Where Does One Start?

Where does one Start?
After being away for some time, it is a hard decision to make. Do I try to fill in the gaps of the past year, or do I simply pick up from here and move on?
Apart from the day to day, what major events have occurred?
Answer: a few. :)
Maybe I'll start with the wedding of my Son and his lovely Bride.

In 2008, G and D got engaged, much to our delight. They had planned the wedding for 2009, but all during that year, they couldn't make up their minds as to what sort of wedding they really wanted. One week, one of them would want a formal wedding but the other didn't, then the next week, their positions would be reversed. They wanted an outdoor wedding....no they wanted it indoors somewhere nice.....they wanted to invite everyone.....no they only wanted 12 at a restaurant. And so it went on, with no actual wedding date, no final decision on the wedding.... I just left them to it, and said when you decide, let me know. lol

As previous readers will know, in April last year, they decided to pack up and move....across the water to Tasmania! Still no wedding decision........

The air and food in Tasmania is rather wonderful - magic! Anyway, it worked it's magic on these two, and a little girl was conceived. Both agreed they wanted to get married before she was born. Initially, it was to be a simple wedding in the park (in Tassie) with lunch back at their house. Anyone who wanted to travel down to Tassie would be welcome. Sounded good, and quite simple.
But I should have expected a change of plan(s)! They then decided to fly back here, get married at the registry office and go out for lunch - just parents and siblings and their partners.
That led to them thinking they could have a celebratory, bring your own, BBQ in our backyard the next day, for family and friends.
That sounded to me as though it was going to be work for me anyway, so I suggested a back yard wedding with BBQ, bring your own drinks, no pressies. They were delighted with that idea! :) I had just over 6 weeks to organise the wedding - make invites and send them out, organise decorations, menu, bouquets, bridesmaid's dress, cake........

On Sunday the 12th September, 2010, D and G were married. :)

The Bride and Bridesmaid

The Groom

Part of the Backyard Decorated

The Vows

The Rings  - G chose to have one of my Dad's rings for his Wedding Ring

The Happy Couple

The Wedding Cake

It was a lovely day. The sun shone, everyone enjoyed themselves, the Bride and Groom got to relax and have fun, and everything went smoothly. So many commented that it was the best wedding they had ever been to, and more importantly, D and G declared it a perfect day - exactly what they wanted!

Where have I been.....?

Life has been extremely busy, but that's no excuse for not posting here. After all, I have found time to log on to Facebook each day! lol
Much has happened........ playing with my Grandson (now 4 months old), organising and hosting my Son's wedding, working on UFOs, playing catch up reading other blogs, catching up on bookwork.........

So, to get back in the swing of things, I thought I'd share a couple of wins I've had in the last 4 to 6 weeks! :)

The first was a selection of fabrics for an eyespy quilt plus a container of her famous cranberry chocolate cookies from Pennie because I won a comp on the Sydney SCQuilters blog. The cookies were gone before I had a chance to take a photo, they were sooo yummy. Thank you Pennie! :)

The next prize was from Vicki, who has a monthly draw on her blog, called RAK (random acts of kindness). Not advertised, just drawn from the comments made each month. Isn't that a lovely idea?

Such a generous prize! Some lovely fabric that I am thinking of combining with denim or chambray and either making a skirt or a bag. Plus this fab pattern - perfect to make for my grandchildren (one here and one on the way).

I've also been busy lately with fabric, working on some quilts - 2 UFOs (one now finished - photo later), 2 WIPs, and 3 new ones. All this in the last week! :)

I'm spending today doing more, then I have to pack it away for the week, to get tax stuff done. :(

                  

 Cheers,

  

The Wedding

The day before the big day:

There was still lots to be done, including making the petal bags for the Bride, Bridesmaids and Flowergirl.

My DD (L) was busy packing her things to stay at the apartment at Swansea, as well as picking up the Rings, and finding countless odd jobs to be done. I was busy ticking off things on my To do list.

I managed to get DS to have her here (on some trumped up excuse) about half an hour before my Sister arrived (he didn't know of the surprise in store, either).

When Mum etc arrived, L reached the door first, before they had even come up the steps (she heard the car). Mum was standing at the bottom of the steps, the others were still near the car. L almost burst into tears, then grinned and, I swear, teleported to the bottom of the stairs to embrace Mum, laughing and crying at the same time. She didn't let Mum go for over an hour! (So much for not being able to stay long!)

Mum was really exhausted from the trip (she is still on chemo tablets) but felt it was all worth it to see the joy on L's face.

Later that evening, we took the girls out to their apartment, then went over to the RSL to place our decorations and place cards on the tables - and for the girls to rehearse.

