Happy New Year!!!!!

What a year it has been and what a year to come!!! 2010 was the best year ever!!! This year has been a whirlwind of love and romance and I just know that the rest of my years will be the same!
I wish you all a very happy new year, may it be filled with love, happiness and time with family! I’m grateful to God for filling my heart so much this year. I’m ready for whatever is next, but I am very happy right here!

All the best in 2011!!!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I have SO many things to be thankful for, especially this year. My life is extraodinary. Thank you God for all of my blessings!!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!



J'adore this tree...can you imagine???



Everything's coming up roses

What is so nice about being close(r) to the wedding date is that things are really starting to come to fruition....in the beginning it was quite overwhelming with SO MANY different ideas and visions dancing in my head.

As we get closer, it is so nice that things are being finalized and don't seem so scattered any more...the HUNDREDS (and yes, when I say hundreds, I literally mean hundreds) of magazine clippings I had ripped out, all of the pictures I had saved on my laptop for inspiration are wittled down to our FINAL desicions and I LOVE that!!!

Flower Girl and Bridesmaid dresses!!!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have chosen our delicious flower girl dresses!!! I found an AMAZING designer in Florida and designed EVERY bit of these dresses with her! These are sample pictures from the designer's website...it's not the exact dress but the style that the dresses are based on. I chose 1o layers of tulle (Yes! 10!!!) and the overlay will be all silk. The girls will also have a huge big pink bow in their hair. I got to choose the exact flower for the back and went with a big bow with a huge flower over top of the bow!

These are the BEAUTIFUL Bridesmaid dresses!!! The shorter one is what all 7 of my Bridesmaids will be wearing and the longer style is what my Maids of Honour will wear!

This is the headpiece we chose! My Maids of Honour will have a bigger flower/feather hair piece...
The swatch that you see is the dress colour!

Bridal Canvas, Picture OUR Wedding!!!

Bridal Canvas, Picture Your Dream Wedding

Sign in to see our wedding canvas!!! EVERY SINGLE thing included are actually things that we have purchased, ordered or put the down payments on for our wedding!!!

user name- happilyeverafterrs
password- sarahdancey

Love Sweet Love

I CANNOT believe that our wedding is officially 6 and a half months away. After ALL this planning, our day will soon be here! What is even more crazy to me is that in 6 months I will be Ryan's WIFE!!!!!! Sometimes I just feel so overwhelmed with love and excitement, it's just too much! Sometimes I feel like I may burst with love! I don't know why I have been given such a gift. God has truly blessed me. I have found my soul mate and it is such an incredible feeling. EVERY single day I feel overwhelmed with love for Ryan. It takes my breath away! I think that I love him as much as I possibly can but it continues to grow each and every day. It is amazing. He makes me so happy. I am in stitches every day because of something he says or does. I can be myself and as silly as I want and he accepts every part of me. He actually sings with me and acts crazy right along with me, which fills our days with such happiness and laughter! We have had our own private raves, (dancing on the window sill with our phones as glow sticks)....this may have been the moment I knew he truly was the one for me! Actually, I called my sister after our first date and told her that he was "it". I just knew I found my one.....so I actually knew after our first date!!!!! You hear about that happening but I never believed it!
Ryan is gorgeous on the outside but also gorgeous on the inside. He is the most amazing person. He truly takes care of me. He is so loving and so caring and  he is constantly trying to make sure I am ok and happy. He makes me feel like I am number one, always. No one could care for me like he does and that is such an amazing feeling. I never thought I'd find someone who dotes on me more than my Mom!
I never dreamt I would find love like this. I always knew I would get married, but I really did not think I would EVER be lucky enough to meet my soul mate. I didn't think it was possible or that it even existed in real life. He is heaven to me. I love him so deeply. I am on a high EVERY day because of him. I literally feel like I am floating on a cloud. He is everything I could have ever wanted in a husband and I CANNOT believe that I get to be married to him!!!!! He truly is my happily ever after.

"You meet thousands of people and none of them really touch you…and then you meet one person, and your life is changed forever."

Ring-a-ding BLING! Ice, ice baby!

