What a year...

for weddings. My wedding. Now my brother's wedding. Friend's of friends weddings (I've seen announced on Facebook). Must be a lucky year:)

Today we travel from Scarborough to Richmond Hill. We pick up Baba and keep on truckin' all the way to Huntville. I have never been, but my parents and Brother say it is just gorgeous. Low population. Beautiful landscape. Almost makes me want to move there...until I remember Ontario winters. Toronto's snow is bad enough for me. If I were up north in the winter I would be a shut-in. And that's just depressing.

Anyway, my brother marries his intended today. Since my wedding a question has been going thru my mind.

"Is it better for a couple to live together before marriage? Or should they wait until its legal?"

Of course it is a personal opinion type question. I'm just curious. My hubby and I lived together then got married (we had already intended on marriage, we just waited for the right time). My brother and his bride are officially moving in tonight after their wedding. Of course this way might make the wedding night more exciting ;)

What do you think? Is it better for a couple to live together before marriage? Or should they wait until its legal?

My (Frugal) Wedding

While preparing for my wedding this past May, I realized how expensive it can be to put on. I vowed to keep it quaint and not start our marriage in debt.

Of course there are the usual expenses that you can't get around if you want things legal. The Marriage License in Ontario costs $130. The officiant we hired cost $300, which seemed to be the average price when I researched online.

We had the ceremony and reception at my in-laws house. We limited the guest list to include parents, siblings, grandparents and aunts and uncles. Very few friends, but we had a few in there.

My mom was the Matron of Honour. She bought her dress at Value Village. Value Village is a great starting place for formal wear, even wedding gowns. I mean how often have these dresses really been worn? Do you want to spend $100 - $1000? Or $10 - 100?

I did splurge on my dress. But even that was only around $300.


My groom bought his suit jacket, shirt and tie at Value Village for about $50. Pants from Walmart for about $20. Handsome groom = Priceless!!!

Wedding favors and DIY invitations from the dollar store. I think they turned out great. And we probably saved at least $200.


The food was taken care of by my Baba and Uncle. Roast beef and Chicken in White sauce. Guest could have both if they wanted. And everyone seemed to enjoy the food!! This was their gift to me.

Booze and drinks were taken care of by my mother in-law and my mom.

Originally, I was going to make the wedding cake myself. Then I realized it has been years since I've made a cake. And to get it beautiful would be REALLY stressful for me. So, we bought these cakes at a local bakery. It was actually in the display window when I first went to the bakery to ask about wedding cakes. I saw it and made my decision right away. Two cakes for around $100. Vanilla with custard filling. Delish!!!


The photography was gifted to us by my Wonderful Aunt M and my hubby's Aunt S. I'm still waiting for the bulk of the photos to be edited. It's rumoured that each photographer took about 700 photos each. I might be waiting awhile - LOL.

Our Honeymoon was in Niagara Falls. Since my hubby and I usally don't work at the beginning of the week we booked a room starting on Sunday and we got a deal for booking it online.

I estimate that the whole wedding/reception and even including the honeymoon cost about $3000. Not bad at all considering I've heard of some taking out mortgages to pay for their &100000 weddings - Fools!! Or maybe I'm just lucky to have so many talented and generous people in my life.

Zip....

Time is flying as usual. The wedding went as planned in May. The weather even cooperated nicely. We've now been married 2 months (tomorrow, to be precise). Yipee for us! Hey and we still want to be married to each other - another bonus LOL.

Summer is zipping passed me again. We have gone to the Science Center a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't been there since I was little, on a field trip with my school. It was pretty interesting. I found out that my Hubby can tell when I lie. And that he is full of water (and I thought it was something else??!!!!).

The thing that troubled me at the Science Center were the kids. Don't get me wrong - Kids are normally great. However, a lot of these kids have no manners or respect for people around them. My Hubby and I would be checking out an exhibit and a kid would come flying over and push his way in, therefore pushing us out. If I had ever done anything like that when I was little my parents would have told me off (or worse - but parents don't spank anymore, do they?). Possibly even made me apologize to the people I had pushed (despite age). But these kids - I didn't even see their parents. I do know that their are good kids out there...I just wish there were more of them.

Anyway, I was driven into the rainforest.




Next planned destination : Huntsville for my brother's wedding, then The Royal Ontario Museum with mumsy and Hubby.