Entries Tagged 'wedding' ↓

A few weeks ago we were planning for a trip to Mozambique.  My friend was getting married there, and we were planning to fly there ourselves, with a small aircraft.  This almost sounded too good to be true, I got my dress ready, and my husband did the flight planning. We did some research and got extremely excited about snorkeling in the tropical turquoise water.

We made sure that our traveling passes were in order, and found out that we had to drink anti malaria medication. We watched the weather with a hawk’s eye, hoping that it will be clear enough to fly.

I’ve never been to another African country, so for me this was a huge event. Everything was all set for Saturday morning’s early rise. On Friday my friend phoned and let me know that she forgot to get the groom a belt, which I could luckily still buy, and also did.

Friday evening came, and as I started making my lists of all I had to pack, and do before going to bed something told me that I shouldn’t forget my passport. I knew the expiry date was still good, cause I checked it just two weeks earlier. As I opened the cupboard where all our legal docs are kept, I realized with a shock that everything was there except my passport. Needless to say I was in a frenzy, tipping anything and everything over to try and find it. I unpacked boxes with paint which I haven’t used in the past ten years, I turned the everything upside down and inside out. Twice. And nothing. I tried thinking. Still nothing. I had looked absolutely everywhere in this house, and I can guarantee that it is not here. Now. Firstly this meant that there’s no legal way for me to get over the border, which obviously meant that we missed the trip, and my friend’s weddings. And secondly it meant that our flight adventure was canceled.

The trip can still be retaken, but a wedding is a once off thing, and I am so sad and angry that I missed it. I still have no clue what happened to my passport. It pretty much vanished?! I guess someone had to have taken it. Just a pity that their timing sucked so badly.

Getting married in sunny Africa may seem like a very romantic idea to most, but especially so for two German kiddies, who decided to elope to Africa – “where its warm”.

Two German children – aged five and six – have been stopped by police from eloping to Africa to tie the knot in the sun, reports say.

The budding lovebirds, identified as Mika and Anna-Lena, packed bathing costumes, sunglasses and a lilo and headed for the airport.

They even had the presence of mind to invite along an official witness – Anna-Lena’s seven-year-old sister.

The three got as far as Hanover railway station before police intervened.

The young couple were “very much in love” and had decided to get married in Africa “where it is warm”, police spokesman Holger Jureczko told the AFP news agency.

Sun-seekers

The idea for the getaway wedding was born as the children’s families celebrated New Year’s eve together and Mika regaled the two girls with stories of a recent holiday to Italy.

The following morning, as their parents slept, the intrepid trio walked 1km (0.6 miles) to the local tram station at Langenhagen, where they hopped aboard a tram for Hanover central station.

But the group aroused the suspicion of a guard as they waited for a train to the airport, and police were called in.

Officers persuaded the children they would not get far without tickets and money, but consoled them with a free tour of the police station, where they were shortly picked up by relieved parents.

Although any marriage plans have been put on hold for now, police did not altogether rule out the possibility of an African wedding.

“They can still put their plan into action at a later date,” AFP quoted the spokesman as saying.

Today’s the last day I’ll be writing a personal post as a Miss… When I get back from leave, I will let you know, but then I am going to be a MRS!

I can’t wait for the wedding anymore. There have been some minor complications. People not wanting to sit where we have already arranged for them to sit, and others who RSVP’d who are not coming anymore. Pff… Twats. Anyway, so we have to make some changes.

Tomorrow I’ll be spending the day getting the last few things ready, and I’m going for a pedicure. Then I’m gonna see my sister and her family – they’re coming from Texas – Yay!! Can’t wait.

On Friday we’re setting up the venue. Someone’s going to have to pitch the marquee tent, and setup the gazebo. We’ll be busy with the décor & flower arrangements. I have to remember to pickup the rose petals which I’m going to mix with white duck feathers for confetti, as well as pick up my bouquet. I hope my bouquet comes out the way I want it. I took them a picture from a magazine which I had copied. I’ll add it to this post so you can see [You can click on the pic, it should open a fancy new viewer called Lightbox – I got the idea from Kristyn – thanx Kristyn )

I’ve been trying to remind myself that I need to focus on handing over my work stuff, but its pretty hard, specially cause I know these are the last few hours.

