Sydney Flower Market - amazing!

This morning, at 3.15am no less, I headed down the F3 to the Sydney Flower Market, WOW what an eye opener, I have never been before, and it was just amazing.

Flowers of every description and colour, I was a bit overwhelmed with the options at first, but luckily had Emma with me (part-time florist who is putting the flowers together for me), and she had a plan of attack, I had several photos of flower arrangements, and colours I liked, so we targetted the bouquets & cake topper first. Once we had found everything for them, we took the flowers back to the car (in the pouring rain!!)

Then we were back to pick flowers for decorations, we're having 2 urns on either side of the stairs for the ceremony, so those arrangements need a little bit of height, then we have a range of around 30 wine bottles, and 20 jars that we will scatter flowers throughout.

One thing I saw that I just had to have was white kale.

White Kale

We decided to change some of the decorations to include the kale, they're so stunning, even nicer than this pic, they were my favourite find today.

And we picked up some of my favourite, Cymbidium Orchids, they have been my inspiration all along re colour scheme etc, and I'm so happy I was able to get some to have in the bouquet.

Cymbidium Orchids

Other flowers we selected were

White Fresias

White Daphne

Cream roses

Blushing Bride

We also got a few bunches of natives and grasses, and some lovely green wheat, to use in the bottles/jars,

I would have loved to have hydrangeas & peonies, however neither were available.

All the flowers are with Emma, she'll keep them in her special fridge, then put the arrangements together on Friday, deliver them to the hall on Saturday morning, then bring the 2 bouquets and button holes to our house on Saturday afternoon before we head off.

I think I could easily become addicted to the Sydney Flower Market, the bargain prices we paid for just beautiful flowers was amazing.  The cost, including Emma's labour, will come in at about 1/3rd of what we were quoted from 3 local florists!  Huge saving.

Well it's almost midnight, and having got up this morning at 2.30am I'm a tad knackered.  Happy to report I have just finished the last of the 100m of bunting!!!!!  I shall post on that tomorrow hopefully. We also met with the photographer today at the hall, and drove to the photo location options, very happy with the plan of attack!

D-Day 5 more sleeps away!

Wow, what a difference a few days makes!

Things were going along swimmingly, everything coming together well, then kaboom a clusterf%*$ bomb goes off.

Don't want to go into too many details, as it's already doing my head in, and I just can't think about it any more. But needless to say alot of swearing, tears, and stress has been had since Friday, none of it of our doing!

1 family member doesn't want to stay in the same house as another because their voice annoys them (yes I'm being serious!), a couple of kids in the family have fallen ill, the illness means they should be isolated, the easy, and common sense answer is that one of the parents stays with the kids, while the other comes. But that's turned into a nightmare with people threatening not to come, even when we told them (1 family who have been sworn to secrecy) that it was our wedding, hoping they would be able to sort it.

Mr Mel and I had a sleepless weekend, trying to placate all parties, we spent most of our weekend calling/texting/emailing everyone trying to work out the best plan for the weekend, when we should have been us fine-tuning everything, and relaxing if possible! However it just didn't happen.

So now it's 5 sleeps till our big day, and we still have a bit to do:

• Bunting - or now known as Nemesis - everything is sewn up, ironed, just need to sew them all together into 15 metre lengths, that is my mission tonight and tomorrow before and after work
• Shoes - I dyed them however once fully dried they were too light, so I have gone over them with acrylic paint, which is in the process of drying, I will then spray them with a sealant
• Honeymoon Clothes - whoops, not a smart idea to try and go summer clothes shopping in middle of winter!  Have found a few bits an pieces that will work with our current clothes, thankfully even found some not too horrific bathers! Yay
• Payments - tonight have to make final payments to caterer, decorator, hire company, hall
• Flowers - I am heading to the Sydney Flower Market on Wednesday morning, leaving home at 3.15am!! with a lady who goes to the Curves I go to, and her daughter, who was a florist, and does some work on the side.  The plan is to go and see what catches the eye, run it by florist re how it could work, then buy them wholesale.  We're going to have a few arrangements, then a heap of single flowers in wine bottles & jars, at this stage!
• Ring - I am hoping I will have time to get my engagement ring polished/cleaned for the big day, if not, no big deal
• Photographer - we are meeting with our photographer at the hall on Wednesday afternoon to get an idea of where to get photos, what sort of light is around etc
• Music - I need to finish off saving music to my ipod and organising playlists
• Decorations - I need to write on a few blackboards & picture frames to go around the hall with info re food, wine, etc.
• Pom Poms - IF I get time I am going to make some pom poms, to hang around the hall, I have all the tissue paper, just need time to make them!
• Family issues - need to make sure I stand my ground for my big day and not get bullied into backing down, I only want to ensure all of our guests are safe and healthy, not infected by possibly sick kids on the day!
• Oh and work - tomorrow is my last day, yay, then I can concentrate properly on my to-do list, instead of squeezing it around my 10 hour work days!  Not mentioning all the work to get done before I leave tomorrow!

