And The Day Came and Conquered.

So I think that maybe I am slightly biased, but I don't think that the wedding day could have been anymore perfect.  Aside from the weather being sweltering at the beginning and one of the bridesmaids nearly passing out.
Other than that everything ran smoothly and everything came together and made the day what it was...brilliant!


The day is here!!


So my morning began with a 4:45am wake up from my maid of honour.  "Hairdresser is here" *cringe* 
So I trundle out of bed and make my way to the conference room of the Eltham Motor Inn.  They kindly offered us use of the conference room so that we had more room to get ourselves ready.  And it was perfect.  Heaps of room and a mirror where we could all do our make-up in front of.  


My hairdresser Rachael Rayner created beautiful vintage hairstyles for my bridesmaids and for myself a side swept plait. This all looked perfect with the style of dresses and I would highly recommend her if anyone is looking for a hairdresser.  She is very quietly spoken but this is very calming also.


I decided to do my own make up as I don't wear a lot. I had trials with a couple of people and although what they did was good, I felt like it was too much.  But I kept being told you need more for the photo's!  Oh well.  I went with what made me comfortable so hopefully I look good in the photo's!  Although I am sure that it all sweated off with the sweltering heat.


We all slipped into our dresses and me into my beautiful dress by Sally Cromie Designs.  Wow! I don't think I fully comprehended it in my mind, but seeing us all there in our dresses was making everything come together.

I purchased a birdcage veil and fascinator from a shop on art fire called YJ Design.  It was a pretty feather one with a hint of blue green. 








My jewellery was a necklace from my mothers collection and a pair of earings I happened to find that matched the necklace.


My Photographer, Maria from Perfect Moments Photography was great.  She was funny and helped make us all feel relaxed.  We had lots of great location shots and I really can't wait to see the end result! We saw a couple of other wedding party's and we really looked like we were having the most fun.  The other party's looked very much over the day.  

After she finished taking our pictures our wedding car turned up.  It was a stretch Chrysler 300c Stretch Limousine.  It was so much fun to ride around in and was a new experience for both of my parents whom had not been in anything like it before.  Our driver was the friendliest and most helpful person and we even made sure we called the company up and let them know how great he was on the day.  We hired it from Amazing Limousines.  


I also had made up some bags with Bride's Entourage and the Bridesmaids name on it.  A fun gift for them to carry their Bridesmaids Survival Kits I made for them. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of either of these but they were functional and fun!


Suddenly we were on our way to the Montsalvat.  I felt great up until we pulled in the driveway.  Suddenly I saw people I knew and the tears started welling.  Oh my gosh.  I am getting married to the person I love more than anything (aside from my baby girls).  Time to calm down and get a hold of myself.
Wow it is really hot as well.  I think my make up is going to sweat off before we even get down there.


Eventually the guests walked inside once our lovely driver walked down and told them all to go inside.  We still had to stand outside in the sun whilst we spoke to the celebrant. She finally disappeared and the song started.  It is called "To Build A Home." By The Cinematic Orchestra.  We had a dear friend play this on the piano and it sounded beautiful.

The bridemaids started walking in but Aurelia didn't want to go.  It wasn't until she was coerced with a feather and told to go in and see daddy that she ran inside yelling "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"  I was told later that it gave everyone a laugh and it helped the groom calm his nerves.  

I heard my cue so I proceeded to walk in and greet all the smiling faces of family and friends.  I looked up and saw Ben.  That was it.  I had to try and stop myself from crying again. So I looked at my bridesmaids and they were all crying! Oh dear.  I was just going to have to try harder.  

So Ben came over and took my hand and greeted my parents.  It was then the wedding began.  We had two great friends/family do a reading. They were both Apache poems/blessings and were nice and simple but meaningful. 

Now the boys ties matched the ladies dresses and I think that this looked awesome.  But the trouble we went to trying to find ties that matched.  Aarghh! We would always be missing one colour from the bunch.  But I think we got there in the end.

We also got all of the sneakers.  Yay! And I believe that they looked just as funky as I imagined, and with the ties the complete outfit looked unreal on the guys.


The vows were said and we were pronounced Husband and Wife! 


Now there was one other thing that was made which looked pretty cool also and that was the pom poms.


