Thank You!

131 posts later .. and it's a wrap. The final stamp on being a bride is the thank you cards, which 95 were mailed and delivered this morning.

That being said, this will be the last post on this blog (Kelly, it was not because you put a deadline in place). But have no fear, I will have 2 running blogs:

1) A Hot Pink Petticoat which will track my side biz in event planning.
2) New Life As New Wife which will be randomness. As of yet, there is no posts, but stay tuned!!

Now, onto the cards: If you were at the wedding stop reading this unless you want to ruin the surprise

Background: When first checking out etsy back in May, I came across this amazing designer who made poster invitations. Unless Someline Like You

When it came to our thank you cards, we wanted something funky and reasonable-ish. So, I contacted Unless Someline Like You and she created this wicked design for us, borrowing an existing design of hers and modifying it a bit to be more us.

I took the image, uploaded it to vistaprint and took advantage of the free postcards (pay for shipping).

We included 1 - 2 pictures in each card taken from the wedding. One of Jer and me and the other of the guests in the photobooth.

Anywho, wanted to share cause I think they're kinda cool.

PS - we used that quote cause my brother used the actual quote as part of his toast. It made me laugh


So, here is the card:



And this is the picture of us we used. We choose it cause it was less booby and really shows off the coolness of Berkeley Church.



I hope you enjoyed following along during my journey to my wedding bliss. I enjoyed writing and sharing my thoughts with the blogger world.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing you again :)

1) A Hot Pink Petticoat
2) New Life As New Wife

Love, Rockstarbride

My Rocker Wife Hair

I did it!! The day of a wicked snowstorm, I took the 90 min TTC trip to see Marleen and got my hair done.

Here it was before at the night of our wedding rehearsal:



And here it is now:





I love all the fun colours in it. And my dearest hubby likes it too so that's a bonus.

Marleen at the colour room. You should all call her if you too want some Rocker Wife hair!

Ringing in the new year as a wifey

I am so excited for New Years. In past years, New Years always appears to be a bust.

Let me recap:

NY 2005: New Years at the Frankford Legion. This was my first new years with Jer. Jer was playing in his family band, to a crowd of ... maybe 30? Jer was in a mood and yelling at his brother's, I made the mistake of stepping in and telling him to stop being such an ass, that he didn't have to come down and play. Well, let's just say when the ball dropped, I had no kiss. NY 2005 SUCKED!!



NY 2006: This was a pretty good one. We went to Belleville with Tara and went out with Jillian and friends. We went to a house party followed by a visit to the bar. Nothing to crazy, but it was fun.



NY 2007: We hosted a New Year's party at our place. Jer had his toe-fecto and spent the night upstairs in bed. I had a blast, drank a whole lot of Sangria, but dear Jeri had a bummer New Years.



NY 2008: Jer has a gig with this disco band he plays with the odd time. It was in Ajax at some old person bar. The lead singer didn't show up so one of the girlfriends (not me) had to step in. I was dateless watching my boy sing. Not a bad New Years, but not a great one.



NY 2009: I CAN'T WAIT!!! 8 of us are getting dressed up and going for dinner at Coco Lezonne in Little Italy. After that, we are going dancing at the Orbit Room. My outfit will consist of my revamped wedding dress (shortened to cocktail length), hot purple Mary Jane pumps, a hot purple clutch, and a fun purple hair band to match.
(note, these are not my pumps .. I WISH!!)





Why am I so excited? I get to spend time with my friends, enjoy great food and drinks, look uber fun, and best off, spend it with my husband :) And you know what? Who knows what next year will bring so this may be my last chance at a killer new years.

Front Bum ..

.. you all know what those are. It's when you let yourself go, and the ponch below your bellybutton grows. So when you look from the side, it looks like you have a bum in the front and the back.

So now we've reviewed the front bum, I had the realisation yesterday, that I'm not far away from having my own. NOT COOL!!

As of this AM, I am back to writing down what I eat and keeping track of point (weight watchers strategy). I will also start back at yoga on Friday, and get into my 3 times a week routine.

NO FRONT BUM FOR ME!!!

Found a cool site called F.A.T (fit at thirty) to inspire me and with all our new fancy cookware, here starts my life as a wife that cooks!! Or maybe I'll hire a hunky cook. I bet Jer won't mind :)



If you know any sites that will encourage me to deny the front bum and live a healthier life, shoot em' my way.

Let the countdown begin!!

Day 1: Denial of the front bum!!

Pikto Photobooks

Thanks to my friend Janice for introducing me to Pikto as a place to make my wedding photobook.

I've tried Shutterfly, Kodak, Blurb, and Pikto is my fav by far.

