Category Archives: Wedding

Music for the Wedding

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Having grown up with music in my blood, it’s not surprising that I’ve taken on the music programming for our day.  It’s an eclectic set of music spanning the several decades that Scott and I have grown up in and music that we’ve grown to love.

I don’t expect all of this music to be played, however this is what I’ve lined up for the ceremony, especially if we do go over time in any section of the church ceremony:

Pre-Ceremony 1.2 hours (72 minutes)

    • The Shamen – Omega Omigo
    • Afro Celt Sound System – When you’re falling
    • Pet Shop Boys – Somewhere
    • Annie Lennox – Little Bird
    • Bryan Adams – Everything I do (I do it for you)
    • Garth Brooks – We shall be free
    • Heather Small – Proud
    • Celine Dion – Where does my heart beat now
    • Pet Shop Boys – Give it a go
    • Afro Celt Sound System + Peter Gabriel – Downside Up
    • Peter Gabriel – Secret World
    • Corey Hart – Take My Heart
    • Cicero – That Loving Feeling
    • Erasure – Rain
    • Roxette – One Wish
    • U2 – Beautiful Day

Processional – 11 minutes 48 second

    • Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheeba (Four Weddings & A Funeral)
    • Vivaldi – Spring: Allegro – from The Four Seasons
    • Vivaldi – Autumn: Allego – from The Four Seasons

Signing of Documents – 9 minutes 1 seconds

    • Drake Jensen – Midnight Forest Cricket Chorus
    • Afro Celt Sound System – Eireann

 Recessional – 10 minutes 12 seconds

    • Pet Shop Boys – Go West (Mings Gone West First and Second Movement)

Getting to the Church on time… (Updated)

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Updated: August 22nd

Don’t forget the CNE is in full effect at the CNE grounds between Jameson and Spadina, so it my be worth taking the 401 to the DVP and get off a Bloor/Danforth then travel south on Broadview.  Be sure to check Google Maps traffic before leaving and while traveling.

MCC is located in the heart of a relatively densely populated residential area of Riverdale east of Broadview Av, west of Logan Av, and just north of Gerrard St. As such, admittedly, it does not have a lot of parking available.

The church is located at the corner of Simpson and Howland Avenues. This intersection is one block west of Logan and one block north of Gerrard.

Parking is strictly enforced in that area of Toronto as well.

Given Toronto has had questionable traffic on Saturdays – you may want to consider leaving home early.  North of the chuch is The Danforth and has a number of great restaurants for breakfast; and at Gerrard and Broadview is Chinatown East, great for Dim Sum/Yum Cha.

If you are driving:

From Hwy. 404 / Don Valley Parkway:

Riverdale is accessed by Hwy. 404/Don Valley Parkway at the Bayview Exit. Travel south on Bayview Avenue and exit at River Street. Follow River until you get to Gerrard Street. Turn left onto Gerrard and continue until you get to Howland Avenue. Howland is the first street on the left after Broadview Avenue. Go north on Howland to Simpson Avenue. MCC Toronto is on the left-hand side.

From The Gardiner Express Way:

Exit the Gardiner Express Way at the final off ramp (where the Gardiner ends and becomes Lakeshore Road.) Travel north on Carlaw Avenue (first set of traffic lights after leaving the Gardiner) to Gerrard Street. Turn left on Gerrard and travel westbound to Howland Avenue. Howland is the first street on the right after Logan Avenue. Go north on Howland to Simpson Avenue. MCC Toronto is on the left-hand side.

From Lakeshore Boulevard:

Continue on Lakeshore east to Carlaw Avenue. Turn left onto Carlaw and travel north to Gerrard Street. Turn left onto Gerrard and travel westbound to Howland. Howland is the first street on the right after Logan Avenue. Go north on Howland to Simpson Avenue. MCC Toronto is on the left-hand side.

Via TTC

From the Bloor-Danforth subway line:

  • Take the Broadview, King (504) or Dundas (505) streetcars south from Broadview Station.
  • Exit the streetcar at Don Jail Roadway (Simpson Avenue is directly across the street.)
  • Walk east on Simpson to the next block and you will find the church on the corner of Simpson and Howland.

From the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line:

  • Take the College/Carlton/Gerrard (506) streetcar eastbound from either Queen’s Park or College Stations or westbound from Main Station (on the Bloor-Danforth line).
  • Get off the streetcar at Howland Road on Sundays.
  • Simpson Avenue is one short block north.


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Mother-in-law & son-in-law bonding

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Scott’s Mum, Betty, and his aunt, Bev, arrived on Wednesday in Toronto, just in time to help Scott and I finish up preparations for the wedding.  We’re ensuring they’re having a great time – 9 hours of shopping yesterday, finishing up the bonboniere this weekend.

We took Betty and Bev to Canada’s Wonderland today.  This is a first time for both and it made for some great Mother-in-law/son-in-law bonding time with some help from some co-workers and friends, over the two largest roller coasters at the park – Leviathan and Behemoth, and also Vortex.

