Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Invitations.

I loved putting together our invitations! Here is how it happened...

First, Chantelle Malone designed them. I absolutely loved the design, she nailed it!

We then bought some envelopes from good old Officeworks, printed out stripes that Chantelle knocked together for us and bought a calligraphy set and white ink from Art Attack. I cut up the stripes to fit as envelope liners, glued them and watched a few youtube videos to figure out how to use the calligraphy pen. Gosh the internet is so handy!

You simply can't put together invitations without some pink roses... thanks Zac!

the envelopes stacked up

stripy liners cut and ready to go

handwriting (and spelling mistakes, argh!)

take a break to smell the roses.. thanks Zac!

watching ink dry (not as boring as it sounds!)

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Launch.

We have a go for the website!


If you have arrived here from the site, welcome! We've been blogging for a couple of months now, it's mostly Clare writing, but Zac will sometimes pop in to say hello. Feel free to comment or laugh with us about the funny things that happen as you plan a wedding.

Big shout-out to Jason who, after accepting this (very unpaid) job, got 3 other paid jobs straight out of uni, had his computer crash on him a couple of times and still managed to volunteer at schoolie's for a couple of weeks and STILL get the site up before the r.s.v.p. date.. haha!

Love you bro!

My favourite page on the site is the little biographies we wrote for each person in the bridal party. Hee hee, they are a little bit cheeky!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Yuk.

It's been one of those weeks.

As a result of a lethal dose of fudge from the Candy Cow, lollies, sugary drinks and Texas Hold 'Em, Zac vomited 3 times on Monday night. Said he felt so much better afterwards. Unbelievable.

I reminded him that I hadn't vomited in over 14 years (if not longer) and it was so gross that he could pretty much vomit on command just to make himself feel better after too many sweets. Surely this is not good for you? Vomiting is a very distressing experience.

Well, yesterday the drought was broken for me after taking some medication for tonsillitis. I was sitting on the edge of my bed. It went on my foot and all over my hands before Dad came running in with a bucket. There wasn't any carrots and I hadn't eaten anything much so it was just pink and red - the colour of my tablets.

Trust me to have colour-coordinated spew.

Zac's response? (actual sms) "Darling! Oh my gosh! You vomited! Yay! But that sucks. Do you need me to come and help you?"

hahaaaa. Gee, thanks Zac.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Phil.

Met the most amazing man on Friday.

You know when you met an "old salt" and it makes your day happy and bright, and not only because it's 37 degrees out?

Phillip Everitt has been printing since 1963. He is thinking about retiring but he still has the most beautiful letterpress machines (4 of them!) in his little print shop at Whiteman Park.

We got given this golden piece of information from Chantelle's Mother-in-law and I was so excited about a Real Live Letterpress Printer in the state that I dragged Zac along before we started work on Friday.

He showed us his machines, he told us about how he used to print, before digital, before offset even. He turned on a Heidelburg for us so we could see and hear it at work. Amazingly elegant machine.

He showed us stock, metal plates and nylo plates. He showed us lead type and complained the those who made the plates could charge whatever they want because their product is so rare nowadays.

Phil was surprised that letterpress is making a comeback and the rate at which studios are opening on the east coast. He laughed when I asked about whether he runs classes and said he isn't allowed to have anyone in the shop because OC, HEALTH and SAFETY want to shut him down. All those moveable parts. How dangerous.

He was embarrassed to charge us his meagre fee for labour and was sorry that we have to source our own stock. We don't mind. We would do business with him in a heartbeat, he's the sort of person we hope to be when we are his age.

Gentle, passionate, content and dedicated to our life's work.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Smokin' hot.

Went out a few Mondays ago to look at the Winter 2010 suits that had come in to the city department stores. Zac tried on a great suit - it was called the 'sweet/sharp' by our old mate Hugo Boss and he looked smokin' hot.. The slim cut, lapel style and everything else suited him really well.


I'm a firm believer that if the girl gets to buy a really nice dress for the wedding, then the boy should be able to buy a nice suit and not have to rent one that doesn't fit properly.

Besides, he will actually be able to wear his outfit again... unlike yours truly!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

599 pt2.

Did I forget to mention that the ENTIRE time we were having that crazy conversation about the fabric, the man was talking to us about his opinion on getting engaged?

man: so what are you buying for?
clare: it's for our engagement party. two long tables etc etc
man (whispers to Zac in front of me): don't do it! you're crazy!
zac: uh, (politely laughs) haha, yeah mate. Women...
man: no seriously, you'll get married and it won't be what you think and you'll end up in Graylands.*
clare and zac: *------*??!? huh?
man (whispering to Zac): get out while you still can!
zac: uh.... -------*?!
man: so I do it for you 599. 40m. a whole bolt.

