The Love Story - Nancy and Joe

By October 1998 I was turning thirty-two and still no prospects in sight. Sure, I had been in relationships, had my share of boyfriends, but still hadn't met Mr. Good Enough! That's why I tried the Tele-personals! And guess what? I met a lot of really nice, normal guys! But I also met THE ONE, Joe, my love, my life. And within 9 months we were engaged, and married a year after that! I don't waste any time..

The Planning

I was an internet Bride! I don't know how anyone gets married without the Net these days - and of course, the Frugal Bride and those Babbling Brides were extremely helpful! I did most of my research on services through the Net, and followed up with meetings, but who has time to go to all those places to check them out?? The resources on the web are amazing, and all the message boards do all the leg work for you! Joe was really great during my Bridezilla phase - he was involved with all the big decisions, and really stepped up towards the end creating all our crafts! I don't know what I'll do with myself that the wedding is over.

Extras - That Personal Touch

I made a lot of crafts and things on my own, and would be happy to share instructions for any of them. I made an envelope box (Michael's $5 hat box covered with handmade paper and silk flowers), my centrepieces (fresh roses and greens with moss in terracotta pots), bombonniere (two candles tied with ribbon with poem card), placecards stamped and embossed with our monogram, scrolls used to show people their table # and when unrolled, had the menu inside, programs for the church (also stamped and embossed), rosemary pew bows, hmmm what else.. Oh yeah, a pen that looked like a flower pot to write in the guest book, which was a plain one I bought at Michaels and had a silver plaque engraved and stuck on the front! I got a little silver dish from Bowrings and had it engraved with our names and date, and put fresh roses in and used it as a cake topper. And all the crafts were pretty easy! Really! People really noticed and appreciated all that I did as well. I started early so that I wasn't totally stressed out and a few ideas I changed toward the end when I thought it might be too stressful.

The Big Day - September 2, 2000

So, when September 2 arrived, I was completely calm and thrilled and excited to be getting married! Finally! I waited a long, long time for that day, and I was so happy to be marrying Joe, such a wonderful man. Here's how the day went..

My sister slept over on Friday night, and we put together the centrepieces and pew bows, and hung out. On Sat. a.m., we went to the church at 9 am and met the florist there to pick up all the flowers. I used Roses Only, and they were wonderful. The arrangements for the church were huge and beautiful and exactly what I wanted, the bouquets were lovely - Roses Only had used the ribbon I provided and they were just like I hoped. The pew bows I made looked lovely in Little Trinity church. The remaining flowers we left in Enoch Turner Schoolhouse (right behind the church) where the reception would be. We dropped off all the centrepieces and other crafts and things so the caterer (Penny Laine's) could have it all to set up later that day. After we went back home, Joe picked up all his family's and groomsmen flowers and dropped off all the other stuff for the caterer - we just missed seeing each other. Apparently he sent a groomsman ahead of time as an advance scout!

My bridesmaids and I had our hair done from about 10:30-12 at the Wave Zone in the beaches. We looked beeootiful! Then we met Cathy (who else) at my house for makeup. She also did my mom who looked fabulous! Cathy was a pleasure to have around, and did a fantastic job on all of us. My photographer and her assistant came to the house (Karen Whylie, booked through Heartline Productions) and took some fabulous candid shots of me getting dressed, and everyone milling around. I was ready early and had a bit of a fit since no one else was, but that's the only nerves I had! I wore a Paloma Blanca dress (which had been altered several times since I lost 30 lbs. between May and September - thank you Weight Watchers!), and my Bridesmaids wore the "Sydney" in pink from Fairweather. Meanwhile, Joe and his groomsmen were getting ready at his parents under the keen camera lens of the videographer (Romantic Memories). Then, of course, it started to rain just before we left..so we did a few pictures on the porch, and tried not to let it bother us. All in all, we were all pretty happy! The limo arrived promptly - I had found one that would just give us a ride to the church without a 3 hr. minimum - Avondale Limo. The driver was fabulous - we ended up sitting outside the church for 15 minutes while he stood in the rain with an umbrella while many of our guests wandered in late. Very rude of them, but it was kind of fun to sit there and watch everyone arrive. Little Trinity is a very simple church, and a beautiful one. The ceremony was lovely, we attend the church and knowing the minister makes the ceremony so much more personal and special. By the time the ceremony was over the rain had stopped. We had made little doily cones and filled them with rose petals for our bridal party to hand out, and as we exited the church with the church bells ringing, everyone tossed the petals at us. It really was lovely! We walked around the corner to the Schoolhouse and had our receiving line there - it didn't take as long as I expected, I think people wanted to get to the bar!

