Its that time of the year again! Dang I really can't believe 2025 has come and gone. It was a crazy year so I can't wait to look back, reflect, and share all the happenings.
January
The start of the year was slow as we were preparing for the bridal show in mid-January.
Mike and I did our first bridal show for my wedding content creation business. It was the biggest investment we had done for the business thus far. It was a 3-day show and we met so many people and couples. It was definitely clear that Wedding Content Creation was still something couples weren't familiar with, so it was a lot of educating people, which was fun.
I went on my first work trip for the company I just joined and it was to Nashville. I've ever been and it was a lot of fun. The night before my flight though, Archie was being weird and we had to take him to the emergency clinic. Thankfully, he was fine but I barely got any sleep before my flight and was battling to stay awake the first day there. Was really nice to meet my manager and my other coworker. Was still a bit surreal that it had only been 3 months since I started and I was already at a big company kick-off.
Ended up selling my old DJI OSMO Pocket 3 since I wasn't using it, got some good money for it.
I filmed some content educating people in Wedding Content Creators for my business TikTok.
February
I filmed some more content both for my business TikTok and for my personal one.
Met up with Samantha for a Chinese New Year's Afternoon Tea at Holts downtown and we also made Charm bracelets together.
I ended up selling an old Coach bag of mine, she was beautiful but really wasn't using her that much and figured someone else could enjoy her much more than I would.
At work they ended up doing a layoff, and the majority of my department got wiped out. My team luckily ended up surviving but honestly lots of uncertainty with the direction.
We celebrated Mike's birthday with Ellie (turned 8) and Aria (turned 4) and also did a Valentine's themed gingerbread making contest (we won :D)
Mike's older brother got us the Breville Sear and Press we've been wanting for like 2 years, and I finally opened it this month. Made so many waffles! Experimented with a few different flavours and even made an Ube one at home!
I started doing some vision boarding for the wedding. Really wanted to do something with a more fall moody colourscape. Used ChatGPT a ton to help visualize what the space could look like.
i got an email letting me know that my wedding dress had arrived (only took like 4 months which was surprising) not doing anything with it yet but was nice to know it had arrived.
We started talking to and hiring a few more wedding vendors this month. We signed our AV/Lighting/DJ/MC vendor, also a photobooth vendor that we met at the bridal show, the fireworks show we wanted, and interviewed a few Month of Coordinators as well.
We had our menu tasting at our reception venue, we invited our parents to come as well since they hadn't been to the venue before. The food was amazing and it made us even more excited for the wedding. Both of our parents seemed to love the venue and the food which made us really happy.
Somehow got roped into a Norte family cruise in the Mediterranean in 2026
Started doing research on bridemaids dresses and making moodboards as well.
Bought Blackpink tickets for July! This will be our 3rd time seeing them in concert.
Signed up for our Marriage Prep courses and got our workbooks.
Started making Mango Sago dessert
Paid for our second deposit for our reception venue.
March
Hired my hair and makeup team and did my first hair and makeup trial with them.
My brother was laid off from his job and I helped him create headshots and update his resume.
Started looking at invitations on Minted and got some of their free samples.
Celebrated Samantha's 30th birthday at Sophia's and got to see all the girls again who were her bridesmaids. Hadn't seen them all since her wedding last August.
Started to think about smaller details for the wedding, like name card holder/ giveaways for guests. I also booked the party room in our condo for my getting-ready room for the wedding.
Got some fabric swatches for a company I was thinking about getting bridesmaids' dresses from.
Visited Mike's older brother in Waterloo for his birthday and got the Works (was craving for a long time since they dont have location near us in Vaughan) There was a candy store near by and I finally found the infamous Kinder Cards there!
Participated in my first-ever styled shoot at the University Club of Toronto. Such a stunning space/venue. It was a small vendor team. Got to work with an old friend (see last post on feelings about this)
We started looking into smart rings, and bought ourselves Ultrahuman rings.
