This is mikaela's Black Wedding!

So I've just started posting on my blog again, I'm working my way through the last years events, just did the wedding day entry which is the same as below but with photos along the way, if you'd like to have a look.

I'll also be starting to sell Cake Toppers, Wedding design services (eg monograms etc) and some fine hand crafted jewellery soon, so if you're interested in that sort of thing, keep checking back =)

www.mikaeladanvers.com

Happy Weddings ladies!

I have about a million others too, might get to those later.

ALSO!!

1 very very important thing for your wedding day: Make sure all the VIP's have arrived before you start! This is my one BIG regret, we didn't even think about it, and so our dear family friends who brought our cake from interstate, my god parents, and my aunt, uncle and grandma missed most of the ceremony, because they all got lost!

And my slightly smaller regret is not starting our dance lessons earlier... we started with only 4 weeks to go, and though in practice we had it down-pat, when it came time to do it my legs went to jelly and it was no where near as good as I wanted it to be. Everyone keeps reassuring me it was fantastic but I still wish it had gone better.

Anyhoo, onto the photos! These are just a small selection, I get them all back in a few more weeks.

These are done by www.kellytunney.com, she is absolutely fantastic.

It was a really REALLY good day.

here it is blow-by-blow:

My last post was telling of getting ready to go to the hairdressers....

So I get there a little late, everyone is there (with the sushi YUM) getting their hair started. My dad arrives with the flowers and Lisa's dress (the one coming from Sydney). Firstly, the BM's bouquets are perfect, the grandma's corsages are beautiful, but my bouquet is ugly as hell. It was my fault, because I wasn't specific enough about what I wanted, I got to the point where I said to the florist "I'm sick of making decisions, make it sort of this size and with these colours and surprise me." Not a good idea... It looked like a beehive. Not what I wanted at all.

Then Lisa tries on her dress... and it doesn't fit! HMMMM.. we ponder over whether a seamstress will be able to take it out in the next 2 hours.... so Lisa and one of the hairdressers go running through the city, dress half done up, hair clip in her hair, trying to find someone to help. They went to an alteration place and they said there was nothing they could do, no way they could fix it... then they came across this little old lady who said she could do it but she didn't have the right machine here, and she started prodding and poking her, managed to do the clip up at the top and actually just zipped it right up! So poor Lisa couldn't really breath, but they did it up! So she left it on for awhile to stretch it out then we knew we'd be able to do it up again later. Lucky the stitching was quality otherwise it may have bust open!

So I sat down and got my hair done, he did a really really great job, I was very happy with it, exactly how I envisioned (sorry no piccies yet!)

We then went home, and had more snacks and nibbles, and I took my bouquet apart while my girls got their makeup bases done... one of my BM's helped me, we took off all the outer layers of leaves (which were folded over and looked kind of dumb), then the masses of blue orchids which made up the main "beehive" shape, then found some absolutely gorgeous black and white calla lillies in the centre! So we rebuilt from there, putting just one stem of orchids in front of the lillies, and three green leaves in behind everything. Then I just wrapped left over ribbon around and around the stems and secured it all with coloured tipped pins. It looked AWESOME. much much better, and I'm so glad I did it. Disappointed I didn't take any "before" photos to show the difference though!

Then I still had some time before I needed to get my makeup done so I made 2 more flower arrangements to go on the certificate signing table and the drinks table, out of parts of my original bouquet, some left over palm leaves and the big bunch of flowers the dress guy gave me to say sorry for screwing up with the BM's dresses. They also turned out really well and I hope someone got photos of them! (I even might have, not sure yet haha).

Then I got my makeup done, and it looked totally hot. VERY pleased with it, and I knew she would do a fantastic job as I'd used her a few times for photo shoots before.

I put my dress on, and we were running slightly behind schedule (about 10 minutes) so I sent the Photographer off to meet the boys at our first photo location, then the girls also, while one of my BM's stayed to help stick my dress to my boobs =P Then my dad drove me, my BM, mum and aunt, and dropped my BM and I off to get photos taken. They are going to be amazing. We were there for about 20 minutes, then went to the park to meet up with everyone. Walking through the park we got more photos taken just as we were going along, I'm excited to see those also.

We get to the ceremony site and take a few quick shots with family, there are a few guests already gathering so they saw me before the ceremony, but I didn't mind, it was nice and casual. Then we're about to start, and we get told we just need to wait for a few minute cause my friend doing the music was still on her way... she had been AMAZING setting the whole place up an had to race home to get ready and come back again, so I didn't mind at all, we just took some more photos.

Then it was time to go, and it all went swimmingly. Except my little flower girl niece wanted to walk with me down the aisle instead of going with her little sister in front of my parents! But that was fine, and very very cute. I think a lot of people cried during the vows, and a couple of little speeches my friends did. It was a really nice ceremony, and we had fun.

Afterwards we let the dog off the lead to run around (he was the ring bearer) and later found out he actually jumped in the lake and had to be rescued by one of John's friends! silly dog =P He had fun though.

