Fabulous Freo

The bridesmaids and I are heading to Fremantle this Saturday to do some dress shopping. This video will give us an idea of the culture in store for us.

C and I saw "Hello, It's Freo!" at the Bohemia Shorts in February.

Bridesmaid style

Two more elegant examples of bridesmaids showing off their own style! I especially like the first - the colours complement each other but the girls get to show their individual personalities.





First photo by Emma Hughes via Polkadot Bride, second by Paper+Lace Photography

Time out with friends

Yesterday we met with friends at Araluen for a barbecue lunch. I had not been out to Araluen before, and it is a very lovely venue! Nice and relaxing, large trees and a nice grassed area to picnic at. We did not explore the whole park, so will have to do that another day.

The park has timber picnic tables, and free barbecues, as well as a large grassed area! Everything you could want for a barbecue picnic lunch, as long as you do not mind waiting for an hour for the food to cook on a not very hot plate... the boys suggested that the sun was doing more to cook the sausages than the barbecue!

C practices his parenting skills on LittleA, while L looks on.

The boys surround the extra slow barbecue, trying to work their magic to stoke the fire!

Mums and bubs wait for their lunch. Hurry up boys!!

Gorgeous scenery...

Working out the timer on the camera!

PROSH 2010

This Wednesday was the day that hordes of UWA students descend on the unsuspecting in Perth and sell them the Prosh paper.

In the name of charity were Avatar wannabes and military try hards standing on street corners, rattling their tins and selling the paper! It is all in good fun, and in theory when I was a student we used to get the mornings off from classes in order to participate... for some reason the engineering lecturers I had never believed in that theory...



According the website, Prosh has been going now for 71 years! That is a very decent innings.

Destination: Honeymoon VI

(See Destination: Honeymoon I, II, III, IV and V)

Vietnam

When I came home from training the other night, C was watching the Top Gear Vietnam special on TV. Nothing unusual about that. Surprising however was that he had pulled up a map of Vietnam on his computer, he asked if I had been to Ho Chi Minh City (the answer is "yes" but I had to think about it before I got the right answer) and he had looked up the price of flights.

Wow! Vietnam is somewhere I would love to go back to. I have romantic ideas about riding on the Reunification Express (although that may change if I do more research) and the people I found were friendly but not too salesman pushy like they are in Thailand. Well, they were not when I was there in late 2004.

Browse in the markets...


... catch up on some history...


...and visit the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Ha Long Bay


Last image here

A blue bouquet

I am partial to blue for our wedding colours, and so is my blue-eyed boy. Here the bride's bouquet is accented by blue, whilst the bridesmaid has simple blue tinged flowers.

Image by Lilia Photography via Polkadot Bride

A little night music

I can hear the snores through a closed door.
I will have to go and roll him over shortly.
I get in trouble if I poke him.

There are a lifetime of snores to look forward to!

Image here

Beautiful basket

This idea for a wedding favour from Martha Stewart Weddings is lovely - fresh scones and strawberries. They suggest it is appropriate for a morning wedding.

This would not be practical for our wedding, but a similar presentation could be used for a bridal breakfast shower!

Image here

Ten things before I go to bed..

Ten Things as inspired by Pip from Meet Me At Mikes.

1. I have only ever run 10km once. That was around the Causeway and Narrows Bridge here in Perth.
2. Two foods that I find hard to resist ordering at a restaurant are tira misu and duck.
3. I went to Sydney (and Hobart) for the first time three weeks ago. They were the last two in my collection of Australian capital cities.
4. I am scared of heights.
5. I have never dyed my hair.
6. I met my fiance on a construction site. I told him that I read the Australian Wiring Rules in my spare time. He still asked me out!!
7. I am a Doctor Who nerd fan. Old school though, I used to watch in the 80s.
8. My sister and I went to the baths in Baden-Baden in Germany. We were naked. There were strange men there.
9. I love reading. Lately I have been reading travel narratives. Inspiring!
10. I have only ever drunk (hot) coffee once in my life (I will drink iced coffee).

Image taken at the Swarbrick Wilderness Discovery

Coloured shoes...

Image by Borrowed Blue Photography via Emmaline Bride


Image Rothwell Photography via Emmaline Bride


Image via Polkadot Bride
The shoes in the background are for the bride to change into!



Image Paper+Lace Photography

The groom

I almost forgot, there is another important person in the whole wedding setup - the groom! C and I are wanting to do something fairly simple for him and the groomsmen. Our wedding is in late spring, so a full suit in the Perth sunshine seems overkill (and fingers crossed that it does not rain!).

So, the plan for the men's uniform at this point is for them to all have the same colour trousers and shirts, and to dress it up with a waistcoat and cravat or fat tie. The colours we select will complement the bridesmaids, but not necessarily exactly match their outfits.

I must say that I do prefer a higher neck on the waistcoat. The tie is more of an accessory than a feature. The waistcoat says it all!

Some interesting tips on waistcoats and selection.




Images 1, 2 and 3

Beautiful Veil

How lovely is the detail on this veil? If I were goig to wear a veil, I would like something as pretty as this!

Image by Cheryl Neuharth Photography via Emmaline Bride

An Easter Wedding

M&T's wedding continued at the Bellrive Yacht Club. There were lovely speches from the families, energetic moves on the dance floor and great company. All of the ingredients for a wonderful wedding!


