I'm Back and I Have Good News!

23 Aug '08 4:40 pm

Hello, my friends! Let me start by apologizing for my lack of posts over the past few months. Our whole yard has undergone a total transformation. This is very exciting and a bit overtaxing as the yard crew consists of, basically, me. With some help from Mom in the planting department. But more on the garden upgrade later. I shall now proceed to tell you our very good news.

Deborah and I are married! Dancing

Yes, it is true! On August 8, 2008 (in other words, 08-08-08 ) we were married shortly after 12 noon at the Regina Floral Conservatory. What a special place the Conservatory is! Loads of tropical plants and weird, specialty plants, rare specimens as well as common plants. This all resides under an old-fashioned glass house roof. The whole space is about 30 feet by 80 feet and is gently crammed with plants, including some very unusual trees from South America.

We were oblivious to the Floral Conservatory until one day about two years ago I saw an ad for a Valentine's Day Tea at the Conservatory. Due to the way the days fell that year, Valentine's Day actually fell on a Tuesday so the Tea was held the previous Saturday, which was February 11 and that just happens to be Deborah's birthday. So as a surprise, I bought tickets and so Deborah, her mom, her mom's friend Roger and I had afternoon Tea amidst the beautiful plants. Through speaking to the volunteers who work there, we discovered they held weddings there as well. Deborah and I looked at each other and grinned with the same thought. From then on, we dreamed of getting married there. Originally, we planned on 07-07, 2007 but by the time we spoke up, the day was booked solid. So we made plans for the triple 8.

What an odyssey it has been trying to assemble a wedding on a shoestring budget, not to mention the fact that through procrastination, delays and one thing or another, we were late with making the final arrangements but like magic things just fell into place at the last minute (much to Deborah's great relief!). The biggest hurdle we had to jump was to find Deborah an appropriate dress. So her and her mom went out endless days searching and searching and always coming home skunked. Finally, with about two weeks to go, I couldn't stand the desperation on Deborah's face any longer and took matters into my own hands and formed a plan. As it happened, when I decided to do this was right after a third day of combing the Northgate Mall with no results. Deborah was not amused by this time. I said "Right! Follow me!" and I walked up the mall and into an alteration shop called "Stitch It" and asked the lady working there if they happen to make dresses from patterns in that shop. She said no, they only do alterations and then she asked me why. She turned out to be one of the nicest people I've met in a long time. Her name is Mariana and she is originally from Romania, having moved here only a few years ago. She said she understood our situation perfectly and she also informed us that she does sewing at her home for clients. She said that if we got a pattern and fabric she would be happy to make Deborah's dress, even on the short notice. As it turns out, once Deborah and her mom chose a pattern, Mariana went with Deborah to help her pick out a good fabric for the job. So at long last, the hurdle of the dress was overtaken.

As for me, I was going completely crazy landscaping the yard because the original plan had our reception taking place in our own back yard. So I was up at least by 7 am every morning and worked at a feverish pace until dark (around 10 pm most times) then I would come inside, cook dinner and collapse (this has a lot to do with why I haven't posted for some time). I'm sorry to say I did not get things finished on time, despite my rigorous attempts. But Mom, bless her heart, had guessed this would happen and booked the party room at her condominium complex and this worked out very well.

To make things more interesting, Deborah received a phone call saying that her upcoming hernia surgery was booked for August 12! She was basically a basket case after that, fretting about one thing or another and, bless her heart, she tried to put the best spin on things by joking that she was going to spend her honeymoon in the hospital. Fortunately, about a week before the wedding, the Health District called up and told her that her surgery date was postponed to September 2 and Deborah was very relieved, let me tell you.

So we got married at the Conservatory just after Noon, then went to the flower gardens in front of the Legislative Buildings at Wascana Park for photographs, then off to a restaurant called "Peg's Kitchen" for a Ukranian-style buffet lunch. Deborah is German, I am Scottish so Ukranian food seemed just right! Laughing

After lunch we went back to mom's condo and had a party with our guests until late.

I have some photographs for you so you can share our happiness. One thing I would like to point out before I show you the photos is when we booked the Conservatory last October, I got permission to bring in my own planters for our wedding. So last spring, we seeded Sweet Peas for our special pots. I cleaned up and painted two of our largest pots, actually they are old-timers from Mom's place long ago. I built the trellises you will see in the pictures for the pots and I think it all came together nicely.

