Gift Registry - Why you're probably here

(NOTE: More items to come!)

This is probably the reason why you're on the site so I'll try to keep it brief (I'm not known for my brevity, though, so beware!).

Although we tried to find a single store (or pair of stores) that could offer everything that we wanted we have been unable to find anything that met our needs. As a result, we have a few options available and a slightly more complicated process than we had desired.

The overlying concept that we're looking for is locally-produced, quality, low impact... stuff. For people from the Fredericton area we have a registry through Botinicals (details below), but for people from outside of Fredericton or New Brunswick there is no need to fear. If where you live is known for their awesome wooden bowls, then you can pick up one for a salad or fruit bowl. If there are really great local artists where you live then pick out a nice piece. If your area is known for their high-quality sports cars, then... well, you get the idea. We'd love to have a collection of things each with a special story and history, and nothing gives that sort of personal touch like locally-made goods.

Being both 'greenies' we are also looking for low-impact goods. Many of the items on our registry use natural fabrics or other extras - we know that these add a cost, but our preference is toward fewer high-quality, eco-friendly goods. Quality, not quantity, is the name of the game here.

OK - with that out of the way, here is a list of places where we have set up registries:

YourWeddingPresents.com - There aren't necessarily specific stores or products here, but it's the best way we could find to give a range of options with the criteria we wanted. Just go to "Guests", then enter either of our names (Joyce or Gillis) and the wedding date, July 2012.

Botinicals - slightly more low-tech than the others, this registry exists in a little yellow book behind the counter of the store in Fredericton. If you are interested in picking up a few items just ask for the registry for the Gillis Joyce Wedding. There might not be an online registry, but here is a link to the website anyways.

Mountain Equipment Co-op - The MEC Wishlist can be accessed by inputting Tom's last name (Joyce, that is) into the "Look Up" box at the MEC wishlist site. That will bring you to a list of Joyces, in which there is a "THOMAS" from "Fredericton" who has a "Wedding Registry". We're that one. Click the name and you'll find a list of things from MEC that we'd love, but that we're too cheap to buy. Thanks! :D

Sears.ca - We've set up a rather limited registry with Sears. UPDATE: Some people have had issues finding our registry through the normal means. You can use the following registry number to access the list: 201210226082.

NOTE: If you are out shopping one day and you find a wonderful (thing) that you saw on our registry, but it's not at one of our selected shops - buy it. We're huge fans of buying local and by no means wish to restrict people to "local to Fredericton". British Columbia has a wonderful wood scene - grab a wooden salad bowl! Maybe your area has great artists - we'd love a painting or sculpture! Fares - nothing from Amsterdam, please! If you do see something and pick it up, please let someone us (or our parents, or our best-people) and we'll get that item crossed off or otherwise removed from the registry.

Bling - The Story of Kait's Ring (mainly)

A few months ago, back in good ole 2011, we were talking a lot about our future and the topic of marriage came up fairly often. When Tom finally proposed, it was not with a shiny diamond ring - instead he used what he had on hand (literally! Ha ha... ha... I'm so sorry) and asked for her hand with his engineer's iron ring (and a promise of a better ring to come).

From there we worked together to design a ring, flipping between designs with aquamarines to diamonds, from yellow or white gold to mixed. We visited Bejeweled on King St. and we spoke with a friend, until finally we found a design that matched our dreams.

The basis for the design comes from this photo, which Kaitlyn found online. The simple design met Tom's minimalist standards and the ridge and pinch seemed to represent a mountain ridge and river; a nice tie-in to our natural sides.

Initially the material was a concern. Researching eco-friendly rings taught us a bit too much about the impacts of gold extraction and convinced us that recycled gold would be the only responsible way forward. Kaitlyn's mother, Diane, and grandmother stepped forward and very generously offered their wedding bands toward the cause, creating in the process a slight modification in the design - Diane's white gold would be used to build the ridge atop her grandmother's yellow gold base. Extra gold was provided by Diane in the form of gold nugget earrings and a necklace given to her by Greg after a trip to the Yukon many years back.

Diane's white gold wedding band over her Grandmother's yellow gold band.

Gold nugget earrings and necklace.

For the stone we went looking at Canadian diamonds through Brilliant Earth. Trading quantity in favour of higher quality we selected a diamond that made up for size in shear perfection of cut, quality, and clarity. (When it arrived there was an incident that I (Tom) am simply unable to put to words - ask someone else!).

