Young.

Earlier this week Zac mentioned that he saw an interview on Sunrise about young married couples. Koshie seemed to be a bit surprised that people would willingly and considerately choose to get married young.

I can relate to the couple in the interview - everybody's reaction to finding out that we are getting married and our age is always the same, "Oh my god!! But you guys are so young!" People have this general idea that getting married at a young age restricts your freedom, you'll never be able to travel, you won't be able to have a chance to get the career you want to have and you won't get to 'experience' life (whatever that means, I think how you choose to experience life is a highly personal thing!)

It's true, we are young compared to the national average and there are certain disadvantages to getting married young - life experience is at a minimum, Zac will still be studying full time for 6 months so only one us will be working full time. We haven't got established careers and we'll be moving out, getting married and living with someone new for the first time in our lives.

Not to mention babies. They just absolutely freak me out. How many methods of contraception can you use at any given point in time? I'll let you know.

That being said, we have been very careful about this decision, we knew we wanted to get married about 2.5 seconds into our first conversation but we waited 3 years because we knew that we wanted to be sure about this person, about how we worked together. We wanted to share a lot of views about all sorts of topics and we wanted to get past that 'honeymoon' phase in dating and have some real doozies of arguments so we could see how we would act under pressure.

We started working on our relationship, talking about topics we would never thought to have talked on before** expectations about what role we would take in a marriage/household management situation, discovering what we bring to our relationship and celebrating our differences rather than trying to make a copy of ourselves.

We have had pre-marital counseling, we discovered some things that we are very strong on, some things that aren't so strongly developed** and why. Talking with an complete stranger with whom we could be comfortable sharing everything, was so refreshing and hearing a different perspective (while it wasn't always right for us) was challenging and fun.

I think there are some very definite advantages to getting married young. I think it's great to move out together into a new house and develop patterns of living that involve another person - it helps that we aren't so independent and stuck in our preferred method of running a household, we get to make those sort of decisions together. Another thing is that we will have a combined income while we are still young. Sure, we might not make the wisest of financial decision but we'll save a heap too. Travelling together is something we're both looking forward to - I prefer to be with someone I know when I experience new things - no matter whether it's NYC or camping at Margaret River. I'm sure there are other benefits, but this is already a long post!

You can watch the interview here, don't worry - it's not very long and the psychologist makes such a funny face when she thinks the camera isn't recording ;)

**Obviously, we're talking about babies and parenting here. ugh.

Lights.

This is last DIY post from our engagement party. But isn't really DIY, more like DIT (do it together). We got our mate George to come in and hang some lights. He is such a character!

Here are some photos from our set up the day before. First they hung tension wire across the court, then cable-tied the light strings to the wire, then added the globes as they went.

Boys + lights + ladders = Deadly combination.

I stayed out of their way for obvious reasons.

untangling the light strings.

resident fiance.

resident rocket scientist + bridesman.

tennis court: on it's way to being transformed.

Flowers.

Early on Friday morning (i.e. 5:45am) Mum and I woke up. We drove for 30 minutes to Everbloom in Leederville to get some flowers. Good on you, Everbloom, for selling to the public!

We picked up everything that we could see that was textured, yellow, white and grey.

A few minutes later we walked out with:

• White spider chrysanthemums
• Dusty Miller foliage
• Yellow roses, I believe they were called "Tweety"
• Yellow daisys, but NOT gerberas. Hate gerberas. They don't even deserve a capital letter.

We also dropped by Dad's church on the way home and happens to pick up some roses from the rose garden that had 'fallen off the bushes in the wind'. Very strong Easterly that morning. Very strong. Hrmm, cough cough.

I also picked some grey Wattle foliage and some Branches With Really Big Grey Leaves that I don't know the name of from our garden.

Then it all went in the sink:

Then I combined:

1x Wattle branch

1x Tweety rose

1x Spider Mum

1x Daisy

3+ Dusty Miller

and put them in a glass jar, most of which were borrowed from my good friend Kirsty. Thanks Kirsty!

The white garden roses, courtesy of the Easterly Wind (aka, mother's garden scissors) went into ikea vases, courtesy of Kirsty, and graced a table along the path.

I did other arrangements, but I don't have photos of them.. boo! Thank goodness we will have a photographer at the wedding!

If anyone has any photos - feel free to email them to me :)

Benches.

That's right, we made benches for 90 people to sit on. We're crazy!

The biggest time waster with these, was:

• deciding to do them
• waiting on the timber

Ok, so we ordered 1800mm lengths of treated pine for the top of the benches. We also ordered sleepers to make the legs. We got a good price because one of my uncles owns Pine Timber Products. Shout out to you, Uncle John!

I don't have too many photos of this process, I was inside ironing and sewing like a housewife! I'm probably too delicate to get my hands rough anyway, so just as well I had another project to work on ;)

First, we started by cutting the sleepers into legs. Mum, Dad and Zac did this with one of Mum's electric saws. I think this one was a mother's day gift, or a birthday present? My mum is so handy!

Next, the boys drilled pilot holes on the sleepers legs. This is so that when we screwed the tops to the legs it would be easier to get them in the right place.

What happened next is something I don't have pictures of - sorry! Using a metal template that was made by our handyman-friend Rod, we drilled more pilot holes. This time into the top 'seat' part of the benches. Four holes, two in each end.. exactly where the legs would go, exactly the same width apart as the pilot holes on the legs.

