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a penguin of very little brain
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| the taste of her ... you know |
[Apr. 19th, 2009|01:44 pm] |
The reason for our adventures in Melbourne was SJ and Essie's fabulous Really Big Party, which we attended yesterday at Glen Harrow, in Belgrave. Glen Harrow is a beautiful old estate, located really close to Puffing Billy!
It was a beautiful day, hanging out with heaps of lovely people, chatting and having fun and loving SJ and Essie, who are absolute darlings. I love them both a lot + a lot. They both looked beautiful and like they were having a great day and I'm so pleased they decided to have this ceremony, and that they wanted to share it with us. <3333333
Due to the cold weather I opted for a three-piece suit and tie, and the most awesome cufflinks ever (photos later if I find some). However, many lovely people elected to actually adhere to the dress code of Mad Hatter's Party meets the Great Gatsby, and the location was perfect for such a theme. The cold weather meant the fires were lit, and it was cold and dreary outside but warm and delightful inside the old building. There were flowers on the tables and everybody scrapbooked a page for SJ and Essie's book, which was a lot of fun. We had known in advance so we brought supplies, but Jen2 supplied ribbons and fabric and textas and stamps and all sorts of fantastic things, and it was such a great activity.
There was live music and recorded music, and cucumber sandwiches, and card games, and tea, and sushi, and our Melbourne peeps and some Perth peeps, and two lovely ladies in two lovely dresses (and Essie's bustle was amazing. amazing!). It was such a wonderful really big party, and not to be repetitious but I love them.
all photos
flickr pool
d's post |
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| famous on the internets |
[Apr. 16th, 2009|01:23 pm] |
Our Really Big Party got profiled at Off Beat Bride! You can see it here.
We are in Melbourne now, back in places with internets, two days in advance of the big party on the weekend. I finished my hair piece last night, photos of it soon to follow. I'm really happy with this one. |
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| imagine how the world could be |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|05:26 pm] |
wooo really big parties
Spent the Ides of March cooking curry and then wedding-ing it up. Operation: Wedded Squee was successfully achieved, Rick and Kandace got married and then had a party. The weather was a bit on the warm side, so we loitered in the bar at the Hilton for several hours before the reception. The vegan food was excellent, I especially enjoyed the potato and leek soup, and that we got vegan chocolate when everyone else got their non-vegan favours. I love really big parties, everyone dresses up and then we sometimes get to dance (though the speakers were awful, and people didn't really dance boo).
Awesome things: Selphie was dressed like a super hero; chatting with people; dancing; frantically calling Adam with a Mandarin Emergency; Quinn's skirt; the shade of green; my cheong sam; April's dress; so many people had pocket watches; some people looking dashing.
<333 Rick and Kandace
all photos |
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| i forgot to remember what i wanted to do |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|07:15 am] |
This weekend sees the first of this year's Really Big Parties. Sadly most of them are being referred to as Weddings this year, I hope that also doesn't mean most of them will be un-fun.
This weekend's festival of heteronormativity has a dress code of 'creative black tie.' I am so excited by this theme, as you might be able to guess by my previous posts on the topic of wedding dress code, by which I mean: dress big, dress bright, dress awesome.
In anticipation of this event, I have made a new hairpiece to match my outfit, because I'm also a big fan of hats and hair pieces at weddings.
I took my inspiration, as I always do in regards to fascinators, from Susan Sarandon in Children of Dune, big and kind of orbiting. This piece was kind of difficult to make because the pieces were tiny, but overall it was not too bad. There are cranes! Orbiting my head! The wire is just flexible enough to move with ease, but still enough that it stays where I put it. |
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| the skies are not as empty as they seem |
[Dec. 9th, 2008|10:22 pm] |
Saturday was a long day, down in Huntingdale by 10:00 and on the go, playing caddy and looking pretty and failing at taking photos (evidence here. It was a Catholic church wedding, which has been provoking some thinking regarding religion for me - I love the photo below that I took, but I feel really odd having Jesus in my lj! There will be more thoughts on this (and other issues) later.
Anyway, it was a great day, a bit warm in Armadale and a bit chilly on the Swan, and the cannons went off and there was a bubble machine, and Chris and Erin made sure there were vegan cupcakes and I love them <333. I hope they are having fun times adventuring down south, I don't know how Chris ended up emailing D today.
check out my composition! |
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| a review of vendors from the really big party |
[Oct. 17th, 2008|07:42 pm] |
SJ and Zanchey are saying, the Really Big Party was six months ago, shut up already! But I'm going to approximately one million weddings over the next twelve months, and much like Dr Sqbr did a vendor review page, I thought at this point it might be prudent to do a brief vendor review, mostly so I can recommend our jeweller (Thomas Meihoffer) and Linda, the most amazing flower arranger ever.
