Brown Pin-Stripe Suits

Nick has been after vintage suits for the wedding, brown pinstripe if at all possible. A few days ago I came across this wedding at Green Wedding Shoes and low and behold, the groom had a brown, pin-stripe suit! The suits come from Frair Tux. While Frair Tux sell suits as well as hire they are in the US and it does seem a little hard. Do you know of anywhere in Australia that sells brown suits?

Images via Kelly Melissa Photography

See more photos from this awesome wedding here

Bridesmaids' dresses

As I am up here in Alice Springs and will unlikely be able to make it to a major city and have time to look at dresses, one of my amazing bridesmaids has been looking for bridesmaids dresses for me. Last week she emailed me photos of four different dresses. She said it was quite a challenge to find dresses that were in pastel colours rather than really bright or black. There were a few pinky/corally colour dresses, but as one of by bridesmaid’s has red hair, these weren’t an option. One dress was quite unusual, white, with a sash overlay of three different colours. It was really pretty and looked great on, but white would have looked off against my ivory dress. The last dress she found was strapless, with an almost A-line shape and a few pleats extending from just under the boobline. It looked perfect without even being on anyone – looks even better on. The colour is a bluish green. One of the dresses is being posted to me and I can’t wait to see it!! I am so thankful to her for all her hard work. It feels great to have this aspect of the wedding sorted out.

Party People

The photos I posted previously seem to be lacking one thing - the other people that made our party a party. So here are just a few...

Learning about Lebanese Wedding Customs

Did you know that in Lebanon close relatives of the engaged couple give jewelry as an engagement gift? Neither did we. Nick received the most awesome wedding bling (a chunky silver bracelet) from one of his Lebanese uncles. Accompanied by a pair of champagne glasses, possibly as a nod to Aussie engagement present tradition.

It did start me wondering about other Lebanese wedding traditions. This may have to be my new research project once my post-grad studies end in November.

Our Engagement Party!!

The party was a huge success! Nick keeps saying that 'now we're officially engaged'. Nothing's official until there's been a big party to celebrate. The night ended up being fairly cool, and we were able to light the fire for possibly the last time this year.

My dress - Alannah Hill

Nick's suit - Ben Sherman

My hair & Make-up - Jodi F from Elements Studio

Engagement Party - This Saturday!!

The engagement party is looming. Saturday is coming closer and we are so excited!! A few surprise guests have arrived in town or declared that they will be arriving – very exciting! My parents will be here tomorrow and I am looking forward to picking them up from the airport and catching up on all their holiday travels.

Fairy light situation is sorted. Exotiq, a lovely Alice Springs homewares store, had pretty lantern fairy lights. I had admired them a few moths ago, so was pretty chuffed that they still had some in stock. Kmart is yet to receive their Christmas shipment, however Nick’s mum found some solar fairy lights in the garden section. Yep, you heard me, solar fairy lights, no annoying cord that runs awkwardly across your porch to the nearest powerpoint. They have a solar cell that you put in the sunlight to charge, then you can tuck it out of sight. No mess, no cord to trip over. Perfect for Alice Springs where the sun shines for 350 days a year. Not so perfect for places with no sunlight, but that’s not really our problem.

Jodi is booked to do my hair and makeup. I’ve also made a booking at Miss LuLu’s to have my nails done. Slightly worried about this one as I had to make it for the day before and am afraid that I’ll break a nail while setting up. Maybe I can pull my Christmas tree set-up stunt – each year I used to ‘direct’ the set up, telling my family what should go where from the comfort of the couch. Might not fly for engagement party set up.

Most importantly oodles of booze is currently stockpiled in our home. Baring the party, if all liqueur outlets in the Territory closed indefinitely tomorrow we’d have enough to last us for, well, at least the next week. Cheers!

Michelle & Matt - A Perfect Day

From the Bride:

I had always thought about how our wedding would be, I imagined it would be a small event at a vineyard, with a simple gown and we would relax on a lawn some where drinking wine all afternoon. While that does sound perfect, it did not end up being our perfect day.

Our day was bigger then expected, which was perfect as we had most of our family and friends there to share in our big event. All that stress about who could come, should come and would come meant nothing on the day. The people who were there on the day were the people who meant something to us. They were people who had been there since we were young, people who we had met a few years before and the people we loved.

My simple gown (that I had purchased 2 years before the wedding) at 1 year was no longer the perfect gown. I took my girlfriend 'just for a look' at a few bridal shops. I tried on many dresses, but this one had sparkles and lace and a removable train. It was by no means a simple dress. I showed my mum and my sister. They cried. It was 'the one'.

The location was not as green and lush as a vineyard, it was the sunburnt orange, purples and greens of the Alice Springs Desert Park. Relaxing, well maybe not as relaxing as I had dreamt. I was trying to catch up with all the out of towners and though that may have sound like a complaint just now - it was not. The fact that these people thought that Matt and I were special enough for them to come to the center of Australia still blows me away.

Most things were not as I had originally planned. At times this did result in me having a few little (I mean very little) temper tantrums. When I look back today, I can not think of one thing I would change in my day. Go with what ever happens, if it does't happen how you planned it, it was not meant to be.

Oh and the one thing that did not change the whole time I have been dreaming about my wedding day - was that man I was going to marry.

Images from Moving Pictures

Michelle & Matt would like to thank:

Madigans Function Room - Reception - Estelle Marshall

Moving Pictures - Photography - April & Dimity

Cakes for You - Cake - Angela

Alice Springs Desert Park - Ceremony - Jackie

Headlines - Hair - Janine

Party, Party, Party

I have a feeling that the engagement party is a small taste of organisation, easing you into wedding preparation. Our party is coming up in under two weeks. We would have had it sooner, but Nick’s mum & her partner were overseas for a month and my parents were in WA, requiring a fair amount of time to drive their caravan to Alice Springs (my parents are currently living the grey nomad dream).

We decided to have the party out the back of Nick’s mum’s place. She has a lovely patio area and a large native garden, perfect for a party. Decorations will include numerous candles and fairy lights to illuminate the trees and yard. We are eagerly awaiting Kmart’s Christmas fairy light shipment. This would have to be the only year that I have been anticipating the arrival of Christmas decorations into the stores and lamenting that they haven’t come early enough!

Since this is an engagement party we wanted to do something a step above the usual backyard party. No one was interested in cooking lovely hors d'oeuvres, way too much work involved, we’d rather focus on backyard decoration and getting ourselves ready. Luckily there is a wonderful local catering company, Reality Bites Catering, who have taken up the challenge. We came across them at a gallery opening at Peta Appleyard Gallery. They make the most delicious food – yum!

Booze shopping has begun, picking up champagne for a bargain price last weekend. We’ll keep abreast of the specials this weekend & hopefully won’t need to pick up anything next weekend.

Nick’s mum’s back from her holidays & her partner arrives back next Monday. My parents arrive next Thursday. My brother and Nick’s sister arrive the Friday and then we’re set. Ready to party, once we’ve created a playlist.

Image: Jonas Peterson