This is the photo that is getting blown up, framed and given to friends and family. The orginal version is a million times better than this blogger shrunken version.

Waiting for the music to start.

Another oddball photo that I like. Although The Misters suit looks like an optical illusion it's a fine hounds tooth. In the cab over to the court house I nervously tugged at the sweet peas in my bouquet but they were stuck in there good so I ended up with stray flowers. I tucked them into the bouquet afterwards.

Because the ceremony was so short we only got through the first 3 songs of our cd....

1. Please, Please, Please(Let Me Get What I Want) String version of the Smiths song.
2. Northern Sky - Nick Drake
3. Time After Time - Dusty Springfield
4. I'm in Love With a Girl - Big Star
5. You Do Something To Me - Paul Weller
6. Never My Love - The Association (seriously check this song out for first dances.)
7. To The End(La Comedie) - Blur

Short and sweet.

The ceremony was short. As in I blinked back some tears and we were married short. She read some things about rights and houses, we held right hands(which was funny because it was like we were shaking on it.) He said "YES! I DO!!" and I replied "Thanks!!" I said the same back to him, we put our rings on and kissed. We signed more things, our witnesses signed things and BAM we were legally bound.
We took photos, we called our parents, we took more photos, we bought some pink champagne and cupcakes and hopped in a horse drawn carriage(something we've never done, too touristy.) and it was perfect. The horse tried to eat my flowers.
Here is one of my favorite photos. I like my photos like I like my men, a bit quirky.

Lets go to court (or my dad's middle name isn't Anne.)

We agreed to not see what the other was wearing. Which would have been easier if we had not been getting ready in the same room! We were going to meet at the court house at 1pm. I arrived back at the hotel at noon. I started my make up. I had brought my false eyelashes, something I'm a pro at putting on, but I hadn't been able to find the regular glue I use and had bought a different brand which was gummy so I decided to abandon them. I got everything else on and did one eye with liquid liner when I decided to look at the time. Some how it was 12:35, my witness was coming to my room at 12:45. Oh and did I mention that Mister was still getting dressed? Right then my body gave me a surge of adrenalin, which unfortunately for me causes me to shake uncontrollably until I work it out, which I couldn't since I couldn't really move from my chair! I wish it was a panic attack I can deal with those so much better!

Ever try putting on liquid liner when you are shaking like a leaf? Yeah, exactly.

My witness came and Mister left and finally I could finish getting ready. We left the room at 1:10.
Court house, up to the 3rd floor. I see the Mister for the first time and he looks amazing, like I knew he would. He always does though. He told me I looked really beautiful and hot.

Then we sat down with our Justice of the Peace, a woman named Nadia who had her two girls there with her that day. A sweet little girl around 6 years old and a girl who was maybe 13.

We looked over our information for mistakes. There was one. They had my dad's middle name down as Anne, the same as my mothers. After clearing that up they popped in our cd and the music started.

hoo

Flowers!

Photo by me, taken in front of the window in our hotel room. Sweet back lighting.

As I mentioned before I always knew I would do my own flowers. For a brief moment where I may have been temporarily insane I had a grand plan of waking up and going to Jean Talon or Atwater market at 7am and strolling around eating a croissant and picking out flowers. Luckily that notion passed and I realised that more than likely I would rather sleep in! Good thing too since we didn't go to bed until 3am the night before!

After taking stock of what was in perfect bloom in my garden I headed out the Friday morning to the local flower markets and bought about 35 dollars worth of flowers all in shades of purple. I got tiny white carnations that were streaked with purple, roses, pom pom dahlias, tiny kale, lisianthus and some filler. I went home cut some more dahlias and sweet peas.
Now if I was a good blogger I would have taken step by step photos...but alas I did not, so instead here is the play by play....

