photos by josh dookhie.

A few nights before the wedding, I was in the garage until 3 AM, organizing and labeling all our boxes of stuff for the wedding. I worried about how this was going to all come together. Was it going to look like a garage sale? Would it have a cohesive look? Would all our hours of hard work be worth it?

Well, I worried for naught. The reception was crafty, magical, and beautiful. It was like a huge, wonderful dinner party with all our very best friends and family. We ate delicious food, laughed so hard during speeches, and danced up a storm during the crazy dance party.

I remember sitting at our little table for two (pictured above) right after we finished dinner and thinking, "I need to remember all of this. Every little detail. This is exactly what we wanted!" It was just so dream-like.

So, I am so excited to share this all with you. First, I'll explain some details, and then I'll show you heaps & heaps of photos of our favourite evening ever.

First up, our amazing seating chart. We came up with the idea together, but Mike executed the idea perfectly all by himself. Here's how it worked:

We collected over 25 different brass animals (from thrift stores and garage sales). It was quite the treasure hunt all summer. But we did it! We had an owl, a swan, a duck, a horse, a lion, and a snail to name just a few. Each table had a brass animal on it. To find out where you sat, you looked for your name (listed alphabetically) on the seating chart. As you can see, each name card also has a hand-drawn (by Mike) animal on it. You then had to go and find the brass animal that matched the drawing on your place card.

Mike tied each of the namecards to a old wire gate that came from my grandparents farm in Iowa. My grandma was just bewildered that we wanted to use her old "farm junk" at our wedding. We actually ended up using quite a few items from the farm!

Mike (ever the electrician) also hooked up some cool lights to that chart so that it was perfectly illuminated!

Quite a few people told me that doing my own flowers would be too stressful. So I decided to compromise and have a florist do my bouquet and the boutonnières. I wanted to do the vases on the table myself, so we got those flowers from her supplier.

We got all the flowers from the florist on the Thursday before the wedding and stored them in buckets of water in my in-laws crazy cold basement. Friday morning, a bunch of us ladies got together and put all the bouquets together. I had chosen a variety of white, yellow, and green flowers.

After all the vases were filled, we stored them again in the basement until Saturday around one. Some family brought them over to the church and set them out on the tables before the ceremony. Each table had about three or four little vases on it. It just looked so pretty!

My friends and I love baking, so I knew that I absolutely didn't want to pay someone else to do it. My friends graciously helped me bake up a storm the Wednesday before the wedding. My sister-in-law also made three beautiful cakes and dozens of cupcakes. We stored all desserts in fridges and freezers at our place. In between the ceremony and reception, my friends drove to our place and grabbed all the desserts and set them up.

Mike made fantastic labels for each of the desserts. I made the little cupcake toppers and the cake bunting.

We hauled in three pieces of furniture for the dessert "table". My mom helped paint the two dressers white. My mom also collected over a hundred vintage plates and forks.   This gives you a bit of an idea of what they looked like all together.

It was mighty tricky estimating how many desserts we needed, but I think it turned out well! Almost everything was polished off! Always a good sign :)

That's it for details. If you have questions about anything else, just ask in a comment & I'll respond there.

Thank you so much for sticking through all these wedding posts and for leaving such lovely, kind comments. You all are so kind!!

xoxo

 

photos by josh dookhie

We drove outside the city and took photos in, around, and on top of (!) enormous cement cylinders. Who knows why they are there, but they're sort of beautiful in a weird way.

On another note, I love that Mister so much. Even more than I did on our wedding day.

Tomorrow - reception!

photos by josh dookhie

My love and I got married on the second floor of a historic building in Winnipeg's Exchange District. It has beautiful hardwood floors, huge windows, and black ceilings. It may look like a hip art gallery, but is actually a really cool church. We couldn't have been happier with the space! However, it was a rather unconventional wedding venue, so there were a few bumps along the way...

My friends Randi and Rosie did my make-up and nails at my mom's house. I read a little handmade card that Mike gave me that morning at breakfast. I got zipped into a pretty dress, and met my husband-to-be under a big, beautiful tree.

