Aside from being a writer, and the owner of this website, I am an artist. Lately, I have had little time to paint. Last night, on my birthday, I plunked myself down and got down and dirty with the paints. Pure bliss. This is what transpired. I call this little lady (4″  x 6″ acrylic and collage on canvas original) Love Queen. And she can be yours. I’m part of this super neat giveaway called One World, One Heart (OWOH Giveaway). All you need to do is leave a comment here on my blog by midnight eastern time on February 11. I will draw a winner at random on Feb. 12. Here’s a bit of info from the One World, One Heart giveaway:

The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. 2007 had roughly 85-90 participants and many connections were made because of it……friendships that are still going strong…. This is more than wanting to win something…….that is only the means…….in the end it’s about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them….Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the art community.

While you are planning your wedding you will have to decide whether or not to change your last name – unless of course you live in Quebec, where you legally retain your maiden name.

For some brides, this can be a difficult decision. After all, you have numerous options (you can keep your last name, hyphenate your last name to include his, take his last name, or create a new one, combining both names), and it can be difficult to chose which one is right for you.

Some brides take their husband’s name socially, but use their maiden name professionally. Others use a hyphenated name professionally, but take their spouse’s name socially.

If you decide to take your husband’s name, you can legally use it immediately (except in Quebec). To change your documents, (health card, social insurance card, driver’s license) you’ll need to contact each government agency as soon as possible after your marriage. There is no fee for a specified amount of time (in Ontario, it’s 90 days). After that, it can get costly.

Here is a list of other documents that you may also need to change:

Vehicle registration
Auto insurance
Credit cards
Bank accounts
Doctor/dental records
Employee records
Life insurance policy
Library card
Memberships
Property title
Will
Voter registration
Business cards

If you want to simplify the process, you can order a name change kit.

Rena Anderson, owner of What’s in a Name, offers name change kits to make life easier for brides not keeping their maiden names.

Anderson, who lives in Mississauga, started the business after spending five hours trying to change her health card.

“When I got home that day, I figured there had to be somebody who knew what to do,” she said. “There were lots of kits in the U.S. but nothing in Canada. I had to learn to change each card myself.”

Her company not only offers name change kits, but also personal service: She’ll even stand in line for busy brides.

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Looking for quirky wedding related e-cards? Check out Someecards.com. Karen at KarenSmallbone.com recently blogged about this free e-cards website, and that’s how I discovered some funny wedding related e-cards. If you are easily offended by crude language, do not go to this website. There are plenty of off-color cards, and some might be considered highly offensive. But, if you look past the potty-mouth, you’ll find some funny, offbeat cards.

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Not all wedding day surprises are minor ones. Some couples have to deal with some pretty heavy-duty wedding related crises. Here is a wedding disaster involving a cat, and another near disaster involving a bankrupt vendor.

 Cat Attack

Shannon ended up in the emergency room on the day of her wedding. The culprit? Her cat.

Two days before her wedding, Shannon’s cat bit her on the left index finger. By the time her wedding day came around her entire hand had ballooned up like a blown-up latex glove.

“The day of the wedding, the pain became so bad, I couldn’t stand it,” says Shannon, pointing out that she arrived at the emergency clinic only 30 minutes before her hair appointment.

Luckily, the staff was able to squeeze her in and give her the antibiotics and painkillers that she needed.

By the time the 6 p.m. ceremony began, Shannon’s hand was still too swollen to wear her elbow length gloves.

“I took another (painkiller), gritted my teeth and shoved the glove as far as it would go,” says Shannon.

Although everything else went smoothly, Shannon says she can’t remember much about the day.

“Many of the details and things I had so looked forward to I don’t remember due to the pain pills,” says Shannon, adding that a few days after the wedding disaster she ended up in emergency surgery because of the cat bite, and spent six days in the hospital.

On Her Knees

Grace and Michael had a different kind of crisis on their hands. It involved their wedding venue.

For their reception, the couple wanted a place that was intimate, and not ‘banquety.’

“I wanted my guests to feel like they were in someone’s home, rather than a big reception hall,” says Grace.

They settled on an upscale venue, where they and their guests were assured privacy.

Four weeks before the wedding – after the invites were sent out, the couple found out the venue had closed down.

Although the couple was still able to have their wedding in the building (it was owned by a nearby golf course), they needed to hire a caterer – and they had lost a $2,000 deposit.

As if that wasn’t a big enough problem, when the couple went to take a look at the building (it had been a year since they had been inside), they found it in “a total disaster.”

“When I booked it, it was so pretty. Now the paint was ruined, the doors were damaged, the outside was full of dead plants and leaves. The inside smelled bad, it was so dirty. I can’t even describe it!” says Grace.

Grace found out that another couple was having their wedding reception at the venue on the same day, so they got together and cleaned up the place themselves.

“Nothing short of a complete remodeling would solve all the problems, but we did clean up a lot. We had to hose down the chairs for her ceremony. We had to buy things for the bare walls. We had to touch up holes in the walls,” Grace explains. “Two days before my wedding I was on my hands and knees scrubbing, and screwing lightbulbs into sockets!”

