Since the beginning of May this year, I’ve turned from normal-Tina (it’s all relative) into what my friends call the Wedding Organizilla (as opposed to Bridezilla). Those who have seen me running around like a madwoman on fire would mistake me as the one walking down the isle and organising the wedding of the lifetime. How very wrong they are.
It’s actually my big brother’s wedding & my sis-in-law Amy. Not sure how I happened to get the job as being the Wedding Planner, especially considering I’ve only attended a handful of “real” weddings in my lifetime. “Real” as in the “real-deal” walking down the isle wedding; not just the reception banquet with the thank-yous-all-very-much-for-coming-have-another-couple-of-drinks speeches.
So anyway, one of the first things I did was talk to the Bride&Groom (B&G) about what they want. The original idea was a white wedding in a stainless window church with everyone-under-the-winter-sun invited to it. There would be the whole walking-down-the-isle to gospel music and me as the flower girl throwing petals after the B&G (I thought it would be entertaining, to say the least). There would be a three tiered wedding cake (I’m told the top two tiers are fake, and only the bottom was edible cake. The things you learn!) and strictly NO DANCING.
Following the church wedding we would have photoshooting around the Rocks, Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, Wollomolloo, La Perouse, etc etc.
After all’s done, we would have the dinner reception at a Chinese Restaraunt in the city. The usual big Asian banquet style with an imaginatively-named menu. E.g., the desert is called “100 years of good companionship” which is just the usual desert drink you get at the end of a Chinese meal.
Now, being a girl of detail, there must be a colour theme to this wedding. Both B&G’s favourite colour is lilac (they even have a feature wall in their apartment painted light purple – that’s fanatic but looks good), so our theme colour was purple and cream for the morning wedding, and purple and silver for the night reception. This meant all invitations, decorations, flowers, bouquets, car deco, gift boxes, and even bridesmaid dresses and best men ties were all liliac, or shades of purple and cream/ silver.
All was PERFECT – in my mind.
THEN………….
We had issues booking a church – so church idea SCRAPED.
We had issues booking restaraunt in city – so restaraunt SCRAPED.
Actually it all started when the original Wedding Planner pissed off the B&G (Bad move) – So Wedding Planner guy DUMPED.
Then we couldn’t decide whether we want to give chocolates to guests as gifts, and in the end – chocolate idea REJECTED.
Then the photo shoot on Wedding Day was changed to another day.
Then as the wedding got more and more casual, the purple idea faded as well (my dress is peach/ orange in colour…)
BUT……………….
Instead we now have a Buddhist Wedding in a monastery.
And the dinner reception will be at Pymont’s Fishmen Chinese Restaraunt, where we have half the restaraunt divided just for us (with the bar!) and FREE PARKING.
And for gifts we bought a whole heap of soap-carved roses from a family friend, which are so beautiful we’ve kept a whole heap for ourselves!
And we have the pre-wedding photo shoot this Sunday, which is much better than rushing it on the wedding day.
And we still have some things purple, some things orange, some things….oh it’s a colourful wedding!
And most importantly, we have a Wedding Planner doing it all for free, on call 24/7 and has a few surprises up her sleeve for the B&G.
SO ALL IN ALL………….
I think it’s going to be ok!
And if it goes well, that’s another thing I can add to my “Life CV” along with all the other “little projects” I currently have on in my life at the moment! I think I’m going to have to ask for some 34 hour days to fit it all in!
WALKING DOWN THAT ISLE
I’ve learnt a really valuable lesson in all of this. I’ve been reassured many many times that no matter how much I plan, surprises are waiting to pounce and nothing will turn out the way I planned it. Just the fact that our original plan has made a complete 180 degree turn shows this.
As we look down that isle of life, we can imagine ourselves walking down it. Some may imagine how graceful, beaming, and loved we feel at that moment. Some may be looking forward to seeing their partner waiting at the end. Some may picture the people we love watching as we pass them by. Others may be worried about the right que to wonder in, or wonder which bast**d would trip us over. But until we take that first step, and the next, we will never know. And once we do, that’s a new beginning in a new journey down our isle – and there’s no way to know what will happen on our walk down, and what awaits us at the end.
A thousand mile journey………..
begins with one step………….
