Little Princess

Coquitlam, BC, half an hour out of Vancouver We'll be there for about a week, probably stay in Vancouver itself and just drive to Coquitlam for the day. We don't know anyone in the area, so we're literally limited to the marriage commissioners who offer their own homes...or getting married in a public park and probably get rained on! We haven't picked a definite date yet, but know it'll be between the 11th-18th Feb, just NOT Valentines Day, I'm adamant on that point. We're having Harry Marusyk as our wedding commissioner, Ann Moore was unavailable for the dates we wanted and we were tearing our hair out (I say we, I mean me!), trying to find out if anyone else used their home. That's actually why I joined this site (and Weddingbells.ca), to see if anyone could help me out Harry comes highly recommended and seems really nice, he replies to all emails really promptly (even though I emailed him Christmas Eve and Day!!) and is really helpful. I'm sure that may be more info than you need, but I know how frustrating it was trying to find information, and I wanted to have it all there in case there's a poor little soul trying to find these things out on google

I haven't had that much hassle to be honest, though I think some of my friends might freak out at me (ours is a complicated situation so they don't know yet). I'll be 21, nearly 22, and he'll be 23 when we get married. I know I am a totally different person to even who *I* was at 18, over the past couple of years I have grown up SO much, but that is honestly due to my wonderful fiance. He's helped me get over myself, and WANT to stop being such a selfish child. And my goodness, it feels great I think it helps that my Mum was married at 20 and had me at 21, and his Mom was married at 19 with a baby at 20 (I think), so they "get it". I absolutely know for sure I'm doing the right thing, and I've never been so happy, or so excited So stuff 'em About the baby thing though, I have siblings a looot younger than me, and there are some judgemental people in the world! I look young anyway, so pushing my 2 year old brother around when I was 15 got me some dirty looks. The weirdest one was when me and my fiance were carrying my 18month old sister through a cafe a few months ago, and eeeeveryone stopped...and stared at us...It's probably because she's adopted from Ethiopia so we made a funny looking family (2 white adults, 1 black baby), but I don't know WHAT they thought, but it was so RUDE!

...events seem to stack up to put you in exactly the right place at exactly the right time? And what would have happened if you weren't? ************************************** Yesterday it was a (cold) sunny day so me and my fiance had plans to enjoy the sunshine, then have a productive day sorting through his stuff ready to move in a few months.... First he got a phonecall to say that the work he thought he was starting Monday, he was actually starting today, so he had to have an early night last night. Next he rang his friend as he had a Christmas present for her that we hadn't delivered yet. She was going to need a ride to the grocery store as her car was unavailable, so he was going to drop off her present then help her out with her errands after lunch. Later she rang back to say another friend was taking her, but her teenage sons didn't want to go, could they come to our house instead to keep them occupied? This kind of messed up our plans a little, but he enjoys spending time with the boys so agreed. Then he got a text off ANOTHER friend, saying she was in town and was going to stop by for a couple of hours to catch up. This was great, I like her and it was good to see her, but it meant that he missed out on quite a bit of "gaming" time to talk to her. So when she left again, him and the boys played quite a while longer. It was getting later and later and their Mom hadn't arrived yet. She was being dropped off here and he was to take all three of them home. She finally called to say she was running way later than expected, her friend would just drive her home, could he take her boys home? They played a couple more rounds on the game, then they went to go as he had work in the morning. They found his car was iced over. It was cooold - there had been ice on the porch at midday. So they had to wait another 10 minutes or so while it defrosted and they could leave. I stayed behind.... On his way to their house he drove past a girl walking (this was gone 9pm), he noticed she looked a little cold but didn't pay much attention. On his way back he saw her again, still walking. She'd walked about 30 blocks in between him driving past both times. He then continued driving home, arguing with himself, should he have stopped? He was nearly home when, cursing himself, he whipped the car around and drove back. She was stiiiill walking. He pulled up next to her and asked if she was ok, did she need a ride? He could see she looked totally freaked out (as well as frozen to the bone), and was about to say No, when she shone her flashlight at him and realised...hey, I know you! She quickly got into the car, really quite relieved. He told me that she didn't know him well enough to explain what they heck she was doing, but she looked tearful and wasn't dressed properly to be out in those kind of temperatures, so he suspects she had left home. She was heading to a friend's house but didn't know if they were in, which made him more sure that was the situation. Luckily her friends were in and he was able to wave her off. He spent the rest of the night wondering...was he sent there for a reason? Our whole day seemed to have been moving towards him being there at that time. If the boys hadn't come over, he wouldn't have been on that road. If the girl hadn't come over, they may not have stayed so late. If he hadn't had work the next day, they might have stayed later. If the Mom's car hadn't been unavailable, he wouldn't have had them over or had to drop them off. If I'd have gone with him, he wouldn't have stopped (he won't pick anyone up with me in the car, he doesn't want to put me in danger). If it hadn't have been somone she knew, she wouldn't have got in the car at all (rightly so). I can't help wondering...why? What was the purpose? Was there a nasty character waiting, a few blocks down? Was there a car speeding down that road who wouldn't have seen her? Did her friends have plans to go out, meaning she'd have missed them if she'd walked all that way? Have any of you had those kind of moments? Or maybe looked back at all the events running up to you meeting your fiance and realised...if one tiny detail had been different, you'd never have met! It's just got me thinking is all

