We got to Niagara Falls in time to see both waterfalls in the late afternoon light - many more images available here. It's beyond words. Steve is absolutely fascinated by the Falls - I think he could have cheerfully stayed there for a week exploring. We found dinner at a wonderful steakhouse, where we somehow scored the best table overlooking Horseshoe Falls. We reminisced about Grandpa and talked about Heaven while we drank Canadian wine and feasted our eyes on that gorgeous Canadian view of the water.
Our hotel Thursday night was literally overlooking the mad rush of water crashing toward and over American Falls. We got up Friday morning and walked all along the American side of the Falls - over Goat Island, around Bridal Veil Falls (my personal favorite), all the way down past Top of the Falls Restaurant and almost close enough to touch Horseshoe Falls. Then we crossed back into Canada and walked the entire stretch again, this time stopping at the Secret Gardens and admiring the view across the Falls. We took the Journey Behind the Falls tour, where we got to walk behind the thunder of Horseshoe Falls - 675,000 gallons a minute pouring past the opening. (Again, crazy fun pics to share here - I will get them on here!)
Yesterday we had 5 wedding appointments in 6 hours and across 2 different towns. It was an absolutely insane schedule, I don't know what I was thinking. We didn't have time to stop for lunch or bathroom breaks all day, and I'm fairly certain I broke every speed limit in Upstate New York. The first meeting was with a florist we're considering and she has quite a large greenhouse that simply sparkled in the warm spring sunshine. It's their first nice weather up here, so the plants were just soaking it up. It was hard to be there, surrounded by flowers, without choking up to think of Grandpa. Especially when she asked if we'll have any grandparents at our ceremony. Oh, he'll be there, I know he will. Maybe it was my fragile emotional state that led me to request an estimate for flowers I know we can't afford - an arrangement for the ladies' room? Garlands for the little girls' hair? Huge floral ceterpieces? All of it fresh flowers when I really want dried leaves and grapes and grapevine to give that rustic feel? I don't know what happened but I lost my head and I can only imagine how huge the estimate will be.
We met with a videographer at the recommendation of our photographer. We had corresponded with him over email and had a huge misunderstanding and decided not to work with him, but scheduled this meeting as a "second chance" to see if we'd mis-judged him. It turns out our instincts over email were correct, so we knew we needed to keep looking.
Next we saw another florist. This time I know the estimate would be lower but I also know the flowers would be all wrong. I want really unique bouquets and I felt like I wasn't doing a very good job of asking for what I wanted.
By our third floral meeting, I finally felt like I got my requests out. The florist was kind, curious, and led me through a maze of descriptions and pictures until my vision started to take shape. I was tense in the meeting, worried for a while about why it was so confusing, but then I started to feel much better when I realized I was in the hands of a professional who could draw out my wishes and start to see my ideas. In fact, Carol was the only one who actually took my grape bouquet idea seriously enough to grab some nearby silk grapes and start playing around with texture and shape for my bouquet. I think we found our florist!
Last stop yesterday was our beloved Heron Hill. Every time we go there I feel reassured that we are doing the right thing and having the right wedding for us - it gets hard to remember that in the face of criticism, sarcasm and general brattiness on the part of family members who think we're wine snobs. They obviously don't know us, or know how humble and down-to-earth New York wineries really are. (There, can you tell that's been bothering me?)
