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Hi everyone! When last we spoke (type/read) I was tie-deep in apparel anxieties. Trying my to put together a wedding outfit that fit our day, looked great and was as local as possible. Those days are behind me now. I am a married man and as such I will be dressing myself exclusively in old boxers and discolored white t-shirts. Gone are the days of co-ordinating, ironing and dry cleaning, now I live forever in the halcyon days of comfort clothes and Dorrito stains (um… no. He does not. -K).

I’m mostly kidding. I love dressing well when the opportunity arises and my wedding was the greatest reason to treat myself to some great clothes. So now I’m gonna break down where I got my fancy duds.

But first, one of my favourite pics

Alright, so first my vest. We looked all over town for one and apparently it’s really hard to find just a vest. At least one that’s suitable for your wedding day and that’s not meant to be worn as a part of a suit. So we decided to get it tailor made, which is wonderful thing to do. We went to Gian-Paolo at Tailor Muse and he completely ruled. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to have someone (someone who is dressed as well as Gian-Paolo) assist you in coordinating you outfit. The vest was exactly what I was looking for and I couldn’t have been more pleased.

Next… the ties.

Keira at Handsome and Lace made these fantastic canary-yellow gingham ties for me and my mens. If you enjoy tying beautiful handcrafted things around your neck there is no one better to got to.

Socks!

I got these orange and yellow beauties at Theodore 1922. There definitely something to be said for buying a really nice pair of socks. Do it, you’ll see.

Lastly, my chapeaux (and a smushy pic).

While not made locally, my hat was purchased down the street at Brimz by Big it Up. So that sort of counts.

So that’s the first ‘what it is and where we got it’ post, stay tuned for more on our decor and of course my beautiful bride Kristie.

Our Wedding Photos!! Thanks to the Wonderful Jennifer Rowsom and Delphine for capturing our Ward’s Island Fiesta so awesomely. Hope you all enjoy.
K&B

Too see more of Jennifer Rowsom’s amazing photography, click here

Family and Friends who would like to see more… click here and enter the password

Tied Photo + Films got hitched August 13th … here’s a sneak peek

I’m sure I have mentioned this only a million times before… I love Etsy!

And now that the wedding is just around the corner, it was time to start shopping for everything that I “needed” for the Big Day. I want to share with you some of the wonderful gifts and accessories that we purchased from some of our favorite Crafty Artists.

You will have to check back after the wedding to see our photos and all of this lovely stuff in use.

My Big Firey Orange Fascinator from Lila-Jo

The necklaces I gave as gifts to my bridemaids and flower girls from Anns Crafts.

As you can see, flowers are a big part of our day. We all have flowers in our hair, around our neck and on our finger. I just had to get us matching rings as well from Buy Some Love

I think I passed on my addiction to my future husband because he found his tie and his groomsmen’s ties on Etsy as well.  Keira from Handsome and Lace makes totally unique ties and bowties from vintage/repurposed material.  He could not be happier. The ties look like this one, except she used hot pink for the back lining to match our wedding… very fun. And we love that this shop is from Toronto!

For years, the last Sunday of August was a day Kristie and I would look forward to all summer long. On Ward’s Island, in the very clubhouse where we will be married, Joanne Mackell would throw a country music party, playing host to some of the best fans and players in the Toronto music scene. Kristie and I fell in love watching Joanne and all of the others play sweet, sweet country music all day long and well into the warm summer evenings. And that is exactly what I told Joanne when I asked her and Tru Grit to be the soundtrack to our Island Wedding. And she said yes!

For those of you out there who aren’t familiar with Joanne’s music (for shaaame!!), I would suggest clicking this picture of Joanne performing “I’ve Got You Babe” with the equally wonderful Mr. John Borra. You will then be whisked away to her her MySpace page where you can have a listen and find out when she’ll be playing around town.

25 Days to go!!

Now that the day is quickly approaching, it is time to get all of our last minute details organized.  This has meant actually doing all of the do-it-yourself wedding crafts that we have been talking about, but not doing for the last year. It has been a lot of fun and I am so happy with the way it has all turned out.

The first thing we tackled was the String Of Flags.  I thought these were perfect for an afternoon  Backyard Bar-B-Q and I wanted to try to make them myself.

We picked up some beautiful, colorful Hand Silkscreened papers from The Paper Place. We had waaayy more flags than I thought, so we were able to make flags for hanging around the tent plus some to make signs with as well.  I love them and I can not wait to see how they look at the clubhouse.

We have loved the idea of  barn wood diectional signs since the beginning of our planning. Lucky for us my father has a wood cutter.. otherwise I think we would have lazied out of making them ourselves. I’m so happy now that we didn’t get lazy, becuase I love the signs and we had a lot of fun at our backyard painting and wine party.. just the two of us and the kittens.