caterer - Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant
I've reviewed Sri Melaka/Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant as a caterer before – you can find the review here. In summary: they are brillig for catering, but if you need any changes to standard preparation methods I recommend speaking Cantonese (or bringing your Chinese mum along). It worked out about $23 a head. (link)
flowers
Linda is amazing. At first I wasn't sure that I wanted flowers, but what she developed for me was so beautiful and so perfect. You can see a photo here. The orchids worked so well with the beads and the ferns, and it wasn't too busy, it was just understated and bright. She loves working with flowers, and I was really happy with her work. She did a mock up about a week before, and then did the bouquets and lapels the night before and brought them with her on the day. I don't know what she will charge you, but I was so happy with her work, and she also did the flowers at my cousin's wedding and they were pretty awesome, too. So incredibly happy with Linda's work and service, I recommend her to everyone. (link) <3
rings – Thomas Meihoffer
We had our rings made at Thomas Meihoffer on Rockeby Road in Subiaco. The rings are titanium, just simple bands, and actually looking at mine I think it needs a polish. Anyway, the two rings together cost us about $500, they were made to order, and the lead time required was about four weeks. When we went in to ensure they fit, we paid and left them there for safekeeping, and authorised Bernard to collect them for us the week of, which the store was happy to do. Very happy with the service and advice offered by Thomas Meihoffer. (link)
suit hire – Britton's Formal Wear
Britton's has a store on Hay Street and one in Joondalup. This is really useful, because there is linkage between the stores, some of your party can go to one store, the rest can go to the other and it still works out. We hired the suits about eight weeks out, Bernard was still in Europe but we gave them his measurements and two days before the wedding everyone went in for a final suit fitting and to pick them up. Britton's is pretty cool with you spending a million years comparing colours and the line of fit and so on, and the suit hire cost us all up about $200ish per suit. I like Britton's, I think they're pretty cool. In fact, we've been there so often this year that the dude gave a discount for the hire for Davyd's brother's wedding (which is in December). (link)
marquee and furniture hire – Swan Hills Party Hire
Went to Swan Hills Party Hire on the recommendation of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sajee's parents, who have used them a few times for other events in their backyard. It rained almost constantly in the two days before the wedding, and then there was a hole in the backyard where the marquee was supposed to go, but they were really great about accommodating us and coming back 0800 the morning of the wedding to set up in the rain. We hired the marquee, dance floor, lighting, tables and chairs from them. It was painless, cost about $3000 (to cover stuff for 120 people). (link)
linen hire – Events and Weddings Hospitality Accessories
Although we could have hired the linen from many places, I only found one who could provide us with the bright red tablecloths we required – most places only deal in white/cream tablecloths. Getting a booking on a Saturday to view the linen is incredibly difficult, but they were easy to deal with and have linen in many colours. She did try to upsell me, though. (link)
cutlery and crockery hire – Hire Society
Hire Society has lots of cutlery and crockery. They'll deliver up to about 20 km away (for a fee), and collect it again later. You don't have to wash it, though they like it if you give the stuff a rinse. However they have no attrition rate – if it breaks, you have to pay for it. Somehow, we lost 37 forks. I was pretty annoyed about that, because I hadn't even wanted to hire forks in the first place (I will admit, I wanted people to learn how to use chopsticks). 37 is the amount of forks that weren't used, and we think they must have ended up at the bottom of a pile of things that went in the bin. So that changed the charge from reasonable to ARGH. But that's not the vendor's fault, obviously. (link)
alcohol – Chateau Guildford
They delivered straight to the coolroom, and came back the next day to pick up everything that hadn't been opened, and then only charged us for what we had used. It is a fantastic and not too expensive way to deal with providing alcohol. (9377 3311)
hair – the Cutting Edge
I don't have a hairdresser. But my mum does, and she did my hair for my year 12 ball (I know), and she's pretty cool. So on the morning of we rocked in, waved to my mum, sister and auntie as they wandered out, the three of us had our hair done for just over $100. Is that normal or expensive? I don't know. (9274 8801)
Everything else we did ourselves/asked our friends and family to do.
There was a cupcake production line the day before the wedding. Please note that if anyone wants to make their own cupcakes in the future, I can be approached to do this for you, so that you're not stressfully doing it until one in the morning, like SJ, Amanda and Essie were with the icing. On the plus side, they turned out incredibly delicious! And they were vegan and gluten free, and I detailed them further here.
There was also a whole lot of fruit for dessert. My mum and an auntie cut that up the morning of the wedding, bought fresh from the Swan Valley. :o)
The sound gear, including speakers and mic, was borrowed by Megsie from her buddies at a Large Performing Venue. Music was set up on my iBook, we just set up a couple of play lists. This worked so well for us (and also quite well for Alex and Liz, who also did this). It's so laid back, and you don't have to worry about the vagaries of a DJ you don't know (think of that wedding reception scene in Love, Actually).
Decorations were made by us, at random assorted times, and then thrown on the tables. I bought the wedding lanterns, my word are they pricy.