I got the cutest e-mail from a colleauge wishing me well for the wedding. I will post it here in a password protected word doc. If you know my surname, you can open it – that’s the password.

Hope you all will survive without me till the 18th of March when I’m back in the office

You know, these last few weeks of my life have probably been the most hectic ever. I don’t think I’ve ever stressed so much. I have tons of things to remember. Lists are great, but they you have remember where you put those, and what the hell it means when I wrote “serviette rings” – did I write that because I didn’t have enough, because I have to pick them up, drop them off, or WHAT? And who is suppose to help me with this mess?

I have so many people who offer to help, and I really wish they could, but sorting out the mess in my head is something only I can do. I need to sit down and make a plan … think of things bit by bit, analyze it, and then get a plan to get everything done. Thing is, I don’t have time? I have 8 days left, I know, but I work 8 hours a day, and I spend another hour and a half traveling each day (if I’m lucky). When I get home I have to cook and clean, and organize everything in the new home which I haven’t already organized, and then I’m so exhausted that I need to sleep else I won’t be able to get up the next morning at 5am.

You may have noticed that my sentences are extremely long and don’t have much punctuation marks in them but that is exactly how I feel – like I just can’t get a break – like I just have to keep going without being able to stop and take a breath, and wait till I feel like I can carry on.

I need to plan a handover at work for the time that I’ll be out of the office for the honeymoon, and right now, I don’t have time for that either, I just have too much work to do as it is, and I feel like I can’t keep my head above water.

I just can’t wait until its the big day, and I can relax and enjoy everything. I just can’t wait anymore.

I should’ve taken more leave for next week, instead of just taking Friday off, and I will still see if I can get something like that, but I bet it won’t be easy, since I still have so much to do at work.

I hope you all are not getting bored yet You might ask why I keep blogging if I have so many things to do, and so little time, but this is my little piece of sanity and I can truly vent here. With a cup of tea or some water, my music, and just sharing my thoughts and frustrations… It makes my days bearable.

Some people feel alive when they deal with stressful circumstances like these – its what they live for. Me? I don’t like all this planning and that. I’m a ’stop-and-smell-the-flowers’ kind of girl. I like to do what I FEEL like, and right now, I feel like doing absolutely nothing.

When we think of weddings, we all have the most idyllic pictures in our minds. The beautiful bride. Lovely scenery. A cozy atmosphere for the tables that are all neatly set. Flowers. Flower girls. Happiness and laughter. Family photo’s. There’s generally a good vibe going around there do’s – lol.

I guess I’ve been pretty blind about it too, so I won’t blame anyone who takes it all for granted.

You have absolutely no clue what its like if you haven’t been through a wedding yet. And if you used a wedding planner, sorry, you’re disqualified.

Weddings take planning. Immense loads of planning. From the word go. I never thought that deciding on a date could be such a big issue. But I promise you that you will know exactly when I mean when you get there.

You have to keep in mind all your family who lives far away – will they be able to make it to your wedding? Then the season. What type of wedding do you want? Spring, fall? This will determine what flowers are available, and also what type of dress the bride will be wearing.

Once the date is set, after both parties have listed all the pro’s and con’s of WHEN the wedding will be held, you have to start thinking of invites. Invites will be determined by your colour scheme, or theme. Now, you also have to think about WHO you’re going to invite. This is bound to cause some strife between the couple, and between the couple’s families. Families always want to invite loads of people that the couple doesn’t really know, and doesn’t really care to have at the wedding.

The people who are invited will most probably be determined by the people who pay for the wedding. For instance, if the couple pays for the wedding themselves, they won’t easily let their minds be changed by parents who want to invite long lost aunts. But now the tricky thing is, if the parents pay for the wedding, they have a huge say in who’s being invited.

Traditionally the bride’s father pays for the wedding, but I guess these days people are ignoring almost all traditions, so this one went along with the rest. Honestly, its easier if the couple pays for the wedding themselves.

Once you’ve come to an agreement with each other, as well as made peace with the families, the guest list can be finalized. Remember, this is NEVER cast in stone. Never ever assume that your guest list is FINAL. A finalized guest list just doesn’t exist. Ever.

