Barefoot Beach Wedding

Our wedding in 4 minutes

2011-04-15T08:13:00.000+09:30

Our friend Andre made us this cute, short video of our wedding. The music is a little creepy & Nick's aunt decided to wear a huge white dress, so it is a little hard to pick me out of the crowd, but you get the idea...

Reception

2010-09-08T09:09:00.002+09:30

Photos by Elements Studio Alice Springs

Formal Shots

2010-09-07T07:35:00.000+09:30

Photos by Elements Studios Alice Springs

Ceremony

2010-09-06T07:19:00.006+09:30

Photos by Elements Studios Alice Springs

Details of Gareth's reading can be found here

Getting ready

2010-09-05T07:47:00.001+09:30

Photos by Elements Studio Alice Springs

Hair and make up by Jodi Farrell

Flowers by San Oakley Flowers Apollo Bay

Bridal dress by Collette Dinnigan

Groom Suit by Ben Sherman

Details, Details

2010-09-04T08:18:00.007+09:30

It's been a while, but as we head overseas for our extended honeymoon, I thought I'd share the details of our day through the professional photos.

The reception was held at Nick's family's beach house in Apollo Bay. Over the weeks before the wedding Nick and I collected mismatched 'antique' vases for the tables. We did a quick trip to Victoria Street in Richmond for the lanterns to fill the big ceiling space. We found the striped fabric for the table runners at Ikea and my mum made the runners.

A small army helped us make paper flowers to accompany the lanterns on the ceiling. More details on this here. We wound fairy lights around the balconies and set up strings of old photos of us.

Thanks to all those who helped us set up the house - Suzanne, Mum, Dad, Robert, Jade, Craig, Lynette, Rochelle, Harold, Ruth, Mark, Colin, Joel, Geoff, Luke, Megan.

Photos by Elements Studio Alice Springs

Professional Photos

2010-06-01T20:26:00.001+09:30

We have a viewing of our professional photos tomorrow........... can't wait!

The Lovely Frock

2010-04-28T12:30:00.001+09:30

As I mentioned here, I found my dress at Collette Dinnigan on Chapel Street, South Yarra:

Collette Dinnigan was the first store I went into and I purchased the first dress I tried on. The lovely Elise was with me and we both knew that it was the dress for me.

Just be warned, the beading is not designed to withstand hours of rigorous dancing:

As for the rest of the dress.... A trip to the dry cleaners will be forth coming once the beading is fixed

Wedding DIY

2010-04-24T13:14:00.006+09:30

We attempted a number of DIY projects for the wedding. Nick made an awesome back drop for photos (also a handy spa hider):

One of the photo frames below became our blackboard sign for the shoe check. Nick had two great helpers:

I had wanted to make fabric flowers that I'd seen on Once Wed, but over Christmas my mother and I realised how hard they'd be to make, so we came up with a paper flower solution using tissue paper. A few days before I left for Melbourne, the girls came over and helped cut out and sew the tissue paper circles for the flowers. Once we were at the beach house I sewed them onto fishing line and Nick's cousins, arrived only hours before from Canada, were put to work 'fluffing' the flowers.

They did an excellent job:

Mum made the table runners from the surplus fabric of the photo backdrop. Nick's mum styled the room and table tops:

Photo backdrop in action:

Unfortunately this is the only photo of the backdrop in action! The drizzly rain on the deck prevented further use :(

Readings

2010-04-10T11:00:00.001+09:30

We had one reading at our ceremony, a poem by Neil Gaiman, read by our friend Gareth (fromA Cooper's 4 Me fame) who introduced us to Neil Gaiman's work. Unfortunately, Gareth's reading was another part of the wedding usurped by the dog.

This is the poem by Neil Gaiman:

This for you, for both of you,

a small poem of happiness
filled with small glories and little triumphs
a fragile, short cheerful song
filled with hope and all sorts of futures

Because at weddings we imagine the future
Because it's all about "what happened next?"
all the work and negotiation and building and talk
that makes even the tiniest happily ever after
something to be proud of for a wee forever

This is a small thought for both of you
like a feather or a prayer,
a wish of trust and love and hope
and fine brave hearts and true.

Like a tower, or a house made all of bones and dreams
and tomorrows and tomorrows and tomorrows

Wedding Reception Dance Playlist

2010-04-08T13:11:00.008+09:30

Our lovely friend Amira played on the beach for our ceremony. Amira played:

Diamonds and Pearls by Prince for the processional

Into my Arms by Nick Cave during the signing of the register

Due to the small venue we didn't really have room for a band at our reception, so an ipod was 'the music'. For the 'more mellow' part of the reception we played The Bamboos - Sidestepper, Step it up and Rawville.