This post is inspired by one of my favourite Blogs. I just had to share it with all of you because it is so true!!!
In the popular adage of life and love – First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes… – they leave out one big piece of the puzzle, without which none of the rest would be possible: the ENGAGEMENT RING. Sure, an engagement ring, no matter how pretty (ahem, big), does not a happy marriage make. There are other, far more important things that pave the road to marital bliss: trust, compatibility, friendship, TV remote sharing, and so on. But a ring’s certainly not a bad start. If for no other reason than an engagement ring is often a gent’s first big purchase for his future wife, and ideally is one in which he invests not only a lot of money but, more importantly, time and thought, the shiny token of a groom’s affection reveals a lot about the buyer, the wearer, and their past and future together.

Ryan and I often reminisce about the engagement. I love going over EVERY single detail of that night! It takes us back to that magical night and makes us feel those emotions all over again. Mushy, mushy! We will go over how the room looked, what he said, (he has to remind me because that night was a TOTAL blur for me!!!)! I find when we do this it all comes flooding back and I get all emotional EVERY time!

I love that Ryan and I designed my ring together. It makes it that much more special. We literally searched high and low for the perfect ring but to no avail. I think it was meant to be because now when I look down at this perfect sparkler, it reminds me of how we designed it together. No one else will have my ring because it was our vision. He so wanted the perfect ring for me and now I have it! My engagement ring is not only a symbol of Ryan’s love for me (all together now: aww!) but also a reflection of my love for all things big + sparkly!!!
Here's to the engagement ring!!!

Zilla, Illa, Illa!

Haven't done a blog post in quite a while! We have been so busy with shopping for the wedding, going to different decor places, making choices... there hasn't been any time! However, a LOT has been checked off our "to-do list"!!!

I officially have a new nickname given to me by Ryan. He affectionately refers to me as......Bridezilla...aka "Zilla"
When I start to get a little out of hand at our appointments, Ryan starts to sing OUT LOUD, "Zilla, Illa, Illa, eh, eh" (to the tune of Umbrella by Rihanna). Although Ryan himself has become quite picky lately and has been very outspoke at our meetings!!! Love you Honey!


One of the most exciting developments is that I found the most delicious designer based out of Florida and I spent almost two hours on the phone with her designing our flower girl dresses! The designer was great, we were on the phone and she would direct me around the options on her website and gave me a list of things to choose from...everything from the exact bow and sash, flower size and style, to the number of tulle layers! (There are 10 layers to be exact!). It was an amazing feeling to design every single detail about the dresses! Now when I see the dresses, I will know they were my vision!!! The price-tag was a bit of a shocker however, but well worth it!

Since it's been awhile, let me update you on things that have been checked off our list! Oh how I love to check things off!!!


-We have chosen our decor place in Woodbridge after visiting SEVEN different decor places! Oh the stories we have! We met a lot of "interesting" individuals and have stories we will always remember!!! Oh my!

-Thanks to Deanna, we have found our DJ and he has agreed to only play our play list! He has a CD coming out next month and plays a lot of clubs downtown, so we are very excited about him!

-We have chosen our florist and she totally gets my vision. I am beyond excited about our flowers! After visiting 4 different florists, I found that there are a lot of old school florists out there who had NO clue what I was talking about!

-We found a decor centre in Oshawa that rents out the urns that we wanted

-Cake has been ordered (Thanks Mom!)

-Front table design and items have been purchased and rented...We have chosen something very unique for our seating chart so we are totally excited!

- Bridesmaid gifts have been ordered! Can't wait to give them to my wonderful girls!

-Groomsmen gifts have also been chosen!

-We have chosen our photographer but we have decided to do our engagement photos in the spring when the weather gets warmer. She is truly brilliant and her photos are literally some of the best in Toronto...trust me, we've looked!!!

-Ryan has decided on the tux's! The boys will be looking HOT!

I feel like there are a million other things to be done but I am LOVING it!!!

Here is my official motto....

The dress changed everything!

So I have been totally M.I.A.! There has been SO much to do and with being back to work, things have been insane! Ryan and I have been wedding planning like crazy and every day brings a new to-do list and phone calls to make! Ryan has been the most amazing help! I never imagined I would have a fiance that is so incredible! He is constantly making phone calls for me, booking appointments....he is amazing!!! I literally could not do it without him.

There have been some MAJOR changes since my last blog post!

