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I’ve been quite stressed with Wedmin (wedding administration, keep up!) recently. I know our nuptials aren’t for another year, but I still want to get things ready ASAP so that I can get on with the rest of my life. In particular, the reception venue worries me, because you have to book mega early and they are also super expensive generally. Places usually charge a hire fee, and then a per-head cost, usually above $100. I don’t want our parents paying upwards of $10,000 for a party! Since I have never actually possessed more than about $5000 (which was because of a grant and I had to spend it), spending more than twice that for half-a-day’s worth of a party is mind-blowing.

When I look in bridal magazines etc., the cheapest featured weddings are about $17000, and the most expensive $60000. What? Am I missing something? My parents are retired. It’s too much.

Luckily, I don’t want a big 3-course-meal, 400 guest, stage band, Elvis impersonator, red carpet, seat-covers, calligraphy nameplates bonanza. Really! I have never been a big eater so my nerves wouldn’t handle a sit down meal too well, and Charles and I tend to get tired of big nighttime booze-up parties, so we have decided on an afternoon tea reception!

Tea, coffee, scones, cakes, sausage rolls, spinach triangles, cheese and dips! Doesn’t that sound lovely? I think we’ve decided where to have it too!

The Oaks Brasserie in Yarralumla looks like it will be a lovely venue. It has a permanent pavilion with a wooden floor and is basically on the lake’s edge. There won’t be many flowers out at the end of winter, but it’s probably the prettiest place in Canberra.

The pavilion all decorated:

The lake view:

Pretty!

Tonight I’m going to a farewell so thought I’d go to some effort with my face and hair! Photos are taken with my iPad so aren’t the best quality.

I did my hair in a high bun by teasing a high ponytail and pinning a billion times. I curled the side bits 🙂

My eyes! Using an electric blue shadow by Rimmel and the Maybelline Give Me Gold pallette.

I’m going to wear my newish little black dress from Cue! This is all a new look for me so I’m excited.

I’m finally back from my big trip to America. We had a really great time! First we flew into New York and spent a couple of days there before heading down to Delaware to attend the workshops.

The initial jet lag was pretty brutal. The working day in New York is literally when I want to be sleeping at home. So that was hard. We pushed on and visited Tokyo Rebel which was super nice, and we had fun exploring the city. At Tokyo Rebel I bought a Baby bag, which is really beautiful and practical.

Newark, Delaware, is a university town and is really small. Charles attended the Jazz Vibraphone workshop with Tony Micelli and I went to the Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone Institute. It was amazing and he was super nice. I was the only person from overseas in my workshop. I was also the oldest, everyone else was not even drinking age! I learnt a lot. The last day of the workshop was a concert, and this is what I wore:

Victorian Maiden Rose Stripe Shirring Dress. That was the only time I wore it.

We rented a car from Hertz and drove up to Boston. What a crazy thing to do! Charles did super well. We stayed with our friends who live north of Boston in a town called Hamilton. It was lovely and green there.

We also drove into Boston city to hang out with some other friends. One friend is also getting married soon and she took me to a wedding dress shop! I couldn’t believe how expensive the dresses were – like over $6000. It was interesting anyway.

Next we drove back to New York to stay in Brooklyn. This time in New York we went to Central Park, Tiffany’s, and a jazz club called Small’s. The only bad thing was that it was so stinking hot in the subways!

Anyway a lovely time was had. Charles and i made headway in our Wedmin too.