Mike started experimenting and cooking us Miso Black Cod at home. He really is becoming the cook in the house!
We found this random terracotta warrior statue at Homesense and we brought it home, its now sitting in our patio, It reminded us of Animal Crossing (iykyk). We also started hunting for a front door/entrance table, we were over the bench.
April
Got to see Hwasa live. She's such a great performer. We went for Korean food after.
Finally started to work on a project with my manager called Project Aurora, where the team is trying to revive customers who are not engaging and are likely to churn. Excited to have a consistent project that I get to be a part of ,but still not a lot of structure.
We had one of Mike's friends and a groomsmen over for a games night with his girlfriend.
We started redoing our balcony and got some faux topiaries and really cool platters for them. The topiaries were a bit too small so we went to Home Depot to try and some things to help. We found a scrap cart of wood and got some pieces for very cheap!
We got our passports renewed. This was the first time for both of us to do this, I've had my passport for 10 years and my dad always took care of this stuff for us so I definitely felt like I was adulting. It came so quick though, literally less than a week!
Mike started looking at suit rental options at Moores. I really wanted him in a white suit jacket but the rentals were not it...
We ended up buying a balcony table/bar and new high chairs, we wanted to sit outside and host parties over the summer so we knew getting these would make sense. We got a pretty big tax return this year (thank you sister) so we spent some of that money changing up the balcony.
We took Archie to the Pet Expo, he did okay, we did give him his first pup cone from Starbucks that day, and he loved it.
I posted more bridal era outfits from Shein on TikTok, my fashion videos do so well on TikTok but they are so much work to film and edit.
As I'm starting to think about physical invitations, I went and order a custom wax sealing kit to use for the invites as well as the menu cards for the wedding.
Started doing some research on the client gift I wanted to have for my couples this year. I was between 2 candles.
Went to a luxury / interior design show with Samantha, we had Cafe N one before we Ubered to the show. It was interesting but really not much for us to do, just walked around, chatted and saw some cool things from luxury interior designers and builders in the GTA. Also was able to see one of the interior designers who designed a lot of my favourite restaurants and spaces in the city which was pretty cool.
When I had posted about my menu tasting at our venue back in February, I started chatting with another bride who reached out to me since the venue reposted my story. We had gotten to know each other a lot and became friends, we like a lot of the same things and she was also getting married in the same room I booked at our venue. I offered her 50% off one of my content creation packages so she became my first paid client. She also invited me to her bridal shower which was at the St Regis. Lovely to meet her and her friend group before her wedding in June. Her name is Chanelle.
First signs of spring were showing up in the tree at the end of April and I took tons of photos of Archie in the spot where we used to take photos of Corgsworth.
May
Started writing my first few blog posts on my business website.
Saw the Thunderbolts movie with Mike, and it was okay.
The Henry's down the street from us was closing and was doing a big sale on their stuff. I got a new lens for my camera, extra batteries, a new light with a stand, and a lav mic
Posted more bridal era outfits from Shein and enjoyed the spring weather. Magnolias were blooming in Yorkville, which was so nice to see!
Bought some labubus for my sister.
Went to this asian festival/market at Mel Lastman Square and brought Archie in his stroller, he was okay. It was a crowded market. Had Shaobing Ge for the first time, was sooo good.
Decided to make mothers day bouquets for our moms by buying Costco flowers, they turned out okay imo.
My siblings and I took my mom for afternoon tea at Casa Loma for Mother's Day. She had been asking to go for years. Was a good day out with her. The Afternoon tea was just okay, will take her to my usual go to places in the future.
Got to enjoy the balcony a bit this month during the day with Archie.
Got a haircut and color since my hair was looking dead and needed a refresh.
For Mike's mom's birthday, we went to this really nice lobster house that also served steak in their set menus. It was so good!
I sent out invites to our bridal party for a summer gathering we wanted to host. Wanted to do a themed potluck where everyone bought a dish that started with the first letter of their names. Gave them some ideas as well in the invite.