We were greatly inspired by Emily and Dylan's Wedding Playlist for our reception dance music. It really helped to have a place to start, rather than at A of our itunes library. We built on their list, purchasing a few key tracks off itunes and filling the rest with similar music from our collection, cumulating in 2.7hrs of magical fun.

Song	Artist	Time
L-O-V-E	Nat "King" Cole	2:35
The Way You Look Tonight	Frank Sinatra	3:22
Trapped (In The Web Of Love)	Royal Crown Revue	3:18
You Never Can Tell	Chuck Berry	2:42
The Walkin' Blues	Royal Crown Revue	5:31
Gone Daddy Gone	Gnarls Barkley	2:28
Go Daddy-O	Big Bad Voodoo Daddy	3:13
Ms. Jackson	OutKast	3:59
What's Next?	Big Bad Voodoo Daddy	3:40
Who Knows What The Question Is?	The Bees	3:35
Steal My Kisses	Ben Harper	4:05
Rock Lobster (Single Version)	The B-52's	4:56
Blister in the Sun	Violent Femmes	2:25
Fell In Love With A Girl	The White Stripes	1:50
Crazy	Gnarls Barkley	2:58
Love Shack (Remastered)	The B-52's	5:24
Tell Me	Bonjah	2:35
Friday I'm In Love	The Cure	3:34
Praise You	Fatboy Slim	5:23
Keep The Car Running	The Arcade Fire	3:29
The Distance	Cake	3:02
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor	Arctic Monkeys	2:54
Farewell Rocketship	Children Collide	3:46
Girlshapedlovedrug	Gomez	4:01
Rock The Casbah	The Clash	3:43
We Used To Vacation	Cold War Kids	4:02
I Don't Feel Like Dancin'	Scissor Sisters	4:48
Spinning Around	Kylie Minogue	3:28
Bohemian Like You	The Dandy Warhols	3:32
Bring Your Lovin' Back Here	Gomez	3:37
Fidelity	Regina Spektor	3:47
Days Like These	The Cat Empire	4:08
Sugarhigh	Coyote Shivers	2:39
Paper Planes	M.I.A.	3:25
Horse Pills	The Dandy Warhols	3:25
Take Me Out	Franz Ferdinand	3:57
My Delirium	Ladyhawke	4:16
Electric Feel	MGMT	3:50
Icecream	Muscles	3:29
Get Myself Arrested	Gomez	4:04
Take Your Mama	Scissor Sisters	4:32
Fuck Forever	Babyshambles	4:39
Dance, Dance, Dance	Lykke Li	3:41
London Calling	The Clash	3:21
Home	Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	5:02

And so they danced...

Polaroids - 'random'

2010-04-05T09:17:00.000+09:30

Then there were a few 'random' shots:

Polaroids - 'best of'

2010-04-04T08:00:00.000+09:30

Late last year we helped clear out PolaPremium of the last of their 600 film. My brother bought me a polaroid camera for my birthday and we were able to get many funny (glamorous) shots of our guests. It was an educational experience as Nick's cousins had never see polaroid film before!

The best part was being able to go through the photos at the 'day after BBQ'.

Highlights and mishaps

2010-04-03T14:10:00.006+09:30

Wedding highlights:

Shopping for the reception decorations

Pre-wedding pampering (massages, nails, facials etc)

The Friday night dinner where we were able to catch up with everyone before the wedding

Getting ready with the girls, who all looked gorgeous

My mum having her hair and make-up done for the first time

Walking down the sand to meet Nick

Having photos taken together after the ceremony (the only time we spent 'alone' that day)

The reception looking exactly as I'd pictured it

Everyone looking so fabulous

The speeches

The dancing, oh how we danced!

The romance/random pashes amongst wedding guests

Hearing the music from our reception outside the place we were staying (200m away) at 3:30am - thank goodness none of the neighbours called the cops on us!

Wedding mishaps:

This dog crashing our ceremony:

Being bitten on the foot by a huge ant while we were having our photos taken. Champagne does not lessen the sting, though alcohol does make one forget the pain. Anti-histamines I took on the Monday after the wedding finally bought the swelling down.

Running out of champagne, getting more, only to find the rest at the back of the cool room

My 8 year old cousin fell down the stairs and had to leave early, he's ok now

Rain closed our 'photobooth' but wasn't too heavy not to be able to use the balconies.

All in all, not many mishaps, mainly good times

Us

2010-03-20T11:17:00.003+09:30

Our professional photos are still a few weeks away.....

Image: Taken by Nick's Aunt Rochelle, edited in Camera Bag by me

Shoe Check

2010-03-16T19:07:00.003+09:30

More to come from our wedding....