Then Aaron and Dad used a 'spade' drill bit to make a wide hole on top of the pilot hole (you can see what I mean a couple of photos down). This meant that when we started screwing in the screws, they would sit flush with the bench, not above. No one likes sitting on a lumpy bench!

The only photo I have was of the aftermath of the spade bit:

What happened next was simple, but required some grunt. We assembled the legs and seat to create a bench. Dad, Aaron, Zac and even my 8 year old cousin Katie helped out with this. We put a washer in the hollowed out space on the seat, pushed in a screw as far as it would go and used a socket to screw it the rest of the way down. It took a while!

Voila! Bench seats!

26 benches made! Go team O'Neil!

Bunting.

This week I'm going to post some how-to photos from the lead up to our engagement party.
Today's post is about how we made our BUNTING.

I really wanted to make sure people didn't wander off into the bushes, never to return as they walked from the street to our tennis court. Hanging bunting along the path made sure no one disappeared into the Wild Unknown that is our front yard. Plus I think it is so whimsical, festive and sweet!

I used a guide from Joyful Abode to start out. I made a paper template and cut triangles out of the fabric. Mum had some old yellow and white fabric left over from curtains she had made for her bedroom in our old house. I loved the floral and stripe combination - it is pretty and preppy!


I was too lazy to hem them all and I didn't want to make them double-sided (like in the Joyful Abode tutorial), so I cut them with pinking shears to stop the fraying.


**Note. I only decided this AFTER I had already cut 200+ triangles, so I had to re-cut them. Not recommended!

I then ironed the yellow gingham bias tape in half and we began the long process of measuring and pinning 200 triangles onto 75 metres of bias tape. As I ironed I was able to look at photos from the weddings of the ladies in my family - it's fun to think that our photos will soon be on the 'wedding wall' too!
I pinned while Mum sewed. She rocked that sewing machine. We had to unpick several times as the bias tape was quite small in width and sometimes the triangle would slip out as we sewed. If I ever make bunting again, I would get thicker bias tape.

Here is the bunting..looking so sweet wrapped around our trees and obviously saving Steph and Cassie from disaster!All photos by me (except the last one, which was from Cassie - thanks Cassie!)

Recap.

Wow, what a busy couple of weeks!

So sorry that I haven't posted since the engagement party, but we've been so hectic!

It was so, so, so beautiful. None of the photos I have seen have done it complete justice.

The lights, the glass lantern-lit path.

The hessian table runners, the entry table, the flowers.

The bike out the front.

The food. Oh my gosh, the food!

Hearing Trevor sing 'Copperline' just for us.

Zac always calling me over to where he was so that we could drink it all in, together.

More photos later, I promise.

These below are taken by by friends and family. Sarah, Cassie, Pauline, Peter, Ryan.. thank you.

Beautiful Lisa, Zac's mum and lay-chef. Can you believe she pulled together an amazing meal for ONE HUNDRED people? Still amazed!

I'm really hoping someone got a shot of our entry table. Not that Ryan and Zoe aren't cute, but gosh I loved that door...

Trevor, had so many comments about how he was the best musician people had ever heard. I agree.

Glass lanterns hung along our pathway.. this was the night time view!

Future almost-"perhaps when we have finished getting a degree"-maybe-sister-in-law making our path look good!

The view as you arrived. Steph looks like a model. Seriously.

This retro chest of drawers was in a nook as you walked down the pathway.

View from our deck

They are probably solving the problems of the world. Or commenting on how good the cous cous is.

Speech time!

Zac and I.

Dessert table - yum!

My girls, Chantelle, Jess, Sarah and Samn :)

Dance mayhem.

Yard.

This week we have been getting our yard ready for the party - such a huge job as we live on 3/4 acre with lots of natural bush (read: lots and lots of leaves to rake)

It's a great chance to also finish off those little jobs that take ages to get done..

This week we have:

• given the fences 2 coats of paint
• cleared the path to the tennis court, and raked all the leaves away
• moved our mulch piles further away from the tennis court
• got rid of some wood we were drying for firewood (we got to give it away - yay!)
• organised our bonfire area - we won't be having a bonfire, but it looks pretty now!
• gave our deck it's yearly coat of oil and paint
• tightened our tennis court fence around the top
• chopped down a rotten tree near the tennis court fence
• pressure cleaned the tennis court surface
• trained our climbing roses and vines.. gave them some more support
• pressure cleaned our courtyard area which was dirty from our bathroom renovations
• removed a built-in brick barbeque in the courtyard and re-paved where it had been
• paved a new path to the tennis court
• mulched all our garden beds with pea straw
• got rid of old garden pots created a new garden bed in the courtyard
• washed all the glass jars that will be on the tables
• confirmed everybody's r.s.v.p.
• tiled our toilet room and laundry sink back-splash
• put down wood chips under our swing

yet to do:

• grind off the bolts under our swing so that and pets/small children won't get scratched by them
• rake down our bonfire area
• put down some pea gravel on the sides of the new path
• meet with our lighting guy

Almost done! Then we can get onto the fun things, like hanging lanterns and picking up all the PARTY GEAR!

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....

Loving.

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

Invitations out soon!