Wedding Pictures

We got our wedding pictures. I made a Gallery post for them here:

https://gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com/2023/10/wedding-photos.html

He sent us 300 and I whittled them down to 50. I've got descriptions for a lot of them on there. Some of it is repeat information from my post covering the wedding.

The place we got our rings from was a jeweler's next to the train station homeless encampment. We'd walked by there a bunch of times when catching the train, so it was nice to go somewhere kind of familiar. The strip mall there seems mostly geared toward weddings. In addition to the jeweler's, there's a custom cake shop that showcases wedding cakes and there's a cookware store that has registry information. I know that because even though we didn't have a registry ourselves, we received a gift from there. There's also a tattoo parlor and a health and wellness shop, which doesn't quite fit the trend.

It feels like an odd theme for a strip mall next to an encampment, although I'm sure the businesses predate the tent city. With all the talk about how the homeless population is harming local businesses, there's a side of me that derives pleasure in supporting one partly because of its location. The general sentiment is likely still true, but not because of us.

We were going to shop around, but after looking at rings and consulting Lee-Anne's mom, we were told that we wouldn't likely find a better deal. Each of us just got a basic gold band. After getting sized, I found out my finger is a 13. I thought this was funny, because my shoe size is also 13 (obviously not by the same measurement, but still).

It was a an independent business with a long history in Kitchener. I like the smaller scale, but I'm not sure how humble a jeweler can be, just based on the premise of the product. I find it fascinating to talk to people who have a passion for something I rarely think about, which applied to my experience there.

For my clothes we went to a Moores. It's a chain but I had a bit of an association with the specific location. I supported a guy for years that had a fairly strict routine of touring the area, stopping at different locations to look at things that sparked memories of his past. One of the go-to places he'd always want to stop at was this Moores. All the employees were very hospitable to him and I knew most of them, although there had definitely been turnover since I'd been there last

I was able to buy my shirt as-is but I had to get sized for the pants and vest. Last time I'd been sized for clothing was in Mali, where you'd buy material from one location then bring it to a tailor that would make something to your specifications. This was my first ever time doing such a thing in North America.

The colour we went with was also something that only came on custom order. We decided on tan to go with the warmer theme of the party. Originally I was just going to wear pants and suspenders with a tie, but we got talked into getting a vest as well to distinguish myself from the best man.

Similar to jewelry, anything in men's fashion above business casual is not something I usually think about. I had a pretty static view of what is and is not acceptable for a man to wear to formal occasions until Lee-Anne started making suggestions. Despite having interacted with many Moores employees over a wide span of time because of the person I used to support, I never noticed how varied their attire was until they started giving options and talking about their own preferences. Turns out ,en's fashion people really like paisley. I wonder if it's a coincidence that it's the most flowery pattern a man can get away with wearing while adhering to societal norms

I barely knew how to tie a tie. In fact, before my own wedding I don't think I'd ever been to an event that called for it. One time when I was young, Secondchance Employment Counseling was giving away whole suits for free. I got one and this inspired me to learn how to tie a tie off Google Images. Since then, I think I only wore one to a dance during Canada World Youth and to a student fair in college where I had a stand for one of our projects.

So it's a bit pathetic, but when I was trying out my clothes at home, Lee-Anne tied my tie and when I took it off I loosened it but kept the knot. When I was getting ready for the wedding, I just tightened the pre-tied knot. I didn't really think it would work but I asked multiple people who said it looked fine