Engagement Shoot!

Hey!!

As usual I have been super duper busy! I finally got time to work on my blog.

You will most likely see a number of updates from me to bring you up to date. So where to start?

Since booking our photographer, we've managed to get our Engagement Shoot out of the way, thank God! Nowadays, a lot of couples are going with a certain 'theme' - but Hari and I chose a, somewhat, simpler theme. A Fall inspired theme was at the top of our list, especially because of the changing colours and how well they would look in our photos.

We were searching for the perfect location when we came across High Park for our day shoot and Berber Lounge for the evening. With all the fuss about finding a location, I had no time to figure out outfits and makeup! So as always, I was left panicking last minute. For a girl who loved shopping, every store seemed to piss me off. After endless procrastination, I found a purple blouse at Dynamite and a beautiful dress from Forever 21 (pictures are below).

So then comes the hair and makeup situation - if you know me, then you should know I'm a very simple girl, I don't wear makeup on a daily basis and I almost never get my hair done. Until now that is. I got my hair done at Volume Spa and my amazingly talented friend, Mitza who is a makeup artist, offered to do my make up for me. I can honestly tell you, I've never felt more beautiful. She completely transformed me, I didn't even recognize myself!

With all the worrying about how I would look, I never sat down and actually thought about how I'd pose!! Here's a spoiler alert for all you brides, the photographer(s) will most likely put you in the most awkward position - but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to get the perfect shot!;) 

So this one is for the ladies, most of us have certain insecurities about our body- but please do let your photographer know- otherwise you will end up disappointed with you final product! I am talking from experience, this happened to me because I failed to mention my bad angles! But I'm glad now because I opened up to my photographer and he is well aware for our next shoot!


Here is a SMALL teaser from our ESHOOT!! The rest will be viewed during our reception in a slideshow. 

Below are 'Selfies' we took before our shoot started! LOL

Practicing our poses! LOL

DIY 'Tying the Knot' Save the Dates.

I always wanted to attempt a DIY project and my wedding has become the perfect excuse! I am forever on Pinterest or wedding blogs looking for ideas.

I found the cutest tying the knot theme and had to make my own version. http://thenaturalweddingcompany.co.uk/blog/2011/06/do-it-yourself-eco-friendly-brown-card-and-raffia-rustic-save-the-dates/

Although I loved the rustic look I wanted it to have a little more colour, I popped into some arts & crafts stores to purchase a few items for my project.

Items I purchased:-

Micheal's

• Pastel coloured cardstock $4
• heart shaped stickers $ 1.25 ( I didnt use these so i will return them)
• envelope love sealed stickers $ 1.99 

Walmart

• calligraphy pen $4.99

DeSerres

• white envelopes $5.99
• Black ink pad $2.99
• "All you need is love" Stamp $6.99
• Pastel Coloured help cord $4.99

Originally, I was going to  decorate the card freehand but that didn't turn out so well- it was a complete hot mess! So I turned to Microsoft Office to create a template! I searched online for the perfect images!! It was tough, believe it or not it took me a good 2 hours.

Step 1: After creating the template, I took my cardstock to Staples to have them print it for me. The lady that was assisting me was such a sweetie, she offered to cut them all for me too. 

Step 2: Each card was folded into a 3 fold, I then used the "All you need is love" stamp on the front of each card. 

Step 3: I made a small hole using the end of a compass on each side of the card, I then placed my Hemp cord through it and tied a small knot.. I then looped it in the middle and placed the other end through the hole and knotted it. 

Step 4: Voila! i loosened the loop in the middle and folded the card to give it a go. As soon as you open the card the loop turns into a knot- which symbolizes our union as a couple tying the knot :)

I am so happy with the way they turned out, Hari absolutely loved them too, I think he was actually relieved with how cute they turned out. The cards were especially made for our close friends, I cant wait to see what they think!

I am happy to share the template that I made- Comment below with your email address and ill send it to you :) I would love to see different versions of this card. 

               What do you think of them?

Wedding STRESS- & we booked our photographer!

