Saturday February 2nd marked a day of parties.  Francine's maid of honour and good friend, CoCo, held a fantastic bridal shower at the party room at Biagio's Restaurant.  So many good friends and some family all joined in to surprise Francine with a really great time.

The guys, meanwhile, gathered back at CoCo and Pete's party room for the bachelor bash.  Our good friend Pete was an awesome host and kept the wings, beer and good times flowing all night.  The girls eventually crashed the party to pick up their men when the bridal shower wound up later in the evening.  A super time was had by all!

Thank you to our out of town guests Lisa & Jim (Montreal), Brenda (Cornwall), Nancy (Arizona), and Juney D (Otter lake) for making the trip to join in the fun.  And to those who couldn't make it (Richard!!!!Cyndie!!!!Suzanne!!! to name a few), you missed a good time.

Check out our photo album on our website to see the highlights from the parties.

The excitement is mounting.  We had pizza and rumoli night here at our house last Saturday and George and Rosalie told us about their new camera and we talked about all the fun things we want to do in Aruba.  Francine had a fun Bachelorette Party with her work gang at the Casino Lac Leamy last Thursday, where she got to show off her "bride look" with her sparkling tiera and white feather boa presented by the girls.

The wedding dress has been picked up from the salon.  The passports are out.  The e-tickets and trip itineraries have arrived by e-mail.  The wedding planner has stopped writing to us reminding us to do more stuff to get ready for the wedding.  The legal wedding documents have been presented to the civil court in Aruba.  We're going to buy the sunscreen today.  We've booked the catamaran sunset cruise with our guests for the day after the wedding.  We're all set!

With only 41 days to go we have the pleasant surprise of adding in two additional guests for the wedding festivities (they have playfully billed themselves as wedding crashers).  We are delighted to announce that Stuart's cousin Wendy and her husband Marc will be joining in the fun.  They will be staying at a neighbouring resort. 

After a very fun and busy Christmas and New Year's holiday, the wedding plans continue to take shape.  The details for the dinner and reception are being nailed down and the wedding favours have been shipped off to Aruba with the help of our fantastic neighbour, Phu.  The wedding gifts are stacking up in the corner of the living room where the Christmas tree once stood just a few short days ago.

Francine and CoCo have been tearing around to all the shopping centres in town getting the beach wardrobe sorted out.  Francine has attended her final wedding dress fitting before the big day, so she's hoping she won't lose much more weight before she wears it down the aisle.

We had a wonderful visit with Francine's family in Trois Rivieres over the holidays (see attached photo), and they are planning a party for us in April after we return from the Honeymoon.

Stuart got an iPad for Christmas, so he is loading up the tunes, TV shows and movies for the entertainment during the travel, and while lounging on the beach.  He also bought himself a new Nikon camera for the trip with Android driven WiFi features, GPS to mark the location of his photos, and instant photo sharing capabilities on the social and e-mail networks.  Yes...he will be able to do e-mail on his camera, as well as listen to music, surf the web, etc. etc.

The summer clothes are coming out and the packing will be starting soon.  The vows are being drafted and set to paper.  The excitement is building...

The wedding planning continues.  Nashette, our wedding planner, is keeping us on track.  We have sent in our choices for photographer so all the details are gradually getting worked out.  Exciting news - we won an awesome 14-piece Jamie Oliver professional series cookware set at the special registry night at The Bay.

The most exciting news is the awesome surprise party held at CoCo & Pete's last night in honour of our pending nuptials.  It was a total surprise and the evening was incredible fun with many of our good friends.  In attendance were our hosts CoCo & Pete, Rob & Nevis, June & Jim, Jean-Rene & Linda, Gary & Line, Judy and June C.  There was drinks and mingling, followed by a delicious lasagna dinner.  We were further surprised with a beautiful piece of luggage to add to our new luggage set which we will be sure to use for the wedding trip to Aruba.  See the photos from the party on our Photo Album page on the website under Engagement Party.

The excitement is building with only a little over three months to go.  The wedding attire is bought, the rings are ready, the trip is booked, the wedding party is arranged, and the wedding planning is well underway.

The beaches of Aruba are rated amongst the best in the world, and everyone tells us the weather is always good.  Those that have been there loved it.  It took us a while to decide on our destination, but we're really happy with our choice.

The next few weeks will see us enjoying the fun and festivites of the Christmas season with friends, family and work colleagues.  We will continue to work out the wedding details with the awesome wedding planner, Nashette, at the Bucuti Beach Resort.  After Christmas, we will be focusing on the wedding, gathering up the beach wardrobe and getting ready to pack.

We just finished celebrating Stuart's 55th birthday and Francine's 53rd birthday, and we're looking forward to our big year ahead.