Our Wedding!!
February 1st 2003
The Ice Hotel, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada


Okay...the wedding....all I can say is "WOW!!!!!"

Thursday: Friends and family started arriving, and we got to bond with some of our friends whom we don't see too often. I ran around doing last minute things, but we weren't too stressed! Luckily the weather was supposed to be good...

Friday: Got up early, went for a nice big breakfast with the gang who was staying with us. Packed up the car, and headed out on the road for the 3hr trip to Q.C. The girls took one car for more bonding on the "road trip", and I got lots of butterflies as we got nearer and nearer our destination. The anticipation of seeing the Ice Hotel was quite great!!! We pulled up, and checked out the Ice Hotel from afar...looked just like lumps of snow ;)
After checking in, we met up with our parents, and headed over to the Ice Hotel for the rehearsal.
We walked in, and were in absolute amazement...walking around with our mouths hanging open, and snapping pictures like CRAZY. Everywhere you turned there were ice sculptures, and carvings in walls. The air was humid, so it was almost hazy looking at everything, and of course our breath hung thickly everywhere we went. We discovered the chapel, which was like a dream....fur covered pews, an altar carved of ice, ice stars carved in the corners...GORGEOUS. Our Officiant was a very nice man, and the rehearsal ran smoothly...but by 30 minutes, we were FREEZING...so we went to the Ice Bar for a drink to warm up - sponsored by Absolut Vodka, our choices were vodka shots, or vodka shots...served in a shot glass carved of ice...BRRR was that cold to hold!! Afterwards, we wandered around in amazement again, before heading out to pick up guests at the airport, and to decorate the hall. Friday night all us "young 'uns" had a hotel-room party till about 1am, then I had a girls-only slumber party :)

Saturday: up bright and early at 7:30am to catch the shuttle bus into Quebec City. Almost all our guests came with us, and we enjoyed an amazing day at the Winter Carnival - complete with tube-toboggan rides and shots of caribou and a dog sled race!! Four hours later we were sufficiently tuckered out, and ready to climb back on the bus. Arriving back at the lodge at 3pm, I had just under 2hrs to get ready. My amazing maid-of-honour did a BEAUTIFUL job on my hair, and I jumped into my dress minutes before we needed to meet the photographer. I completed the look with a dusting of sparkle powder, and we were off!! My white fur boots and cape kept me nice and warm on the walk over to the Ice Hotel - it was pretty neat, because people were watching our "parade" and wishing us congrats from every side.
I had sent Anthony over to the Ice Hotel to meet the photographer, so she was ready and waiting in one of the bedrooms with him. She set him up with his eyes closed, and had me walk in and stand in front of him. On the count of 3 she had him open his eyes, and capture the look on his face. It was GREAT. He looked so incredibly sexy in his tux (with many layers of warmth underneath!!), and we had a great meeting.
We wandered for about 40min snapping pics of ourselves, and with our families. I think we'll be in tons of people's photo albums, since at each turn we had people snapping our pictures!! All the bedrooms were open for visit during the day - each "suite" was carved with a different theme - from the "007" suite (complete with ice bed carved like a swan, and diamonds carved in the walls), to a fantasy suite with a full staircase carved of ice!!
About 30 min before the ceremony was to start, we were herded into the front lobby for a "surprise" - and lo and behold, Bonhomme de Carnivale walked in!!! The in-laws had arranged for him to come wish us well, and it was an amazing photo-shoot...the hotel was packed with people, and our whole guest list was in on the surprise, so they all got to see the looks on our faces when the mascot walked in!! It was GREAT!!
We had about 20 min to go warm up in a lodge by a fireplace, then got set up for the ceremony.
The tiny chapel was PACKED with our guests....our music played perfectly, and we almost got through our vows without screwing up (I said "I wish to live without you" instead of "I wish to live with you, without trying to change you", and he messed up in saying my name during his vows! LOL ;) It was a beautiful ceremony, very unique, and everyone loved it. We ended the ceremony by walking down the aisle amidst a shower of sparklers!!
My new hubby and I went with the photographer to take some more pics, while the guests left to head (so I thought) to the reception hall...but they had another surprise for us! We got to the front of the hotel, to find a red-carpet, lined with people, again with a shower of sparklers..leading us to a nice (HEATED) van!! (We had planned on walking to the reception lodge...but this was a VERY welcome surprise!!).
We drove off to the reception hall, and got the party underway. The dinner was fantastic, the speeches from our friends and family were beautiful, and the party was fun. It ended around 12:30, with everyone tuckered out from the day in the fresh air at the Carnival.
Anthony and I got out of our wedding atire in a family member's lodge-room, and we headed over to the Ice Hotel to check into our ice room. By 2am we had finally checked in (after we recieved a "survival" briefing for our night in the cold). We were escorted to the "romance" room - complete with a sedutive carving on the wall, a bottle of champagne, and 2 gorgeous flutes carved from ice!! We enjoyed a couple of glasses of champagne, then crawled into our sleeping bag, and dozed until 6am....then spent the next 2hrs lying in our sleeping bags, dying to go to the bathroom...but not wanting to get up in the cold!! LOL...finally at 8am we got up, had our morning coffee in the ice bar, and then headed for breakfast to say our final good byes to family and friends.


It was a PHENOMENAL weekend. I can't believe how fast it all went by, and how much FUN it all was!!
We had some minor problems (horrible horrible DJ/MC that I hired, etc), but everyone thouroughly enjoyed themselves