All week I was watching the weather … and not once did it say that it was going to be a nice day.  I was upset for these two because I knew how important an outdoor ceremony was for them.  They had planned the whole location based on being able to have this beautiful ceremony outside by the lake.  As I headed out Friday towards Hamilton to meet up with the ladies at the hotel, it was pouring.  I kept praying though … and wouldn’t you know … it cleared up and the day was absolutely gorgeous.  See, a little wishful thinking goes a long way.

It really was a beautiful ceremony.  Poor Lisa lost it coming down the aisle.  Justin held it together and met her with a huge smile at the end.  However, at some point I think nerves kicked in and the two of them got the giggles during the vows.  They had a hard time keeping it straight, but did finally manage to GET MARRIED!!!!

Everything else went perfectly.  A beautiful first dance outside, some gorgeous photos by the lake as the sun was going down, a super funny speech by Justin’s dad … oh and one must not forget to mention amazing food by The Edgewater Manor.

Congratulations to you two.  I understanding that they are off on their honeymoon in England, so I’m not sure when they will see these photos, but I hope they love them!!

So starting with Vilte and Geoff … I’ve got a fun selection of random images throughout the day.  Somewhere between 25-30 photos … I’m not really sure on the count … but all of my absolute favourites.

Vilte is adorable.  Reminds me of Audrey Hepburn when she was young.  And she just couldn’t stop smiling.  The funniest part of the day was Vilte’s declaration that Geoff was going to cry when she made her way down the aisle.  3 guesses as to who was actually doing the crying??  Yep, that’s right, it was Vilte!!   Geoff was extremely together, with a big smile on his face of course.

It was a shorter day then what I typically spend with my couples, but no shortage of wonderful people, great weather and a perfect wedding day

First off, the “RAW” thing is pretty much on the back burner.  I had some really bad digestion problems because of too many raw vegetables.  So I’ve since gone back to cooking/preparing my foods.  Having said that, I’m still eating fruit, and having plenty of mixed salads.  Just not as much as before.

The plus side is that it really helped me reduce my appetite, took away my cravings for sweets and basically completely eliminated really bad “junk” food from my diet, which I reported previously.  I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t had any, but only the odd burger from time to time.  I’ve never been a burger and fries kind of person.  I’ll take the burger and leave the fries (I prefer my potatoes prepared any other way but fried, go figure).  I’ve still maintained the “no chocolate” rule and am very proud of it.  Chocolate is such an addiction.  If you can kick it, you really do feel much better.

And to be perfectly 100% honest, I’ve taken back my coffee in the morning and my diet coke.  Although I still don’t have pop in the house … only water. So my diet coke consumption is still down from what it was.

I’ve been really bad with the juicing.  I have to get back into that.  Its the one thing that I don’t want to slack on.  Its a good way to get a lot of the veggies, and its actually easier on the digestive process because it liquifies all of the veggies.  I’ve just been so busy.

And you might ask … what exactly has kept me busy.  Well work of course.  August is always one of the busiest months for weddings.  Oh and a little furball called Gracie.  Man … puppies are like having kids.  Not that I’m complaining, because I’m enjoying having her here.  I’ve been out for 1 hour walks every morning, and then 30 minutes in the early evening.  The exercise has done me a lot of good.  Albeit I really need some good walking shoes.  Any recommendations?

So while things may not be as “raw” as they were when I started, I am now at a 40 lb weight loss.  I’ve lost 6 more pounds since I last reported in.  I actually forgot to get on the scale for a couple of weeks and just weighed myself a few days ago.  I was down 5 lbs at that point.  I then weighed in again this morning and “voila” … one more little sucker gone   LOVE IT!!!!

And just so as not to leave you without a photo.  Heres a picture with Gracie, and her friend Tucker at the dog part.  The next shot is Gracie after the dog park!!!!! LOL  Shot with my iPhone and Hipstamatic!

And I just want to say … she’s gotten so big.  She grew a ton in a couple of weeks.  Her lovely pink “bling” collar pretty much had to be scraped and I bought her a new one this week.  SIDENOTE:  They don’t make cutsey bling collars for big dogs, what’s up with that   Everyone at obedience school says she’s actually tiny for a 5 month old retriever.  So HOPEFULLY I won’t end up with a 70 lb dog!!!!! YIKES

Their wedding was a dual ceremony wedding affair.  Nik is Indian, so they did an indian ceremony first, under a lovely organza draped mundap.  Then in keeping with Jaime’s traditions, followed that with a civil ceremony.  With Jaime’s red hair and blue eyes, she looked stunning in the sari … and equally beautiful in her wedding gown.  The entire event was held at the Liberty Grand at CNE.  It was the Sunday after Caribana, the weather was beautiful and it was the perfect location for a wedding.