Thank you for reading this long-winded post. I have been taking pictures all summer and I plan to update my Garden Gnome thread as soon as things slow down a little bit around here. I hope to catch up with you all soon.

Yours Most Sincerely,

Your Resident Garden Gnome, Christopher

23 Aug '08 5:43 pm

Well done and huge congratulations from meeeeeeeeee. Your day looks fabulous. Of course we will expect you to be SO MUCH MORE ORGANISED now, GG! As befits your new status, hee hee.... Congrats again, and all the very best.
M

23 Aug '08 6:54 pm

I am absolutely delighted for you-you both look wonderful-I love it all-
Congratulations and best wishes.
By the Way-I am especially delighted-you got married on my birthday !
Love
Dixie.

24 Aug '08 5:20 pm

Congratulations!
Wonderful pictures. Well done, Mariana! I love the trellises! How great that Deborah's great nephew can play the violin! It's all just really lovely. Very Happy

26 Aug '08 3:59 pm

Chris you must have done a few things right judging from the happiness written large all over your bride's face. Deb you were glowing. Chris, you looked a little nervous .. as befits a groom.

Okay, afterrrrr the honeymoon and perhaps the operation ... we are very eager to see the fruits of all that effort on the garden! No rush mind you javascript:emoticon(' Rolling Eyes

'). This is your time javascript:emoticon(' Very Happy

')! It's just that winter waits for no man (or woman), so please givee that shutter-finger a work out before the weather shuts you down javascript:emoticon(' Wink

').

Best wishes for continued happiness together! And a belated happy birthday to Dixie too!

26 Aug '08 8:49 pm

congrats from me and guess what so did i , third time lucky for both of us, we met 8years to the day and as we did on that day had our reception at the same time i'm quite a few years older then gg though getting nearer to 70 then 60 all the best

30 Aug '08 1:47 am

What a wonderful surprise I found this morning! Congratulations on pulling off a beautiful wedding event. Looks like your weather was perfect and I know how thrilled you both must have been. Chris, you are forgiven for being lax with your posts lately (this from one who has been scarce as a ghost herself lately), but now we all look forward to seeing the results of all your hard work in the garden.

30 Aug '08 6:23 pm

Like Faith I have just read your post,what great news. So pleased everything turned out so lovely and the pictures you have shared with us look great with the wonderful flowers in the background.
Congratulations and Best Wishes.
Can't wait to see your garden again.

31 Aug '08 11:13 am

That, dear Christopher and Deborah, is the start of a traditional Afrikaans wedding song: Long may they live is the translation. The next verse starts Children by the dozen, which I wish you too - of the flowering kind, of course Shocked

What wonderful news! Thank you so much for sharing with us!!

And best of luck with the op, Debs.

Jack

31 Aug '08 4:48 pm

Thank you all for your kind replies to our news. It was a very beautiful day, although early that morning as Chris drove me over to my mom's place to get dressed, it started raining. I thought "Oh no!" but thankfully, the sun came out in plenty of time. It was actually a little too hot. You should have seen us all at the park for picture taking. We would snap a few then run under the trees to cool off. Very Happy

Jack: I should hope you mean the flowering kind! Shocked

I have enough to worry about with the "kids" I already have (Storm, Percy and Weebles, of course)!

Yesterday Chris and Mom and I went out to see about getting new flooring for the house. The hardwood is in a very sad state. The house was built in 1952, you see. So Chris is planning to put in the new floor while I'm in hospital. I just hope they don't discharge me too soon so he has time to get it done. I'm sure he'll do a great job, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing our nice new floor.

I'm sure Chris will keep you all up to date with what's going on around here. Take care, everyone, and I'll see you when I get back home.

Tiger Lily

I'm Back and I Have Good News!

I'm Back and I Have Good News!

Congratulations GG!

wonderful news

Congratulations!

Congratulations Chris and Deb!

gg marriage 8/8/08

Wow GG and Deb!

Wonderful news

Lank sal hul lewe!

Hi From Mrs. Gnome