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I spent much of today cleaning the house. It was therapeutic and needed after a year such as 2020. We're all feeling it I'm sure... though it is different for everyone. 

For me the year started off especially busy since our wedding was planned the last weekend in February. Earlier I skimmed through my 2020 agenda to find some of the meetings and appointments scheduled for around this time, a year ago:

January

11th - finalize reception playlist

13th - meet caterer (also our neighbour) at reception to introduce our banquet manager; discuss logistics

18th - meet DJs re: music and lighting

19th - show DJ reception, set up, etc.

21st - alterations for Laos dress

25th - dinner reservations for my "Bachelorette-NOT" outing

28th - 50% payment due to ceremony venue

31st - quiet dinner with two of my girlfriends from elementary who couldn't make the previous dinner

February

1st - consultation with ceremony venue re: decorations

2nd - meet Best Man at Moore's to find a suit jacket

10th - pick up wedding dress from the seamstress (a.k.a. the final fitting)

14th - Valentine's Day

22nd - Husband's Birthday + Engagement/pre-wedding photos at Lake Louise

23rd - meet at our officiant's home to go over ceremony (bring our Moms)

24th - the start of my time off from work (T minus 4 days till "I Do's")

I know there were a lot of mini appointments, tasks and activities between this time and the day of our wedding but it was starting to become a bit of a blur from here. 

One of the best days in between the research, stress and development was the afternoon my now-husband and I spent with my grandparents around their kitchen table. We started a system like the assembly lines you envision in a factory. I bought these white, paper candy boxes to fill with chocolates and candies; one of a few wedding favours. These were meant for guests at our ceremony, which was held over lunch at a popular steakhouse in East Village, Calgary. 

Our married friends told us it would go by so fast, they said we needed to try and soak it all in. Of course we tried our best, and it's partially why we stretched the events to last the weekend.

The boxes had to be folded just right. They came as sheets and would stay in the shape of a container once a small piece of ribbon was looped through two tiny holes and tied closed. It probably sounds tedious but since our marriage ceremony was limited to 42 it actually didn't take that much time to put 50 of them together. We had a lot of fun that day and I remember my Grandpa enjoying it the most. As the first grandchild of the family he and I are extremely close so I also wanted him to feel involved.

It was determined by my Grandmother who we (almost) never question, that you must put an odd number of "candies" in the boxes. We tried to ask her why, especially since my husband was curious about this compulsion for numbers. Grandma just said, "because" and it's the answer we stuck to. I think it's important to note, I've 100% used this reason for anything and everything in marriage since - Thanks Grams. Four Perugina chocolates and one White Rabbit candy were placed inside each wedding favour.

When we were thinking of a date for our wedding we gravitated towards some of our favourite numbers, which I'm sure anyone who has planned their wedding can relate to. For my husband and I, our favourite numbers are pretty well the same so it wasn't like we had a hard time deciding. It happened somewhere between Nong Khai and Vientiane as we travelled through Thailand to Laos in December of 2018. Ha ha, now there's a fun thought - remember travelling? (pre-COVID19 of course)

Numbers are significant for many people. Some cultures will deem a number as "bad luck" the way East Asians don't trust the number four. And for whatever reason the number 13 is synonymous with being unlucky. It's why some buildings won't have a thirteenth floor. There is no data to prove 13 is bad luck, however there is a very real phobia called Triskaidekaphobics to explain the fear or avoidance of this particular number. 

My father-in-law soon became obsessed with our wedding once we had chosen the date. He even made up reasons for our choice too; another senior citizen with a passion for numbers it would seem. He told his friends that his son's favourite number is 8 and that mine was 2 and that's how we settled on the 28th. Then he started saying, it's because I'd be turning 28 later that year. It didn't really matter to us, we were just as excited. But if I'm being honest, I did pick the date for a specific reason. I knew I wanted to get married the same day as my favourite number. I could have chosen any month but I wanted to pick a strong set of numbers - a day that could not falter : 

02-28-20