Brian and Melissa

Melissa and I are thrilled to announce that, pending any unforeseen circumstances, we have booked our venue and a date for our wedding!!!!

And it’s not Las Vegas.

We will be getting married on Sunday, September 14, 2008. The venue is the Eglinton Grand, located near Yonge and Eglinton. We are both thankful and thrilled to have found this gorgeous venue, and to the events coordinator there, Francesca, who was willing to spend a whole hour with us on a Saturday to show us around and actually sit down with us and discuss everything in great detail.

We couldn’t be more happy during this important moment in our lives. The venue booking, and later today, the rabbi booking, are the 2 important first steps in this long process. Now that we have a date, a venue, and an officiator, we can really concentrate on the remaining details which will truly make our wedding our wedding. We’re really looking forward to picking out a dress for Melissa, tuxedos for the men, dresses for the bridesmaids, wedding invitations, flowers, centrepieces, music, a photographer, videographer, and whatever else we have to do.

I’d like to extend special thanks to our parents, who have given us their blessing to book everything thus far. I know there will be challenges ahead, and we don’t always agree on things, but I know that we will work things out, like we always do. I would also like to extend a special thanks to my grandparents, who were there to turn to this week when Melissa and I were feeling upset about things. You have uplifted our spirits once again and will remain a very influential part of our lives. I am very lucky to have grandparents like you!

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So we’re a bit frustrated, but feeling a bit better nonetheless. Our ‘real’ wedding date was supposed to be October 5th, but that got shot down real quick because it was Jewish holidays. Turns out October 5th is fine… but too late now. I had a total freak out a few days ago, I just got really sad… it’s been so long and we’ve just been talking about the same stuff over and over and over again, and it’s so difficult because we just wanna book something, anything and get started and then it can kinda die down for a bit.

It’s so hard, because really all we want to do is get married and be together… we don’t care about the wedding, we never did. So it’s just making me really sad that we can’t even get married, at least that’s what we both feel like. And like, this is supposed to be one of the best times in our lives, and so far it’s been one of the worst. I’m so on edge, and angry and sad and frustrated all at once.

Neither of us can stand anything. But, I think we’ve made some progress and hopefully Steam Whistle will get back to us today so we can book it.Booking a venue like Steam Whistle, or anything for that matter, is really going to cheer us up and make us happy that we got engaged all over again.

Everyone keeps saying ‘This is when you start fighting, you aren’t going to agree on anything and the fighting will start. Just try and stay strong together.” Which I think is hillarious, because Brian and I are not fighting at all, we never have and we sure aren’t going to start now. But we’re both sad, at least we’re sad together. haha.

So last night we met with this Rabbi, who’s kinda cool but not as cool as Eva. We have to get some blood test because Jewish people decided to inbreed and now we can be carriers for some crazy Jewish disease when we have kids. Whoa.. Whoa “when we have kids”??? I know… I was so weirded out when I heard it too. We never ever ever talked about kids or any “grown up” stuff. hahah. We’re Brian and Melissa! We just mess around, play video games, spend too much money on crap, and go to Vegas. Who said anything about kids?? Whatev, I know we’ll have kids… but no one ever mentioned it before, and if they have then it was just like whatever, a random statement. But it sounded so for real and totally possible now that we’re getting married, which totally weirded us out. At least it weirded me out… I dunno about Brian, i’ll find out.

Ok I was wrong, it didn’t weird him out.

Melissa: Did it weird you out that that guy was talking about us having kids for real?
Your Orange Prince: it doesn’t weird me out too much
Melissa: why?
Your Orange Prince: I think about us having kids all the time
Melissa: Not for real though
Melissa: really?
Your Orange Prince: well I picture situations in my mindYour Orange Prince: like me reading stories and setting up a train set…
Melissa: Awwwwwwwwwww!!!!

Ok, now I feel like a jerk.

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It’s Thursday, and by tomorrow we should have a detailed estimate on how much having our wedding at Steam Whistle is going to cost us. There is a scare that it is going to go beyond our budget, but we will wait and see. If that happens, we will find ways to cut certain things out instead of just switching to another venue.

There really are no good deals when it comes to picking a venue. Some venues are really high-end and charge through the nose, because they know their place in society. Then there is everyone else, all generally in the same price range, but all just have a different price structure. For instance, synagogues have very expensive food, but you get a lot of stuff thrown in, like linens, dishes, service, etc. At Steam Whistle, everything is separate, like a rental fee, catering company, so it can get expensive. But then you can pick and choose easier sometimes. We will see how much it is for sure tomorrow.

Tonight we met up with a rabbi that we both like (more or less). We still have to discuss it more, but he could be the one we choose to marry us. He’s reform Jewish, which I know our parents didn’t raise us as, but Melissa and I have been doing a lot of soul searching, and we are comfortable for what this guy stands for. The thing that is most important to us, an absolute must, is that a rabbi must stand for equal rights of a man and a woman. There must be nothing the man does that the woman doesn’t, and vice versa. And we love this, because it reflects our relationship structure exactly. Melissa and I are both very hard workers, are both passionate about what we do and who we are, we have separate bank accounts (and some joint ones), both have our own dreams, aspirations, and are both very independent when we want to be. Melissa cooks, and I do laundry and dishes. And sometimes we switch. We both clean. These are just a few examples, and together we know that our marriage will thrive because we are both equal, and are so open to each other about everything.

And we will look back on our wedding ceremony with great fondness that the person to marry us recognizes this first and foremost, and makes everyone understand that we are “Brian and Melissa.”

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Well, we checked out Steam Whistle today for a venue. It’s the second place we’ve seen that we actually like. Our first choice was Vaughan Estates, but it’s too small. We could cut people, and have it there… but we don’t want to cut people. Steam Whistle is amazing though, it’s got a really huge space, it’s lofty and classy and not all ‘wedding-like’, since we’re both not into weddings, this place feels really right.

We’ve been in touch with the caterers, and are just waiting to find out more about prices and once we get those, chances are we’ll be booking Steam Whistle!! Can’t wait! And if we can’t, then I guess we’re off to Vegas.

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