Little memories that are not captured by these photos: A few days before the wedding, walking around the park that I went to almost daily as a child and picking this tree as the first look spot. The hook and eye breaking on my dress and my sister-in-law to the rescue with a needle and thread (had to text Mike and tell him to hang tight under that big, beautiful tree!) Having trouble walking through the grass in my high heels and heavy dress. The butterflies in my stomach as I walked up to Mike....

Tomorrow: Ceremony!

photos by josh dookhie

The morning of our wedding was a bit different than most. Since I didn't have to get my hair done at a salon (woo pixie cut!) and we didn't have a wedding party, we had some free time in the morning. We decided to spend that extra time with our families.

We all went out to breakfast and then took some casual family photos. Family photos often tend to be a bit rushed in between the ceremony and reception, so we decided to block off some time for them, go to a cool location, and use fun heart shaped balloons. We didn't want to be in our wedding formal wear for the breakfast and family photos, so I hunted high and low for a pretty, white sundress.

It was also nice to take some casual photos of just us. We never got engagement photos done, so I'm just thrilled to have these!

Tomorrow - getting ready photos & first look!

We are so so happy to be able to start sharing our wedding photos with you! It's been so fun to look at the photos and re-live the day. 

Check back here on Monday (and every day next week!) if you're into huge photo-heavy wedding posts! ;)

(all photobooth images available here)

We're married! It was beautiful, hilarious, laid back, and the happiest day of our lives. But we are more than ready to say good-bye to wedding to-do lists and hello to Hawaii this evening! While out there, we'll be taking a facebook/blogger/twitter two week break, so we'll see you on the flip side, friends!

Love, Mike & Janis

*Check out a few wedding instagrams on my twitter.

Yes that's me there in the corner - hightailing it out of the photo, just a little too late.

Mike, in kindness and good faith, let me assist him at my cousin's wedding this past weekend. I mostly tried to stay out of the way (occasionally failing, as the above photo bears witness), fix Kristin's dress, marvel at Mike as he perfectly executed the photoshoot portion of the day (read = extremely attractive), and carry bags and coats. I did manage to snap some photos as well, of which Mike was highly complimentary. (Seriously, that man is just the nicest!)

The wedding was gorgeous, colourful, and crazily creative. Thanks for setting the bar so high for mine, dear cousin! ;) These two lovebirds have been dating forever so it was awfully nice to see them make it official.

There were some additional fun twists to the weekend which included somehow getting my seatbelt twisted around my waist. I got completely stuck, laughed hysterically until I cried and a convenience store employee had to use a wrench to undo the seatbelt.

I also chipped my tooth last night as I was tickling and playing with my niece and nephew. Never chipped a tooth in my life, so why not do it less than two weeks before they wedding?! It's not a huge trip, but it will unfortunately will be bit of a tricky fix.

In an effort to make me feel better, Mike commented that we can now go by "chipped tooth" and "snaggletooth" - an attractive combo, n'est-ce pas?

Here's a little peak at some of the wedding décor projects we've been working on. I want to show even more, but I feel like I should demonstrate a little restraint!

My friends have been so lovely, helpful, and amazingly generous with their time throughout this whole process. For various reasons, we chose not to have a wedding party. The decision has simplified things in a lot of ways (don't have to worry about bridesmaid dresses! or flowers! or awkward group photos with twelve people!) but I was a bit worried that I would be stranded doing a million of DIY projects alone. My friends have jumped in with no hesitation - title or no title, they just want to help. I could almost cry just thinking about it. Seriously, so grateful.

Thank you friends!

I'm so excited to finally share our wedding invitations! Due to the untimely Canada Post strike, I'm not sure if all our friends & family out of province have received them, but I couldn't wait any longer!

It took us awhile to decide on a design. Turns out, it's quite tricky to decide on something when both of you care so much about it. But with a little compromising and a bit of tweaking, Mike designed one that we both absolutely loved.