So the next day I went back, to buy something I didn't think I could afford the previous day.

man: you were in here yesterday?
clare: yes, the tablecloth
man: yes, you're getting married aren't you?
clare: yes, still getting married *polite smile*
man (leans over and whispers): don't do it! Get out while you still can!
clare: uh, do you have any grey or yellow gingham?
man (across the store): AUNTY!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY GINGHAM OVER THERE WITH THE LOW QUALITY COTTON!?
man (whispers): seriously, don't get married you'll end up in Graylands for 3 months. I did!
clare: really!! what happened?
man: so I was engaged to this girl and we don't sleep together before the wedding.
clare: know the feeling
man (leans in over the counter): so I get married, I take her to bed and...
(leans in closer, whispers) she's a lady-boy!
clare: woah!!!!!!!!
man: yeah, so I went crazy, I spent 3 months in Graylands!
man's brother (chirps up from a computer behind the counter): yeah, I blew $50,000 on that wedding and it didn't even last the night! 3 months in Graylands!




*for all of our interstate readers, Graylands is a hospital for people who are mentally unwell.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Benches.

This week we are preparing for our engagement party and crossing things off our list left, right and centre.

The basic idea is two, long tables filled with family and friends, family-style-served food under lights and in the backyard tennis court. The look is 'rustic chic' if you had to give it a name. Lots of native grey foliage from our garden, bunting and lanterns to light the way to the tennis court, yellow flowers in mason jars and hessian table runners. We are borrowing most of the decorations from friends or sourcing materials from our house and garden.

One problem we have encountered is seating. Hiring nice chairs is expensive, and hiring cheap plastic chairs is out because they are 1) ugly and 2) still wasteful and expensive. So here are our options.

Build some benches. Re-use the sleepers in the vegetable garden at the O'Neil's place.
Use sleepers, but support them on hay bales, reuse all of it in the garden:

Just use hay bales, but of course hay can be scratchy, so we could cover them with pretty coloured or patterned sheets, we could also build some couches (reusing everything of course):

photos from Snippet and Ink (1), Carl Zoch (2), Scott Chester Blog (3)

Decisions, decisions....

599.

I swear, I am so dumb sometimes. Today we were at the fabric shop to buy a bolt of white fabric for the e-party table clothes. You usually get a discount when you buy a whole bolt so I was asking the awesome Persian (?) man what the best price was that he could give us..

Me: So, if I buy this bolt, how much is it?
He: I can do it for you. Five ninety-nine.
Me (thinking): 600 bucks! I only budgeted 250 for this. Why the hell is this so expensive?
Me: Uh, ok.. what about this one here?
He: I can do that one for you. Four ninety-nine.
Me (thinking): Wow, this is really expensive.. I'm going to have to readjust the budget on the sly so Zac doesn't notice.
Me: Ok, so what about a plain cotton, not table cloth material?
He: That one is seven ninety-nine.
Me: Ok.. so this one is 599 for the bolt? And this one is 499 and this one is 799?
He: Yes, but if you buy two bolts I'll lower it some more.
Me (thinking): Don't try to up-sell me, man. I up-sell people allllll day long.
Me: So HOW much is this a metre and what is the cost of a bolt?
He: This one? I can do for you. Five ninety-nine.
Clare: ****!?!?!???--------------------****** (brain shuts down)

This conversation kept going on like this for 10 minutes. After talking with Zac about how much we needed, and the pros and cons of the different textures we went to the counter.

He: That's Two Thirty.
Me: Oh, ok! (thinking) WTF!@?!?????how?!?!?!?!?!??what the heck is going on?!?!?!

We get in the car with our 70 metres of fabric wrapped neatly around their cardboard tubes.

Me: Seriously I'm so confused. I thought he was saying that a bolt of fabric was $699!!
Zac: Nah, he was talking in metre-age. $5.99/metre
Me: But I was asking him about how much a bolt was and he kept saying he could give it to us for Five Ninety Nine!
Zac: Yeah, that's the discounted rate per metre.. Seriously, (laughing) why are you so confused?
Clare: What the hell is going on?!?! SOOoooooo confused! He kept saying 599! I don't understand how I could have asked it more clearly??! He kept saying 599!