Big thanks to my sister who put them together and the boys for fluffing them up on the day.

Yay! So we are now married! The rest of the day was a whirlwind but was a lot of fun.  I got an email from my celebrant a week later and she said she saw weddings all the time and she loved our dresses and all the colour, and that it was so different.  I love that she thought that because it was exactly what I was aiming for.






















Wow so that leaves us with the end of the night.  It was a blur as I was trying to get around to everyone and say hello.  I have shown you in previous posts the highlights of the night, Being the lolly buffet and our wedding tree.  But there was also the bowling which everyone took full advantage of.  Also the beautiful red velvet cake that my sister made.

I have to mention one more thing and that was a DVD my Maid of Honour made of us growing up to show on the night.  Ben and I frequently watch this video (we love it!) as it shows pictures of our parents weddings and then us as we were growing up and to where we are now.  It was funny as well and we loved that it wasn't just us that enjoyed watching it.  We had so many people tell us afterwards how much they enjoyed it as well.   


So this brings me to the end of my wedding posts..... :( but it is not the last.  I have some things in the pipe works that I can't wait to share with you all.


Until next time :)

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. "William Shakespear"

So I decided early on that I did not want to be at the mercy of a florist on the day in case something went wrong.  (Sorry florist friends)  In case you hadn't realised I quite like things that are quirky and different.  I searched and searched again on the net and my favourite website Etsy and was inspired and in love with the bouquets they had on offer.  Peacock feather bouquets, button bouquets.  The idea's that people have are amazing!

I am in love!

I found this bouquet and I thought it was beautiful.  But the price was really making me a bit sad as it was over $500 dollars.  I sent an image to my sister "How cool is this!!"

I kept looking but got a msg one day saying "Hey, I have started buying some brooches! We are going to make that bouquet you liked."

Now a brooch bouquet I hear you say......Yes it is rather funky and unique and something that I will get to keep forever.  

So my sister proceeded to hand me boxes of brooches that came in the mail and I purchased some as well to try and get all kinds of sizes.

Luckily I have a friend who is a florist and when I told her about my idea she offered to help me put it together.  So we got on the net and looked for a diy on how to make a brooch bouquet. My friend proceeded to wire up the flowers whilst I glued the backs so as to not get any pin pricks on the day.  We put them together and wow it looks awesome! Well I think so anyway :)

Photograph by Antoinette Demaria

Now that leaves me with my bridesmaids bouquets and my throw away bouquet.  I can't throw the brooch one as someone will end up in hospital if it hits them in the head.

I found a site in America that sold fake flowers. Yes, yes, I can hear the cringing all around.  But seriously has anyone purchased a bouquet of flowers lately? And mentioned that it was for a wedding?

These looked pretty good so I proceeded to make my order for bouquets, button holes and corsages.  Now they don't deliver to Australia but they deliver to Canada.  Awesome I know!  Luckily I have a friend in Canada.  Well two of them actually and they flew over to Australia to come to our wedding.  The cost of these was cheaper than if I ordered them in Australia even though the postage was horrendous. 

So my flowers were sorted for the day.  Yay!

I want Candy! 

So this is starting to get quite popular and when I saw a picture of a lolly buffet I had to have one.  We went from not really having a bomboniere to suddenly wanting to give our guests the biggest and best!

Now a lolly buffet is pretty self explanatory.  It is a smorgasbord of delicious lollies to tantalise and bring you back to when you were a child and be greedy and look at in wonder and amazement.  Well that is how I feel every time I look at a picture of one.  Nom Nom Nom.  

So a friend of mine went and purchased the vases and bowls (she is getting married later in the year so I am loaning them) and we even have a giant martini glass to fill with these yummy treats.  I made lolly labels for them so that we don't have people accidentally having allergic reactions.  We also decided to have a vase filled with berocca for all of the people who over indulged for the following morning. 

We purchase the words "Love Is Sweet" to sit in front of the buffet.  We also purchased a stamp from the following shop StampOutOnline.  It is a cool stamp which also says "Love Is Sweet" with our names and the date of our big day. So I had been busily stamping away at bags with the help of my sister.

I thought I got a bit carried away with all the lollies I bought for the night but everthing was eaten.  Also apparently people don't read the lolly labels and just got excited like school children and started gobbling them down.  Some of them were left frothing orange from the mouth as they chomped on a berocca.