One of my FSA friends invited me to their 30th birthday party in their home, I got to see so many FSA friends that I hadn't seen in a while and catch up with them which was nice.
June
Wrote a few more blogs for the business.
Mike and I went to Mississauga to get a better understanding of how the made-to-order suiting worked at Spier and McKay. They told us to come back in a few weeks since it was too early to order it now.
Bought new AirPods and this UV sanitation station.
Started ordering dresses for our moms and sisters for the wedding.
Mike found me some great teacups/ tea set from this yard sale he went to after he dropped me off from the TTC to meet up with Sylvia.
Sylvia and I went downtown to have brunch at Le Select and walk around the Well. also tried De Melo coffee for the first time and we also did a photobooth together!
Signed my first fully paid WCC gig through a planner I had met last summer at one of the weddings I did for free!
Met up with Chanelle at Eataly in Yorkville to discuss content creation for her wedding in a few weeks. Was able to gift her my client gift. Had to hunt it down since there are only 3 places that sell them in Toronto.
Went to Kitchener to celebrate my dad's birthday and fathers day. We did this race car activity (do not recommend tbh) and finally took the family to Cambridge Mill for lunch. Dad seemed to have had a good time. Brought him Mango shortcake for his birthday which he seemed to enjoy and we took photos outside by the water.
Ended up upgrading my phone and getting the rig system I've been wanting right before 2 back-to-back weddings. One of which I did for free and the other for 50% off. They were at super luxury venues and I thought you know what this will be an investment in the business, it'll be worth it.
First wedding of the year was with a bride where I helped capture her bridesmaids' proposal last year. Her wedding was at Graydon Hall Manor and I got to work with a planner that I worked with last year. I learned a lot at this wedding. First wedding done on a Thursday! Last year I shot a wedding where there was 2 photographers & 2 videographers, and I learned how to share the space when their isn't much to work with. Graydon Hall is a beautiful venue but its also quite small and cramped in certain areas. Also the videography team didn't seem as keen to share the space so had to be creative but I feel like I got some of the best shots because of this. Also they had to move their ceremony indoors because it was raining so having to pivot and work on the fly was a muscle that was exercised at this wedding. It was a beautiful wedding nonetheless and i was happy to have been able to be a part of it.
The next day, I was my wedding venue shooting Chanelle's wedding. This wedding was a lot of fun as there were so many details that were fun to capture. It was a super hot and sunny day, though which wasn't too fun but definitely normal for wedding season. I also for the first time helped a bride lace up her wedding dress, which was lowkey stressful but thankfully, I had watched a video on how to do this for my own wedding, so I think I did a good job. Being able to come to our wedding venue and see how things ran was so helpful and I was so grateful to Chanelle for hiring me and letting me be a part of her day. I did end up burning my hand (allergy flare-up) so I'm glad I didn't have another wedding for a while because it did not look pretty.
The perk of doing weddings on a Thursday and Friday is I still had the whole weekend to do stuff. Mike and I ended up going to Gyubee to unwind from those busy last two days.
July
Ended up editing a bunch of content for both of those weddings, was fun but a lot to do.
For work I ended up having to meet with like 7 different people daily for Project Aurora. Really dont know where this project is going and hate that I'm essentially micro-managing without a manager role but it has been a good experience and I'm getting a lot of exposure. We also did a virtual team bonding for 3 days, and one of the activities my manager got approval for was a color analysis. I found out I'm a true winter.
I ended up buying my first designer shoes at the Holt's sale. Decided to change up my shoes for the wedding since we were doing a Cinderella blue theme (I bought these shoes in May 2024). Got my first pair of Jimmy Choos!
Finally found the nail design I'm going to do for my wedding!
Wrote a few more blog posts for the business website
Watched Kpop Demon Hunters for the first time, and yea its probably the best movie of 2025. The soundtrack the story the animation was just soo good!
