Wedding Wednesday: Surviving a bridal expo

I attended my first Bridal Expo at Oakfield Farm in Muldersdrift this past weekend. It was fun, informing and quite overwhelming. So to future brides, here are my tips for surviving your first bridal expo, and how many others you are planning to attend thereafter.

 

       Picture from Oakfield

{1} Wear comfortable shoes, you are going to walk all day, and walk far. High heels are not going to cut it here. You might end up crying. Luckily, I don't wear high heels, but still had pretty sore feet after a long day.

{2} If the expo takes place on a hot summers day, such as the day we had - the temperature was soaring in the high thirties - make sure you have a bottle of water with you, so that you don't dehydrate.

{3} Eat before you go. Beverages and food are ridiculously expensive at these events. I had to pay R20 for a bottle of sparkling water. Hectic.

{4} Take your friends {and mom} with you. It's fun and you can ooh and ah about everything together.

{5} Have a pretty good idea of what you like and how you would like your wedding day to look like. All those stalls can be pretty overwhelming and you could end up choosing something you didn't want at all.

{6} On that same note, I hired my biggest service providers - venue, photographer, make up artist - before the expo and wasn't so overwhelmed. This helped me to focus on the smaller things, like a dj, decor, the cake etc.

{7} Bring a bag in which you can put all your business cards and brochures!

        Picture from Oakfield

{8} A lot of the companies will ask you for your details. Kindly decline and ask them for a business card, and that you will contact them, or you will get unwanted junk mail and spam. Nothing against people in the wedding industry here, love you guys.

{9} But do sign up for the giveaways. You might just win a prize!

{10} Take your camera to capture things you really like.

{11} Ask lots of questions, know exactly what you want to know - and write it down.

{12} HAVE FUN! Drink the free champagne at every stall and eat their cupcakes and fizzers and toffees and sweets. 

PS: linking up with Something Charming ::

  

So this post is about weddings :: the invites

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Dead set on having a very intimate wedding, I have often voiced my opinions on guest lists for the BIG day. I believe that you don’t have to have a hundred people to make it big and often threw caution to the wind in my statements. These are some of the things I have learnt about setting up a guest list {for an intimate wedding}.

    Picture by Kikitography aka the guys who are going to capture my special day

1.    Invite the people that contributed to your journey – these are the people that helped your relationship grow, or perhaps even introduced you to each other; the ones who cheered and cried {happy tears} when you said that you got engaged; your close friends.

2.    Invite people who still go through the trouble of contacting you – uhm, so you had this friend from primary school and you see each other at mutual friends’ houses for a party or such, but you never really hear from them, even if you try and make contact – scratch them.

3.    Family doesn’t always have to come first – I would say that grandparents are importantish {I only have one grandma, so can’t really voice my opinion on this one}; then of course your own parents, his parents and siblings. That’s where I draw the line with really-cannot-not-invite.

4.    Aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and cousins – Everyone has a cousin or uncle and aunt that live miles and miles away, that you haven’t seen since you were ten, but still feel the need to invite them – don’t.

5.    Invite people that will make the day fun – I have seen this at too many parties and a few weddings, that there are people who don’t want to dance, don’t want to participate in chatter or games, and stare at their watch all evening. They will bring your mood down, so don’t invite them. {I’m all for hooligans, they make everything fun}

6.    Colleagues – just because you see them every day and have decent conversations with them, doesn’t mean you have to add them to your list. They will understand. Except if you are friends outside of the working place, then you best invite them.

7.    The one about kids – If you feel that children will be disrupting to your special day, and that they won’t have anything to do, be easily bored, then indicate politely in your invite that kids are not allowed. Or leave their names off of the invitation.  

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What do you think? Am I wrong in my choices?

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PS: If you haven't read how the love of my life was proposed, you can catch up here.

Holi One Festival

I just received this email and have to say that I am out of my skin excited for this festival. Going to buy my ticket right now! 

Online From Webtickets:
General Admission: R190
General Admission including powder (5 colours): R290

Follow them on twitter & facebook

Mila's absolute favourite place in the house is on top of the couch. She seems to be confused about what type of animal she really is. This is definitely feline behaviour. She lies there every night when we watch tv, sometimes with her head on my shoulder.

