The one you've been waiting for...

Woohoo! I can finally share all of the secrets I've been diligently keeping for the last six months or so... like the fact that my sister had a short wedding dress! And that the wedding had a 1950's theme!! How cool is that!!!!

The wedding day was lovely... as you all probably know, Qld has been suffering badly with rain, but we were so blessed that the weather was gorgeous - if a little humid. No rain though, which is exactly what we had prayed for.

Us girls started the day at the hairdresser, where our hair was teased within an inch of its life, then french-rolled, and gorgeous Grace Kelly-inspired make-up was applied. Bethanie went for a very elegant Audrey Hepburn look. We enjoyed the girly experience, and made it back home in plenty of time to get dressed and ready for the wedding.

It was a little frazzling trying to play the role of Mama and Bridesmaid... especially when my lovely happy was off being a groomsman. Mayana made an adorable flowergirl, and was beside herself to be wearing her pretty dress, gorgeous new shoes, hair clippy and sparkly jewellery.

After getting ourselves and the bride dressed, and posing for photos for our lovely cousin and photographer, Louise, it was finally time to go. We couldn't believe that it was already nearly 3pm, and time to hit the road!

Bethanie and my parents left in the Rolls Royce that Beth and Lachlan had hired, while us girls were chauffeured by a friend from church in her spunky red Mercedes. (Except for Maysi who hitched a lift with the photographer!)

The ceremony was a blur. We did our walk down the aisle... Mayana and I walked about half way down the aisle together, then she ran to Lachlan the rest of the way, and greeted him with a big cuddle and a kiss before being handed to her Papa. Once she and I were in position, she suddenly realised that she had forgotten to throw her flowers, as she had so painstakingly practiced the day before. "Oh no Mummy!" she exclaimed, "Flowers, throw!". And she proceeded to frantically throw handfuls of flowers from her position on my hip at the front of the church. She would totally have stolen the show, had the Bride not made her dazzling entrance. Bethanie had chosen a gorgeous tea-length Audry-Hepburn-esque gown, and it was like nothing anyone had expected of her. She wore our mum's lace gloves from her wedding, and a gorgeous jewellery set my Pop had bought for my Nana when she was about 16 and they were courting. She carried white roses, and we wore gorgeous orange roses on a pearl-banded wrist corsage.

Our Papa serenaded her with the same song he sang to Peter and I on our wedding day, and everyone choked back tears as his voiced cracked on occasion. The vows were sweet and heart-felt, and it was a special moment when the couple's first act together was to share in communion.

Before we knew it they'd promised, ringed, signed and kissed and were making their way back down the aisle.

We all shared in a light afternoon tea - this was about the time we realised that in all the kerffufel, we had neglected entirely to feed our daughter any lunch! Oops! She made up for it by pigging out on cake and biccies.

We had the family photos, and chatted and hugged, then we were off to the reception venue, for bridal party photos. It was Louise's first ever wedding shoot, and she did a fabulous job and we all had lots of fun with her. If you pop over to her blog, you can see a sneak peek of some of her amazing photos, and keep an eye out for more, coming soon!

The reception was lovely - the food was delicious, the atmosphere great, and the dancing was so much fun. The speeches were beautiful and very meaningful, and some aunties and a cousin wrote a hilarious song for the couple, which was a highlight of many people's evening.

Before we knew it, the evening had whirled by, and it was time for the bride and groom to hit the road. I think it was probably the best wedding-car sabotage I had ever seen. The car was plastered with toilet paper, sprinkled with glittery confetti, and the Pièce de résistance   was a car horn wired to the brake light, which meant that every time poor Lachlan put his foot on the brake, a loud and obnoxious horn would explode! Oh it was so funny, and I giggle every time I imagine Bethanie elbowing him telling him to stop beeping, and him incredulously holding his hands up swearing it wasn't him!

We danced a little longer after they'd left, before finally heading home and sitting for an hour or so digesting the day. We were in bed by about 1am, exhausted, with sore feet, but oh-so happy.

And now, the part you've been waiting for... here are some piccies!!!

 Me and my girl walking down the aisle.

 Kissing the groom before the bride even entered the room!! Ooh-wah!!

 First glimpse of the bride!

 Giving her away... Papa was quite emotional throughout... even when he popped in to visit us at the hairdressers!!

 The maids... Didn't my Nana do a beautiful job on the dresses!

 The groomsmen. That's my spunky husband on the end. He was very honoured to be asked to sign the official paperwork as their witness.

