special delivery

Yesterday I got an email from the work receptionist letting me know that two boxes had arrived for me. I knew it was too soon for the ebay jars, so it had to be my wedding invitations - and here they are!

When my mum and I started the design process with the Save The Date cards six months ago I hoped we'd end up with something pretty awesome, but these have far exceeded my expectations. My beautiful mum has worked tirelessly on these and put up with me changing my mind and throwing up different ideas here and there, to produce something she can be very proud of. Thanks mummy!

Together with having a mum who is a graphic design teacher and Adobe Illustrator whiz, I was lucky enough to have a designer and printer I use through work offer their services as well. The designer made some final tweaks to get the files print-ready and my amazing printer sourced paper and created the envelopes, all as a wedding gift. Very sweet since all I was asking for in the first place was whether he knew any stockists of string and button envelopes!

for the love of dogs

Meet Simba, our eleven-year-old heart-melter extraordinaire and RSPCA rescue. We gave him a second chance when we brought him home in 2006 and he has given us so much more in return in the years since. We always wanted a dog having both grown up with them, but I know I didn't quite expect to feel my life so much more enriched by the experience.

Enter Bronco:



You know how people sometimes say that they wondered where they'd find the capacity to match the love they have for their first child, when thinking about a second? I think that's the same with bringing another dog into the fold. But we found it pretty quickly, even if he does think that the [socks/pen/remote control] taste pretty good.

ebay win (I hope)

I just snapped up six of these pretties for $8.74 on ebay. Trouble is, they're in the US and when I asked about postage costs the lady told me after the auction that she doesn't ship to Australia.

I'm hoping she'll give me a sweet price to post them to Florida where I can use a parcel forwarding service to get them here. I think shipping could be about $80 - $100 so they're certainly no steal, but they would be perfect as vases together with some plain glass jars, plus they'll go splendidly with our vintage photobooth.


(image via google - the ones i'm looking to buy were photographed with tatty old carpet as a backdrop, not nearly as pretty!)

dancing shoes

Together with bad music and exhaustion, stiletto-challenged tootsies are guaranteed to send people off the dancefloor.

So i've got a plan to put paid to that old chestnut. Thongs. A whole basket of them. So ladies there'll be no excuses not to bust a move!

{image via once wed}

the first dance

We heard this while listening to Splendour Bender on the way to Mt Buller on Friday night and loved it. It's Angus & Julia Stone's rendition of You're The One That I Want from Grease. This could be it!

hiatus OVER

I went through a month or so of complete ambivalence over the wedding. I couldn't even look at a wedding blog (apart from APW, but that's different) or even feign an interest in talking about the details of the wedding. I needed a bit of time out. Hell, I was even looking at mummy blogs as a diversion - what's THAT about!

Hitting the four month mark has been the smack in the face I needed to get back onto it (much to my mum's relief - not the smacking part obviously). Refreshed and revived, i've had a red-hot go at a proper to-do list and man is it long.

Among locking in a DJ, rings, makeup artist, boy's suits, cars and doing the invites, there's also the post-wedding BBQ and six-week honeymoon to organise. So much for spring snowboarding!

i want this DJ

"Flashdance is an idea that has been brewing for nearly a decade... Way back in the day Whitney [of Our Labor of Love Photography] and Michael [our genius DJ] dreamed of having their own company together...

We didn’t get into this business because we thought it would be an easy way to earn a buck, we did it because our weddings were the most amazing days of our lives, and so much fun, that we decided to trade in the grind of corporate events, music festivals, and nightclubs, to make love and happiness the biggest part of our lives.

The music that I play at any event is determined solely by the people in attendance. I can confidently cover the last 50 years of soul, jazz, funk, & rock. More recent stuff includes mainstream and underground 80's, 90's and current hip-hop, electronic, disco, house-party hits, and dance music of every variety.

I AM NOT going to tell corny jokes on the mic
I AM NOT going to play trance at your wedding!
I AM NOT going to play desperate, crappy disco to try to “Please everyone”
I AM NOT GOING TO PLAY DESPERATE CRAPPY ANYTHING!
I AM NOT going to be an ego driven “artist” and only play what “I” want to hear
I AM NOT going to be a shitty wedding DJ!
I AM NOT going to play thug hip hop at your dinner (unless of course…)
I AM NOT going to play ipods/cds

I AM gonna play VINYL (remember that format?)
I AM going to play the perfect music for the mood of the people in attendance.
I AM going to be able to read the crowd and build the energy accordingly.
I AM going to seemlessly blend from dinner to dance party
I AM going to make you dance your ass off.
I AM going to make you laugh
I AM going to make you cry
I AM going to make your friends jealous.
I AM going to create lifelong memories…"

Sucks that i'm in Melbourne, and they're in the US.

Thanks to A Los Angeles Love for proving that it is possible to find a non-cheesy kickass wedding DJ.

Just need to find one here.

(image via once wed)