Mike gets complete credit for the invitations. He designed every little detail on these invitations and spent hours printing, cutting, trimming, typing address labels on the typewriter, tying bows, stamping etc. I fell more in love with him every minute.

If you want to see the adorable wedding website he whipped up, look here.

If you'd fancy reading some FAQs on a Monday morning, look here.

If you'd like to check out a magazine project that I'm so honoured to be a part of, look here.

On Sunday evening, I took a walk around the neighbourhood, camera in hand. It has been so sunny and warm lately, I really ought to be out there every single chance I get. The evening stroll was a good chance to think and pray about things. It occurred to me that I'll never have a summer like this again - engaged to be married and planning a wedding. It's so busy but also awfully special.

*More photos here.
*Don't forget to enter the Pressedpetal giveaway. You have until Friday!

This past week, Mike & I booked our plane tickets to Hawaii for our honeymoon! Neither of us have ever been & we are deliriously excited. We plan to be on the island of Oahu for 4-5 days (Honolulu, Waikiki, the North Shore) and then on the island of Maui for about 10 days (road to Hana and then the west coast, most likely staying in Kihei & Lahaina).

Honeymoon planning has been a welcome diversion this semester. I've already devoured Lonely Planet: Maui and Lonely Planet: Oahu and pestered Kylie quite a bit (she has been extremely helpful!). We have a tentative itinerary plotted out, but we would love to hear any suggestions you might have. Places to visit, spots to avoid, where to stay, where to eat... anything!

Thanks so much!
 
*Postcard seen here. Design by Mike.

save the date.

Mike and I went back and forth on save the date ideas several times. I haven't actually ever received a save the date (is it more an American thing than Canadian?) but since we have quite a few out of town family and friends that are invited, we thought it would be nice to send them out.

We attempted to take a photo for the save the date on the coldest, windiest Saturday of the year. Our lovely helium balloons kept blowing in our faces and we looked grumpy and frozen. Since we didn't want to actually deter people from coming, we scrapped that idea entirely and bought a heap of vintage postcards. We accidentally bought twice as many as we should have (bought one for each person invited, forgetting about couples and families) but luckily they're a nice thing to have sitting out on a coffee table.

It was sure nice to get these mailed off, but the to-do list seems never ending...

white wedding flowers.

a few people have asked me if i'm going to be sharing about my wedding planning on the blog. i want to, of course, but i also want to keep things a surprise for all my friends and family who read my blog. so i will every once and awhile, and then talk about it way too much after the wedding is done!

as i briefly mentioned in this post, mike and i are collecting all things old for the wedding - brass animals, jars, books, cameras, doilies, candlesticks, trunks, and crates. as of right now, boxes of these treasures are taking over half of mike's room. it's going to be pretty funny to see the state of things come august.

i've decided something we need to do (soon!) is take an inventory of everything we have and better organize our items. it is a distinct possibility that i might buy three times more vases and bottles than we actually need. they're all just so lovely! and inexpensive!

which brings me to what we're going to put in all these old jars and vases - the flowers. i was showing mike some pictures i had come across on wedding blogs when he stopped me at this one. why not just a bunch of different white flowers?, he suggested. a perfect, simple, gorgeous idea. we've since decided that we're going to add some green to this mix (like green mums and bells of ireland). a friend of my mom is a retired florist, so she is going to make my bouquet, mike's boutonniere, and our moms' corsages. she is going to simply supply the rest of the flowers, and we will do all the arranging. any tips or advice in this department is more than welcome. it's tough figuring out the logistics of when to do them in order to maximize freshness...

i think i am honestly more excited for the flowers than anything else (besides marrying my best friend - just to be clear). now just about anytime i buy flowers, i buy white ones and try arranging them in some of our jars. and then i fall in love with the idea all over again...

i think the photos convey its loveliness without me going on about it.
absolute perfection. (thanks mike!)

ring by satomi kawakita.

