Speeches.

As far as speeches go, this one has to be up there with the best!



"Come let us go, let us see, throughout a thousand worlds weightless love awaits..." so romantic! But then, can it really get any more romantic than a prince marrying a commoner? I always knew fairytales always had a seed of possibility in them...

Accessorizing.

Last weekend the girls and I went out to look for accessories for their dresses. Honestly, I am realising more and more than it's not that I just don't like styling fashion - I'm clueless! I feel so sorry for my girls because I can't look at their outfits and know exactly what I want/what would look good/what would work. I'm terrible to go shopping with!

So, after about 3 hours traipsing around the city we came up with these ideas:

The Dress:

The Legs:

via

The Shoes:

Either...

or...

We're leaning toward the latter

The Arms & Shoulders:

At first we really wanted a capelet/bolero/shrug but we just couldn't find one that would be appropriate to wear all day/that was nice/that was in AUSTRALIA. The girls are inside most of the day, so in the end we decided just to bring along a cardigan and they won't wear it during the ceremony....

The Waist:

We got our dresses from Aurelio Costarella's sale. We decided to style them with doubled-up belts a la Costarella SS08/09. We chose light grey and cream coloured belts to lighten up the look... They look awesome.

The Jewellery:

This necklace is from Anthropologie and adds a little bit of visual interest to the simple dress... and I think it's just pretty.

Jazz.

"Well you can't have a dream and cut it to fit... But when I saw you I knew... We'd go together like a wink and smile" - Harry Connick Jr

Excited.

Oh the count down is well and truly on... Sometimes I still feel like I'm marrying Zac in 6 months time, or a years time, but definitely not 2-and-a-half weeks.

via

It's a funny thing, being a bride-to-be. On one hand people expect you to be SUPER-DOOPER EXCITED and all you talk about is weddings 24/7. I've known brides like that, there isn't anything wrong with it at all, but as a bystander you do wonder what happened to the rest of their life. Then the other thing is that if you do get super-dooper excited about your wedding, the details, creative things (that require precision) people are very quick to bring out the word "bridezilla" which is like a slap in the face if you're trying to stay normal while planning your wedding.

I am so excited to marry Zac, you have no idea. I'm just so aware that when I'm having a conversation with someone they may not want to hear about my wedding... they may just want to talk about books or religion or boys or friends rather than discuss the intricacies of whether my florist is grumpy or not.

I'm so conscious of showing my over-the-top excitement that I think people think I'm a bit too chilled out about the whole affair.

Except the people closest to me. They know I'm keeping it in. Sarah and Chantelle tried to get it out of me on Friday while having a coffee at Tiger Tiger.

"Sorry," I said, "If I let out my excitement now, I will make a fool of myself and everyone in this cafe will stop and stare at us."

So we're going down south this weekend, all us girls. And we're going to let out my excitement on a Winter Beach somewhere....

via

Honeymoon.

On Thursday night we had a major glitch happen with our honeymoon. The last leg our flying if from Rarotonga to Aitutaki, flying Air Rarotonga. We had scheduled everything pretty well considering there are such limited options for connecting flights from NZ-Rarotonga-Aitutaki

They emailed us saying they had had to bump us from our Aitutaki flight to an earlier flight, the only problem?

Our Air NZ flight didn't touch down until after the new flight had left.

Well, we emailed them back, saying that yes, it was a pretty big inconvenience as we would now have to find accommodation on Rarotonga for the night, cancel a night on Aitutaki [  :'(  ]  and or leave 2 hours after our reception (not ideal!) and spend all of Sunday in airports. Ugh!

So we emailed that to Air Rarotonga, our hotel on Aitutaki giving them a heads up as to what might happen and we researched hotels on Rarotonga and found a couple of options.

The next day Air Rarotonga emailed us back, they hadn't realised that it would mess us around that much so they canceled the whole thing, got us back on our original flight, delayed it by half and hour (in case the Air NZ flight runs late) and generally backflipped.

Which is lovely of them, I don't think a major airline would ever do that. But I think Zac may have some gray hairs now, going through that little 12 hour experience!!

Fabric&Light.

via

Makeup.

Loving these looks for makeup, but I have no idea what will work out....

I've never been very adventurous with makeup, whenever I get mine done for an event they always seem to give me a smoky eye. After a couple of hours though, that smoky eye starts to look a little whinehouse-esque and I end up with makeup all over my face.

I think what I appreciate about these looks is the bright/light shadow on the eyes with a prominent liner and nude lips... Kinda clean looking.

I especially love that third picture.

Ps. I was naughty and saved these pictures without a reference. If you know where they are from, let me know!

Puppies.

What is even the point of having pets unless you can dress them up for your wedding?