Her work paid off. When her wedding day arrived, the place looked lovely, and a wedding disaster was prevented.

“I walked into (the venue) and I was so overwhelmed. I spent so much time trying to fix things, I just never knew how magical it would turn out. People were there! They were eating! They were laughing! The place looked like something out of a magazine,” says Grace. “It took my breath away!”

Although not all couples would be able to handle a wedding disaster as charmingly as Grace and Michael did, it helps if you can take a deep breath and keep all those wedding-related snafus in perspective.

Besides, given enough time even the biggest wedding day glitches can oftentimes be looked back upon with a feeling of calm acceptance. Unless, of course, there’s a mean cat and surgery involved.

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Randi, 26 and Jon, 27

McKinney, Texas

Wedding Date: June 7, 2008

Number of Guests: 75

Wedding Cost: $7,000

Wedding Ceremony Location: Katie’s Garden at the historical Heard Craig home

Wedding Reception Location: Heard Craig Hall

Why did you have an intimate wedding?

We were on a budget but also wanted to have a ceremony and reception where we had time to mingle with everyone and just relax and enjoy the day!

What are some of the challenges that you faced planning an intimate wedding?

A lot of wholesale things  are cheaper when they come in way-too- large quantities. Deciding on the guest list was another challenge.

Was it difficult to pare down the guest list?

A little. You don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but you have to be realistic about what you can afford and the maximum number of guests you really want there. We tried to choose the people that are important to us, not just acquaintances or coworkers that we hardly know, but people that have a meaning in our lives.

Did you have any ‘issues’ with the small guest list from friends and family? If so, how did you address them?

Not really I think everybody was pretty understanding. We did our best to be tactful and explain our decision.

What were the highlights of the ceremony?

Our officiant was really funny. It was a really hot day and the ceremony was at six in the evening outside in the Texas humidity, so needless to say my groom (in a tux) was sweating just a little! During the ceremony he had us look at each other’s hands and he talked about the things that our loving hands would provide for one another and one of the things he said while Jon was looking at my hands was that my hands would wipe the sweat from his brow (so I did) everyone laughed and I’ll never forget it!

What were the highlights of the reception?

Jon sang, he is a really good singer but never sings in public he’s too shy. We had been dating for 9 ½ years before we got married and I always told him he had to sing to me at our wedding. (I always thought that was what took him so long to propose! lol) He sang our song to me during our first dance then we had karaoke set up and he sang on a microphone in front of everyone! I was so proud of him! The cake cutting was fun also. We went for the smashing in the face approach. I had cake up my nose probably even in my eyes. It was so funny and very yummy too!

What was the best thing about having an intimate wedding?

I think everything was more personal and not so chaotic. You could hear all the people at your table talking because the noise level wasn’t outrageous and we saved a lot of money.

What advice do you have for couples who are considering an intimate wedding?

Just make sure that it is feasible for you. Look at how big your families are and how many people you consider “have to invite guests”. Make sure you make it personal and special. You only get to do this once {hopefully}so make it memorable!

Vendors:

Officiant: Chaplin Ricky Hargrave, he did a wonderful job he was funny but not over the top he added in some humor but kept it very emotional and personal!

Venue: Heard Craig . The garden is beautiful, tones of colors a gazebo a gorgeous historical home behind you and a carriage house to get ready in it was perfect and the hall was awesome it has a beautiful stained glass skylight that just happened to be blue and yellow which were the colors of our wedding. It has a stage for dancing, a kitchen for catering, and plenty of room for guests. I was shocked when I found out it was so reasonably priced

Photography: Treva Tribit Photography . WOW! We started with an engagement session in the spring, it was freezing and windy outside but if you look at our pictures you would think it was 80 and sunny! They were fantastic she captured the emotion in the picture, the sparkle in our eyes and the love in our kiss! Not to mention we had a blast during the session. Then came the wedding and again it was perfect, Treva and her husband Bob captured every moment and some how stayed out of the way and out of each others pictures. They got every memorable moment from getting dressed to driving away as husband and wife. I’m so happy we will have those memories forever!! They have wedding packages for any style of wedding big or small!

Flowers: Edwards Floral Design , Fifty Flowers . Fifty Flowers has the most beautiful blue roses and I had to have them. I was a little unsure about making my own bouquet but was going to try. We decided to use Edwards Floral in McKinney for the boutonnières and corsages, the staff there was great, they even let me bring in my blue roses and they put together my gorges blue and yellow bouquet!

Cake: The Cake Stand . Oh my gosh the cake’s there are delicious and beautiful. It was so hard to decide what flavors of cake and filling and how many layers and what design but the staff there is great! The tasting was one on one so we could ask all of our questions and taste the cakes and fillings. The cake was delivered on time, was more beautiful than I had imagined and was delicious (and easy to clean out of my nose, lol)

Hair: T & T Designs (972) 542-7342, they did a great job even on my 4 year old daughter’s very fine hair (she looked like a princess). Traylyn is an artist she has a vision and will work until she gets it perfect!

Dress: David’s Bridal.   You get a great little coupon book when you buy you wedding gown there that has discounts on the bridesmaid dresses, shoes and all kinds of other things!

Photos: Treva Tribit Photography