 Photograph by Sarah Selkrig

Tree of Love


So I happened to come across an idea for a wedding tree.  What a quirky way to remember everyone who came to your wedding!  So I organised the canvas an decided to paint the tree on myself.  I think it didn't turn out to shabily and I know a few people were quite taken with the idea. 

Photograph by Sarah Selkrig

Ring's and Shoes and Shoes and Shoes.........Grrr

I have a favourite website that I am absolutely obsessed with and love all of the wonderful and marvellous things you can buy from it.  It is called Etsy and I got a lot of my ideas for the wedding from there.  One of them being our wedding rings.


Ring-a-ding-ding........


So whilst doing a search on rings I came across a shop called Fabuluster.
They place a cast of your fingerprint on rings, necklaces, etc. How cool would that be me having Ben's fingerprint on my ring and he having mine on his?
I showed Ben and he was in love with it just as much as me.  We decided on white gold rings and this put the price up a little but that was okay because these rings are unique and you only get married once! 


Now I don't know if you are aware of this but we measure ring sizes differently here in Australia than to the US. So I found a site that you can print off a ring sizing chart that your wrap around your finger and viola!, ring size in Americano. So I was a size 5 and Ben measured a size 8.




They are here!!!!!


The rings are delivered and I grab them out of the box greedily.  Wow look there is my fingerprint and look there is Ben's in mine! How cool!
Oh and it looks so good on my finger!  I can't wait to be Mr's.  I take some pictures and send them to my other half.  He comes home later that night and is looking at the rings.  "Wow they look really good." he says as he proceeds to slip his over his finger....and it stops at the knuckle.


He is looking at me with a weird look.  "What?" I say.  "It doesn't fit." he replies.....


It's their mistake.  It has to be......


So we were convinced that they must have mucked up.  Mine fits and it measured right and Ben measured his with the same instrument.


We are just about ready to send a miffed email when I suggest that he go to a local jewellers and get his finger measured.  They will surely tell us that they have mucked up and we can send it back and make them pay for any costs incurred.  So Ben trundles down and speaks to the local jewellers.


"Your ring is two sizes too small.  We can fix this for you but it will be around $90."


Later that week we get a call saying that he was measured incorrectly and the size will have to go up 3 sizes and will cost $200.  Ummm ok. That's weird and why is it going up so much?  "That's because America uses 14k gold and we use 18k gold." Oh of course we do....


We wait for the call and Ben goes in to try the ring on.  It' slides on and off too easily.  "It's uh, too big...... Um why did it go up 3 sizes when obviously that is too big and a different measurement than the first time?" he asked.
"That's because the person who measured your finger the first time must have done it wrong."  This person was standing right next to her!!


So we told them we just wanted it fixed.  By this stage it was fixed again and still too big.  By the third time we were told by the manager, "You know this costs us money every time we have to resize this.  But we won't charge you any extra." What the?!?!?!   


At least I know we won't lose them!


If the shoe fits........


So I had this great idea after watching a Justin Timberlake DVD and seeing him in a suit and sneakers, that Ben and his groomsmen should wear something similar.  I thought this looked funky as, so I set about trying to get Ben thinking it was funky as too.


It didn't take too much convincing to get Ben on side, so we ordered a pair of shoes from ebay and thought we would get more once we confirmed that these ones were ok and worth the money.  We also decided that these could be the guys wedding gifts.  The shoes were good so we decided to order more but the seller was out of the sizes we needed.  Poo! 


So we searched around. and just before xmas our friend said he could get them cheap from the Converse shop in Melbourne. Of course we could get them cheaper. So I looked and looked and came across another place.  We placed our order for the other shoes in a few days later they came in the mail.  Now I ordered a size 9, 9.5 and two size 10's.


I got a 9, 10, and 2 size 11's.......ummm.


So I email the guy.  "So what's the go buddy, you sent me the wrong sizes?"


Reply - "Sorry we don't have size 9.5 so we thought you meant size 10 and 2 x size 11.  Send them back and we will exchange them or you can buy them at a discounted rate."


"Why didn't you email me and tell me. I would have asked for three size 10's. I am not going to send them back as that will cost too much. Also the discounted rate is more than what I originally paid. So no and I am leaving bad feedback!"


