Thursday, October 26
The Rings
As per popular request, here are the rings. Yes, we're both wearing rings; we're both engaged after all.


The rings are gold (yellow and white). As you can see, Jen's has a small accent diamond. Since we're both wearing rings now, that will also be our wedding rings, we decided that we had to change them somehow on the day of the wedding. On the day of the wedding we will both remove our rings and flip them over so that the yellow gold band is on the top (which is how they were designed).

We had these rings custom designed. The white gold portion was a ring by itself (the mold was taken from a piece of slate) and there was a ring in the display case that had both the yellow and white gold bands bonded together. After some consultation with David Rice we decided on the combination of these two styles. That led to the rings that you see in these pictures.

 
posted by Mark at 11:27 PM Permalink
Wednesday, October 25
Once Upon a Time
For all of you who are getting cheesed-out at all our smiley couple pictures, here's something a wee bit different . . . the story of how we met, fell in love and decided to go to the chapel on the 29th.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Jen. She was but a fresh-faced 15-year-old, roaming the halls of her high school in Oakbank, Manitoba. Her life was happy, surrounded by her friends, family, and her numerous hobbies. She even had a boyfriend! Things couldn't get much better. That is, they couldn't until one cold night in mid-winter, a friend stuffed Jen into the back seat of her car, and took off to the big city (aka: Winnipeg). There were many dangers lurking in the alleyways of this foreign place: pool halls and loud music, shopping malls, boys, and . . . Calvary Temple youth group. It was there, in the humble enclave of those Friday night gatherings, that Jen first met Mark. He was a smashing young lad, well-educated and yet with a "wild" curly mane suggestive of his adventurousness. A few weeks went by, until one day in Chemistry class, when Jen was feeling particularly unsure of the boy she was then dating, her friend said casually, "Do you like Mark?" (ah, the simple days!) Jen replied, "well, I don't really know him, I guess, he's nice . . . " "well he likes you!" was the response. Jen was surprised and flattered. Her friend asked, "would you ever call him?" She answered, no, I couldn't do that. She asked that friend NOT to tell Mark that she had a boyfriend, but it was too late, he already knew. "He doesn't care," said the friend. Jen liked that very much.

A few days later Mark called. As verified by Jen's journal, they had a great talk, and she wrote "he's WAY more talkative than xxxx (current boyfriend)." She then proceeded to list his other qualities (followed by the ubiquitous smiley-faces) and state how confused she was.

Time passed. They fell out of touch. Things happened, Life happened. There were other relationships, other continents. They lived on opposite ends of Winnipeg, they went to different schools and churches, they had different friends. There were a few brief meetings at parties and other social events.

Then one day, Jen decided to move to Vancouver, on a whim, needing very much to mend her heart. Strangely enough, it was less the beauty of that distant coastal place than a boy from Winnipeg, living in upstate New York, who accomplished that. (they seem to have this thing for opposite ends . . . ) After a few on-line chats through the fall (neither were ready for more at that point), they decided to meet up at Christmas, just for coffee, or something. That night, they both didn't get home until well after 5 am. It turned out they still had LOTS to talk about.

And Jen may not have filled her journal with smiley-faces, but she was smiling all the way home.

There was a visit to Syracuse, and one to Vancouver. There was a spring apart and a summer together in Winnipeg.

That August Mark popped a very beautiful David Rice ring on Jen's finger in front of both their families. He not only succeeded in completely surprising her, but he threw in a real sweet little bit about making her the center of his life as well. Nicely done, she thought, and exclaimed "Yes I'll marry you!" before he even had the words out of his mouth.

And so, from a blustery February in '95 to a sun-soaked '06 August, there goes the story of how Jennifer Anne Ward and Mark Graeme Barber met and fell in love and decided to go to the chapel on the 29th.

not looking like this, mind you!

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posted by The Hippie Triathlete at 2:03 AM Permalink
Come December,
Winnipeg will not look like this, but we will.


Just another glimpse of what's to come from your friendly neighborhood groom-to-be.

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posted by Mark at 12:50 AM Permalink
Tuesday, October 24
us, already and yet to be














A Thanksgiving shot on a path in Ottawa. Looking happy as we approach this time of planning and anticipation, even though for a time we will be apart.

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posted by The Hippie Triathlete at 1:30 AM Permalink
Monday, October 23
Presentation
What Jen and I really want is for people to come to our wedding and bless us with their presence—not necessarily presents. Of course we completely understand if people can't come to the wedding, if you are one of the people who received an invitation and yet can't come, just know that we wanted you to know that you are important to us.

One thing that I've been asked (or, my Mom has been asked anyway) is whether or not we are ok with receiving money as a gift.

If people feel like they must give a gift, then we will be happy with whatever they give us. Since Jen is moving to New York with me, we might not move all of our stuff right away so we'd be fine receiving money.

There's my long answer to the short question of whether we'd be ok receiving money as a gift.

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posted by Mark at 9:47 PM Permalink
Costco Wish-List
Costco's a great store, but they are lacking in the wedding registry department, so (with my mom's suggestion) I decided to create my own! Here it is, for all you Costco-lovers. AND, the best thing about this particular registry is that it comes with yummy samples. Aren't you glad you checked out our website? If you want to ensure that the item isn't purchased twice (although Costco's great with returns...) you can leave a comment on this post saying the item is bought, and sign in annonymously.

280412 Kirkland SS Mixing Bowls, 7 pc. set 34.99
100141 Roscher Manto Wood Salad Set 7 pc. set 29.99
969538 Kirkland SS Stackable canisters 4 pc. set 37.99
? Olde Thompson Spice Carousel 16 glass jars. 22.99

"Feast" by Nigella Lawson
Any of the williams-sonoma cookbooks.


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posted by The Hippie Triathlete at 5:25 PM Permalink
Sunday, October 22
The un-registry
Jen speaking...It was recommended that we make a list of things we do not need. (What fun! The anti-wish list. The un-registry. I like it.) Basically we're trying to avoid getting duplicates of things we have each accumulated over the past few years. The list as follows are the old friends we just don't want to part with at this point for new ones. We hope this helps. Both you, and the amassing landfills of rejected household goods.
  • Blender
  • Cross-stitch pictures
  • George Forman Grills
  • Large furniture (we're moving right away)
  • Toaster Oven
  • Pop Toaster
  • Electric Kettle
  • Coffee Grinder
  • French Press
  • Drip Coffee Maker

  • Update:
  • Kitchen-Aid Mixer
  • Labels:

     
    posted by Mark at 2:12 PM Permalink
    Saturday, October 21
    First, a Picture
     
    posted by Mark at 2:24 PM Permalink