Ryan and I have chosen a new venue and we have a new date for our wedding! We booked the golf course when we first started talking about getting married. I really didn't think it through to be honest. Lakeridge is gorgeous but the more I started planning our wedding and envisioning our day, the venue just did not fit that vision....I want our wedding to be the BIGGEST party anyone has ever been to. It is a celebration of our love and I want the night to reflect that. The dance floor at Lakeridge was just too small for a big party! The new venue's dance floor is in the middle of the room and huge! It is such an amazing venue and has an amazing set up! I am thrilled! It is everything I ever imagined our venue to be!
One other major thing that changed my mind about our venue is that I also didn't have my dress when we booked our first venue!!! In the words of Miss Carrie Bradshaw herself..."The dress changed everything!". My dress really made me realize the type of wedding that I wanted and that is a princess, couture and beautiful wedding! Now, our venue matches the dress!
Ryan was amazing with the whole thing and he is pretty excited about our new venue as well! So, our new wedding date is JULY 2nd, 2011!!!

We have also gotten a lot of other things done as well...My Bridesmaids have all been fitted for their dresses, and their feather head pieces have been chosen! I could not believe how beautiful each and every one of them looked! I can't WAIT to see them on the wedding day! I have the most gorgeous Bridesmaids ever!

Ryan and I have been visiting decor showrooms and have narrowed down our centrepieces...

We have chosen our cake and it is elegant and beautiful!

We have chosen our photographer and should be getting our engagement photos done on Nov.28th

We think we have found our DJ thanks to Deanna!

I have also narrowed down my flower girl's dresses and should be ordering them soon!

So much to do but I am LOVING every minute and every detail!!!

Table Names

Ryan and I have been trying to come up with a unique idea for our table names. We really didn't just want to have numbers for each table, we wanted something a little more unique. I like the idea of songs for each table name but so many people have done that. Since the theme of the wedding is like a fairy tale and very romantic, we wanted the tables to reflect that. We decided we are going to have little sayings at each table that refects our love...I can't wait to make the table name cards with my lovely sis marina!

Flower Girls

My two beautiful and darling neices Hannah and Ava will be my flower girls and I cannot wait to get their dresses! They live in England for 10 months out of the year so I have to get the dresses without them here which is a wee bit frightening!

I want their dresses to be very grand, very girly and have a huge bow on it. I also want them to wear a BIG flower in their hair

I would have a cream sash and bow for this dress...

I like these flowers for their hair but maybe a wee bit bigger...They will also carry baby pink flower balls


My neices are too old for these dresses but I had to share them as they are oh so cute. I also love the little headpieces...

Feathers and flowers and pink, oh my!

So my bridesmaids and I have settled on a date to go dress shopping...not an easy feat with 9 bridesmaids!!!
We are also going to look at accessories for their hair...sooo exciting for me!
I have always had a fascination with feathers and flowers and had wanted to wear one in my hair but it wont work with my headpiece...so my lucky bridesmaids will have a flower with feathers in their hair instead!
The funniest moment and possibly my first Bridezilla moment was when I first described my vision to one of my bridesmaids, Deanna. The conversation went a little something like this...... "What?!?! I'm not wearing feathers in my hair!!!!" (there may have even been a swear word in there, but we'll keep this G-Rated) and I said, "Oh YES you will and you're going to like it!!!" Ahhhh, feels so good! Ha ha. Can't wait to see the girls in all their feather glory!!!

It's all about the stem bling

I was so excited when I came across the latest trend in bridal bouquets....Stem bling!!! This is something I will DEFINITELY do! LOVE the added sparkle!

My bridesmaid's bouquets will be wrapped with a ribbon, either pink or cream

My adorable neices will carry baby pink topiaries

A Woman's Right to Shoes

I was watching my favourite show, Sex and the City and got to thinking about surprise, surprise...shoes! My wedding shoes to be exact. I had my heart set on these little beauties ala Carrie. They are the Manolo Blahnik metallic d'Orsays . They were my perfect shoe.....until I found out the price....$850?!! CRAP! That's definitely not in the budget!

I also thought these beautiful Manolo's could be my something blue...too bad they are also around the range of $800...soooo onto the next!


I'm loving the style of these Badgley Mischka shoes

Or maybe something more traditional like these I just found these beauties...oh my!

I think I may need a second job...

Decisions, decisions!

I have to admit that I have been stirring quite a bit about a decision regarding my dress...to fly back to Kleinfelds or not!?! Part of me wants to fly there and bring it home myself and the other part of me knows it's crazy, especially since Ryan works for a company that ships precious cargo.....I know that if it were shipped it would make it here safe and sound but I kind of want to pick it up myself! Am I crazy??? I know I could use that money for the flight and hotel towards my wedding....actually, come to think about it, my dress would not fit on the plane! Where would they put it? Ok, so flight is out....we'd need to drive! Could be a fun roadtrip! Less expensive!

