My Wife

So last night the boy came to the realisation that I was going to be his wife. It was lights out time and we were both trying to fall to sleep and out of the blue he says "you're going to be my wife, I really like that". It was so sweet especially because I keep complaining about how I don't want to be a 'wife' the title just doesn't sit well with me for where I feel I am at in my life. It's bizarre as well because marriage is about becoming husband and wife but, I think it comes down to my fear of losing my name and the rest of me. I know that isn't going to happen but it's still a scary big step to be taking.

Anyway getting back to it...it was just a really sweet moment and reminded me once again of why we're getting married.

Then on the otherside of this whole wedding thing...you know the side which isn't about us celebrating our love but rather us conforming to all that is WEDDING. Bridesmaid dresses are doing my head in! They can't decide and no colour suits all of them so I am seriously tempted to put them all in black with different dresses. I do not understand people's aversion to black at weddings, after all the groomsmen are generally in black suits! I don't buy into the whole black is for funeral thing either, because if it's good enough for the boys why isn't it good enough for the girls? I think this is just something I need to sleep on for the next few months and hopefully something will just come to be and that whole debacle will be over!

I want to say a big Merry Christmas to all the brides-to-be whose last christmas this will be as a Miss (or Ms). We're entering the big world of Mrs. soon and even though I'm scared, I'm looking forward to it as well.

My Box

So I got my box of goodies from www.feather.com.au YAY!

3 different kinds of tulle (2 ivory (one with those spots) and 1 black), an ivory flower for my hair, 2 brooches 1 of which I'm not too fussed on cos it's a gross gold but looked prettier on the site and FEATHERS!!! I wish I'd ordered more feathers because my button bouquet really needs that something extra.

In other sad news the boy failed one of his exams. Luckily he can do summer school but I always get scared when stuff like that happens because our whole future is based on him doing awesome. Then I feel evil because I'm a woman I can be independent and bring home the bacon. But all I really want is to have lots of babies and then when they get to school hopefully figure out what the hell I want to do career wise!

Hopefully the trip to Bali in January is still on because we need to get away but if it's not we can always go somewhere later on in the year. Plus we have the Vietnam honeymoon to look forward to YAY.

On a more wedding side note: people have already started talking wedding registries with me and it's weird...I have no idea what I want let alone if I even want one. The one thing I do know is I want a gun to pick stuff out with, I blame American movies for that!

Dress Hunting Disappointment

So I thought my sister and I had finally found the bridesmaid dress:

Unfortunately when I went back with my MoH and she tried it on, the colour just wasn't right and I think it's also a dress more suited to tall people :(

So now, I'm trying to stop myself even thinking about them. My backup is to go with dresses from Bari Jay and order them online. Although I'm a bit scared at ordering 4 dresses online from America the other option is spending quadruple the price at a shop here! I was disgusted when I got a quote for $470 for a dress I found online for $120! But I guess that truly does show how saying the word wedding ups the price considerably.

Now I'm just trying to focus on birthdays and Christmas. Then next up is the soon-to-be brother in-law's wedding which the boy and I get to be part of the bridal party for. But I'm looking forward to the new year even if I potentially start it without a job, I'm good at landing on my feet thankfully!

Favours otherwise known as Bon-ber-what?

I have been eyeing off this site http://www.lehanes.com.au/index.htm ever since I uncovered laser cut invitations (or whatever they're called). Even though rosettes are playing a prominent part in the wedding theme, I always wanted to incorporate birds somehow (but was scared it might be a bit too obnoxious - especially with some of the bird theme stuff out there).

I wish I could share my moment of WOO HOO with fellow brides-to-be who get that feeling when something that wasn't in the budget finally is. I was so excited the find the box below on sale.

I haven't completely decided on what we will be filling the boxes with, but I'm leaning towards gingerbread cookies. As I've mentioned before, I want to make things so that everything is a bit more meaningful. It'll also give me an opportunity to make Mum feel more involved as she's feeling a little out of the loop at the moment.

I love the boxes as well because I can attach name tags and they can double as place cards as well.

Another idea that I fell in love with (yes Sundays are my wedding web trawling days!):

These can be used as an awesome seating chart and double as an extra little gift...it might be too much with the boxes but I thought they were cute.

And on another note...I met my semi-distant second cousin this afternoon and had that fun 'can I see the ring' moment. I miss that from when you first get engaged!

Bridesmaid Dresses

A little secret...I hate bridesmaids haha not hate them but just the thought of organising a bunch of girls and picking dresses that they want on top of getting them all together at the same time. I know it's going to be a nightmare which is why I got a couple of bridesmaid-ey things while we were in Bangkok in the middle of the year.

Exhibit A:

I fell in love with the pleating (and of course the rosettes - that's where it all began) and all the bridesmaids love it but I've fallen out of love with it. For starters I feel the colour is too harsh and secondly I can't be bothered with dressmakers. It also falls a little bit too short for a wedding and a winter(ish) wedding at that.

Exhibit B:

Which I can't show photos of is the awesome presents. I won't mention what they are but they're cute, useful on the day (and after) and make great wedding party gifts.

