20 days from now
I will become Mrs. Robin Penner after almost 12 years together. I have most things ready to go and can't wait for "the" day to get here. We did a few things this weekend - order the cake, get the guys' gifts (well we got half of them), confirm with the florist that she has to order the flowers.
I still have a few things to do:
Make seating chart and misc signs
Make sure everyone's dresses fit
Make list of pictures we want taken with everyone
Assemble Centrepieces
Assemble bows
Assemble favors - I got $47 worth of Jellybeans on Friday :-)
My Bachelorette party - Robin's decided not to have one - his choice.
We cancelled the SUV, we decided to use Robin's parents mini-van instead - it will fit everyone better and will save us $250 :-) Bonus.
So we invited 164 people and so far we have 106 coming. I am still waiting to hear from 9 people but I'm guessing they can't make it. So we save $$ there too...Bonus. Not that I don't want everyone to come, but life happens and I understand that.
We had been talking about driving down to california, but we were looking online yesterday and flights/hotel are about 1/2 what we were budgeting for so I think we decided to fly and just take day trips. So my brother flies home Sunday morning (he lives in LA) and we'll get there Monday night. I don't think we'll spend a ton of time with him as he'll be at work...but I'm looking forward to seeing the place he calls home now. :-)
The next few weeks will just fly by...but I'll try to post shortly after the wedding.
Adios.
Our cat...Trouble
So we've had our first cat since he was 6 wks old. We got him from Robin's sister when we lived in Homewood, MB and he was identical to my very first cat ever so I named him the same...Trouble.
He used to follow us when we'd walk the dogs at night - the neighbors thought it was hilarious. He also used to sleep on my pillow at night - mainly when Robin wasn't home...I'll miss him...but no more cats for me!
We first noticed something was wrong on Friday - he wasn't breathing right. By Saturday he was worse and we thought, oh ..this is it. Sunda morning we found him under Tamara's bed and he REALLY wasn't doing good so we called the vet's emergency number. He called us back just after lunchtime and said he'd be home at 2:15 and to bring him in. We kinda figured he wouldn't be coming home, but we held out hope. As soon as the vet saw him, he agreed he wasn't in good condition. He did an exam and listened to his chest and decided that he likely had fluid around his lungs and that's why he was breathing so weird. He said we could take him to Winnipeg and they could drain the fluid but it would just come back. So we made the decision to put him down. The vet said he wouldn't have made the night so we figured why make him suffer?
I thought I'd share some pictures of him throughout the years:
This one was taken at the vet's just before the injection:
R.I.P Trouble
Wedding Update
So we’re 95 days (oh my!!!) away from the Wedding and things are coming along nicely. The guys got fitted for their Tux’s a few weekends ago, I’ve talked to Sobey’s about teh cake and they only need 3 weeks notice so that can wait. We’ve picked out our wedding bands and they're now downstairs waiting for the BIG day.
I’ve been busy with making more stuff…here’s a rundown of what I’ve done so far:
This is a mock-up of our Centerpieces
A view from above the Centerpiece
The Flowergirl Basket
Our names that will be on the Guestbook/Favor table by the door
Our “Tears of Joy” packages of Kleenex
Our initials that are on all the vases
A square vase that will be used somewhere in the hall
Table numbers
Close up of the table numbers
Table signs for Taxi and Hotels
Close up of table signs
The card box my Daddy made us…it turned out bigger than I thought so we’ll fill part of it with flowers
Personalized Water bottles (I made 210 of them and it cost me $45!!)
Another picture of the water bottles
Close up of water bottles
My dress is officially in but I brought it to my friends house because I kept wanting to try it on. :-) We’ll all go in July to get all the dressed fitted.
I think I’m going to move my hair/make-up trial up til June sometime just in case I don’t like what they do.
Next on my list is dance lessons if we want and schedule fittings.