Image: Penny Norris

Decisions

2010-03-03T09:57:00.005+09:30

Well, I'm tired of making decisions. Everything is a decision. Do we really need four kegs?Plus cartons? How much chardonnay will the chardy drinkers drink? Should we use fishing line or crochet string for the paper flowers? What time should the speeches be? Should we even have speeches? Enough. Let's just let it be and be done with it. All we need to do now is set up the house for the reception and choose the music. Let there be dancing and merriment.

The paper crowns at this American wedding remind me of Christmas Day.

Image: Hello Lucky Photography: Gia Canali & Sara Remington

Prep never ends

2010-02-27T15:07:00.004+09:30

We have had a big two weeks! As soon as one thing is off the list 10 more jump on.

Nick has a suit

I have a hair accessory and a cardigan thing for when it gets cold

The best men have suits

The flower girl has a dress

All the bridesmaids have dresses

We have decorations

The florist has been given the vases

We have vows written (only a tiny part of the wedding)

We have sound equipment for the guitarist to use on the beach

Macaroons are ordered

Party hire tables, plates etc. is ordered.

Booze purchases have begun.

Cool room ordered

Our storage shed has been emptied and all our things moved to the beach house to save a little money over the next year - as with changing jobs, I also wouldn't recommend moving at the same time as having a wedding.

Still to do:

Type up vows & give to celebrant

Go to Apollo Bay

Set up new furniture

Decorate the place

Refine the party hire list

Drop off more vases at the florist

Tunes/Create Playlist

Buy oysters

Make the rest of the paper flowers

Bond form for accommodation

We hadn't, as yet, come across a wedding where the guys wore different suits. But I stumbled across this photo this morning and the guys look great.

Image: Kevin Weinstein Photography, spotted on Inspired By This

Bridesmaids dresses

2010-02-19T09:48:00.000+09:30

So we were able to get our money back on the bridesmaid's dresses! YAY! Onto the Best Men

Image: Feather Love Photography

Flower Girl

2010-02-18T09:10:00.005+09:30

We are extremely lucky to have a very cute flower girl. I thought that finding her an outfit would be the easiest part of the wedding. Boy was I wrong. There are hardly any shops with clothes for girls over 5 years of age. I thought the world was teeming with pre-teen girls clothes stores, but it's not. I've tentatively put together an outfit for her to wear, but am having second thoughts, wondering if she'd prefer to wear something more grown-up like the bridesmaids? What I've got now is fun and girly and not at all like the bridesmaids. Agh decisions....

Hopefully she'll look less worried than these little people on the day!

Image: Jessica Claire

Hair and Make-up

2010-02-13T07:30:00.001+09:30

Image: Kelly Melissa Photography

I am very fortunate that our photography package included hair and make-up, plus the same for my mum. Having our wedding in a small beach town means that there aren't many options for hair and make-up, especially when I've booked the bridal party plus Nick's mum and sister into one of the salons. My mission for next week is to find out if there is anywhere else in Apollo Bay that I can direct guests to.

Is it that time already?

2010-02-12T12:00:00.000+09:30

Today I head to Melbourne. I won't be back until after the wedding. Saying goodbye to my friends yesterday was quite surreal, the next time I'll see them will be at the wedding! It still seems so far away.

The girls came over for dinner last night so I could teach them how to make paper flowers and they could cut out all the paper flowers we need for the wedding - a good sneaky deal. The girls were troopers and we got everything done.

I came across this wedding through Rock n Roll Bride's Thursday treats and doesn't dancing in your ugg boots and a fancy dress look fun? I am all about the comfy shoes. A new friend recently confessed to me that she wore haviana thongs as her wedding shoes! Comfort first. Check out more from this wedding here.

Image: Katherine O Photo

Invitations

2010-02-12T07:40:00.003+09:30

We've had a few lovely comments about our invites, thanks! However in that post I neglected to mention that they were designed by Nick!

We were thinking of using letterpress, but the letterpress people wanted to change the design so we had them printed here (Alice Springs) at Colemans for a fraction of the letterpress price.

Photos We Love: Best Men

2010-02-11T08:00:00.000+09:30

Image: 100 Layer Cake & Our Labor of Love

Image: Ruffled and Jacob Pritchard

Image: Red Heart Photography

This probably won't be possible in Apollo Bay as I don't think there's a wall like this, but it is a fabulous shot.

Image: Green Wedding Shoes Photography: W. Scott Chester

Photos We Love: Dancing Shots

2010-02-09T08:00:00.002+09:30

Did I hear you say dance off?

Image: Our Labour of Love

Image: 100 Layer Cake

Photos We Love: Random

2010-02-07T14:31:00.000+09:30

Image: Jean Tsai

Image: Julie Harris Photography

Image: Jonas Peterson

I can't stand engaement shoots however, I do like this photo...