I didn't risk removing the diamond from the case - trust

me that it's prettier than it appears here.

With materials gathered we commissioned Erica Sullivan to create our ring. Erica teaches jewelry at the NBCCD and is starting up a natural jewelry company, TerraInspirations. A bit part of her company mission is to minimize the use of harsh chemicals and develop environmentally-conscious accessories, and in her work she draws extensively on natural shapes and forms - in other words, she was perfect for the job.

Erica began construction on the ring, melting down the gold and reshaping it back at the beginning of March. Mid-way through the process we visited her to see the work-in-progress (and Tom got to pull some of the white gold through a die - oh yeah!) and shortly before Easter we had the opportunity to see the unpolished, near-completed ring.

Friday, April the 13th (the ill omens are offset by Kait's having been born on the cursed day) we picked up the ring and a bottle of red wine and, out on the back deck, we completed the 5.5 month proposal with the giving of a ring.

Final product.

:D

What about the wedding bands, you ask? What do they look like, you also ask? You'll just have to wait and see!

Good Times in the Maritimes; or, What Am I Going To Do On Saturday?

For those of you considering visiting from outside of Atlantic region you're probably wondering what else you can do in this part of the world. Well... lots. Atlantic Canada is a pretty cool place, with lots of interesting historical sites (first part of Canada colonized, after all) and plenty of things of to outside. We've put together a short list of fun sites below, but feel free to check out any of the provinces' tourism sites for more information.

(Note: none of these are in any particular order. Don't expect that a disappointing #1 will mean that the rest of the list is poor, too!)

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to include this: Fredericton has a tourism website you can reference for a list of events going on around the city. Of particular interest: Steven Peacock will be warming up for our ceremony at 12:10 on Friday at the Cathedral; Katherine Moller will be practising at the Lighthouse at 7:30 on Friday in preparation for our reception.
If you're looking to visit other cities, you're on your own to find the city's tourism site. 

Fredericton:

1. Downtown. Downtown Fredericton is about a 2 blocks x 3 blocks (blocks^2?) with a bunch of wonderful restaurants and shops. Particular favourites include: Read's (coffee, magazines); Cedar Tree Cafe (coffee, local, Lebanese food); Botinicals (local crafts and pottery); The Palette (restaurant); Brewbakers (expensive, nice restaurant); Picaroons (micro-brewery); The Garrison (local Tory Stronghold and seller of Halifax Garrison District beer).

2. Odell Park. Wonderful park on the west side of town. Look at any map of Fredericton and Odell will be the big green spot on the left. Beautiful trails of various sizes through lovely Acadian forest.

3. Grand Lake. Biggest lake in new Brunswick and only 30-45 minutes away from town. 

4. UNB Rock & Ice. Fredericton's largest indoor climbing gym! This wonderfully expansive gym offers spectacular 4m high walls and 20m of traversing! Great for the whole family, your first time is free!

... The UNB climbing wall is two old squash courts that have been converted into a bouldering gym. Access is limited, especially during the summer, but Kait and I both have access and can supervise. Summer hours are posted on the website.

5. Aura. Iyengar Yoga Studio and local, organic food shop. Yoga classes are $15 and the schedule can be found on their website (look for 'Yoga Above Aura').

6. Beaverbrook Art Gallery. I've never been, but it's on my list of places to visit.

7. UNB Woodlot. Most of the top of the hill (past all of the wonderful uptown development) the university owns and manages a respectably large woodlot. The forest is split by the highway (Regent St), with trail access on the west side over by the Kent, and on the East side just past the new strip mall on Knowledge Park Dr.

8. Trails. Fredericton boasts a rather nice and extensive trail network, some of which is part of the TransCanada trail system. There is a trailhead immediately next to the Delta that will take you downtown, or past and toward the Train Bridge, a beautiful old bridge that you can use to cross over to the North Side of town. Over there you will find many kilometers of beautiful nature trails, though locals tend to point out that the far side of the water is slightly less affluent, if you catch my drift.

9. Farmer's Market. On Saturday mornings the local farmer's market is held in Fredericton. The market features many wonderful local craftspeople, fresh local produce, wonderful cheese, bread and seafood, and many assorted hot foods (try the samosas and the roasted nuts - yum!). The market is held rain or shine at the Boyce Market building at the corner of Regent and George St., just outside of the downtown core.