I just love the picture below from Behemoth.  You can totally see Mom saying, “What the hell has Iain gotten me into, again?”

I am so proud of Mom!

We’ve got another high flying surprise for them tomorrow.

T-minus 16 days

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This has been our life for the past few days.. and will be for the next two weeks…

  • Church walkthrough – check
  • Catering review – check
  • Reception hall review – check
  • First Videographer meeting – check
  • First Photographer meeting – check
  • Reserved seating confirmed – check
  • Confirm cake – check
  • Music for
    • Pre-Ceremony – in process
    • Processional – in process
    • Signing – check
    • Recessional – check
    • Reception – check
    • Confirm speaker system – in process
    • Burn CDs
  • Programme – in process
  • Bonboniere – in process
  • Put weaken schedule together – in process
  • PIck up mother-in-law, aunt-in-law without running out of gas in car – 6 days
  • Ensure groomsmen and family arrive safely – 14 to 15 days
  • Drop stuff off at church – 15 days
  • Actually get to church – 16 days
  • Make sure family gets to the church on time – 16 days
  • Last minute hiccups – bound to be something

Have we forgotten anything?

WedPics – Pictures before and after

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Scott and I have signed up with the cool folks at WedPics.   So, should you have a cool pic to share at our wedding, sign up and download the app!  Connect to us using our profile code: IainScott0824

WedPics is not just for the wedding day! Start sharing photos of Iain and Scott and add any photos from the engagement party, wedding shower, rehearsal dinner and more!

Let’s give Iain and Scott the ULTIMATE wedding gift: a photographic timeline of their lives all the way up to their special day!

If you haven’t already, download the app:

A tale of two toasting flutes

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Courtesy of Macy's

Courtesy of Macy’s

Scott and I were at The Bay yesterday picking up some stuff and I stumbled on two toasting flutes that I fell in love with from Ralph Lauren’s Watchband line.

That line is being discontinued and for whatever reason, the champagne flutes are hard to find.  You can find the martini shakers, bar sets, etc… No flutes.  They’re gorgeous, so I could understand why they may have gone so quickly.

Checking at Sherway – they reported 1 box left, but couldn’t find it, and they weren’t about to sell us the display model.  Queen St – 1 or 2 left; Bloor and Yonge – up to 7 boxes left.  Awesome!  And one was put aside for us.

So we drove from Sherway to Bloor-Yonge thinking we had enough time with a stop at Costco.  Toronto traffic being what it is, we didn’t get to the store until 6:55pm with Scott being told the store was closed – which happens at 7:00pm.  Oh well, the world won’t end.

Today I had a volunteer meeting from 2pm to 6pm so thought I’d go down to the store first.  Leaving at 11:15am I had more than enough time to get to the store.

Nope!  The Toronto Triathalon, some street fair at Lansdowne and Bloor, and a street fair at Yonge-Dundas Square -Traffic was completely snarled in the city.  Lesson learned – I should have taken public transit, which would have given me ample time for everything and less stress.

Two hours later, I got to the store…

To be told they couldn’t find the glasses, despite them being set aside for us supposedly.  They weren’t.

I also had some fun with them asking if I was the groom, to which my response was, “There are two grooms” and then being asked what the bride’s name was, to which my response was “Scott”.  As someone said, “At the gayest Hudson’s Bay in the country?”  Given it’s close proximity to Toronto’s Gay Village on Church St, one would expect them to be more up on alternative relationships.  We certainly had no issues at the Sherway Gardens store.

So I left, feeling disappointed, especially after three or so hours of driving if you count the two trips to the store.

I left and called up Darlene at Sherway Gardens (She’s AWESOME!) and she said that she’d do what she could to find us the flutes. After talking with Darlene, there was a message waiting for me saying, “Oh we found them!”  Great!  I can’t pick them up today…

But I did.  My meeting ended early and I was able to get to the store and…

  • Look at the flutes and determine they weren’t scratched or anything.
  • The first one looked prefect!
  • The second one looked prefect until… I heard a crack when putting the second one away.  &#@%!  Yes, I cracked the flute putting it away!
  • Never fear – the store found a replacement flute.  *PHEW*

Here’s the great thing.  We got a massive deal on these – that I didn’t know about until the flutes were rung in. Regularly $85 – taking 80% off for the last box in the store, plus 10% off for the registry – We got them for $16!

Sometimes life throws you some curve balls and challenges, but they’re rewarding.

So that said – if you’re in the market for crystal, stores like The Bay often have some amazing deals on last sets of glassware.  So keep an eye out.

Congrats to Dave and Mark!

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I totally lifted this from Facebook.

I totally lifted this from Facebook.

The end of June was huge for the United States with the Supreme Court of the United States ending the Defence of Marriage Act and putting a stop to the Proposition 8 challenge, for now.

With this, it opened up marriage again in California for many same-sex couples.

One of these couples includes our friends Dave and Mark.