Got the final drafts for our wedding invites beginning of July. Also started working on the wedding website.
We also hosted our bridal party at our place for a gathering we called "The One on the Balcony." I made a charcuterie board and Mango Sago for everyone! Was such a good time and we played Monikers and a couple game since everyone had a partner.
The next day we took our nieces to get their flower girl dresses! This was so much fun and seeing them try on all the dresses was such a highlight for my bridal era. We spent more than we were anticipating but we really wanted them to feel like little princesses and hope that our wedding would be a core memory for them. We went out to eat at Swiss Chalet afterwards.
We ended up buying Mike a gaming PC laptop since he kept complaining about how my old mac wasn't working well for him and that he couldn't play games on it. So randomly bought him that.
Towards the end of July we went to the Blackpink concert at the newly built Rogers Stadium! Was probably the best concert we've ever been to, period! Our section was so much fun, the weather was perfect and just great vibes all around! My bias is Lisa but Jisoo was a bias wrecker, she looked so good! Also they did APT for the encore which was just something else live with such a big crowd. Felt like the Honmoon was sealed that day (iykyk). We went to eat at a Korean restaurant after as well. Such a fun night.
Went back to Spier and McKay and order Mike's custom white suit jacket for the wedding.
Booked the Airbnb for my bach in the city with the girls the first weekend of October!
Went to watch a movie with one of Mike's groomsmen and his partner. Had lunch a place nearby the theatre in Markham.
We got our wedding invitations from the etsy seller. We picked it up since she's based in Cambridge, so stopped over there, and then went to pick up steaks in Kitchener.
Bought Mike's sister an Apple Watch for her birthday
Started to work on all the extra pieces for the invitations from the end of July into August, I was just making bedazzled vellum jackets, wax seals, and envelope liners. We wanted to get these to people by mid-August, it was stressful but so worth it as I really wanted the invitations to set the tone for the wedding.
I had to say goodbye to my nail tech who I had been seeing over the last 3 years. Her name is Saundia and she's Japanese. Because of the new laws, she essentially needed to leave Canada. I was super sad but happy for her as she's moving to Hawaii, a dream of hers. was bittersweet but wished her all the best.
Also signed a few other vendors this month, mainly my day of coordinator, our wedding content creator, the movie theatre rental, and doggy babysitter
August
I got an inquiry from a bride who last minute, wanted to hire a wedding content creator. She booked me less than 2 weeks before her wedding. She said she got an early gift from family and wanted to use those funds to hire me.
Got to see my wedding coordinator in action as we did a partial service exchange (she was Samantha's coordinator for her wedding as well) so I did some content for her at one of her weddings.
Celebrated Mike's aunt's birthday at a really nice restaurant (there happened to be a chinese wedding happening there as well) we were in a private room. We got his aunt some really nice flowers from my fave florist and we surprisingly found this jellycat that Mike sister wanted to bought that few her as well.
Did another bridal era outfits from Shien haul on TikTok. Also filmed assembling our wedding invitations with my new camera and lens. It came out so good. This year I really haven't been posting wedding content a lot, since honestly, I was all over the place, but when I feel inspired to create I do.
Last minute ended up buying concert tickets to see the Jonas Brothers with my sister.
Shot a wedding for a lovely couple who booked me for my full package (no discounts), which was amazing! It was definitely more low-budget but beautiful nonetheless. Learned a lot (and got to scope out a first look location for another wedding I'm doing in August) as well and made some new vendor friends along the way.
Got invited to another uni friends 30th birthday brunch at a spot in Eglington. Couldn't hang out longer since we were delivering invitations later in the afternoon.
My brother and my niece came up for 2 days to hangout and swim at our building pool. Heard more about his situation with his estranged wife and just caught up on life.
Went for our 2nd meeting with our florist (haven't seen her since we signed in June 2024) we are changing up the whole theme of the wedding and want different colours/ flowers. We ended up upping our budget as well.