Top 4 reasons why:

1 - It's local (Toronto). Love to support my local businesses AND it's a way to possibly save on shipping costs.

2 - It uploads pictures incredibly fast!! 800 pictures in less than 10 seconds? You've won me over.

3 - It uploads pictures period!! The other 3 sites didn't like my pictures for whatever reason.

4 - Janice is the expert of research. If she's going Pikto, then I'm going Pikto :)

GO PIKTO!!

Bou .. Bou .. Boudoir

A LONG time ago I posted about the trend of boudoir shots. Well, as my wedding gift to my hubby, he got himself a whole book of me looking el-hot.

The Place: Robin's bachelorette pad
The Photographer: Lisa Mark

Step 1: Pick your most judgemental friend, with a brand spanking new house to be your support person. CHECK

Step 2: Find a wicked photographer who has a stunning portfolio of boudoir photos. CHECK

Step 3: Visit your hair stylist and ask for hot bedroom hair. CHECK

Step 4: Grab some booze and make your way over to the "photoshoot set". CHECK

Step 5: Get your friend to make you up all smokin' hot. CHECK

Step 6: Drink a cooler and wait for the photographer to arrive. CHECK

Step 7: Display your "outfits" to your judgemental friend and have her choose the outfits. CHECK

Step 8: Photographer arrives, she has a drink, and off you go. CHECK

Step 9: Make use of LOTS of natural light to make you lose at least 50 lbs. CHECK

Step 10: Make use of your friend's HOT black boots. CHECK

2 hours and 300+ pictures later, this is all you will get to see. My dad does actually read this :)



For those in the GTA or surrounding areas, you need to contact Lisa today and hook yourself up with you own hot shots. Ladies, if I can look hot, then you can look UBER va-va-voom.

DO IT!!

Puppy for Christmas

This is puppy.



Puppy needs a home. Puppy is a Scott/American bulldog and only 7 weeks.



He's been vet checked, dewormed and has had first vaccinations.



For $450, you get the love from this beautiful dog, a bag of high quality (Origen) puppy food and a dog crate.

You know you want him. Look at this face.



Email me at tapstar@gmail.com if you are interested and I will pass your information onto the seller.

Chop Chop Time!!

Yep, say goodbye to my long flowing locks. hahaha. This Friday, my friend Marleen is going to create something wicked for my "I'm Just Married .. you so missed the boat buddy" hairdo.

In response to my mother and father saying "but it just got so long!! Keep it!" it's time to say good bye due to the following reasons:

1 - I'm lazy and maybe blow dry my hair once a month. Seriously.
2 - I'm lazy, and spend maybe 5 minutes a day getting ready to go to work. And it looks it!
3 - I'm lazy. Period.
4 - I'm bored.

So, here's what I'm thinking. "Rock n' roll meets girl in denial of turning 30 in 6 months".

I love Gina Gershon's hairstyle sense. Way hot and not too young:



I also LOVE Gossip Girl Taylor Momsen's new 'do (in season 2). Grrrr......
Marleen is also a fan of Gossip Girl, and states this hair style will be too high maintenance for me. I think she meant the blonde, but not sure. Anywho, it's hot.



And look how great it looks in a pony!



I can't wait!!

Review: Berkeley Church

My review our spectacular wedding venue.

- We attended the wedding of our friends at the Berkeley Church back in 2007. That night, before the ceremony even started, we realized this was where we would be getting married. The day after we got engaged, we picked a date and put down the deposit. There was no other venue we were going to get married at so there was no point looking. THIS WAS THE FIRST THING WE DID. We didn't have a ring OR tell our parents we were getting married. We wanted this venue.

Leading up to the wedding:
- My day-to-day vendor coordinator was Liz and she was a dream. Organized, friendly, and very accomodating to my nit-picking ways :)
- We had an incident where I screwed up our tasting date. It was that night Berkeley showed how professional they are. (Read here).
- They allowed us to leave some stuff and set up the PA the night before the wedding. They also allowed us to come back the day after the wedding to pick up the rest of the stuff. All without an extra charge.