Update
Where to start? lol
The social was last weekend, it was a good time and I think people had a good night. We had somewhere between 75-100 people and we made $1800-1900 so not too shabby. I was just happy to break even. I'll post pictures once I get them from my brother.
For Wedding stuff, I'm looking for wedding bands right now, I booked the Transporation a few weeks ago, this is what we should be getting:
I am cheap..no surprise there. For the same price as this vehicle for 3 days, we could have gotten a limo for 4 hours...hmmm...let me think about that. lol
Next thing we have to do is the cake, we already know we're getting it from Sobey's, but I have to bring her in a picture of the lily we're using. I need to see if she can put in on each individual piece :-) That'd be cool! We've already figured out the ceremony music (or at least I have) and the guys need to get fitted for their tux's by the middle of May.
On another note, I started full time at Granny's Poultry two weeks ago..so far it's good. I'm learning a new system and processes so it's a bit of a learning curve. It's another Mat Leave but such is life. At least it's full time! I felt bad for giving my notice at EG Penner's, but I have to take care of me first and foremost.
Take care and we'll talk to you soon.
Wedding Party
I can't fathom some people having 5+ people for the Wedding Party - per side! To me, that's way too many people and too much potential drama! We're having 3 per side and a flower girl:
Maid of Honor: my friend Carla
Bridesmaid #1: my friend Becky
Bridesmaid #2: my daughter Tamara
Bestman: Robin's friend Marc
Groomsman #1: Robin's cousin Darrell
Groomsman #2: my son Cody
Flowergirl: my daughter Morgan
Here's a picture of the girls:
Morgan isn't actually taller than Tamara but she's wearing 4 inch heels :-)
The guys still have to get fitted for their Tuxes but there isn't a real hurry for that yet.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures :-)
Hmm
Well the Wedding Show was OK - so far I haven't been bombarded with emails yet - I had made up stickers with my name, address and email but I refused to put my phone number. I don't need 400 vendors phoning me non-stop. It was a good day spent with my Bridal Party and then we went out for supper.
On the wedding planning side, I think I'm free and clear of any "deadlines" until the end of February at least and that's only to book the Transportation for the day. I am cheap so I didn't see the need to rent a Limo for 4 hours (minimum) for $250 when I can rent a SUV for 3 days for the same price and therefore don't have to put needless km's on my vehicles. So it's settled, we're renting an SUV and if we end up having to leave the Mennonite Village for some pictures, we'll just drive ourselves.
The Bridal Party's dresses came in on Sunday (YAY!!) and I'm going to pick them up tomorrow. They're a full month early! My dress isn't supposed to be in until April so I'll just keep waiting to get that phone call.
I've been on a bit of a buying spree lately - I found an awesome website (
www.efavormart.com) and they had burgundy lillies (silk ones of course) as well as white so I bought 13 bunches of each as well as silk table runners and silk ivy garland. I'll use the garland for the head tables and the guestbook table and such. I'll post a picture once I've added some flowers to it. Just from that one site I spent $160 but I think it was well worth it. I tried to make my own pew bows - umm, not as easy at the ladies on youtube make it look. :-( So I found some fairly cheap ones on ebay (just under $2 each) and so I bought those - they'll also double for hall decorations. I'm going to consciously try not to spend anymore money on decorations and such - I've probably gone over board already.
We've decided not to do a bouquet toss or the garter because we don't have that many single friends anymore. So instead we're going to give the bouquet to my grandmother (she's the only grandparent left on either side) and the centrepieces will be given to the couple from each table that's been married the longest. It took some convincing for me to want to give my centrepieces away, because I've put so much thought into making them look nice...but whatever. It'll be a few years before I would have used them again anyway. My hope is to take a Wedding Planner course (or two or three) and start a business doing that. :-) I think I'd be good at it.