Image: Trend Setting Wedding

Photos We Love: Shoe Shots

2010-02-05T12:58:00.000+09:30

Image: Jill Thomas Photography

Image: Kiss the Groom

Shoe Shots and Holga

Image by Christi Dame

Photos We Love: Beach Shots

2010-02-03T07:37:00.000+09:30

Image: Snippet & Ink

Image: Max Wagner

Image: Green Wedding Shoes

Image: You Can't Be Serious Blog

Photos We Love

2010-02-01T19:16:00.000+09:30

Our wedding photographer mentioned that we should send her though some photos we love to get a sense of our style. I thought I'd post a few here over the next few weeks...

Image: Snippet & Ink

Wedding Designer?!

2010-01-31T12:05:00.003+09:30

I don't think the wedding can go ahead without a 'wedding designer'

Photo from our engagement party

Bridesmaids dresses - take 2

2010-01-28T07:28:00.006+09:30

Small 'problem': the bridesmaids we bought don't fit two of the bridesmaids - back to the drawing board. We're going to take all three back and just have one of the bridesmaids in this dress, the other three in new ones.

We're thinking varying shades of blue/green. That way it leaves us with a number of options for dresses and I love that anything goes these days by way of bridesmaids dresses......

Image: Kelly Melissa Photography

Image: Featherlove Photography

Image: Green Wedding Shoes

Photography: Erin Hearts Court

Our Invites

2010-01-24T10:26:00.004+09:30

Invites are out. RSVPs are pouring in.

2 weeks till Nick heads to Apollo Bay for the Bucks, 2 weeks and 4 days till I head to Melbourne. Meeting with the photographer on Thursday and a hair and make-up trial same day. All systems go.....

It's going to be a good day

2010-01-19T07:48:00.003+09:30

I just won a $100 Westfield Gift Voucher on the Knot! Apparently I took part in a survey a while ago and one the voucher for my trouble, yay me!

Image of Marengo Beach taken on my Mini Diana

Decor

2010-01-12T07:28:00.005+09:30

While we were in Apollo Bay the week after Christmas we had a chance to really look at the house where we're holding the reception and how we're going to decorate. We're thinking Chinese lanterns in multiple colours. Paper flowers everywhere, made from a secret design devised by my mum and aunt.

Image via Green Wedding Shoes

Image via Jonathan Canlas Photography

Image from Feather Love Photography

Apollo Bay

2010-01-03T17:24:00.005+09:30

We spent New Years in Apollo Bay and while we were there we were able to sort out a few wedding details. We met with the celebrant. She's lovely and has now filed all our paperwork.

We looked at the tide 'issue' and decided that there should be enough sand for our beach wedding. Nick and the celebrant will check things out on the day and move the ceremony to a different spot if necessary.

We've booked out the local italian restaurant for the Friday night before the wedding. It will give everyone a chance to meet and greet and relax before the wedding. The restaurant is offering a 2 course meal for a very reasonable price (important as we are politely asking guests to pay for themselves for this night) plus a bar service - excellent!

High Tide

2009-12-20T12:07:00.002+09:30

Anyone know when high tide is during the beginning of March?We may have a problem.......

Flowers

2009-12-20T11:41:00.005+09:30

The florist asked me to send her a few pictures of flowers that were similar to what I'd like to have for the wedding. I know in my head what flowers I'd like, but it's hard to put into words or find pictures of exactly what I'd like. Basically I'd like something that looks a little wildflowerey and I'm not set on any particular flowers. Here's the pictures I sent:

Image via Ruffled

Image via Polkadot Bride

Image via Margaret River Photography

Image found on a Tumblr with no image credit

Photo line

2009-12-11T07:45:00.001+09:30

We love the idea of a washing line of photos of us over our years together - so cute!

via Green Wedding Shoes, Photography by Tec Petaja

via: Feather Love Photography

Love

2009-12-09T07:28:00.000+09:30

via Snippet and Ink

Sweet Flowers

2009-12-06T10:20:00.004+09:30

How sweet are these flowers?

I'm starting to pull together pictures of flowers for the florist, but it is difficult to narrow down exactly what I want.

Image: Cristi Dame Photography - see more of this wedding on Cristi's Blog Looking through the lens of Cristi Dame

Wedding Magazines

2009-12-05T13:37:00.007+09:30

Yes, I have collected a number of wedding magazines over the last few months. After the purchase of the last lot Nick asked 'Why do you buy those when you hate all of the weddings in them?' touche touche. Well, I don't hate all of the weddings, just most of the ones in the Australian mags. They tend to be really formal, stuffy occasions. Not anything like what we are going to have. The best mags for inspiration for us have been CosmoBride UK, InStyle Weddings US and Martha Stewart Weddings.