Thank you I'd thought for ages that I'd hate it to be on a holiday, that it'd take away from the holiday or something? I don't know. But when it came to it..it was amazing It just made the holiday even more amazing in every way! I wasn't bothered about in public if surrounded by strangers, but I didn't want to have people we knew around (not just his family...my family, our friends, anyone!) because they'd want to stick around and congratulate us, which is great...but not when I'm trying to savour the moment of OMG I'M ENGAGED!!! Congratulations to you as well

We were friends for about 5 years before we started dating. We got engaged this Christmas Day, which was just less than a month before our 2 year anniversary. We've lived together for most of this year (we saw the new year in together, and what a year it's been!!). We'll be getting married mid-Feb next year, so a 2 month engagement!! I personally think it's important to live together before getting married (even if you have 2 seperate beds in the same room!), because there are some things that people find they simply can't live with. It's SO different living together than even seeing eachother for hours every day. It's even different from visiting for a couple of weeks (long distance, our first year was just visits to eachother) because you never get past that "OMG I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU" and calm down lol We've had a lot to get used to, like sharing "my" space, making compromises (I get up at 6am to make breakfast and see him off to work, phew that's hard!), finding "us" things to do, not just always "me" things. Plus some people I find I like just fine, until I'm stuck with them 24/7 then I slowly start to hate them! Well it's been a year and I love him more every day, so I think I'm onto a winner

Oh that is so sweet I teared up just reading it Congratulations to you both! Have fun planning

Thank you Congratulations to you!! We're getting married in February 2011 too! We're eloping to Canada (our "destination wedding"!!) then will have our symbolic/renewal of vows ceremony a couple of years later in my church in the UK. It has to be a few years so we can save, and so his family can save up the flight and hotel costs ("destination" to them!). Definitely best Christmas EVER! I was really homesick (been away from my family for 4 months and won't see them for another 2), I've never had a Christmas away and was feeling kind of down. So he partly proposed on Christmas day to make it special for me, and partly so he can remember the date easily I can't bring myself to throw away my advent calendar now, and I know that every Christmas (and advent calendar) will be amazingly special because it will remind me of this one Good luck for your wedding, I hope everything goes to plan, or any hiccups are the "look back and laugh" type!!

