and beyond, my arms have gone to the wayside and it has become more of my mother's arms.   My mother in her 50s has an amazing body but her arms are what you would call, a healthy size.  And since my arms has always been my problem areas, i have attempted to focus on this throuhgout the last four months.  And they look less heavier and more tonned than usual.   For years i thought i was working on my arms but it wasn't until i met Mr. Pancakes that he told me i have been working on my shoulders and back.  Hence his nickname for me when we first started dating: Miss StrongBack! Cute i know.  Needless to say, the last four months, i have been deligiently working on my arms and they are not where i want them to be but they will do on our wedding day.   I have changed my views on fitness and healthy living .  It's not about fitting into a dress, it's about being healthy every single day and fitting into my skin.  So as i go into my final fitting this evening, i am excited to put on my wedding dress as it will be on my wedding day and be in awe of this moment!  

The Countdown Begins

The rings have been picked out and up! The marriage license is almost ready to be signed (Tuesday is the day!) Final dress fitting appointment has been booked for Wednesday. The programs are being worked on. All in all we are ready to go. For less than two weeks out, I am still relatively calm and excited.

 

Wedding Day Hair-Do!

My hair and i have been through a journey and as my wedding day approaches, i have made a decision to go natural and just allow my natural beauty to shine through! Aka: i am going to leave my hair natural and just let it be!

However for the wedding, i want a little updo.  This i am excited about and so today i take my hair to the hair dresser to see what she can do!

I love pretty wedding hair dos!!! 

18Days: Our Marriage Vows

Since we completed our pre-marital counselling which went fantastic.  It has allowed us to deal with many various issues and topics.  I would highly recommend this! At the end of this sesssion has led me to think about the vows!

I really wanted to be one of those brides that have a personal vow but i also like the simplicity of traditional brides because it usually conveys all that you need to say to your future spouse on the day of your wedding.

I found these four types of vows, some with traditional words, some of some modernism!

I, Miss Pancake, take you Mr. Pancakes to my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.

I, Miss Pancakes, take you, Mr. Pancakes, to be my friend, my lover, the father of my children and my husband. I will be yours in times of plenty and in times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for all eternity.

I, Miss Pancakes, take you, Mr. Pancakes, to be my partner, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow together, getting to know the man you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us.

I, Miss Pancakes take thee, Mr. Pancakes to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish, 'til death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; thereto I pledge my love.

I believe we are going to opt for the most traditional vows!