Saw the Jonas Brothers with my sister. Was pretty fun and was nice to do that together. We had actually never been to a concert together before so that was a first.
The next day we went Fan Expo, a yearly tradition now. We usually go on Fridays because Saturdays are just way to busy for us. Some some cool stuff and picked up some cute things for Mike's sister and nieces. Got some cute K-pop demon hunters merch.
The day after was my first alterations appointment for my wedding dress. I went with Mikes mom and sister. I also ended up buying a second dress to change into for the reception. First alterations appointment was so nice, loved my seamstress. Putting the dress on after not seeing it for 10 months was something else. I had dress regret for a while but after trying it on and really figuring out the vision for the whole look, I was so happy with my decision. Also getting the second dress helped since they were completely opposite dresses.
The next day, we went to Burlington for what I thought was an anniversary brunch for Sam and her husband, but it ended up being a surprise bridal shower that my bridesmaids and mom planned for me. I was so shocked and seeing friends there and them planning such an amazing brunch for me was a feeling I'll never forget. I was so confused since Mike drove us. He ended up hanging out with his dad and getting flowers while we had lunch. the girls really outdid themselves with the something blue before I do theme. I felt so grateful and thankful to them all.
Ended August with another wedding that was a bit last-minute. It was a shorter hourly commitment and smaller wedding in general (less than 25 ppl I believe) this was also the first wedding where I couldn't really post anything about them on my socials. I didn't realize I couldn't post their faces at all so I didn't end up getting any of that content on my page. Was still really pretty and was at a venue we considered for our wedding as well which was nice. Was a lovely end of August/ end of Summer wedding.
Last day of August I ended up booking another hair and make up trial with my HMUA team. I liked what we did more this time around and I wanted to try a half up and half down style. Mike didn't like it as much but thought the makeup was much better this time around. The HMUA team moved closer to our house which was nice and they had a bigger room with more natural light which I think helped.
September
Started to gather all the details for the Hair and Makeup team from the bridal party. There was 9 of us doing Hair and Makeup plus 3 kids so it was gonna be a packed schedule.
Started to look at wedding bands since we hadn't done that yet. I wanted a Cartier Love ring but those went up in price so had to keep looking elsewhere.
Also decided that we would do the bridal show again in January so we booked our booth!
Started planning out the Bach events and sent out the deck to the girls with them themes and the activities after we all discussed and agreed on everything.
Celebrated Sylvia's 31st birthday on King Street.
Bought the girls LL Bean totes with their names engraved on it as well as all the bach bag goodies and put those all together for them.
Went to our venue to see our florist's work, she mentioned the colour theme we were looking for our wedding was doing it that weekend. We went, and there was some miscommunication since the colours of the wedding we saw were all white. When we left we realized it was the other room that had our colours. No matter, we got to see the room layout that we were thinking about so that helped as well as the sizes of the arrangements that made the most sense for us. Mike went for a haircut later in the afternoon and then we went to eat at Chat Bar, a new place for us, and we loved all the skewers!
Went to pick up Mike's custom suit in Sauga and then grabbed some hot Krispy Creme donuts! I started working on the matchbook stick favours for the wedding that night as well.
Finalized our floor layout with the venue and started to work on the seating chart from all th RSVP's that came in. Did a bunch of wedding admin stuff as well.
Went to Waterloo to celebrate my mom's birthday.
Ended up reaching out to the jeweller who made my engagement ring about making my wedding band. Got started doing that.
October
I sadly was laid off at the beginning of October. I kind of felt like something like this was gonna happen, seeing as how I saw the numbers on retention through the project I was working on. Really sad that I was let go before I even reached my 1st work anniversary. I loved working at this company and really thought I'd be there for at least 3-4 years. My manager got moved to a different team, and my other coworker stayed on, but it looks like she's taking on some of our old manager's responsibilities and now reports up to the CCO. I honestly didn't get to process this much because this was a Wednesday and my back weekend was the following weekend, so more on this later. I did however get a 10 week severance package which is very generous seeing as they were only obligated to pay out 2 weeks for me.