The other issue that I am struggling with is that I really wanted it altered at Kleinfelds. I feel like my beautiful dress needs to be altered in a high end store like Kleinfelds that specializes in couture dresses...I just don't know where to go here! Who do I trust with my dress!?!

Decisions, decisions! I'll keep you posted!

Wedding vision

Here is my vision for our wedding....which is VERY HARD to put into words! I don't want to give too much away because I want it to be a surprise when people come to our wedding! Trying to decide what to share on this blog has been difficult! I am the type of person that gets excited and wants to share it with the world!!! I DEFINITELY wont be describing my dress or showing my exact centrepieces etc. but here is my vision:

Since mine and Ryan's love story is like a fairy tale, I want the wedding to have that feel. He makes me feel like a princess every day and my name means PRINCESS! It's not my fault! If you can believe it, Ryan's name actually means little KING...so it is only fitting!!!

My favourite colour in the world is ballet slipper pink, so I want the wedding to be very pink and pretty! I also love the way cream looks with pink so I want to incorporate cream as well...

I also want touches of silver and diamonds for the decor! I want to have birds, feathers, and tons of flowers!

I LOVE roses so I hope to use them as much as possible. I like peonies, so I may use them but roses are my all time favourite...it's too bad they are so darn expensive!!!

I envision our wedding to be very classic, elegant, glam, romantic, sparkly and beautiful!

The hardest part for me is that I have EVERYTHING envisioned in my head but the hard part is finding it all!!! I have been looking EVERYWHERE for the centrepieces I want but have yet to find them...the hunt continues!

I said YES TO THE DRESS!!!

On Thursday, August 19th my AMAZING sister Christina surprised me with the trip of a lifetime...she surprised me with a trip to New York city to choose my dress at Kleinfelds! I have to admit that I am absolutely obsessed with the show, Say Yes To The Dress....Chrissy and I had always said we would fly to NY when I got engaged and go to Kleinfelds but I could never afford it and it just seemed like a faraway dream that would never happen......so the fact that I got to choose my dress from this store is like a FAIRY TALE come true!!!!!!

My sister left me a beautiful letter in my room a few nights before we left saying we were going to have a "Sister's Adventure". She told me to pack light but with a fancy outfit for dinner and drinks on the town and that we were going to stay over night in my brother's condo....I had a feeling she was up to something a little more than dinner..however I thought she had booked a spa day! Boy was I ever WRONG!!!!!!

She and her husband Peter picked me up at 8 am (she said he was dropping us off so we wouldn't have to worry about parking etc.) since it was so early in the morning (and anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT a morning bird....) I ended up falling asleep! My sister and Peter were high-fiving each other at their luck because I wouldn't ask questions or figure out the secret! Chrissy ended up waking me up saying, "We're here!" and I looked out the window to see the airport! I was in shock! Peter is obsessed with flying, so I bought his story (for a second) that he needed to pick something up from the gift store...but when they told me to grab my bag and get out I got VERY confused!!! I thought for a second maybe they were going on a trip but then I thought, wait a minute, that wouldn't be nice! Next thing I knew, Chrissy was handing me a letter that she had written explaining that we were flying to NYC to go to Kleinfelds. Now you would think at that moment I would start screaming and crying but No! I was in SHOCK!!!! I could barely speak! I was still SO confused and I kept asking, "We're flying? Like now? For real????" I could not comprehend what was happening...it was like I was in a dream!!!!

Next thing I knew, we were checking in! This is when it hit me!!!!! WE WERE FLYING TO NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One slight problem...we looked at our boarding passes and realized that we were sitting apart. Now I have a MAJOR fear of flying so this was not going to fly! We asked at the counter if they could seat us together but the lady very nicely told us that our flight was completely full! I was in a panic and said, "I faint when I fly and have major anxiety and my sister is a nurse and I need her beside me!!!!" The lady smiled nicely again and told us there was nothing she could do but we could ask once on the plane....oh boy! So Chrissy and I board the plane and I ask the lovely gentleman beside me to switch seats with my sis, which he kindly agreed. So, sitting happily beside each other, we were ready! Until the flight attendant came up to us and told us we needed to move! So we followed her a little confused until we were seated in first class!!! It seems very fitting and we were treated like princesses! What a way to start our trip!