But sometimes, she falls in, between the frame of the couch and the big pillows. I once left her there for an entire afternoon.

She wasn't too bothered, just kept on trying to stare out the window. And it wasn't an entire afternoon. I felt sorry for her after twenty minutes and lifted her out. 

Silly puppy. 

She's a bit ill now and has been throwing up almost every day the past week or so. She can't hold her food and when she doesn't eat, she just vomits stomach acid. I'm taking her to the vet on Saturday. Maybe the young lady has been drinking too much swimming pool water.

Ice Cream in Parkhurst

Today's post is brought to you in pain. I, a {pretty responsible} twenty-five year old threw caution to the wind on Saturday and moshed and headbanged into the early hours of Saturday. What? They were playing some of my favourite rock songs! I pretended to be a groupie and just went mad. Needless to say, I spent an hour or two, while the others were partying, with my head on my handbag - my neck too sore to even lift up.

That afternoon was much nicer though and Flip treated me to some delicious handmade ice cream, that his company delivers all the way from Cape Town. I got myself the Butter Scotch flavoured Nice Cream, while Flip opted for the Chocolate Nice Cream. We drove all the way to Mellisa's in Parkhurst for the treat and made a day out of it, dogs included.

While my ice cream tasted like it was made by angels, Flip's had an awful egg aftertaste. Perhaps that explains the face.

The two main streets of the suburb, 4th and 6th are always a hive with activity, the one providing a culinary side, with little shops tucked in between, while the other is scattered with design and interior decorating shops.

The tree-lined streets are definitely my favourite feature and makes for a lovely walk! The dogs loved it too!

PS: seeing as this was an update on my weekend, I'm linking up with Sami for Weekend Update.

Friday Fancies: outfit crushes

I’m a bit grumpy today. Last night some guy drove past our house with his music so loud that all the windows started vibrating. I thought it was the Rapture. To you, guy, who plays music that only people on face-eating superdrugs can listen to so loud at three in the morning, I would like to say – eat dicks.

On to the next topic: Friday Fancies this week is all about outfit crushes, so I decided to do a few what a whore I wore inserts.

These are some of the recent outfits I wore to work in the last two weeks. Sorry about the blurriness of the last one, I couldn't find the higher res one, so took one from Instagram.

 First up is my utterly eighties getup. The punch in the air was to pay tribute to Judd Nelson. I failed though. Breakfast Club, however, is much cooler.

It's still summer up in this place, so a short shift dress with a lemony jacket seemed perfect for our cooler-than-most-other-places-in-South-Africa Joburg weather.

 Ugh. Blurry photo.

Yeah, uh huh, you know what is 

black and yellow, black and yellow.

Me

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I found this on LoveTaza.com, she did this post way back in 2008. It's a sweet way to relive all the highlights and things you know about each other. You should try it, and if you do, link up in the comments so I can check it out! :) 

50 things about us:

