Something old, something new...

You know the poem some brides incorporate into their wedding day...

Something old, something new 
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe. 

Apparently a sixpence was a silver coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967 worth six pennies. So this wedding tradition is definitely English! 


Each item in this poem represents a good-luck token for the bride. If she carries all of them on her wedding day, her marriage will be a happy one....(so they say)! I wonder if I miss one of them, will my marriage be doomed to failure forever  hmmm

Something OLD
They say something old symbolises continuity with the bride's family and the past. In other words, never forgetting where she's come from. My version of something old will be a photocopy of my grandmother and late grandfather on their wedding day in my clutch handbag. I have always loved this photograph

Something NEW
They say this means optimism and hope for the bride's new life ahead. The new item for me will be my wedding dress. I can't wait to wear it!

Something BORROWED
This is sometimes an item from a happily married friend or family member, whose good fortune in marriage is supposed to carry over to the new bride. In our case, I'm borrowing a Thai wedding tradition and incorporating their water blessing ceremony into our day.


Something BLUE
As for the colorful item, blue has been connected to weddings for centuries. Apparently in ancient Rome, brides wore blue to symbolize love, modesty, and fidelity. I found a good way to reconcile this one (an added bonus, I needed some lovely perfume anyway). And so on our wedding day, I'll be wearing my favourite fragrance by Dolce & Gabbana, 'Light Blue'. It smells fresh, divine and dreamy....! 

But I’ve been busy!!

         Holy Moly things have been a little hectic around here lately. That busy that I've totally forgotten to take any photos or write any posts (until now)! Bad bad blogger.

I feel like I'm in a whirlwind of activity and just constantly on the go. 

Seriously can't wait to get over to Thailand and finally relax!

Between doctors appointments and other commitments, the time is passing me by ridiculous fast!
So here's a wrap up of the last few weeks in my world. I survived Booty Camp! Shebang. I'm not going to lie, there were some nights where I thought I was never going to recover. It broke me once or twice. But all in all it was an amazing experience and I managed to lose 2% body fat (Mr B has one of those schnazzy scales that measure all of that stuff). At the start I always maintained that my goal was to tone, not lose weight and that's exactly what I achieved! I was super duper stocked about that and a little proud too. Since then I have kept my healthy eating and exercise regime up. I've also had a few personal training sessions, just to keep my fitness levels high (and keep me going on those nights where all I want to do after a long day at work is go home, eat yummy food and couch potato). All in all it's been a fantastic and rewarding few weeks and I now feel fitter and healthier than ever before!  

Apart from that, I have other exciting news...I finally worked up the courage to resign from my full-time job in advertising to get ready for my post graduate degree next year. I read on my employment contract that I needed to give them 3 months notice (something all employees need to do after a year of employment at my company). So I've done just that. It wasn't easy. I've really enjoyed the last 5 years working in the digital media industry. I've met some lovely people, learned a tremendous amount and my whole view and outlook has changed. I've definitely grown up and finally I feel ready for the next stage. The time has come for me to re-align with what I should be doing. What I feel most passionate about. I'm so glad I had a word to my manager before I left for the wedding-moon, as I would have hated carrying all that weight on my shoulders for the few weeks I am away! So now when I come back to Melbourne in November, I will have another 2 months left at my job. I finish up at the end of December. Don't worry about me - I have some big plans for 2013!!! More on this to come. 

Oh and in other news, my wonderful friend Spirit has organised a Hens shindig for me for this coming Saturday (AKA the Festival of Boots - as it's the Grand final in AFL and NRL). She's organised a High Tea on the rooftop of Madame Brussles - it's going to be a classy (and fun) affair. Now I need to decide on an outfit to wear to such an event. hmmmm....

Still to do:

Organise travel money on our travel cards (ah-yeh baby, ooo that's romantic)

Put the wedding music onto my iPod (I've made the playlist so it's only half done)

Get my hair done

Complete my vows
Get lash extensions put in (I decided not to use falsies on the day as it will be too hot and the glue might come off..who the hell knows) anyway the upside to this is that I won't need to wear any mascara on my holiday for the whole time, sweet! Let's hope I don't have lop-sided fall-out on the wedding day :)

Print off all the wedding contracts and work out how much money we still need to pay the resort (all the boring stuff I know)
Lots more to do once we get to Thailand too but I'll do a separate post on that one.

Fingers crossed I can get it all done in the next few days! Bring on the weekend

See you when I’m a MRS!!!

I've had another hectic week. I had my hens last Saturday which was absolutely perfect. My friend is the sweetest, she organized a high tea at Madame Brussles, complete with cocktail jugs, cupcakes, sandwiches and lots of girly fun! The AFL Grand Final was on at the time but you wouldn't have known it!

I also received some lovely gifts from the girls and felt super spoiled! Just talking about the wedding being so close was getting me super duper excited! Come early evening we eventually went our separate ways and a few girls came back to my home for an impromptu house party. Back home Mr B had all of his friends over and it continued to be a silly, great time. All in all it was a fun and fabulous day and night!

Work seemed to fly bye quicker than you could say 'see you next month' and well, here I am, ready to head off to Thailand!

I'm up early to squeeze in a run before sitting on a plane for the next few hours. Feeling a whole lot of things right now: tired, nervous, excited, slight disbelief. We're all packed and ready to go....wooooo.

Bye bye Melbourne, See you all when I'm a MRS....!!!!!!