Thank you JayKay, yours is very sweet MSN is great We fell in and out of touch a few times while we were just friends, mostly my fault as I was young and selfish and didn't have "time" to be online, but I always weasled my way back into his good graces!! For most of the time we were friends he had a major crush on me, but I had a boyfriend, then we broke up but he had a girlfriend! After they broke up he had a love interest in his home town which made me SOOO jealous, and made me realise ... hey...I like this guy as more than a friend...oh no!! But thankfully that fell through I invited him over while he was interested in this other girl, and I absolutely swore that if they had a chance then I wouldn't make a move on him, I won't move in on another girls guy. It fell through a few months before he flew out - perfect timing all around It did help that I got a little drunk one night and blurted out over MSN (how you can blurt things out online, I'll never know, but I did!!) that I was "hopelessly in love" with him. He teased me about that mercilessly which really hurt my feelings, but he later admitted he was so touched, but he just didn't know what to say! I believe in fate and destiny, and that everything happens for a reason. I think that our previous relationships were to teach us lessons in how to be a good partner (ie, what not to do!!), and to keep us busy until we were in a place where we could give it a go. If we tried when we were like...15, it wouldn't have worked as we'd have school and no money! Then his love interest was to make me realise how much I liked him. Not only did the jealousy make me realise I liked him, I also realised that if they had a chance, I'd be happy for him because he was happy, which made me realise how strongly I liked him (to me, love should strive to be selfless).

I was hoping there was a thread that was just "share your story" as I feel a little...I don't know, shy I guess, about posting a thread all about my own proposal! So if you want to jump in with your story then go ahead, I won't get mad lol, but I understand most people want one all to themselves We'd been looking at rings on and off for about 6 months, so he knows exactly what I wanted. We'd been discussing marriage too, as we're of two different nationalities so we have to consider visas etc, so I knew the proposal was coming. We actually had a vague date in mind and I was contacting marriage commissioners before we were even engaged!! I suspected that I was getting proposed to on Christmas Day, he was SO excited and kind of gave it away! For the whole of December he kept going on about "Oh you'll LOVE your present!!!" "It's SOO amazing" "I'm SO excited" etc etc, until I'm ashamed to say I snapped at him that he was ruining the surprise, and ruining the present :$ So I knew it was coming, and spent the whole of Christmas morning on pins waiting!! Also I was really hoping it would be just us, I didn't want it to be in front of his family as I kind of felt like they would be intruding on what should be "our" moment. I knew all the presents were waiting at his Mom's house so I was a little concerned, but couldn't figure out how to pass on this wish without giving away that I knew!! Luckily he got the "vibe" He repeatedly suggested that I go get dressed so we could go for a walk or go over to his Mom's house, so I kind of reluctantly took the hint and went off to our room, but then realised what he was up to so I took my time! I came on out and sneakily glanced around to see if I could see where it was. As I was about to sit back down he asked did I want a chocolate from my advent calendar?* He was a little intense with it so I was a little puzzled, but got it and opened up the next door, finding a broken chocolate. He was sat staring at me intently, so I offered him the chocolate!! He asked what it said (there was a message on each door), so I told him, still totally bemused. He had me check the inside about 3 times! Then he asked - Did I want ANOTHER chocolate?! Well not really, I told him, I'll be sick if I eat much more (I'd already had a lot of chocolate at this point!). But I opened it anyway and there it was My beautiful ring That had escaped from the door it was SUPPOSED to be behind, and made his heartrate shoot through the roof!! I then LEAPT across the room to where he was sat and somehow ended up on his lap, where he asked "Would you like to spend all of your Christmasses with me?" to which I answered "I would!!!!!!!" A few minutes later he did check...that's a yes, right? It was a totally perfect proposal It was unique, it was special, and it was totally "me" He knew I didn't want it over dinner, as that was "cliched", so he wanted to do something different. He was going to propose while going for a walk, going to see the Christmas lights (which I looove), but the weather wouldn't co-operate - raaaaiiiiin!! He said he came up with a lot of different plans, and a few different speeches, but I love what I got, it was perfect in every way *In the UK we have "disposable" advent calendars, they're cardboard and behind each "door" counting down to Christmas there's a chocolate, then when you've eaten all the chocolate you throw them away. My grandma buys her grandkids one each every year, she sent me mine and it arrived literally DAYS before Christmas, much to my excitement, which meant I could basically eat all the chocolate at once as I'd missed all the days. A photo of an advent calendar is here - I don't know how to make it a neat link lol http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_L_xtQKmEeWU/SxWBrrrGJMI/AAAAAAAABOA/xwMDExcayFk/s1600/cadbury.jpg