1.    He is all logic, but sometimes can’t make logic conclusions.

2.    She is all creativity.

3.    Therefore, she can’t do math.

4.    We live in a yellow house.

5.    She nags him to be more talkative.

6.    He wishes she would cook more often.

7.    She can’t cook.

8.    We have two dogs, named Mila (a Staffie) and Jethro (a Jack Russell)

9.    She lives for music.

10. He won’t reveal whether Jethro has been named after Jethro Tull (the band) or Jethro Gibbs (NCIS).

11. We are best friends.

12. She can’t live without him.

13. He can’t live without tomato sauce.

14. We fart in front of each other. (teehee)

15. He knows that when she is grumpy she is either hungry or sleepy.

16. She blushes at this admission.

17. We have the same sense of humour.

18. He doesn’t think so.

19. Because she doesn’t laugh at his jokes (but inside, our humour is exactly the same)

20. She is a bit of a slob, with OCD

21. He is a bit of OCD, with a side order of slob.

22. We have a cleaner. Thank goodness for that.

23. He asked for her hand in marriage at a waterfall. The waterfall wasn’t on.

24. She never takes off her ring and cannot get it over her heart to have it resized, even if its too small.

25. She has very light body hair, so doesn’t shave her legs for a long time (slob!)

26. He looks handsome with facial hair.

27. We already picked out a name for a girl – should we have a baby someday.

28. He took her to a sushi restaurant on their first date.

29. She refused to eat sushi before that date. Now, she’s addicted.

30. We eat Kung Fu Kitchen sushi at least three times a month.

31. He accidentally said ‘I love you’ when she dished up for him at a party.

32. She was so shocked that she sat quietly next to her best friend for the remainder of the evening.

33. We attended this friend’s funeral in September.

34. He eats beet salad on bread. And crinkle cut chips. And French fries.

35. She eats toast with butter – that must be melted.

36. Sometimes he dips her when she wants a kiss. (so romantic)

37. He is addicted to Coca Cola.

38. She hasn’t had soda in 14 years. Then she met him.

39. She walks into rooms and forgets why she went in there.

40. He always knows where her car keys, cellphone, purse or handbag might be.

41. We have been officially dating for two years and eight months.

42. She likes to send him pictures from inside dressing rooms before she buys anything.

43. We both adore nature.

44. He doesn’t like zoos.

45. He does like French fries and can eat them every day.

46. She cries in church services, particularly at Christenings.

47. He rolls his eyes when this happens

48. He leaves lights on in the house, which in a sense, is good because

49. She is afraid of the dark.

50. We are getting married in nine months.

 One of our very first photos together.

Wedding Wednesday: the venue

{ I am not committing to Wedding Wednesday, it's just ironic that this post fell on this day. Booyah!}

When Flip and I first started looking for a wedding venue, I was dead set on a place with a stone chapel. The idea would be that we were to get married in the chapel and have our reception outside. Reality knocked, and since I decided that we would get married in October, because it’s my favourite month, we went against this. October is almost always soaking wet. The irony is that we are now getting married outside and still in October, just not at above mentioned venue.

Also, I never really realised the importance of a budget, until I got a ring on my finger. And then the stress started. I felt like running away, eloping, if you may. “Flip, why can’t we just get married in a court and spend all the other money on a honeymoon, or the house?”

But every girl dreams about her wedding day, plans it from age four, so I wouldn’t be doing myself a favour by eloping. I would begrudge it. And Flip is traditional and old-fashioned, so getting married in a court was out of the question to him.

Soon, we came upon our venue, had a look {first and only wedding venue we had a looksee} and chose a date. Twelve October Twenty Thirteen.

We had to revisit it again this weekend, as the venue planned to plant some Jasmine over the gazebo we would get married under {I am highly sensitive to smells and Jasmine triggers some ugly allergies in me}, and they were planning on moving it to another spot I chose. I almost went Bridezilla on them. Does the drama ever end?

Here is a sneak peek of the venue.

PS: Linking up with Joelle from Something Charming.

Not that I would know anything about being a wallflower. Fortunately/Unfortunately, I don't have a shy bone in my body {and I've said before I could start a conversation with a pillow - pillow talk. ha. lame joke of the year has been made}. Obnoxious? Perhaps. However, watching the movie "Perks of being a Wallflower", and seeing the other side of the coin gave me a little more insight into the life of an introvert, like Flip. Also, it meant date night! Heck yes.

 Okay, back to the movie. My Oscar nomination for the year! If I was the head of the Foreign Press Association, I would fire people if they didn't nominate it. The music was perfect, the great writing , and as a result great quotes and acting, and quirky characters {man, is Ezra Miller hot!} was just amazing and the different things everyone had to deal with, the lessons they learn - holy shit {as in the good kind}!

Everyone needs friends like these people. Everyone.

My favourite quote:

 I really wanna be a writer but I don't know what I'd write about. 

You can write about us.

Call it 'The Slut and the Falcon'. Make us solve crimes.

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Also, a friend and I went to see Pitch Perfect not long after this. We both folded double with laughter, and albeit a bit predictable, I loved it. It made me miss varsity and the singing competitions we had; although we were never ever, as in ever, as good as these guys were - any of them. Oh, and Fat Amy {Rebel Wilson}, can I please adopt you and make you my sister? You are awesome!

And Anna Kendrick has fast become one of my other favourite actors.

There you go; my highly opinionated, highly biased movie reviews. Watch it, don't watch it. Put it in a pipe and smoke it.