Soooo, we land in NYC and I am officially freaking out at the AMAZINGNESS of it all! We checked into our hotel, which I must mention was literally in Times Square! I should also say that our room was more of a suite than a room! Fabulous! We dropped off our stuff and headed out into NYC!!!! We went on a shopping marathon! Two sisters shopping in NYC.... you have no idea!!!!

We got back to our room after our shopping extravaganza and got ready for our appointment at Kelinfleds! I had just found the perfect little "New York Dress", so I felt ready to find my perfect WEDDING DRESS!!!!

We arrived at Kelinfelds and I have to admit, I was sooooo nervous!!!! I thought they might be a little snooty seeing as this is the number one bridal store in North America but as soon as my wedding consultant walked up and shook my hand, I knew it was going to be an amazing experience!

She walked us into one of those little rooms like on the show and it was surreal!!! She asked me my vision, what I wanted, budget etc. and was off to find dresses! I put on the little pink robe and held my breath! I tried on several dresses and I was just. not. feeling. it!!!!! I was starting to get really overwhelmed and feeling anxious as I tried on dress after dress! I felt like she really wasn't understanding my vision!!! She took Chrissy and I into the BIG DRESS ROOM and let us look through the thousands of dresses with her...talk about OVERWHELMING!!!!! I tried on a few more, but to no avail...then....my bridal consultant went, "OMG, I know the perfect dress!!!! I'll be right back!!!!"...a few minutes later she came dancing down the hallway saying, "I got it!" As soon as I tried it on it was that magical moment of THIS IS IT!!!!!!!!! Chrissy started crying and I KNEW it was the dress!!!

Then she took us to the main room that you see on the show to look for tiaras etc. and who do we see but Mr, Randy himself!!!! He came over and intoduced himself and I said, "I know you Randy!!! Give me a big hug!!!" Then he helped me finish off my look! I can't say too much on here because Ryan may be reading this but Randy was AMAZING at adding the little details!!!! He was exactly like he is on the show but even NICER!!!! I felt like a star, wait, a princess!!! All of the above! It felt like the room stood still for me! All of the attention was on me and I felt like the most beautiful girl in the world!!!! Randy and the team made such a fuss over me, it was magical! He kept calling me "His beautiful Bride" and a "Princess".... The owner of the salon came over and introduced herself and gave me her card with her home phone number on it saying if I ever needed anything I could call her at home! They LOVED our story of how Chrissy surprised me and my consultant proceeded to stop EVERY employee at Kleinfelds for me to tell them the story!

Then Randy and my consultant both at the same time said, "Are you saying YES TO THE DRESS???!!!" and I screamed "YES!!!!!!!!" Then she shook my hand and said "Congratulations, you are now a Kleinfeld Bride!!!"

All I can say was that that day was like a fairy tale and I can't believe it happened to me! I could never find the words to thank my beautiful sister for this dream come true. It was one of the happiest days of my life and I will cherish those memories forever.

Oh p.s. we got moved to first class on the way home too!!!!!! Too much!

Wedding to do list

To date we have these things checked off our list:
-Chosen our beautiful invitations
-Booked the church
-Booked venue
-Honeymoon will be taken care of by my big bro
-Mom is taking care of the cake
-Sis Marina is doing the guest favours
-Found my dream dress!!!!

Not too shabby huh? Come on, I'm a teacher and probably the most organized girl on the planet...did you not think I would have things sorted out??? CHECK! LOL
Ryan and I have enjoyed planning every single detail together so far! I am loving every minute of planning our special day!

Still to do:

-Book photographer (We know the photographer we want but need to make an appointment to finalize). We are hoping to do this in the next month and get our engagement photos done!
-Book a DJ (We want to choose our OWN music so we need to find a DJ that is ok with that! If I hear Cyndi Lauper's Girls just want to have fun, The Macarena, ANY country, Celine Dion etc. I may walk up and punch the DJ)
-Find a florist (Other than my dress, the flowers are one of the most important things to me, so I am choosing my florist carefully! Scary! This is a MAJOR stressor for me!)
-Find a limo (Limo bus? Limo Hummer? Decisions!)
-Book venue for pictures
-Find a rental company for reception decor (I have something VERY specific in mind for my centrepieces and have yet to find a company that has them! Still on the hunt!)
-DIY with my sis Marina (Table Name Cards)

Still SO much to do and I feel like we have done SO much already!