Finally Pausing - on Newly Married Feet

Dear Blogosphere,

I know I've been MIA, but what a wedding journey it's been: fun, hilarious, stressful, emotional (I have never shed so many tears), loving, chock-o-block action PACKED (and then some). We have seriously been having the time of our lives. And while I haven't had time to blog, I HAVE been amassing photos and stories like a character from the reality show "Hoarders". And now, I shall step back in time, and begin re-constructing our amazing adventure for you.

It all began with our flight from Vancouver to St. John's, Newfoundland on August 22. I probably don't have to tell you that it's faster to get to Europe. We arrived at the airport at oh-dark-hour, and, donning these SPECTACULAR hats that were a wedding gift from Suzo and Emma, we were able to snap a few self portraits before anyone else woke up enough to even notice us!

In case you can't tell from the angle, Mister Man's hat does indeed say "Groom".

It was a fabulous day for flying.

We crossed the Rockies.

And touched down in Calgary, where we had breakfast, and madly started texting Mariette.

And then it was up, up and away as we headed eastward over the prairies. Spectacular.

We were pretty stoked when we touched down in Halifax. One step closer to our final destination!

And Mister Man MAY have also been stoked because, in the Halifax airport, he was able to order a beer the size of a pit bull. Note the determination on his face to finish his beverage...

Might I add that we were surrounded by the Newfoundland provincial rugby team? The burly man who shared a seat in our cluster was a total sweetie who watched an episode of Glee on "sky tv" followed by Bridget Jones Diary. (talk about not judging a book by its cover!)

By the time we landed in St. John's, we were beside ourselves with anticipation for the days to come. We had family time to look forward to, as well as the final push in terms of organizing everything for the arrival of the mainlanders and the official start of the pre-wedding-palooza events! Mostly, we were looking forward to the meeting of families and friends in a true bi-coastal affair. As we pulled into St. John's, we could see fireworks on the horizon, and knew that this MUST be a sign of things to come!

The next day, we awoke to the beauty of Torbay, Newfoundland.

And as the sun set on our first day of on-the-ground planning, we were able to spend it with my extraordinary family: the Mums, Paully and Michele who were so incredibly supportive and wonderful to us, it boggles the mind.

We shared a glass of wine or two. (Note my brother's spectacular wine pouring technique - cuz that's JUST the way he rolls...)

And we posed with our fabulous bride/groom ball hats against the breathtaking backdrop. As you can see, we were ready for all that was about to unfold before us. So fasten your seat belts gentle reader - I've got some serious catching up to do!!