We’ve had some pretty interesting happenings around our guest list. First of all we drew it up with about 60 guests. Perfect. I always wanted a small wedding! Problem #1? I didn’t invite half my family. LOL. I guess we’re not very close with a lot of people in my family, and I really didn’t want people there who just want to comment on the whole “do”.

My folks weren’t very happy about this, which I could understand, so we adjusted the list a little, and added some more family from my side. Great. My fiancé’s family are all pretty close, so we couldn’t get away with leaving people out really. Asif that wasn’t enough, some of the people who were invited, invited their OWN guests along with them. I guess it wasn’t done on purpose, or to be strange or anything, but they just assumed that we had invited their kids and their whole entourage. Great. We have some extra faces. People we haven’t even ever MET!? Arrrrgh! Fine, we get ourselves together again, we make peace, and practice our smiles for the uninvited guests.

Once your guest list is setup, and you have chosen the colour scheme or theme for your wedding, you’re ready to start with the invites. You might make these yourselves, or perhaps you’d prefer having these made. If you have the spare cash to have them made, good for you, but note, you might not realize how much the whole wedding is going to cost. Don’t be too stingy, but also don’t throw around your money like you have found a pot of gold.

Personalizing invitation can be very costly if you’re not doing this yourself, but it adds a nice touch to the invite. We did ours this way, but we also made them ourselves. When you make personalized invites, make sure to make a couple extra “general” invites – just in case you forget someone, and also to keep in your wedding album.

Finally the RSVP date comes, and though a lot of people don’t RSVP on time, we eventually get everyone’s replies. We realize that we’re going to have some empty seats, and make use of this opportunity to invite friends who we would love to have there, but who weren’t on the initial list either because we forgot about them (sorry ), or because we didn’t think we had the space. Now this is where the “general” invites come in handy. My sister and her family RSVP’d, saying they won’t be able to come since they live in the US. I was very sad, but made peace with it. 12 days before the wedding they get told that they now have the opportunity to come. I’m absolutely ecstatic that they’re coming, but realistically speaking, we have to make some adjustments. Extra seating, gifts, place names etc, etc, etc. Its all good though – I would change it all over twice if it meant they could be here.

Now you have your guest list filled up to the max, and you’re ready to have a the wedding?! You think you’re ready to book all the equipment you’re going to hire, i.e. chairs & crockery etc. BIG MISTAKE. If you want your max to be 90 guests, allow for about 5 people to still pitch up that you haven’t invited. Sometimes you forget about someone until the last minute, and other times people are just really rude and pitch without being invited. Its always safer to have a buffer. Also remember to hire some extra chairs etc. in case something breaks. You don’t want your guests to be without a main meal just because their plate broke.

Now we have to start thinking of table gifts, place names, a table planner, and decor. Decor can be pretty easy, but also tricky. You don’t want to crowd the table with lots of little fairies and stuff (I’m not having any fairies on my wedding, but some people actually like this), but at the same time, you don’t want the tables to look too bare. You have to think about vases, and flowers, and which flowers are in season, and who’s going to arrange them, and who’s going to pick them up, and when you need to get the vases to the people who are arranging the flowers. All of this has to be done in time, but not too long before, else the flowers will wilt. Same with the table gifts – ours specifically. We have chocolates, and these need to be set on the tables, before the guests arrive, but not too long before so that they melt. *sigh*

While all of these arrangements are happening the wedding dress is the bride’s top priority. Whether you’re hiring, having your dress made, or making it yourself, its stressful. I was fortunate enough to have my fiance’s Mom offer to make my dress, and she finished this week – she did such an incredible job, and I’m really excited about it!!

The groom’s clothes might be a bit of a fuss as well, that’s if you want him to wear a waist coat. This will have to be made to match the colour scheme of the wedding. Personally I don’t like waist coats at all, so my groom won’t be wearing one. (I keep wanting to call a waist coast a petty coat instead… I guess its cause English isn’t my first language, but come to think of it, the groom wood look equally weird wearing either one of those. To me that is )

Once the bride and groom’s outfits are decided on, you need think of your entourage… First you have to choose these! It might sound easy, but I can assure you its not even close to that. You’ll always have people who feel they should rather have been chosen. Either that, or the people who you have chosen will want to take over the whole show. They might try to design their own clothes, changing colours to something that doesn’t vaguely match the colours you’ve chosen for the wedding. The worst I’ve heard of recently, is that the maid of honour wanted her dress made exactly like the bride’s, just in a different colour. What the heck is up with that? I would slap that maid of honour and tell her to wake up, and see that its not her wedding. Yeah, I know, I won’t do that, but the little person inside me feels like doing that.