New Brunswick:

1. Fundy National Park.

2. Hopewell Rocks.

3. Fundy Footpath.

4. Kouchebuquac.

5. Cape Enrage. Looks rather touristy, but the place is famous for a lighthouse and some very easy guided climbing.

6. Realistically it doesn't matter if you visit the tourist spots because, just by stopping in Fredericton for the wedding you'll make the folks over at tourism New Brunswick happy.

Nova Scotia:

1. Cape Breton. The Highlands of Cape Breton are an absolutely beautiful spot to visit. The National Park offers many campsites with a range of services. There are a range of trails, from short flat ones along the shore to longer ones up through the hills, and all are amazing. Go figure, the seafood is great, too.

2. Halifax. Lots of history and more than a bit of beer. Good museums for boats, military, and Keith's.

3. Dover Island. For any climbers out there Dover Island is a great spot for bouldering. The site of the annual Boulderfest, it is a solid collection of very grippy rocks. Ferry to the island is $20 and needs to be set up ahead of time.

4. Kejimkujic. Beautiful park on the southwest end of the province. Toward the top of our to-visit list.

5. Digby. The ferry from New Brunswick will bring you to this little town renowned for their scallops.

6. Other hiking spots. Recently a friend pointed out the website TrailPeak.com, which gives maps and photos for a number of trails around. His major recommendations were for Nova Scotia, around the Parrsboro and Chignecto Park area.

Prince Edward Island:

1. Um... the Confederation Bridge is pretty cool.

2. The  beaches are red - that's cool, too, no?

3. OK, I'm going to level with you: I've never been to PEI. In fact, the only four facts that I know about the island are: (1) the sand is red; (2) the lobsters are red; (3) the island's economy is built on tourism relating to a girl whose hair was red (Anne of Green Gables!!!!); (4) their energy production is green (wind!).
4. They compost... everything. 

Newfoundland and Quebec:

There are loads of things to do in each place. For the sake of keeping things short, however, I'm leaving you to find out on your own what they are. Neither are terribly close, after all (Newfoundland, in fact, is quite surprisingly far away).

America (Maine, in particular):

1. Baxter State Park. Baxter is a wonderful park that includes a number of small mountains and plenty of hiking trails. Last year we went to hike up Mt Katahdin but were blocked by bad weather and then by time restraints. In the north end of the park there are the Time Traveler's mountains, which I have heard are the most enjoyable trails in the area.

2. Acadian National Park. Climbing, hiking, and a whole lot more. While I have yet to go there I have seen photos and am enraptured. Very beautiful area. (Climbing is all trad, however).

How We're Trying to Green Up Our Wedding

Throughout the planning process we have been trying to make choices that would reduce the environmental impact of our wedding. Below we've listed each of the major items and given a brief description of what changes to the normal system we've made. This process has been extremely interesting, and has highlighted the extent of the impact that wedding can have.

Rings: recycled gold, ISO 14000 Canadian diamond, local eco-jeweler 

Invitations: local producer, bullfrog powered, enviro 100 paper - FSC 100% post-consumer

Food: local where possible, vegetarian &| local salmon, delicious wine, organic where possible.

Cake: local and gluten-free and vegan portions - vegan icing

Venue: apparently a very green hotel chain in Canada - green key 4 key rating, City of Fredericton Greenshops Program - Gold member, outdoor venue, all at one venue - reduce associated travel

Makeup and prep: Kaitlyn will probably get a Thai Yoga Massage and maybe some Reiki beforehand but nothing else :) Kaitlyn doesn't really wear makeup so that is yet to be determined.

Apparel:

Dress: materials, maker, re-use, shoes, bridesmaids' dresses are individual and re-usable

Tuxedos: renting

Decorations:

Flowers: local, indigenous, living --- bringing in live trees

Other: beach glass, local dulse, river stones, re-usable tubes, soy and beeswax candles, reusable birch placemats

Music:

Local groups - promote local artists (bagpiper, Steve Peacock, Fiddler, Vinyl 2 Bits + some recorded songs)

Carbon Offsets:

Travel: flights vs driving, offset,

Bullfrog: first wedding in Canada! Hall-a?

Walking to the wedding :P 

Registry: local business registry, quality vs quantity, organic, natural fabrics, items from buyers' locale

Cons: dun, dun, duuuuunnnnn.... we tried our  best but we still fell short in some areas... 

