The Name Game

I can't believe we're half way!

I also can't believe that two years ago I spent a good portion of my summer holidays drooling over wedding dresses online, this week my attention has been on cloth nappies! Who would have known there were so many options?

Anyway, that's not what I want to post about. We were talking last night and decided that we should really start thinking about names. But where to start? 

Back at our wedding we had little moleskine notebooks on each table with questions for our guests to answer. There were 'sensible' questions like "What is the secret to a long and loving life?" and ones that we hoped would give us a laugh, like the one below.

What's this got to do with baby names you ask? Another page in the book read...

Good for a chuckle but ultimately not all that helpful. 

A's mum gave us a Baby Name book but with names like Egberta* it pretty much fits into the same category as the wedding comments above.

The best starting point I've come up with is my name, which was my mother's maiden name. She didn't have any brothers to carry the name on so I got it. If we have a boy, I'd like to do the same as my maiden name could also be a first name and of all my 15 or so cousins, none of them will pass the name on! Interestingly, our married name could also be a first name so that could be a nice 'tradition' to start. I'm off to write a list!

Do you have a story for where your name came from? Or advice in picking one for your child? I'd love to hear it!

*Apologies if you are, or know an Egberta!

Anniversaries

Today we've been married for 5 months! Tomorrow we've been 'together' for 10 years! Who would have thought that a relationship that kicked off after watching Chopper would have lasted this long (with things looking good for a lot longer)?

To celebrate, here's a selection of the last of the wedding photos. After the ceremony we had some more photos in the park outside the church and the alley way behind the reception centre. It's hard to remember things about the night already but I do know that the food was delish (what I could fit in wearing the dress, which was very little), the company was fantastic, the speeches were lovely and we (more or less) nailed our hurriedly put-together-the-morning-before dance.

Nailing the dance!

Not nailing the evening three step - done in honour of my grandparents
but getting a good laugh out of it.

Yay for good memories!

4 months on...

Mum left for 3 weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia on Friday and as Dad had to take her down to the airport he also jumped on a plane up to sunny Canberra for the weekend. A weekend in Canberra is a pretty poor second best to a 3 week overseas holiday but it was great for us! Dad's a bit of a gardener and spent all saturday helping us build two raised garden beds and then, to top it off, he mowed the lawn for us too!

After all that work we thought we'd take him out for dinner. While we were there we realised that today would be our 4 month anniversary. So in honour of that (and the fact I can't find the camera cord to get the carpet and garden photos) here are some from the wedding ceremony....

Hope you've had a lovely weekend!

First look

Finally, we got into the cars and on the way. We were totally unorganized about the photography. Sure we had a photographer, we knew we would do photos before the wedding, we decided the night before that we'd go to the Fitzroy Gardens for the first look but that was about it. At this point I think a shout out to our photographer is needed. Serana from Photo8 Photography did a fantastic job in spite of our lack of organisation (and one slightly stressed out groom)!

A's family, who were driving the cars, run on something called A-time. However long his dad says he'll be, double it and add 10. Knowing this we probably should have said we wanted to be picked up at 12 rather than 1.  In the confusion, the boys had thought that we were meeting at the apartment then going to the gardens together.  By 2 we had sent the boys off and we were finally on the road. Poor A. He told me the other day as we looked at the photos that he was so mad that the cars were late and then he was dying to see me but we sent them off to the gardens and he had to wait even longer!

Waiting, waiting, waiting... 

So why did we have a first look? A couple of reasons. 

1) I wanted a bit of time with A before the ceremony

2) First look photos are lovely

3) The church had two aisles and was not really set up in a way that we could see each other as I walked down the aisle

4) it meant our guests could go straight from the ceremony to the reception without a big break between

I loved it (even if it wasn't just the two of us - see photo 5 in the sequence - although we had no idea they were there until we saw the photo). It was the only time all day that I was nervous, excited nervous but nervous all the same. So here they are....

Make gif animation

I just got the inspiration to do this from 

Anna and the Ring

A few more photos in and around the gardens, a sneaky glass of champagne and it was finally time to be married!