 Exchanging rings...

 Making it official...

 Sealing with a kiss... or three!

 Married!!!

 The maids... don't you love our glasses!!

 I quite enjoyed being all dressed up with gorgeous hair and make-up. I felt very princess-like.

 Alexie and Michelle..

The gorgeous cake was made by Michelle's mum.

I hope you've enjoyed the story of the wedding from my point of view - and our few photos. Like I said, make sure you keep checking back at Louise's blog for more of her gorgeous photography. Her link is always over there ---> in my list of favourite blogs!

the days before...

Well the wedding has come and gone, and my family are at me to share the stories and the photos... so here goes!

As I mentioned earlier, we had our wonderful interstate famil arrrive from the the 27th, through to the new year, and the days before the wedding were filled with fun times making happy memories.

We had a few stressful moments -  my Nana and Pop and Aunty were stranded in the wide-bay flooding... with my bridesmaid dress! Thankfully, the waters receded enough that they were able to come through on Sunday, which was a massive relief to us all.

Unfortunately, my mum's best friend (Aunty Joce) and her family were not so lucky. They had travelled to Emerald for Christmas, and were well and truly stuck in the flood-ravaged town. Aunty Joce managed to get one of the last plane tickets to fly back to Brisbane, though it was touch and go for a while whether she would even be able to get to the airport without the help of a boat! Thankfully, she did, and we were very happy to have her at the wedding. her family ended up getting home a few days afterwards, after driving for 28 hours on a trip that usually takes nine!

On Monday, it was all systems go! We had a church to prepare for a wedding, and the extended family rallied to help. If I do say so myself, we did a beautiful job (as you'll see when I get to the wedding post!).

Monday evening saw us taking a relaxing Noosa River sunset cruise, with all of our extended family, and some of the groom's as well. It was so lovely, a great way to unwind and have time together before the big day.

 My Poppy

 Tan Tan & Mayana

 My Papa's eldest and youngest sibling. Lovely.

 My husband kissing my sister behind the toilet (!) Ooh lala!

The {nearly} bride and groom with their niece.

Tan Tan & Oom Campbell (aka my wonderful Godparents!)

We finished the evening with fish and chips at the Noosa Marina, and a relatively early night... I couldn't think of a nicer way to spend the evening before the wedding!

This week I...