Our wedding is 6 months away!! I am freaking out.

Growing up most of us dream of the perfect wedding, we know exactly what we want and everything has its place. Ever since my dream has become my reality I have found planning such a nightmare! Everything I envisioned was just a fantasy and its so stressful making it come to life.


The wedding has taken up every second, minute and hour of my day! Mine and Hari's lunch breaks both consist of emailing potential vendors or making appointments.

Although I want that perfect wedding I have to understand all of that comes with a hefty price tag. I think this is where the stress kicked in...

Budgeting is very important when planning and Hari has been amazing with that. He has carefully researched and allotted each vendor/task a certain amount. However, when you actually met with potential vendors i.e. Photo/videographers you realize that the budget set may not have been realistic!


Since booking the venue, we have been researching potential photo/videographers. We met with 3 companies after narrowing down our search.

First company- Adnan Ansah.
http://www.adnanansahphotography.com/ 

I came across this photographer while on modernrani.com and he had gotten great reviews, his attention to detail and colour was spectacular. We went to meet him and he was such a nice person, he took us through his work. He really focused on colour when taking his photos and we loved that. Indian weddings are the most colourful and we have so much detail so it went perfectly. He was also very flexible and his pricing was great. The only downfall we faced was he was a one man show ( his wife, who is just lovely is his assistant) and he didn't do video!


Second Company- Kumari Photo & Cinema
http://kumariphotoanddesign.com/
I also came across this company through Modern Rani, I fell head over heels with them. The work they showcased was just flawless in every way, I also noticed my cousins sister-in-laws wedding was featured on their website which they covered amazingly! I was able to book an appointment with Dan, he is known as the friendly giant on the website I believe. He was such a lovely person, he made Hari & I the most delicious tea. Dan was very accomodating and helped us customize a great package within our budget. 

Third Company- Channa Photography
http://www.channaphotography.com/ 
I came across Channa's work whilst on facebook LOL!! A friend of mine had posted a video of his sisters next day edit, after watching that I had to book an appointment. We went to meet them and the lead photographers were brothers. We primarily worked with Sukh, he is so down to earth and really listened to what we were looking for. He knew we had a strict budget and gave us various options. He also was able to customize a package for us!


Other companies we considered were; Banga photography, Kujit Rehal, Photokitch and Big Al's photography.


It was so tough picking one company, we had a moment were we thought of even merging two companies together to cover the wedding. I wanted both Kumari and Channa whereas Hari loved Adnans work. After many arguments and going back and forth to speak with the photographers- we finally agreed on ONE.




We picked CHANNA PHOTOGRAPHY!
We cannot wait to work with these guys and on a positive Sukhs wife is from England like me --which is a bonus in it self! haha  :)

I have been slacking!

Hey!!

I apologize in advance for being such a slacker! I have been extremely busy this last month. I have had family functions, busy work schedules, vendor appointments, wedding shows you name it!

I promised you all that I would take you through my entire planning process, so I have decided to take some time out of my busy life and write for you all :)

We booked our venue!!!!

Myself and Hari are thrilled to finally say we have BOOKED our venue.

After months of going back and forth and negotiating we have sealed the deal :) we are so happy our parents loved the venue as much as we do.

In my previous post I had mentioned that I didn't want to have a banquet hall style reception. Although they can turn out beautifully, we wanted something completley different and less traditional.

In my previous post I gave you all a teaser on what venues we had considered and gave you all the chance to even guess!! Big thanks to those that commented :)

When we were scouting for possibilities I fell in love with this venue immediately, I have to admit though Hari had second thoughts originally. I convinced him how wonderful it was, and how many great things we could do with it.

Being the sweetheart he is, he took it upon him to do everything in his powers -to make sure this was the venue we got. I am so grateful to our parents for all there help and we love them for all the support they have provided.

I know you all must be thinking "What is the bloody venue, she is talking about"

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...................!!!