Bach weekend happened and it was so much fun! Bianca and i went to the bnb early to set up the space, we were only there from Friday night to sunday afternoon. We did a slumber party the first night with pizza, next day we did a flower arranging class, and then for dinner we ate a Michelin-starred restaurant. Sunday, we went for Afternoon Tea and then ended the weekend with a candle-making class. It was surprisingly a very warm Thanksgiving weekend, October in general was warmer then previous years.
Mike and his groomsmen, plus his dad did their bach the Thanksgiving Monday, they went to a leafs game and got one of those gondola-style seats with food. They lost but Mike and group seemed to have had a great time.
From this point on, it was honestly a blur or making all the menu cards, name cards, the seating chart, the church programs and all of that. It was a sprint to the wedding and definitely couldn't have made all of the things I made if I wasn't laid off so I guess it was a blessing in disguise?
Met with my coordinator one last time and finalized our wedding timeline. Thank goodness for her since she coordinated with my HMUA team for a better HMUA timeline for everyone. We also did our final meeting with our AV/DJ/MC vendor, had to go on-site for that.
Our jeweller came through and got my wedding band made about a week before the wedding which was amazing! I also did some early xmas shopping and got my sister her gift. We also treated ourselves to a fancy korean bbq dinner the staurday before the wedding to just reflect and enjoy.
Last week of the wedding was crazy, Mike got his haircut, I got my hair done, and did nails together with his sister, packed up all of our personal items and brought them to the venue, we did our rehearsal the night before on Halloween. it was nuts.
Novemeber
Our wedding was on November 1st and wow did the day go by so fast, it was honestly the best day of my life and everyting pretty much went to plan. was only 5 mins late getting to the church and the weather was beautiful. Was a little chilly but not bad, I thought it would be colder tbh. The only way it could have been even better was if the Jays had won the world series that night, guess you can't have everything lol
After the wedding we decided to go a spontaneous honeymoon to Montreal. We booked it at 1am on Sunday and left at 12pm on Monday and arrived to our hotel around 6pm. We even brought Archie1!We went to see a Habs game, walked around Montreal and shopped, ate Michelin ramen, and had a Michelin 12 course dinner, had Montreal smoked meat and bagels, went to McGill campus and toured a museum, to a really nice new and fancy mall, and just made a bunch of new memories together. We left on Friday morning since I had a wedding I was covering the following weekend. It was short but super memorable.
When we came back, I covered what I thought would be my last wedding of 2025. It was with another planner I worked with last year and at a venue I had never been before. This wedding was also unique in the sense that I was going in blind. The couple didn't want to fill out my questionnaire, didn't want to do a meeting. I just had to trust the planner but it was so nerve-racking. Luckily everything went well but wow that was an experience.
At this wedding I met a photographer who was actually just stating as a director of opertions for a big medi company who happens to own 2 of the biggest photography studios in Toronto (one we hired for our wedding) she mentioned that she could tell there was a gap in their social media that she thought I'd be a good fit for. I sent her a proposal and why I'd be a good fit. She mentioned she really appreciated the time and effort I put in and that I'm still a contender but they wont be looking to hire someone until the end of Janaury so thats on pause. Still a great person to know and network with so maybe more opportunities will come my way in the future.
Sam and Khourt asked us to come over and they did a gender reveal with us and they're having a girl!!!! so excited for them both and so happy they included us.
Rest of November I was finally sort of able to process the whol job layoff thing. Definitely sucked and it was nice to have the wedding as a distraction but now that the 10 weeks severence is essentially gone, the push to get a job is definitely now higher then ever. Yes we did get a good amount of money from the wedding and we paid off the entire thing essentially but our lifestyle is essentially on pause. I'm taking the time to think about what I want to do next. It being the holidays I know hiring really isn't happening now. I do really want to start a day of stationary business so I started business planning that and seeing what I can offer thats different from whats already out there. Mike ended up getting me a new printer and a new cricut machine for my birthday among other accessories to help with this business. I started trying to figure out designs and sourcing paper for this as well.
