My beloved and I are off to the Okanagan this weekend. Leaving Saturday morning we will spend the next four days touring the wine country and….. wait for it… deciding on a place to hold our wedding next April.

Yes, we’ve set a date, and a destination. Now, we have to actually pick the place.

There is something surreal about it all. It feels odd, weird, different (and I’m starting to get the ‘wonderful) to be planning an “Encore” wedding at this stage of my life. (I read that somewhere ‘encore wedding’ and thought it was kind of cute!)

And it feels exciting too!

C.C. is very engaged (I know, I get the play on words. 🙂 ). Deciding on the destination was not just a “Hey honey, I think we should get married ‘here’.” He has opinions. Preferences. Ideas.

Imagine that! A man who wants to co-create our wedding event!

And there are considerations. We both want a small wedding. Except, small to C.C. is 100 – 120 people. Small to me is 20 – 25. But then, at a normal family wedding on his side, family accounts for about 50 – 60 people. My side, we’re about 10.

Along with being about us, we both want the wedding to be about our children and us, about the joining of our families into one family. So, we have ideas on how we can create that sense of ‘we’re all in this together.” It’s important to honour all our ideas, including those of our children, and to incorporate them in some way so that it truly is an ‘us’ wedding.

And then, there’s the romance. We want it to be meaningful and memorable. To be a statement of our love. Of who we are as a couple. And to be fun and romantic and whimsical and witty too!

And that’s where the critter steps in. “Seriously? You’re 60 Louise. It’s not like you’re some young, blushing bride. You’ve been here before. Like, don’t get all gushy about this. It’s just a formality…..” And he goes on. And on. And on.

Okay, I tell him. I hear you. I’m not going to be wearing a frothy cupcake of a long white dress with a long trailing veil carried by a coterie of giggling bridesmaids and dancing flower girls throwing rose petals.

But I do want it to be a statement of who we are, a statement of our commitment together, and of our relationship — of how we are together and what we mean to one another, and what our family means to us.

And age doesn’t matter. And age does matter. Because at this age, we get to do it our way — and the best part… we know what ‘our way’ is!

So there! Take that you pesky critter and stuff it up your kazoo!

Which is why we’ve chosen the Okanagan.

Originally, we thought of the Russian River Valley in California which we both love. Challenge is, cross-border organizing seemed to be more daunting, and the distance meant more logistics to juggle.

We talked about Tofino, my daughters’ and my favourite place, but C.C. has never been and getting there is a full day’s journey, even from Calgary.

We also thought about having it here, at the golf club, and while it is appealing in logistical ways, we both love the idea of an away wedding. Something that provides an opportunity for those travelling to join us to experience another part of the country that is stunningly beautiful and filled with lots of wineries and sunshine and beautiful places to explore.

And did I mention, we both love wineries and wine country and wine? 🙂

Even the date is an opportunity to ensure our children know how important they are to our union. My eldest daughter has to be at Royal Roads University on Vancouver Island the Monday following the date to begin a 3 week residency. Which means, she’ll have to travel on Sunday from Vancouver to get settled in. Holding the wedding on the Saturday would just be too much of a time crunch for her, and having it the weekend before means she has to take additional time off work prior to her away stint.

Easy-peasie. A Friday wedding it is!

So, if anyone has any ideas, thoughts, creative inventions on how to make an ‘Encore Wedding’ one of a kind and the best kind of wedding there is, share away! I’m all ears and open mind and frothing at the bit to get creating. See, even if my dress won’t be all frothy and froufou, there’s a whole lot of frothing going on, she writes while taking a sip of her frothy morning latte!

And just to be clear…. while I may not be a blushing bride, I am a bride-to-be and I’m kinda excited about that!

BTW — for those of you who missed it, The Proposal happened last Dec 8. It was…. memorable.