Author Archives: Scott Bukovac

Excited about china!

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So… this may be revealing something…  but a few days ago I looked at our Registry at The Bay and saw that someone had bought some of the china we have asked for and I did a little dance of joy!   Iain could see a big smile on my face… and I said rather excitedly “Someone got us our first pieces of china!!!!!”.   He just shook his head rather amusedly!

I am not sure what it is…. maybe it is because china is something I have always associated with special times, special events, celebrations, a sense that what is being served is special.    Around home for me growing up, the china was something that brought out for big family celebratory meals and occasions or when “special guests” were coming to dinner, etc.     I don’t think Iain “gets it” the same way I do… and that is OK.  🙂    He just smiles and nods and enjoys my joy in it.  🙂

Maybe it is also a sense with our new kitchen, some new every day dishes that someone got for us early on from our Registry, and now the china slowly coming in, that it is a stage of “growing up” going from “very late post-college/University” and moving into proper “Adult” living (having some nicer things, etc.).

Anyway…. still excited! 🙂

Scott here – Missing my Dad

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My Dad and I (circa June 1994) at my undergrad Graduation from Simon Fraser University.

My Dad and I (circa June 1994) at my undergrad Graduation from Simon Fraser University.

I will come out and say it plain and simple – I am missing my Dad a lot right now.   Not wanting to be a “downer”, but it is true.   Though the wedding planning process has been fun and exciting and challenging and such, it has also brought me really bold-faced with the reality that when my wedding day comes in 14 days – he will not be there.    I know on that day, I will and do have a multitude of reasons to be happy on many many fronts, but I am going to be honest that with it will be tinged a hint of melancholy for those that will not be there.

I am SUPER blessed to have my Mom who has been incredibly supportive of Iain and I from the very beginning.    She has also been really supportive of us as we have gone through the excitement and challenges of developing the wedding plans.  We are also very glad that she is going to be able to join us from British Columbia along with my Aunt, both coming in from BC about 10 days before the wedding, for the wedding day and a bit afterwards.

That all being said, I just wish he was going to be there, to see the smile of pride on his face as he sits there with my Mom to witness his son marrying his best friend and the love of his life – much like it was when he married my Mom over 45 years ago.   Amongst other things – my Dad (and my Mom, too) showed me the example of how to be in a marriage – deeply committed, deeply loving and deeply giving – not only to each other but also to those around them.   The funny part of what was just mentioned is that he was a man of few words – so didn’t say “I love you” very often – but I knew it through his actions as his actions spoken louder than words.   The example of how to be in a marriage is something I hope to carry on through the many years ahead with Iain.     Many times over the last 12+ years I have wanted to call him and ask him a question, many times I have wanted to just hear his voice again, or to hear him say he was proud of me.   In the lead up to the wedding, I have wanted to talk to him and hear his wisdom again.   As I was talking with a friend recently I was excitedly speaking about the wedding and they asked when my Mom was arriving and I said “Mom and Dad will be….” and I stopped in mid-sentence and nearly “lost it” emotionally…. as it had been the first time in a long time that I have said something like that – having gotten used to not mentioning him in situations like that.

Dad, I know you will be there in spirit.   You will be there in the hearts and minds of those who knew you and loved you.   You are always remembered, always missed and always and forever loved.

 

On Candles and Decorating

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So….  as part of the wedding ceremony, Iain and I are doing some “candle-y things”.   That is the official technical term for it, don’t-cha-know.  🙂

unitycandle-setWe are doing the Unity Candle ceremony just after the exchange of rings.   At the beginning of the ceremony, our Moms will be lighting two “side” taper candles each representing our respective families.   When it comes to the appropriate time, we will be taking those tapers, joining the flames together and then bringing them down to light a central “pillar” candle.   The joining of the flames and lighting a central one to represent the joining together of our lives and the “formal” bringing together of our families.    This is the “base model” of the set…. we will be decorating up the candle a bit with a few things (some ribbon, maybe some “bling”, and a vellum wrap-around with a little poem on it and our names), and will post more once those decorations are completed.

memorial-candleThe other candle-y thing we are doing is at the beginning of the ceremony – is having two very important friends of ours light memorial candles.   These memorial candles are lit to represent those close to each of us that are no long with us (through death).   We will be particular remembering our respective Dads, an Uncle of mine, and our respective Grandparents.

These candles will also be decorated some as well – again with matching ribbon to above, and a velum wrap-around on the outer vase with the names of those being memorialized with each candle – as well as our names and the date of the wedding.     Pictures will get posted once the decorating of those are complete! 🙂

We purchased the candles for our wedding at a place called Yummi Candles – who have their main manufacturing facility for North America here in Toronto (I guess technically Mississauga).   Attached to that facility is a small “factory outlet”.   This means that candles can be purchased for a fraction of what it would cost at any other location.    On their website their 3-pack of 3×8″ white pillar candles is $22, at the outlet is $11, etc.   So, all together saved a fair amount of money buying it there.

