A rose by any other name.....

The changing of the last name is something that most brides-to-be spend a lot of time debating. Should I take his? Should I hyphenate? Should I just keep my own? Coming from a Polish family that I like to refer to as "hardcore Catholic", some traditions are not to be messed with. One of those traditions is the name change; even if I decided to keep my maiden name, my stubborn grandmother would still refer to me by my husbands surname. Why fight city hall? Also, I like the symbolism of sharing a name with my husband. To me, it represents the coming together of a new family unit (although I agree that you do not necessarily need to take the man's name for this to happen - he could just as easily take yours). Also, as a teacher, I hate the fact that sometimes a mother and child do not share the same last name. I know that this is a pet peeve based purely on my laziness, but looking up the proper name of the mother is a pain!

Nevertheless, to me the process of changing my name is particularly bittersweet. This is in large part due to my quite complicated and impossible to pronounce first name. You see, my name is a very, very popular name in Poland. In 2004, the name was the 5th most popular baby girl name in Poland. My name is the equivalent of a Jessica, Jennifer, or Amanda in Poland. My name is Agnieszka. As hard as "Agnieszka" is to pronounce, it is even harder to spell. The "z" in the middle always throws people off. Nevertheless, it is a very pretty name, and once people get past the shock, most of them love it.

When I came to Canada in 1992, I didn't speak a word of English. On my first day of school, my aunt introduced me to the principal by the English translation of my: Agnes. Honestly, I hate that name. It is quite possibly the ugliest name I have ever heard. The name was reserved for great aunts world wide. Nevertheless, the name stuck, and I was known as Agnes during elementary and high school, never really feeling the name belonged to me.

When I started university, I decided to use my real, full name, no matter how difficult people found it. I had regained my identity, and felt like myself again.

So you see, names are very important to me. I am not particularly attached to my last name, but Matthew's last name is extremely French Canadian. I am worried about how my very Polish first name will combine with his very French one. Still, I look at the bright side and tell myself that my new name will make me the poster child for Canadian multiculturalism.

Our Photographer

I am so excited about the photographer that we hired for our wedding. I spent months and months researching photographers trying to find someone who took artistic wedding photos and didn't charge an arm and a leg. Our wedding is on a very strict budget, but that doesn't mean that I am willing to give up on quality.

Enter Clint from Renaissance Studio Photography. I had been checking his website for months, looking at the pictures and pondering about whether or not we could afford him. When Renata and I went to meet him, we were both blown away by how easy going and professional he was. We definitly clicked, and he totally understood the vision that I have for our wedding. When he mentioned that he loved taking pictures of broken down barns, I was completely sold! (I've been obsessing over barns for years now....ask Matthew!)

Without further ado, here are some lovely wedding messages captured by Clint:

Starting with some engagement shots



Wedding Shots:

One of the best things that I like about Clint is that photography is his passion. He has a seperate website that showcases some of his "artsier" photography. I love that he has "an artist's soul". Here are some images that speak to me:

Now onto videography!

Some things that we have nailed down...

Our wedding is a go! With the booking of a church, a reception venue, and a caterer, we are officially getting married on July 10th, 2010! It's exciting and scary all at the same time.

So, here is what we have so far:

We will be getting married at my childhood church, St. Hedwig's Parish in Oshawa, ON.

It's nothing spectacular, but I have been going to church here since we came to Canada in 1992, and I can't imagine getting married anywhere else.

The inside of the church is also not breathtaking, but at least the ugly red carpet that used to cover the alter (and that I often vacuumed during the summer as a part time job) has been replaced with marble.

Our reception will take place at the Gen. Sikorski Polish Veteran's Association....which is actually much nicer than it sounds:

I would say that 75% of the weddings that I have ever attended have been at this hall, and as a little girl I used to dream about being married here as well. Because I am quite active in the Polish community, I know this hall quite well. Getting married here is kind of like getting married at home - I know where everything is. I know all of the rules, and which ones I can break :P

Unfortunately, the first person to greet me and my new husband upon entrance to our reception will be this guy:

Any ideas on how to cover him up would be greatly appreciated!

Finally, our caterer will be Pilar from Pilar's Catering. We went for a tasting with her (no pics, sorry!) and fell in love with her professionalism and friendly nature. Her prices are extremal reasonable, since being a future bride herself (she is getting married in June!) she is ethically against ripping brides off! Her food aesthetic can be classified as home style-cooking-with-flare, which is exactly what we are looking for. We didn't want anything so fancy that my Polish-food-loving relatives would start a "where are the pierogies" rebellion. Pilar can be found here:

http://www.pilarscatering.ca/

A bonus to booking with Pilar is the fact that her services are all inclusive: she provides china, utensils, water and wine glasses, napkins and table cloths (and not just white tablecloths - beautiful, extravagant tablecloths that will greatly enhance the decor of the hall). I am thrilled that we have managed to book her!

So there it is....a taste of our July 10th, 2010 nuptials!

The Paper Work

In March, Matthew and I finally managed to compile all of the papers necessary to apply for his Canadian citizenship. It was a long and annoying process that required lots of photographic evidence of our relationship, a repetition of our personal information on form, after form, after form, and meticulous precision. The government of Canada is very clear about the fact that if even one of the blanks is filled out incorrectly, the forms will be returned, and the process will start all over again. You're not allowed to leave any of the blanks empty, even if they do not pertain to you. You have to write N/A in those spaces, or the forms will be returned. Sounds pretty scary, huh? The forms are all available online, as is an instruction guide, which is so detailed that is almost confusing. Nevertheless, I have to stress that the process is absolutely doable, and you DO NOT need a lawyer to complete these forms.

These are all of the forms that needed to be completed with our application. Some of them are several pages long.

Here are the forms stacked on top of each other.....They barley fit in the envelope below!

I am so proud of myself for having done this by myself. Matthew helped compile the information, of course, and my mother and sister helped with the proofing of the documents.

In early April, I got a letter from the government saying that I was approved as a sponsor, and that Matthew's papers have been forwarded to the Canadian embassy in Buffalo. Yesterday, Matthew got a letter stating that his application had been received in Buffalo, and is now being processed. All we have to do is wait!