I stripped all the flowers of thorns and leaves, put aside any that were looking a bit sad and then starting with the kale I placed them in my left hand making X's with the stems and turning every now and then until I had what I wanted. Then holding it like a bouquet I decided if I needed to move things or add things and then about 15 minutes after I started I wrapped it in some floral tape, cut all the stems to one length under water and then set it in a vase with some water at the bottom for the trip. I picked tough flowers. Other than the lisianthus and sweet peas all the other flowers could take some beating. I also took along several extra flowers just in case and although I didn't need them I did remove one flower that got the droops during it's trip, since it was near the base it didn't even matter.

The day of the wedding I took them out of the vase, dried the stems with a towel and covered the floral tape with some ribbon that I just tied in a bow. I left the bouquet at the hotel taking only some roses to press at home. Also I'd like to point out that the 35 dollars I spent on flowers from the market gave me enough flowers that I could have easily made 2-3 smaller bouquets after making mine. Instead I threw them in a vase and left them in my kitchen.

As I mentioned before I always knew I was going to do my own flowers. For a brief moment where I may have been completely insane I had this grand plan of getting up at 7am and going to a Marche and just eating a croissant and picking out flowers. Then I regained my sanity and realised that more than anything I'd probably want to sleep in. Which was a good thing because the night before we didn't get to bed until 3am!!

By the time I get back to the hotel it is noon. The Mister and I had agreed not to see each other in our outfits and that we would meet at the court house at 1pm. Except he was still in the room and pretty much fresh out of the shower. So I stood around in the hall waiting for him to put on a robe and hide whatever needed hiding.

Ok so I had an hour to do my makeup and get dressed. Oh and I couldn't look at him. So I parked myself at the desk by the window and started doing my makeup. First I set out everything I needed in the order I needed them and then I started. I made sure not to turn my head to the left. I had grand ideas of putting on fake lashes, which I'm a pro at, but not being able to find my regular eyelash glue I had settled for a different brand and I hated it. It was thick and gummy and after two attempts at getting them on I abandoned them. I also decided that I would wear liquid eyeliner. Something I actually do not wear on a regular basis. I got one eye done and it was perfect but without being able to turn I was having trouble twisting my arm around to my other eye. At that point I looked at the clock. 12:34. I remember thinking "This eyeliner needs to be done in 6 minutes." as my witness was coming at 12:45.

Then I started shaking. Not a great thing to do when applying liquid eyeliner to the difficult eye. I wasn't scared or anxious this was the familiar shake of adrenalin. My heart was pounding and I was shivering in my chair. I managed to ride the surge out but I used up my 6 minutes of eyeliner time. I finished the eye, fixed it and made the other eye match. Phew. My witness came and The Mister left leaving me with 15 minutes to finish up.

We were running a bit late though and didn't get into a cab until 1:10.

Now I don't know if it's because the cabbie thought we were tourists since we were exiting a hotel but OH MY DOG did he drive sloooooow and no matter how many times we repeated the address, in both langauges, he acted like he had no clue what we were saying.

The Montreal court house is a very sterile looking office building. It's very out of character for the area it's set in, which is Old Montreal. We travelled up to the 3rd floor.

Who says you cantelope

So the only thing I didn't get on my list? Cardboard.

See under pressure = results!

I woke up on Friday morning at 7am and after a long breakfast, coffee and dog walk left at around 10am. By noon I had got everything and was sitting in a massage chair getting my nails did. After ruining my nails in record time(seriously does nail polish just not dry until you've messed one up?) I went home and packed, cleaned and made my bouquet.

Our witnesses picked us up and we drove and drove and drove and got to Montreal just before midnight, we would have got there earlier if Google maps hadn't given us the longer route and if we hadn't missed our last cut off. Luckily I know Montreal really, really well and guided our friend onto a faster route than turning around and doubling back to the missed cut off.

The hotel had upgraded us to a King suite which over looked the cathedral, which was so nice. We freshened up, changed clothes and went out for drinks at Le Cheval Blanche which is really cool looking inside, very retro. Surprisingly it was rather empty for a Friday night. We went bed around 3am.

