To Bunt Or Not To Bunt

To Bunt Or Not To Bunt that is one of the questions I'm asking myself.

Our venue is quite large and so far I'm thinking of decorating it with white chinese lanterns, 3 different round sizes, along with fairy lights.

I'm meeting with a lady this weekend who is going to help with the decorations, I'm buying/renting/supplying everything, she'll put it all together for me.

Because it's a surprise wedding I can't rope in friends & family, and because we don't get access until the Friday afternoon, which happens to be when all of my family are arriving from Vic, and I'll be shuttling between home & Newcastle Airport, I was struggling to work out how I was going to manage to decorate everything.

Over the past 3 weeks, my hairdresser, our accountant and a lady at Curves have all suggested I call the same lady to come help, so I did, and we're meeting up this weekend.

One of the things I've been tossing up is bunting, I've been touring around the web quite a bit getting inspiration for decorations, and quite a few photos of bunting, and I'm loving them.

(photo source)

(photo source)

I'm still trying to work out if I have the time and skill to give it a go, but having asked the question at Simple Savings, the girls have filled me with confidence, even pointing me in the direction of a tutorial.

My Mum gave me her old sewing machine at Christmas when she upgraded, and while I haven't sewn a stitch (apart from hand sewing socks, buttons & hems), in over 15 years, I don't think it'd be too much of a struggle to pick it up again!

This weekend I'm heading out wedding dress shopping, well at least to meet with a dressmaker hopefully, and will stop at some Op Shops on the way to see if any sheets or clothes made out of green & white material that would look nice in bunting form.

Not sure if it's a fool's folly to add another thing to the to-do list!  But we'll see anyway!

He Proposed!! :)

I know we've done it a bit about face, but rules are made to be broken aren't they?

Last night Mr Mel proposed (yay!), while we both knew it was a given, he still managed to surprise me!

He had booked dinner at one of our favourite restaurants Sanctuary, and on the drive there he asked if I wanted to have another look at the Hall (our future venue).  I had been trying to remember the name of the caterer listed on the wall at the Hall to get a quote, so thought that's a great idea.

When we arrived there was a pilates group in the hall, so we wrote down the name of the caterer, and Mr Mel stood back and looking at the view, commented how perfect a spot it will be.  Then he gave me a Valentines Day card.

In the card he said some lovely stuff I won't list here (heehee), but ended the card with a PTO, on the back he'd written "I can't wait to have Valentines dinner tonight with my fiance', and I read it, looked at him and said no way!  He replied with 'Chickadee will you marry me'.  Of course I said yes  :)

Such a perfect spot to have done it, I'm so proud of him, for keeping it a secret and picking the spot of our future marriage to propose, makes me tear up thinking of it :)

So we headed off to Sanctuary newly engaged, and was greeted by a glass of champagne, and a delicious dinner, a night to remember forever!

So there you go, we're engaged!!  We're going ring shopping on Saturady, after the tasting at the caterers!

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.

Our Venue

So the venue was something we'd had many thoughts on.

Living in the Hunter Valley, the obvious choice was a vineyard, however vineyards come with a few restrictions we weren't keen on.

1 - Catering - most vineyards have their own caterers, the 'cheapest' one we liked was $129 per head!   Now we're only having around 70 people, that's just over $7,000 alone!

2 - Alcohol - most vineyards, being vineyards, will only allow their own wine to be served.  While we love several wines in the valley, not enough to be paying $20+ per bottle, as the catering packages only last 4 hours, then you pay on top.

So we soon found out we were pushing it up a hill a bit, with our list of requirements:

- able to bring in own caterer

- able to supply own alcohol

After much emailing around to vineyards and guest houses, things weren't looking good, a few guest houses said we could use their grounds, IF we hired the guesthouse for 2 nights (prices ranged from $2,500 to sleep 12 for 2 nights, to $5,000 to sleep 20 for 2 nights), and you had to bring in your own marquee, seats, toilets, etc etc.

So as a last measure I emailed the Wine Country Tourist Info, and their answer came through on Tuesday:

"Thank you for your Hunter Valley Wine Country enquire. There is not a great deal of places in the area that allow what it is that your asking for, as you can imagine being a wine country area most properties are wanting to promote their own product! There is the Hall where you can hire caters bring your own alcohol. However as for any other venue such as this we are not aware of anything. Sorry we were not able to assist further. "

I had never heard of the Hall, so after work on Tuesday, I plugged the address into TomTom and went to see the Hall. 

What a revelation, it's exactly what we want, a lovely stone hall, with a view over vineyards, a grassed area in front of a big verandah, not too over the top.

As the wedding will be the first time our families have met, we want more of a party atmosphere, where everyone mingles, rather than a formal sit down dinner wedding.

And I think we've found the prefect venue in the hall.

The Hall was locked, so I could only look in the windows, I excitedly jumped back in the car, drove home, ringing Mr Mel on the way, saying 'meet me out the front in 5, lock up the house'.

I didn't tell Mr Mel where we were going, when we got there, he looked at me and smiled and said 'well Chickadee I think you've done it, its perfect'!

So on Thursday I rang the managers at Draytons Wines to see if it was available in July/August, and woohoo it was available on 23 July.

Then I held my breath as I asked the price (having just received numerous emails from other venues that averaged around $1,000 to hire ground to erect a marquee on!) and couldn't stop smiling when she said $660!

So I organised for us to pick up the key and pay a deposit.

This morning Mr Mel & I drove out to Draytons, picked up the key, and went for a walk through.

Below are some photos.

Hall - front

View from Hall

View from Hall verandah

View thru window at Hall

Hall - with a bit of love and decorations we'll transform it :)

Kitchen at Hall

I think you'll agree, we've been very fortunate to find our future wedding spot!! :)

Welcome To Our Surprise Wedding Blog!

Ok so a minor detour from the usual procedure, we're yet to get engaged, but Mr Mel & I have decided to have an engagement party on 23 July 2011, and at that party we'll surprise our loved ones by getting married!

Mr Mel & I have known each for 5 years, been together for 3.5 years, and bought our home 1.5 years ago.

Mr Mel is 38, I'm 37, we're well aware of time ticking by, so we've decided to go a tad against the grain, and hopefully in 2011 we'll get married, and start a family!  No pressure!!

At this stage we have the following sorted:

Date - Saturday 23 July 2011
Venue - Hunter Vally, NSW, Australia

To say we've got a bit to organise in the next 6 months is a bit of an understatement, but I'll document the ride here, as a way to keep on track, and for something to look back on down the track!

Wish me luck,