From our wedding album

avenue-photo.com

I can't help myself .......... more wedding pictures to share with you. These are a sneak peak from our photographer (Margaret Diotalevi, Principal Photographer and owner of Avenue Photo in Toronto).

I was thrilled with how the look for our wedding came together - soft and elegant. Our ceremony was held on the lawn at Holcim Waterfront Estate overlooking Lake Ontario; the dinner and celebration took place in the large white tent on the side lawn next to the mansion house. We had a combination of long and round tables which worked perfectly to create a balance to the room.

There were a few projects on my last minute list that I felt would have given the wedding a fuller visual finish, and although I had planned well for them, they didn't get completed. No one knew that they were missing but me.
But it was only three weeks before the wedding that my Mother passed away. Dealing with sorrow is exhausting, and in the end I had no emotional energy to be creative for the extra wedding prettiness projects.

These lovely photo charms (DesignsbyTami on Etsy) - one of my Dad, and one of my Mother; were added to my bouquet. I had ordered the charm of my Dad a few months before, and at the last minute Tami prepared another one for me.
My parents were with me in so many ways on our wedding day. I sent a charm to Richard while he was dressing for our wedding. A photo charm of Richard's Mother was pinned on to his vest to keep her close to his heart.

 Our beautiful daughters taking a selfie .....

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The handsome men in my life.......Richard and our sons.

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This beautiful custom made ring box (The Mrs Box) was a gift from my daughter. Such a decadent gift that I will always have.

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Cake by La Casa Dolce. Cake topper by BetterOffWed (Etsy).

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Flowers by Tanya Nelson.

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And, I cannot resist this photo a friend took of my Granddaughter Kya and me. Our pretty flower girl and my sweet little shadow.

Kya and me.

I promise to share some pictures of our honeymoon trip to Ireland with you soon.


Thanks for reading,
Katherine

Best Day Ever

Richard and I are back from our honeymoon in Ireland and gathering a few pictures that friends and family took at our wedding. It has already been one month since we took our vows and celebrated our marriage.

Without a doubt it was the 'best day ever', as I married my best friend. I will share more of our wedding day here as we get more pictures, and will feature our travels throughout Ireland in upcoming posts. For now I'll let the joy of the day speak for itself through the pictures (mind the quality - they've been gathered from various photo options).

My handsome son Dallas walked me down the aisle.

Richard and his son (our Best Man) waiting at the top of the aisle.

Our four children and granddaughter stood with us as our attendants. The wedding took place at Holcim Waterfront Estate overlooking Lake Ontario.

My dress is a David Tutera gown (Beryl in seamist - a French blue shade underskirt with tulle and lace over-top).

These are 'our children'.
Dallas (my son), Monique (my daughter), Me and Richard, Stephanie (Richard's daughter), Justin (Richard's son).

And the prettiest girl at the whole affair........

Our Engagement Photo's

photo by Avenue Photo (Toronto)

Richard and I finally got our engagement photo's taken. On a chilly, but thankfully sunny Sunday morning two weeks ago, we met with our photographer Margaret Diotalevi of Avenue Photo. We get to call her 'our photographer' because Margaret will be the person capturing our wedding day.

visit Avenue Photo at www.avenue-photo.com

So there we were, the two of us who criticize pretty much every snapshot taken of ourselves. It's bad enough alone, but together one of is generally making a weird face, blinking or something to throw the shot off. We were a handful for Margaret.

photo by Avenue Photo (Toronto)

We were up early to catch the morning sun at Gairloch Gardens - right at the lake in Oakville. The 'not a morning girl' managed to get hair and makeup together for the early sunrise shoot.
The gardens are pretty and fit right up to the shoreline of Lake Ontario. All of the elements are really 'us' - the lake, gardens and the old stone wall around the studio building made the location perfect.

photo by Avenue Photo (Toronto)

We will have loads of wedding photo's in about a month and a half, but I love having pictures of us in everyday clothes. We were like a young couple half our age, trying to decide what we would wear and getting it all together. I even did a quick change of clothes in the parking lot at the car......... silly kids!
Doing all of this together is a great romantic feed for a relationship. I loved snuggling with Richard and allowing someone to capture our romance.

This photo is such a fairy tale shot - just love it.

photo by Avenue Photo (Toronto)

The excuse of our upcoming wedding is certainly the best reason to work with a professional photographer. But after looking at all of the pictures I wonder why we waited so long to take professional photo's together. If you are a couple or a family who does not have professional photos yet, take the time and book a session to capture something you'll always treasure.

photo by Avenue Photo (Toronto)

www.avenue-photo.com

At Cardinal House this week

First and foremost, to our fellow Canadians from Fort McMurray, Alberta - 

our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families. 

This week, ironically Emergency Preparedness Week, 88,000 people were evacuated from Fort McMurray because of a forest fire that is still raging out of control. 

If you want to help families who narrowly escaped - 

donations  can be made at redcross.ca

This week at Cardinal House ........

We have some special visitors on the way. A bird nest has taken shape above one of our outdoor speakers on the lanai. It's a cozy spot to raise a new family. I'd love to share a picture of what little we can see, but we are all staying back from the area so that we don't scare the mother. Our kitchen table is at the window right beneath the area, so we are looking forward to hearing some little chirping soon.