The day of - recap

I'm really spreading these recaps out aren't I?!

I was woken up on the day of the wedding at around 6 by a phone call. I answered groggily and found it was the minister who wanted to ask a couple of questions so he could finalize his service - "are you kidding?" I thought. But, no, he wasn't. He wanted to know what A's favourite food was. And what my favourite TV show was. At 6 in the morning, I couldn't for the life of me think what A's favourite food was! I took a guess because I was starting to feel a bit stupid umm-ing and ahh-ing and said meatloaf or a good steak. Turns out I was wrong, it's .... For the record my favourite TV shows are The Amazing Race and Dr Who.

There was no going back to sleep after that because I'd realised that today was the day I was getting married!

I got up and had a quick check of the flowers - they were still alive and looked very happy. Phew.

Our hairdresser, T, arrived and soon after, the makeup artist. The preparations began.

I just found out yesterday when I was showing Mum the wedding photos that T's mother who is also a hairdresser did my mother's hair for her wedding! T (who has just finished her apprenticeship) did a brilliant job - as did the MUA who was very accommodating and more than happy to change things a little from the trial.

While my girls were getting ready we headed downstairs to the cafe under the apartment who kindly let us take over the cafe for a bit for some photos.

I love my dad's expression in this photo!

The photographer left to visit the boys, we ate lunch (wrapped in a sheet so I didn't get it on the dress) and had a sneaky red bull (I still had a cold and was already exhausted). I think excitement and pure happiness* got me through the rest of the day.

Around 2ish (quite some time later than planned - the only thing we could have organised much, much better) the cars arrived to take us to the Fitzroy Gardens for our 'first look' and photos.



*along with a large amount of cold and flu drugs.

What to do first??

We decided to do the boutonniere and corsages first.

They were little, they were simple, they did not have ribbon tied around them as planned as I left it in Canberra.  Not a big problem though, saved some time and I was happy with them anyway.  Actually, that's not quite right - I was really happy and very proud of them!

These shots before the stems were cut to the right length.

So bright and happy. They still make me smile. And after getting them done, we had the confidence to tackle the bouquets.

The recaps begin...

Friday morning we woke up at 6. We'd left the blinds up in our room the night before. This is all very well in our own secluded north facing bedroom but not so great in the 2nd floor, east facing apartment we were staying in. I was not in the least bit impressed as I was still feeling really sick and told A there was no way I was getting up yet! We lazed around for a while, I popped a zillion vitamins and some cold and flu tablets and we went out to get some breakfast.

We wandered down the road in the sunshine (amazing in Melbourne given the weather over the previous couple of weeks) to a cafe and ate delicious ricotta, honey and banana on sourdough - my mood improved significantly! I figured if I was going to be sick there was no point dwelling on it as it wasn't going to make any difference. Plus, I had my voice back so chances were I'd be able to croak out some vows the next day and that was the main thing!

We headed back to the apartment and decided that it really was time to work out out dance.  We moved all the furniture out of the way, worked out the stereo and tried to choreograph a dance using the few merengue moves we could remember to some not-so-merengue music. We got to a point that we felt satisfied that we wouldn't embarrass ourselves too much then went out to relax on the sunny balcony.

Soon after, my parents and sister arrived and the real fun began. We lugged buckets of flowers and boxes of vases upstairs and feeling a little overwhelmed, tried to work out where on earth to start...

7 things

So, Sammie from Marriage, Renovations and... was kind enough to give me a versatile blogger award - thanks! Though I'm not sure I really deserve it! Perhaps an 'unreliable blogger' award would be more apt? For us, November held two weddings, two funerals and the writing of 150 or so school reports. I'm glad it's over and in an effort to get back on the blogging horse I'm writing down my 7 things.

1. In four days I'll be on holidays for 8 weeks! 8 weeks people, that's two whole months! 2 weeks honeymooning, 1 week with family for christmas and then 5 more weeks to do things around home that were totally neglected for most of the year due to Operation Wedding. Oh, the things I could do!

2. If I were stuck on a remote island and could only have 2 types of fruit and vegies I would choose sweet potato, corn, golden queen peaches and pomegranate.

