Jason & Kell's Wedding Site

I'm busy putting together my balloon topiaries for our engagement do on Saturday. I'm pretty pleased with them so far! I got topiary kits from Lombards. They're great coz I used to have to try and stick upside down balloon cups into boxes which was fiddly and messy. These have the balloon stick secured in plaster. All you do is pretty them up with cellophane and construct your balloon balls.

Tip - It's hard to read the white writing on clear balloons. Even though they're a little harder to inflate, try using a balloon stick to insert a coloured balloon inside the clear one. It makes the pattern stand out more.

Edited to add photo 9/8/08

We have our engagement party later today. I'm so excited!!!
We've already received some great pressies... some spending money from my Nanna, Aunty and Uncle and a fabulous roasting pan from some of the guys Jas works with. It's way better than the one I asked for! Now I can practice perfecting my Strongbow Chook!

I have a few things to organise this morning - translation I will sit in front of my computer til about 10.30 and suddenly realise I'm in a hurry - I have to dash out and get Jasy a card for his birthday on Monday.

More later!!

Today is Jason's birthday and we both had a day off work to celebrate it.

We went for a late breakfast at 44 King St. Mmmm I've only been there once before but think I'll go a lot more often! It's just a coincedence it's across the road from the new Tiffanys store!

After breakfast we went looking for a day spa because they one we normally use (Vanilla) was fully booked. We ended up at House of Ernest on the top floor of City Arcade. They were good enough to squeeze us in and I'm so glad they did! I treated Jas to a hot stone massage and I got scrubbed and mud wrapped. It was a fair bit nerve wracking given what's involved but it was very relaxing and good practice for all the pampering we'll be getting on the honeymoon!

Very late lunch at HJs then popped into Freedom to finally order that huge clock I've been going on about for the last fortnight. It's silver though not black but Jas says he'll paint it for me.

We finished up the day by watching the X Files movie which was good but a bit of a let down. Not scary or spooky at all really. Oh well. Story was still interesting. Made Jas some tea and now chilling at home writing our engagement party thankyou notes and about to finish off our engagement cake.

I will get around to writing about the party but for now I just want to thank everyone for coming. We had fun!!

It was a really good day! We got some great pressies (including lots of cold hard cash whee!) and the staff really looked after us. I gave them a $20 tip. I should have given them more but then again they probably made about a grand off my guests on what was otherwise a sleepy Saturday afternoon.

I went in a little earlier and set up my balloon topiaries and put freddos and columbines on the tables. It looked really cute! Topiaries were certainly difficult to make once I got my gel nails put on. I was so impressed with them though. Thank God my time working at that horrible party shop wasn't a complete write off.

Jas and I returned a little later and ate lunch together. Just something simple - I had chicken foccacia with camembert (yum!) and he had calamari. We chatted to the functions lady about our cake because it hadn't arrived yet...drama drama. You should have seen Jas' face when he was told he might have to have Malteasers and not white mud. Groomzilla! haha. I didn't even realise he liked white chocolate til we got the cake menu! He's lucky I asked him at all else we'd all be still eating Sticky Date Pud. Mmmmm.

We ended up with about 60 people so were spilling out of our little lounge area but it's cool I think we all had a good time. I tried to get around everyone but it was hard. Exhausting even! In the end I stayed with my lot and he looked after his work crew and family. I kept losing my drink too which now has me freaking out. Not so bad with family and friends but I really need to get my wits about me more if I ever plan to go to a pub or club again. Leaving your drink alone is a huge no-no. Don't ever do it!

As much as I love all our guests and had a great time chatting to them all, I know we've made the right decision 'eloping' though, I barely got to talk to Jas all day. We want our wedding day to be intimate and about us so we can really focus on our vows rather than all the other hype surrounding such a big occasion.

I am excited about our after wedding celebration though. We're asking friends to dress up really nicely, pack a picnic and join us in the park. It's going to be huge!

Thanks again to everyone that came along on Saturday. We're busy churning out the thankyou notes right now.

Ok that's all for now. I have to check in with my to-do list. I still haven't booked everything for our honeymoon yet!