My sister had made slippers for the tables, in line with our family tradition, begun by my Grandmother way back in the late 50s/early 60s. They are made from cardboard, stitched into shape, then covered in crepe paper to match the wedding colours. They are then decorated with ribbons and flowers, etc. L had a pearl theme going, as Mum and Dad had given her Mum's Mikimoto pearl necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring as a wedding present, (all of which she wore on the day), so we stitched a seed pearl to the ribbon cluster.

We have all had slippers for our weddings, and also for Christenings.

I actually got a bit more sleep that night than I had for the previous 2 nights. I think I managed 6 hours!

YYYYY

THE Big day:

The day dawned bright and sunny, but not too hot - perfect weather!

The girls had appointments to get their hair done, followed by make-up, but they kept cool and calm, and had a great day.

I spent the morning finishing the petal bags, and altering my skirt.

The Bride and Flowergirl each had a white petal bag with a Swarovski crystal on each petal. The Flowergirls bag was half the size of the Brides - really cute!

The Bridesmaids had silver bags, to match their shoes.

At 2pm, DH, Mum and I drove out to the apartment in time for the photographer to arrive. 15 minutes before the wedding, the cars arrived to take the girls over to the RSL, and we were off!

The bridesmaids dresses were cocktail dresses from Studibaker: a beautiful light aqua satin under skirt with chiffon over the top. The chiffon went from blue at the top, merging into aqua at the bottom. There was a split in the chiffon, at the front side, so that when they walked, the skirt parted slightly to show the satin. L had bought a beautiful pearl drop necklace, cultured pearl earrings and bracelet for the bridesmaids as gifts, and pretty pink and white fake pearl necklace earring and bracelet set for her flowergirl (as well as a designer paper doll set and cute tiara).

The bouquets were silk roses in Spring colours. Roses are the flower we most associate with my Grandmother. She grew beautiful roses, many of them no longer available, and all with beautiful fragrances. L wanted silk so that they could all keep their bouquets on their dressing tables if they wanted. A little bit of rose essential oil adds that extra touch.

Arriving:Waiting to go in with the proud Dad:

The Piper began to play the bagpipes (a touch of our Scots ancestory and a tribute to Dad who used to play the drum in the airforce pipe band when younger), and the girls entered the room one by one, walking down the aisle we had made between the tables.

L and all the girls looked beautiful. I think L was the happiest Bride I've ever seen, laughing, smiling, and giggling (yes, giggling!) even during the ceremony. They had written their vows as personal expressions of their love and commitment for and to each other. It was a beautiful ceremony, and they all, girls and guys, looked very lovely.

The Bride and Groom had a wonderful time, (actually everyone did!), partying and relaxed, and then all too soon, it was time to say farewell and send them off to their motel - minus luggage because they had forgotten to bring it with them! LOL I wish I had been the one to pick them up the next morning - imagine Sunday at a top motel in town, 11am, with a bride and groom in last evenings gear trooping out to the car! It would have been quite a sight!

My Mum:My Son's Fiance and I:

Photos have started coming in from family and friends, but we are excitedly awaiting the photographs from the photographer.

YYYYY

Mum was too tired to travel back with Sis on the Sunday, so on the Monday, I packed some stuff and drove her back up home (about a 7 and a half hr trip). We had taken a dvd of the ceremony, so we took that up to show Dad. He was very emotional when we got back up there, having just been moved to a high care nursing home from the palliative care ward that morning. He really missed Mum not being there, and, of course, was very down about having missed the wedding. Some tears were shed together (as they were at the wedding and on Mum's arrival on the Friday).

The bride and groom were honeymooning in Byron with their 2 dogs, so mid week, they drove down to see Dad. He was pleased to see them, despite it being another reminder of what he had missed.

YYYYY

All the best for the future, L and M.

May your days be filled with love and happiness.
Y We love you very much. Y

xxxxxxxxx

Great wedding!

Just a quick post .... Wedding was great, the B & G had a fabulous time, everything went well.
The big surprise we had in store for the Bride was that Mum came down on the Friday with my Sister ( in Mum and Dad's car). DD had no idea! That made her day and her wedding. After that, she didn't care if it poured or anything else went wrong (nothing did). We took a dvd of the ceremony to burn for Dad to watch.
Can't post pics yet, as Mum was too exhausted to go back with Sis (in her son's car) on the Sunday, so I drove her home on the Monday. I am still up here, but flying home Friday night. Will post over the weekend.
Dad has just been transferred to a High Care Nursing home - everything happens at once - so I'll report on that too.

Cheers!

Oh my gosh!