Richard helped me get into the spring of things with a vibrant tulip bouquet this week. Having flowers near the sink makes the chore of cleaning or cooking a lot brighter.

This is the state of my dining room table currently. Little packages of things I ordered for the wedding have arrived, files of all the contracts, rsvp cards, a basket for the flower girl and personalized vow books. It all reminds me that I need to stop and get a Rubbermaid bin with lid and tuck it away safely.
A collection of dresses for bridesmaids, flower girl and my sister are slowly taking over the guest room. Hey - it's wedding fever time at Cardinal House........

I'm off to the nursery today to hopefully bring home those cells of Trillium plants I wrote about the other day. The great temperatures today and this weekend are perfect to get some of the planters filled with a bit of prettiness.
There are three hydrangea in the house that are crying out to get planted in the garden. This large plant was a snow white flower when she first came home, once in the garden bed I'm sure she'll bloom to her original colour again.

Our daily reminder of the fast approaching wedding date. I'm sure Richard would like to take a board eraser to it. Almost there Honey.

..... and your plans for the weekend ?

My Wedding Dress HUNT

There are so many decisions to be made for our upcoming wedding, but one of the most daunting was choosing 'the dress'.

I was just turning twenty the first time I got married, it is an understatement to say that I was too young. I don't even remember buying my wedding dress. There is no memory of a thrilling, exciting moment a'la 'is this THE dress'  kind of scenario.

Vintage Lanvin - The dream dress design.

So now, here I am at 57 shopping for 'my wedding dress'. It really is a 'ta-da' kind of experience this time. It's taken me a bit to wrap my mind around what I think is appropriate to wear at this time of my life.

I had a what-not-to-wear list in my mind. I didn't want to wear typical white wedding dress, a veil, a mother of the bride dress, or look like a guest. This seriously narrowed the options, I needed an intervention. This is were my daughter began to coach me and became my cheerleader (and isn't that why I asked her to be my Maid of Honour). Monique listened to me talk my way through the idea's and continually told me 'it's your special day, go for it. You need to feel special and have a pretty wedding dress'. I love that we shared this experience together.

Let me cut to the chase and say - I've ordered a dress and I'm excited about my choice. It is soft, romantic, and a bit of a vintage style; exactly the way I want to feel when I meet Richard to take our vows. I'm not sharing the colour because I think it should be a sweet surprise on our wedding day. But as I stood in the dress starring at my reflection in the mirror, I thought - 'he would so love this on me'. And I knew that it was a special dress for our special day.

But, I LOVE VINTAGE ......... so I digress.

The straight lines of a sheath dress with a bustle skirt makes my heart skip a beat. These silhouettes were the inspiration for my dream dress. 

My dream dress wish list hinged on this vintage style - a sheath style gown with a bustle skirt to flow gently off at the hips. Why is it that the models in most vintage fashions have 20 inch waists. Even with a stringent exercise/diet program I will never wear a pinch waist gown, but maybe a hint of the silhouette could be achieved.

The dream dress was of course not going to be found on a rack anywhere -
well, at least not in this era.

We all know our body type well, what we feel best in, what makes us shine. And for me the Lanvin v-neck sleeveless gown with bustle skirt (in the first picture) was like a skin crying out my name. OK - maybe a bit dramatic, but I knew it would work without even putting the dress on. My tenacious soul always has a plan B, and I knew if I wanted this dream dress it would have to be custom made.

I lined up the possibilities of two well noted bridal dressmakers. And I had in my back pocket the brave request of a friend (who is a couturier in Toronto) to make the dress to my specifications. I was certain he would be less than thrilled to have me design the dress and cramp his creativity.

I loved the idea of having a large garden print, perfect for our summer wedding. The perfect combination - vintage allure, large floral pattern, a dress with colour. In my mind I had visions of me hunting for months to find the perfect fabric to capture the look ... and then of course driving a seamstress crazy getting it to match my dream.

Look at these stunning frocks. Once again, here is the very strong evidence that I was born in the wrong era. My Vintage Love pinterest board is visual proof.

Love the neckline and the floral pattern.

After searching the images of bridal designer styles for the upcoming season, I realized they design very few gowns a bit off the beaten path. And I wanted to go way off the path with a sheath style dress in large floral and a bustle train in a soft sheer fabric. The Dream Dress was getting complicated.

So instead, maybe something like this......

soft floral, flowing style

or a print in the sheath style....

this print in a sheath style

LOVE this fabric

At my daughters urging I decided to try on various styles, fabrics, and colours to explore all the possibilities.

Keeping an open mind to something other than the dream dress was important.

Designers are adding more gowns with colour to their collections, soft pastels that compliment soft fabric details. Maybe they are beginning to understand that brides - second time or not, want something unique. I'd love to see designers play with generous floral patterns and revisit the pages of vintage couture for upcoming bridal designs.

Love the lines of these two gowns.

My dress is on order and it is beautiful.
It's very different than the floral print dream dress and much more 'bridal' than I imagined. I have to admit I've had a few 'what the heck was I thinking' kind of moments after I ordered it. Maybe it is just that buying a wedding dress is not an everyday occurrence.

My wedding dress is soft and feminine with a romantic vintage vibe that I love. I'm excited about slipping it on this June and meeting my groom at the alter to take our vows.