Penny Laine's did our catering, and the food was fantastic! Unfortunately we were doing pictures at that time so we didn't get to try any of the fabulous hors d'oeuvres! But they looked great; smoked salmon platter on the bar, beef satays, spanakopita, chorizo in phyllo, and greek dips on the bar. The cocktail hour looked really fun. The room looked beautiful - Enoch Turner is a really special place and people really enjoyed being in a non-banquet hall type setting. It was also great being the only wedding party.

Our grand entrance to the reception was to "Signed, Sealed, Delivered". For the "kissing game" we had a big vase with a ribbon around it in front of us, and the MC (my sister) announced that people had to make a donation to the Cancer Society to get us to kiss. Both our mother's are cancer survivors and people really appreciated the gesture. The bigger the donation, the bigger the kiss! We actually enjoyed the dinner, and got to eat all of it! We had an antipasto platter with roasted eggplant, peppers, marinated mushrooms, shrimp, calamari, olives, etc. on the tables with the salad, and the "family style" platter really got people talking to each other. Everyone loved that course. The main course was chicken breast stuffed with white asparagus and swiss cheese with hollandaise, roasted new potatoes with rosemary, and julienned root vegetables. It really was delicious and beautifully served. For dessert we had raspberry sorbet in martini glasses with fresh mint, as we were serving the wedding cake with a sweet table later in the evening. Joe is Portuguese and I think his family really enjoyed having a different type of wedding and meal from the usual banquet hall thing. At least, that's what they said! My sister as MC was absolutely perfect - she was funny, sentimental, organized, and gave the reception a feel of organization and lots of love! Being 4 months pregnant, she did it sober too! The speeches were short and sweet and lovely, especially Joe's, when he called me "The Queen of his Soul". That got the tears going. Our first dance was to Etta James "At Last", which we also had played for the cake cutting, followed by "It Must Be Love" a jazzy gospel type dancing song that got everyone up! There was tons of dancing - people really got into the music. The DJ was Mike Chipman from Maximum and he really read the crowd well. My bustle blew at about 10, but I didn't mind by then. My dress was already so filthy it didn't really matter and I didn't really notice. Joe somehow got my garter off without exposing an inch of my leg - he just kind of crawled under the dress and got it with his teeth. I tossed my bouquet and there was a bit of a scuffle, but Joe's cousin got it. Lots of fun! Enoch Turner closes up early, so the last call was at 11:30, and we had our last dance and left at midnight. It was a nice time to end the night, people followed us out and waved goodbye, and we weren't completely exhausted. We stayed at the Cambridge Suites and had a bottle of wine and a cheese plate waiting for us, so we stayed up for a bit and talked about the day. I wouldn't have changed a thing! All our planning paid off, and the day and night went like clockwork. Many of the people said it was the best wedding they had been to! The two families mingled and socialized too, which was kind of unexpected. Our wonderful bridesmaids and groomsmen cleared up what was left at the hall and delivered our presents and keepsakes to our apartment.

The Honeymoon

The next evening we left for the Greek Islands! I had planned the trip to three islands myself, with the help of the Internet and a travel agent in Greece, so I was a little apprehensive about how it would turn out. Everything was perfect! My choice of islands, our timing, even our airport pickups all went as smooth as can be. We visited Naxos, a smaller, more traditional Greek island, then Santorini, then Rhodes. All the islands were a little bit different. We flew between most as it was a lot quick and cheap (and safer it turns out!). Joe and I took 8 rolls of pictures and had a trip we'll never forget. If anyone needs advice on Greece feel free to ask! I think I'm an expert now with all my research!

All in all, the entire wedding experience was fabulous and one I'll never forget. I actually enjoyed our wedding day and had a really good time. Everyone says it goes by in a blur, and maybe because I had heard this so many times, I made sure it didn't. I'll remember every moment of the time spent planning and enjoying the "wedding experience" and highly recommend it.

And we lived happily ever after...