The Panics with WASO

Last Saturday night Perth band The Panics played a concert with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in King's Park. Every summer WASO team up with a contemporary artist - or two or three! - and play out under the stars at the Pioneer Women's Memorial. It is a lovely event, you can take a picnic, sit back, relax and enjoy great music!

I have liked The Panics' music for a while, however they are not very well known, so I was not surprised when I sent out an email late last year for people to go to the concert with me and had no interest whatsoever due to noone knowing who they were!

It was left to C to do the right thing and accompany me to his first WASO concert ever. The forecast threatened rain, however we were lucky and it stayed cool and dry.

We enjoyed the concert. C was impressed by the orchestra, and expressed an interest in seeing them again; unfortunately The Panics failed to ignite his inspiration. I have to admit that whilst I like their music, I had not realised how similar all of their songs were. Their style is very mellow, and they never burst from that mould during the concert.

It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday night, rather than cooped up in front of a TV as we seem to do all too often!

Read a review from The West Australian for someone else's opinion on the concert.

Images by Michael Davidson from FasterLouder.com.au

Pretty Hair Pieces

Off to Canada for these beautiful hair accessories from Love Charlie. Love Charlie's profile describes her as "Mama and Milliner"! Quite a potent combination it would seem.

Also see Love Charlie's web site.

Pretty accessories

Gorgeous accessories from Melbourne seller Paper + Ribbons. These are simple and sweet!

Images from Paper+ Ribbons

Snap happy!

Here is an alternative to the Polaroid camera - software cutely entitled Poladroid.

Take your photo, run it through the software, and "Voila!", print your polaroid.

I will have to give it a crack and see how effective it is.

Unnecessary stress...

How awful! West Aussie Wedding has learnt, five weeks before her wedding, that her venue has been double booked! Read here for details.

Feeling for them! Fingers crossed it is all sorted out in their favour.

Update: Sounds like it has been sorted satisfactorily.

image found here

Blue shoes

I am not entirely sure why, but I have an idea that I would like to wear blue shoes to my wedding. They would be a lovely pop of colour against a subdued bridal palate. Here are some lovely images of blue - and almost blue - wedding shoes.

via Martha Stewart Weddings

via Polka Dot Bride

via Ruffled

via Jessica Johnston

via unknown

via unknown

I have not saved references for the last two photos. If anyone is reading this blog (hah!) and can assist that would be appreciated and I will include references.

Pretty hair accessories

Some pretty hair accessories by Etsy seller Little White Dresser. They are all so pretty, I cannot pick a favourite.

Images from Little White Dresser's Etsy shop. Thanks to The Inspired Bride for bringing it to my attention!

Bridal magazine

I am a tad slow, but I saw the Exclusive Brides magazine in a newsagency at lunch time today. I was intrigued, as all of the shops listed had WA numbers. Back at my desk, I pulled up the website and it is a new WA based magazine, launched this month.

I was almost tempted to buy it, but not sure what I would use it for since I already have my dress ordered and a fair idea about other things.

Still, it is nice to have something local available, and I was only thinking before I saw it how good it would be to have a magazine that was focussed on the WA market, as a lot of the magazines have listings for Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane!

A cute touch, it comes with free sticky notes so that you can mark the pages with interesting articles or photos that you wish to save.

The magazine claims to give an alternative to the "princess bride" style of wedding, and is aimed at brides with a "unique sense of style". I would be interested to see how the magazine evolves!

Pretty dresses

Beautiful bridesmaid dress ideas from Amanda Archer. I do like the styles, and I think that the strapless dress is very sweet!

A bit of colour contrast in the dresses will make them look less like bridesmaid dresses; I would like my bridesmaids to have dresses that they can wear again without it being obvious that they were worn as bridesmaid dresses!!

Images from Amanda Archer's Etsy shop. Thanks to The Inspired Bride for bringing it to my attention!

Get fit

I guess that it had to happen, sooner or later. I stumbled across the following company, Runaway Brides. Personal training marketed at a group who traditionally want to lose weight - brides!

It would be fun to have a wedding as an excuse to get together with a bunch of girlfriends and run around getting shouted at.

Actually I already do that, it is called hockey preseason. But PT on the river banks could be fun as well. I am a sucker for punishment!

These are the new shoes that I bought on Saturday, hopefully they'll make me less likely to stack it on the astroturf this year. I usually buy a new pair of shoes each season and the last pair has lasted me at least two seasons plus indoor so definitely time for an upgrade!!

Image from Running Bare

Wedding dress

I am very excited, Mum and I went to Hustle in Fremantle today and organised my wedding dress!

In the time since I last wrote about my wedding dress shopping, I have not actually been to look for any other dresses. I did go with bridesmaid M to show her the Lin Pin collection and also to look at Ashe, and that was as far as I got!