Image #1 via , Image #2 via Image 3&4 via

Seriously, our Alsatian could wear that pearl collar, she is the most delicate sissy-dog I have ever met. Zac's King Charles Cavelier would rock the bowtie, he is so sophisticated, he even drinks coffee. Lattes only though...

Brides-people.

Chantelle and Sarah are the best bridesmaids in the world! Not only because they are so helpful, supportive and encouraging but also because they are such good friends and are helping keep it real and lovely in their own unique ways.

Taken while on a retreat in New Norcia... I have no idea whose sunglasses I am wearing!

Love you girls!

Jason and Aaron are the best bridesmen in the world! They listen to me rant when I need to vent and they make understanding noises and say funny things that make me laugh all the time.

Taken at Perth Domestic, just before Aaron moved away..

Love you bros!

Money.

From an email conversation yesterday:

Clare: Also, I've transferred the money from our wedding account to our credit card. Thanks for the reminder babe! What would I do without you?!

Zac: Go bankrupt.

Clare: Touché 

Hair.

Last week I sat with my Nana in what was probably the last warm sunny day for the next few months. We sat on her back verandah and went through piles and piles of family jewellery. I listened to all the stories, all the history that is kept in non-descript boxes.

We were looking for something I could clip to hold back my fringe and I narrowed it down to these lovely things:

The sure don't make things like they used too.

I took this box to Jude and we've narrowed it down to 2 brooches that we'll modify into hair clips and we'll just decide on the day which one to go with. I'm not wanting to go tooooo vintage-y, just something nice and simple I think...

Welcome boxes.

Last night I stayed up writing some notes, I had such fun drawing and writing, I have never successfully drawn a aeroplane, so I'm quite proud of these ones! I've included information like phone numbers, a general map and a few places where we think they can find the best coffee/cake/Italian/sights.

sorry for the rubbish phone pic...

I have this idea of using my friend's MAIL ORDER HOME-MADE BAKED GOODS to accompany the note. 

The boxes are always beautifully wrapped with brown paper and string and I'm going to tuck in a little par avion mail envelope under the string and have a travel-themed package waiting for our friends and family when they arrive.

white chocolate and raspberry blondies...

dark chocolate fudge brownies...

brown paper packages, tied up with string...

all 'miss jones' pics from the Miss Jones website

I don't think anyone will complain, those brownies are to-die-for good. Maybe I'll get some date, walnut and chocolate chip cookies too. Just for me.

Ribbon.

Remember how I was pining about a certain ribbon a while ago?

Well Zac just called me and guess what? HE WON IT! It's worth $445!!

We are now the proud owners of 45 metres of gorgeously black and white striped ribbon. Some of it will go around my bouquet and Zac's boutonniere, and I'm sure we'll figure out what to do with the rest! Big thanks to Wedding Style Guide for picking Zac to win!

Poor Zac is now wondering why the only thing he has ever won is a darn RIBBON and not a guitar... haha!

via

Life is beautiful...

1 Month.

Dear Zachary,

One month to go until we get to be married! How wonderful!

Right now we are super tired, sick, busy and stressed, but just think - in three weeks you'll be finished that long, long prac. The day that it finishes, your friends will kidnap you to Dunsborough and my friends will kidnap me to a bridal shower and then...

then it will be the week we get married...

and then in a few more days, we'll be husband and wife...

and then in a few more days after that, we'll be on an island...

Just you and me.

Always,
xx

Two Presents.

I had ordered a present online for my bridesmaid, now the company emailed me to say that's they are backordered.... until August.

That's not very helpful!

BUT>>>> I found something else I thought they may like.

BUT>>>> They won't ship that particular item to Australia... unlike everything else :)

I'm going to contact a friend in California to see if she can help out, otherwise it's back to the drawing board.

BUT>>>> Sarah gets back from India tomorrow, so (in a way) I don't really care about all this stuff, I just can't wait to catch up with her for the first time in about 3 months. Seeing her will be a gift in itself.

Amazing Lake Hotel in Udaipur, India. via

This week.

Well, this week has been a bit of a write-off!

I've got a cough that won't quit and Zac has some crazy stuff going on with his ATP - like getting his students ready for a visit from K.Rudd at his school tomorrow night. There goes his lovingly-planned teaching programme!

As far as wedding stuff goes it's ALL LOGISTICS, ALL THE TIME.

Via This Is Glamorous

We have been working out deliveries and pick up of flowers, furniture, people. Where are things placed in the reception room? Is there something to hold pens for our guest book? (Thanks Lisa!) Seating charts. RSVP management. Extra invitations. Following up internet orders. Calling around for photo location permissions (expensive). Registry updates x2. Post-wedding admin (insurance, cars, internet, phone etc etc). Confirming who are our go-to people on our wedding day and clarifying their roles. Packing belongings into boxes and clearing out cupboards. Re-plating my engagement ring so it's nice and sparkly and new-looking for July.