Wish me luck!

The Kindness Of Curvy Strangers

As you could probably imagine, in having a surprise wedding, I have limited my available helpers to myself & Mr Mel, and have spent the last few weeks calling & emailing a long list of suppliers to get quotes on everything we need.

Not being a local for long and not knowing many (well any apart from boss & neighbours) in town, I wasn't able to rely on recommendations etc.

I joined Curves 2 weeks ago in an effort to ditch some kgs leading into the big day.  On Monday, after my failed DIY invitation attempt, I mentioned that I was craft challenged, when some of the other ladies were discussing their craft projects.  They asked what I was trying to do and as soon as the word 'wedding' left my mouth, it was on for young and old!

Within 3 minutes I had been offered:

• Florist services - a daughter of one of the ladies is a stay at home mum, but is a florist by trade
• Decoration services - a friend of one of the ladies does part time function/wedding decorating
• Cake - daughter in law of one of the ladies is a stay at home mum, works in a bakery part-time, and obsessed with cakes

I was taken aback by their kindness and generosity, by my quick calculations based on another 5 minute chat yesterday morning, on those 3 items alone we'll be saving around $800 - $1,000! Alot can happen in our Curves circle!

The ladies are bringing in email addresses & phone numbers to our Curves session tomorrow, so I can liaise directly.

So yay to me for speaking up (ok kind of whinging!), and yay to the Curvey ladies, after their kind offers I can no longer call them strangers!

Needless to say I am going to add them to the list to receive our 'thank you' photo/postcard after our day!  :)

The Cake Toppers - so cute!

So we haven't even considered what we're doing cake wise, but I just couldn't resist the most gorgeous cake toppers.

Mr Mel calls me Chickadee or Chicken, and I call him Monkey or Monkelicious, just so you don't think I'm completely crackers!

I've requested they both be around 9cm tall, and the monkey won't have bananas.

Chicken Cake Topper

Monkey Cake Topper

We're thinking of going with plainish white cakes, with a green ribbon, maybe some green orchids on top, with the chicken & monkey sitting amongst the orchids.
They're made from gum paste, I'll be receiving them in an airtight container in the next week or so, then just need to keep them away from air, light, moisture, and Mr Mel :)

I realise they won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I know Mr Mel will love them as much as I do, and really it's our day, so there :)

Flower Scheme

After much googling to see what flowers are in season in Winter, we, well let's be honest, I (poor Mr Mel has little input on it heehee) have decided on our flowers for our surprise wedding.

Because it will be end of July, mid winter, we're going with a white and pale green theme, and I just adore the floral display below from Lily And Rose.

Green Cymbidium Orchids, Leucodendrons and Dodder Vine

At this stage we're going to have mainly white, with pale green features, through flowers, and maybe seat sashes and/or tablecloths for the cocktail tables & stools.

An update on progress so far, given it's just over 5 months till d-day!!

Catering - we're meeting with our preferred caterer this Saturday at their kitchen near Newcastle

Decoration - I've received a few quotes, and will visit the showroom of a local supplier to have a look at options, she has decorated the Hall for previous weddings, so it will be great to get some input.

Also scanning Ebay to see if any deals on fairy lights to hang on the ceiling of the verandah and in the hall itself.