" Thank you for shopping with us and we hope you buy from us again."  


Um doesn't bad feedback generally mean you won't buy from them again...




Well, I am still down two size 10 shoes.  I find a site which is a bit more expensive but hey I just want this sorted.  So I pay for them and a few days later find a paypal refund for 1 pair of the shoes as they have run out of stock.


Seriously, are these shoes not meant to be! OMG!  So I have purchased another pair, and it looks like we are all sorted. Apologies to our friend whom we should have just asked to pick them up straight away.  You were right and we were wrong and trying to be cheap. Would have saved me a lot of time if I had just gone with your recommendation.






So I have so much stuff that I want to talk about but want some sneaky surprises for the day.All of the good things I want to save until the actual wedding is over and then I can talk about it all in great depth!!  I would like some surprises for you :)

Wedding Dress Blues......

The elusive wedding dress. Ok, it is not totally unobtainable but it felt like that for me.  I was so overwhelmed by the range of wedding dresses out there, that I had no idea what dress I wanted.  I searched for hours on the internet and then when I thought I had found the right one I was devastated by the price.  It was a Jim Hjelm gown and had a price tag of $5500.  


Now if I hadn't mentioned this before we are a one income family, and the price of the dress was about half what we wanted to spend on the whole wedding!


I have wonderful parents who said that they would pay for it, but I was not going to let them spend that much on something that I would wear only once. So I set about finding someone who could recreate it.


I found them!


So I looked around and found a couple of Jim Hjelm 'inspired' gowns. Wow $150 dollars in comparison to $5500.  That's amazing.  How can I not buy it!
Did I mention it would look 90% like the picture on the site.........


So I placed my order and was advised I would receive it within 22 days.  So fast! Now this was placed through a website located in China.  As far as I am aware most dresses are made in China and are shipped over here for resale at a ridiculous price.


I was so excited and the day finally came.  I had a huge smile and was ripping open the packaging.  When I first pulled it out I was in shock.  My dress was plain and looked nothing like what I had ordered.
Whoops it is inside out of course so as it doesn't get damaged during transit.  Silly me.


Again big smile on my face as I am turning the dress back the right way. And then it faded.


I think it looked 80% of what the original dress looked like. There were flowers where circles should be and the material was cheap. I was not happy at all.  My beautiful dress was HIDEOUS!  It looked like a deb dress for a 16 year old and not at all the beautiful, elegant wedding dress I had imagined. And of course it didn't fit.


Back to the drawing board.....


I was so devastated by the dress ordeal I thought I would not find a dress I liked at a reasonable price.  I went shopping with my bridesmaids for the bridesmaids dresses and thought I would have a sneaky look at some wedding dresses as well, only to be knocked back shop after shop as I did not have an appointment. Finally we went into one shop that allowed me to try on some dresses. I felt poofy and meringue-y but kept trying them on.  Then I tried on one that I thought looked nice but it was $2000. Still out of my price range.  I tried on one more which they described as lilac and although I didn't like the dress style, I LOVED the colour.  It was from that moment I decided I needed colour in my dress.
My family were buying dresses at op-shops that we could spruce up but nothing seemed to interest me.  It is now Less than 6 months until the wedding and my mum is starting to worry and willing to pay any price just so I have a dress.


My Saviour. No more wedding dress blues.  Or is there......


I got a message from my friend Sally.  She said she had seen my sister in the supermarket and she had told her that I still didn't have a dress.  Funny enough this friend is a dress maker and she asked if I would like her to make my wedding dress.
She said she would come over and we could talk about it and I show her images of what type of dress I wanted. After a great catch up and a few months later my friend Sally has made my dress.  She has been great in letting me know what stages she is up to and showing me how the dress was coming along.  It looks amazing and I am sure it will turn a few heads.  I know it is not everyone's cup of tea but I hope that everyone will get as much enjoyment and fun out of it as I will.  


Once the wedding is over she will have an image of my dress on her business page on facebook titled Sally Cromie Designs.  If anyone is looking for an option other than the shops and something 'Unique' I would highly recommend her.


Bridesmaids Dress Decisions.