I am proud to annouce that we will be holding our wedding reception at
                          'ANGUS GLEN GOLF CLUB'



'The Host' fine indian cusine will be our offical wedding caterers for the reception and we are hoping to have both north and south indian dishes to complement both our cultures. We haven't decided on the menu, we will be having a tasting session in the next few weeks.. so stay tuned!!

We are praying to the almighty weather GOD "Mother Nature" LOL that she doesn't bring any snow or rain our way as it will be in Apri.

Now that Angus Glen is booked, we will review our decor oppurtunities- I am so exicited to be going to the bridal show in september to get some tips!! I will be blogging my experience :)

Choosing my bridesmaids and maid of honour.

We have picked the wedding date and looked into potential venues.. so what's next you ask?!

The MOST exciting task ever LOL- choosing my bridesmaids and maids of honour.

This task allows me to choose some of my favourite people that I want to stand by me, on the happiest day of my life.  I wanted to make the selection process heartfelt, so I sent all the ladies a personal email asking them to be my BM or MOH. Each lady will also receive a special surprise (thanks to ideas on Pinterest)  from myself and Hari !

Unfortunately, I cannot share this with all of you yet because not everyone has received theirs. However, I promise to upload it in a future post...so keep stay tuned !
My maids of honour; I asked both my sisters Simpy & Harkiran to do me the honors, as I could not choose one over the other and I love them equally. Simpy does claim to be the head MOH though, and my baby sister has been downgraded to the junior MOH as per Simpy lol.

      Simpy
 

    Kiran

Unfortunately, Simpy is temporarily back home in England so that she can gain some experience through supply teaching (she recently graduated as teacher) as there were no opportunities for her in Canada. This was a great start for her and ended up leading her to a full time position beginning in September!!

Although this is great news and I am so happy for her, it means she won't be here for any of the planning process. It sucks that timing didn't agree, but finding jobs are increasingly tough in certain fields and I'm grateful that she is building her career. She is still a big part of this wedding and is included in every major decision..just in a different time zone ;-) 

My sisters are very important to me and even though we fight, throw punches, pull hair (not really) and get annoyed with each other, we are always there for one another no matter what. I know that both of them will always have my back and help me create the most beautiful wedding ever !



My bridesmaids; I selected 3 special ladies to be my BM's. The lucky 3 were my beautiful cousins Sumeet and Amrita ( who are also sisters ) and one of my dearest friends Simran.

    Sumeet

    Amrita

    Simran
 

These 3 beautiful ladies are like sisters to me and I trust them with my life. I cannot wait to share this moment with them.

Last birthday as an unmarried woman!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

August 15th 2013 marked my last birthday as an unmarried woman. I cannot believe that this time next year, I'll be sharing this moment with my "husband" that makes me sound so OLD!!!

I intended to celebrate the day with my family and enjoy this moment as going forward birthdays aren't going to be the same.

I started a tradition in my house, in which we wait up until midnight and sneak into the birthday person's bedroom and wake them up. The whole family takes part in it...we take embarrassing photos of them and give them there gifts to help ease the pain !

This was my last family birthday wake up surprise :(

I was actually in deep sleep when my little sister came running into my room to wish me, followed by my brother who literally pouncing on me to near suffocation LOL ( clearly this is his way of showing me he loves me ), my mum followed in with my cousins holding sparklers :) and they all sang Happy Birthday! My dad is never awake in these moments ( he will likely blame this on old age )but this year he actually woke up to wish me too. I was given all my lovely presents as well..why can't every day be this awesome ?

My day started with a lovely surprise from my fiancé - he was waiting in my car park at my work to give me my birthday gift. It was a beautiful Pandora bracelet with 3 charms.

He told me there is a story behind each charm;

• The 1st charm was a princess crown- he told me this was from my parents and it symbolized that I would always be their princess.
•  The 2nd charm was a red pearl with hearts all over it- from my in-laws this signified a new beginning in which they will shower me with love.
•  lastly, Hari got me a cute bunny charm- this symbolized my pet name for him xx

Hari also had flowers delivered to my work- he clearly knows how to spoil a lady!! 

I ended the night with a lovely dinner with my family and Hari xx

Planning 101

So we are finally engaged and it's time to start planning.. but where do we start?