Kell

I should be in a tizz right now and saying there's still so much to organise...but if I think about it, there really isn't! I could buy a clutch purse I suppose although I can't make up my mind which one. I could also decide whether to add another night to the honeymoon or look at staying in Busselton on the way home.

As I said, doesn't really seem to be an awful lot of important things left to do. Maybe I'll just book us some more beauty treatments. ;)

IKEA has a lot to answer for. I don't know if it's the case with other couples but we never seem to argue half as much as we do when IKEA's involved. In fact I was the one who first took Jas to IKEA before we were officially going out and the experience was so traumatic then that we almost didn't hook up at all! Throw some post dental work agony, Jas' usual back pain and some of my usual painful indecisiveness and well.....you get the idea.

Pain aside thanks must go to those who gave us money and vouchers as gifts because we've had a great big shopping spree at IKEA, Kmart and Big W. Lots of stuff for the house. I'm not sure if Jas actually wanted stuff for the house but he never actually said otherwise.

Anyway we got some cool things including:

• Pyrex baking dishes (I love Pyrex!!)


• Shiny new saucepans (nothing flash but don't need them to be)


• Nice bookcase for storing our dvds which frees up our loungeroom display shelf for all the nice photo frames we've been given


• Another shelf that matches our room divider and gives us a way to declutter our table...well that's what I hope but doubt it'll happen


• Some Wiltshire knives so we can stop using my steak knives every time we cook


• Boxes to tidy up my neverending craft supplies


• Utensils and cannisters (I know not very exciting but they needed replacing)


• Other kitchen stuff like a crisping tray, cake cooling racks, cheapo teatowels etc

Hopefully we have enough money left to put towards a nice mirror. Jas decided we should get one of those beautiful mosaic ones from the Freo markets. love the way this man thinks!

So thanks again, we've been able to get lots of much needed things that will last years and we are very appreciative for that. =)

We bought my wedding ring today! Such a nerve racking and exciting thing to do knowing I will wear this for the rest of my life.

I know it's not your typical wedding set but hey, I'm not your typical bride. This actually completes a set for me. I have a frangipani bracelet I was given by my parents for my 18th (after months of begging and pleading for it), I have a necklace pendant I bought with money from a good friend for my 25th, I have earrings Jas gave me one Christmas and the wedding ring is the last bit...unless I end up buying a cuff too.  It's silver, the gold was a little more than we wanted to spend but we both really like it. Jas says it's really me.

The rings are shown sitting on a swatch of fabric that matches the skirt on my gown.

tee hee hee ;)

We finally got to pick up our clock from Freedom! It's awesome and we're so happy with it. Especially as when we'd gone to order it they said it only came in silver which sucked coz we wanted a black one. When we collected it the girl looked at us all apologetically and said it'd turned up in the wrong colour. We were over the moon about that because it turned up in black! Jasy doesn't have to paint it after all.

It's 101cm in diameter and now live in our kitchen. We love it and as it's wrought iron it'll last us many years. It was bought out of our engagement money and I have to say a big thankyou to Kerry at work who specifically donated towards the clock fund.

Jason and the clock...just to do a size comparison because as you know he's 6'4".

I'm excited about tomorrow because my wedding dress is ready to pick up!! It means our second trip to Freo in a week but I don't care. It's ready a month earlier than anticipated which gives me time to make any changes if necessary.

The other day I booked us into Lighthouse Beach Resort in Bunbury for part of the trip down south but am realising leaving my hair and makeup trials until the day before may not be the best idea in the world. Unfortunately when i called the bureau to book an extra night at Chandeliers instead they said it was already booked on the Tuesday. Spewing! Not only does that mean either running around like a headless chook on the Wednesday or finding another place to stay in Yallingup/Dunsborough it means no chance of an early check in on the Wednesday so we have to drive around all day with our car full of stuff. Oh my little worrywart brain is ticking overtime right now! Eeek.

I also made a request to Jas today for something very special on our wedding day. i've always wanted one of those massive over the top bunches of red roses that the guy always turns up with in the movies when he's trying to win back the girl. You know something ridiculous like 2-3 dozen roses. The scented kind of course. My bouquet is artificial so it would be nice to have these one the day. I think they'll cost far too much to justify him getting them but gee, it would be so nice!

