And We're Off!!

We're off on our honeymoon!

See you in 3 weeks (or the moment we land via @akbratland on Instagram)!

With a Little Help from Our Friends

When Eric and I first started planning the wedding, we were trying to figure out who we'd ask to be our bridesmaids and groomsmen. We realized that we are lucky enough to have so many close friends and siblings that we were either going to have 10 attendants each, or no one. We decided to go with no one. At first, I thought we might hurt some feelings, but actually worked out really well. We have a lot of people in our lives with a lot of different talents and we wanted to include them in any way we could.

Brit and Rando witnessed for us (in addition to a hundred other things- driving, organising, listening to me talk incessantly about the wedding, etc.). They've been married over seven years! Eric and I really look up to their relationship and the way they're raising their family.

 Arborist Cole cut wood for our centrepieces.

My friend Kristine and sister in law, Terri, are incredibly artistic and did all of the chalkboard centrepieces and the program.

Mike and Sheldon played the guitar for the ceremony, Kyle helped us pick out wine, and Eric's childhood friend, Stephen, was our MC. He did and incredible job! Even our photographer commented that he was the best she'd seen. Just before our final speech, about 14 of Eric's friends got up and sang us a hilarious and heartfelt song-which I (obviously) bawled through.

My cousin Carmen did my hair, Carrie planned the stagette(s), and Sarah blew up #mrandmrspalmiere on Instagram (and is responsible for most of the photos in this post).

It really meant a lot to have so many of our friends involved in our big day. Thanks everyone!

We Did It!

We got married this past weekend!

It was the most perfect day! I'll have more details this week, but I thought I'd check in since it's been a while since my last post.

Baby in a Box

I got to meet my new niece, Samantha, last week and she's cute as button!

When Eric and I went over to visit, her Dad said 'she's over in the box.' I assumed that 'the box' was hip parent speak for a bassinet, but while looking around for some sweet, white, frilly bed, I saw that she was literally in a box. After oooing and ahhing, I bit the bullet and asked- in what I hoped would be a very non-offensive way- why the baby was in said box. You guys, Eric (ERIC!) was the first to respond and say 'why not? They do it in Europe all the time!' and before I could say 'who are you and what have you done with the man I'm about to marry?' he sent me this link.

When Finnish women have a baby, the government gives them a box full of clothing and supplies for the newborn. The box then becomes a bed for the little one until they grow out of it. How cool is that?!

Grilled Corn

When our visitors were at the lake over the weekend, my Dad wanted to cook ribs on the fire. I was about to boil some water for corn when my cousins filled me in on a little trick. Soak the corn in its husk for 20 minutes and then throw it over the coals (or on the grill). Not that boiling corn is particularly tedious, but this method certainly cuts out a few steps! I used this street corn recipe and it was a hit.

Note- there were five of us for dinner and, for some reason (it probably had to do with wine), I didn't feel like everyone needed their own ear of corn, but my Dad felt that each person might need almost an entire rack of ribs. Numbers aren't really our thing.

Ahh the Weekend...

We had a very relaxing long weekend at Pigeon Lake. A lot of cribbage, sleeping, and reading. My parents and cousins came for dinner and wine one night, but that was the most excitement we saw- and that was just fine by us.

With the wedding just over a week away, it was starting to feel like that was all we were talking about. Who should sit where? Who's going to pick up flowers? Did you do this? Did you do that? So, we decided to have a wedding free weekend. No talk, no projects, no wedding related anything. It felt nice to get back to normal for a few days. Now we're right back in the swing of wedding things ;)

Made Me Laugh

You know Jay Z's song 99 Problems? We all know that a bitch ain't one, but artist Ali Graham has taken it upon himself to illustrate what Mr.Carter's other issues might be.

You can see the rest of them here.

Have a good long weekend!