The “NEW” Flatware choice

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742414346809_mainOn a recent read through out Registry at The Bay, we discovered that the flatware choice that we originally made, was going to be discontinued, so decided we had better switch to something that is going to be a bit more stable.   It actually matches some of the bar-ware and other things that we have selected…. so in the end it kinda works out well.

That all being said, we have chosen:

Lauren Ralph Lauren,  Pattern Name:  Watchband.

It is a nice solid flatware choice, we think.

Our “first” Flatware choice

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Our Flatware - Splendide "Chalet"

Our Flatware – Splendide “Chalet”

So…. as part of our Registry at The Bay, we chose to put some more formal dinnerware on our list.    We a mirror finish stainless steel instead of silver (Can any of you see Iain or I sitting and polishing silver?).   We ended up trying a number of different patterns – and this process ALMOST resulted in stuff being thrown at each other….  but I digress….  eventually we got this one…. and went “THIS is the one we want!”    A nice solid set, good weight in the hand without being overly heavy.    Our choice then is:

Company:   Splendide

Pattern Name:   Chalet

Registering!

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Gift Registry "Arch" at The Bay Queensway

Gift Registry “Arch” at The Bay Queensway

So… this post will be about our “journey” to getting registered at The Bay in preparation for our wedding.

Once the proposal was accepted we began to talk about several things, and one of those things was the idea of establishing a potential Gift Registry at one of the major department stores.   Initially, Iain was not too thrilled with the idea.  He was quite resistant and mostly was saying “But do we really need to do that” or “Do we really need to register?” or “We don’t really need anything like that, do we?”.   I suggested to that having a Registry is as much about us, and opportunity to open a new chapter in our home, but also about giving the guests to our celebration a source for ideas should they decide they want to get something.

Iain with a Scanner! :-)

Iain with a Scanner! 🙂

I think it was a plus that when we booked the appointment, we happened to see a couple just finishing up and they had one of the laser scanner handheld devices – and you could see Iain’s face light up!  Sold!

With that idea that having a Registry was cool, we visit our local “The Bay” to set-up an appointment.   Unfortunately, with all of the excitement and “busy-ness” of the first month back after Christmas, we accidently double-booked, and had to move it to the following weekend.   That brings us to Saturday, January 26th, 2013 and our 1pm appointment with one of the “Gift Registry Consultants”   We really lucked out with ours, and had someone who was excited, full of energy, and totally into the idea of helping us get things organized.

Us with Darlene the Awesome Gift Registry Consultant!!

Us with Darlene the Awesome Gift Registry Consultant!!

Darlene walked us through the whole process – the benefits of having a Registry – including a “Completion Card” that gives us a 10% discount on all items on the Registry  from now until 1 year after the wedding, the number of items they recommend to have on a Registry with a certain number of guests, and then suggestions of what sort of stuff to consider.   They have a really great “suggestion” book for some of the basic things.    

spectrum-chaletSince we were sitting in and around all the dishes/china, we decide we would start there and work our way “out” from there.    We poked around at the selection that they had, and eventually settled on a more formal dinnerware pattern from Noritake called Spectrum (see a post sometime soon with details) and after some tense moments we eventually settled on a mirror finished stainless steel flatware choice from Splendide called Chalet (post to come soon).     We started wandering around the other kitchen stuff and decided to ask for some of the Bay’s “everyday” dishes to replace the ones that we currently have.

We finished out the initial Registry creation process by looking at and adding a few small appliances, some bakeware, items for entertaining, and some towels.   All and all it was a really fun experience.    We will be adding more to the Registry to round the whole thing out over the next month or so, but at least it has been started! 🙂

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Wedding Rings!

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So…. leafing through the fliers this morning, I ran across one for Ben Moss Jewellers and saw a wedding ring that I thought looked pretty cool.   After a bit of fun/weirdly-somewhat-stressful morning of meeting with our kitchen reno contractors (Yes, you right that right… we are doing a kitchen reno in the midst of wedding planning… crazy, right?), we decided wedding-bands-cobaltKayto swing by the Ben Moss showroom closest to us down at Sherway Gardens.

My skin is relatively reactive, so have to go with metals like Titanium, Tungsten (and its alloys) or other non-reactive metal varieties.   The sales person, Rob, who was also the store manager (who was AWESOME by the way), pointed us towards an alloy called BioBlue27 made by Scott Kay out of New York.    That all being said, Iain and I  chose the ring in the picture shown in sizes 11 and 15.5 respectively.   Eeeek!  🙂

“Save the Date” Cards – Arrived FAST!

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"Save the Date" card - Back Side

“Save the Date” card – Back Side

So…. on Wednesday we ordered the “Save the Date” cards that we wanted.  And sitting on our doorstep today was our Save the Date cards.   We did pay for a rush service, but did not expect them THIS fast.  Very COOL!!!

Suddenly seeing the cards…. printed…. with a date…. makes it a whole lot more “real”.

"Save the Date" card - back

“Save the Date” card – back

We decided to get a “postcard” type format instead of a more formal card in an envelope sort of idea.   As many of our friends and family will now, we are not super “formal” sort of guys… so we thought this might work well.

Given that a number of our friends and family live at various places around the world we wanted to get the date out as quickly as possible.