Ok I'm done for now. More later when I have pics of my dress.

So it hasn't been the best week. I've been doing 7.30am starts which means getting up around 5.15 and I'm stuffed, it's been busy at work and I just found out my fantastic mentor/friend/team coach/counsellor is leaving us to work in the branches so I'm feeling a bit lost.

I've had to make the decision to cancel with an unprofessional supplier which is causing me a lot of stress and making me ill. It's not a very nice situation and hopefully we get our refund back. I don't want to go into detail until that happens because he can Google and find this page but I think I have a fight on my hands *sigh*

Just feeling a fair bit flat at the moment. I thought eloping would be an easier and stressfree experience. There may well be less to organise but when you're doing it all yourself it doesn't always feel like it.

I have pictures of my dress but might save them til I feel better.

 So I finished making my hair comb. Now I've finished it I'm not sure I like it. Jas seems to think it's too big and that it looks like a big dragonfly just plonked itself on my head. Now I'm stuck because I'm not sure I like this and Jas won't let me wear a tiara (even though I really want one) Hmph.

Oh and by the way, my hair looks red in this picture but it's actually violet.

What do you think? Would it look ok in the back of my hair?

So after feeling a bit flat lately (had a really bad month at work and all) I'm starting to cheer up a little.

I got an email back from our new, fantastic photographers because I queried what time would suit them best for the ceremony  you know light wise etc from a professional point of view. They suggested around 6pm which is cool. I can have candles and it gives me the morning to make a jackolantern if the mood so strikes me...ok well maybe not a real pumpkin but I could always get a funkin or some rockmelons. They really are the coolest couple. I love their sense of humour and the way they write. I'm so looking forward to meeting them, even if I will have SERIOUS camera envy and stammer all over the place trying to act cool and non photo geeky in the presence of a multi,multi,multi award winning photographer.

So I put the idea to Jas and he liked it. I was a bit iffy because I wanted to spend my whole wedding day with him instead of waiting around all day but he made it better and said we could relax more, go for a nice lunch together then go get married and have a picnic tea - and cake. Gotta make the most of the cake! That cheered me up. There's so many lovely wineries and restaurants around but 97% serve lunch...not dinner on a Friday so we were having to compromise. This way we can go for an early lunch somewhere awesome (such as Wise Winery which is on a penninsula and looks fabulous) and still get back in time to get ready and enjoy the evening...and what was I thinking anyway getting married at 1pm? It's too far from brekky and lunch would be a bit TOO hasty.

Now we just have to run the changes past the celebrant and the hairdresser and hope for the best. Wish us luck!

Oh and I'm going through Jason's baby photos and cursing the fact my scanner picked now to cark it (grr). He was such a cute baby!!! No, I still don't want one, no they don't make me clucky (very little does) but he was just so goddamn cute!

OOh goody Home and Away is back on. The Olympics nearly killed me.

Bye!!!

We've successfully moved the wedding ceremony to 5.45pm on advice from our photographers. We'll now be spending the whole day together and marrying in the very late afternoon.

Currently thinking of booking into Clairault Winery for lunch before we start getting ready. The place looks really nice on their website and the menu's impressive. It's also only a few minutes away from where we're staying so we don't have to worry too much about not getting back on time.

Yesterday we went to Dusk and bought a few candles for our ceremony. Dusk have some anti mozzie candles with a jasmine and sandlewood scent. Sounds better than citronella in any case. We also bought the candles for the ring ceremony too,  although I'm a bit annoyed of all the lovely scents and patterns they have in Dusk, Jas opted for a shiny plain black candle with no scent. It cost $15 too. Hmph. I like the metallic red tapers we bought though.

On the subject of spending money I also treated myself to a new zoom camera lens to make the most of wildflower season (and capturing the little fairy wrens when we're down south) and a cute crow t-shirt to wear on the honeymoon.

Not much else to say really. It's been a pretty slack weekend. Drunk a bit of wine (we've been trying our Brown Brothers), cooked a roast in the pan we got as an engagement pressie. Took the cat for his booster shot.