Me and my fiance met online too Not on a dating site though, just a message board. We were friends for about 5 years, just friends. Then I was on holiday in America with my family, staying with friends, and was told I could use their phone to call up my friend as we'd never really spoken, other than on webcam which was pretty glitchy. Well we talked on the phone for hours every day for the next 2 weeks! My parents finally decided this was getting silly, we clearly liked eachother, we needed to give it a go. Either we'd get it out of our system, or we'd find true love, either way, we needed to try. So they invited him over for Christmas, they flew him over as my "big present" (really big it turns out, he's a foot taller than me!). We hit it off IMMEDIATELY, we were already really close from chatting online, I already considered him my best friend, and I'm not ashamed to say I was already head over heels for the guy. The real deal was even better He was gorgeous, charming, funny, a total hit with all my friends and family, and definite hit with me We acted like we were dating his whole trip, but it wasn't "official" as he'd been in a long distance relationship previously and really didn't want another one. This wasn't good enough for me So I finally bullied him into dating me "officially" a few weeks after he left! We dated for almost 2 years (and lived together nearly 1 year) when we got engaged We'll be getting married mid-Feb next year, almost a month after our 2 year anniversary A lot of people give us funny looks when we say we met online. Which I'm not surprised, there are real nutcases out there, you have to be really careful meeting someone online. My whole family escorted me to the airport that first time we met incase he was some 40 year old rapist! I don't know how they thought he would have faked webcams and phonecalls, but you can't be too careful!!

I spent Christmas at my fiance's house with his family, as I'm living with him for 6 months, 5000 miles away from my own family. I got a beautiful engagement ring as my present This is the second year where I've got him as a "present"!! Two years ago my parents flew him over to meet me (we'd been friends online for YEARS) over Christmas, and this year I got him as my fiance I feel sorry for him next year, how can he possibly top that! I also got a beautiful "key" necklace off his mom, which is because I hold the key to her son's heart Then there was lots of chocolates, a couple of DVDs, some perfume, other jewellery and a Christmas decoration off his sister as our first decoration to put on our tree next Christmas I had guessed that I was getting my ring for Christmas, as he had teased me that the only way I could equal what he was getting me was if I bought him a "truck or a sniper rifle", so I bought him a toy truck (which really made him laugh, and he did "drive" across the floor!), I made him some "vouchers" like for him to go out shooting without me making a fuss (I'm anti-guns), or to have a game night with his friends where I'll make food for them all, a DVD and a lightsaber chapstick (he's a big Star Wars fan), it's got a handle and lights up, then the blade is the chapstick. The gifts I gave seem pretty lame compared to his, but I'm unable to work and we're trying to save money, so had to be creative with the money I had Overall had a lovely Christmas, but missed my family a lot. I got to FaceTime them in the morning to see them open some of their presents

PS. We truly believe that if we could get through that, then we can get through ANYTHING. We managed it, we survived, we came out stronger. Bring it on life, we can take whatever you throw at us