CosmoBride UK Aug/Sep 2009

However, the Aussie mags aren't all bad, here is a clip from CosmoBride Aus that I love...

Beach with parasols - CosmoBride Aus Spring/Summer 09

Blue shoes! - InStyle Weddings US

Mexican Flags - Martha Stewart Weddings Summer 09

More Invite Inspiration

2009-11-27T08:31:00.005+09:30

How fabulous are these invitations? Would you believe that the Bride, Jess, made them at home? Jess' not a graphic designer or any other crafty type, she's a lawyer and she made these wonderful invites at home using a Gocco printer. Amazing.

Check out Jess' blog fig & plum for all the details on how she made the invites. Jess also gives a helpful checklist to help you determine whether or not printing your own invites is for you (I ticked yes to all the why it's not statements). AND would you believe Jess also made tote bags for all out of town guests, coasters and CD covers! I am starting to doubt Jess' uncrafty claims - she's very talented.

Pictures from Jess' wedding can be found here on Brooklyn Bride.

Lebanese Wedding Customs - Best Man

2009-11-26T14:13:00.004+09:30

Did you know that it is customary for the Best Man to pay the priest? Not to sure if it means that the best man has to shell out for the priest or not? But that would be nice - for the people getting married, not too nice for the best man.

Other duties include sitting beside the best man, eating, drinking and having fun. Also involvement in any cake cutting.

Info from The Lebanese Forces Official Forum

Image: Photography - Red Heart Photo via Rock 'n' Roll Bride

Invitation Inspiration

2009-11-25T14:36:00.005+09:30

How cute are these invites? Complete with email or phone RSVP and a map to all the celebration spots....

Found on 100 Layer Cake

Image from Shannon LePere and Melanie Godecki

Invitations made by Amanda Phillips

It's like rain on your wedding day

2009-11-20T11:17:00.007+09:30

Apollo Bay is not generally known for its warm weather. Rain is almost always a possibility when you’re visiting there and though our wedding will be at the beginning of March, nothing is certain where weather is concerned. A while ago I saw this wedding photo on Smitten and thought it was most lovely, the cute gum boots and umbrella not stopping the wedding.

Today I came across this wedding by photographers Comfort Studio on the blog BridalHood. It poured down on the day of their beach wedding, but a little rain wasn't going to spoil the day. Everyone got soaked, even the bride, making for a fun, memorable day.

Cake!

2009-11-15T15:18:00.003+09:30

How fabulous is this cake?! We love it! Now we just have to find someone in Melbourne to make it for us and who'll deliver to Apollo Bay.

Image via Vorpal Images (Photograph by Kenneth Benjamin Reed, Post processing by Alicia Mariah Elfving, copyright Vorpal Images 2008.)

Cake first seen on Rock 'n' Roll Bride

Invitation Inspiration

2009-11-13T14:41:00.007+09:30

March is fast approaching and we have just started looking at invitation designs. Apparently you only need to send out the invitations two months before the wedding, but as ours is out of town, there's Christmas in between & we'll be leaving for a month from the beginning of February, it's best to get them out now. Green Wedding Shoes has been a fabulous source of inspiration for the invites, which Nick will be designing. Here are a few of our favourites.....

Invitations created by Anne Benjamin of Mok Duk, featured on Green Wedding Shoes here

Invites designed by Katie Kirk, featured on Green Wedding Shoes here

I love that this RSVP card has 'Gladly Decline' as an option!

The bride, Hannah, designed the invites - image from Once Wed

Beach Wedding

2009-11-06T08:38:00.008+09:30

Cute wedding from Steep Street Musings by Kelty

I love Kelty's blog you should check it out for more wonderful photos

Bridesmaids dresses

2009-11-06T08:27:00.006+09:30

The dress arrived! They're perfect! Maticevski Sweethearts from Myer. Starting to doubt whether I should have posted a photo, they look much better on....

Brown Pin-Stripe Suits

2009-10-31T13:08:00.008+09:30

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

2009-10-30T14:54:00.004+09:30

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

2009-10-28T16:00:00.004+09:30

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

2009-10-24T16:05:00.006+09:30

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!!

2009-10-21T08:13:00.012+09:30

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!!

2009-10-14T16:54:00.005+09:30

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

2009-10-09T08:31:00.003+09:30

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

2009-10-05T17:44:00.006+09:30

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

Bride - sorted

2009-09-29T17:49:00.004+09:30

I found my dress!! Collette Dinigan was the first store we went to. On the rack was a dress I’d seen on the internet, however the model was 6ft with no curves and I thought that it would look like a tent on me and make me seem short and fat. Well, I tried it on anyway and it fit wonderfully! No tent, no fat. My curves give the dress shape, where as on the model it has none. I love it. So that was it. We walked in, I tried it on, loved it, had a few photos taken, then purchased it. Easy. Later in the day when looking for bridesmaids’ dresses I found some lovely bejewelled flats that perfectly match the dress. Done & done. The previous day I picked up a lovely frock for the engagement party. Bride’s clothing - sorted.

