They Did!

It has been wedding season here in Canada for the last few months and boy do these Canadians know how to marry in style! We have been lucky enough to make some great new friends since we moved last year not to mention how lucky we were to make a Canadian friend in Amsterdam so we’ve been enjoying this wedding season very muchly!

After enjoying the festivities of the Mc El Mothe wedding in July we were more than a little bit excited to see what else Canadian’s had to offer on the wedding front.

First up was Natalie & Jasper! I worked with Jasper at KPMG in Holland and was lucky enough to be introduced to his now wife a few years ago now. After sharing a few too many crazy nights out in Amsterdam Joep & I were very touched to be invited to share in their big day in Toronto.

The wedding was just beautiful! A gorgeous church in downtown Toronto was the setting for the ceremony and I shed a few tears as Nat walked down the aisle looking gorgeous and being quieter than I imagined she was capable of being. It didn’t last long, thank goodness, and after the ceremony she was back to her old self. It was so great to see the 2 lovebirds so completely in luuuurve with each other. It was also fun for Joep and I to take notes on how a Dutch/non-Dutch wedding can be undertaken.

After the ceremony Joep and I headed for a wander through Toronto in the hopes of finding a bar to while away the hours between the ceremony and reception. Mission accomplished we were a few sheets to the wind by the time we arrived at the National Club, an exclusive private club in downtown Toronto. It was an amazing place to hold a wedding reception. Guests were greeted with drinks and hors d’oeuvres and it wasn’t long before the Dutch and non-Dutch guests were mingling easily. Our table for the meal was a mix of some of the most hilarious people in the room (a tough task given how many fun folks were around … West family, you are impressive!). We enjoyed an amazing meal, the speeches were hilarious, moving, thoughtful and memorable and just when we thought the night couldn’t get any better … the dancing began!

I don’t think many people left the dancefloor once the dancing part of the evening began. The band was fantastic and the dance moves were nothing short of phenomenal. The bride and groom were unstoppable! I was so impressed and hope that Joep & I can go the distance like they did at our own wedding!

For Joep and I the remainder of the evening was a blur of groove shaking and craziness. For me the dance portion of the evening ended abruptly in an unfortunate drink/dance related injury. Let me explain – There were many dance-off’s occurring throughout the evening. Nat was the winner of the majority of them however there was one wedding guest who was not to be defeated.

She was awesome. She had amazing moves. Joep, however, was convinced he could beat her and so they battled on the dance floor. At some point her dance partner was dragged into the battle followed by Joep dragging yours truly in as well. I didn’t really mind. However, after giving what I believe to be one of my better ‘running man’ performances, I was well and truly defeated. This girl, in a calf length black dress, walked the circle and then proceeded to do that dance move that break dancers do where they spin on their back and finish lying on their side. Oh. My. Goodness. It was incredible! As she finished up Joep began urging me to get back out there and defeat her. I couldn’t. I gave up. Joep was furious. Until I told him that a big reason I was giving up was that I was impaled by the girls stiletto heel as she spun around. Joep looked down at my foot and realized that the competition was over. Long story short, there was a decent amount of blood and a good chunk of skin missing from my foot. And it hurt a lot.

But the night was not going to end just because of a dancing injury. We made a few more friends up at the bar and I soon forgot the aches and pains. The night ended on a very big high!

Although on Sunday, as we drove back to Toronto things didn’t seem quite so lovely. Oh and my foot still really hurt. Worth it though. Totally worth it.

The following weekend, after wearing flat shoes all week and icing my foot regularly, we headed off to Cindy & Todd’s wedding. Cindy works with me and is, like Nat, hilariously good fun. This wedding was in Ottawa so we walked to the church for the ceremony at 1pm. The church was spectacular! I had no idea there was such a beautiful church in Ottawa! Again the ceremony was beautiful … and emotional (What is wrong with me? Why have I started to cry at other peoples weddings? Is it because I am getting married? I don’t get it … something has gone terribly wrong here …). After this ceremony Joep & I were able to head home for a midday nap before the reception.

It’s a good thing we did because this was another rip roaring celebration. The reception was held on the Quebec side of the river and again we were spoiled by incredible hors d’oeuvres, drinks and an amazing meal. We also had a great table made up of Cindy’s cousins and their partners all of whom were as full of energy as we were. The speeches were hilarious as were a few of the games played with the guests … we’re compiling ideas for our own wedding all the time these days!

The dancing portion of the evening was phenomenal. Joep had been full of dance moves the weekend before at Nat & Jasper's wedding but this time he was out of this world. You couldn’t stop him if you tried. Even when I wasn’t dancing with him he was on the dance floor pulling up old ladies and single bridesmaids and the like. At one point in the evening I was standing near the dance floor having a chat when I overheard a girl behind me exclaim ‘I love that guy! He is awesome! I want to dance with him next … who is he?’ I looked across the dance floor and said to the girl ‘Oh he’s with me!’ all proudly. I can honestly say I have never loved Joep more … I am also considering renting him out to brides all over Canada as entertainment for their weddings. He would be so good at that!

The night was again a huge success but … once again, there was an injury. Joep and I love to dance and often try to do swing dancing moves. I don’t know why. Late in the evening Joep called me over to swing dance with him. I did the run up, jumped into his arms, swung my legs to his right, then to his left and then … disaster struck. The next move is to go through his legs but I swung the wrong way and my bare feet collided with Joep’s shin bone. This doesn’t sound too bad right? Wrong. My big toe copped the brunt of the force causing the entire toenail to lift up and my toe to jar terribly. Again, there was blood. Again, it hurt to walk. Worse than the week before I had to immediately sit down and ice it up. Also worse than the week before, we had to go home. Thankfully we both saw the funny side of it.

On Sunday I didn’t find it as funny – I spent the entire day with my foot up and on ice ignoring Joep’s request that we go and get my toe x-rayed. It was swollen and blue but it was a little bit movable and therefore clearly not broken. It is now 2 weeks since that 2^nd injury and I am yet to be able to wear high heels. Totally worth it.

Wedding season is over for another year and the weather is starting to cool off a bit now. It has been SUCH fun to be a part of these big days for our friends and we are getting more and more excited about planning our own wedding! More on that to come in the not tooooo distant future!