The next day we got up around 9. I had a shower and headed to the hotel salon for my 10am appointment, my stylist was running late, which was fine a few minutes wouldn't ruin anything, I had tons of time. They served me an espresso and I sipped it slowly. She finished the girl she was working on at about 10:20. I switched into her chair and showed her photos and told her I wanted BIG 60's hair, the bigger the better. She started to round brush blow dry it and then about a minute of that asked me if it was ok if she finished another client who was getting colour done. Because I'm such a laid back person I said sure, figuring she was just going to blow her dry.

Nope, she was going to cut her hair and then style it and then the girl would say "oh can you also straighten it a bit?" as the minutes past I got more and more anxious. I hadn't ate breakfast and was already on my second coffee and OH MY GOD I WAS GETTING MARRIED HURRY THE FUCK UP!!!!! Finally she came back to me at 10:55.

She then proceeded to disregard the photos and when I said something she suggested that I just "wait and see, it looks lovely." which is also what she said when her two previous clients also asked for changes. The part I had questioned was the back, where I just wanted sleek and put into a french twist she did something "fun!" to which I replied that I "wasn't really a fun hair type of gal. I want big and 60's"

She finished my hair and then proceeded to spray it solid and I swear to God she purposely sprayed me in the face with hair spray. She wasn't nasty or anything, just the opposite really, and I was in such a good mood that I was letting things slide that I normally wouldn't. My hair took about 15 minutes to do. OH and about 3 minutes into starting my hair she told her manager that she could take a client at 11:30.

My hair was solid as a rock but it looked ok. Also it was $$$ which for 15 minutes of time and being an HOUR late sort of irked me, but I didn't complain at the time because I had a million other things on my mind. Plus it's just hair and I could fix what I didn't like, which in the end meant I ran my fingers through the tops and sides to unsolidify it and my veil hid the "fun" bit at the back. I hadn't wanted to look around for a salon, I wanted somewhere I could just wake up and go to and nothing was closer than in the hotel so really it's no biggie.

I then headed out to find myself some food. I found a turkey and swiss croissant at a Au Pain Dore and walked back to the hotel. It was yummy and I thought "I should get more updo's and eat more turkey swiss croissants while walking around." and then "This is the last bit of food I'll eat before I am married."

More later.

Married

So what did you do over the weekend?

TWO!

Here is my list of things to do:

Shoes
Sephora
Perfume
Spanx
Suitcase
Dye hair.
Clean house
Cardboard
Foot petals
Sort makeup
Laundry
flowers - floral tape
ribbon
Print hair photos

If I didn't work best under tight deadlines then I'd be worried, but I look at my list and think about all the times I've pulled off doing more in less time and am not worried one bit.

I'm super excited because I got some Polaroid film! Thank you hipster oasis that is Urban Outfitters! Sure I paid more than I've ever paid for it in the past...about double. The other night I dusted off my gaggle of cameras I think I'm going to bring my Fed5, SLR, Polaroid and digital. Yes I'm going to bring 4 cameras.

THREE!

Something I don't think I mentioned is that The Mister and I don't know what the other is wearing. Some brides would lose their shizz not knowing what the groom was going to show up in, not me, I can say without a doubt that The Mister will be very well dressed. He has amazing style when it come to clothes, in fact I'd say he's the more stylish one. Also it helps that he's hot, like rock star, woman check him out all the time hot. Sure he's not every ones cup of tea but he sure as hell seems to be a lot of ladies that like his particular blend.

I think he might be wearing brown. Yep that's it, that's all I might know and it's not a confirmed colour just something he mentioned a few weeks back. The only thing I said to him was "you don't have to wear a suit, just dress however you want."