Au Naturelle...Très Fab

Absolutely LOVE this wedding day makeup look. So very natural.

Prefer the loose wavy hair...

Honeymoon Style

Just compiling some lovely chic and comfortable beach-friendly outfits for Thailand and Vietnam. We've decided on Vietnam as the honeymoon destination as there is a lot to do there. We want to mix it up and have a good balance of relaxing beach time, fun & adventure. Looking forward to seeing a bit more of the world and having fun with Mr B.

I've recently done some honeymoon shopping. Apart from a gorgeous light green crochet one-piece swimsuit, I also got a lovely flow-y Kaftan (mandatory for any honeymoon I think). So comfy!

I also picked up a gorgeous bikini. A bit of holiday fun. Cannot wait to hit the beach. I haven't seen the sunshine in about 12 months due to having a desk job. Seriously looking forward to being outside for a while - I may never come back!!

It's the final countdown!

Time is ticking away now.......Holy Guacamole!! 

Less than 3 weeks till the wedding now woooohooooooo!

4 more working days till I am on leave

2 days till my hens 

8 days till we fly out

16 days till our wedding ceremony

18 days till we will be on our honeymoon in Vietnam!

I am SO freaking excited right now, I can't handle it.

October is going to be one busy month. I can't wait...!

Booty Camp

Lately I've been lazy and reckless with my approach to food. It's the middle of winter here in Melbourne and I'm not sure whether it's the icy cold weather or general stress but I've been indulging more and more (chocolate, red wine, desserts) eating foods I never usually eat and doing less exercise. I'm not complaining that I've gained a whole heap of weight - I haven't. But I know that it's time to break my bad habits and get in better shape and health (and by 'better' I mean best possible ever) for Thailand. After all, we will be spending a lot of time on the beach wearing very little, plus enjoying delicious food + drinks on holidays so I want to be able to enjoy all of these things without a worry. Tomorrow will mark 8 weeks until we jet off - freaking exciting! But there is a lot to do from now until then!!

I've managed to convince my friend Noelia to do 6 weeks of 'Booty Camp' with me. We will be doing 2 x group personal training sessions per week for the next 6 weeks & also sticking to the healthy meal plan the trainers have provided us. By mid-September, I know I will be feeling a whole lot better and healthier. We start our first session tomorrow after work - fingers crossed it doesn't rain. Wish us luck...!!

 

Make me up

I've decided not to get a makeup artist for the wedding. I'm super fussy about makeup artists in general and usually hate getting my makeup done by anyone else as I hate heavy cakey looks! I must be the one person in the whole world who doesn't suit a smokey eye either! So when Lisa our wedding planner asked if I wanted her help organising one, I kindly declined. I know it's going to be tricky finding the right products to suit the humidity, but I also think if there's one place in the world I'll be able to get this, its right here in Melbourne.

With that in mind, I have been testing and experimenting with different looks. I found this great tutorial from a gorgeous Aussie makeup artist, Chloe. She's such a down-to-earth girl, and I subscribe to her vids on YouTube as she has a great, simplified style and good eye for detail.

I'm currently liking this look the best

A few more makeup looks I'm liking and wanting to test out. Lily Aldridge can do no wrong in my eyes. My current hair and makeup crush

Love this natural, ethereal look too

Welcome packs

We've decided to make guests a little 'welcome to Thailand' pack for when they arrive in Railay Beach. Although it's not necessary, I think its a small way of thanking guests for taking the time, annual leave, money and effort to come to Thailand especially to celebrate our wedding with us! We will fill these bags with little treats and handy goodies like sunscreen, insect repellant (how romantic ha! but necessary nontheless) yummy local nibbles, maps and activity ideas. I have designed these bad boys and found someone to print them for me. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

This is the design and bag at first glance

And in the wedding colours with our details

We get to Raily Beach a day before everyone so will get to work on getting these filled and finalised before other peeps arrive!!

Some inspiration

Parasol for the soul

I'll let the pictures do the talking

Love them, want them, got them for the wedding. That is all :)

Fans-ey pants

I am very much inspired by the idea of fans at a tropical beach wedding. For one, it will be a nice way of making sure guests stay comfortable in the Thai heat, whilst outside. I think it will also be a nice bonbonniere to give guests. The added bonus is that they will make sweet and handy photo props too...

I had a few dramas when ordering some sandalwood fans recently. I ordered and paid for them via a reputable site based in the USA. After waiting weeks for my shipment to arrive, it finally did...only problem was they were the wrong fans! Instead of getting my lovely, scented sandalwood fans, I get some cheap and nasty white paper fans instead worth less than half the price I paid for the right fans. When contacting the site, was told that the correct fans were out of stock - I am confused why they would process my order and go through all that trouble for the wrong product. Anyway long story short, I wasn't able to get the right fans from those guys unfortunately. I got my money back and also got to keep the el-cheapo fans too. I will just have to sell these on Ebay when I get around to it.

I ended up ordering the fans I wanted from an Aussie site, not because it was cheaper (almost double the price vs. that American wholesale supply store) but because they were in stock and I thought there would be less liklihood of further drama! They arrived and look great!!

 

I had the idea to personalise the fans with a gift tag and place each fan on our guest's seats for the ceremony. I spent some time last weekend designing the tags after being inspired by this...

 

The end result were tags that read "to have & to hold" on the one side and our wedding details on the other side. I think they turned out well.

Let's hope I don't have issues taking these bad boys through customs. Haha, can you imagine after all that?!