In the meantime I started working on our thank cards to our guests.
My wedding coordintor reached out and said that she'd like to finish up the hours from our partial exchange during her last wedding of the year, which was at a really nice hotel venue downtown. I asked her if the bride wouldn't mind me being there the whole day to capture content since I'll there anyways and can focus coverage for her during their portrait sessions. The bride said yes so I added one more wedding (unofficially) to my list.
This wedding happened at the end of November and was a truel black and white timeless wedding vibe. Was so nice to see her again after the wedding and help capture content for her. Her two assistants I hadn't met before but one owns a cafe downtown and she's expanding to second location and we chatted and she seemed interested in working with me to relaunch her IG. I haven't reached out to her yet about this (the 2nd location isn't opening until April so I assume there is time but we'll see if she still considers me if I reach out after the bridal show) Anyways it was a super fun group of vendors to offically end of the year of WCC.
December
I got invited by those 2 planners I worked with this year for the annual vendor appreciation gathering a few days before my birthday. Initially wasn't gonna go because the party was in Sauga on a Wednesday. Mike was working so I needed to uber both ways. Getting there during rush hour sucked and the uber I got had a weird smell that made me so nauseous. I got there in one piece and I thought I'd be leaving around 8 but I ended up staying until midnight, chatting with them both. Essentially, they definitely need help with content and they are starting up a wedding show that they used to do prior to COVID this coming March and they wanted to work with me. So I drafted a proposal and within 3 days they signed! They're my first official vendor clients which I'm so happy about.
This year for my birthday I kept it lowkey, on the saturday before my brithday my parents came up and had dinner with me and mikes family. Mikes family treated and we went to our favourite all you can eat buffet. They came over after and I got the tea on the drama with their filipino group as well as my brother (who mentioned that his wife and my nephew who I haven't met yet will be coming to Christmas...) It was nice to see them all together since the wedding.
On my actual bday, I only invited Sam and Sylvia but sadly Sylvia got sick so she couldn't make it. Sam and I went and ate at Yu's Seafood in Yorkdale and just walked around the mall and shopped. She's definitely showing now, and I'm so excited for her. Mikes parents gave me some cash on my bday so with that and along with some money sam gave me, I was finally able to buy a full sized bottle of Orpheon perfume from Diptique! I got it engraved with my birthday date this year.
After my birthday I got started with working with the Planners on the project they hired me for, which was creating social assets for their wedding show. I have to admit this was a bit of a hard task since all the photos they have from 2018 and lots of the stuff looks dated. I did my best however and provided them with content pretty quickly. With the holidays approaching though things did slow down on that end. The show is beginning of March and thankfully they are putting money into advertising.
Mid december Mike and I decided that we wouldn't mind investing in a bigger booth for the bridal show as we do want to launch the day of the stationary business at the same time to maximize investment in the booth. We reached out to the booth organizer and there were a few bigger booths left so we decided to go for it.
Sylvia and Allen stopped by our place for a few hours to catch up and hand me my birthday gift. She shared that she got a promotion at her job! She also mentioned that her and Allen are moving towards engagement. some issues with the place Allens family owns with the tenants, so they wont be moving in until March/April. But they already went ring shopping and it sounds like a proposal will be happening in the first half of 2026! She said she wants to go to Korea to do an engagement shoot in the fall so I assume the proposal will be sometime this spring! They said they plan to have their wedding late spring 2027.
Mike also got like 10 days off so it was nice to have him home. We ended up having his sister stay with us for 2 days, we went to see Avatar when was released (great movie, would watch again) and played board games with her. We also went to the mall and did some last minute xmas shopping.