Sisters! Standing are the groom's sisters, our MCs for the evening and seated are the bride's sisters.

Mrs & Mr H!

The lovely mother of the bride and sisters M and S

The blushing bride with J and L

L, F, me, C and M

Awesome view from the balcony

Our table centrepiece

Mother of the bride

A big day today for the girls in the family. Mum, E and I met in the city to check out the dress that Mum had picked out to wear to the wedding. She showed great taste, selecting Australian designer Perri Cutten, and an outfit that was Made in Australia. Way to go Mum!

The outfit is silk, and a lovely light blue. Just right for a spring wedding near the river.

Once Mum had made her purchase we looked around for some accessories and shoes to complement the dress. We also tried to find a tie for Dad to coordinate. Nothing struck our fancy, so we will have to keep looking.

It was so nice to be out and about with my mother and sister. We should try to do it more often!

Floods!

My toilet is leaking. It has been so long since anyone turned the water to it on or off that the tap is stuck! I have managed to get the plastic tap cover off (thanks Dad!) and turning the spindle is my next challenge. C is not due back for another few days so if I do not stop the leak then the ensuite floor would be a swimming pool!

I went looking through C's tools. Funny, I know what a crimper looks like (for crimping lugs etc onto the ends of cable) and cocky beaks (for cutting electrical cable) but I am not sure what vice grips look like. So sad.

I think it is probably the seal, and we have already replaced the seal on the other toilet upstairs but it would be so nice to replace the toilet with someone more modern in style and more importantly with a dual flush to use less water!

Update: It is the cistern. Dad diagnosed it over the phone and the water is dropping from the cistern down. Phew. That water is cleaner than the stuff going through the bowl.

Another update: FIXED!! Thank you Chucky. xx.

A forlorn flower

I took a photo of this strange yellow object because I thought that it looked sad and lonely. It is located on a street corner near the IMAX at Sydney's Darling Harbour. Such an incongruous spot and it looks out of place with the freeway behind it.

I think it is meant to be a bunch of flowers, although if you take a look at it from another angle it looks like it has legs and could attack from five directions! Maybe it is an alien life form waiting to take us by surprise.

Sad news

I heard on the news today that a WA triathlete had died in a road accident in Spain. I was surprised and saddened to find out that the athlete was Chanelle Carter. I shared a room with Chanelle on our Oxfam Challenge in Laos in 2007. She was a very dedicated young woman and passionate about life.

May your soul be at peace.

Bridesmaid inspiration

This is an advert for JCrew rather than an actual wedding, but I like the simplicity and tie in of the "bridesmaid" dresses. Same colour, three different styles.

Posted by Olivet

An Easter wedding ceremony

The day of M&T's wedding was clear and the temperature made it to a cool 16C! The ceremony was held at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in the Conservatory. It was such a beautiful spot, sheltered and colourful with the many plants throughout it. As you can see in the photos, the sun was shining.

The menfolk belonging to the sisters of the bride.

Me with L&K. I am carrying my warm jacket (filled with down!) in anticipation of the cold evening.

The bride's getaway car!

A quick Sydney trip

Slightly embarassing, but I had never been to Sydney until this weekend. Paris, yes. London, yes. New York and even Moscow, but not Sydney. I took the opportunity of going to a friend's wedding in Hobart to stopover for a night to see what the fuss was all about.

I flew over on a redeye (midnight horror, or overnight flight). It seemed like a good idea at the time however the flight was barely more than 4 hours long and there was not enough time for sleeping.

Travel from the airport to the city is a breeze! There is the Airport Link train connection. I always think travelling by train to an airport is the way to go, having experienced the ease of travel as a tourist in places including London, Hong Kong, Brisbane...

I arrived at the hostel and parked my suitcase, then wandered off in search of breakfast. It was 7.30am and not much of the city (that I could see) was awake at this time. I found a small cafe that seemed to be doing a brisk trade with contingents of tour bus and the food seemed simple and fresh.

It was still early so I went to see the QVB (Queen Victoria Building). Such a beautiful building! Not many of the shops were open at this stage, I think that 10am was the magic time and as I left they were starting to open.

I eventually found my way onto a bus and went to the Paddington Markets. There were lots of interesting stalls selling clothes, homewares, second hand and vintage items and more! I walked back up Oxford Street to my hostel to check in.

After a snooze I checked out Market City. There is a market at the bottom, with retail shops and factory outlets and food above. It was like stepping into Asia, the style of the centre was reminiscent of being in another country! The IGA at the centre was like a giant Asian grocery store. More snoozing and then a shower before catching up with friends D&J for dinner and dessert.

The next morning I headed out to Circular Quay to find myself breakfast with view - of Sydney Opera house and Sydney Harbour Bridge. I could hardly leave Sydney without seeing that pair.

Mission accomplished I was back on the train to the airport, ready for my next adventure.

Beautiful stockings

These stockings are lovely! I really like the patterns in them and they are so pretty and feminine. It seems a shame that they are hidden by the bride's dress.

I have not really thought about what I will be wearing under my dress. Linda (LinPin) has advised me on the underwear and shoes and that may be all I wear!

via Ruffled