Mum and I provided the chopsticks, because between us we have 120 identical pairs of chopsticks. It's related to Chinese New Year customs.
SJ and Susie had their dresses made – Susie's mum made hers, and SJ found an awesome tailor in Melbourne. My cheongsam was made by the dude who tailors lots of stuff for my family, in Malaysia.
Is that everything? I think that's everything.
ETA: The celebrant! Sally Riemann, of whom we knew because she was Matt and Susie's celebrant. She was cool. Number on request. |
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| just don't let the music stop (or; on being the best person there) |
[Sep. 30th, 2008|06:18 pm] |
On Sunday I stood as Best Penguin with Alex at his brazen display of heteronormativity.* I looked dapper in a suit, made sure Alex got there on time (and that he ate beforehand), didn't lose the rings, gave a speech filled with embarrassing stories that made him laugh (not cringe), and danced with a bridesmaid. I think I did a pretty good job, and I hope Alex and Elizabeth agree with me.
Response from acquaintances (as opposed to friends/family) re: me being a groomsperson has been consistently misunderstanding. The most common reaction was, "but you'll still wear a dress, right?" As if there was something wrong with me wearing a suit at a wedding, perhaps as if I would suddenly be less of a woman if I were not wearing a dress at a formal occasion.
One acquaintance asked, "isn't that a problem for the bride?" This response in particular makes me so angry, so frustrated at the worldview of this person. Is it that people can't have friends of a different gender? Perhaps the assumption is that I'm not really good friends with both of them (I used the phrase 'seminal to the establishment of their relationship' in my speech to refer to myself). The underlying assumption here is that for a guy to pick a woman to be best person, clearly he hasn't communicated with his long-term partner and she's going to stew and continue the non-communication. So that's nice, the opinion this person must have of my friends (and perhaps, by extension, of me).
Years ago, the gender lines at weddings sort of made sense. Western tradition with the groomsmen acting to fight off marauders, kidnap the bride if necessary; the bridesmaids wearing the same as the bride so that they could be decoys when the kidnappers came. But these are not actual concerns we (here in our middle-class, university-educated lives in WA) have right now. Also I can hold my own in a fight, I'm pretty awesome.
I guess I don't really understand how people can be all "oh women can do anything" and then assume that a woman can't stand next to her friend on his wedding day. I don't need a penis in order to do that, for serious.
*wedding |
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| never gonna run around and desert you |
[Sep. 29th, 2008|09:19 pm] |
It was a beautiful spring afternoon yesterday, great for a garden wedding. We were out by the Swan Shell at Burswood, flowers and grass and a garden, and yet there were so few hats. Wear hats to outdoor weddings!
I would have worn a hat or a fascinator, as is my wont, but I wasn't sure it went with the suit.
When Davyd told me that Alex had proposed to Liz (last October), I woke up the next morning and called him a liar. I lived with Alex for a while, and I feel this gives me a certain insight to his character, as I mentioned yesterday in my speech. I gave a speech! So that was awesome. Embarrassing stories I told: Alex and his long showers; Alex and his obsession with planes and coins; the pasta sauce story; Alex and his appreciation for my Cosmopolitan magazine collection. I also included lines written by Mr Rick Astley, as did Alexa and Caitlin in their speech. People who did not quote Mr Rick Astley: Alex and Liz, even though they had suggested it in the first place.
Even though I lived with Alex, and had to put up with some pretty crappymildly annoying stuff, he is still a pretty awesome friend, and I was really chuffed to be asked to stand with him yesterday and be the Best Person there. And Liz is also pretty awesome, I hope I was helpful to them yesterday and in the lead up, and in more than just a halping sort of way. I adore them both.
Also awesome: I got to wear a suit! And I looked after the rings, and Alex and Liz got married and we spent one million years posing for photos. As we were leaving, a gigantic wedding party turned up to take their photos at UWA, there were seriously 15 people in the wedding party. And then we detoured via the Junction Ice Creamery, a wedding party and a woman in a big foofy white dress, it was fantastic. The reception was at Mulberry on Swan, and it was a buffet with four vegan options (amongst the nine options + six salads), please note people who use buffets for catering: this is the loving way to provide for the vegans in your life (I love you Alex + Liz!). "special meals" are embarrassing and lazy, and I will elaborate more on this later.
All Photos - check them out! I think Davyd did some awesometacular work yesterday. Also Liz looked very pretty. |
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| some penguins had a party and all their friends came |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|10:09 pm] |
We woke on Saturday morning to rain, a constant droning on the roof. I love it when it rains, but rainy days are days for cooking things for hours and staying indoors, not holding garden parties.
We ventured out to my old hairdresser, a hilarious woman named Fran who works out of Cutting Edge in Midland. There was some consultation as I produced the ornate things I wanted to slot into my hair, and some confusion as I kept complaining about height and body, which I inexplicably loathe in hair.
