All the fun in Fuchsia (The Wedding of Lindsay and Krishna)

After a wonderful week of wedding festivities, Saturday June 29 was certainly a day to remember (I told Lindsay over the weekend that it was probably one of the best days of my life). I woke up at 5:30am, filled with excitement and joy like a child on Christmas. It seemed that I wasn't the only one feeling this way as Linz and I started imessaging one another with many a silly wedding emoji around 6am. The anticipation was building and we still had 4 hours before we were due to get our hair done and 10 hours before Lindsay and Krish were scheduled to get married!

The team at Evoke was amazing. I had been there once before to get a haircut and was really looking forward to the experience. They paired me up with Chris and the two of us just clicked. He immediately was on board with my rockabilly updo aspirations. The end result was a mega fun morning spent laughing and talking about musical theatre and an incredible updo, complete with a custom made fascinator from my sweet friend at Elizabeth Victoria.

Lindsay's vision for the bridesmaids included fuchsia dresses, black shoes and black & silver accessories. She gave us a lot of flexibility on dress style as long as we stayed within a range of fuchsia (which we've discovered is the colour that men cannot see). I found an incredible dress by Trashy Diva that was the perfect colour, fit and interpretation of my personal style. Elizabeth did an amazing job with my custom fascinator and somehow matched the fuchsia perfectly!I chose a pair of black sparkly peep toe heels that I had bought a couple years ago for a show, and found a stellar bracelet and ring from my sweet friends at Damzels. I was so happy with how everything came together and it was a lot of fun to be in a bridal party where we were encouraged to express our individuality.

We headed back to Linz's parents house to continue getting dolled up. I had stopped by Belmonte Raw the day before the wedding for fresh juice and yummy lunches for Linz and I to make sure that we were happily nourished in a gluten free, vegetarian fashion for the big day. Carol did an amazing job hooking us up with incredibly food and fresh green juices to make sure we were well fueled and ready to go.

Watching Linz get ready and seeing her in her dress for the first time was truly magical. The bridesmaids' had had a sneak peek at the dress at one of our gatherings in the months leading up to the wedding, but that did not diminish the feelings I had that day. Thank god for waterproof mascara.

She was stunning.
And glowing.
And radiant.
And exuding so much joy.

It was such a beautiful thing to experience and many times over the course of the day I reflected on how thankful I was for her friendship and what it meant to be able to stand beside her as she married her love.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day - the sun was shining, traffic was easy and we arrived at the venue with the sounds of Pride happening two streets over. We hurried into the bridal suite and waited for our time.

The room for the ceremony was full of people from all over the world who had come to see Linz and Krish tie the knot, and the love in the room was palpable as soon as we walked in. I think I probably started crying around the time I started walking down the aisle. Seeing Krish waiting for Lindsay was so moving, and all of us bridesmaids were doing a terrible job of keeping our emotions in check. Being at the front and having a perfect view of Lindsay walking down the aisle with her dad was another really special moment that I'm going to cherish for a long time.

The ceremony was beautiful and very reflective of the couple. They incorporated great readings (including a sweet Ogden Nash poem that Shaun, the best man and I got to read), beautiful music, and handfasting into the ceremony.

With the ceremony over, we were whisked away for many fun photos with the bridal party and familias. 

Following the photos, we made our entrances to the reception for an incredibly delicious gluten free & vegetarian friendly Indian buffet feast from Bombay Palace (why doesn't everyone have Indian buffet at their wedding?), great speeches, a kransekage wreath cake and a whole lot of dancing and shenanigans. 

Aside from briefly setting the head table on fire(!) and having to sew the bustle back onto Lindsay's dress on my hands and knees in the rest room, the evening went off without a hitch. Everyone was thrilled to be celebrating Lindsay and Krish's union and were ready for a great night of merriment. It was truly a spectacular day, and I'm incredibly grateful that I was asked to be a part of it. Congratulations to Lindsay and Krishna - I wish them nothing but happiness as they enter this new chapter of their life together!!

Photos from my iphone, Instagram feed & Wedpics - an amazing app for weddings!

Did you see My Party Dress?

Did you see my party dress?