I’ve been very fortunate to have an excellent, supportive, and very cool bridesmaid. I’m not going to have a maid of honour and bridesmaids and all that. Just one bridesmaid is fine. Really. Her dress is nearly finished, and though I gave the main idea for the dress she chose her own fabric and some extra trimmings. I was at first a bit upset that I didn’t see the fabric before she bought it, but in the end, she has good taste, and it will look good. No use fussing about the small things. At least her dress won’t look anything like mine!!

The flower girls are a total different issue. I was going to use my two nieces, but since they live in the US and wasn’t coming to the wedding, I asked my fiancé’s cousin. Needless to say she is ecstatic. Now, after hearing that my nieces will in fact be here, we had to do some chopping and changing. We’re having three flower girls now, but the two nieces are not here long enough in advance to make the dresses. I’ve decided not to let this bother me, and my sister will just have to get the dresses in the US. Its one of those things that cannot be changed by worrying.

Apart from those three, we’re inviting a family which has five kiddies; four of which are girls. All four are dressing up really nicely. They would also love having something to do. Shame, I feel so sorry for them, cause I really don’t have something for them to do!? They even worked out a dance!! LOL. This is just too funny. So many people are planning things for MY wedding without me knowing it. Mmm… And I thought just the honeymoon was supposed to be a surprise? :O

Oh well, I can imagine if I was little, I would’ve loved to dance at a wedding too? So they can do their little routine while we’re busy taking family photo’s – its bound to entertain the guests who are waiting in one way or another

Now, I have 10 days left, and I honestly don’t know what to stress about anymore. I’ve worried, and wondered, and imagined everything over and over and over. I’ve spent my nights rolling around trying to think of things I might have forgotten.

My head is too full. But it feels like its stuffed with cotton candy… Sticky, and like a I can’t get anything out of it which makes much sense. I don’t know if that was a good comparison. Or maybe I didn’t explain the comparison well… Like I said. I cannot think straight anymore.

The most important things to organizing a wedding? I guess… To NEVER under estimate the cost. NEVER under estimate the work & planning. And once everything is done, try to relax, and just sit back and enjoy.

That’s not a very easy task though. I will let you know how it went, and if I was able to do just that.

In the end its about spending the most amazing day of your life with the people who you love. The people who care for you, and the people who you want to share in this very special event.

Its twelve days before my wedding, and I’m becoming a worse blogger by the hour. I’m sorry for not posting any updates or anything of much value, but my head is so busy with all the final arrangements. Checking my lists (in my head), and checking them again… and again… and again.

I get these butterflies in my stomach, and I don’t know if its from excitement, or from worry. I struggle to sleep, cause I’m thinking too much. Not that I’m complaining – I love dreaming about the big day, and imagining everything before hand, but I just need a little more sleep if I want to get up just after 5am each day.

I have terrible hay-fever, and the meds I’m taking for it makes me really drowsy – which doesn’t help my concentration span at work after a night of little sleep.

This past weekend I went for my hair trial, and it was a total disaster! I looked like a blown up poodle. You might (or might not) know that my hair is hanging well below my shoulders, but somehow the hair dresser managed to curl it so much, that is didn’t even touch my shoulders. I looked hysterical if I think back on it, but at that moment I was furious. I looked like crap, honestly. I’m going for ANOTHER hair trial, to try out a different technique, and hopefully I won’t look as ridiculous this time round!

We also had a mock photo session with our photographer, where he basically explored the garden in which we want to take our photo’s, and I must admit that I was really impressed by his ability. I didn’t expect him to be bad or anything, but our wedding is his first, though after seeing what he’d done, I would definitely not have said that its his first wedding. He has really great ideas, and he knows his camera incredibly well. At least that’s one more thing that I can be confident about, and that I don’t have to spend nights awake for. After all, the photo’s are all we have left afterwards!