Here is a sample of some of the gorgeous Lin Pin wedding dresses. There are so many beautiful dresses to choose from. I think I tried on just about every single dress in the collection!

Photos from Style Discovery

Perth Bridal Fair

There is a Bridal Fair happening very soon in Perth, and I am not sure if it is worth the effort of trying to get to as we have a busy weekend that weekend! We shall see. I have only once been to a Bridal Exhibition type event, with my friend SCC when she was first married.

Big (ish) items that we still have to arrange include the celebrant, invitations and makeup. See how I rank them together in importance!!

image via Ethical Diamond Ring Company.

Destination: Honeymoon IV

(See Destination: Honeymoon I, II and III)

It might be nice to go somewhere for our honeymoon where all we had to do was to swim, eat, have a go at watersports and just relax! It would be nice to do something like that after the chaos and stress leading up to the wedding.

Koh Samui in Thailand boasts white sand beaches and warm tropical waters and I am sure all of the watersports we could want!

Start the morning on the water...

...head to the markets for fresh food...

... and relax under the blue skies in the clear water.


Photos from kohsamui.com

Sassy Hairpiece

Here is another lovely hairpiece by madeit seller Nyjole J Walters Jewellery Design. There are some more beautiful jewellery pieces for sale in the shop!

Check out Nyjole's Etsy shop for further inspiration!

Destination: Honeymoon III

(see Destination: Honeymoon I and Destination: Honeymoon II.)

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island off the South Australian Coast would be a budget friendly honeymoon destination. We could load up the back of the ute and cross the Nullarbor Plain to see a part of Australia that neither of us has seen before. Camping would definitely be an option, although I am sure that there would be a luxury lodge or two that would be nice to relax at!

Have a picnic with Mr Percival...


...and swim it off at Pennington Bay...


... it goes without saying that we would putting a line in the water.


Photos from the South Australian Tourism Commission website for Kangaroo Island.

Bouquet alternatives

I can see the appeal of a bouquet that is not made from fresh flowers. It can be made in advance of the wedding, it will not wilt or fade or die, and you can keep it forever and a day.


Buttons and paper by Letters 4 Lilly


Buttons and felt by Princess Lasertron

Bohemian Shorts

No, it is not cut off trousers from a small part of the Czech Republic (haha) but the inaugural Fremantle short film festival.

I think that I should leave being funny to the experts.

Anyway... we just came home from the Bohemia Shorts. They showed us thirteen short films, mainly from Australia and there were also a few films from Canada. The styles and subjects were quite diverse. Our friend Bryn was in the film "The Enemy", with the iinet guy. Bryn is even famous enough to have his own imdb page!!

The films were all in contention for some cash prizes - Best Film ($3000) and Best Film Set in Freo ($5000). There was also a people's choice award ($500
); this involved the audience sending an sms to vote for their favourite movie. It seemed obvious by the results what film had arranged for the most supporters! The non-Western Australian films barely rated, if at all.

The Bureau forecast showers for the evening but thankfully they never arrived! The evening was cool - jackets in summer! - but not unpleasant. We packed a picnic lunch, cushions and blanket in anticipation, to be greeted by deckchair style seating. Posh!

Such a lovely evening to be had, spending it with friends and experiencing something a little different for a change.

Cupcakes

I do like a good cupcake, and I enjoy cooking and eating them! They are a lovely alternative to the standard wedding cake, as you can see here!


via Ruffled


via The Bride's Cafe


via oh so beautiful paper

Birdcage veils

Beautiful birdcage veils from Castle Bride Couture.

Bridesmaid cards

I like new these bridesmaid cards from Strawberries and Champagne. Such a sweet idea, and they come complete with holes so you that you can add earrings as a gift for your bridesmaid!

You can check out her other goodies for sale on Etsy.

Local Invitation Options

There are many beautiful options for wedding stationery and invitations available, here are a few of the options that I have come across in Perth.

At Starfish Lane in North Perth, they sell all sorts of goodies for you to make your own invitations and stationery.

They have many different ready made ideas on display in their shop, and they will help you to design your own stationery, and even offer to make you a sample to take home. If you do not wish the fun of making everything yourself, then they also offer the option to make it for you.

There are so many choices in the shop for paper and embellishments, envelopes and decorations!


Mitchell & Dent describe themselves as "purveyors of paper ephemera of note". I am not entirely sure what they mean to convey however I do know that they have lovely letterpress cards! E and I have had the chance to appreciate their art at a market or two last December.




Wren Press in Mount Hawthorn will individually design your wedding stationery, and according to their website their services include embossing, foiling and letterpress, amongst others. You will have to visit their website for pictures.
(According to their website Wren Press design "stationary"!! Go figure.)