Size of wedding: we are having a massive party for our wedding and a lot of people from far are coming. This obviously increases CO2 emissions with travel but New Brunswick has been touted as the "Drive Through Province" (but really, "don't drive right through!!!" ref. D.Myles) and there will be many people who have never stepped foot in this Province.. and they can't drive through!

Printing: digital so we need to use toner due to the cost increase, which is around 300% increase in cost, to use print.

Venue: we really wanted an outdoor wedding but we wanted to make this even as accessible as possible to everyone.

Dress and tux materials: Dress material is not local, tux isn't natural

Diamond: From Northern Canada via San Francisco

Food: Not necessarily all organic or local, which is a restriction of our venue

Wine: Italian (but what can we say? we are wine snobs :P)

Decorations: We wanted to have it as outside as possible but trucking the trees and everything living... ?

Flowers: The only flower we could find that was indigenous is actually from Nova Scotia - HA. But we tried to get them to produce them organically but there isn't a demand. People would rather see organic flowers come from afar, apparently...  

Paper: We tried really hard to only use paper for our invites (save the dates were electronic) and even our invites have an option for either electronic or telephone RSVP, so no paper reply. However, we feel we should have programs, whcih will increase the paper consumption but will be from Taylor Printing again. And, our Thank Yous for our engagement presents are from a local artist.

Hen/Stag parties: We are not having hen or stag parties at bars, instead we are opting for the Friday before (we are getting married on a Sunday, remember!) to have a day-long cottage day/party with our friends, at beautiful Grand Lake. Windsurfing, kayaking, canoeing, swimming and being in nature!!!!

How We Met

We met three times in three ways. Within a few weeks of Tom's moving to Fredericton we had connected twice through two very different people, and once while rock climbing.

Elizabeth Gormon:
In late 2010 Kaitlyn decided to pursue her Reiki Level II under the instruction of a friend from her natural horsemanship lessons. After completing her Reiki with Elizabeth, Kaitlyn and Elizabeth stayed in touch often.

A few weeks later Tom was making his way to Fredericton, taking the train along the St Lawrence to Moncton before busing to his new home. A snow storm had shut down most of Moncton, leaving him searching hopelessly for somewhere where he could get hot water for some tea. The only store open was a natural food store, Sequoia. Inside, Tom started chatting with the cashier, who introduced him to a girl who had recently moved to Moncton from Fredericton (Elizabeth). After discussing green buildings she offered to connect him with some of her friends from Fredericton.

Shortly afterwards Kaitlyn received an email from Elizabeth telling her that she'd met a really sweet guy who was moving to Fredericton to study wood engineering. Elizabeth said Tom was into all the green building stuff and suggested Kaitlyn get in touch with him. A few days later Kaitlyn followed up on Elizabeth's suggestion and contacted Tom, agreeing to meet up.

That email was our first contact.

Alanna Erdle:
Kaitlyn had started rock climbing with a colleague from work's girlfriend, who mentioned a friend of hers from Queens would be moving to Fredericton to pursue graduate studies in wood engineering. When Kaitlyn received the email from Elizabeth about Tom, she had her suspicions that it was the same guy and in their first email exchange, Tom confirmed it was! How crazy is that?!

UNB Rock & Ice:

While maybe not as impressively coincidental as the others, the rock wall at UNB served as a third meeting point, where we were introduced by Alanna before an agreed upon pub meeting. Although brief at first, it would be during and after our frequent sessions at the bouldering gym that we would really get to know each other and spend hours together.


Anyways, the three ways we met was only the beginning to our amazing relationship. 

Introduction

We're getting married! I know, I know, I'm excited too! Since meeting a little over a year ago, the two of us have found the other to be everything we've ever wanted and more.

When we decided to marry we found that there were many more things to consider than we'd ever have thought. Almost immediately it became clear that weddings have a huge impact environmentally, with food, flowers, decorations, and dress being brought in from all across the world. Realizing this we set down a plan immediately to push for a green wedding and to make choices along the way that would be best in a holistic sense.

We've set up this website to serve as a forum in which we can discuss the aspects and choices relating to our wedding. This hopefully being more of a forum than a lecture piece, we're really excited to hear what others are planning and how we might further improve our plans.

In the coming few days it is our hope to have a gift registry up and available, along with a general list of planning items and how we're thinking of proceeding with them.

We're super excited about everything and really hope that everyone can come out!