2 hours later after dinner.

Me: I'm still confused about the fabric.
Zac: Oh my gosh. I need some floor time.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Dress.

*drum-roll*

Found a dress yesterday!

I was starting to think that I wouldn't find one until the Very Last Minute . I tried on so many dresses at a few different places but I just didn't like any of them. Too bulky, too much skirt, bead overload, too little fabric, itchy, hot, heavy, see through (!), boring, interesting (but not in a good way), beautiful but not flattering on me... you get the idea.

Some of the dresses I have tried on:
photos from smartbride.com.au (1, 3), pronovias.com (2), onewed.com (4), weddingo.co.uk(5) oldschoolromance.wordpress.com (6)


Enter: Aurelio Costarella - great designer and all-round good guy. I've been a fan since Chantelle wore one of his gowns to her wedding back in 2007. She looked stunning.

I loved Post Emporium (his store). I loved all of his gowns. I liked that Vanessa and Ali, the sales assistants, remembered my name when I walked in the door. Everyone kept telling me that I would know "the one" (seriously, it's just a dress, it is not a deep spiritual experience) when I saw it on, I did not have a "ZOMG THIS IS THE ONE!!!!1!!" moment.

I just felt so very comfortable. Myself. Relaxed. The dress was simple but still looked liked some imagination had gone into the design. I felt like I didn't need to worry about the weather on the day. I liked that I am supporting a local designer, not some overseas company who get their dresses manufactured in China. And the fabric... I love how it felt! So I didn't "know", I just drove (very quickly) to work and thought about it for a couple of hours, called a friend, called Zac and eventually called Post to put a deposit on it.

Done. Simple. Just the way I wanted it to be.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Rock.

Father Peter: hello, Peter Manuel
Clare: Hi father, I was just wondering if we are allowed to play secular music in your church for our wedding ceremony?
Father Peter: Yes of course, I believe most music can be sacred, whaddya have in mind.. some BLACK SABBATH, METALLICA?
Clare: Nah, I was thinking more accadacca, gunners.
Father Peter: sounds like a good wedding
*click, beep, beep, beep*

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Shoes.

photo from wittner.com.au

Oh shoes, when I first saw you I thought you were a bit ugly. Then I tried you on and you looked great!

But I still couldn't walk in you. Why must you taunt me with a sweet knotted bow and kill me with a stiletto heel?

Damn.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Loving.

Loving these photos this week. They are definite inspiration for our engagement party (which is now only 6 weeks away!)








Invitations out soon!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Aitutaki.

So this week we started booking our flights for our honeymoon!

Eep!

Really can't wait, we are so excited about going away together... and we're going REALLY AWAY to the middle of the Pacific, middle of nowhere. We are heading off to the Cook Islands, to a little lagoon called Aitutaki. It's small, it's beautiful and we have a boutique beach-front villa all to ourselves! Looking forward to getting away and having a holiday where there isn't anything to do, other than relax and do the things we love - snorkeling, riding bikes, kayaking, golf and EATING.

Here is where we are going:


Aitutaki lagoon and beach:


Our Villa:



photos via google image and tripadvisor.com

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Furniture.

This week we bought our first big piece of furniture :)

We got a bench seat for a dining table that will be arriving in a couple of weeks. It's presently in a box in my room, waiting until that fateful day when we have enough room to unpack and assemble. Here is a photo I found online, but we're just getting the table and 1 bench, we'll add some chairs later on.

'Santos' Dining Suite from Freedom
Best part?

Getting both pieces for less that the original price of the bench!

Monday, October 12, 2009

This week.

The last couple of weeks have been busy with lots of assignments and work shifts. Somehow, we still managed to find time to:

Find our photographer!


Find our caterer!


Start designing our stationery!


Sunday, October 4, 2009

Stationery.

Oh Joy!
I (Clare) just LOVE letterpress stationery. Whenever I send out a birthday card, or any card for a special occasion, I prefer to use letterpressed stationery.

Zac is convinced that I like letterpress because it is time consuming, expensive and old-fashioned. I won't deny any of this but truthfully, there is just something about designs being printed on soft cotton paper using techniques that are centuries old. Each piece of paper is printed one-at-a-time, by hand, on clunky big machines that go 'whiiirrr' when they move... One colour at a time, leaving an impression where the printing plate hits the paper, just to let you know that this is something special you're holding.

It's like the slow food movement, but for design and printing!