I also fit my dress again yesterday, and all the ‘problem areas’ have been fixed now. Its very close to being finished, I guess its on no. 99

At work things are starting to pick up again, and I have to get myself sorted out, and stop thinking about wedding plans constantly. There’s a lot of work to be done!

I hope you all have a fabulous week, and please excuse my absence!!

One of the biggest “no-no” on a wedding invitation is asking for gifts – the only worse thing you can do, is to ask for money. These days this etiquette seem to have been discarded completely. I’ve received quite a few wedding invites lately, and all of them asked for money, instead of gifts.

Personally it would make me extremely uncomfortable asking for anything whatsoever on my wedding invitation, which is why we didn’t do it. It feels asif you’re inviting the guests, but with a hidden agenda?

Surely everyone knows that they’re welcome to give a gift if they want, but putting that smack in the middle of your wedding invite is just a bit too forward for me. Its like asking your guests an entrance fee?

We’ve only invited people who we really WANT to attend our wedding, and we didn’t invite them because we thought they’d give us nice prezzies! Instead we look forward to spending this incredibly special day with the people who we love. Our friends, and our family. Because we really want them there for their company.

Here are some folks who agree with me: Lifestyle @ iAfrica

I’m slightly irritated today. Our office has been without water since yesterday, and if you think a power cut was bad, consider not being able to FLUSH your toilets! Even worse, try imagining a whole building full of women, sharing three toilets, and not being able to flush. Its a disaster.

Our company bought mineral water to drink and make coffee with, but still, there’s no way of washing the dishes, washing your hands (after going to the filthy bathrooms), and there’s no way to clean ANYTHING in the office if you spilt something!

I can’t imagine why its taking them so long to fix a burst water pipe. Surely for situations like this there are people who ought to work nightshift to try and fix it? I really don’t understand why it has to take them more than 24hours? I saw the hole they dug, to fix the pipe, but there isn’t even anyone there, working on it?!

On a more positive note, you might not have noticed my new header image, as Kirstyn pointed out, she only saw it this week, and its been up for about a month! Hehehe… If you still can’t see the bride & groom image on the header, try to refresh my blog with Ctrl+F5.

I was actually looking for a wedding Wordpress theme, but couldn’t find one that appealed to me. Most of them were very old fashioned, and reminded me a bit of a funeral – with the faded roses and all.

Just a reminder, I’ve only got 23 days left before I’m getting married – that just a bit more than 550 hours!

Hey Everyone!!! Wow, its Monday again – I can’t believe how quickly time is going by, and yet still I feel that its sometimes dragging along. Specially when I remind myself that I still have 33 days left before getting married. I suppose its not that long afterall though

I had a great weekend, and I feel so well rested. I had a afternoon nap on Saturday and Sunday, and I LIVE for naps sometimes. It was just so lovely to be able to doze off in the middle of the day

Sleeping wasn’t ALL I did, so I’ll share some photo’s as proof

We had lunch near the Hartbeespoortdam and I tried out my photography skills.

[Though this pic wasn't taken by me, but by my fiance]

[A pic taken by myself]

[And another pic taken by myself]

[The demo table setting for the wedding... still lacking some stuff, and not with the nice cutlery & crockery]

For those of you who are not spying on me, you can view the full set on my Flickr account, just add me as a friend, I’ll do the same, and then you’ll be able to view my pics.

Green is the colour of the season!! Today I saw a pic on Women24 showing three celebs with GREEN on the red carpet – they’re all following my lead! Haha…

 The dress in the middle, which Drew Barrymore is wearing, is the colour that I have chosen for our wedding, its the colour of our table overlays – I think its absolutely lovely!!

I fitted the dress again this weekend, and each time I do so, I don’t want to take it off again. Its very close to being finished now – I’m so excited!! The bridesmaid’s dress still has to be made, but I’m not stressing about that really – lol.

I want something really plain and simple, and already got a sample pic for it…

As for my dress – you’re gonna have to wait a bit more than a month before you can see that! I have pics, but I’m not sharing them yet