Frock shopping in the big city

2009-09-21T21:49:00.006+09:30

Last week I met with a dressmaker here in Alice Springs. The meeting went really well. The dressmaker will be able to make a dress exactly how I’d like it, no pattern needed! She did extremely well, deciphering my ideas, considering the poor quality photos I ended up taking her. The dressmaker completely understood the look I am going for. I think I’m going to end up with a blend of three dresses. She’ll make it up in calico first (just like they did in old novels!) so we can see how it’s going to turn out and make any changes. It is so exciting that there is someone who can make the dress I want, rather than have to troll through numerous shops searching for the ‘perfect dress’.

On that note, I am heading to Melbourne this week to look for dresses, but as I am set on that ‘gracie’ look, I doubt I’ll find anything like it. There’s also further dis-incentive now that I know the dress I want can be made for me here in Alice Springs. It will be fun trying on all the other different dresses and seeing what else is available. I’m bringing one of my bridesmaid’s with me, having followed the advice of a wise bride, Terri Psiakis, ‘I advise taking one or two Brutally Honest people only…. You don’t have to take four bridesmaids because you’ve got four bridesmaids – they’re not your posse and you’re not in a bridal-themed episode of Entourage’ – That and my other bridesmaids live interstate, overseas or have recently given birth, all valid reasons to not come dress shopping. Anyway, with the dressmaker on board, I may end up shoe shopping instead!

Image from Once Wed, photography by Jose Villa

Wedding in the Land of the Long Weekend

2009-09-19T16:34:00.006+09:30

While we swear we checked all this, we’ve still managed to book our wedding on a Victorian long weekend. Perfect for our Victorian guests. Not so perfect for finding accommodation.

The wedding will be on the beach at Marengo and the reception will be at Nick’s family’s beach house, just up the road from the beach in Marengo. Apollo Bay is a short 1.5km walk away from where the wedding will be, so while it looks far away on the map, it shall be but a short stumble back to your room at the end of a long night partying....

While we swear we checked all this, we’ve still managed to book our wedding on a Victorian long weekend. Perfect for our Victorian guests. Not so perfect for finding accommodation.

Accommodation in the area includes:

Check out www.apollobay.com or Total Travel for more options

Photography Prize Winners!!

2009-09-15T12:21:00.007+09:30

A few weeks ago we gathered an entourage and attended a Wedding Expo at Bluegrass Restaurant. It was a fun afternoon, sunny and warm, sitting out in the garden with some bubbles at Bluegrass. The expo was organised by Elements Studio, a relatively new Alice Springs photography Studio. Elements ran a number of door prizes, one being a $3200 photography package, including make-up for the bride. Guess who won? My lovely fiancé, Nick! I don’t think I have ever won anything before*, what a place to start!

Nick was hesitant about having photography from the beginning. He hates the idea of being separated from the main party to take photos, you know where the bride and groom go off for three hours in the middle of the afternoon between the wedding and the reception, leaving the guests twiddling their thumbs for hours on end. He’d like great photos of our day, but not at the expense of hanging with our guests. I tend to agree and we have come to the realisation that some time apart from the guests may be necessary. The great photography blogs we’ve been trolling through have also helped change our minds. Maybe we can sneak away for an hour or so?

Jodi N came over last Wednesday night to run through the details of the prize and to tell (and show) us a bit more about Elements Studio. Their work is great and we are so happy that they will be a part of our day. There are all sorts of options that we can include in our package, such as a ‘trash the dress’ shoot after the day (Jodi mentioned Luna Park as a ‘trash the dress’ location and I think we’re hooked!) and make-up by Jodi F. It’s great that Elements are locals as it gives us the next few months to get to know them before our big day. If we’d gotten anyone from down south, as we were planning to do, we wouldn’t have had nearly as much time to get to know them.

Thanks to Elements Studio for their great prize!

Image: Nick at the Bluegrass Wedding Expo

*I guess I still technically haven’t won anything, but let’s not dwell on that

Save the Date

2009-09-08T19:09:00.004+09:30

We’ve posted our save the date cards! We decided to send out save the date cards because nearly all of our guests will be traveling from interstate (and a few from overseas) and we wanted to give everyone enough notice to be able to attend. Nick is our fabulous designer. We choose to send postcards and were tight arses, combining the save the date with the engagement party invite – two birds with one stone, I say. Only one problem, we ran out of room for the engagement party RSVP! I'm guessing that most of the Alice Springs people will come and catering for them, plus a few extra.

