Frequently asked questions.

It's time now for

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS WHICH MAY/MAY NOT HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN ASKED!

*applause*

Question 1: Who the heck are you?!

Answer: My name is Marsha. I'm a farmer's daughter, a biscuit eater and a tea slurper from Up 'Aest. I enjoy videos, blogging, and posing for pictures with books that I've never actually read. I'm 24 years old and that's all I have to say about that.

Islam... hmmm.

Question 2: Who the heck are you marrying?!

Answer: The guy holding the flowers. More formally, Jacob from Souris. I never actually knew who he was until high school, but I'm sure I've muttered things under my breath when I saw him and fellow Sourians taking over OUR BASIN HEAD in the summertime. He is exactly 1 month and 1 week older than me. This matters apparently.

I guess catching the bouquet IS foreshadowing.

And, for good measure, the best picture we ever took together.

Is that sad?

Question 3: Do you have any children?

Answer: Yes. We have a daughter named Timmy. She's 5 years old and she definitely inherited Jacob's good looks.

They grow up so fast.

Question 4: How long have you been together?

Answer: 6 years I think? Around then? Really though, after year 2 they just all sorta jumble together, AM I RIGHT LADIES?

Question 5: Why did you decide on a vintage/antique theme for the wedding?

Answer: Because it can be elegant and cost effective, and it just seemed right.

Question 6: What does your dress look like?

Answer: MUAHAHAHAHA I'LL NEVER TELLLLLLLL. (Please note: I have not purchased said dress yet. I have one in mind but nothing is certain)

Question 7: How much money have you raised through your 10 dollars from 100 people thing/are you completely off your rocker?

Answer: 110 bucks so far/yes.

Question 8: Who's in your wedding party?

Answer: That's another post for another time, I wanna make sure everything is finalized before I start talking about all of that.

Question 9: How did he propose?

Answer: Down on one knee under the Christmas lights at province house on November 31st, 2009. It was beautiful and a very intimate moment between the three of us; Jacob and I of course, and the guy who happened to be walking towards us. We had a bit of an awkward moment with that one. I loved every second of it though, and honestly, how could that NOT have happened with a couple like us?

Question 10: What's your first song going to be?

Answer: We have one in mind, but we never actually had a 'song' per say. Do you guys have songs with your hubbies? Are we alone in this?

10 questions? I think that'll do for now.

Sugary marshmallowy cakey goodness.

To begin, I have a little non-wedding related subjects to cover.

First I want to say thank you for the thoughts, prayers and delicious food that everybody has been giving myself and my family over the past 4 months. It's easy to say that we wouldn't have gotten through it all without the love and support of our community, but it's true. The best feeling on the day of your grandparent's funeral is walking into the church and seeing it packed with the people who love(d) and care(d) for you and Granny and Poppy.

They say people only get together for weddings or funerals. I've seen a lot of you folks for bad reasons lately. Let's get together next for the wedding, shall we?

Now, if you've made it through the mushy must-be-said stuff, I award you with CAKE TALK.Who doesn't love cake? Alright, my fiance doesn't love cake. In fact, he suggested a 'cake' made of sausages and bacon as the 'frosting'. As delicious and artery clogging as that sounds, I think maybe we should go a little more traditional and perhaps use sugar as a main component in the food we'll be shoving in each other's faces in front of a hundred people. I hear bacon grease makes your makeup run.

When we first started shopping around and looking at cakes, I found out that the average cost for a wedding cake is $100 a tier. Yes folks, A TIER. Let me do the math quickly. Most wedding cakes have 3 tiers. At 100 bucks a pop, that's.... carry the one, divide by 83.... 300 bucks for a mound of sugar and flour.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate a beautiful cake. I'd just appreciate it a lot more if I didn't have to pay that much. Once Doreen heard my concerns about wedding cakes (I believe my exact words were, "I'm not friggin' payin' 300 bucks for a wedding cake, are they INSANE?"), she and I sat down and brainstormed about what could be done on our budget. Let me just state right now that Doreen Gallant might very well be the craftiest jack of all trades I have ever met, hands down. We learned how to make an easy marshmallow fondant via youtube, tried it on a small scale, and the next week she had created THIS:

Yes, this was her first try, and only her second time ever working with fondant (which, as my sisters and I proved in a certain youtube video, isn't the easiest thing to master in the world). How cute is that! These cakes will have to be emulated in the future, if not for the big day then at least for some wedding related parties. They're amazing.