The Wedding Day:
- Andrew was our coordinator for the ceremony. It was great having him there telling me to just relax and enjoy. That and he was there to flag down our sound guy who didn't know to turn off the music (another post for another day).
- The day of the wedding there were both Liz and Alison (night coordinator) and Andrew, artistic director to make sure our party went smooth.
- Tables, chairs, candles, couches, staff, GRATUITIES, plus many other things I know I'm forgeting were included in the venue cost. We only needed to pay for linens, flatware/glassware and extra cruiser tables.
- Catering is in house. We opted for stationed dinner and had Italian, Sushi and Carving. Everyone we've talked to raved about how great the food was.
- Greatest part, was how the staff were amazing hosts to our guests. Whether it was food, cake or a beer, they always made sure our guests, hubby and I were well taken care of. And we were treated like royalty by everyone at Berkeley. "Alison, here's a beer ... but this one is half full ... you've been drinking it too long" .. hahaha
- Over all we are thrilled we went with our gut and went with Berkeley. My guests were in love with the venue and it's uber coolness and still talk about how awesome our wedding was. There is no way our wedding would have been right if it wasn't for Berkeley.

Don't waste your energy seeking out venues. Call Berkeley today and just do it. You'll be sooo glad you did.

Now, for some Berkeley Porn (click picture for better quality)










These are just a handful! Be sure to read my past posts for more pictures from this fantabulous venue.

My WICKED Musicians

For those on frugal bride you've already read my review. This is for those who want to get the goods who may not be a babbling bride.

Ceremony Musicians

- Daniel Cockburn is an old friend of Jer's who brushed off his key skills just for our wedding. How perfect for someone who was there when Jer got into this music thing, be there, on his birthday, to play our wedding. I didn't hear Dan, but I imagine he was fab.



- Shelby Richardson is a friend of ours from Dance Fusion who agreed to sing "I Want to Hold You Hand" (Across the Universe version) while my girls walked down the aisle. I heard her sing, and I trying really hard to catch my breath before it was my turn. She looked and sang beautifully.



- Chris Caddell came in last minute to accompany Daniel and Shelby. Chris was also playing with our wedding band, Stifler's Mom.

Cocktail Musician

- Jonie Lament is a friend of ours who did us the honour of entertaining our guests during the cocktail hour. From what we heard, he was fantastic. Check out his facebook page



Reception Rockstars

- Stifler’s Mom (1/2 are Thornely’s band, guitar player is Sass Jordan’s guitar player). We hired Stifler’s Mom to be our wedding band, and what a great decision that was. Even with the soundguy sucking, they kept kicking ass. Jer has said a couple of times, that it was these guys who brought the party back (after speeches .. which can be hard). We even got feedback from his mom that his family loved the music. They were friendly, and hugged me all night. I love rockstars! They were real pros, and had the dance floor packed the entire night.
- Check out their My Space



- Driver. Driver played a set at the wedding and did not disappoint. They learned a whack load of new songs just for me. Yep, I am loved. But I should be! Jeremy is a member as is my BIL Scott, and one of the groomsman, Ryan.



- They even went as far as to get Bruce Gordon (member of I Mother Earth) to come up and play with them for one of my fav IME songs, Another Sunday. IT WAS AWESOME! After their set, Andrew from the Berkeley told DH that he loved their band and would like to get them in there for future Berkeley events.



- Don't be lame and hire them for your wedding. Check out their website

Special Guests
- first there was the Kelly clan who sang their version of "We Will Praise You" (think "We will rock you")



- next up my father who sang a snippet of some song {What A Difference You Made in My life - Ronnie Milsap) at the conclusion of his speech:



- then Jer's parents. Mike did a "welcome" sing song and him and Anne ended their speech with a rap/limmerick



- last, Jer and I sang the song "Anything Else But You" from the Juno soundtrack. We couldn't let those before us outshine us could we?? Nah ...



- Of course, dad and the lads performed a tune or 3 :)



It was AWESOME!!! I have a feeling there was a lot of laughter at the wedding. Especially from my gals back home who would never see this at a Belleville Wedding. They are so lucky to have me!!

"My baby, she wrote me a letter"...

My wedding gift from my hubby was a song.



The song: Ode to Alison (note: I've asked him for years to use the album name "Ode to Alison")

The lyrics:

The words, I keep saying mom nothing at all without you
The only thing I ask is to forget the past
Start out new
All of the moments come into me
Try to take it in.

All I can do for you
All I can be for me
All we can do is be
A perfect Harmony

Find myself wondering what has come and gone
and what is true
Same old song known all day
about me and you
I dreamed of this moment to say it all
I need you



I loved my song, and it sounds WICKED live. Once we get the video back from Jawad, I'll post a link.

"Say Cheese!!"

Our guest book was polariod picture-book inspired. We wanted to have everyone's picture alongside their wonderful comments, so we decided to have a mock photo booth. Here are some of my favourite silly ones. All pictures by Greg Tjepkema


















And the best one of the bunch. Our FLA friends and Original Rockstars!!



I am thrilled how these turned out and can't wait to line them up with all the comments. I think that will be a project for this upcoming weekend.