Slow, slow, quick-quick

Ooooooh after a pretty unco effort practicing in our garage on Wednesday, our dancing last night went so well! As soon as we got onto the floor everything came back and we hadn't forgotten everything after all! I think the surface makes a big difference (if we were just dancing on the boardwalk it'd be a mess!). In our private lesson we started learning our choreography! For our song! That was SOOO much fun - we glided across the dance floor like Fred & Ginger!

Tomorrow is my Bridal Shower! I can't believe it's May already and am so glad I booked my haircut for the morning - it means I don't have to fill in all the hours until 2 o'clock. I'm so excited to see what Tamra and Louise have worked so hard on - and to enjoy the bubbly and all the delicacies on offer. I wonder who's coming? I wonder if there's a theme? I wonder what games we'll play? I hope it's a nice long afternoon!

On Sunday morning I'm getting the girls together for a brief wedding bee - yep stickers and ribbons and spray-paint, all the fun stuff - it will be nice to have those little decorations done and ready to post or pack. It's all coming together now - and quite quickly too!

I look forward to writing all about the weekend on Sunday afternoon...

Lucky in Love

Early on in our engagement, after we'd set our date, Trav's cousin sent this email along to Marian;

Hi Auntie,

Let Travis and Christie know that they have picked a very lucky wedding date.
In Feng Shui, 1 and 6 are lucky numbers, with 8 the luckiest of all.
They have incorporated all three on their special day - 18/6  ...  very auspicious.

Cheers,

While I love a good horoscope as much as the next girl, I also believe that you make your own luck, so although it's nice to hear that we've picked an auspicious date, we know we'll be the ones ultimately making our own happiness. Oh - and I only believe them if I like them.

But now I'm in the mood so I dug up a few more wedding horoscopes from brides.com 

and theknot.com...

Daughters

I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
But she's just like a maze
Where all of the walls are continually changed
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me

Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Oh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now I'm left
Cleaning up the mess he made

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Boys, you can break
You'll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without the warmth from
A woman's good, good heart

On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the guide and the weight of her world

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Lyrics by John Mayer

and another one!

It's the 18th. We'd agreed to help some friends in Mt Macedon for the day and soon found ourselves at the cemetery, tidying up the gardens.In the afternoon some music started playing in the background and people started arriving, for what seemed to be a big picnic. With a sick feeling  I looked over at Trav - "We're supposed to be at our wedding!" Trav looked at me rather blankly so I ran to Mum's house yelling 'Mum! Everyone will be waiting! We have to be in Port Douglas! It's our wedding day!" I couldn't understand why no one had rung us as we should have arrived on the Tuesday - wasn't Michelle wondering where we were? Then I realised with great relief - it was only the 18th May.

dream a little dream

OK they've started again. I think Belinda's upcoming nuptials are freaking me out a little.

Last night in my dream we arrived at our accommodation in Port Douglas to find that 10 of us were sharing one room. But then in reception we bumped into 2 very uninvited guests who were casually explaining that they wanted to stay at the same place for the week. Her partner said he'd tried booking out 4 villas months ago to find that they were already taken.

I looked at them in horror, were they serious? Would someone actually have the nerve to crash our wedding - even going as far as staying at the same place???

The next day we all went to the chapel and Travis was standing at the front, facing the front with Kate and James on either side. Louise and Tamra walked down the aisle, stopping and standing in a row behind Trav. This was starting to look weird. I can't even remember the music being played or Deborah being there, but the pews were full.
I walked down the aisle, and no one even noticed that I was coming - I was near the end when someone said "Oh here she comes". When I reached the end of the aisle, everyone was still facing the front and I didn't know where to stand. I tried to squeeze between Trav and his sister but she didn't budge. I ended up standing on the end, with Kate between us. I then realised that we didn't even have a rehearsal! Maybe this was supposed to be the rehearsal? I looked behind me to see if the Uninvited had snuck in to watch.

The ceremony continued with me peeking around Kate when saying my vows, then when we all walked out everyone kind of wandered off. I told Travis that that was definitely not our ceremony and we hadn't gotten married yet. Even though we were all dressed up I refused to believe it was the actual thing.

I hadn't even confirmed the flower yet. We hadn't even taken the things over to the restaurant. We spent the rest of the day going through the shops, trying to find fishing line and other odd items we needed for the reception. Disaster. What other things can I tick off my to do list now?

PS: No one is escaping this curse - Travis dreamed that he was at the reception but hadn't written his wedding speech. His dad kept saying everything was 'Really Good'.

Time Flies

Well here we are, with less than 2 months to go until our big day. The day which we've been planning for 2 years! What the heck am I gonna do when it's all over??

There are some 'real' moments coming up which are going to make these last 59 days pretty quick ones.

1. I'm picking up my dress on Friday night!! I get to try it on again! And finally bring it home. That's real.

2. My work pal Belinda is getting married this Saturday. She's 55 days ahead of me and has kept reminding me this whole time that it's going to fly. I'm starting to believe her. All the best for Saturday Belinda!