Luckily I have the most awesome Maid of Honour aka Milo aka my best friend from highschool. So hopefully everything will just work out as the others are my sister and then sisters/sister's in law of the boy. I'm lucky to have them all but everyone is just so different that I can see it being hard to find everything and even just organise catch ups where everyone has fun. I sort of feel like bridesmaids are supposed to be this tight knit little group that you  have around you...but, because over half are family (and they don't really know each other), I feel awkward wanting to force lunches and shopping trips on them.

And I would offer a snippet of my wedding dress for a sneak peek for what's to come but I can't risk the boy oggling it (yes I am being traditional in that regard). So instead I will share that I always wanted a wedding dress like Pink's - I fell in love with that black slash!

The list gets shorter

For a manic planner such as myself it is hard to stop. So far I have:

• The DJs decided (they loved our dogs which is an instant tick from us plus, they came recommended)
  
• A florist picked but I have changed my mind so many times. Originally I was going with ranuculus but I bought a bunch for our 5th anniversary and just didn't fall in love. So now I'm on the hunt again, the latest is orchids, I really think this bouquet is interesting (from the Greenwood Florist):
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Photographers - the boy's family friend who took great photos at his brother's engagement party and my sister's best friend who does photography at TAFE (and is amazing!!! If anyone is looking for a photographer but doesn't have a huge budget I can give you her details). Both for free which is fantastic seeing as Caversham is kind of blowing our budget.
• Cars - at least for the girls to get to the wedding and our get away car. We still need to sort out a car for the boy, the groomsmen and his parents.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The cute save the dates which we sent out two weeks ago (the photo is of a vintage cake topper - we had the couple of the side with a calendar and our date circled with a red heart). My first DIY project with the help of the boy. I loved it and everyone has commented on them (one of our groomsmen's mum even showed them off to her friends and she's not even invited!). So, it's made me really passionate about trying to be more DIY with the wedding and I'll be posting all about my adventures and misadventures as I try everything.
  
• The dress (which I've already discussed)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The shoes - gorgeous pointed dark blue satin flats with a rosette (a common theme I see springing up! About the only one as well). The one rule I made was my shoes absolutely had to be able to be worn again. I'm already slightly sick at how much the dress is costing for less than 12 hours wear!
• My bag which is a rose pink colour, draw string and covered entirely in rosettes. I couldn't resist when I spotted it. I want to keep rosettes as a running theme through the wedding and I also want to have interesting pieces which will look good for photos.
• Our rings which were heavily discounted thanks to the boy's sister's best friend's (way too many of these mouthfuls but I'm not a fan of acronyms) dad being an amazing jeweller.

We're definitely getting there and I know we are ahead of schedule but I just can't stop. My latest is trying to DIY a button bouquet. I found an awesome site by a West Aussie designer: http://www.lillybuds.com/ but as I mentioned above, I'm really keen to DIY whatever I can. I know it's going to be a lot of work but I miss having projects to work on and it makes everything just that little bit more special.

Changing of the Dates

I don't know how many times we changed the date but we've finally settled on July 2010. It doesn't help having to work around a university schedule but at least it means a nice long honeymoon!

We paid our deposit for Caversham house (or rather I should say the Mums paid the deposit...we still haven't gotten down to the nitty gritty details about who pays for what) after seeing it at the Swan Valley Open day. It was and still is my dream venue (as long as I stop looking at all those amazing farm/barn weddings that seem to be absorbed by all wedding blogs) and in turn it led to me putting the deposit down on my gorgeous dress.

Now I can see this post becoming very disjointed so at first I'll start with Caversham. When we finally got there and walked around the gardens I was jumping up and down like a little kid. Begging that we could say our vows in the Hidden Garden and feed our friends and families an amazing feast in the French inspired house. This has definitely shaped our theme and unfortunately our budget. We are still aiming for a wedding under $20k but this would have been a lot easier had I not set my eyes on Caversham House. You're locked in when you go there, no room to budge and charged for everything. But as my future MiL says at least there are no hidden costs and this is what they're made to do.

Our colours for the moment will no doubt revolve around flowers and the royal blue bridesmaid dress that I bought in Bangkok. Thank fully all my bridesmaids love it but unfortunately I now have to get 3 more dresses made. But at least they're dresses that the girls want to wear and not something they'll be paying an arm and a leg for and never wearing again!

I got my dress at Brides by Design in the city and was helped by the amazingly talented Holly. It came down to a choice of 2 dresses and, after my stubborness (I didn't want to like the same one my family did), I came back with the Mil to have another look and decided that I did want to look elegant and like a princess. Sadly there's only 2 hoops under the dress (as I wanted something extremely poofy) but I don't want to look like the ill-fated meringue haha.

So for the moment we have the location, deposits down and I have my dress...oh and we got DJs, but that's for another post!

The Engagement

We got engaged during our big trip to North America (December 2008). It happened in New York after we went and watched the Little Mermaid and even though I expected it I was still shocked.

Because I'm such a crazy planner I immediately wanted to set a date. After a few months we decided on December 5th 2010. Initially we were thinking 2011 as this would have celebrated Husband-to-Be finishing university as well. But we/I couldn't wait that long and decided what the heck! So now we're saving and hunting for the perfect location for our Summer wedding.

I'm going to use this blog to document the whole process, no doubt to provide some much needed therapy :) and to provide me with a diary of sorts to look back on when it's all over.