Penny & Joel - A barefoot bride and groom

2009-09-04T14:59:00.012+09:30

Four years ago Penny and Joel eloped to a beach in New Zealand. They were married barefoot on the beach with only the celebrant, the celebrant's brother on guitar and the photographer as witnesses. How romantic!! A few weeks after the wedding they had a huge party in Brisbane (and dressed up a second time!) to celebrate with their friends and family. Penny has kindly agreed to share their beautiful photos.

Colours, pretty fun party colours!

2009-09-01T22:36:00.010+09:30

We discovered this colourboard on 100layercake. These colours would be perfect for a relaxed beach wedding! With maybe a stronger green/blue than the menthe. I’m hoping to find bridesmaids' dresses in one or all of these colours or varying shades of one of the colours. Nick would love to have vintage brown suits but we may need to settle for Ben Sherman grey if we can’t find brown suits.

image from 100layercake

Reception inspiration from the Container Bar

2009-08-27T09:05:00.008+09:30

I am pretty sure I have found the look and feel we want to have for the reception. Holding the wedding in Apollo Bay means that there is an excellent chance that it will rain. We have done our best to mitigate against this by holding the wedding at the beginning of March, but there is always that possibility. I didn’t like the idea of having a tent, as it encloses the space and you can’t see the stars, but I think that we will have to have one on the front lawn in case of rain. This morning I stumbled upon (via West Aussie Wedding) this reception held on a property at Yallingup, West Australia. This set up is perfect! The space invites you in and gives you an instant relaxed feel, yet it is also wedding fancy. I wasn’t quite sure how to decorate the tent since we aren’t having a sit down dinner. If we create something like this, it means people can have the option to sit down if they want, but there’s also plenty of room for dancing and socialising. This space has a certain Container Bar feel - I like it!

More pictures of this beautiful wedding can be found at Margaret River Photography

Images via Margaret River Photography

Party People

2009-08-26T13:49:00.002+09:30

Who to invite? We’ve all been to those weddings where we haven’t been able to bring our partners because the couple ‘had to cut numbers somewhere’. Or the kids couldn’t come (no one under 17!). Or the groom couldn’t invite his mates because the bride had too many family members.

A number of our friends have kids and we couldn’t stand the thought of telling them their kids couldn’t come (plus we happen to like the kids). Also we don’t like the idea of ranking our friends into close and not close to ‘cut down on numbers’ (inside or outside the circle?).

Our solution is to have a less formal reception (formal clothes though), no sit down dinner, so that we can accommodate more people but have the reception still feel intimate. There will be plenty of food* and drink, just more of a cocktail affair. It also means that friends who haven’t seen each other for a long time won’t be stuck all night on a table on the opposite sides of the room.

The downside is that we now don’t have the ‘we had to cut down on numbers’ excuse when we’re faced with someone we'd prefer not to invite!

*I have a recurring nightmare that people won’t get enough food to eat and am entertaining the thought of midnight pizza deliveries or post ceremony/pre reception hot chips on the beach.

Vintage Vases

2009-08-19T20:59:00.004+09:30

We love the mis-matched vases and bright yellow flowers in these pictures. Better start collecting the vases! (can probably leave the weird flower chicken alone!)

Picture via greylovesweddings

The Dress?

2009-08-17T15:49:00.006+09:30

The dress I love is the J Crew ‘Gracie’ dress, bought to my attention by Joanna Goodard in her blog A Cup Of Jo. The dress is only available online. J Crew don’t ship to Australia, but, if I ask nicely, I’d be able to get it posted to Canada and have Nick’s mum pick it up when she’s there in September. J Crew have all measurements listed online for each size and they even have a petites range, with special measurements for us shorties. So why am I hesitant? I guess it’s because, after 29 years, I’m still not good at picking out what will suit me. I’ll try on an armful of clothes and come out with two things that fit right and flatter me. How do I know that this lovely style will suit me? I don’t, so best to keep my pennies and check out dresses in Melbourne. Please tell me any experiences you may have had buying clothes online….

Setting a date

2009-08-17T14:50:00.005+09:30

Setting a date seemed to me to be the most simple thing. We had gotten together at a Hoodoo Gurus concert on ANZAC Day (25^th April) 2004. So holding the wedding on ANZAC Day 2010 seemed perfect. Also would mean less dates to remember. However, when we chose Apollo Bay as our location, an April wedding doesn’t cut it. The weather in Apollo Bay is nice and warm (by Alice Springs standards) for roughly 2 months of the year, February and March. We’ve been to the Apollo Bay Music Festival in late April and would have to say that gumboots would be the appropriate footware, accentuated with the biggest golf umbrella you could find. So April was out.