I think that's all for now...take care and keep warm
231 Days
I've accomplished a lot of Wedding stuff so far. I'm looking forward to getting some idea's at the Wonderful Wedding Show in Winnipeg next weekend. It takes up TWO floors at the Convention Centre - here's the link to it if anyone wants to look.
www.wonderfulweddingshow.comHere's the list of things done and still to be done for the wedding:
Done:
Booked ceremony/reception location
Booked photographer
Booked Officiant
Booked DJ
Guest list is complete (I hope)
Ordered my dress
Talked to the florist
Wedding Party is decided on and asked
Invitations are done and waiting to be mailed
Programs are done
Favors are done
Booked Caterer
Bridesmaids/Maid of Honor's dresses ordered
Accessories are bought
Registered at Sears
Centerpieces are bought
Booked Linens, backdrop, etc
Still to do:
Decide on Rehearsal dinner location
Book hair and make-up trials
Get guys fitted for tux's
Rings are selected but not ordered
Reserve a block of rooms at a hotel
Order Cake
Alterations for dresses (if anyone knows who I could use that is good but inexpensive - let me know!)
Book Transportation (we're just renting an SUV instead of a Limo)
Marriage License
Make list of pictures we want for photographer
Find great gifts for Wedding party (give me some ideas please!!)
million little things I'm sure :-)
Anything I'm missing? Post a comment with your ideas and suggestions
Do-it-yourself stuff
I decided to make my own Invitations, RSVP cards and Ceremony Programs for the Wedding. Here are some pictures of the Invitations & RSVP cards.
Hope you like them :-)
247 Days
The Wedding is 247 days away and I've gotten alot done so far.
Wedding Invitations are done (but not mailed)
DJ's are going to be booked as of next week (just waiting on the contracts)
Linens, etc have been booked
Not much left to do until the Social - then things start to ramp up again.
On the gym note, we've been going every two days and things are going OK. I'm noticing I'm building muscle and I'm just waiting for the lbs to start dropping. :-)
Have a Merry Christmas everyone!
I think I can...I think I can
So...
I (and my daughter) joined a local gym. Yay us! :-) Looking at our Engagement Pictures, I realized I hate the way I look physically. I thought what better reason to loose weight than for the wedding? So....
My goal is 65lbs in 7 mths which I think is very do-able if I keep eating smaller portions (which I've been doing for a week now) and working out 3-4 times a week.
We went last night just to try it out and just did cardio stuff like treadmill, eliptical trainer and biking. Tonight we had an appt with on of the Trainers and we did weights, sit-ups, treadmill, eliptical trainer, biking and I also tried jogging. I'll be lucky if I can move tomorrow but hopefully that will get better.
I'll keep you posted on how it's going. For now, I better get in the shower - the dogs won't even come near me! LOL
270 Days to go
til the Wedding... 110 til the Social - as of this past Saturday it's 40 weeks. For you mothers out there, if you had gotten pregnant on Saturday...you'd probably have the baby on or very close to my Wedding. :-)
So far I've done:
Bought my dress
Bought the bridal party's dresses
Booked the Ceremony & Reception locations
Booked a Photographer and had some Engagement Pictures done
Engagement Ring is bought
Registered at Sears for their Wedding Registry
Veil, tiara and shoes are bought
Reception Centrepieces are bought
Wedding Favors are bought
Ring pillow and flowergirl basket are bought
Ushers are picked
Tux's are booked
Groomsmen & Best man have been asked
Still have to do:
Book Caterer
Book DJ
thousands of other things still need to be done
For the social I've done:
Booked venue
Bought/collected silent auction donations
Still looking for silent auction donationsHave to create a schedule for tables, etc
If you know of anyone that would like to donate any items, please let me know. :-)
Thanks!!
Unwelcome changes
For those of you who aren't on Facebook - I was laid off from Loewen on September 30th. :-( I definitely wasn't expecting it but wasn't surprised. So in addition to planning the wedding, now I'm also looking for a job and it's quite stressful. I had an interview last week and I have another one tomorrow but it's only for a part time position and I really need full time. I'm hoping I get the one from last week.