 My hair piece was actually formed out of the middle piece of a traditional Malay headpiece. The pieces are usually worn on top of the head, facing forwards, to form sun rays emerging from the head. There was no way I was doing this, though, and I prefer wearing my hair with pieces through it, so I felt this was a nice compromise. The headpiece belongs to a Malaysian girl with whom I work.
We returned from hair related things to discover that the marquee looked amazing. The marquee was only completed at 0800, in the rain, and then Davyd, Bernard, Zanchey, Matt, Essie, Linda and Michael started setting the tables and putting things in place, and by the time we returned it looked fantastic, all the cranes scattered on the tables and the napkins folded beautifully.
 I bought all of the hanging decorations on a recent trip to Melbourne, so if anyone happens to know of anyone who needs to use some Chinese wedding decorations, let me know. Also, the 120 pairs of chopsticks were found by rummaging through the drawers in my mother's kitchen, and in our kitchen. Chinese homes tend to have an excess of chopsticks, due to the tradition of purchasing an entire new set every Chinese New Year. As such, if anyone needs to borrow a whole lot of chopsticks, again, let me know.
At about 1300 Matt went on an emergency run to Bunnings to buy mats to put by marquee's entry, to stop people from sinking into the damp grass there. By the time he returned the rain had stopped, though, and the sun had come out, and that was awesome.
Amanda and SJ were amazing with my makeup. They threw me in a makeup chair at Myer in Perth, where the woman at the Clinique counter painted things on my face and we found perfect lips and eyes at Shishedo, both of which I've blogged about previously. I was not first to get my makeup done on the day - first was SJ's mum, who wanted her makeup to be done in time for her to watch kickoff of the derby.
My wedding dress was tailored for me by a bespoke tailor in Penang in 2005. It sounds ridiculous, especially given we didn't actually do anything else wedding related in the time between July 2005 and setting the date in December 2007, but three years later I still believe it was the best decision. I knew then that I would be wearing the qipao when we married, and at that point I was about to turn 23, and hadn't changed weight or shape in about six years. It is expensive to tailor qipao in Australia, and there was no way I was spending AUD$500+ for some sort of one wear only dress. A qipao is designed to be worn again, not worn once.
 Two weeks before the wedding I tried the dress on, and the zipper broke. I had it repaired by Snip N Stitch clothing alterations, who were happy to do the repairs but told me I had to find the invisible zip on my own, as very long, bright red invisible zips were hard to come by around here. Fortunately the crazy wool store at Subi crossroads had some. Cost of repairs plus zip was $32.95.
The qipao fit fine, though you should note that they're made to fit snug, which made sitting a challenge. "I have to hike my skirt up," I complained to my mother, later. "That's how it works," she replied, like it was something I already knew but had obviously forgotten. It also made bending over a chore, so all night I made people pick things up for me. Essie reminded me, though, at least I was still able to go to the loo on my own, some wedding dresses require assistance when you sit to pee.
It is customary to wait one month after the birth of a baby before gift giving. This is a hold over from the days when babies would often die during their first few days, and pragmatically there is no point giving gifts to a baby who dies a few days later. The gifts are also gifts and wishes for the baby's future, usually represented by a whole lot of gold jewellery. It is this that I was wearing, the gold given to me after my first month, so that I was draped in the wishes of my family.
 For the longest time I was determined not to hold a bouquet. At the last, I was convinced to hold something, so I agreed to a bouquet, but only if it could be styled similarly to the bouquets that Tom and Max's bridesmaids held a few years ago. The result, designed by Linda, was simply magnificent. It was understated yet bright and not all droopy like a teardrop, and I loved it.
As I peered out the window, waiting for the time to be right, and for all to be ready, I was delighted to discover that many people had turned up with hats and fascinators, and in Alex's case with a cane. Maelkann wore a bright orange suit, as promised, and my view from the window was all bright colours and big hats and I was so pleased.
I was reluctant to do a stately walk down the aisle, there's so much possession and propriety implicit in that. The compromise was that Davyd, Zanchey, Bernard, SJ and Susie would chat with people somewhere around the frontish area, whilst dad and I would meander over. I sank slowly into the ground as I walked, and my stocking slowly failed (I couldn't wear a garter belt as the qipao has no give for it, and the elastic on the stay-up failed).
The sun was in our eyes, because although we'd run through the day before, we'd ended up in the wrong position, so halfway through the ceremony we crept forward, out of the glare. At prodding from the celebrant, we included anecdotes and readings, how we met through Sailor Moon and then SJ read a bit from Now We Are Six, because everybody loves a Pooh quote.
Later, we took a giant group photo. Afterwards, we dismissed friends to play croquet and cricket (thanks to dr k and dave for the croquet set, and grahame for the cricket set), and half of Davyd's extended family took "and if you're family, you have to stick around for more photos" as an opportunity to nick off to the pub to watch the end of the derby. A number of friends ran off to the Junction for icecream, though many of them managed to get lost. In hindsight, we should have included directions to the Junction as part of the wedding pack, along with the map to the venue.
group photo, sans amanda and essie :o(
We meandered around the estate, taking photos as they occurred to us and pausing for champagne, and for me to unlock my ibook. I discarded the failing stockings before we headed to the marquee, where many of our friends were already well into the beer, and had almost demolished the Squire.
