Friday, August 21, 2009

Dress shopping part un !!!

I never really tought about what my wedding dress would look like. I'm usually pretty simple kind of girl who mostly wears black ( so easy to put together!!!). One thing I knew though was that my dress would not be flashy, without beading, no pouff and ivory color.


Let's just say that contrary to the U.S. and other provinces in Canada, the wedding industry in Québec is far from flourishing. My budget for my dress was pretty limited (by personnal choice, I couldn't imagine spending a month rent for a dress that I'm never going to wear again!!)


I went dress shopping with my fiancé about 2 weeks after our engagement. After visiting a couple bridal shops I realized it wasn't for me. There was just to much pressure !! I then visited my go to store for formal wear BCBG Max Azria. Every time I have been looking for something fabulous it was the place I would go to. I tried several dresses in front of Mr. B and really tought I found the one.


I called my mom at work and asked her if she could meet me there after work because I found a dress suited for me. She was a little dissapointed that I didn't wait for her but agreed to meet us with my dad.


My mom is an incredible shopper. She can go through a Marshalls in no time !!! I tried all the dresses I tought were countenders in front of my parents and they weren't really impress :( My mom then took the store by storm and took out dresses I never saw before!! One of them I didn't even liked at first.


When I tried it on though I felt like it was meant to be. Voilà!! It was so perfect that it didn't need any alteration. My parents were both smiling and I felt beautiful. My mom and I are hardcore shoppers and we couldn't decide on the spot since it was the first store and we felt like we should shop a little more. We left the store that night empty handed and asked the saleswoman to hold it for us until the next day.
To be continued.....

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Waiting....

What's up with the whole waiting for my e-ring thing? Do a woman really need to be married to be complete? Do every man needs to ask the woman the minute they have been together for more than a year? Is the love equivalent to the amount spent on a ring?

That is seriously the most annoying thing about wedding blogs. To me waiting for a ring is not what marriage is about. I was happy to have a beautiful ring picked by Mr. B himself but at the end of the day it was the significance of the proposal that was the focus point.The man I want to spend the rest of my life with feels the same way about me.

Of course it's exciting to have a wedding (and I have to say I got into it pretty quickly!!!) but the wedding is just the beginning of the rest of your life. I want to have a great, artsy, colorful and meaningful wedding but I mostly want to be his wife.

That's the reason we are eloping right after the visa so we have this memory just the two of us together. We want to share with our family and friends too, but this will be later. Living apart is already pretty hard in itself we want to be able to appreciate this touching moment privatly.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

He asked and I said yes

About 2 weeks before the actual proposal we started talking about marriage. We already picked a date (08/08/10), a dream venue (mansion in Rhode Island), the style, decor, ambiance. Pretty much everything without a formal proposal.

Not that I really needed one or ever tought about getting married. Little did I know Mr. B was already ring shopping and his brother and one of his friend already knew. On the night of our 8th month anniversary (04/08/09) we were having dinner at my parents and Mr. B was really anxious to go home to celebrate just the two of us.

When we finally got home we were out of wine to celebrate and Mr. B was really insistent that we got one at this liquor store that is part of an hotel right by our appartment. Mr B worked really hard to get me out of the appartment that night. I knew that the liquor store would be closed since it was a Wednesday night. He said that even if it was closed we could at least take our baby pinsher for a walk. I finally agreed even tough I was exhausted. Obviously the store was closed ( I was so right!!) and Mr. B said that we should walk to the boardwalk overlooking the St-Lawrence river because our dog loves it.
I dragged my feet to the boardwalk really mad that we weren't going back home right away because it was cold and snowing. He then asked me to run under a gazebo with the dog following me. When I got there Mr. B was on his knee playing with the dog. I was looking at him when he took out of his pocket a little white box which I tought was a toy for the dog.
It's only when he opened it and asked me if I wanted to be his wife that I realized what was happening. I was crying and we were hugging and kissing. It was a total surprise since I imagined he would ask me at the end of the summer after his sister's wedding. I wouldn't change anything to the proposal it was so laidback and so us. Me, looking the worst I have ever looked. Him, sweet and toughtful as usual. Us, doing the same things that we do all the time.
Don't ask me if I said yes I have no idea but Mr B says I did, but what I remember the most vividly is the air with the snow and the cold, his face and the way he was holding me.

Welcome to my blog

I never tought about having a blog and then I discovered all those incredible wedding blogs on the Internet. I never tought my story would interest anybody!! I had people telling me that I should write a book about it and the idea of a blog came to me. Why not share my story and the ups and down of not being born in the same country.

I met my fiancé on 08/08/08 when He was visiting my hometown for one day for a golf tournament. Long story short, we both fell head over heels for each other. He moved in with me and my family until we got our own appartment a few months later. Since he is American and I'm Canadian it wasn't easy from the beginning. He stayed we me as long as it was permitted on a visitor visa without working while I was in Bar School.


The night of our 8 month anniversary (little pattern here!!!) he proposed ( more on that later) in front of a famous hotel in Québec while we were walking our dog.


We opted for a wedding on our second anniversary in August 2010. Unfortunatly due to some immigration issues we decided it would be easier for us to be married earlier in order to stay in the same country.


An August 8th wedding was then planned in a month (!!!) on our one year anniversary. Call us ignorant, stupid whatever we weren't aware on a small issue called a Fiancée visa (K1) even after talking to about 5 lawyers!!


When I tried to cross the border I was turned down and sent back home bawling in the car. Five days later our K1 was filed with the help of our lawyer.


Now we are in a waiting period (aka no man's land) exactly a month and 18 days after we filed. I was able to go to California for 3 weeks in July and hopefully B will be aloud to come back for a week or two during that waiting period.


The August 8th wedding was cancelled a month prior to the event. We are now planning to elope right after I get my Fiancée Visa and finally have that August 2010 celebration that we were planning right at the beginning of our engagement.


In the meantime I'm working as a waitress and stalking wedding blogs where I look for inspiration for wedding number 2.
The small wedding we were gonna have is still bittersweet to talk about but I will share all the details in an upcoming post. The dress, the photograph, the florist, the ceremony etc..