For the wedding, I've already done lots of things. So far I have:
Bought and paid for my Wedding dress
Booked the Ceremony & Reception location
Booked the Photographer
Made the Invitations/RSVP's
Have the Guest List pretty much finalized
Wedding Favor's are 90% done - we're filling them with Jelli Beans so we'll wait until a few weeks before the wedding before we fill them.
Reception Centerpieces are 90% bought - just have to find another 35 silk White Lily's from Dollarama :-)
Deposit has been paid for the guys' Tux's
Social Venue is booked (let me know if you want tickets)
I have emailed the DJ we want to use, just waiting to hear back from them
Engagement pictures are being taken on Sunday
Think that's it for now :-) Anything I'm missing? LOL
Wow!
For those of you who don't know, I am deeply involved with the ATV Association of Manitoba (
http://www.atvmb.ca/) and recently was planning a Social for us. It was on Sept 12 at the West St. Paul Rec Centre and I had a good time. I was run off my feet though. :-)
After we drew the Silent Auction tickets, introduced the Board Members that were in attendance and then thanked everyone for coming. Then Robin took over the Microphone (for reasons I now know..lol). He started by saying that we had missed a prize and I thought, what? I thought we had gotten them all. He went on to say only my ticket was in the bag so I was the automatic winner. Then he got down on one knee and asked if I'd marry him...Oh My Gosh! I said Yes of course. :-) February will be 11 years for us...some would say it's about time. :-)
Here's a picture of my ring...I had to bring it in today to get it sized so hopefully it's done by the time I get home next week.
I am off to Quebec on Wednesday until Monday. It's for the ATV Council of Canada's AGM and I'm looking forward to it. :-)
Au revoir mes amis.
Where did the time go?
Yikes! Sorry I haven't posted since the day before my birthday!
What have I been doing you may ask? Let's see... since I lasted posted, I've celebrated my 32nd Birthday...been a big part of creating the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Manitoba (I am now the Treasurer as well as their part-time Admin Assistant)...I've gone to a Kenny Chesney Concert in Fargo...spent a LOT of time ATVing (I think I've put almost 1,000km's on my quad this year alone!)...hmmm...what else have I been up to? lol
My girls have been at their Dad's since July 17th - they are there until August 3rd. My son has been working in Alberta with his Grandparent's company since two days after school ended. He's hoping to save up enough to buy a car. :-) I've been enjoying my time alone - I don't think Robin understands that I need some quiet time. He spends his days driving alone and so when he's home, he looks forward to spending time with me and the kids. I'm the complete opposite...I spend my time with the kids, dogs, etc and so I enjoy as much quiet time as I can get.
Our car was stolen June 5th from in front of the house - Robin left the keys in it :-( They found it 5 wks later 3 blocks away...we've been back and forth with them for 3 wks and got the final word today that they're writing it off - which I'm OK with because once they've driven the heck out of it ...I don't want it back. We paid $3,000 for it and we've driven it for two and a half years....put about 60,000km's on it and we are getting $3,950 minus our $500 deductible and GST so we're walking away with about $3,300...good deal for us. We're hoping to get a pick-up truck that our friend's work is selling for fairly cheap. It's a 2005 F150 pick-up truck with 97,000km's on it - they're only asking $7,500!! I'll be very happy if we get it.
This past weekend we headed to a friend's area to go ATVing... day started out great. Sun, good company but came to a screeching halt. We arrived at the Balmoral Sandpits to find a truck in one of the water filled pits. Another group of ATVers had got there minutes before us and found a little boy clinging to the truck. We got the boy on dry ground, wrapped him in a jacket to warm up - even in the +27 temperature, he was soaking wet and shivering. His step-dad and little brother didn't make it. :-( Dad was driving in and out of the pits and couldn't stop in time so they ended up driving into the deeper of the pits. Who knows what happened from that point on. :-( Very sad day.
Following this post, I'll create a post of pictures. :-)
Take care and stay safe.
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Here is what I needed for the Ceremony Program and then some pictures of the final product. 