• Found the perfect bridemaid's shoes for my sister's wedding. She was in Dubbo at the time, so we had this frenzied session of mobile phone photos and phone calls before getting the bridal stamp of approval. It was pretty awesome because there were only 1 pair of size 6 left (me) and two pairs of size 7 (the other bridesmaids). AND they were on sale. 
• Perfected a design for crocheted fingerless mittens/wristwarmers. They're pretty darn cute. (Even if I do say so myself).
• Watched a fair bit of TV on DVD. It's the best way to do it. No ads. I have the complete series of both Gilmore Girls and McLeod's Daughters, and I bought my husband the first two seasons of Big Bang Theory for his birthday. It's our favourite comedy, and it's safe to say that Sheldon would just about have to be my favourite TV character at the moment. It makes me laugh out loud. My father nearly dies of an asthma attack every time he watches it. And he doesn't even have asthma so that's saying something!
• Watched the season return of Packed to the Rafters. Which is pretty much the best show ever. I think every family can relate to them in some way. Everyone seems to love it (at least judging by the amount of Rafters-related facebook status updates on Tuesday!). I love that it's a show about family, where the Dad is not a total tool (that is a pet-hate of mine - how all dads are portrayed as idiots in the majority of TV shows), and where the mum and dad still love each other, and kiss and hold hands (and obviously other things too, judging by the recent addition of little Ruby Rafter.... wah wah wah), and the brothers and sisters have arguments and mock each other but love each other to bits and would fight to the death if an outside attacked one of them. Aahh I just LOVE it!
• Visited My Favourite Hairdresser, and got an awesome new haircut and colour. Yes again. It's dark brown, but a warm-beige based brown, so it still had lots of shades of red and other vibrant colours when I'm in the sun. I've not been this dark before and I have to say I'm loving it. I didn't really get a haircut so much as a fringe cut. The rest of my hair stayed the same. I have now have a quite thick blunt straight-cut fringe. I. Love. It. A lot. It's a lot more high-maintenance than I usually go for - I mean I have to actually straighten it to make it fulfil it's potential as an awesome hairdo, but it's so worth it. I look hot (at least according to my husband, mum, sisters and even brother!!!).
• Went to the toy sale at Big W, and bought Mayana her very first babies. Yes there are two, and I'm now apparently a grandmother to a plastic set of twins, affectionately referred to as, "Mah-Buh-beees" (my babies). Mayana is in love, and carries them around patting and singing to them, and checks their 'nappies' and proclaims, "phooooooooo-ey!!!". She also loves to kiss them a lot. 
• Spent a day doing bridesmaid's duties with my sisters, the other bridesmaid and my mum. We visited the reception venue for a meeting, and then went on a hunt for the perfect veil and shoes.  The veil practically found us, but no such luck with the shoes. Apparently we have to wait for the next season for white shoes to come out. Which I think is pretty dumb, because don't brides need white shoes all year 'round? Seriously.
• Went to Starbucks TWICE! This is pretty much a lil taste of heaven for me. I adore Starbucks, and we don't have one in my town, and the Noosa one went ka-put in the great Starbucks-Shutdown (a very sad day in my family). So it was quite a treat. In case you're wondering, I had a Grande Caramel Mocha, and a Grande Caramel Java Chip Frappucino. And I savoured every last drop. Mmmm.
• Went to a lovely wedding of a friend (actually the guy who was the MC at my wedding). It was in Maleny, at the bride's parents GORGEOUS property. It was outside, with a most picturesque gully as the backdrop, topped off by a brilliant blue sky with perfect whispy white clouds. It was freezing. 11 degrees when the wind wasn't blowing -- and that didn't happen too often, believe you me. The bride and bridesmaid (the bridesmaid was actually the maid-of-honour in my wedding) both had strappy-type dresses, and very large goosebumps. They also wore awesome sneaker-type shoes. The bride had custom-made sunflower ones (sunflowers are the favourite flower of both the bride and groom, and were the theme of the wedding), with their names and wedding date on the backs, and the bridesmaid had funky high-tops. It was cool, you couldn't really see them, but when you're getting married in what is essentially a cow-paddock, it's definitely the practical option. And I bet it made for super-cool photos. The wedding was lovely, and the reception was great. The groom's speech was so darn romantic it bought tears to my eyes. I can't imagine how the lovely bride felt, having it written about her!!! I'm so happy for the both of them, and so very jealous of the MONTH LONG EUROPEAN HONEYMOON they left for today.
• Had a fabulous day at church. My family did the music, and can I just say we sound pretty darn good when we all sing together in perfect harmony (even if my dad is a harmony-stealer). My dad also preached, and did it very well. I'm so proud to be in my family! 
• Enjoyed watching Mayana play with her little cousin Hannah. When I say little I mean that she is four months younger than Mayana, but she is actually bigger in size. They were very cute together, and shared many hugs and kisses. I just hope Mayana didn't share her cold (sorry if she did Lisa!!).

So yes, it's been a busy, eventful, fun week, and so awesome to be spending it with my family!! I love being up here, and can't wait to be a full-time coastie again (fingers crossed!! We're praying for jobs around here somewhere when we graduate, and at the very least we'll have 3 months here).

I hope you enjoyed my update, and I'll have to pop back with illustrative photos (especially of my hairdo and the gorgeous wedding) sometime soon!

I hope you've had a lovely week also, I'd love to hear about it!!

Later gaze...

Please Don't Bridezilla

Okay so I've had this weird recurring dream lately.
About my sister Bethanie.
Turning into THIS:

A Bridezilla. I'm not sure why. She hasn't actually given me any reason to feature her in such a way in my dreams. Who knows? All I know is I hope it doesn't happen!

I'm pretty sure it won't. At the very least, two of her three bridesmaids are already married, and I'm sure we'll have lots of wise old-married-women (*smirk*) type words to share with her. And if not us, my mum definitely will. Just to segue for a moment, did I mention that my whole little family is in this bridal party? I'm a bridesmaid, my gorgeous husband is a groomsman, and our little Berry is the flowergirl! Back to the story.

