Alexis on Fire (and Simon too)

ANOTHER wedding this year hooray! And this time it was for Simon Mapleback and Alexis Crowden. Thanks for letting my Simon and I share in your special day

This wedding was held at Moreland Salvation Army in Melbourne, both the ceremony and the reception. Their colour scheme was a beautiful purple colour.

After the ceremony they served cute little cupcakes with the love heart design on them.

Such a great idea as refreshments between the ceremony and reception. At the actual reception they served buffet meats, salads and vegetables, there was so much food, and then they announced the desert buffet!

I loved what they did with the lights on the roof and the purple strips of material and lanterns on the roof. Totally transformed the space.

And here’s the actual cake. Alexis’ dress was elegant and her hair was immaculate, such an attractive couple.

Their first dance was to ‘Come What May’, the theme song from Moulin Rouge and Alexis had given Simon a pocket watch with the words ‘Come What May’ that morning as her wedding gift to him. Cute! They had choreographed a beautiful dance to the song that ended with Simon picking Alexis up and giving her a smoocheroooo… A little bit Dirty Dancing, a little bit Dancing with the Stars and a whole lotta romance! Awww!

These are the fun favours they gave out as well. Mini coloured noodle boxes with their engagement photos on them with yummy chocolates inside and on the tables they had jars with imitation candles in them. Alexis had asked friends and family members to save their jars for months (sound familiar) and then she painted their names on them with the  date (10/12/11). Alexis and her bridesmaids had bouquets and Simon and his groomsmen had flower button holes but that was all the flowers they had. The candles set the scene across the reception, soo puurty!

Well done Simon! You’ve nabbed a beauty! We wish you both love and happiness for the rest of your days


Can I just say before I go, check out my hottie!

Also, do you like my hair? It’s a bit messy here as this pic was taken at the end of the night but I’ll let you in on a little secret…

I had a little help from this hair donut! Have you heard of them before? I felt like I was in the 60s or something putting extra thickness to my beehive… This was the first time I wore it and I was a bit nervous that everyone would be able to see through it but I think it worked well!

This is how I started with a high pony above the crown of my head.

Then I stuck the hair donut around my pony, I like to call it my hair sponge coz it looks like one of those squidgee spongee things that you use for shower gel heehee.

Then I pushed my hair loosely over the donut.

Then, starting from the top I pinned the hair over the donut, gathering any excess hair around and under the donut.

Then it’s just a matter of checking that the donut sponge is covered by either enlisting the help of a wonderful fiance’ or buying a never-ending hairdressers mirror so you can see front and back
And there you have it. A ballerina/Sarah Jessica Parker/I have SO much hair, aren’t you jealous? top bun without the help of hair extensions. And you really don’t need much hair at all for this. The donut I bought (from Price Attack I think) was one of the biggest thickest ones but you can get smaller ones as well and they even had twin ones to emulate Princess Leia…

I’ll have to try that look next time

Happy Day!***

Ken and Jo 25 Years

 

A few weeks ago Simon and I were lucky to share in a 25 year Wedding Anniversary Celebration. It was actually on the weekend that was exactly 12 months until we hope to get married! Ken and Jo Hollis had a celebration at the Bendigo Salvation Army that included a renewing of their vows and it was just lovely!

Here they are on the Salvation Army platform renewing their vows. They gave each other a small gift. I liked that all they needed on the platform was the cross with the bible and the mercy seat and some nice lighting.

They stuck with their original colour scheme of light blue, white and silver and to jazz up the hall a little bit they had some balloons. I love balloons!

They had a fruit cake which tasted so good that Joanne made. A few white carnations set the table off. I loved the  little simple details in remembrance of their special day 25 years earlier, they had a display of the wedding album and a few other things that Joanne had kept.

Here’s Joanne with her baby boy (and our friend) Ben! Don’t you love the champagne outfit Joanne chose to wear. It has a bridal feel to it with the lace detail but it’s more grown up! Jo looked great!