3. I've climbed the highest mountain in South East Asia - Mt Kinabalu in Borneo. It was awesome. I should write about it some time!

4. I love lists - particularly crossing things off them! I love this to the point that sometimes, if I do something that I didn't put on the list, I'll write it on afterwards just so I can cross it off!

5. I wish I was able to make wonderful arty/crafty things. There's so much beautiful stuff out there.  I'm more of a starter and less of a finisher so until I deal with that it's not going to happen!

6. I love to read and I have many favourites but the top 3 are... The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham and I love To Kill a Mockingbird too. Ok, let's make that 4 favorites.


7. I'm excited to start a family (or start trying to). Thanks to a comment in the wedding speech, the in-laws have a pool going that there'll be a little A by next Christmas. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!


As I don't have 7 people to pass this on to, I'm going to leave it open. If you stumble across this and want to introduce yourself and tell me 7 things go ahead, I'll come and read it and leave you a message!


And finally, just because, here's another wedding photo taken by a wonderful guest (who was also kind enough and cluey enough to video our bridal dance - thank you, thank you, thank you)!

Mrs A!

I've been Mrs A for a whole week now and I like it! 

We had a brilliant day. The weather was fantastic, we were surrounded by our favourite people, things mostly happened as they needed to. I still had my cold (and I still have it now - I actually pulled a muscle in my back coughing today - ouch) but a couple of cold and flu tablets later I was fine, if a bit sniffly.

So, my first weekend as a married woman and I'm actually home alone! A is in Melbourne for his best mate's bucks. I'm looking forward to it really. I haven't been home for 5 out of the last 6 weekends! I've just watched Harry Potter, have another movie for tomorrow night (one A wouldn't want to see) and plan on mowing the lawn, gardening and keeping Axel company. He's been a bit neglected of late, poor boy!

Will leave you with a couple of photos and will think about doing some recaps soon.

9 days

So, I bit the bullet and bought the hydrangeas.

Flowers - tick, so happy. Also ordered roses, lisianthus, alstroemeria, blue gum, billy buttons and everlasting daisies.

Discovered my first not-so-good purchase. Earrings. They are beautiful and shiny and gorgeous but I have worked out why I don't wear dangly earrings. One of my ears is slightly lower than the other. Weird. The earrings make it really obvious - ok - maybe just to me. Anyway, I had earrings and a necklace that belonged to my Nana as a back up. They've just been cleaned up and have come up nicely so I'll wear them instead.

Procrastinating on the last job of the night - putting place cards into envelopes for each table. Best get on with it.

You never know, if I keep this up I might get more than 5 minutes to relax next week!

10 days!

BM gifts - tick
Seating - tick

My beautiful BM and sister found hydrangea plants with flowers at a nursery, now, even though everyone says they don't flower until December - ok so we'd have to buy a couple of whole plants... is it worth it? Then I could really have these beauties....

Green Wedding Shoes

11 days - 279 hours

Gah! It just keeps getting closer and there's nothing like a countdown timer to reinforce the feeling! That is a good thing, I'm looking forward to it. I just wish everything else would stop and wait for two weeks!

Had a lovely hens weekend. Nothing too wild, just some good food, good drinks and good friends. Heard all about A's bucks (or what he could remember) - I think there's meant to be rules about not sharing stories but they've never applied in this household so no reason they should start now!

Possibly even more excitingly A came home without a suit/shirt/tie but with one being altered in Melbourne and all the other bits and pieces being held ready to pick up this coming weekend! It's grey with a bluey pinstrip I think, from the dodgy mobile phone photo. Whatever, it looked great on him and his two groomsmen so ....woo hoo! Who said you needed to be organised about these things?

So, the list looks a bit better after the weekend. I still haven't done that marking though!

