Here Comes the Beautiful Bride .....

Finally get time to post :o) And a long post this will be (just a warning :p)

On the long weekend, Louisa and Lee were married and I was fortunate and privileged enough to be part of it all :o) Saturday was spent recovering from a hangover (will get to that bit later on :p) and running around doing errands in preparation for the wedding .. I had to get my nails French manicured – I’ve never had that before! The good thing was when they fixed up my cuticles (I’m hopeless at taking care of my hands/nails), but the bad thing is the lady who served me wasn’t very nice and did a very shonky job of my nails .. She didn’t care about how poor an effort she did, and the white part was uneven, thick and ugly .. Some of the nails I complained about and got her to fix, except her “fix” was worse than the original attempt!! I couldn’t bear to look at my fingers and after it was completed I walked out and my mum and I argued about it – she wanted me to complain whilst I was inside, but I have problems complaining like that .. But I looked at my nails one more time and said “I’m going back in to complain” and returned to the store .. The main guy in charge realised how dodgy a job the lady had done and got another lady to do my nails instead .. It wasn’t perfect, but it was an improvement! Don’t think I’ll be going back to that store again!!! Though I really don’t care enough about my nails so I’m most likely not going to go to any store (unless I needed it for a special occasion).

I remember back in high school when Megan W had her nails French manicured, and I was thinking “that’s what a French manicure looks like ? Why would people want something so artificial!” .. I still felt that same way when I had my nails painted on Saturday – they were so bright (the white bit) and fake looking. But now I think they look okay – they’re starting to peel off a bit and crack, but they don’t look as bright as they originally did (or maybe I’ve gotten used to them :p) I can’t wait to cut my nails though, I hate having them long (they aren’t even that long!)

On Saturday afternoon, we had the wedding rehearsal at the church. We weren’t in the happiest mood as the Swans lost (I missed half the game because I had to get to the dress rehearsal, but I stopped by work to see some of the last 15 mins) – it was a very quick rehearsal and I started getting nervous! Hehe it wasn’t even my wedding day :p But the church was massive, and the aisle seemed so long, I was scared thinking about people watching me as I walk/stumbled down the aisle (falling over was another fear!!)

Afterwards, we all headed to the Bavarian Beer Café on York St. It’s an okay restaurant, but I don’t really like that kind of food much. Then headed home to try to have an early night, but it didn’t end up as early as I would have liked.

On the Sunday, I had to be at Blacktown (Louisa’s parents’ place) at 7:30 to start preparing – Louisa was up getting her hair done already. I was sooo tired! But I guess adrenaline kept me going all day :o) Had my toe nails painted by Veronica (one of the other bridesmaids), and my hair and make up done by the artists Louisa had hired – time actually flew! I was freezing though, and spent some time sitting in the garden to warm up with Veronica – they have a really nice backyard!!!

I didn’t mind my hair – though I think the position of my part made my hair look kind of square :p I liked the make up job too (it was subtle), and the colour lipstick chosen (a nice pink colour), but I wasn’t too happy about my eyebrows :o( The make up artist coloured them in, and made them heaps dark (very unnatural and non-asian looking) – one was heaps darker than the other too!! Hehe Louisa didn’t like her eyebrows either, and Veronica hated hers too (her mum noticed immediately that they’d been coloured in – she called them gypsy eyebrows). I think that if I ever get my makeup done again, I’ll tell them not to colour in my eyebrows – I think for my sister’s wedding, we had some gel used on ours to shape them correctly, but we didn’t have them filled in.

Things were a little hectic, especially when the photographer and video guy arrived, but we eventually got there. Was embarrassing - I was busy entertaining the flower girl (she is normally quite noisy apparently, but I think was shy being around all these new people etc) and the photographer wanted a photo with her - he ended up asking me "Is this your daughter?" .. I was like "er no" and turned around and started laughing to myself and he's like "did I scare you with that q?" and I'm like "just a little bit" :p hehe normally I'm asked what high school I go to :p