So if I was going to tell you my wise old-married-woman-type words on this subject, this is what I'd say: DON'T STRESS!!!! Yes, it's an important day, and a happy day, but at the end of the day, it's just a DAY! (Whoah I don't thikn I've used the word 'day' so much in one sentence before!) What I mean by that is, people put SO much stress, effort, time, money, and in some cases sweat and tears (hopefully not blood) into the planning of a wedding, only to find that six hours later, it's just a distant (albeit precious and beautiful) memory. Don't get me wrong, I certainly put a lot into planning my perfect day, but I came to realise that I should be putting a heck of a lot more into planning for the marriage, than for the wedding day. Because it's true what they say, marriage isn't always a bed of roses. And it lasts one heck of a lot longer than the wedding day! Some days are hard, and sometims you have enough of hanging around the one person ALLLLL the time, and sometimes you just need a girlfriend, and husbands don't cut it. Sometimes they leave their little bits of hair from shaving allll over the sink, and forget to hang their towels up, and have to be reminded to do 'their' chores every single day, and leave the margerine on the bench every morning (don't worry, I'm sure my husband has a list of annoyances about me also).

Sometimes, you actually have to make an effort to not go to bed holding a grudge (which by the way is one of the most important rules in our marriage). There is also lots of stuff that you should talk about before you actually get married. Big things, like having an idea about where you'd like your future to take you, how many kids you'd like to have and when, where you stand on discipline for children, financial stuff..who's going to take care of which responsibilities... stuff like that. But there's also lots of little things, like are you each going to have equal share in household chores, or who is going to do which chores; how you feel about people staying with you; where you are going to keep the toaster (ok so that one's an in-joke); man I remember even having discussions when we were first married about the way I fold underwear! Ha.

We actually did an awsome pre-marital councelling course, through an Anglican Church group (though the program itself is secular) called Kinnections. We did one session with a group of other engaged couples, and one on our own. They taught us LOTS of communication skills - which we took on board and still use to this day. And they had this massive list of the little things which you should talk about before you get married, and we got to go over them and have Big Discussions, and go into our marriage with a pretty clear understanding of each other, and 'us' and what we wanted and what we stood for. I would recommend it to anyone. I think it cost us around $150 for the two sessions, but I see it as a very worthwhile investment into one of the most important things in my life.

So anyway, what I'm saying is, the wedding planning and leadup and the day should just be FUN! It's a time to share with family, and friends. A time to get closer to your mum. A time to let your friends spoil you, and let lots of well-meaning people shower you with advice (just remember you only have to take on the stuff that you want to!). And it's a special season with your husband-to-be that can never be repeated. I think it's sad how we will it away, instead of embracing and revelling in it. Happily-ever-after lasts forever, after all.

So anyway Bethanie, my dear sister. Chillax, enjoy, don't rush, breath and smile. We're all here for ya, and we all want to make your day and all of the important days before it, really awesome. Please don't make my dreams come true!!

Mayana’s Week

  Mayana has had a lovely week… Another fun few days at daycare – where they are officially beginning the transition to the toddler room with her. I had to sign a form giving permission for it to happen about a month earlier than it ‘should’, as all the carers that have spent time with Mayana agree that she is more than ready! It makes us so proud listening to them all talk about how clever and advanced she is!

She is still loving this box. She crawls through it, over it, stands on it, puts her dollies through it. It’s definitely good value!

Mayana has been pulling this awesome cheeky smile when we ask her to smile for photos. I love it. She’s starting to look so toddler-ish.

We took Mayana to the Japanese Gardens this week, to see and feed the DUCKIES! It’s the first time that Mayana had seen them in real life, and she was beside herself!

We went out for a picnic with some friends from church, and Mayana got to test-run her froggy chair. It’s sure going to be getting a workout this weekend at Easterfest!

Mayana loves to read in the car…. And she seems to have developed a habit like her Mama… my hubby often finds me asleep like this with a book in my hands when he comes to bed after me. 

We keep telling people that Mayana is a climber – but even we were surprised when we found her doing this! She’s certainly very creative!

She’s also a very cool dude!

We tripped down to Brisbane this weekend to hit a bridal expo with my sisters and mum. Mayana was such a little trouper. She had a lot of fun, and enjoyed being the star attraction of the bridal expo! I think she got even more attention than the bride in our group! (See Mayana’s little backpack harness? Little Miss Independent is far too cool for the pram unless her legs are *really* sore, and would often rather not hold hands, thank you very much).

There’s that cheeky smile again!

Snuggles with Kami!

Okay guys, I’ve had enough of this place now!

So we walked over to the city – favouring the bike over the pram… apparently we possibly should have taken the pram.

After some shopping and Starbucks with Kami and the Tantes, we waved goodbye as they set off for the station, and the three of us headed back over to Southbank to take some photos in the gorgeous late afternoon light…

 

Man our baby’s photogenic!