We mingled for awhile, then took a few more photos, then everyone started to pack up for us and we wandered back to the cars. We had to take out time as we were meant to arrive at the reception 15 minutes alter than the guests. Once we got to the reception we had our first real hiccup, again my friend doing the music was running late (because after the ceremony had been packed up she had to take everything home in a big truck then come back again), which was fine, but we had no music the make our entrance to. It didn't matter in the end, we just walked up and everyone clapped and blew bubbles over us. My dad did his speech which he did very very well, it really was lovely. Then we mingled some more, had some canapes and drinks, and went inside for entreés.

After the entreés we did our father/daughter dance, with John and his mom dancing also. That was nice, but I always think it's a tad boring, which is why we did it early on. Then my BM Lisa (my oldest friend) did a speech on behalf of the BM's, she was so nervous I think she was going to vomit haha, but she did beautifully. Then Hart the Best Man did his speech, it was lame haha, but in a good Best Man sort of way. At one point he brought up something about us meeting in the fruit section at the grocery store and me taking John's cherry, and I called out "moving along!", which was funny but I was serious haha. *sigh* stupid Hart.

Then we had our mains meals, which I couldn't eat because I felt so full! But everyone said they were really really yummy so I'm glad about that!

After the mains we did our thank you speech, which turned out funny because I had written something quite short for us to read taking turns, but on his first turn he went on and said all this wonderful stuff (he's good at public speaking) and I said afterward "well he sort of diverted from what's written here but I'll just read my bit anyway", then he did it again for the next bit! haha it was funny but lovely.

Then we did our dance! It was a real hit with everyone, so many people said it was their very favourite part of the whole day, but I am disappointed because I know I could have done it better... I got really nervous legs and stuffed up a couple of times, and no one even noticed but you could probably see it in my face...... OH WELL. Apparently it looked good, everyone was gushing so I guess that's the main thing =P

Then dessert was served (again YUMMO), and later we did the bouquet and garter toss, which were both a bit anti climatic and we could have left them out completely, but it was a bit of fun.

People danced a lot, my little 3 year old niece was the superstar of the night, SO cute, she cracked up laughing during Hart's speech when everyone else was silent, which made the whole room explode with laughter, and she danced all night long, til about 11.15pm!

We had a photo booth also which was a total hit, we had a competition for whoever could take the ugliest photo, so we have some hilarious pics of people pulling the funniest faces. We have all the photos in an album and all the guests got to take a strip home with them too, and we get a CD of all the photos in a couple of weeks.

Everyone loved our Pacman cupcakes, and apparently they were yummy too! I haven't had mine yet.

Probably almost half our guests left just before us, around 11pm, and we made out exit at 11.30pm. We just stood at the doors and Hart announced we were leaving, and to farewell the bride and groom, and we waved and everyone cheered, and we left! Simple as that nice and easy =) My mum organised to get all the presents and pack the whole place up, she's a gem.

I drove us to the hotel we were staying in, and that's where I'll leave it! haha

Today we got up and got dressed, and realised I hadn't packed any shoes for John, so like a bum he wore no shoes down to the shops to get some breakfast from the bakery =P

He then dropped me at my BM's house for her surprise baby shower (she lives about 20 hours drive away, so we had one while she was down for the wedding).

Then we went to my mum's house for a bbq and opening of pressies! 3 of my BM's and their partners, and 2 of his GM and their partners came, along with a couple of other friends, my grandma, my godparents, and other good family friends were there, it was really nice. And boy oh boy did we score big time! Everyone was super generous, I think we got most of the things off our gift registry list, as well as lots of cash (thankfully as we've got no money left for our honeymoon haha) and lots and lots of gift vouchers for Bunnings (hardware/garden store) to landscape our yard when we get back, so we are really really lucky!

Now I've spent the last 45 minutes typing this up when I should have been double checking lfight detaisl, typing an itenerary for the honeymoon for our parents and packing! So I'd better go, our flight leaves at 3pm tomorrow, Bali here we come!!

I promise to post more pics as soon as I get back =)

Again, happy weddings ladies! xox

It's 8.19am here now, I have to leave in about an hour to meet everyone at the hairdressers. Then my smallest bm will try on her dress that *may* be too small for her, fingers crossed it fits!

I slept ok last night, woke up pretty early and couldn't get back to sleep, I think I was feeling nervous. Then I got up and there was a hot air balloon fiesta thing happening right above my house, so I just watched the balloon for awhile and that was nice an relaxing =) Also some China Jasmine tea has helped!

About to hop in the shower now, then as I said off to hairdressers, then back to my mum's for makeup, meeting up with the boys for photos, then it's ceremony time!

Better get off this damn internet, have lots to do before I go... FH is still asleep in bed!!

Happy Weddings ladies until I return =)

So the dress guy meets me today and says he won't be able to finish them. Uh-oh. I was kind of expecting it and actually wanted to laugh, but he looked like he was going to burst into tears so I didn't.