There is still some time to do my reader survey for 2013.

A day at the beach

Last week I started recapping our trip to Mozambique during our December holiday, but there is still so much to share, like the lovely beaches and the strange things we found.
Much like the weather, the water is warm, but still cold enough too cool you down in that crazy heat. It’s shallow {we could walk away to the white horses you see at the back of the picture above}, and so clear that you could see your feet almost all the time – perfect for snorkelling!

On our last day at the beach the wind was blowing in a strange direction {or so the people around us said} and brought with it an army of blue bottles, teeming through the entire sea. We still risked swimming in the water, but had to dodge these guys at all times. Flip got stung on his thumb and I got a lashing on my stomach and butt. It didn’t hurt as much as I though it would. Not that I got stung on purpose.
Eventually, the little suckers washed out.

I felt very sorry for the poor things, even though they are made of evil, and the one at the top kept on breathing. I nearly started crying, because I knew they were going to die. So I devised a plan, stuck my foot in the sand underneath the blue bottle and kicked it back to the sea {or made a little puddle, so it could just be in water}. I failed. The one blue bottle tore into longer blue stripes. I was sad.

Tanning cheered me up.

Friday Fancies: A date with the gym

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I have started the new working year with a bang! Not only did I have to edit a 117 page feature, which was about 50 000 words {finished it today, whoop!}, but I also got my butt back into the gym, big time!

My friend and I have committed ourselves to Crossfit, and I think it’s safe to say, I am addicted – to the exercises, the feeling of accomplishment after completing a day’s routine and the pain! I am sitting here in unreserved agony and I love it.

There are muscles that are hurting that I really didn’t know exist, but this pain is what drives me to do more, because I know that I’m doing something right and by the time I have to walk down the aisle, I will be looking like a beach goddess. (Well, I hope so).

My next goal is to start eating healthier and to eat foods that will give me the energy I need to complete my routines. At the moment, I am taking some sinusitis meds, with pseudoephedrine {an appetite suppressant}, so I haven’t been doing my best in the eating department.

Needless to say, with gym-brain, I couldn’t think of anything else this week for Friday Fancies but some awesome gym gear. I normally just wear gympants and one of Flip’s shirts, but who says you can’t glam it up in the gym?

 I made this set with Polyvore, so all the details of the outfit is here.

I also spoiled myself with some gym toys, including this digital skip rope from iGym. 

 Available from Totalsports.

To life! And a good gymming year!

Mozambique {part two} – Our lodge

I am a bit of a pampered pooch. No, really. if I was a dog, I would probably be a French Poodle in a Beverly Hills house, so camping isn’t really my forte, but living it up is, so we decided to go camping in Mozambique. This was also partly motivated by the fact that we decided too late to go away for the holiday and thus had no choice, as all the places with roofs were already fully booked.

You know when you see a place on the internet, it is an entirely different picture to what you expected and it sets certain expectations. When we arrived at our home for the next ten days, well let’s just say that we were surprised. But the longer we stayed, the more we saw the charm, got to know the great hosts, which included Mark, his wife Helene, their one-and-a-half-year-old baby Maiya, the barman Carlitos and the other awesome guests. Gamboozini Lodge really stole my heart.

Adding to the love in my heart for this place was the awesome cats, called Tito and I forget the other cat’s name now, but I remember that it was something to do with stars. A random stray dog also made himself a guest of the lodge while we were there.




The picture above, that was our toilets! Hahaha, I was really surprised with this one. But inside it was so clean and it always had fresh flowers and soap. What more do you need from an ‘outhouse’?


 
Thinking back, I realise that I didn’t snap a lot of great moments, that would have made some beautiful memories, such as the wholesome prepared dinners {that was really cheap, at about R70 pp}, the wonderfully laid tables, with fresh flowers and candles. Flip and I always got our own table, and it was terribly romantic!

On one particular evening, the power went out and didn’t come back for another few hours. Carlitos surprised everyone at the lodge with a fireshow. On New Years Eve, we found him on the beach and he gave us another fireshow. The group of people we were partying with, ironically people I knew from Potchefstroom, and all the other people that recognised him called his name and cheered him on. An extra special moment.


 
 
Picture by Gamboozini