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So this weekend's wedding planning resulted in us booking our honeymoon!  Both D and I agreed that our top honeymoon destination would have been Europe, but February/March weather was less then appealing, so we decided to postpone a return to Europe and focus on booking a week in the sun. We knew we wanted to check out an island we hadn't visited before and had heard good things about Barbados. We had dreamed of finding a place with it's own private pool but as my search began I realized it might be a luxury outside of our budget. I decided to take a look on VRBO yesterday and found this amazing penthouse unit at the condominiums at The Crane , which is the oldest resort on the island. I had looked at the hotel rates earlier in my research and the rooms with private pools were three times as much, which was way more then we could afford - so when I stumbled across this suite it almost seemed too good to be true!  It will give us the privacy we are looking for, access to the...

As of today, we've been engaged for exactly 5 months and there is 5 months (+3 days) left until our wedding day!  I'm happy to report that we've come a long way since the initial days of planning and have sorted out a good portion of the important details. Invitations:  We're working with Paper & Poste to create our wedding invitations. They've made so many beautiful invitations (just flip through a recent edition of Wedluxe to see some) and when we met with Lexi (co-owner and designer) it felt like we were just chatting and laughing with an old friend. We've come up with a simple and modern design and I can barely wait to hold the finished product in my hands. Food: We recently sat down and chose our menu from a long list of options offered by the Food Dudes . Each and every option sounded incredible, so it was no easy feat. We've booked our tasting for later in October, which I'm expecting to be even more enjoyable than cake tasting! Cake: Speak...

{ photo via 9to5chic } A few months ago, after recently getting engaged I was browsing Pinterest for winter wedding inspiration. The Christmas colors and snowflakes were totally lost on me, but this winter white outfit was right up my alley and matched the aesthetic I had dreamed up in my mind - classic and understated. The sleek skirt paired with a chunky knit sweater was so effortlessly beautiful - I knew I wanted to recreate the look for our rehearsal dinner and have been on the lookout for pieces ever since.  I came across this J.Crew lace skirt and knew instantly it was my own version from the inspiration photo. Spoiler: my wedding dress has zero lace, so the delicate lace feels appropriately fancy and special. I'll continue to look for the perfect knit sweater and feminine heels to pair with it for our final dinner as fiance's in February.  { J.Crew lace pencil skirt } P.S. Shopping tip: I realized after I had purchased the skirt that I had somehow missed a 25% off pro...

We spent this past weekend on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park with two of our best friends who are visiting from Vancouver. I think this marked our third annual weekend together and it is always a summer highlight. We played frisbee golf, swam in the lake, sipped wine by the fire, caught up over amazing cheese platters and went crazy during hour-long dance parties. We came home with very happy, full hearts (oh and full bellies too, after a stop at Webers!). 

{ a beautiful birthday gift sent from my sister in Australia } The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of travel and celebrations. My birthday fell on the Tuesday after our NYC weekend and I was lucky enough to celebrate with a group of great friends over tacos and margaritas at Cafeteria. I was spoiled rotten and was reminded of how birthdays are such a special acknowledgement of how loved I am. We went up to our friends new cabin on Lake Joseph in Muskoka this past weekend and swam tons and caught up around the campfire. I also ate my weight in roasted marshmallows... We had a wedding appointment with a terrific florist this week (who I'm really hoping we get to work with), I went to a Blue Jays game with my co-workers and we caught up with a cousin who was visiting from San Francisco. This weekend we're off to Algonquin Park tonight to spend time with friends visiting from Vancouver! I don't mean to share my life story, but hopefully reminiscing of recent days hel...

{ we stayed at the Warwick Hotel in midtown } So this recap is long overdue, but I thought it would be fun to share a couple of pictures from our recent trip to New York over the long weekend.  The main reason for the trip was to celebrate my cousins recent marriage. We enjoyed dinner at her house on Saturday night, where we sipped on rose and ate shrimps with avocado creme. On Sunday was the main event, when she and her new husband hosted a reception at a local bar, there were yummy finger foods and it was interesting mingling with friends and family.  We enjoyed some wonderful meals at new restaurants, visited an old favorite and made sure to fill up on NYC must-haves (ie. giant bagels and cheesy pizza). We toured around different parts of town - shopped in Soho, walked the Highline in the Meat Packing District and visited the 9/11 memorial in the Financial District.  I think the highlight was winding down Sunday night at the Ace Hotel with cocktails and having fun in t...