Today's the 2 month til the wedding mark though and that's pretty exciting. It's our 6 year anniversary on Sept 25th too so looking forward to a nice meal or something. =)

I'm STILL waiting to get my refund back from one of the sole traders I hired and fired. I asked him for a full refund back on 13th August. After stuffing us about saying he legally only has to give us back $250 (never mind ethically as he hasn't done any bloody work) he's told me he will pay me back within 14 working days of 3rd September which is already more than 3 weeks after I asked for it.

It's a damn shame that anyone can start a business without any training in customer service or a grasp of the English language in written form. He really has behaved like a complete idiot with no care for the long term success of his business, the way he presents himself or any customer whose standards don't meet his shoddy level of work. His spelling and grammar are completely shocking too.

I hired this guy and paid a deposit knowing he would be going overseas on holiday. He neglected to tell me that he would be going for over 3 months with no contact by email or phone. Considering how important this was because we were eloping and that I needed to bounce ideas off him and let him know about changes to the ceremony this really didn't gel with me and I wouldn't have booked him if he'd been honest with me from the start.  When I requested to cancel he named another customer he'd had a dispute with and told me it must have been that customer that made me want to cancel!!!

We said it'd been our own experience with him that made us want to cancel and that we requested a full refund. He hadn't done any work yet.  He attacked me over the fact I wanted to cancel based on lack of faith and communication citing that none of his other customers had a problem with the lack of contact and that he would never discuss the finer details with a client 10 weeks out from the wedding. 2-3 weeks befire would be fine. Right...only I don't care about what other clients expect, this is what I expect and as I pointed out, I am his employer for this service.

Even though I hadn't signed a contract apparently the fact I paid him the deposit is my acceptance of the contract and he gets to keep $400. His answer to me asking for a full refund? "I would've refunded the full amount if I thought I was in the wrong" and "You stopped me taking another job that day". As Jason points out that is totally contradictory with his previous statement that 10 weeks before the wedding is ages away with still so much time to consult. Besides, I don't see to many brides lining up to get married on a Friday, let alone on Halloween. He spent my deposit in Europe and is in no hurry to refund my money.

The little ratbag won't answer his phone - regardless which number I ring from he screens all his calls. I just want to speak to him and discuss his rotten terms for refunding my money.  Even if he is legally entitled to keep most of the deposit, ethically he has done the wrong thing, poorly communicated, not provided a service, and treated us horribly. It'll be interesting to see if he starts dropping our names the next time some poor bastard that hires him questions his standards.

I've contacted the ACCC for some advice.

Cool! We're all booked into Clairault wines for lunch on our wedding day. This is a couple of hours before we have to start getting prettied up for the ceremony.

The to-do list is getting smaller. Today we made some changes to the ceremony wording and sorted out the music. It doesn't sound like much but it's two big things off the list. We still have to re-write our vows though. I'm not happy with what we have so far.

We've decided to incorporate a candle lighting ritual into the ring ceremony so we will say the lines from the Corpse Bride, exchange rings then light a unity candle together. We have two metallic red taper candles and a black pillar candle which we're going to put in the twiggy holder Liz gave me for my 25th birthday. It suits the look really well.

I picked up some fabulous fabric for our signing table too. It's black mesh with silver bats. I love it!

The dragonfly comb (above) is out. I made a crystal headband instead. A lot more subtle.

Things left to do: Pick a hairstyle, buy speakers for the ceremony, buy/make my bag, get the rings inscribed, buy wedding gifts for each other and orgnise brekky and tea for wedding day.

So I had a scout around on Flickr and I found a hairstyle I really liked but as my official trials aren't til a couple of days before the wedding I thought I'd get a salon up here to have a play with it.

The lady did a pretty good job given I only had a photo of one side of the style to show her. I like the style from the front but it does look a fair bit messier at the back than I'd really hoped for. It's nice and I'd wear it to a party but I'm not convinced this is "the one" if you know what I mean. I asked her to use glitter hairspray too which looks nice in person but looks pretty dodgy when I tried to take photos.

Maybe I'm being too hard on the style and my real issue is with just how bad I look in profile thanks to my kazillion chins and pisspoor attempts at makeup.