3. The festivities kick off in May with my shower and our hens and bucks parties. What's realer than that??

Source

Our dancing is going really really well, I just can't wait for each Monday night and this week we've got a bonus - we're joining the practice group this Wednesday night too! I've been so inspired by some wedding dances on the web lately and I just hope we can pull it off on the night.

I'm booking in a hair trial with my hairdresser soon and we'll take some pics that I can send up to Kristy for a bit of a guide.

Also, we're ordering so many things at the moment, from stubby holders to a cake stand and the best bit is that they'll either be delivered directly to our hotel, or to my lil sis in Charleville, who will be driving her feral ute up to PD and can carry a few extra things for us. Who'd have known she could be so helpful from all the way up there??

We've got rhythm ...

Finally we're in the swing of dancing lessons. Each Monday for the next 8 weeks we'll be heading up to Arthur Murray Dance Studios on Bourke St, a little hidden treasure inside a fairly clinical looking office building.

After a brief introduction last Wednesday, last night we had our first group and private classes. We have now learned 6 ballroom steps and a couple of latin ones too. There were only 3 couples in the group class which made it easy to ask questions and clarify things. We had been practicing our steps from last week and the news ones were a bit more complex but they look really good so I'm looking forward to practicing them a lot. It made such a difference dancing 'in frame' as opposed to holding hands and it felt really wonderful.

To top off a great evening I had a dream that I was at Michael Buble's concert and I was talking to him after the show! He gave me a brand new video camera when I said we were dancing to one of his songs for our wedding - he wanted to see it! I should have just asked him to come and sing it for us live.

I'll leave you with another pearl of wisdom from our good friends Daniel and Simone - farewell folks and enjoy the UK, one year will go by in a flash!

"Whatever you do, take 5 minutes to stand back and look around - the night will go by in a flash and you've planned it for so long, just remember to appreciate it"

Reminiscing...

Very early into our engagement I began my search for THE DRESS. Like any other search, I started with the www and quickly found Alfred Angelo. Being a destination wedding, I was taken by their convertible dress design, it made perfect sense from ceremony to reception!

 Alfred Angelo

But after lots of searching I was sure this one would be my dress - 

 Alfred Angelo

I was lucky enough that a Melbourne stockist ordered one in just for me to try on and I thought I was in love. Louise and Tamra came along to my first try on and both gave me the nod of approval -  and my mum came to the second one- but while there I also tried on lots of other dresses, including this one.

Alfred Angelo

Yes. This was definitely the one. It was ivory with an ivory ribbon at the waist.

Well, that was easy.

A couple of months later my sister was in town for our engagement party and a friends wedding. I knew I'd already found my dress but set up a couple of appointments at some boutiques in town so Michelle could join in the fun. What I well and truly hadn't expected was to find my dress. THE DRESS.

The dress my sister picked. The dress I couldn't get out of my mind. The dress that made me blush. The dress that cost so much more. It really happened - I didn't want to take it off and couldn't wait to visit it again and again! And I did - I'm sure I have tried on my dress about 7 times since the day I found it, November 10th 2008.

Pearls of Wisdom

I've received 2 more pearls lately - and it's definitely time to take a moment of perspective and share them,

# 1 - Simone says it's a great lesson in communication for everyone (family) involved. Be clear about what's happening but whatever you do - just enjoy every precious moment of planning and of your day as it's all just going to fly by

#2 - Bruno says - you've put so much work into all the planning, when you get up to PD you should just relax - don't ever say that you'll 'be glad when it's out of the way'

Thanks Bruno - I've had to bite my tongue a few times lately!

Take the cake

Can’t wait to see our beautiful cake. It will be Ivory with black ribbon around both levels, and a pale pink cymbidium orchid on the side. We'll be bringing the cake on the place with us and now that I know what size we’re having, I’m hunting around for a cake stand. Another thing that’s a bit weighty – so I’ll get it delivered straight to Port Douglas to save the extra dollars and hassle. This means yet another online shopping adventure – don’t even need to set foot inside a store!

I’m sure we could probably borrow one but I’ve always wanted one for home – so this is the perfect opportunity!

 Our Inspiration

The Knot

There are some lovely pieces at this Home Beautiful page and here’s a few I’ve found myself and am deciding between ...

Maxwell & Williams 31cm

$39.95

HenriettaS

Ecology 30cm

$25.95

Kitchenware Direct

Fenton White Milk Glass Hobnail Cake Stand 13"
eBay.com

Mikasa ANTIQUE WHITE Footed Cake Stand 12"
eBay.com

NEW. ANTIQUE WHITE FLUTED DISTRESSED CAKE STAND 27cm
eBay.com

 

Wilton White Ceramic Pedistal Cake Stand 12'

eBay.com 

... any thoughts?