What a great wedding.  Everything about it went perfectly.  The weather was lovely (okay it was a bit hot, I’ll admit), the couple looked super hot (not because of the weather HAHA), and everyone was just so nice.  The ceremony was held at a Croatian church off Winston Churchill north.  It was an incredible church out in the middle of farm land.  I loved it … one because it was awesome inside and out … two because we were able to do photos right after in that location.  We had barns, farm fields, etc.  How much better then that could you get!!!

The ceremony was followed by a reception at one of my favourite venues … Mississauga Convention Centre.  Great decor, awesome service and wonderful food.

I also had two terrific photographers join me for this wedding.  Tim Forbes from Kingston, Ontario and Joe Appel from Pittsburgh, PA.  They shot the heck out of this event and made creating this blog entry that much harder.  Way too many awesome images.  Their images are randomly included here and there in this post.  THANKS GUYS!!!

Natasha wore two different gowns.  We did some photos in the first gown before the ceremony and then she changed in an even more lovely gown for the ceremony.  I know that, as much as Tyaobi might not admit it, he was a tad choked up when he saw her coming down the aisle.

And while Natasha made almost everything herself for the big day, she was smart and realized she needed a good planner … one by the name of Melissa from One Fine Day.  It was a pleasure, as always to work with Melissa.

Good … I’ve been having my Barley Max twice every day. So at least I’m getting my greens. I’ve been eating fruit. I have a nice mixed melon salad sitting in the fridge for my lunch I’ve been buying things as I need them, for the most part, so it hasn’t been all bad. Made myself a nice caesar with a cooked organic chicken breast. It was awesome and filling.

Bad … wedding food. Ugh. Its nasty half the time, good the other half. At Saturday’s wedding I had the most amazing seabass. The problem is that everything else really isn’t part of the “raw” diet. But you have to eat, so I’ve resigned myself to attempting to make proper choices and just eating.

Good … I still have not had any candy or chocolate. Finishing week 11 and going strong. I’m very proud of myself for that.

Bad … And I’ve had a few coffees and some diet coke, but again, keeping that under control and out of the home still. I will admit, I miss both because I actually enjoy drinking both, but having them from time to time is keeping me happy.

And for all of you folks that have been following my journey, you may recall that I posted a pretty large loss last week. I honestly thought I’d either stay the same or gain a couple of pounds because typically when you’re sick like that, that’s usually the case. Well I’m surprised and very happy to report that I clocked in at 270.6. I am down almost 34 points now … just .2 away from it.

So while I may not be following raw, I’m still maintaining a sensible diet. I will say that eating raw definitely makes me feel better. I’ve been feeling a little sluggish lately. I know its because I have to get myself back on more raw, especially the juicing. So when I get back from San Fran, I’m hitting the raw again. That’s a promise.

Lastly, I’ve decided that with every post I will post a new photo of Gracie. Just to keep things interesting. This one is Gracie … being not so graceful as she investigates under the chaisse.  Soon she won’t be able to fit under there !!!  (Shot with the iPhone camera because it was handy)

I woke up with a face that was so swollen on one side, I literally looked like I needed no botox.  Okay, nice for the wrinkles maybe, but not so nice because it was all due to a very severe tooth absess infection.  The week went downwards from there.  I was sick, I was antiobiotics.  About all that I could eat and drink was water and bits and pieces of fruit to help keep the antiobiotics down.  The week sucked big time.  I didn’t get to my update and quite honestly, I was in a position where I didn’t much care (sorry to all the folk that follow my journey, its really nothing personal).  I was weak, felt like poo and didn’t give a rat’s behind.

So that about covered me up to Friday.  My lovely Gracie (my new golden retriever) was supposed to come home Wednesday.  Alas I had to postpone and she came home Saturday.

Okay … so week nine was fine.  I juiced, I ate my normal raw fair and all was glory in the raw world.  Nothing earth shattering to report.  Just stayed on track, kept myself hydrated at my wedding and at a sensible diet that week.