I like the style and appreciate the affort but I guess I have different hair to the Flickr girl and it doesn't work on me so well. =(

I've made a booking to go back and try curls on the day of my hens and see if I like that better.

No updates since September 20th. I'm such a procrastinator. I'm doing it now. I sat down to organise the invitation labels and of course I've been on the wedding forum, the LIFE forum, Facebook, Ebay - you get the picture. Anything other than what I'm supposed to be doing...which if I be honest I can't do anyway because I'm relying on jason for addresses. Why he didn't write them down back when we did the engagement invitations is beyond me. *sigh*

Anyway I finally got a refund out of young con brat. I'm still infuriated that anybody could have that level of unprofessionalism and lack of care for their own business. He would never return my calls. It took to me calling him at 8pm from a different phone number before I finally got hold of him and gave him a piece of my mind. I think he only answered because he was driving to a party and I caught him off guard. Anyway I got what I was legally entitled to...never mind ethically *rolls eyes* I'm still waiting for the paper receipt I requested many times. Maybe he's not even a proper business. Maybe if I hassle him enough he'll finally get sick of me and pay back all my money to see the back of me. I could hope...but with only 26 days til the wedding I should probably just start chilling out.

Yesterday I bought myself a corset. My first! I've never worn one before, I don't know why. I guess the expense was one thing. I tried shapewear and assumed it did the same thing. Shapewear never really hid my tummy though. So after buying 3 lots of underwear for under my dress, trying on all 3 (inc shapewear) and Jas not being able to see a difference and me still being upset about being a fat bride (I have 3.5 weeks to go so losing weight just won't work) well I bit the bullet and went looking for a corset.

I went to Etsy where I first found Volancia Corsetry. Then i found a link to Volancia's website through Etsy and through Sugar Blue Burleque (who i desperately want to do classes with but that's another story). Then I found there's actually a burlesque shop in the city.

What the? How the hell did I miss that?!

So in the space of one day i found 2 new shops (Burlesque Baby and Mame Clothing) in Perth city that sell the clothes I've always wanted to wear but didn't have the money/guts/figure/level of depression *hehe* to pull it off. Only now I probably will have the figure because I bit the bullet and bought a corset.

It's not flash, (although at $350 it cost the same as my first car) it's plain black, but it's a start. I was amazed! I had a freaking skivvy on with this thing over the top and it made me feel sexy. It took me down about 2 sizes! The girl started doing it up and I thought "This is good, bit tight but it's ok" and then she kept pulling it in. oh my god!!! I'll have to eat salad for lunch on the wedding day if I want to wear it.

But it made a difference. My god did it make a difference. I'll have to post the wedding dress before and after pics. I felt like a woman for a change.

Now I just have to learn to eat, breathe and sit in it....three things I didn't do in the shop.

Another decision was made too. After clomping around the city in tights and my wedding shoes for 2 hours, I've decided I'm wearing my boots instead. The blisters just aren't worth it.

So there. Now it's 9.25am and I still haven't done anything productive.

Isn't he gorgeous?! The stripes don't show too well on my bunky old screen but on a proper one you should be able to see the red stripes. The shirt's completely custom made and Jas bought the skull tie online from Zazzle...even though he has a purple one I bought him. The skulls suit him better though. After all, it's his day too.

Jasy's got a ponytail at last! - Sort of. He's come a long way from the skinhead I used to share my long, hot, unconditioned summers with.

Oh how could I not let him wear this... it's so damn cool!!

Oh and don't mind the hair....this is what happens when curlylocks meets GHD sans product. Hehe.

I'm getting married 3 weeks TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!

I'm totally loving reading the dress and shoe posts in the forums at Offbeat Bride.
They make my blue Doc mary janes look boring. Actually my blue Docs keep ripping shreds off my poor toofs (feet) so I might just be wearing my normal black 8 holes with some purple laces. Not like you can see them under my gown. Might as well be comfortable.

I met journalist Peter Overton yesterday!! I'm totally over the moon. It was a chance meeting, I detoured through the hospital to get to an appointment and he was there. He was lovely! He could have just brushed me off but I said hello and welcomed him to Perth and he was so friendly. I really respect him and I've had a crush on him for ages so I've been on a total high since.