We drove off in 2 champagne coloured cars (Louisa and her parents in one, and the bridesmaids/page boy/flower girl in the other) … We were about 5 minutes from home when we pulled over to the side and stopped for about 10 minutes – I wasn’t quite sure what we were waiting for, and then realised that the car carrying Louisa was having problems! In the end, all of us (9 including the driver) had to pile into the one car!!! It wasn’t exactly what Louisa had dreamed of – I’m sure she would have liked to have rocked up in her own car – but at least it got us to the church. Despite our breakdown, we rocked up to the Church pretty a few minutes after 2pm. It was funny, Andrew (the main best man) told Louisa that for every 10 minutes she was late, he’d strip off an item of clothing :p He was fully dressed when we walked into that church (though he maybe should have removed 1 item of clothing? :p)

The walk down the aisle wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I had to force myself to smile and stare straight ahead (and not look at my feet/flowers) due to nerves :p hehe I was really relieved when I made it down the end :o) Was surprised to see so many Mac Uni Frisbee people there! Yay, I knew people :o)

It was really hard standing the whole ceremony in my shoes .. the party feet didn’t really help (in fact, they probably made things a bit worse as the straps were too tight up the front of the shoe) – I had to keep changing the balance from one foot to the other to overcome some of the pain :p It was a nice ceremony – rather informal? Hehe I wasn’t sure what to do at times – like when it came to the signing of the register, all of the bridal party had to walk up to the stage and stand there and I didn’t realise this until the priest gestured for us to move up etc

My parents came along to the ceremony, which was good .. I have photos for the whole day (I took at the reception and when we were preparing, whilst my dad took during the ceremony) ? Xerx’ server is still down at the moment, so I will post a link when it’s back up again :o) Hopefully this weekend?

Had some photos outside the church, and then we were escorted away to have more photos taken around the city/rocks. We went to customs house, governor Phillips tower (we were told we weren’t allowed to have photos there by the security guard), o’connell st area etc .. Then we headed to a pub in the Rocks, but were told that we weren’t allowed to take photos inside! It wasn’t even a nice pub (it stank etc) :o\ Then we went to Hyde Park and had a few more shots too .. It was heaps windy, and I froze, but my partner (Lee’s brother, Daniel) kindly lent me his jacket, and Veronica’s partner (Andrew’s brother, Dave) lent her his! Awww we had nice partners :o)

I was also really hungry too, and thankfully Louisa’s parents/sister thought about that, so they prepared some snacks – I probably ate too many (it was 4pm and I hadn’t eaten since 8am) as I was starving and cold, and as a result was really full when it came dinner time :p

We then headed to the reception hall at Le Montage (Leichhardt) where we had a private room to get ready – Louisa really needed it as the wind had blown all her curls out!! I was just glad to rest my feet and be somewhere warm :o) We had some canapés and I was full by the time we left the room! Which isn’t a good thing, as we were served a massive dinner! The dress didn’t help when it came to eating the food either, the boning in my ribs/stomach area was pressing against my stomach so it had problems expanding :p hehe

We had 2 entrees and each were massive – enough to be my main! And we had main, dessert and cake as well .. I didn’t finish a single meal :o/ I would have liked to have eaten more, but I think my dress would have burst by then :p I ended up going off to talk to the Frisbee people during the main meal which was good :o) Shannon, Richard, Ellie, Matt D, Hannah, Lisa, Alex, Kate, Angie, Clive and Tim were all there and since I haven’t been to training or Frisbee in ages, I haven’t seen them in yonkers!! :o) Was nice to catch up – hehe some were like “I didn’t realise you were such good friends with Louisa!!” .. most of them didn’t know I was going to be bridesmaid :p hehe they were very surprised when they saw me walking down the aisle :p I was glad that they were there though, had people to talk to and dance with :o)

Ooh, they served us a really nice champagne – raspberry flavoured :o) Only 4.8% alcohol content, so I didn’t end up too drunk :p They also served us shots, but I only tried one and couldn’t finish it :p It was baileys and sambucca I think and I really can’t stand liquorice, so I only managed to drink the baileys bit …

The wedding dance was so cute – we hadn’t had formal training, but we all just made it up :o) The first dance Louisa and Lee had was to REM, then the rest of the bridal party had to join in – we danced to KC and Jo Jo :p Daniel managed to lead me well, and we danced okay for a couple who don’t really dance and have never danced together before :p I think I did better than at my sister’s wedding, and we had proper training! I made sure there wasn’t 10 metres between me and my partner this time :p