February was a safe bet weather wise until Nick’s sister mentioned that she’d be in Europe until the middle of February. Her birthday is also in the middle of February and it is only polite not to hold the wedding close to her birthday. How about the 27^th of February? Nope, Apollo Bay sports clubs’ sports weekend.

March? When I mentioned March to my mum she said ‘Ben’s wedding is in March’. Oh I need to organise my wedding around Ben’s wedding?! Turns out my brother is Ben’s best man and we’d like my brother to be at our wedding. When pressed for more details my brother admitted that Ben didn’t have a date set yet, so we could sneak in first.

March 6^th is looking good.

Levels of Fancy

2009-08-12T11:04:00.006+09:30

Not long after we became engaged I purchased a few wedding magazines, mostly overseas issues that we couldn’t get in Alice Springs (ok, so we were still in Melbourne when this happened) and Nick started to worry, thinking that it was quite probable that I was envisioning a massive, fancy wedding. The nice guy he is would go the fancy wedding for me but wish that he had had something else.

Well, over the next week or so it became clear that I wasn’t planning some fancy shindig and that we are on the same page not only when it comes to location but also when it comes to levels of fancy. We stumbled across this fabulous garden wedding on greenweddingshoes and fell in love. This is exactly the fun, relaxed wedding we want to have. Sans moustache.

Photos from Jill Thomas Photography

Location, Location

2009-08-08T12:34:00.004+09:30

I had been imagining a wedding in Alice Springs, where we live and where most of our friends are. There are a few nice locations, such as the Lane (upstairs for reception), Olive Pink (for ceremony) and Ooraminna (for both). When I asked Nick about it (on the chairlift, not long after the proposal) he mentioned Apollo Bay.

We spent a lot of last ‘summer’ (I use the term loosely as it was cardigan weather and drizzly most days) at Apollo Bay. Nick’s family have a fabulous place there and I just love the beach. I’ll swim at any temperature. Nick mentioned that he’d love to have a barefoot ceremony on the beach. I thought that sounded lovely and so it will be, drizzle or no drizzle.

The Ring

2009-08-08T11:39:00.007+09:30

The proposal was sans ring. Nick had decided that it just didn’t seem right to shop for a ring without me! The day after the proposal was filled with returning cars to broken friends (Nick), haircuts (me), and preparation for the Flaming Lips gig, forcing exciting ring shopping to be postponed to Thursday.

After a hearty breakfast at Min Lokal, we happened to alight the tram just opposite Jan Logan and Georg Jensen. The jeweller/salesperson in Jan Logan was slightly daunting. They didn’t have much on display in the way of engagement rings and he explained that they usually made rings from your own design. I hadn’t really a clue of what I wanted and to be quite honest, I’m a very impatient person, I don’t think I could stand the wait while they made a ring. We had a quick look in Georg Jensen as they are a favourite of Nick’s (I like his jewellery but I don’t see the rings as engagement rings), then we headed to e.g.etal.

E.g.etal is a favourite gallery of mine in Flinders Lane, we found by chance one Sunday afternoon while exploring the many galleries along Flinders Lane. I had fancied numerous rings in this gallery and just had that feeling that I’d find something that I’d love. Of course we did. A beautiful square cut diamond designed by Melbourne artist, Amy Renshaw.

Within three hours of starting our search, we were seated at Modiva with champagne, oysters and the perfect ring.

PS. By Friday afternoon Nick had the perfect engagement present, a new mountain bike!

Surprise Proposal

2009-08-05T13:40:00.004+09:30

Last Friday we headed to the big city. We spent Friday night in a cute Japanese restaurant in Fitzroy with some good friends, then it was an early start on Saturday morning to the ski slopes of Mt Buller. We had barely made it onto the Holden Lift when we received a call from a mate we were heading up the lift to meet. He had broken his wrist showing off on a run! The rest of the day was spent in and out of the Medical Centre, the staff were amazing and by early evening our mate was undergoing surgery in Melbourne.

The next few skiing days were uneventful until mid-morning Tuesday when, with some coaxing from Nick, I decided to attempt my second blue run. I had made it down my first on Sunday. Absolutely terrified at the steepness, it had ended in tears, though as Nick pointed out, I did make it to the bottom, without falling (there is something about skiing so slow that you barely move – prevents falling). ANYWAY we made it over to the start of Family Run and as I was fiddling with my poles Nick said that he would like me to make it down the run as his fiancée. Before I had a chance to register that he had dropped to one knee (snowboard on the other foot) and asked me to marry him!

I said yes. And I made it down the run - a lot easier than the one I attempted on Sunday. We skied the run a few more times then headed over to Snow Pony for some celebratory champagne.

Here's Nick with the lovely glasses of champagne created by the gorgeous staff at Snow Pony.