As a result of these changes – July 20th, 2013 is their wedding day. Mark and Dave have been together for about the same amount of time as Scott and I have.

This is also huge for Dave and Mark as it reduces the worries about Mark staying in the United States.  With DOMA being thrown out, it means Mark, a Canadian citizen, can apply to stay in the United States permanently.  This is a couple that has one less worry about whether or not Mark will be allowed to stay in the US.  They still have the green card process to get through, but it should be considerably easier now that their relationship is recognised.

Couples, families, have less worries about being torn apart because their relationships are now recognized.  They’re no longer invisible.  And writing this has me tearing up. *GRIN*

I think Canadians have somewhat taken marriage equality for granted.  It’s almost like it was a shoe in – we’re Canada, good things happen here.  But witnessing the struggle that Americans have had, and what Dave and Mark have had to go through for years, it has really made me take stock of what we have up here in Canada and realize that it’s not something to be taken for granted.

Dave and Mark will be at our wedding in August.  Please be sure to congratulate them when you meet them.

 

Ramping up

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Image 1Scott and I are slowly starting to ramp up on the wedding plans as we took some downtime from the kitchen renovation, a weekend in Ottawa, Toronto Pride and a freak thunderstorm.  Personally, I’m waiting for the zombies to appear.

And that said, I realize we are completely way behind on updating our blog!

Pride week is a big week and weekend for Scott and me.  We actually met on the Saturday of Toronto Pride 1997 as seen in the picture to the left.

Yes, that’s Scott with dyed blonde hair and a much younger version of myself – 26 (almost 27) and 23, respectively.  We chose to re-create the picture at Pride this year.  Much thanks to Paul Ciantar for taking the picture!

IMG_5296Pride Monday, though, is also a significant event for us.  When Scott was working at The Hospital for Sick Children and I was working at Nortel, we worked across the road from each other.  As such, we would attend the Pride Flag raising at Toronto City Hall each year – until 9 years ago when I started working in Mississauga and couldn’t attend, although I am contemplating making it a regular long weekend for Scott and me because…

…Monday was the day that we also picked up our marriage license!  Not only that, but it was also 60 days to the actual wedding day.

It was a painless process and we had a nice surprise in that our friend Michel was the person that registered our paperwork and everything.

So needless to say, we have the paperwork.

Our Premier, Kalthleen Wynne, looked fabulous in her white dress.  And yes, that is Dougie Ford with a pride flag in hand.  It’s interesting seeing how gregarious he is relative to his brother who couldn’t get back to City Hall quick enough after reading the Pride Week proclamation.

Of course, the big news that week was that the Supreme Court of the United States rejected DOMA (Defence of Marriage Act) and dismissed Proposition 8 in California.  While it doesn’t affect Scott and I directly, although I will feel considerably more comfortable and will with pride declare Scott as my husband when we go through US Customs, we do have a lot of affinity for marriage equality in the United States and feel for those fighting against all of the stupid and inane arguments that people come up with.  We’ve had marriage equality in Canada for 10 years now, and we’re still together as a nation, lightning hasn’t struck us, etc…

So congratulations to our friends in the US.  I already know of one wedding-related event Scott and I will be attending in the Bay Area this year.

Back to our planning:

  • We’ve figured out clothing for what we and our groomsmen are wearing.
  • We’ve figured out one reading and we’re looking at another.
  • Our food planning is coming along and I am hoping to meet this week or next week on the food plans.
  • We have one piece of clothing that is being made for us, for the reception, that we’re finalizing and should be done in about two weeks.
  • We’re figuring out the bonboniere, which will most definitely be representative of us and our community of friends, family and coworkers.  Like I said, this is going to be a different wedding.
  • We’re slowly figuring out flowers.
  • Tonight I spent time figuring out what music will be played and when during the ceremony.
  • Our colours are blue, yellow and white.

And there you go!  That’s out update.

What to wear…

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KELLY LONDONI provide this guide to all the guys out there who are being dressed by their wives or husbands, who are insisting that they dress up as formal as possible, yadda yadda yadda.

Here is my personal guide to helping you to be comfortable at our wedding.  Consider it CAaaS- Clothing Advice as a Service.

The two most important points I can make are:

  • Dress how you wish, that represents you.  Scott and I have friends from all walks of life and I can guarantee people will be dressed in a way that represents them.  In fact, the regular ambience of our church is about bringing yourself, rather than your sunday best.
  • image001Scott and I will not be wearing ties, nor jackets – neither will our groomsmen.  The church will be warm in August, and I know if I can get out from wearing a tie, I absolutely will.  Surprising given as a younger man, I actually didn’t mind wearing a shirt and tie, or even a sport jacket.  Do yourself a favor, dress cool and comfortable – your wives or husbands too.

And for the record, if you see a bearded man with a very colourful outfit with bells on, do not fear, that’s probably just my uncle in his Morris Dancing Fools outfit.  He’s mostly harmless. *GRIN*

I admit – I’ve always wanted an Issey Miyaki blow up jacket.