Tomorrow! I can't believe how fast this is all happening! Excitement is building all round!

Today, have to:

Finish making petal bags for bride and bridesmaids; alter my skirt so it doesn't fall down LOL; greet travellers who are coming down today; iron shirts for DH and DS; take bride dress etc etc out to the apartment where she and attendants are staying tonight; do the slippers up with almonds; take things out to the reception centre; clean out the fridge (absolutely necessary - I haven't done it since last week and nothing fits in now so I know there's stuff no longer any good!); change sheets on our bed for a very important guest - more later- and make up an air bed for us; answer phone, which seems to ring non stop these last couple of days. I have been known to answer phone and mobile at the same time!

So why am I here, now? Well, I have stopped for a cuppa, so thought I'd quickly type this.

The weather predictions look great, the bouquets were picked up yesterday and look lovely, thankfully, despite the mini dramas, the bride is glowing, the groom has had a hair cut and is looking smug, and I hope everything is under control.

Just a couple of things that they haven't done which will have to be done today - like picking up their rings and wouldn't you know, despite telling me they were "onto" it, they haven't organised transport from the reception to their motel!

I also have a secret surprise for my daughter. I'll tell all on Sunday.

YYYYYYYYYY

August Photo Challenge, Wedding

I didn't really get a chance to "do" this challenge properly, but here are some photos I took a few months ago.
This is water sitting in my gutter overflow tub (I use it to water pot plants that don't get much rain water).
The first shows reflections, the second shows ripples from a water drop just seen in the centre, and in the third, I actually catch a drop just about to hit the water. (I used the flash for this, hence the different colour)



September's challenge is Food. Should be quite a challenge to get some really interesting photos, not just the standard food pics. Wonder if I can meet that challenge?

****************

Count down to THE Wedding!

I have finally had time to find an outfit. Now I just need to do some minor alterations. Everything that has to be paid for ahead, has been paid for; RSVPs are in; table decorations organised (my wonderful little Sister has made the family traditional slippers for the tables - picture later - ) ; everything but the flowers and the bags for the girls, are ready!

We've had some hiccups with the flowers - L chose silk, even tho' she would have preferred real,so that we could have them early to colour coordinate other things. Last week, we were told that the supplier has run out of stock so we have to change things! I hope they work out ok! Still, if that's the only thing that goes wrong, we're doing fine!

As for making the bags, that's one of my jobs. Crossed fingers that I get time to get them done. They won't take long to sew, it's the cutting out I'm having trouble doing! Taffeta is so darned slippery! Much harder to handle than quality cotton...LOL

I'm making petal bags for all the girls, but a bit bigger than I've made before.

I'll post pics once they are finished.

Busy week ahead, so next post will probably be about the wedding.

****************

Bitter sweet moment

Today, I picked up my DD's beautiful Wedding Gown.

The wedding is not until the end of September, but on Thursday, she and I are flying up to her Grandparents' and taking the gown with us.

Mum and Dad both have cancer, and while Mum is doing ok on chemo tablets at the moment, Dad does not have very long to live. We expect it will be quite soon, so we are going up with the gown, for her to try it on and show him his only Grandaughter in her wedding dress.

He has always been very proud of his Grandchildren, and always said he would make a speech at her wedding. I expect this to be a very tearful occasion, but it is something she wants to do, and so do I.

We only pray that we will get there in time for him to wake long enough to see her.

Please remember us in your prayers.

L & Ms Engagement Party

My DD and her fiance celebrated their Engagement recently. We had a lovely night. The venue was a private room at an Irish pub in town, and we had a beautiful 2 course meal followed by cake for dessert.

I guess we now move from Engagement party plans, to wedding plans. We have already booked the reception venue for next year, but that's all, at this stage. (see earlier post)

The cakes (they had 2 to make sure there was enough for dessert and some to take home) were from the Cheesecake shop. One was a marble mudcake and the other was a white chocolate mudcake, both decorated with chocolate ganache. The shop did a great job, and were very reasonable compared with other cake shops. And the cakes were delicious! One had the names of the happy couple and the other is pictured.

Wedding Plans

DH, DD and I spent the afternoon checking out Blue Water Functions at Swansea RSL for DD's wedding reception next year, and it was perfect! We have booked, so now the date is set and the reception venue booked. Yes! We can now relax for a while.



The room was set up for a wedding and looked really lovely. There is a big window and also a roomy balcony, with beautiful views overlooking the water.We also drove around the area to check out the parks for an outdoor ceremony, and found 3 that were ideal. One was near the channel, one near the beach and one near the lake. All lovely spots. We'll check them out again later in the year.