My FI and I are two different nationalities, we met on the internet about 6 years ago. We realised we liked eachother and met in person end of 2008, started dating beginning of 2009. I visited him May 2009 for 2 weeks, the August 09 for 3 weeks. End of Dec 09 he came to live with me for 6 months, we were apart 6 weeks before I visited him for 3 weeks, then another 6 weeks and then I moved to his house for 6 months. If you followed all that then you'll know that I know how you all feel We're 5000 miles apart when we're both in our home countries! So it involves a lot of phonecalls, emails, texts, facebook messages, MSN conversations, webcams, Skype, letters...! My advice is think about how much work you think it would involve...triple it...and then you're close! You have to work SO much harder to make it work. Arguments are worse, you can't kiss and make up, you can't have that reassuring hug that makes it all ok because you know you still love eachother, so arguments last longer. You don't have the closeness, the "look" that just says "I love you", so you have to make sure you say it as often as you can. And I'm no expert, when we're apart we fight like cats and dogs, but when we're together we make a fantastic couple (if I may say so myself!). I'm not trying to be a downer, it can absolutely work if you want it to. I'm just saying, it's no walk in the park. And if you're having the same trouble we did, it's ok, you're not alone, you're not "abnormal"! We had SO many people telling us "well if you can't make it work apart for a few months, you're OBVIOUSLY not right for eachother", but anyone who sees us TOGETHER sees just how in love we are, there's just something about the distance that brings out the worst in us!! BUT despite all that, despite the screaming, the crying, all that, we're engaged to be married, we tell eachother we love eachother about 50 times a day, I can honestly say I can see myself with this guy for the rest of my life, and that is the happiest picture I can come up with. HE is my "happy thought". It can and does work, if it's meant to be then it will But destiny needs you to put the time in too

I'd never heard of the sand ceremony until I was looking around this site. I didn't pay much attention to it for various reasons, but I was intruiged by this thread and took the time to read about it and I'm totally sold! Especially when it mentioned that it's possibly Native American, as my FI and his mom are in the process of joining the Cherokee tribe. I'm always looking for new and interesting things to do, I don't want the kind of wedding that "everyone" has and I've never ever seen that at a ceremony. It sounds so sweet Definitely going to convince the FI to have that at our symbolic ceremony

Good luck keeping it as a secret for a year We're eloping in a couple of months and we've been thinking about doing that for a little while, it's driving me crazy not telling anyone what we're planning! Everytime anyone asks our plans it's just "Oh we haven't decided, we'll see", I can't imagine keeping something like that quiet for a year!! I'm hoping to do a symbolic wedding/renewal of vows at a later date, and I'd love to do it on an anniversary, as that date will be so special So I totally see why you're doing that

Me and my fiance are simply not telling anybody. Well, some of his family and friends know and they're all totally ok with it, they understand our reasons. My family can't make it, so it wouldn't be fair for his to come. I'm not telling my family as I feel it'd upset them that they really can't possibly make it. I'm going for the whole "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission" thing!! We're telling them as soon as we're married, and in a couple of years we're hoping to have a reception or a renewal of vows, that kind of thing, where we can invite everyone. We just can't afford to do that right now. I'm sure they will support any decision you make, it's your choice Just make sure you have lots of photos and maybe a video to show them! (I'm thinking one witness taking photos, another taking a video!). Bring them a souvenier, or plan on a relatively low-key at home reception. Some feelings will be hurt, but..that would be the case no matter what. Even if you had the whole thing in your home town, SOMEONE would be bound to miss out! I know I haven't really answered your questions, but I hope I was some help even if just in letting you know that you're not the only one thinking of such a plan Honestly, not telling people feels kind of underhanded and sneaky, so I don't fully recommend that route, I just know my family and I think it's for the best. I'm wracking my brain right now trying to think HOW you'd announce that kind of thing...Invitations wouldn't work as they're not invited!! Maybe just tell people "Hey, we're eloping, how cool is that! See you when we return!". What I'm considering doing is sending out to all the people I WOULD have invited, a nice note telling them about it (invitation style), with a couple of photos included. If I had the option, it would include an invitation to an at home reception. I'll be emailing the important people (like close family and friends) from my hotel that day, but I think it'd be nice to do that too Anyway, sorry for the rambly post! Good luck figuring it all out And congratulations