So I'm going shoe shopping today. At first i wanted red shoes, but I think I might get purple. Really I'll just see what's in the shops and go from there. I was coveting some Kate Spades but I think I had a case of "It's my wedding so I should haves" you know, that weird sickness that brides to be get where we can justify anything because gosh darn it's your wedding!
A part of me would LOVE to spend 500 dollars on shoes, and trust me it's a really big part! But the frugalista in me says "but you could spend less and get XYZ as well and haven't you always really wanted XYZ?" it's a constant battle of the Chanel Angel on one shoulder and the Gap Angel on the other. And boy do they fight dirty!

FOUR!

In all my years of visiting Montreal it has never rained. Please go now and knock on wood. I'm looking at that forecast and thinking that Friday rain better stay put! I could deal with a bit few more degrees on the thermometer but 16 is pretty nice still. I'm praying (something I rarely do unless I really, really mean it.) that whatever system(a big L or H) moves swiftly through Montreal the rain is pushed off until Monday. Fingers crossed!

I figured out the dress issue. I spent all last night stuffed into Spanx and trying on every dress in my closet. I then flipped the original dress inside out and took a good look at the seam allowance. I stuffed it in a bag with my dry cleaning and decided if my seamstress could let it out by Thursday then it's sign. Really it only needs maybe an inch total not much.

So I went in and showed them the dress. We all stared at the seams and I held my breath.
It's doable! They can let it out, not by much, by about an inch!!!

I was worried that it would cost me an arm and a leg. It didn't even cost a pinky toe! I pick it up Thursday. Even though I said I wasn't freaking out having them say that it was doable felt like someone told me they could cure gray hair, just something I no longer have to worry about!

I wasn't freaking but I wasn't not freaking if you know what I mean.

FIVE!

What's that? Five days until I get married? Really? Huh! Doesn't seem like that long ago I was just tossing eloping around as an idea. And now? Well the cost of it showed up on my last credit card bill so there's no turning back now!

Most brides to be would be faa-reaking about not having a dress and I'm sure that a part of my brain is working overtime mentally running around shouting "FIRE!!!!" but I seem to have successfully learned to ignore it.

Thing is I know I'll wear something. Maybe it will be the original dress I bought, maybe it will be my Nanette Lepore, maybe it will be the pale blue dress that I've worn once, or the silk floral print dress I saw on the weekend....thing is I'm not going to end up going in my underpants(although the ones I bought a few weeks ago are fancy enough to get married in...)!

I've got options and maybe it's not the dress of my dreams, but my tall order for a perfect dress that was the perfect price just wasn't going to happen. The only way it would happen is if Coren Moore somehow found my blog, took pity on me and sent me her polka dotted Ruby dress via Fed Ex for this Thursday with a 60% discount or more. I mean miracles happen right?

Over the weekend I also figured out how were going to tell our friends and family that we went and got ourselves hitched!

I also decided to include geranium leaves in the flowers. I'm sort of in love with them and since I have tons of them in my garden I'll just bring some along.

Oh and I saw Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers running with some body guards by my work.

Eight days a week!

I'm trying not to stress out but with eight days(we leave in 7) to go I'm dressless, shoeless and eating candy non stop. I may or may not have started my day today with candy and coffee. Maybe.

I do however have a veil. I practically blinded myself making it. I've likened it to sewing fog with invisible thread. I mean if nothing else comes together then at least I have a veil! Oh and flowers I'll have those too and big hair and makeup and rings. I'm just missing the clothes.

One of my BFF's Savs (who sometimes reads this here blog HI!!!!) and I were talking on the phone yesterday and she asked me if I had my something old, new, borrowed, blue and I was all "yeps got it covered!" and then I thought about it more. I have my something old, my Nanny's charm bracelet, I have lots of new, I'm going to wrap something blue around my flowers....but borrowed....I don't have anything borrowed. I can't even remember what any of my married friends had for their borrowed things....I'm guessing jewellery? But I only want to wear my Nanny's bracelet...I do have my ears pierced but borrowed earrings? Isn't that like borrowed mascara?


What can I borrow?

A girl has to eat.