 On a table to the side was a basket from Singapore, overflowing with ang pau and surrounded by envelopes. The Chinese custom shies away from registries and gifts, leaning more towards things that will fit in little red envelopes, that is, money and jewellery. This is considered more practical. "No one is writing their name!" my mother despaired, so now we have no idea who gave what. It is usual to take note of each red packet, the amount and who gave it, but I prefer it this way. Now, if someone chose not to give us anything, we will never know, and that is fine because gifts should be no obligation, anyway.
A Chinese wedding banquet is a lavish, extended affair, comprising eight to ten courses (not including dessert), each served individually to the middle of the table, for communal eating. It is sprawling, taking usually about two to three hours, and it is important to eat selectively at each course, or by meal's end you can find yourself bloated, and unable to sample the delicious dishes which round out the banquet. I have blogged about the catering we used in my foodie blog here, and about our delicious vegan and gluten-free (double chocolate and raspberry) wedding cupcakes here.
 Although the catering was done by Lotus, and the cupcakes were constructed by Susie, Amanda, Sajee and Essie in a feat of awesome, and the fruit was prepared by my mother and an auntie, the serving and related was done by Linda and Michael, with assistance from two of the kids from archery and a colleague of Davyd's.
Linda and Michael went above and beyond, volunteering to come early Saturday morning to assist with setup, and staying late to help us clear away. All we'd wanted them to do was coordinate the food! Their help was amazing and we are so appreciative of their contribution to the Really Big Party. Linda also did all the flower related things, my beautiful tiny bouquet and the corsages and buttons.
There were a handful of speeches, limit of 120 seconds. SJ wrote hers onto a crane; we had to wait for her to unfold it. There was some music and some dancing, cheers to Meggie for using her contacts to get us the sound gear. I turned around at one point to discover that some people I occasionally call friends had loaded some very choice songs onto my ibook, cheers for that, guys. Whereby 'choice' should be prefaced by 'questionable.'
Linda, Michael, Zanchey and Bernard stayed with us until well past midnight, cleaning and clearing and putting away. Eventually, exhausted, we kicked everyone out though the job was unfinished, and waved Linda and Michael off, and we four tumbled into the car and Bernard drove us all home.
As Zanchey stumbled out of the car at 0130, he reached behind Davyd's head and withdrew a top hat. "Oh, what!" I exclaimed, that he had not worn it in photos, and he shut the door and we drove away.
Thank you so much to everyone who came, it was delightful and both Davyd and I had an excellent Party, and we hope that everyone else did, too.
Photos:
- Full set of photos taken by Amanda can be found here. There are about 600 of them, though, so I have posted a small selection of my favourites here
- Some can be found here by my frellie
dortamurrewnad
- essie's picks of her own photos; full set can be found here
- essie's picks of amanda's photos
- these were photos taken by thanners
- Anil took some photos which you can find here
- Photos by Davyd's dad can be found here
- Photos by Alex here (everyone is pulling such dour faces, though!)
Please let me know if you have some that aren't linked here, and if you've taken some but haven't put them up please do that and let me know.
Financial analysis to follow when it all gets sorted out. |
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| you know the rules and so do i |
[Apr. 12th, 2008|09:47 pm] |
Not dead, though I've been followed through Malaysia by this dreadful Rick Astley song, I hate you all.
Had the Really Big Party last Saturday, it was lots of fun and though it rained all Friday night and well into Saturday, it stopped raining in time for the ground to dry out and the sun to appear. I still sank into the wet grass though, so that was fun.
Spent some time visiting my extended family in Malaysia, and now we're adventuring through the wilds of deepest darkest Singapore, we'll be home soon and you can expect a full update then. Probably even several updates. With pictures, and long, soppy sentences of gratefulness (I love you all).
For now, have some photos of the wedding: by essie; by amanda (who was our official photog); and by thanners.
photo by Essie
And leave comments! Sad to check my email and find so little in the way of email (and a whole lot of spam). |
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| the day's as small as the window |
[Apr. 3rd, 2008|10:28 pm] |
I sat, horrified, as the makeup counter lady came at me with this little brush with gloss on it. I've never bought makeup before, I've no idea what I'm doing and I had no idea what to expect as the woman tried to upsell me a cleaning routine prefaced with, Now I don't expect you to buy this. Later, I commented on how much money I had spent. I was just thinking how cheap it all was today, Amanda said, which just indicates how little I know about this stuff (that is, nothing).
Earlier, Davyd went for a haircut and the dude tried to upsell him a crew cut. |
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| sailing over a cardboard sea |
[Mar. 30th, 2008|12:44 pm] |
Tommo and Tina have this friend Jane. Jane found, last night, that every person she seemed to talk to of Tommo and Tina's friends knew Tommo through uni, through unisfa or whatever. And it's true, all of our friends have known Tommo for years, and met Tina through him, or through Nancy.