After years of watching wedding shows on TLC and helping family members with their big day, you would think you're a pro by now..NO! it's far from.

We discussed getting a wedding planner to help us-but we decided against it, we wanted this to be more of a family affair.

The process becomes alot more enjoyable when you know that you were able to do it yourself, with the guidance of your parents, siblings, cousins and friends etc. I also love reviewing blogs, Pinterest and wedding websites for tips and ideas. I came across a great planning booklet on www.marigoldevents.com and printed it out. www.modernrani.com is also a great website, it showcases real weddings and also has a great list of vendors.

The booklet allows me to plan and track from day one until the the week before the wedding, it has everything from picking the date, planning a theme, choosing your bridesmaids, your budget and all other fun stuff- I would reccomend all brides-to-be print this.

To make life alot easier I have assigned my bridesmaids and maids of honours tasks to work on... this takes alot off our shoulders and lowers our stress levels haha! ( my next post will reveal my beautiful BM's and MOH)

Our first task was to choose our date, I have always wanted a summer wedding- but as we didnt want a long engagement I compromised lol. We had alot to think about when choosing dates, as I am orginally from London, England majoritiy of my family will be flying in. Hari also has family flying in from Australia and the USA, we also have family coming in from India.


We have a very big extended family and with that comes alot of younger children that still attend school, we had to take in to consideration the dates they would be off school versus avialibilty for us. After alot of research and discussions with our families we settled on the month of April.


When it came to choosing the exact date we had to keep in mind some traditions on Hari's side of the family. In the Hindu culture there are some days/dates that are considered bad omen which he had to avoid. We were asked to avoid the day Saturday for the actual weddding.

We knew from the beginning that we did not want the wedding and reception on the same date as it becomes so hectic, with this in mind we selected Friday, April 11th 2014 for the wedding and the reception will be held the next day on the 12th.

Once the date was finalized, we explored our venue options- Myself and Hari wanted something different for our wedding reception instead of the same old indian banquest hall receptions. ( no offence to those that choose a hall, they can be beautiful and very well done- its just something we didn't want).

Below are some we considered and looked at, can you guess which one we went with?






Casa Loma located in midtown Toronto. This is now both a land mark and a museum.




Angus Glen Golf Course and Country Club, Located in Markham, Ontario




Le Jardin banquet hall, located in Vaughn, Ontario




Manor at Kettleby, located in Kettleby, Ontario


Fairmont Royal York Hotel, located in Toronto.

 

 

My Rokha 07.14.2013

Many of you reading may not be familiar with the term 'Rokha' this is a Punjabi wedding tradition.

Rokha is a ceremony, in which close family members of the bride and groom come together and give their blessings. It is a way of their parents saying they agree to this marriage and that their son/daughter has stopped searching for their life partners.

I was very nervous to meet my new extended family. Although I had spoken with Hari's cousins and heard great things about his aunts/uncles, and thankfully meeting them face to face went flawlessly .

They welcomed me with open arms! I had so much fun getting to know them all, I felt so comfortable and my family loved them. 

When my Rokha ceremony began, myself and Hari were seated together and we were fed mathai ( Indian sweets) and given shagan  ( blessing in form of money ) by our family members. As Hari's family are South Indian, it is tradition for women to have beautiful flowers in their hair- my mother in law put some in mine, I loved it!! They smelt amazing! 

(I hanged them in my room when I was done they are now dried to savor as a memory) 

The most amazing part of it all was how easily our two families clicked, even though we had a member missing. My sister, Simpy, was unable to make it as she was teaching in England! But we worked through it by skyping her and letting her enjoy the ceremony through camera. I loved this, it showed exactly how close a family should be.

The rokha itself was very short, we ended the afternoon with lunch.

Hari and his family arriving at my house ( look at the balloon he bought me LOL) n

Example of part of the Rokha ceremony, that's me being fed some mathai.

Beautiful flowers placed in my Hair by my mother in law. 

Skyping with my sister and Aunty back home in England xx

Officially ROKHAED out!! lol

Telling our parents..