{proposal story: text + photos}

a little while ago, mike and i both independently came across the genius that is jeweler satomi kawakita. we also both fell in love with her brown diamond engagement ring. however, her shop was closing for awhile (so that she could get married in japan!) and mike had informed me that a ring was simply not in the budget for awhile. i pestered him a bit, but then finally believed him.

at the beginning of january, we had decided that we should go  to the neighbourhood café on january 10th to celebrate the one year anniversary of our first nine hour date there. to be honest, i briefly considered that mike might propose that evening - but then i reminded myself that the shop was closed and mike didn't have money for the ring. so i forced myself to put it out of my mind!

i got home from work around 5.30 pm, relaxed a bit, read some blogs and then started on homework. mike had told me he was working till about 7.30, so i told him i would be at his house around 7.45. unfortunately, i got a little involved in my homework (so nerdy!), and texted him at 7:55 that i would be leaving shortly!

i got to his house around 8.20 and we walked over to the café (about a one minute walk from his house). we started playing scrabble - a game we both love dearly and that he beats me at, every single time. however, that evening seemed to be different - i was slaughtering him! the last score count was 181 - 82... i couldn't believe my good luck!

at one point, mike went to grab us some waters. then mike said he needed to exchange his tiles, since all his letters were rubbish. unbeknownst to me, he purposely dropped one so that he could exchange his tiles with tiles that were in his cardigan pocket. at this point, he started fumbling nervously, and i realized that he just might propose any second. my heart started beating really crazy and i very concentratedly texted someone (i can't even remember who).

mike finished up what he was working on, and said, "hey jan, look at this!" he turned the board towards me, and spelled out, in tiles, was the query, "WILL YOU?"

i lept up and said, "OF COURSE!"

at that point, the lights suddenly went off in the café. instantaneously, everyone in the café lit sparklers. i could not believe it! then i glanced up and saw my friends krista and kevin video-taping and taking pictures of the event. i did not understand how on earth they were there!

mike got down on one knee and proposed. everyone in the café cheered and suddenly our families started streaming into the café. it turns out they had been watching from across the street in mike's dad's SUV. mike's dad had also been documenting the event with a big old paparazzi lens on his camera!

from left - right kevin, krista, sarah (mike's sister), dan (sarah's bf), mike, juergen (mike's dad), me, janni (mike's mom), my mom

it was absolutely surreal and completely perfect! 

some of you may be wondering how the sparklers were dispersed: mike had gone by the café earlier and talked to the girl working. she happily agreed to turn off the lights soon after he got us some waters. he also went to each table, handing out sparklers and lighters. mike explained that he was going to propose to his girlfriend and asked if they would mind lighting a sparkler once the lights turned off. everyone was super stoked on the idea (although one woman asked him if he was sure that i would say yes! ha!). after mike received my text informing him that I would be by his house around 7.45, he ran back to the café and told everyone that it would be happening around 8. unfortunately, i made everyone wait around as i took my sweet time getting to his house! whoops! but everyone graciously waited at the café, sparklers hidden!

my friends krista and kevin had gone to the café to save us the table right by the window. they then hid themselves in the corner. i can't believe that i didn't see them when i came in! i walked right by them! so sneaky!

so there's the story - more lovely than i could have ever asked for! thank you mike!!

post-script: mike claims that the only reason why i was slaughtering him at scrabble was because his mind was elsewhere.... sigh. slightly takes away from my victory!

*see proposal video here. thank you for all your kind words about it! you're all so sweet!

{proposal story: video}

two peas. from Janis RoseAnne on Vimeo.

here is part one of the proposal story. text + photos coming tomorrow. promise! 

(i've been honestly feeling so guilty that i haven't posted it yet. school and work have just been crazy. 

but better late than never?)

xo

song: sweet pea by amos lee.

will you? OF COURSE!

He proposed! I said OF COURSE!
(a slight twist on the usual "yes" -  i like to keep it fresh!)

*detailed proposal story (absolutely swoon-worthy!) and ring photos to come!*