• Finalize seating
• Work out what flowers and how many to order - tick (sort of, the lady I need to order from is on hols for a couple of days but I have worked out what I need to order). Three minds are definately better than one when doing these things!
• Get A a suit. Yes, you read that right. He still does not have a suit! - tick!
• Buy bridesmaid gifts - any ideas people? - half tick, sale at the jewelers tomorrow. I will be there!
• Finalize music
• Finalize ceremony
• Get A to organise transport for beer - tick!
• Email a trillion people
• Pay photographer + venue
• Hire umbrellas (just in case)
• Work out what is going on top of the cake - tick!
• Do something about a guest book - half tick - have worked it out, just have to do it
• Buy parents presents - again, any ideas?

Little packages of goodness

Over the last week I've been getting mail.

Exciting, beautiful, Etsy mail! Oh, if I had a larger bank balance.

My hair flowers arrived...

Percy Handmade

And a bracelet...

Rush Creations

Just waiting on some earrings now!

Still on the to do list...

• Finalize seating
• Work out what flowers to order (and how many - erm, if you are getting married and have this grand idea of doing your own flowers, listen to your mother when she tells you you are crazy. She's more than likely right. She has been before and, no doubt, will be again)!
• Get A a suit. Yes, you read that right. He still does not have a suit!
• Buy bridesmaid gifts - any ideas people?
• Finalize music
• Finalize ceremony
• Get A to organise transport for beer
• Email a trillion people
• Pay photographer + venue
• Hire umbrellas (just in case)
• Work out what is going on top of the cake
• Do something about a guest book
• Buy parents presents - again, any ideas?

That's nearly as many jobs as there are days left and I'm sure I've forgotten something!

15 days?????

Surely not? Where the hell did the last 15 go?

Can I just say that I am absolutely amazed by people who managed to blog regularly all the way up to their wedding day. Absolutely amazed!

A lot has happened in the last 15 days. It's been a bit of a roller coaster. I've had the low of saying goodbye to my beautiful grandmother next to the high of A having a pretty darn good win at poker. Although, I'd swap the money for having grandma at the wedding any day of the week. She held on long enough for me to visit and talk to her after I got home from Japan and for that I'm eternally grateful.

In the midst of that sadness we got this fantatsic RSVP from a relative (on the other side of the family) which nearly had us crying with laughter and because I have tests to mark, phone calls to make and a house to clean I'll leave you with that for today.

Roses are red

Violets are blue

On November the 6^th

We wanna party with you

P has new moccies

B, a new tatt

L has new thongs

Can’t go wrong with all that

But oh woe is us

We have to confess

We forgot to reply

Oh gosh what a mess

Please can we come

Please find us a table

To celebrate with

The new couple named ?*

Please send us a message

A “Yes” we do pray

To ensure the C family

Can share your great day

So this is the end

Of our little ditty

We certainly hope

That you’re not really shitty

* I guess you can tell that my new name is going to rhyme with 'table'!

RSVPs

RSVPs are slowly but surely coming in. It's so lovely, especially the people who have gone to the effort to post an acceptance card (we didn't include them in the invite). We've been so wrapped up in just getting things done that it's really nice to hear that other people are excited about the wedding too! Lots of warm fuzzies!

And now for some Japan happy snaps...

Part of my favourite place in Kyoto - Kiyomizu-dera. 

Even in the rain with squelching wet shoes, I love it!

Watching our Maiko perform. Hard to believe she's just 16!

Getting excited about the Baseball - Go the Hiroshima Carp!

One month to go!

This time this month I'll be Mrs A! Right now, sitting in a hotel foyer in Tokyo I feel like everything is under control. The nearly two weeks away from planning has been great. It's easy for me, being the indecisive type, to spend hours considering options for cakes, placecards, don't even get me started on flowers that being out of the country and away from the planning has been really effective in getting things done! My beautiful BMs have dresses, my sister has organized most of the flower vases and bits and pieces and I even think that A has got through most of the jobs I left him!

On another topic I love Japan! Have done so much this trip that I haven't on others. Met a real live Maiko, went to the Ghibli Museum, my first ever baseball game - go the Carps! Who would have though baseball would be so exciting! Two days to go. Lots of shopping to do. Lots of photos to show when I'm home and not blogging from an iPod!

Cure for the common cold?