Luckily before he told me, he had talked to my MOH and one of my BM's, and they had already gone and sussed some dresses at a department store. So he left, we had lunch, and then went to check out the dresses. We decided on a really nice strapless, fitted dress, and they look gorgeous in it. The only problem was the store only had 4 (5 BM's), so we had to ring a store in Sydney (3 hrs away) and they had a small size for my smallest BM, and one of the groomsmen brought it down with them this afternoon.

Phew! Hope it fits! haha

Wish me luck ladies!

I really love it, wish my body was slightly more shapely but oh well, i love it =)


Sorry they're sideways, and there's none straight on. I'll take some more later.

Finishing things off - 5 days to go

-> Long post ahead! If you can't be bothered reading, please still look at my piccies and let me know what you think =)

First off we have my shepherds hooks... I bought the steel rods and a kid that does metalwork at the school I work at shaped them for me... They turned out a bit skinny for my liking but that's because I just guessed the measurements... They'll still be ok though =P I bought "satin" black spray paint and they've come up really well! The ones with 2 curls at the top are for the sides of the wedding arch.

Second is the fabric I'm using for the wedding "arch".. which I was just going to drape between the tall shepherds hooks. Turns out that looked shit haha so I asked my mum to buy a garden arch today while she was out shopping and I'm putting the fabric through that instead, it already looks a hundred times better, I'll post pics when I'm finished.

Then we've got my centrepiece vases upside-down in the big storage box ready to go to the reception venue, I just wrapped translucent ribbon around the bottoms of them and secured it with a bit of double sided tape and a spot of craft glue. For pics of what it looks like set up see a few posts below this one.

The pic of ribbons are the lengths I've cut to give to the florist to put on the ends of all the bouquets to match the pomanders.

The next 2 pics are the cocktails napkins I've stamped with our logo/icon thing that is on all of our stationary and is also our cake topper, and the actual stamp itself. The look great but definitely look a bit DIY so instead of having them at the dinner reception I'm just putting them out on the drinks table for after the ceremony outdoors.

Then you can see most of the stuff packed up in containers ready to be taken to the locations.

Next is my parasol! I'm really please with how this turned out, because when I first open the package with this parasol in it I immediately though "oh that looks a bit cheap" which I don't care that much about but you know, you want things to be nice! But I wrapped some purple ribbon around the stem and tied some more ribbons around the handle to hang down and I like how it looks now.

Then we have the car ribbons, woo! His car is Silver, so I got a deep purple ribbon for it, and mine and my MOH's cars are black, so we have ivory ribbons for them.

Place cards, not quite finished yet, I still need to put tiny diamontés in the corner of each one.

And our favors, blue and purple foil wrapped heart chocolates. Mostly white chocolate, as I had half white and half milk, but the milk chocolate melted in the post so I ordered another batch of white.

That's it for now! I'm off to finish the place cards and stick the menus and table names together, and finish off the archway.

As for the dress, it's getting dropped off tomorrow yay!

*sigh*

This is a bit of a long and drawn out saga, but I am HOPEFULLY getting it tonight... at least it will be "finished" tonight, if it doesn't need any more altering.

A friend is making it to my design (and adding his own flair).

Please wish me luck ladies, it's kinda an important thing to have for the day!!!

**update** the poor guy had a nervous breakdown! I didn't get it the other night, it will be in the next few days he says. He's handed the reigns over to a girl who has been helping the whole time and who makes wedding dresses all the time, so it's in safe hands, but it's not in MY hands, which is annoying.

**update #2**
Still don't have it, 6 days to go! I'm going for final fitting with the girl today at 11am, she said if there's no major alterations I should be able to pick it up tomorrow, fingers crossed!

My mum and I went to meet with our reception venue today, and worked out that even though we've got all our table centres sorted and paid for already, our package price actually includes table flowers! So now I get to pick extra flowers to put in the bathrooms and on the tables like the guest book, memorial, and gift table, and on the bar. Woo =)

I'm pretty annoyed I didn't take photos of the bridesmaid bags before I gave them out, I had them in my cupboard for ages! I'm going to try and get some photos off my phone of them to put up...

Anyway here I have piccies of the pressies I gave my 2 nieces, the flower girls. In the white boxes are baby bracelets with their initials engraved, but I'm just showing how I wrapped them using the blue and purple ribbon. Then the pink bags I also gave them as gifts.

The next pics are my programs with the same blue and purple ribbons, they have either black, blue or purple cardboard on the back of them.

The ice bucket and bottles are for water, lemonade and more bottles of champagne for before and after the ceremony.

My doggy! Girdler is our ring bearer, you can see him in his cute bow-tie, and his little outfit laid out with the ring pouches.

Next is the pen holder I made to go with the guest book album, the seat signs I made with long purple ribbons to tie around our chairs, and the guest book album. The album comes with the photobooth we're having, but I tied some ribbons around it to tie it in with the colour theme.

And lastly there's the girls bathroom box! I still have to put together the boys one and make the signs for them.