our wedding thank you cards.

The general consensus on the internet seems to be that you should send thank you notes no later than three months after the wedding, so I'm gonna say that sharing them on your blog by seven months after is okay? (Don't worry; I met the three month deadline for mailing them!)

Unlike our Save the Dates and invitations—which weren't really necessary because we only had 10 guests including the wedding party—I knew we would need thank you cards. Tony and I are lucky to have a lot of caring, generous people in our lives, so not only did we need thank you cards, we needed more than 10.

Pro tip: Writing thank you notes is a lot more pleasant with a beer. (Until you spill the beer everywhere and end up arguing with your husband. Fortunately the thank you cards were unharmed ;)

Ordering these was probably easier than our other wedding stationery because we already knew what we wanted—simple cards with focus on the photo and/or words, and plain white envelopes. 

Luckily, our photographer was amazing and not only did she take breathtaking photos, but she got them to us in record speed. It was so much fun uploading the photos to my Wedding Paper Divas account and personalizing different options.

In the end, there were two options that both Tony and I loved: Favorite Photo and Loving Thanks.* It was a tough decision! The only reason we ended up going with the first option is because we decided we wanted a folded card.

I deleted the text on the inside of the card so that there would be more space for a handwritten note. (I love that you're able to personalize so many details!)

And just like our Save the Dates and invitations, I used Sharpie pens to address them and washi tape from A Beautiful Mess to give the envelopes a pop of colour.

I loved the result!

*Oh man, I still love these two options. The text! The colours! The photos!

Both of these are Loving Thanks.

P.S. I loved the photo on our thank you cards so much, I ordered it on a Christmas ornament from Tiny Prints.

(Save the Dates c/o Wedding Paper Divas. Photos on thank you cards by Kandise Brown)

honeymoon in st. andrews.

Mmm, lobster cappuccino.

Proof I didn't take enough photos: I didn't even get a photo of the hotel in daylight. 

Fun game: Walking around, admiring beautiful homes, guessing how much they would cost if we decided to move to St. Andrews. 

It was cold on the waterfront, so we ended up spontaneously buying matching sweatshirts. I pretended not to like them, but not-so-secretly was thrilled.

I'm okay with schmoopy kissy photos when it comes to honeymoons.

My husband is hotter than yours ;) 

T had seen a friend's photo of a deer in St. Andrews and on our last day there, he said, almost angrily, "I still haven't seen any deer!" I was in the middle of explaining that deer don't just go wandering around town all the time, so a deer sighting isn't guaranteed, when TWO DEER JUST WALKED OUT IN FRONT OF US! T looked at me like, "See?" Ha!

Room service—a guaranteed way to feel fancier than one really is.

Almost 7 months ago, T and I went on a short 3-day honeymoon in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. We decided on this particular destination and timeframe for a few reasons:

1) With planning a wedding + getting married + all the "real life" stuff that needed to happen + + +, we decided on a shorter honeymoon so we'd have more time to spend with friends and family; after all, T and I live with each other in Beijing, and I only get to see my Canadian people in the summer.

2) We wanted to save money. Just like our thoughts on weddings, we agreed that honeymoons don't necessarily have to mean spending a ton.

3) Pretty much anywhere we went in Canada would be new to Tony and would have fun things for both of us to do.

4) We're lucky that unlike many people, we get a large amount of time off and are pretty much guaranteed to visit at least one new country each year (for example, we visited Cambodia last year and Indonesia this year), so there was less pressure to choose the "perfect" honeymoon destination.

So St. Andrews it was! We stayed at The Algonquin and while I would definitely recommend staying there, we booked a patio room and both agreed that the extra cost wasn't worth it. If we visited again, we'd just book a regular room.

I didn't take nearly enough photos, but then again, I think this indicates success at quality time spent together. Neither T nor I spent very much time on our phones, and because they're our cameras... We truly just enjoyed our time together, relishing each moment, as cliché as that sounds.

Highlights included dinner at Savour in the Garden*, friends surprising us with a bottle of champagne at the dinner, whale watching on the Jolly Breeze, playing board games in the gallery at the hotel, late night drinks on the veranda, coffee at Honeybeans, seeing deer while we were walking home, matching sweatshirts, lobster(!). Really, we just enjoyed spending our days wandering around, relaxing, and eating as much seafood as possible.

T and I agreed we would love to visit again someday, maybe for an anniversary.

