An inspiring wedding poem

I have been trying to scout out something suitable as a reading for our wedding. In amongst the corny poems and readings I came across this gem, attributed to Bec Hewitt.

Elissa was inspired by Bec's words and composed the following rhyme for us!

There once was a bit of a dish
Who liked to go out and catch fish
Then he met a lovely belle
Who liked seafood as well
And together they are quite delish.

My sister is such a clever clogs!

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Perfect Cake Topper

Handmade birdies in complementary fabrics. If only we could get away with this...

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With a little help from my friends

It has been a bit quiet on the bridesmaid front - everyone has been busy - but with less than three months to go it was time to step up the pace and get things rolling! I managed to organise everyone to come over, this time without Chad being home. Whew.

It was good to go through things. There are still so many details to finalise, it is a little overwhelming and we are now to the stage where we need to start thinking about the schedule for the actual wedding day.

I have to get my invitations printed out and then I can organise a construction line to help put them together. That will be fun. I think. I hope!!
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Dressing up the groom

Chad decided that he wanted to buy a new suit for our wedding (rather than just trousers and shirt). He told me that one suit is not enough. Given that he wears the one suit that he has at most three times a year this is perhaps not strictly true but I would rather he bought new than hire and have something to keep at the end.

We ended up at Tony Barlow in Harbour Town, where his previous suit had been obtained. The gentleman there measured him up, asked what he was after and produced exactly what Chad was looking for. I am sure that he is a magician! We also picked up the shirt for him to wear and it was tempting to buy them for the groomsmen as the shirt was much nicer than the hire ones.

An added bonus is that the jacket looks great with jeans, and so Chad now has a versatile outfit to wear after we are married. Yay.

I definitely recommend Tony Barlow at Harbour Town. We have had excellent service both times Chad has been looking for a suit and a completely stress free experience.

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Hair to inspire

My wonderful sister Elissa is always on the lookout for ideas to inspire for the wedding. Here is the hairstyle of a real bride that she sent me. Graceful, elegant and soft. Beautiful!


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Groovy groomsmen

The groomsmen made their way up to Perth last week to get fitted up for their outfits. In the end Chad decided that he wanted them to hire their outfit, rather than purchasing shirt and trousers and his mum making waistcoats. I never really thought about how expensive it was until we were there - $131 for a suit, shirt, waistcoat and tie!!

I was not that impressed with the quality of the shirt, a horrible polyester number. To get a nicer cotton shirt with french cuff was an extra $20 so I did not insist but I would hate to have that nasty fabric on my skin.

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The seeds of an invitation

E and I have been busy scouring the pretty paper shops of Perth! We started a couple of weeks ago at Starfish Lane. After browsing through their ideas and papers I redesigned the invitation that I had in my head. Unfortunately they did not have all of the paper available that we required so I ordered what I could and purchased that yesterday, with the intent of finding the remainder of our requirements elsewhere.

We first tried Annie P Paperie. They had some pretty paper but not what we were looking for and disappointingly their card was all metallic and shiny, not the matte finish that we were looking for.

Next on our list was Collins Craft up in Balcatta. It had been recommended to me by my friend AT and E and I were very impressed by the large range that they had available! We were able to purchase the rest of the card that we required there and for a cheaper price than I had paid at Starish Lane.

Now all that remains is to get the words right and put it all together!

Bands of gold

Chad and I selected and ordered our wedding rings today! Our wedding is now fast approaching and there are still quite a few things to organise.

We made it easy for ourselves and went into Stefan Jewellers, where Chad bought my engagement ring. It was all very straightforward. The lady who served us showed us the ring she thought would match my engagement ring, and Chad had a little more choice from the men’s collection and then we were done.

I will be getting more diamonds! There were really two styles of bands to match my engagement ring, one with diamonds and one that was plain gold. The plain gold band was a fifth of the price but of course we are foolish and young and went for the more expensive and sparkly one.

Chad’s ring is two tone but mine is yellow gold, due to his initial selection of band and setting.


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Up or down - the hair factor

It is starting to get close to our wedding and I have not really looked for style inspiration for my hair. Here are a couple that appealed to me. Soft and low!