I always save the stationery I receive from weddings, so it's an area I would like to be special for our own wedding. I researched online (along with Lisa - thank you!) and finally found a great company who is able to print all of our stationery at about 1/3 of the price of every other place I have seen.

Here are some of their work for previous wedding clients:

See how you can layer colours to make text pop?

This is a three colour print. Mucho expensive because it has to be printed 3 times.

Letterpress can be traditional or modern, beautiful or funky.

If you are clever, you can layer colours to make more colours. 3 for the price of 2!
All photos from beastpieces.com

I received samples in the mail a few weeks ago and actually received a piece from the 'mixtape' invitation set and the 'English/Spanish' invitations. Yes, I can confirm that they are more beautiful in real life. Sometimes I open the little envelope they came in so that I can feel the soft paper again. Shh, don't tell anyone about my guilty secret!

I'm excited.

Maybe a little bit too excited.. Hmmm...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Bridesmen.

My (Clare) side of the bridal party is a little different. I was looking for a way to include my brothers in the whole deal, while still allowing Zac to have some friends on his side of the bridal party and making sure that there wouldn't be too many people standing with us when we say our vows (c'mon, someone has to be in the congregation!)

So, after little while of pitching a sneaky plot to Zac, we came up with an idea that allows to to include our 4 brothers and 4 of our friends.

Quite simply, we will both have our two brothers and two friends stand with us.

It will look something like this:
L-R: brother, brother, friend, friend, clare, zac, brother, brother, friend, friend

There are some logistical issues to work out, Phillip was particularly concerned about how the boys would walk back down the aisle.

We've never really been interested in hooking up my friends with Zac's friends, so the idea of them walking arm-in-arm out of the church was a bit weird for us anyway.

Who knows. Maybe single file? Maybe the boys can just give each other a handshake and a kiss on the cheek and still link arms and go down the aisle!

These sort of things should be fun to work out :)

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Words.

As soon as we got engaged the advice started flowing:

"Spend more on flowers than on food, there are more photos of the flowers"
"Get your friends to photograph, they'll do just as good a job as anyone"
"Definitely get a professional to photograph your wedding, we didn't and we regret it"
"Spend up on the dress, who cares? It's your day"
"Flowers only last day and get chucked out, don't get expensive ones. Spend more on invitations"
"Invitations just get chucked out, so spend up on flowers!"

You get the idea!

It is nice to hear people's points of view and their different stories and experiences - even if you do giggle inside because someone told you to do the opposite 5 minutes ago.

I guess that major thing it all this has taught us is that we just need to figure out what is important to us and go ahead with that, rather than worrying about what other people are imagining for us.

So here are our big values that we keep coming back to:

including and honouring them as much as possible!
This is not just about two individuals, this is about two families.

weddings should be the best chance to celebrate and party

thinking outside the box and maybe forgoing a few traditions so that
this experience really reflects who we are as a couple

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

St Andrews.

Zac and I stumbled across St Andrews Anglican while hiking up Rockeby Road in Subiaco one afternoon. The church was open, but no one was inside so we got to explore this beautiful building by ourselves.

photo from NKPhotography.com.au

photo from St Andrew's website

We love:

The newly renovated feel.

That it is light and airy, not dark and dingy!

The simplicity in the decor.

The new stained-glass windows, they are so beautiful!


After a few emails, some phone calls and a meeting with Diana (the wedding coordinator) and Father Peter (the priest, who is hilarious) we finally booked the church!

We know you'll like it just as much as we do.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Month.

Well, it's been about a month since we got engaged and after a couple of weeks of enjoying our newly-engaged status we have got off our bottoms and started planning this shin-dig!

Trips to the mailbox have been particularly exciting as quotes, letterpress samples (yay! -clare), homeware magazines (yay! -zac) and confirmation letters have started arriving.

So far we have:
  • Set a date for the engagement party (8.1.10)
  • Set a date for the wedding day (10.7.10)
  • Compiled a guest list
  • Booked the church
  • Chosen a reception venue
  • Looked for a caterer for the reception
  • Met with the priest
  • Started building a wedding website
  • Booked some pre-marriage counseling
  • Started a gift registry
  • Booked honeymoon accommodation

I think we have realized just how busy we will both be at work and studying in the last months leading up the the wedding. We decided that we would prefer to get as much done as possible before we enter that time, hence the early planning.

Don't worry, we'll keep you updated with all the news and fill you in on all the details about what we're planning :)

Monday, August 24, 2009