*I had to add a special note about our dinner at Savour in the Garden: It was highly recommended to us by friends, but T really wasn't crazy about spending $72 each plus drinks on a meal. He grumbled a bit even as the first course was served, We're paying so much money for this little food?! I'm still going to be hungry when dinner is done! And then we tasted the food and were blown away! And after 6 courses, we were stuffed (I couldn't even finish dessert)! This really was my favourite experience of our whole honeymoon. We both discovered a love for "fancy" food; T discovered a love for champagne; and while I was a little nervous and unsure of which utensil to use for each course, it turned out T is a pro! So fun!

P.S. All posts related to our wedding, including our untraditional reception and our Chinese wedding.

wedding recap: the reception.

So much about our wedding was untraditional, but especially our reception. It was divided into two parts, a pizza picnic of sorts at Odell Park (where we had our ceremony) and then drinks at Snooty Fox. We just really wanted everything to be low-key and fun. 

When we started planning the wedding, there were so many things we didn't know for sure and so many decisions that were hard to make, but the one thing we were 100% certain of was that we didn't want a wedding cake. Or cupcakes. We quickly decided on a donut tower. Yay, donut tower!

Legit, we walked into Tim Hortons a couple weeks before the wedding and placed an order for two dozen donuts to be picked up the day of the wedding.

The story behind the cake topper: I was pretty sure we didn't want something traditional (of course), so I went looking on Etsy. We almost went with this one (and I still think it would have been awesome), but then I remembered Lisa Leonard's cake toppers. 

Fairly quickly we decided on "celebrate" because I thought it could become a great family heirloom we could use for many special occasions throughout the years. Birthday, celebrate! Promotion, celebrate! Our kid starts school, aces a test, gets their driver license, celebrate! Birthdays, holidays, Fridays, celebrate! Cakes, donuts, pancakes, celebrate! (I was/am really excited about this cake topper!)

We took photos right after the ceremony, and then headed to the lodge where our coordinator set up the tables and food on the patio (which was covered). 

(It took a while for me to convince Tony that we needed to book the lodge in case it rained. "But why?? We're getting married outside!" "It's like a $100 insurance policy—so we have somewhere to get married/eat in case it rains!") 

I had such a hard time deciding on food. I didn't want to spend a big chunk of money on food that Tony might not even like, but I didn't want to make it myself or have friends and family slave away in a kitchen. 

Finally, starting to feel a bit desperate, I messaged Tony, half-joking and half-serious. So it was decided, we'd eat pizza at our wedding reception! The day before the wedding we called Pizza Hut and ordered 3 large pizzas, 2 large breadsticks with cheese, and 2 large caesar salads. 

The chairs, tables, tablecloths, plates, and cutlery were rented. Everything else was bought from the Dollarama. Yah, we're classy. But for real, I was so excited when I found those colourful wine glasses! Fancy? No. Fun? Heck yes!

I (mostly) jokingly told Tony he ruined this photo by not smiling. 

I think the "best day ever" napkins were my best wedding impulse buy. 

My face! Ha!

Cara and Melissa's speeches were heart-melting. 

Seriously, the donut tower was the best decision ever.

Turned out it was our chauffeur's birthday! We sang happy birthday to Rick and made sure he took a donut.

Tony's donut had a heart! I yelled, "It's a sign!"

While we were eating, we had songs playing on the Beats Pill. 

I want to remember that I made sure to include "Forever and Ever, Amen" for my Nan and Dan, and that Pink's "True Love" accidentally made it onto the playlist after being vetoed by Melissa. 

Pretty sure Kandise took this photo after I said, "Nice bum!"

I'm still not sure who put up the banners, haha!

People cheered for us. But really, we had a mixture of reactions. People either thought it was awesome that we were here for our wedding reception or they thought we were crazy/weird. I'd say we're both ;)

We had hoped to be on the rooftop patio, but because of the forecast, it was closed. T and I snuck up anyway for a few photos. I really wanted to drink blueberry beer and cheers my new husband!

Hooray!

Beautiful & true words will be spoken, rings will be exchanged, kisses will happen, best friends and immediate family will witness it, delicious food will be eaten.

Ideally, we'd be married outside, by a tree or something, with only family and a few friends. Then we'd have a reception more like a small family gathering. A BBQ, maybe (heck, I'd be okay just ordering Dixie Lee), Picaroons and Blueberry Ale, twinkle lights, and later, a bonfire and s'mores. And laughing, lots of laughing. 

Friyay, indeed!

P.S. Getting ready, our first look, and the ceremony.

(Photos by Kandise Brown)