Congratulations Joanne and Ken, here’s to 25 more years of love and marriage!***

Happy Day

The Year of the Vicki

 

This year I was blessed to go to one of the weddings of the year in Sunny Queensland in Port Douglas! It was for one of my high school buddies Vicki Newman and her fella Rob Levin, it surely has been the year of the Vicki…

This is Vicki, and yes, she looks that beautiful every day! Her Dad was very proud! They got married at Port Douglas Yacht Club overlooking the bay and she arrived on a big yacht, sadly I didn’t get any photos of that but this is her walking up the ‘aisle’ after getting off the boat.

And here we can see the beautiful location and her groom Rob. Sadly he broke his foot only a few weeks before the wedding so he had to do the whole ceremony sitting on a chair but Vicki didn’t seem to mind at all she seemed deliriously happy and stress-free, the perfect bride!

And going in for the kiss after the official stuff is all over!

And the signing of the register. Poor Rob had the sun in his eyes during the ceremony so he had to put on his sunnies. Hilarious!

And this is my gorgeous friend Celeste who also just happens to be Vicki’s cousin as well, we all went to school together. She was a bridesmaid of course and look how beautiful she was! Vicki and Rob’s colour scheme was black and white so the bridesmaids wore strapless maxi dresses with a cute little diamante detail on the sweetheart neckline, hair up and carrying white roses. So stylish!

OOh excuse us, Celeste had to hike up Vicki’s train after the ceremony, where’s the hook..?

Ah, just stunning, in true Vicki style she pulled off a traditional white wedding dress with a modern twist and was still most definitely the sexiest lady of the day!

So while I was there I caught up with my best friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in AGES, Jayne! Was so lovely as both Vicki and I were in her wedding to Andrew…

Now there’s a blast from the past… What fun!

So onto the reception… It was just a short drive around the corner to Salsa Bar and Grill Port Douglas. As you can see the black and white colour scheme was kept throughout and looked really good at this venue. The weather was just perfectly warm and sunny and the open feel of the restaurant took full advantage of that.

I loved the table trimming. The green moss with the simple white flowers and tea light candles made the black and white softer and more natural.

And we were at Table 8… Throughout the invitations, the order of services and the menus etc. was a Victorian theme with this cute romantic couple. I didn’t know if it was a play on Vicki’s name but it perfectly suited the black and white. Made me think of Shakespeare or something like that… Shakespeare wasn’t Victorian though was he? I don’t know, maybe someone could clarify what era this couple in love are from..?

And my place-card/table-setting/gift! I love the dog-tags, all of the bridal party were wearing theirs around their necks by the end of the night and this was a tea-towel/napkin favour, such a great idea! They were all in a range of different designs but all, of course, black and white! Every guest also got a little hand-made wooden box full of sweets to take home too!

One of the highlights of Vicki and Rob’s wedding was the food, it was absolutely exquisite and you could choose from the menu, (as opposed to being served alternative dishes), I chose the beef! Yummm!

This was their cake, a profiterole tower!!! Fun!

Vicki and Rob cutting their cake, check out Rob’s crutches, decorated in black and white, awesome!

And Omgoodness! The desserts! This is the before…

And this is the after haha…

Reminds me of Oscar the Grouch for some reason… Does anyone know what I mean??

They had a wishing well and I’m pretty sure it was handmade for the occasion, lovely!

And here’s a close up of Vicki’s flowers, love the Lilliums! (Is that what they’re called??)

OK, now some of these photos aren’t clear but this is a little montage of Vicki and Rob’s first dance! The food was good but this was even better and it was completely unplanned! As Rob has been using a wheelchair and crutches to get around they thought it would be funny for Vicki to jump on his wheelchair and go for a bit of a ride at the start of their first dance. Only problem was within about 5 seconds Vicki’s beautiful dress was caught in the wheels and before they knew it there were about 5 people gathered around trying to get her dress out of the chair without ripping it! So romantic haha! Finally they got the dress out and they had their little dance with the crutches! A GREAT story to tell the grandkids!

Aww… Happy Life Vicki and Rob may you bear many crazy kids!

***