I met Tina long before that, this dorky sister of a dorky friend and we were all dorks together, in their ridiculously loud house and their incredibly messy room. And I met Tommo after that, separate from Tina, this gigantic looming figure with whom I almost shared a house, who taught me words like awesometacular.
Davyd posted about their wedding in the wee hours of this morning, and he used a lovely photo, a romantic kissing kind of pose, and it was a beautiful photo.
This photo, though, is Tommo, and it is Tina, and I think it is brillig:
Shh, she is saying, or shit, or something, and as she wandered past to reach the aisle she told us in passing that she had lost her shoe. The flowergirls arrived in a bright yellow kombi and were herded down the aisle by Nancy shouting instructions from her position further back in the procession, and Tina looked like she wanted to be a mermaid, and Tommo had a pocketwatch, and it was just all such a delight.
Tommo and Tina are awesometacular, and I adore them both.
If Furry's graph actually exists, as alluded in his speech, I would like to see it. Congratulations to Anil for keeping his pants on. Please note Penguins wearing headwear (fascinators and hats).
All photos
Dr K has some photos here
thanners has some photos here
There are also some photos of Tommo's buck's night floating around, I think perhaps my favourite is this incredibly unflattering photo of Max. |
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| the last line is reserved for me |
[Mar. 3rd, 2008|09:05 pm] |
Site: I've just discovered Off-Beat Bride, and the ideas and links provided there are very cool. A number of the links in this post today were followed from there.
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We've requested that guests at our wedding avoid wearing large amounts of black and red. Red is the traditional Chinese wedding colour, and my concern was that most people wouldn't be aware that turning up in red to our wedding would be like turning up in white to a more traditional Western wedding. Black, though a Western wedding staple, is considered terrible form and, although the bride doesn't wear white at a Chinese wedding, it's more of a funereal colour.
As a result, I'm expecting lots of bright colours, and I'm excited by that, the idea that everyone I love will be beautiful and bright.
This couple went a different way merging the Chinese and Western traditions; instead of requesting no black and red, they requested that all the guests dress in black, red or gold. I am enamoured of the brights in their photos, the contrasts and how lovely it all seems to look.
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Rollerderby bridesmaids has inspired me - but it's a garden party, so probably not conducive to rollerskating. Which makes me a bit sad! (I think SJ would have liked this idea most of all)
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I love flowers. I love that they are bright and soft and colourful, but I dislike them when they are cut. Cut flowers curl at the edges, rapidly brown, and quickly fade away until they have shed petals all over your table. I always knew that I didn't want a gigantic bouquet, because I didn't want a giant bundle of dying flowers in my hands, so SJ + Es began offering suggestions ("halping"): paper flowers, a clockwork bouquet, and a bouquet made of herbs that could later be dried figured among the options. Eventually I discarded all of these, and chose something else. It involves cut flowers (I KNOW), but not many, and the funny thing is that I realised that in my rush to not be constrained by society's demands, I had in fact been constraining myself. I am so happy with what linstar and I have come up with, I just hope it all works out they way we want it to.
That having been said, if anyone had suggested a KNITTED BOUQUET at any point, I would have been all there for that.
**
This goth fairy bride dress is totally awesome, I love the wings.
**
I'm obsessed with parasols. I wandered around James Oval, one ODay a few years ago, parasol shading me from the sun, and Stefefanie turned to me. "You're looking very Asian today!" she exclaimed, which is something you can only say to someone of similar ethnic background to you (so don't try it!) (we're both Chinese, at some point from Malaysia).
I think a parasol is a fantastic addition to any outfit, but I especially long for one at weddings. For all people, both guests and members of the wedding party, I think a bright, colourful parasol is a wonderful addition.
**
Some awesome weddings: astronaut wedding; with wings.
**
Because so few people have RSVPed, I am concerned. Not that they might not like us (if they don't, better to know now), but what if their invites got lost in the post? SERIOUSLY.
**
Davyd was wandering through the apartment this morning, criticising this steampunk wedding. "And what is the groom wearing?" he ranted as he paced. "Where are his tails? He should have been wearing a morning coat."
**
I had this idea for centrepieces, but SOMEONE (Davyd) thinks the idea is a bit weird. Crushing my artistic vision: cool y/n/blue?
**
I'd like to tell you all this is the last post related to the Really Big Party, but I'd be lying, so. |
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| it's not hard to detach when your mind sees falsely |
[Feb. 18th, 2008|06:15 pm] |
Ignore the tag of this post: focus on the fact that it is filled with pretty pictures.