I did so much research into where to go for dinner. I bookmarked reviews, looked for photos and blog postings, read menus and assembled a list.
The Mister emailed a dj friend of his who grew up and lives in Montreal and asked then for recommendations. She came back with one or two and like a dog with a bone The Mister would not even consider any other place except for this one that she mentioned.

L'Express. A Montreal "institution". A place where a trusted critic last reviewed in '05 noting that they served about 400 plates a day and some of those are pre-prepared and microwaved(shudder) but when it became clear than all of my deeply researched restos were not going to even be considered I threw in the towel and told him to go ahead and make reservations, which he did in flawless french.

I'm really, really, really hoping that the food isn't awful. They do serve a big jar of cornichons(baby pickles) when you sit down. Luckily I love cornichons so I could easily fill up on those.
They don't have a website so I can only go by a menu I found on Flickr but it's classic french bistro. I just keep reading review after review that notes about the rudeness of the service and my go to for foodie advice, Chowhound, well...every time a tourist says they are thinking of going there the foodie locals point them in another direction.

Maybe I should just insist on poutine.

When I woke up this morning the Mister turned to me bopped me on the nose(we tap each others noses and go "bop!") and said "Only 15 more days!"

Make it big.

I'm still congested. It's something that happens when I'm sick I stay congested for a good few weeks after. Not fun but at least my nose is no longer bright red and covered in scales. GROSS!

So here I am 16 days from getting married. Yowza!

I have a hair appointment at the hotel salon that morning. Seeing as I've never been there or met the stylist I admit to being a tiny bit anxious. But since I tend to be a wash and wear ponytail type of gal anything will pretty much look better than what I normally look like. I know I want volume, something my hair fine hair does not naturally give me. I know I want big, big hair with some curl or wave? Something like these......

But I'm unsure if I want a half up do, I'm pretty sure the down part would become limp fairly soon after leaving the salon. Also, I don't know why but a full up do feels a bit more...special to me. Something like these...

I'll bring all these photos along so the stylist knows I'm not exaggerating when I say I want BIG hair.

I fought the bra, but the bra won....

Today I went for a proper bra fitting at a lovely little shop called Brava. As I mentioned before The Mister gifted me with a gift certificate so I could "get something hot for our wedding night" so I went in to get fitted. If you haven't been fitted for a bra before I highly suggest you do, you might be surprised to find out that you are wearing the wrong size! The very first fitting I ever had I had been wearing a 36A(this was a very, very long time ago.) when I was sized it turned out that I was actually a 34B. I usually get fitted about once a year. The last time I was fitted was sometime this past winter, I was a 38C.

Today I was told that I was a 36D. Wowza. Shrunk some and gained some! The lovely lady who helped me try on various bras made me feel at ease, which is not always something I feel when a stranger sees me half naked. She brought me an assortment of lovely bras to try on and helped me get in them, you would think that after so many years of bra wearing that you could do it yourself, but alas the put it on backwards, spin it forward and flip it up method was not going to fly when faced with a 200 dollar brassiere. She had me put my arms through the straps and then lean forward so everything would fall (quite literally) into place as she did me up and adjusted things.

Some bras were instantly rejected for just looking odd or doing nothing for my figure. One bra even gave me points! I instantly fell in love with two. One a lilac coloured leaf embroidered number and one that was a sheer blue lacy number. Lilac won. It was close though if they were the exact same price I'd probably still be flipping coins in the change room! Lucky for me though the blue bra was 198 dollars and the matching pantie a mere 98 something that made me blink and wonder if I was seeing things. 98 dollars for one pair of panties? Do they know I can get a 6 pack of cotton Hanes for 10? I can see though how a gal could easily become addicted to wearing pricey lingerie. The fit, material and detail are all so much more better and sexy than the beige run of the mill everyday bras I've been wearing most of my life. Plus knowing that your rocking something exquisite under your clothes is a bit of a thrill!

I also bought a silk negligee, that was 30% off, it's sexy, probably the sexiest thing I'll ever wear to bed. It wasn't really in the budget but heck a married woman needs a negligee!