Hiya!

I dont think I mentioned this in my previous post; but I am Sikh and my fiancé is Hindu.

Yes I know that this may not be a BIG deal now, but traditionally to marry outside of religion was not an option.

I am grateful to have such a supportive family who understood how happy Hari made me and how perfect we were together. 

Growing up having strict parents, and of course being an 'Indian girl', it was always so hard to come out and tell my family about Hari. Most of it was a battle within my mind, but I wasn't about to let my thoughts get the best of me & so I told them...

Believe it or not - I was worrying for nothing! My parents met with his parents and finally got the ball rolling 

The proposal. 07.11.2013

The funny thing about Indian weddings is that we don't normally go through a proposal. What I mean by that is, our parents meet first to give their blessings and approval, after that we are free to have "our engagement" I still wanted that element of surprise.. and Hari did just that.

We had gone ring shopping one day and Hari had given me the freedom of trying a number of rings on to get a feel of what suited me. We both had been so busy with our work schedules that we never had the time to go again. But surprise, surprise  all along Hari had been researching and shopping for 'my perfect ring'.

He called me one evening and asked to chill as it had been so long, and we needed a break. He asked me to be ready for noon the next day. We started the day by going to a lovely Mexican restaurant for drinks and snacks. We chilled for an hour or so and jammed to the music.

After we got on a rickshaw which was bloody amazing! There is no need to go to India ladies, when you can just go to Toronto LOL

Once we got dropped off we took a stroll and ended on the Lakeshore. It was beautiful, I was alittle confused to why we  were just sitting around.

Hari pointed to a sail ship that was sailing back to the deck, he told me we are going for a sail. We boarded the boat and took in the beautiful scenery. 

About an hour into our sail he told me he had to go to the bathroom.. When he returned he said he wanted me to take a tour of the boat.

He took me to the bottom level of the boat and as I walked down the steps I could see a table scattered with red rose petals and candles and a bottle of champagne!!

Instantly I went into shock as I knew it was finally happening, the moment I had been waiting so long for.

He got on one knee and told me how much he loved me and finally proposed to me!

I was gobsmacked-- we both teared up and I obviously said YES!! He put the most beautiful ring on my finger. 

We ended the night with a beautiful dinner at the 360 revolving restaurant in the CN Tower. 

I would love to hear your proposal stories! Feel free to share below :)

Me, waiting to board the sail ship

The beautiful kajama sail ship

My proposal set up xx

US <3

The start of my fairytale.

It all began in 2006..

I was heading into a job interview and as I sat waiting my turn, the guy beside me tried to start a conversation.

It was a quick hello.. 'how was the interview.. was it hard' etc type of conversation, he wished me luck and was on his way. I passed my interview and got the job :) A week later I headed to work for training, as I sat in the waiting area, I could see someone walking my way... he sat across from me.

It was him again.. I looked up and smiled and he kept staring and all I could think was "OMG, we have a creeper!! LOL"

About 15 minutes later, a group of us were led into a training room, we were asked to find our seats- which were assigned by name. I took my seat and wondered who 'Hari Seshadri' was LO & BEHOLD it was HIM!!!! :-O the same guy from my interview and the waiting area!!


As an ice breaker we had to introduce the person beside us, after speaking with him and getting to know him alittle better.. I found that he was the most funniest, geniune and kind hearted human <3 and I was so happy that he was assigned to sit next to me.

He made coming to work so enjoyable and always had us all laughing! This was a start to a beautiful friendship.

And 7 years on....  that same guy is now the love of my life xx

And so it begins..

Hey!

My name is Jaspinder  and the purpose of this blog is to document my upcoming wedding. On July, 11th 2013 my best friend and soul mate (i know so cheesy!!) proposed to me!! it was one of the most magical days of my life.

I will touch base on the engagement on my next post, as this is just an intro, to a blog that i hope can help other newly engaged or those that dream of the perfect "BIG FAT" indian wedding.

please feel free to leave comments, I would love to hear everyones feedback :)