I've been looking at photos of beautiful things, inspiration for pretty things for the Really Big Party. We've done almost all the big things, and on Saturday, though someone at work had said it would take us so many weeks that we'd get bored, Davyd and I spent just over ten minutes picking rings. My sister has begun with a great deal of enthusiasm the maybe-a-surprise decorating bits, and now we just twiddle our thumbs until we get there. So it turns out that three months was more than enough time, really, given we've still six weeks to go.
mosaic by me, photos by other people (links below)
:: chinese wedding :: the bright lights :: happiness :: red dress :: marriage dos cousins :: topsy turvy cake :: double happiness :: screwed :: ceiling decoration ::
I am looking forward to seeing vegetus, and Ms Pieces and Essie and SJ, and having a really fun party.
If you really have to buy a wedding magazine, because you want something tangible, something of which to turn the pages, I recommend Creative Weddings. I know, it can hardly be very exciting if it's in a magazine, but the two issues I've seen were quite pretty and definitely gave ideas for the little things, like decorations and stuff. |
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| 一百四十二张《喜喜》红包 |
[Feb. 15th, 2008|11:13 pm] |
一百四十二张《喜喜》红包 | Crawley, WA | Summer 2008
We are not so cruel as to expect all our friends and Davyd's family to know what to do at Chinese weddings, so we've told them. I'm worried that it's a bit forward, to include a list of you can do this but you can't do that, but I'd rather seem weird than court disaster.
I'm superstitious, and it shows. |
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| a brief interlude about weddings |
[Jan. 24th, 2008|08:50 pm] |
This was written as two separate pieces, but nobody wants to read two posts about this, so:
I read some wedding magazines today.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: do not read wedding magazines
Here are some notes I made:
- Every bride should begin a series of facials or a good home beauty routine at least six months before. Or, as someone commented when I complained about this today, it's so that you can be crazy every morning for six months.
- 6-12 months before, you should book caterers and floral arrangers. AHAHA.
- I don't know how you feel about made up words, but "skintelligence" is a new one for me and not a good one.
- wedding day emergencies: peeling sunburn, flushed skin or rashes, puffy eyes. Look, I would not call these emergencies. Your marquee collapses with everyone inside it and someone gets hilariously trapped, yes. The celebrant falls out of a tree and is unable to attend, certainly. The government declares war and suggests everyone curb excess, maybe. Puffy eyes, not so much.
- Most couples experience stress while planning their big day. GOSH GEE
No wonder people go insane planning weddings, if this is what they're told. And the crazy thing is that many people believe this stuff! It's just a constant barrage of "your perfect day" and "being a princess" and seriously, it's just an excuse to have a big party, and to celebrate the awesomeness of the people in question! Please don't stress about it.
And DON'T READ THESE MAGAZINES.
***
I've been doing a bit of reading and research of late, planning for the upcoming Really Big Party.* As Davyd and I have been engaged for quite a few years, I've been pretty laid back about the whole thing, up until a couple of weeks ago when A Certain Person** waved his arms at me across the internet and suggested that Davyd and I were about three months behind schedule. Because he's usually so calm and laid back, and yet was waving his arms at me, I started to freak out a little and began mainlining approximately a million wedding blogs and articles. I feel sorry for anyone who happens to read my del.icio.us, suddenly inundated as they have been with wedding related things. Genevieve and SJ and Amanda have taken the brunt of this, with constant emails through the work day (when I have no work to do).
A STORY (about why weddings are crazy): At the cricket the other week, I offered around my freshly baked chocolate and choc-chip cupcakes. "You know we're back on the diet," Davyd's mum says as she takes one. I ask her why, and she replies, "Because I have two weddings to attend." "You're the mother of two grooms," I say, "you have to buy two new sets of clothes so why don't you just buy clothes that fit you now?" (she will read this, you look FINE AS YOU ARE)
Weight appears to be a huge consideration in weddings, which is ridiculous, as related above and in this link: The Skinny, and also in that my mother was fretting about my weight; she made me try on my wedding dress, just to make sure it fit, that I hadn't gained weight. "It fits well," I said, later in the week, "which means I've lost weight." "Oh no!" she said, "Is something wrong?"
I have been surprised, and occasionally overwhelmed (not in the good way), by the interest people have in weddings. Most of the time that interest is actually a little intrusive; it's as if people feel that weddings give them the right to offer their opinion about everything, even people who on a normal day would barely chat to you.
I thought I would share some of the blogs I've been looking at. Even though almost everything on these blogs is completely irrelevant to me, they're really pretty to look at, and sometimes there are nifty ideas.
- I love looking at Something Old, Something New. I enjoy reading it for the design elements, but the author of the blog is a professional stationer, and often has a lot of visually lovely links.
- Enjoy Cando is another blog that I read for its design elements (that is, unrelated to weddings), and is really pretty.
- Wedding Bee - this is a semi-pro site run by a woman who was so inspired by the planning for her own wedding that she became a wedding planner or something. The posts are made by about a dozen bloggers, each in different planning stages of their own weddings. This site can be really frustrating, sometimes the things they're obsessed with just make no sense to me.