I spoke to my hairdresser today and she reminded me that I have to decide how I would like my hair at the front - not just the back of my head! - so I shall keep searching for inspiration.



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Wedding Etiquette Quiz

Try this Martha Stewart Weddings quiz to test your knowledge of wedding etiquette.

I scored seven out of ten, so give it a whirl and let me know how you go!

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One bouquet option

On the weekend I went to another (local) florist to get a second quote for flowers for the wedding. They have a standard wedding package that consists of choice of roses and camellias. They sounded a little uninspired to me - unless of course I cannot find any flowers more interesting - and I attempted to explain what I liked. The florist had made a few calls to find out what was in season for our wedding and in the end came up with the following flower combinations.

My two thoughts were for bold colours - reds and oranges - and native Australian flowers. She managed the bold colours.

Leucosperum, or pincusion, native to Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Antherium, native to Central and South America.

Orange roses.

Lillium.


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Flowers!

I received the quote from the florist who Mum and I visited. I was pleasantly surprised - it was under the figure that I had been thinking so I guess it was not all bad that we did not discuss a budget!

We sat with her and went through some photos of bouquets and flowers and tried to piece together a concept. I really liked the florist shop, it is in an older building and the floor and counter are timber. It has a great vibe to it. I also like the flowers that they have on display as well.

I said that I would prefer native flowers, and that I was keen on strong colours. She had many questions about the style of the bouquet and I have to confess that I had not thought too hard about what bits and pieces go into making flowers look their best!

I find it difficult to visualise what it would look like, and it is difficult to find bouquets on the website with the flower combinations that I have been looking at!

The beautiful Banksia coccinea.

Leucadendron, native to South Africa.

Serruria florida, colloquially known as "blushing bride", and also native to South Africa.

Eucalyptus nuts or something similar.

Gum blossom as a component.


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CONGRATULATIONS!!

Congratulations to my sister E for passing her exams for entry into specialist training!!!

Chad and I are very excited and pleased as punch for you. Yay!!

xx Love from us.

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Cake confusion

I am confused now about the wedding cake decorations. Chad's mum makes beautiful cakes and I was really happy when she offered to make our cake for us. I had this vague thought that it wouldn't be too hard to ice (right??) and then we could buy some icing flowers from a shop and stick them on it with some ribbons and it would be all good.

I found a design that I liked, and Chad liked too, and I thought that would be it. (It's the first cake, with the cascade of roses and large letters.) Simple. Elegant. Case closed.

It then got complicated as several people bought into the design and flowers and I was pressured to decide what flowers I would like and what colour.
(White roses?? Like the photo??) We settled on blue orchids as Chad wanted blue and orchids were a flower that I thought would look reasonably natural as a blue colour. Besides, there is a White Stripes song that we could play whilst cutting the cake!

It got even more complicated when we were told the blue orchids would not match the bridal bouquet or the venue flowers and that I needed to sort out my bouquet first and decide on a floral theme! After this it just got all too hard for me and I tried not to think about it.

Chad and his mum did some searching of the cake shops here and they found Sugar Smith as a great source of icing flowers and cake decorating supplies.

Mum and I went in to have a look this morning at their flowers and cakes. We did not mind the rose poseys. None of the flowers that they had on display really took our fancy, and there were a little too many ribbons and bows for my taste!

When Mum & I went to the florist a couple of weeks ago we got her to quote for supplying fresh flowers for the cake as an alternative. The florist came up with a suggested design that we were happy with and if she uses the same flowers as are in the bouquets then we can have a floral theme and everyone will be happy!!

So my decision to be made now is whether we buy a couple of the icing poseys - white roses! - for decoration or if we get fresh flowers from the florist.

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Wedding venues wrapped up!

I am excited. Last week we received confirmation from the council that the booking of the site for our wedding ceremony was confirmed, and yesterday C finally was able to book the pub for our after wedding party! So all of our venues have been booked and I really need to start thinking hard about our invitations.

The format of our wedding will be morning ceremony, lunchtime reception then party at the pub! Everything is within walking distance for our guests and we are hoping that they will enjoy the party. It also means that we can invite friends and colleagues to the pub to party with us who we are not able to squeeze into the guest list.

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