Also, what do you guys think about a small cake to cut that's a little more budget friendly, then cupcakes for the guests?

Oh, also, 89 people to go in my 100 for 10 dress challenge. Jeepers creepers you guys are stellar.

Teapots, dishes, Katharina's Bridal Show, and 100 for 10.

This last week has been absolutely insane for me. I was meaning to post this on Monday!

Anyways, no time like the present to bring you all up to date on the quest for teapots, which has since expanded into a quest for teapots and dishes.

After receiving my Grandmother MacDonald's dishes, I wanted a way to incorporate them into the wedding. They're absolutely beautiful and fit the vintage theme. I decided I'd like to use them at the head table for the reception. Unfortunately, there's not enough for everyone, so I've been keeping my eyes open for another set.

I love Granny's dishes.

Doreen, Chrissy and I went to the North River flea market last Sunday and I found a teapot that I adored. It was part of a set, and the lady selling it sold me the entire set of dishes and the teapot for 5 bucks. I couldn't believe it! I'm pretty sure that I have enough plates and things for the entire party to have one at the reception, and another teapot to boot!

5 dollar dishes? I would have paid $5 for the teapot alone.

Now, onto teapot mania! I've got some amazing friends and family that are on the hunt for teapots for me. So far I've gotten 4. Here's what 3 of them look like, one is at Doreen's.

The teapot Rhonda found for me. Good eye, McFly!

This is the teapot to match the dish set I got for 5 bucks.

My first teapot find at Value Village.

After the flea market, Doreen, Chrissy and I went to Katharina's Bridal Show at the

Murphy's Community Center on Sunday. It was fabulous! I got so many new ideas from it! The best part was that most of the dresses I tried on at Katharina's Bridal were in the runway show, including the dress i fell in love with. It was fantastic to see someone else workin' it.

When it came time for prizes, my eyes started to glaze over. I distinctly remember the last time I won something; I was in grade 5. It was a cold winter day, and the classroom smelled like pizza (it was pizza Wednesday). They did the milk draw, and lo and behold, out of ALL the children in my class (11), I WON A MILK PEN! It was invigorating. It was heart stopping. It was the last time I recall winning anything in my life... until Sunday.

They started by drawing for prizes that were for both brides and friends/family that came to the show. Of COURSE, Chrissy won an awesome Arbonne Seashores Detox Spa mud mask for face/body. Sibling rivalry/jealousy reared it's ugly head, but I kept it inside (after all, I was going to mooch some of it from her later). Then came time for prizes that were just for brides, and my moment. I actually won 50 dollars worth of flowers from Hearts and Flowers in town!

I WON SOMETHING!

I felt accomplishment (and beet red in the face). When I was walking up to get my prize, Julia from Katharina's Bridal who was doing the announcing leaned over and said "Blog lady?" Man, did that ever make my day. First, I won a prize. Second, the ladies at Katharina's actually read my blog AND recognized me from the picture! That was huge for me. All in all, it was a great show and I received a bunch of new business cards to add to my wedding binder of potentials (and maybe a few too many cake samples).

I kind of feel like an advertisement for Katharina's Bridal, and I love it. Oh, did I mention a friend gave me a 200 dollar gift certificate for Katharina's towards the purchase of a wedding dress? Fate much?

OK, now on to my far-fetched idea of how I'm going to afford a wedding dress. As most of you know, Jacob and I are like everyone else on Prince Edward Island; we don't have thousands to spend on a wedding, and we're really not interested in going into debt for a wedding. To me, debt is for houses and cars and education. This was one of the main reasons why we chose the vintage theme for the wedding; we can have a beautiful wedding with charm and personality without having to spend a lot of money that we don't have. This in mind, I've started a 100 for 10 drive. I'm absolutely shameless. I'm not proud. I'm asking 100 people for $10 so I can get a wedding dress. I've added a donate button to the bottom of this blog, and family and friends have already stepped forward to give me a hand.

That being said, DO NOT feel like you have to give me 10 dollars. The choice is entirely up to you. This is an extremely unconventional method of raising money for a wedding, and I completely understand if people think it's way too 'out there' and maybe a little too presumptuous that I actually know 100 people to give me 10 bucks.

All I have to say for myself is hey, you can't blame a girl for trying.

.

Review: Katharina's Bridal Boutique

I have just returned from the most amazing wedding dress shopping experience I've ever had.