It seems to be the entire of BC that you can't go to City Hall (I'm British and our equivalent is a Registry Office), so I find it weird that we can't do that. Would make life so much easier! I wasn't sure if my hotel room would be an option, if it is then that would work quite well We're doing the same as a lot of the brides of here seem to be, having a quick, small ceremony then the "proper" wedding later. Though in our case it'll be a few years later! I really appreciate reading other people's stories, it kind of helped my thinking. I was starting to stress out, like Oh I wonder if I could get my hair curled at a hairdressers so I can look kind of nice...I wonder what I could do about make up...I wonder if I could wear just a white dress...I have to make it "special" in SOME way...etc etc. But...the important part is that we're getting married, I get to spend the rest of my life with this guy, and the big celebration? I'll get that, just not right now It's also helped with how I'm going to word it when I tell my family "Oh guess what I did today...!!!" LOL It might help them eventually forgive me if I tell them it was just a legality, signing of papers, no big deal...!!

Thank you for replying I posted on a different forum and got ignored, I was starting to get a little frustrated! I don't suppose you know if she would do the ceremony out of her own home do you? I know it's so cheeky to ask, but it would be so much easier that way! If no-one but Ann Moore does then I'll simply accept that and take an umbrella, it's not like I have a big white dress to worry about ruining Thanks again for the information, really appreciated. I like this forum better already!

Hi, I really hope one of you can help me, I feel like I've exhausted every piece of information that Google can offer and still don't have an answer! I never knew THAT was possible til now!! My fiance and I are planning a Destination Wedding in BC, probably Vancouver...and by destination wedding I technically mean that we're eloping...in February... Now after my (many) hours on Google I know how the whole thing works, I have it all figured out there's only one detail I'm having trouble with. Everyone recommends Ann Moore, she offers her own home, she can find witnesses for you, she's really lovely...but what do you do when she's not available?! Neither of us are Canadian, so we can't do it in OUR home, we don't know anyone there so we can't do it in THEIR home. We can have our ceremony in a public park (free since we're a small party, only have to move if a paying party arrives), which would be great if it wasn't February and likely to rain on us. I don't care about getting wet (but would prefer not to), I imagine that the wedding commissioner will do as their told since they're being paid to be there, but I don't want to scare off our witnesses (who will be total strangers) with torrential rain. So what I'm asking is, does anyone know of a DIFFERENT wedding commissioner who offers a similar "service" (for want of a better word) to Ann Moore? My next step is to simply email every single commissioner on the list but I'm a little reluctant to do that, it seems a bit rude.."Hey you, how much are you and can we use your house?" ANY help you can give at this point will be REALLY appreciated. And if you can offer tips of how to encourage two strangers to be our witnesses, then that'd be appreciated too! I know I personally would be wary of someone asking me to be a witness at their wedding ceremony!! Thank you for your time!

I am reaaally hoping someone in here can help me, I've exhausted all the information google seems to be able to give me! My fiance and I are eloping to Vancouver, BC in February, we've got all the details figured out, we know how the whole thing works (also can't believe we can't go to City Hall!). The problem is that neither of us are from Canada, we don't know anyone there so we can't just have our little ceremony at their house. We already contacted Ann Moore but she's away for the dates we need. Does anyone know of ANY other Wedding Commissioner who also offers their own home to have the ceremony? Our only other option is getting married in a park in February, and since we have to ask strangers to be our witnesses we don't want to scare them off with torrential rain or anything...If we have to get married outdoors then so be it, my only concern in that scenario is the witnesses (and I don't like being cold and wet!). We're aiming for Vancouver area, but don't have our hearts set on that particular city, we're just driving from Washington State and don't want to go too much further than there. Thanks for your time PS. Any tips on how to ask someone to be our witness, we're both a little shy, do we just grab someone off the street?! That was another plus for Ann Moore...she could also provide witnesses!