Happy 1st Month Wedding Anniversary to Ashley and Shaun!

In honor of Ashley and Shaun's one month wedding anniversary, I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane! This is also a way for some of our friends who do not use facebook, to see a part of the wedding ...from my perspective. Though pictures can't do this wedding justice, these are some of my favorite shots received via email or snagged from Facebook. They are from Kim and Becca, Jeff and my brother Richard as well as some taken by his wife Elisa, and also a few that I took. I'll start with Thursday since that was really when the "Wedding Weekend" started for the parents and the Bride and Groom.

Thursday
We are busy finalizing things. Shaun came over to my hotel room to help me stuff the gift bags!  I'll write a separate post on the technique I used to paint all those dots, on the tags I made, and all the goodies we put in each gift bag!

Since one of my tasks was to get the photo booth together, I showed Shaun how it would look and print. I'll have more on the photo booth setup and more photos in a separate blog post. We are looking down on my computer and not using the external webcam.

Shaun also took me to see his office and meet his work mates and then to have lunch at the Drunken Monkey Coffee a vegetarian friendly restaurant in Orlando.  For dessert I had the awesome cookie you can see below! You can find a recipe for it it here.

Shaun and Ashley, Marcia and Steve, as well as yours truly all met for dinner at this awesome, make your own burger place in downtown Orlando called Pine22.

Friday - Rehearsal Day

With the morning filled with last minute shopping for sewing supplies and a few staples to put in the mini fridge for hubby to get, this was also when I got to finish stuffing the gift bags! Thank goodness for Ashley and her parents who just happened to have an extra veggie wrap to give me so I could have something to eat!  I also had to finalize my toast for the rehearsal dinner and get ready in time to make it to the rehearsal! My brother Richard and my sister-in-law came all the way from Quebec City to attend the wedding!  My sister Jacqueline and one of her sons, Stéphane, also came from Canada.  We had not seen them since 1998! We were all so touched that they would make the trip!

The Rehearsal

Casa Feliz in Winter Park, FL - the beautiful venue for the wedding.

The bride and groom arrive for the rehearsal.

I just love this picture of Ashley enjoying the rehearsal!

After a stop at the Wine Room in Winter Park for a cool glass of water ...

Ashley and Shaun outside The Wine Room
in Winter Park, FL

we all moved on to the...

Rehearsal Dinner

They did such a great job!  Ruth's Chris is a client of
Royall Advertising where Shaun is the Creative Director.

Table holding the menu and the wine... 

Please click on the picture if you want to read the menu.
But can I just say, the food was divine? It really was!
I can't tell you how many compliments I got!

Well at least my toast made them smile! I gave them some
Canadian money so they could have some poutine while
in Montreal for their honeymoon!
Picture by Kim, member of the bridal party.

Great Picture of Ashley and her parents Marcia and Steve.
Picture by my brother, Richard.

Saturday - The Wedding!

I don't think that I've ever had my jaw drop open or my eyes fill with tears the way they did when I saw Ashley in her wedding gown. Always beautiful, as a bride, Ashley was as Shaun put it so eloquently, sublime.

Picture by Becca, part of Ashley's wedding posse!

The groom looked pretty good too!

Notice the Fleur de Lis included in the boutonniere.
Shaun's tribute to his Quebec roots!

With this ring...

The best man, Jeff gave us a reading from... Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr Seuss! Yup, Ashley and her parents are teachers after all and Shaun always loved Dr Seuss as a child. 

Jeff, is a life long friend of Ashley's who has
become a great friend of Shaun's as well!
He did a magnificent job of the reading!

I honestly could go on about the ceremony, tell you all about the ring warming and the beautiful container where they placed a love letter to each other to be opened on their first anniversary. I'll add a few pictures instead.

The envelope reads - To Ashley, Do Not Open Until July 2013
the other -
To Shaun, Do Not Open Until July 2013

I'll finish this very long post with my favorite of the ceremony pictures I've seen so far.  It was taken by my sister-in-law Elisa.  I love it because it is symbolic of the love and caring that I've seen Shaun extend to Ashley all these years. 

 Happy 1st month anniversary to the two of you! 

May you  always feel towards each other as you did at this very moment!

I love you guys!