Hot water

There was a bit of disagreement with regards to whether or not we would require an urn for the engagement party. I thought that it would be convenient to not have to keep boiling the kettle, E and C both thought it was over the top and a kettle would be sufficient! In the end it was $16 for the hire of a 9L urn so we went with that.

(Previously I have made use of the urn belonging to SCC however the lid has gone missing and she has not had a chance to replace it as yet.)

In the office this week there has been a trolley for tea and coffee set up outside one of the training rooms. They have several pump action insulated flasks and it made me think of the alternatives to hiring an urn; perhaps ideas that I should have thought of earlier.

Firstly, using my Stelton Vacuum jug. Using this 1.0L jug as well as the 1.6L kettle may have been enough to keep the punters happy.


Buying one of the pump action thermal flasks, a desirable volume would be around 2.5L to 3L, so that we could have it out without being required to refill.


One of these labelled Vacuum Beverage Jugs would be a bit different, these ones come in a 1.9L size and that would suit most parties, especially if teamed with the kettle!!


via here

The English Dept

Portland designer Elizabeth Dye has some lovely wedding clothes. You can buy them at her Etsy site or check out more stypes at her label's website The English Dept

The designs are made by hand in her studio, and if you happen to be in Portland, Oregon you can go to her shop called The English Dept. The shop sells handmade and independently designed wedding and party dresses. Sounds like my kind of shop, just on the wrong side of the world.

I think that these bolero jackets are so sweet!

A Docker out of Water

Link to a youtube video showing the visit of Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands and Mark Harvey of the Fremantle Dockers to the Goodwyn Alpha platform off the northwest shelf of Western Australia. I thought that this was really random.

I notice that they did not make the Dockers do the HUET!!! Lucky them.

Engagement surprise!

My friend N has been living and working in Melbourne for the past year. I have used it as an excuse to go and visit her a couple of times, and to make use of her "local" knowledge in ferreting out the interesting shopping areas.

I did not expect N to make it to our engagement party, as I did not expect her to shell out the cost of a plane flight, and also she had told me that she would not be coming. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw her on Saturday night. Just the best present ever!



N's dress is a limited edition Flutterby by Sprinkle. My dress is by Ink Clothing. Both are Melbourne labels.

Engagement Celebration

C and I were engaged in October last year, however the restrictions of his work roster plus the close proximity to Christmas and the craziness of December meant that we decided to push our engagement celebrations into the new year.  So last weekend we had a party for our closest friends to celebrate our engagement!  We decided on an ambitious plan of catering ourselves, and having the party at home.  Our backyard is not the largest - living in a townhouse includes some space restrictions - but we utilised the carport area as well and managed to squeeze everyone in.


Our party space before the guests arrived!

We called in favours from friends and family to help with the catering; my friend MC made two HUGE bowls of salad, and MB made some ultra cute hosomaki style sushi.  Yum!  C's mum made some lamb kofta balls, three salads and a yummy cheesecake slice.  My mum made spinach & ricotta rolls and coleslaw as well as helping out by cutting carrot sticks and assembling canapés and taking charge of the kitchen and making sure that all of the finger food went out.  My sister-in-law-to-be K also rolled up her sleeves and helped with decorating the white chocolate mudcakes as well as assembling canapés with Mum and making sure that food left the kitchen.  My sister E helped later in the night in getting the urn set up and tea and coffee and cakes out, although she begged poor with her shoes and made sure that she did not carry anything breakable!!  S helped by being our canapé waitress and ensuring that people were well fed. Lots of the ladies were in and out of the kitchen at various stages helping to keep the food flowing. Thank you to all!


Mum and E; D, P and N; N&D and K; N&C

K and T; T&G, C; R&L, T; M, M and L

D, K and N; Dad & Mum; R&S; L&C

D and KC; M & SCC; C&N and S&D; E and K

M&D and Little K; SJ and M&R; C, S&R, C&B; T, B and L

C&J; D&S and C&K; K and KC; Dinner!

The menu included Avocado Dip and Goat's Milk Feta & Ricotta Dip with carrot, celery, capsicum and water crackers; Mini quiches, tomato & basil and mushroom & feta; Spinach & Ricotta rolls; Lamb Kofta balls; Small sushi; Barbecue Rotisserie Beef; Gravy; Fresh Bread Rolls; Lots of salads!; Mushrooms with ricotta and pesto (thanks N!); Short Black Cupcakes; White Chocolate Mud Cupcakes; Cheesecake slice; Fruit platter of Strawberries, red grapes, green grapes, pineapple, rockmelon; Ferrero Rocher; A selection of teas and instant coffee (neither C nor I drink coffee so it is pot luck!!)

We managed to have excess amounts of everything except the beef and gravy and mushrooms!