One of the planners from the project also asked if I could take her on for content creation on her feed. She doesn't have an assistant like the other planner and she's just busy. I ended up signing her for a 3-month commitment as well.
Leading up to Christmas I had so many gifts to wrap. We were hosting my family for Christmas Eve so we had to clean up the place and shove a bunch of stuff in my office to decorate the dining room. Everything was done pretty last minute but it all came together. Was up pretty late wrapping presents but I love the them this year. I wanted to do the burgundy red last year but you know, wedding, so had to wait until this year. My fam was here until 10:30ish and it was a fun night.
The next morning we went straight to mikes parents house for christmas with their family. We got the girls a basketball arcade machine thing so mike set that up for them and played that for a little. We stayed the whole day up until dinner time.
After that for boxing day we just stayed home and prepared for my rez friends party on Saturday. Just reset the place from family christmas which was easy enough.
Rez friends came around 6:30-7:30ish. Did a potluck, played some games and caught up since I the last I saw them was the wedding. Was fun to see everyone before the new year.
That's pretty much it for now. What a year. So much has happened now that I review it all. Definitely lots of uncertainty going into the new year but I'm hopeful that this is God's plan and that he's leading me down the right path. I'm really not sure what 2026 is going to look like.
Right now we only have 2 big things on the calendar, my childhood friends wedding in Mexico City in August, and then the family cruise end of October. If Sylvia gets engaged this year there will potentially be her bridal shower and bach. Also Bianca mentioned she and Hayden will probably get engaged in 2026 with a fall 2027 wedding so 2027 sounds like it'll be a hot year. I know another friend got engaged this year, but unsure what her plans are for their wedding. So yea, if I dont get at least 15-20 content creation weddings this year or the day of the stationary business doesn't take off I'll need to go back to corporate... I have been submitting applications but nothing yet, again, I think that's a holiday thing but the job market is pretty tough right now.
I'm hoping the opportunities that have come my way is God's way of letting me know that I'm going the right direction. The wedding show will be a big factor in how the rest of the year shapes up, so fingers crossed.
This past weekend was a bit of a blast from the past, and it's left me feeling pensive the last 2 days.
Michael and I went up to Waterloo to visit my fiancé's brother to celebrate his birthday this past Saturday. We went to the Works as we had been craving it for some time. It was a nice lunch out. There were a few new stores in the Uptoown Waterloo area that we looked at before heading out. It was cool to see the changes but also kind of sad as the Uptown Waterloo that I had been used to in the 7 years I was going to school and living in the city was no longer there.
Everytime we visit Waterloo I unconsciously think about my last year of school and all the happenings surrounding that time of my life. It's been over 8 years but for some reason, I still feel sad about it all.
To top it all off, I was a part of a styled shoot on Sunday where an old best friend was the Hair and Makeup stylist that the photographers had decided to collaborate with. I was super thankful for the opportunity as I haven't booked as many weddings as I had hoped for at this time of the year but wedding season is just around the corner so I though getting involved in a styled shoot would be great to add to my portfolio without having to use old weddings for content.
That being said, this ex-best friend of mine, we had made up a few years ago but for some reason we could never get back to how we used to be. During the styled shoot we barely spoke to each other, stayed out of each others way and there was an awkwardness that after I left the shoot, made me feel a sadness I hadn't felt in a long time.
I see her at other gatherings with old friends probably once or twice a year. Since starting in the wedding industry as a wedding content creator I figured we'd cross paths eventually. As I'm planning my wedding there are a few people from the past that I really thought would be a part of this experience and it makes me sad to know that they wont be. I guess this is truly just a part of growing up.
Like that Wicked song say's "I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and we are led to those, who help us most to grow, if we let them, and we help them in return..." Though that friendship and other friendships have come and gone, I'm thankful for the lessons they taught me. Though I was sad to see us practically acting like strangers to one another, I can still be grateful and happy for the friendship we once shared.
(posting this now because I realized I left it in my drafts from back in March)
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