It's all happening and most of it is mundane, but necessary.

T-minus 31 days. Wooooohooo!

Sleuth.

We have been getting RSVPs in my mailbox all of this week, however one arrived yesterday without a name on it. I had read somewhere that you should number your RSVP cards in case this sort of thing happens, but I only remembered once we had sealed our envelopes. Toooooo late.

So, the Sherlock in me will begin sleuthing:

Clue #1: Postmark. 

Visible word "REGION MC" across the stamp. Black envelope makes it hard to see, but ink is shiny. If I hold envelope just so I can make out the word "HUNTER", so altogether it says, "HUNTER REGION MC".

Conclusion: RSVP is from NSW, this means that it is a member from Zac's family or it's Kym Rolle, probably not Stephan and Carla because they live in Sydney, probably not Di, because she lives a little more north than the Hunter, although it is entirely possible her mail went through HUNTER REGION MC.

Possible RSVPers: Clare family, Scarfe family, John and Pat Gageler, Alan and Donna Gageler, Di Gageler, Kym Rolle.

Clue #2: Ink stamp. 

I can make out a square border in the centre of the envelope at the top. So I hold the envelope under a halogen lamp, yields great results. I see a rectangle border with "30 MAY 2010" written within... I also see the letters "AMP" further along, which I can only assume is the end of "STAMPS". Why does it say stamps? Is this a vital piece of the mystery that I am missing. I MUST FIND OUT. Closer inspection reveals a jumble of letters, the ink is already starting to degrade...  "AL" "ISE". OH MY GOSH. IS THIS A SUBURB OR SOMETHING? No, it just says "PERSONALISED STAMPS NOW AVAILABLE". Darn advertising.

Conclusion: This RSVP was sent 30th May. Not much to go on, really.

Clue #3:  The way the dot was done.

Ball point mark was meant to be a dot, they didn't tick. This must have some psychological meaning but I have no idea what it could be... Sherlock would probably say it's because they are a neat person - a girl perhaps, or a boy who can do away with unnecessary flourish. The dot has been gone over a few times, possibly to make the ink darker. Ball point pens don't work so well on the soft cotton paper. The frustration is evident, I can see they've gone over the same spot 2 or 3 times. This must surely have a psychological meaning, but I don't know what it could be...

Conclusion: Not much really.

Clue #4: Writing on RSVP card.

Black ball point pen used, no name, no number of guests. God forbid they have an allergy to peanuts because we'll never know their dietary requirements! And, they are attending our wedding. Yay! If only we knew who they are and how many there are.

Conclusion: Kym Rolle did not send this RSVP. She is arty and creative, she would have whipped out all sorts of pens and because she is creative and knows it, she would have written her name all over that junk. The Clare family's RSVP would have been written by Michelle, who will at least have written the amount of people coming along (which we know to be 4). The Scarfe's family response would have been so thorough that they also would have written how many were attending, they are very thorough people. I'm betting John and Pat Gageler would have written their names and dietary requirements and that they are both attending. 

Possible RSVPers: Alan and Donna Gageler, Di Gageler.

Final Conclusion: 

This RSVP was most probably sent by Alan Gageler (which would explain the frustration of grinding the ball point pen over the same spot and missing the other things to fill out. Perhaps he was frustrated because he had already filled out an online RSVP before he got the invitation and didn't want to do it again?

OR, it's Aunty Di, who was so excited by getting the invitation (as she has mentioned on facebook) that she grabbed the nearest pen, realised it didn't work and in her haste and excitement forgot to write whether she is allergic to peanuts or not.

Case Closed.

Irritating.

"It’s easy to view your wedding as one long to do list but it’s vitally important that you don’t make decisions (especially regarding visual elements) without considering other aspects to ensure there is a thread of continuity running throughout your celebration. For example, it’s easy to rush out and buy a dress before you’ve really thought about items such as your venue or entertainment. However, the style of your dress should be heavily influenced by your venue and how formal your celebration will be. This in turn will effect the type of entertainment you choose, the style of your flowers and even the type of menu you serve. As bizarre as it sounds, it’s really important to consider all of these items together because if you don’t your wedding will lose its sense of flow and can end up feeling as though it has lost it’s soul."

Not only is the grammar lacking, this is the sort of anonymous, un-nameable pressure that girls get from magazine writers and wedding planners who blog. I LOVE planning parties and events, flow and theming come easily to me, but (excuse me if I say it out loud) a wedding's "soul" is the love of the bride and groom and their families and loved ones. Rant over.