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 :)