First, let me just say that I was a little anxious to go dress shopping again after my last trip to an establishment on the Island. The lady helping me at the dress shop would only pull dresses that she thought would fit or be big and seemed in an awful rush to shoo me out the door. Unfortunately, the few dresses that fit me well enough that I could try them on seemed to be the wrong kind of old fashioned and a little on the homely side... nothing like I had envisioned myself trying on. I left feeling like finding a dress would be like wrapping a whale in taffeta and tulle and sending it down the aisle.

So yes, I was more than a little nervous walking in to Katharina's Bridal Boutique, but I decided to keep an open mind. I was greeted at the door by Kim, one of their wedding consultants. Her warm and welcoming personality made me feel instantly like I was shopping with an old friend. We walked up to the racks of dresses and I mentioned a few of the characteristics I thought I'd like in a dress. Right away she pulled one off the rack, and I instantly said "that won't fit". Kim then told me something I hadn't heard before; forget about the size of the dress, that's just a number. She told me to try it on and, even though it might not fit, I could see if I liked the look of it. And try on dresses I did!

With help from my soon to be mother-in-law and sister-in-law Doreen and Josie, we picked out a number of dresses I wouldn't have even considered trying on because of the size at the other shop. While I was trying them on, Kim made me feel so confident, telling me which were her favorite dresses, telling me stories and making me feel special. She told me what worked and what didn't; a kind of honesty that seems to be rare.

Because of Kim, Doreen and Josie, I found a dress I fell in love with. I wouldn't have tried it on anywhere else, but it looked stunning. I even got to meet Katharina, who came out and told me the best part: They only sell 3 dresses of one particular style a year. This was the best news I'd heard all day; after all, what bride wants to see her dream dress on 10 other brides on Facebook by the end of the season? I left the boutique with loads of information and even a booklet with a picture of the dress I love in it - even though they only get a few booklets and are supposed to stay in store (thanks, Katharina!).

To wrap it up, the ladies at Katharina's Bridal Boutique made me feel so positive about the whole experience. They were amazingly friendly and outgoing, knowledgeable and made the whole thing so memorable. I can't believe they've been open for a year, and I've just heard about them this week. Thanks, guys!

Info on Katharina's Bridal Boutique:

Facebook group: Katharina's Bridal Boutique

Website: www.katharinasbridalboutique.com

Address: 12 Cedar Street, Summerside PEI

To book an appointment: (902) 724 - 3222

Wedding Nightmares.

For some reason, I've had 3 wedding related dreams this week, and none have been good.

The first dream happened on Friday night. Jacob and I decided that morning to get married that day in some tropical location, and didn't have time to invite all of our friends and family. Doreen and my grandmother were furious, and I remember thinking how much more special it would have been if we would have done everything right.

A few nights ago in my dream, no matter how hard I tried, I could not gather every bridesmaid and groomsmen in one place for long enough to hold the ceremony. It was extremely frustrating.

Last night I dreamed that we had gone all through the ceremony, but I didn't remember any of it. I was sitting in the kitchen of my grandparent's house, and I asked my uncle Doug (who's going to marry us) what time the wedding started, and he said that it already happened. He then diagnosed me with wedding amnesia, and Jacob was so mad that he ran away and cancelled the reception.

I thought these nightmares were supposed to start a little closer to the actual date, not a year and a half before!

Pictures!

Just a quick post to jot down an idea so I won't forget it:

Pictures of our parents on their wedding days in old looking frames.

It would add a lot to the guestbook table and add to the vintage feel.

Kleinfelds.

Jacob, Emile, Krista and myself are making the trek back to NYC this summer to really experience the city... when our boogers aren't frozen to the inside of our noses. When we went for New Years last year, it was phenomenal. There was way too much to see in just 5 days. We didn't even get to see the Statue of Liberty! So we've decided to go back, take a roadtrip in one of our vehicles and head down, maybe check out some sights along the way.

With us actually being able to plan our agendas ahead of time, I've decided to make an appointment to go check out wedding dresses at Kleinfelds. Whether I'll actually get an appointment is questionable, but as far as I can see on the site, if you book at least 4 months ahead you'll have a 1.5 hour slot when you want during the day. I realize this is probably not going to help my budget, but I want to go in and see if they can at least help me narrow down what it is I want in a dress.

Here are a few under 3 grand (ouch) that I like from the site:

Thoughts? They don't tell you the prices on their site, you have to go in and look.

What do you think the chances of one of their amazing clearance sales happening when I'm around are? :S