We're finally getting close to having our venues nailed down! I got a response from the pastor of Faith Lutheran church yesterday, saying that yes, he and the church are available for our date and a rehearsal, but he thinks the wine box ceremony  and the song we were going to have M sing during the signing are better suited for the rehearsal than the church ceremony. I brought this up to K over our lovely dinner out tonight (tried a new Asian restaurant with meat and vegan options--fantastic!), and asked if we should consider a different church, but he says he really likes this pastor and wants to be married in this church. I'm totally cool with that! We will just rethink our ceremony and reception program.

On the reception front, we went to our favourite vegan restaurant the other day for lunch. The restaurant was really quiet, so we were able to talk to the owner and get more info about saving the date, deposit, and numbers. We also reiterated (after sharing a slice for dessert) that we definitely want a cheese cake wedding cake! 

Saturday morning, bright and early, K, K's parents, my brother (R), and I all packed into K's parents' car for a 5 hour drive north to my parents' house. We had a nice relaxed afternoon and evening, visiting with my Grandma and stuffing ourselves with her cookies and perogies. 

On Sunday, K and I attended the service at our favourite church from our short list: Faith Lutheran. The service was very nice, and again, we were very impressed with the look of the sanctuary. The pastor is from Guatemala, and thus speaks Spanish, and his son is one of R's good friends from soccer! We had a good chat with him. I've sent him a follow-up e-mail with more questions, so we'll see what happens!

Church, of course, was followed by a huge Thanksgiving feast! We left after breakfast on Monday morning and got back in time to get some homework done before resuming regular life on Tuesday--including an hour at the gym to burn off some of the weekend's indulgences!

Looking at my checklist on The Knot gets a little intimidating sometimes, so I thought today I would focus on what we have already accomplished:

1. K proposed. With a ring. This engagement ring came with a wedding band, so now K just has to not lose my band, and I just have to buy him one...
2. We settled on a date, with the help of family and friends. It just so happens that it's exactly 11 months after the date of our engagement!
3. I picked our wedding colours and have K almost convinced of how awesome they will be.
4. We picked our bridal party. My four siblings and K's brother were easy, K asked A last week, and KT last night! He will ask D the next time he sees him.
5. We decided on a general location (i.e. the city) for our ceremony and reception. 
6. We researched and confirmed where we want to have our reception, though the details and contract are still to come.
7. I went wedding dress shopping with my mom, MOH, and FMIL, which was a good starting point as...
8. I did a bit of research and found a dress maker. After e-mailing back and forth a few times, I met with her, saw sketches, gave a deposit, and will be trying on a mock-up dress (in cheap fabric) hopefully sometime this month!
9. I started looking at attire for K and the rest of the BP.
10. We sent many e-mail inquiries, searched for pics online, received recommendations from friends and family, and finally narrowed down our list of churches to about seven that we visited last weekend. Of those, four made our "short list." I am in contact with these churches now, hoping to set up meetings with pastors next weekend.
11. We started our guest list, and hopefully we will get this finalized next weekend, since both sets of parents will be together for Thanksgiving.
12. We had engagement pics done last weekend with our FABULOUS photographer, who is now booked!

Not too shabby, huh?

So I started this site on Friday, and I have already spent way too much time on it! I feel like it's worth it, though, even if nobody else reads it, because it's a place to collect my thoughts and ideas and inspirational pics. It's a self-organizing thing. :)