 

If you're a friend or reader of this a blog, or follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you've probably already figured out that I'm rather notorious for being in a dress or a skirt pretty much all the time. I've always been girly, but in the last 3 or so years my style has been punctuated with a whole lot of femininity and not many pairs of pants. For me dresses are an everyday thing, but I do still have a lot of fun daydreaming about ball gowns or just getting dressed up for special occasions.

With December being the crazy social month that it is, I've happily had quite a few opportunities to throw on some of my favourite party dresses, beginning with last weekend's show at Buddies. The grey dress with the sparkled sash was a purchase from Banana Republic last year. It's one of my favourite winter dresses, but this year I managed to forget how itchy it is on the inside!! By the end of the night I was pouting and couldn't wait to get it off - this is a personal reminder to wear a camisole underneath the dress to avoid being so uncomfortable next time!

This past weekend involved 4 parties over the course of two days. With a whole lot of rest in the middle, I felt up for the challenge! On Friday night I decided to go really retro with one of my favourite dresses from Damzels. 

Whenever anyone asks me where I like to shop in Toronto, I point them towards Damzels. Kelly and Rory are two amazing women, who have this gorgeous shop filled with amazing dresses, skirts, shoes, accessories and other fun items. I always leave their store feeling joyous and always receive incredible customer service whenever I visit. They carry some awesome lines as well as creating their own line seasonally. I bought this dress a couple years ago for my birthday and it has been getting great wear ever since! On Friday I paired it with some 40's inspired Isaac Mizrahi from Target heels and a red belt for a pop of colour for a delightful tree trimming party, complete with some incredible mulled wine.

Up until about 6:07pm on Saturday night, I was convinced that I was going to wear another Damzels dress, but had a last minute change of heart and wanted to wear something a bit more sparkly

I opted for this BB Dakota dress that I picked up last year after falling in love with it on Elsie's blog. I happened upon it one day at Tabula Rasa and had to have it! I kept it simple with some nude fishnets, nude heels and a couple of sparkly jewelry pieces before dashing off to 3 parties that night. By the end of the evening I was completely wiped, but had a lot of fun with friends and coworkers celebrating the holiday season!

And even did my worst best dinosaur impression

Maybe I'll just stick to singing. 

With a couple more weeks of December still to come, I'm looking forward to a few more opportunities to pull out my party dresses and enjoy some festive cheer! 

How do you feel about dressing up? Do you have any favourite shops?

The video of My Party Dress was shot at the very first Ashleyx2 cabaret way back in September 2010, but I've only just added the video! The song is by Kerrigan and Lowdermilk and I'm sure that less than 10 people on the planet have actually seen me in pants on a regular basis. Hope you liked the video!

Paint Fight–Art Of The Danforth

I’m kind of known for always being in a dress and wearing a flower in my hair. People have actually messaged me about seeing someone appearing to be my doppelganger, only to tell me that they knew it wasn’t me because they didn’t have one of the aforementioned articles of clothing. With my choice in attire being pretty clear, I’m probably not the first person you’d picture at a paint fight.

Or maybe I am and I’d just show up in a white Ashley-esque ensemble ready to get messy.

When I first got a text about this paint fight, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Wear white. Bring goggles. And we decided to wear bright lipstick so it would show up better in the after photos. There was to be over 100 people and a whole lot of paint. After checking out the website, the event sounded messy and hilarious and just happened to be in the east end, so how could I really say no?!

It was an exhilarating 6 minutes of throwing sponges, smearing paint on strangers, laughing, screaming, being occasionally groped, making art, being silly and posing for lots and lots of pictures.

I was even spotted in the National Post (above pictures by Kara Dillon), the Toronto Star, CityTV and apparently I’m on the cover of the East York Mirror

It was honestly way too much fun, especially since I had some awesome friends to share it with!

Gazalle, Sabrina and Sheldon definitely made it even more fun and we loved having other friends at the sidelines as our personal paparazzi and cheerleaders! The only thing more awesome than going to a paint fight with a great group of people was having brunch and mimosas on a patio covered in paint

Brilliant event. Awesome friends. Sunshine-filled day in the city – who could ask for anything more? Except maybe a pile of white clothing that just increased in awesomeness by at least 100

Can’t wait to do it again next year! And in the meantime be sure to check out the rest of the events over here on the east side for Art of the Danforth