Afterwards, Veronica’s and my feet were really aching, so we decided to sit down and eat our dessert (I moved it so they wouldn’t take it away but they still took the spoon ::|) … Daniel came up to us and started talking, when all of a sudden they played Let’s Hear It For the Boy and I got sooo excited!! I was like “ooh, we have to dance to this” and so Daniel gladly obliged :p Ooh, I feel bad cos I left Veronica by herself, but I get so excited when they play 80s music I love :p Daniel made the comment “I thought you didn’t dance?” and I was like “er .. I love this song!!!” Later, I was talking to Andrew and my eyes just suddenly lit up! I was like “omg, we totally have to dance to this song” and so I grabbed his hand and dragged him onto the dance floor :p Am surprised these boys are so willing to dance :p Anyhoos, Andrew asked what song it was and I was like “It’s Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance With Somebody! It’s my favourite favourite favourite dance song” and he’s like “not just your favourite one?” :p hehe He was making fun of me when I was dancing, as he got on his knees and said he was about the right height for me :p Ah I’m such a shortie :p I think I’d taken my shoes off by that stage too – they hurt sooo much! I wanted to wear my havianas (so my feet wouldn’t get dirty and also cos of the lack of height, I kept tripping on my dress) but they were locked up in a room upstairs (where we’d prepared ourselves) … Was so glad when I got my thongs back at the end of the night :o)

Was a fun night and most of the music played was pretty good (so I danced quite a bit!) … but it all flew soo quickly! I was really bouncy by the end of the night, despite being up since 5:30 that day and not having had much sleep the night before :p Louisa and Lee drove off into the sunset and we were left to clean up and head off too .. I think the Frisbee people were planning on doing something after the wedding, but my parents had arrived to pick me up and I think my body needed some sleep :p I also really wanted to shower as I smelt of hairspray, perfume, and probably sweat too :p hehe pleasant ;o) I think I was getting panda eyes (not just from lack of sleep but from the mascara :p) by that stage too :p

And so now Louisa and Lee are married and off in WA enjoying their honeymoon :o) Am just really honoured I got to be part of their wedding, I’m still surprised I was asked to be bridesmaid, but am happy too :o) I can’t wait to post up the pics too!!

Friday night I had drinks at Moretons with my workmates + sister, before heading over to Kings Cross for Nick’s birthday drinks (Hugo’s) .. It’s a bit too dark and trendy for me, but it’s a nice venue and they served some really yummy cocktails and pizza .. I had 3 cocktails (the first one was a freebie one and didn’t taste that alcoholic, but I still went pink :p) and was tipsy by the end of the night :p I think the fact that I needed sleep contributed to it :p I was going to catch the train home but Jaimal insisted on driving me home as I wasn’t quite in the state for catching public transport (I would have woken up in Newcastle :p) … I saw a gelato place on the way to the car and was like “ooh, can we stop there and have a look please?” .. I saw that they had apple crumble flavoured gelato – I wasn’t sure if this was the same as apple pie but had to try it even though I was full .. It was yum! The texture was a bit rough, but it tasted sooo good :o) I slept the whole car trip home, and just wanted to crawl into bed when I got home :p I woke up with a really bad headache Saturday morning, and a badly bruised hand – I don’t think I fell over at Nick’s :p I think my hair elastics on my wrist were too tight and I’d slept with them on, causing a popped vain or cut-off circulation? *shrugs* :p Louisa likes the story that I woke up hungover and with a bruise, and omits the bit inbetween :p I asked Shannon about it on Sunday (it was hard holding the bouquet with the bruised hand as it was really heavy) and he was like “er were you drunk?” haha he’s a great doctor ;o)

Last Tuesday, I saw John Tucker Must Die with my sista – it was actually a good movie :o) Like Mean Girls, but I think I preferred it! Hehe Jesse Metcalfe is cute in it, but you can’t help but like the guy who plays his brother (only because of the character he plays :p) .. The main star reminded my sister and me of Mary Kate/Ashlee Olsen, mixed in with a bit of Kate Hudson and Kelly Clarkson :p Was a fun movie though (chick flick/teeny boppy), hehe wouldn’t mind watching it again on TV :p

And I think that’s it for me .. this was a very long post and it would have been nicer to have photos to use to break it up a bit, but that will have to wait until a future post :p Have pics of Nick’s bday drinks too so will need to post those up as well :o)

Over and Out!!
Andi