- my big fat chinese wedding - this site is now inactive, but going back through it is interesting and sometimes helpful to see the details.
- Manolo for the Brides - this site is zero use in prep etc, but good for reporting on crazy stuff, like a wedding cake shaped to be a likeness of the bride and manicures advertised as specifically for brides (because nobody else gets their nails done...).
- portovert - I actually find this site a bit wanky, but it has been recommended as worth reading, so. It's 'for eco-savvy brides and grooms.'
- Ethical Weddings
- the VegNews Vegan Weddings
This year, including my own, I will be attending four weddings (assuming my friends love me as much as I think they do). I love big parties, they're always so much fun and it gives us an excuse to dance and hang out with our friends.
*wedding
**g.Chris
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| a whole lot more |
[Sep. 23rd, 2007|09:06 am] |
On Friday the fantastic Susie and Matt got married, and it was a lovely spring day and it was out in the Swan Valley and it was great.
The sun was bright, and the Party Bus was just as fun as we'd hoped, though suspiciously lacking in champagne. The bus driver took us down Morley Drive and then onto the Tonkin Highway and then onto the Reid Highway, which, what? Just past Benara Road the bus started beeping, then slowing down, then the beeping began to speed up, and then the bus stopped. The bus driver got out of the bus, got back on the bus, took his jacket, then got off the bus again. The bus gave a shudder, then stopped. It's eaten the driver, someone said.
It's so far, several people commented when we finally arrived. Not that far, I replied, my parents live still live ten minutes that way, and I pointed further north.
Susie was very pretty, and Matt was very dapper. Susie seemed almost giddy with happiness, and Matt was smiling and such which is always an excellent sign from him, so I assume he was pretty pleased. Somehow all three of the groomsmen scrubbed up quite well, which was completely unexpected, what with the three groomsmen being Alwyn, Michal and Grahame.
Cocktail receptions are a bit tiring, mostly because one spends the better part of six hours on one's feet, but it was fun and I like the mingling, the constant reforming of little conversation groups.
The bus ride home was hilarious, and I feel sorry for the people on the bus who weren't us because we were incredibly loud, and we spent a lot of time laughing and yelling at one another, and Anil kept trying to take off his pants (again).*
When we got home, I made Davyd a sandwich, because I discovered he hadn't eaten a single thing all night.
Combined, Davyd and I took 194 photos. As such, Davyd hasn't had a chance to upload our photos yet, but you can find a small selection of my favourites under the cut. Unless you're reading on planet ucc, in which case they are already there for you to see.
ETA: photos can now be found here.
( but they're fun to have around )
Where are everyone else's photos? |
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| maybe i am the best for you right now |
[Jul. 8th, 2007|12:30 pm] |
Yesterday, a really fun, awesome person got married! To some chump I occasionally refer to as family.
The wedding was in a tiny Anglican church in Highgate. E walked down the aisle shaking and crying, it was awesome. spaetlese was solemn for perhaps the first time in her life, but it only lasted the length of her walk; she started dancing up the front during various speeches, and it was great. I always forget that my uncle can sing, but he played his guitar and he led a hymn I remember from my youth, and later, he was pleased because Davyd could identify the microphones he brought on sight (even my extended family is made up of nerds. is it any wonder Davyd came into my life?).
It's been years since I've been in a church. The priest was jovial, but could have been a RC priest, he homilised so long. I love the colours in old churches, the stained glass windows above the altar and this church had a pipe organ off to one side, and hard old pews.
In the grounds of the church, not half an hour after having seen her middle son married, my aunt accosted Davyd and I. Have you set a date yet? she asked, the first thing she's said to me every time she's seen me for the last year.
 It was a beautiful day for a wedding, it was sunny and warm (unlike today), and all my plans to wear a long coat went out the window, it was just that nice. We stood outside the church, and cars beeped their horns as they drove past, and Davyd watched as a bearded bikie kind of guy tooted his horn and gave a thumbs up.
All of my photos turned out pretty crap, and I know they had professional photographers but also leahcim was taking photos all the time, which I look forward to seeing, as he is much, much better at it than I.
The reception was at the City West Function Centre, which is quite a nice space. It seems small, but it fit the 100+ people very well. There was dancing, and the food wasn't too bad: entree for us filthy hippies (of which we think there were four) was a giant field mushroom as the base to a vegetable stack, and it was delicious. The main course was maybe vegan, maybe not, we were undecided but ate it anyway. The cake was adorable, made by my aunt who somewhere along the way picked up the skills of a professional cake baker and decorator.
rewnad (uh, the groom) scrubbed up nice, he cut a positively dashing figure on the dance floor, which was quite unexpected.
Also unexpected was the present on my chair when I arrived at my assigned seat, and I don't want to get sappy but it was their wedding day but they remembered that it was my birthday, and that's kind of why they're so awesome.
I love them both, I hope they have a great time holidaying in the wilds of deepest, darkest Bali. |
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