Now I am a bit of an indecisive person and like to go with the flow.  But when there is something I like or dislike passionately then you will know about it.
Because my wedding had taken such a twist in moving away from the traditional dress, venues, etc. I decided to change my choice of bridesmaids dresses to 1950's style halter swing dresses with coloured petticoats. 


I have four bridesmaids. My two sisters and two of my best friends from high school!
I didn't decide on one colour for them.  I decided on four! Just to make things difficult for me later down the track.
Pink, Yellow, Purple and Green. I purchased these from a site called Unique Vintage under the PinUp dress section.


I hope that the girls have fun in the dresses as they look like a lot of fun! I also hope that they will actually get a chance to wear them again.  And I apologise now for any wasted monies on outfits that they think are hideous.  If it is any consolation you will all look fabulous!


Last but not least....


My baby girls of course! A friend sent me a site called Muddy Ruffles.  It has gorgeous little tutu skirts or as they call them pettiskirts.  They were too cute not to buy, so I bought a marshmallow and raspberry for Aurelia and a marshmallow and lavender one for Isabella. Can't wait to see them all dressed up!


I can't wait to have pictures to show everyone!

The beginnings of a wedding...

G'day! In case you hadn't guessed where I reside, it is Sunny Australia!  Although contrary to what has been on the news lately with all the raining and flooding it is Summer here (just), and we have been having some beautiful days!


This is my first time posting a blog so I hope that you will be kind to me and enjoy my rambles and hopefully delight in my words and posts of the heart as well as my endeavour to let you know of my wedding trials and tribulations! 


Yes that's right I am getting married, to a wonderful man I might add.  I suppose I will start from the beginning of when it happened and my pains, joys and delights with organising our wedding! These difficulties have encouraged me to want to start my own business so that others do not go through the same hardships as myself but I will talk more about that in later posts :)


The Proposal.


My partner proposed to me at home in our dining room on one knee ( I know right? I can hear the gasps of "How romantic!" all around.)  Now before you all go "Boring!", I would rather he feel comfortable and get everything out he wanted to say rather than stutter and just hand me the ring.


Now he had planned a night at the renowned Flower Drum Restaurant in Melbourne. 
He decided that he would be too embarrassed and went for the ambush when he got home from work.  Of course after much happy crying and those words "YES!" We called all our family and friends and then that Thursday night we went to the Flower Drum and enjoyed by far the best meal and best service we have ever had.  The staff were fantastic and we had a set menu banquet which was amazing.  The dessert was a balsamic vinegar ice cream which i remember because I thought "How odd.", But it was delicious.   We were full happy and it was from that day that I totally put the whole wedding thing aside for 18 months.  You see I was pregnant with our first child and due in April.  


We had a beautiful baby girl named Aurelia on Easter Sunday.  She was a beautiful child and my partner and I were so in love with her that we thought it would be wonderful to have another one.  Fast Forward 13 months (yes that is how many months there are between them.) and we had another beautiful baby girl named Isabella.  It was after I had Isabella I decided I had better start planning this wedding before I fell pregnant again!

I gave myself 10 months to plan this wedding.  Plenty of time right? 


The Ceremony.  


My partner was totally infatuated with the idea of getting married at the Montsalvat

It is a beautiful old artists colony set in Eltham, Melbourne, Australia.  If anyone is visiting or lives nearby, I would highly recommend going to have a look at the residence.


My partner booked this in for our ceremony and I just know that the old rustic charm and buildings as our backdrop will make our photographs amazing. Even inside the great hall and the stained glass windows are beautiful. I hope that the guests walk around and take in the beauty of the grounds and buildings after the wedding.


The Reception.


We had no idea of where we wanted to hold the reception but we had decided that we didn't want a formal sit down dinner.  It was one day that a work colleague told my partner that she had been to a bar in the city called Rockstar Bowling  The bar was in fact the Vodka Bar and she said it had chandeliers and was pretty funky.

So we went down and had a look and we fell in love with it.  It made us change the way of how we decided to have our wedding.  It was no longer a traditional wedding.  We organised some lanes for the guests to have some time out and fun.  We were now about going out and having fun and making sure that everyone else had fun with us!


Well I think that is enough for one post.  My next one will be about my dress and my task to find the perfect one.  Until then, happy reading/wedding planning!