We have been collecting mason jars for over a year now to use as vases for the tables. Some are new and some are antique. I wanted to jazz them up a bit with ribbon. The blue is the same color as the Clubhouse.. we may do half with yellow or off white??

I believe the last crafty thing we still need to finish is the honey jar lids. I decided it would be fun to have country style material lids for our honey jars. I also deided that they needed to be cut with pinking shears… which takes forever!! But they are cute and worth the time. We selected 4 different country flower printed fabrics and are going to tie them on with twine!

Hopefully that punny title didn’t scare everybody away, cause I’ve got something lovely to share with all of you. Toronto’s very own, original neck tie reformatory… Handsome and Lace!

Trying to find a unique tie that goes with what I’m wearing (Browns and Blues… I think) and one that also matches our over all colour scheme (Yellow, Blue, Pink and Orange) is no easy task. Oh sure, I could walk into any reputable men’s store and find a tie to match, but, I’d most likely be getting a solid colour, diagonal stripes or some sort of dot style pattern, any of which would be fine, if I wasn’t getting married on an island in what is essentially a barn. So what is a discerning groom to do?

The answer to that question is, to search the internet for hours, cursing the heavens, only to find what I’m looking for in my very own backyard.

Check it!

I’m leaning pretty heavily toward the last one. What do you think?

Now don’t get all crazy about that title, I realize there are plenty of sharply dressed grooms online. Just take a look at these TIED photographed fellows here, here, here and here. All of those gentlemen have found a way to bring a little something extra to a more traditional groom’s look. If mine and Kristie’s wedding weren’t taking place on an island in Toronto, at a clubhouse that was built in 1918 (so no AC), in the middle of August (I’m of Irish descent, so I’m pale and don’t do well in the heat), I would certainly take a page or two from their style books. Basically what I’m saying is, if I had to wear a three piece suit at my wedding I would probably faint. Luckily the look we are kinda going for is island-cocktail-retro-chic, unfortunately that is a look that doesn’t really exist as a Google search term.

This is as close as I’ve been able to find so far.

So, pants, vest, shirt, tie (maybe bow) and a sharp-ish hat. Why is it so difficult to find examples to share with our parents who are going crazy trying to coordinate their outfits out to what colour and style I’ll be wearing? I think it’s a very rare occurrence for the groom’s clothing to be more trouble than the bride’s, but that is where I’m at. Sorry Mom.

Anyways, I’ve decided not to order my clothes online and instead buy everything in my neighbourhood. I’ll start with the closest to our studio, Grreat Stuff. These fine folks specialize in designer clothing samples and one of a kind pieces that never went into production. I’ve found great trousers and shirts there. Yeah, I say trousers. So I’ll start looking there first just to see what is out there.

Next up I’ll pop in for a visit with our friend Tao at Cabaret. There I’ll be purchasing my hat and hopefully tie clips for myself, my Groomsmen and our Fathers.

They got Biltmore’s new spring summer line.

Lastly I will be completing my clothing journey at Got Style’s new location at Bathurst and Wellinton. Kristie and I popped in there recently and were super impressed with their selection, staff and price point. I’m pretty confident I will be able to find the majority of my wedding day wear with them.

I’ll pop back in when I’ve  got the entire ensemble put together. Until then you will have to wait patiently with bated breath.

Oh and no post about mens fashion would be complete with out making fun of male models.

Honestly watch this video and try to imagine all the awesome conversations these guys must have with one another. The guy at 00:09 secs is the best.

I love, love, love the idea of flowerless boutonnieres.  As we are getting married on the island and will be doing our set up the night before.. our time to run to flower shops and bakeries and wherever else is nill. With these creative ideas, I can order these anytime with no worries of wilted flowers and they are so fun and crazy creative. I’m so happy that somebody came up with this idea.

from Lint and Lavender

this one from Sparkle and Posy

I  like everything from Fritts Rosenow.. especially the two above.

124 Days to go… so its understandable that my hours per day spent on google and wedding websites has doubled. In fact, it’s a little out of control. There are just way to many great ideas and everyday I find something new that I love.

my favorite finds today:

Pinwheels for the ladies and flower girls from Rule42 on Etsy. I think these are such a cute, fun alternative to flowers.

Fun up any pair of shoes with fancy shoe clips. I would love to add some color to my wedding day footwear.. maybe bring in some of the colors from the bouquet.

These ones here are from Sofisticata and Clark and Diversy

paper flower boutonniers! one less thing to worry about the day before or of the wedding and waaay fun. Perfect if you are getting married on an island and have no way to pick up anything from a florist on the big day. This one here is from Flowers From the Garden on Etsy. Check out more examples of hand made, flowerless boutonniers here