I had gone 9 weeks at a new school without getting sick. I was going for a record - no cold in term 3. But 3 days out from holidays I've choked! So I'm home today grumpy because I'm off overseas on Friday evening and I really don't want to be sick! 21 super excited kids and an overnight plane ride with a cold does not sound all that appealing. Grrr.

On the plus side. Thanks to Photoshop and green-eyed-butterfly's lace brush set I've managed to make up the files for the placecards. I'm pretty sure there's some sort of wedding karma that says you shouldn't do that before you get RSVPs but tough. Sending them off to my lovely mum who is going to print, cut and fold until her heart is content and have have them all done by the time I get back from Japan!!! Got to love excited mums.

I've sent A off to the health food shop this afternoon to search for Oil of Oregano which is apparently good for colds. Any other quick fixes out there?

3 Very Important People

There are 3 very important people who just because that's-the-way-life-goes wont be at our wedding in November.

Nana and Pop have both passed away in the last 3 years. Has it really been that long? It doesn't feel like it. Pop was a farmer until the end and as a friend put it at his funeral was "one of life's true gentlemen".  Nana was a great gardener, tennis player, cook, seamstress, florist - you name it and she could do it.  I have no doubt that if she were around she'd be doing our flowers, cooking our cake and they'd probably be teaching us how to dance. They loved their old-time dances and would light up when they showed us something new they had learnt. My sister and I always said we should go with them one night to see them in action but of course we never did. The definition of regret.

For them, after our first dance, the rest of the family will be getting up to do an Evening Three Step. Possibly to 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts' unless anyone else out there knows another evening three step song??? 

And, my other important person? Grandpa. Another avid green thumb with a garden to rival Nana's and a great sense of competition in a game of scattegories. Seriously, the debates over answers were fierce. Filled with laughter, but fierce. It is for both of them that I'm giving the bouquets a go myself. I'd like to claim to be half as talented, or even a quarter! 

So while they won't be there in person, they'll be there in our hearts and our actions in some way. And that will be enough.

Music dilemma and a solution

FMIL very kindly bought us a CD of wedding music last weekend. We put it on for a bit. After about 5 songs I was ready to snap it in half. I just don't see us walking down or back up the aisle to the Bridal Chorus or Wedding March. I certainly can't see the bridesmaids entering to Trumpet Voluntary either. To me, they are big majestic cathedral like songs. We are getting married in a small, inner city church. I'm fairly sure it will take no more than 30 seconds to get up the very short aisle.

So when A mentioned to his mum that we would probably go for something more modern the response was "you have chosen to have the service in a church and so the music must be appropriate" and some more traditional song suggestions along with the name of an organist. Yikes! How do we get around this without offending?

Vogue wedding forums to the rescue! There was a mention a while back about the Vitamin String Quartet having covered just about every song you can imagine and boy were they right about that! From Lady Gaga to Radiohead and Kanye West to the Pixies. After ruling out Bad Romance and Gold Digger we got quite a good list going. And it was one of the most relaxing, fun wedding jobs we've done together in recent times!

Now to decide which one to walk up the aisle to! At the moment it's a toss up between Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol) because it's a sweet song and Mr Brightside (The Killers) just becuase it sounds good!

The older crowd will appreciate the appropriateness of the music (no words, no drums) and we'll appreciate not having the primary school adapted version of "here comes the bride" running through out minds!

Thanks Vogue Forums!

Tell me what you really think!

I love my Grandma to bits. And I love that now she's nearly 90 she says exactly what she thinks without being too concerned about tact!

When I saw her last weekend she asked a lot about the wedding. But the comment that took the cake was this....keeping in mind that I had just come from a hair trial.....

"And Christie how are you going to have your hair?"
"Like this Grandma. But with a veil and a flower," I reply and spin around so she can see the back too.
"Like THAT??? It's very messy. I hope it will be neater than that!"

Thanks Grandma! You're a cracker!

After hours of trawling Etsy (oh how I wish I was a more decisive person) I'll have a flower like this from percyhandmade hopefully made with some lace from my dress if there's enough after hemming this weekend.  Yep, another trip to Melbourne. The cat won't be home alone this time though!