Week ten … the sick and dying week … well I was sick and dying so I really didn’t eat much.  I honest still don’t have a huge appetite yet.  And wouldn’t you know that I have 3 weddings this weekend, back to back.  I’m a crazy woman!!!! Sheesh.  I’m not sure what I was thinking when I booked them, but I loved all the couples so much and at least none of them are 12-14 hour days.  Should be fine.  I’m just trying to get some of my energy back.  Tomorrow I’m going out with my photographer friends on a foray to Raw Aura.  Its a new raw restaurant in Port Credit that my friend Silvana and I have been wanting to try.  I plan on enjoying it thoroughly.

Oops … almost forgot my weigh in.  Okay, so keep in mind that last week was kinda not normal.  Wait what am I saying, I’m never normal.  Okay scratch that, let’s just say that it wasn’t a typical eating week.  So I am down to 272.0 from my 304.4 that I started at 10 weeks ago.  So even though I may not reflect a loss next week when I weigh in, I can’t be more pleased.  I am officially down 32.4 lbs.  CAN I GET A WOOP WOOP!!!!!!!!   Damn that feels good to say.  Onwards and upwards, I say!!!

And just to make everything even more enjoyable, here are a few photos of Gracie’s first few days home!!!  Looooooooooooooooove her already!!  I snapped these quick shots outside the front of my house.  I have to say, puppies are hard to photograph … and I don’t think she liked the camera too much.  Well that’s too bad cause she’s definitely gonna have to get to used to it!!!!!!!!!

Just a few short notes on these two:

1.  They have been together for a LONG TIME.  The number of “its about time” statements I heard that day showed just how ready these two were on the big day.

2.  Rita’s mom hasn’t been well.  It was really important to me to be sure to capture Rita and her mom throughout the day.  From the little moments together, to the posed photos.

3.  Andy was one happy freakin’ groom.  I don’t know if any of you have ever seen the movie “27 Dresses”.  Cute movie, nothing spectacular, but definitely cute.  Anyway, there’s a part in there where James Marsden’s character asks … “what part of the wedding day is your favourite”.  Katherine Heighl’s character replies that her favourite moment is watching the groom’s face as the bride comes down the aisle.  Everyone is so focused on her, that they always forget to look at him.  It was then that I realized that its also my favourite moment and I love capturing that amazed, happy and sometimes tearful look on the groom’s face.  Well let’s just say, Andy did not disappoint.

So I guess I better get onto the photos and stop yapping!!!

One … get on the scale every week.  Of course, I only weigh myself once a week.  I’m not a slave to the scale, so once a week is enough.  This week I weighed in at 280.2.  Damn close to that 280 mark, which I figure I should pass this week.  I have a wedding on Friday in the 42 degree heat … that’s gotta be good for a couple of pounds LOL  So my total loss is now 23.8 lbs.  This week was my lowest weekly weight loss.  I think my body is settling into the diet, which is great.  Its not good for your body to lose weight too fast, so a 1-2 lb weight loss per week is healthy and easier for my body to handle.

Two … I have to own up to what I didn’t do right each week   This week it was a lot.  I had a couple of diet coke’s.  The thing is I know how bad that crap is for you, but I really do enjoy it.  So I’m not going to beat myself up about it, but I’m definitely making the effort this week to not have any.  I also had a few more “cooked” items then what I would usually.  Typically I’ve been trying to stick to about 3-4 cooked meals a week, and I’ve been fairly successful at it, but the big challenge is going out.  I actually went out on Saturday and had a plate of pasta.  Haven’t had that in 8 weeks.  Do I regret it … no.  Why not?  Well because I believe that you have to let yourself enjoy the things you like.  Otherwise it’ll be an uphill battle trying to maintain this way of eating.   And I only had one serving of meat last week … salmon, so all is good on that front

After all of that, I was right back at the raw thing yesterday.  I did the groceries, restocked up on my veggies and fruit, and away I go again.

I have to say that I’m really starting to feel the weight loss now. My clothes are much loser. My feet don’t hurt nearly as much as they did a couple of months ago.  So off I go this weekend for Rita and Andy’s big day.  Its 10 hours.  Let’s see how I make out.  I’ll report back in again on Monday … of course … therapy remember!!!