Argh! I have to get up at 5.30am tomorrow to make my 7.30am shift. That's just cruel. Shame Bridezilla moments would be ineffective on the rosterng team. =(

I finally joined the 21st century and bought myself a LCD monitor. This is both a good and bad thing. Good that I now have a clearer desk and can edit photos a lot more accurately - bad because I can now see I've been over compnsating on exposure etc in Photoshop for ages due to my bunky old screen. Doh! That's why the pics of Jas (above) probably look so washed out. on my old screen they looked terribly dark.

I took Jasy out for dinner on Saturday night. We went to a restaurant in Sorrento called White Salt. It's a finalist for a Gold Plate award this year. the food was gorgeous. There was something on the menu for both of us and I liked everything on the plate. It wasn't "well i like duck but I don't like the xxxxx", i liked it all! Fabulous sunset to boot.

It was a reward for him posing for pics for me. You can see them on my Flickr page. Here's a sneak peek though

Yes, I am excited, but sometimes I wish somebody would talk to me about something other than getting married! Talk about my photography or something, anything other than work and how many sleeps. I don't sleep when I'm excited so I don't know....maybe 3 sleeps?

Jas has just let me know he's going out for some drinks and a meal next weekend with soem guys from work. I just hope he comes home with all his hair intact and doesn't see strippers. We haven't needed any sleaze and been faithful to each other for 6 years. I'd hate that to be ruined over one weekend. Or even worse...he goes to Northbridge and gets hurt like some grooms-to-be do.

Ah crap....guess you better scrub another night from my tally. I'm such a little stress-head.

I'm crap at this romantic stuff too. I've spent most of the last 6 months in front of my computer. Spending a whole day being lovey dovey and kissy wissy is going to be hard work. Obviously I love Jas to bits, but I missed the class on textbook mushiness.

I might be sicker than usual after drinking, as I've been battling chicken related food poisoning for a few days (as somebody I live with doesn't grasp the concept of salmonella).... but I digress.

Here's a pic of my hair trial that Alecia at Hairtastic did for me with the GHDs.

That's about it really

I visited Shae this afternoon to have a look at my cakes. She's done a really great job. I can't wait to eat them!!

We had a bit of a play around with decorations and ended up doing this with the ceremony cake...although we're hoping to add those edible silver balls (cabouchons?) along the edges of the stripes.

and this is our picnic cake, which needs a few more decorations.

I hope there's enough to feed the masses! Jas and I are off to IKEA on Friday to buy some boxes for them, some stripy rugs to make the aisle and some candle holders for the sandlewood anti-mozzie candles. Thanks for the cakes Shae, they look great!!

And still in my PJs. You can blame having to pick Jas up from the city at 2am due to a taxi shortage and a thunderstorm. *sigh*

My last minute DIY polymer clay cake decorations are nearly finished. Here's the progress so far:

I still need to glue on the heads, glue on my arms, make and stick on a bouquet, make a fabric suit for the Jas doll.

Should be packing, getting dressed, all that jazz.....

Finished cake toppers!!

We're back at last from our wonderful trip down south. Such a great little wedding and a really relaxing (and fattening) trip.

Some photos are up on my Flickr account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonfly_81

More later.

Some of our official wedding photos are now online!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cost me a month's wages....

WORTH-EVERY-PENNY!!

Turn up your speakers and go have a look. Click on the image for the slideshow.

Envy Blog

Wow it seems so long ago!

We've already been married for more than 2 months. I'm STILL working on the wedding album. I keep getting distracted. We will get there. The photos we put on Flickr are getting so many hits really popular. I still haven't written up the story of the wedding day and I know the longer I leave I'm going to forget. Another thing I should stop procrastinating about I guess.

I can't seem to let the wedding thing go yet so I'm trying to give advice to other offbeat brides. LOL me giving advice on getting married. That's funny!

Anyway we're both good and enjoying time together and apart. I love calling Jas my Husband. We even have a secret handshake. LOL.

So now onto finding some new hobbies. Maybe I'll make a series of t-shirts explaining why we're not having children.......... >;)