Almost Married

The Wedding Part 4 (go here for part 3)

This past Saturday we threw SisHaw's Bridal Shower/Pamper Party.  I think it went rather well.  It wasn't a huge crowd which I think was good.  And Mouse got some lovely gifts!

I was under strict instructions not to include any silly games or strippers (and I really cannot blame her for that), so I thought up a procedure for the gift opening.  My sister had to guess who the gift was from. If she got it wrong, I popped a piece of bubblegum into her mouth.  Then the person who gave the gift had to read her one of a series of questions which I had asked Darren (and received his answers) beforehand.  If she got that wrong, it meant another piece of bubblegum!  But she got very few questions wrong.  She knows Darren well.  So well in fact, that she fought with him for giving the wrong answers!

Sisters.

I had to sit right next to her because I was the present-passer, the bubblegum-inserter and the question-pass-arounder.

Nothing like a great big hat to make you feel a little bit silly.

I went to all the trouble of making her chair pretty and she popped a balloon as she sat down.

First present.

From my Mom.  There was more than one present per person so the guessing was fun, as elimination was not a sound guessing method.

Apparently MaHaw expects there to be some sexy times on honeymoon.

Nikki drinks.

I had to specifically pose for this as certain people wanted proof of me drinking alcohol.  Oh dear friends, if only you could see the photos of me from the 1990's...

Pamper!

Aromatherapy lotion and body wash.  It smelled delicious!

Candles! And more of Nikki drinking...

Looks like someone gave Mouse a good idea...

This is SisHaw giving MaHaw the 'no you cannot have any of these chocolates' bitchface.

'Pamper' done right.

Oh my goodness gracious! What do people think they're going to be doing on this honeymoon?  You can't sight-see in that!

She had no idea that little one was from me.  And my poker face was excellent!

Doggies are always invited.
 

She doesn't seem that interested, does she? Well I thought they were pretty...

Pink, furry handcuffs from the mother-in-law.  Awesome.  And, believe it or not she has not read Fifty Shades of Grey. Yet. SisHaw seems.... erm.... What is that expression?

Something new and something blue.

Check!

I think the bubblegum was getting a bit much by this point ;)

I am a riveting speaker.  As you can tell.

Ooooooh!  Smellies!

Vanilla scented candles.

She starting making this funny face every time I wanted to add a piece of bubble gum...

These women had dirty, dirty minds.




Half way through.

And half-time.

...where we ate these...

Purple velvet cup cakes!

 

On with the presents!

 

Another gift from Mom.  And another piece of bubblegum, which she loves. As you can tell from her expression.

I'm like a little helpful wedding elf.

Hmmm... Who is this one from...?

NO MORE BUBBLEGUM! PLEEEEEASE!!!

Beach towels!

Finally, something they can actually use on their honeymoon!  Apparently the pink towel was selected for Darren.

Whaaaat eeeeez eeeeeet....?

Lots of wonderful rose smellies is what it is.  Bath salts, and talc, and cream...

...and fizz balls and soap and all the wonderful things!

Travel bags. Super cool.

I wonder who these were from...?

My sister talks with her hands.

Mouse is getting frustrated guessing who this gift is from.  It's from me.  See how pretty I wrapped it?  Word of advice: using cellophane to wrap gifts in a house full of hairy pets is probably not very smart.

She liked it!

It must be the wad of bubblegum causing that face.  Because that was a really nice gift.

Sensible home toiletries and a face cloth that is too pretty to ever use.


Then all the guests left...

And that might have been when the drinking started.

The Bridal Shower Committee

MaHaw, Michele and me.  I'm the one behind the camera.

There may have been coffee tequila involved.


All in all it was a good day.  Mousie got some fabulous gifts so thank you to everyone her spoilt her so much!

A special thank you to my friend Sian for taking all the photographs and basically allowing us to remember the day (and me to write this post).

And an extra special thank you to the Bridal Shower Committee, for allowing me to dictate, more or less, and avoid phone calls.  Michele allowed us to host the shower at her lovely house and made those decadent purple velvet cupcakes! Michele is awesome! And thanks for the wonderful family time we enjoyed afterwards.  It was fabulous just sitting and chilling and laughing and drinking and dancing with you guys.

Next up... THE WEDDING!!!!



UPDATE: The Bachelor's Party was held the weekend after the Bridal Shower and before the weeding.  Although we don't actually know what took place at this secret, manly ritual we do have evidence that silliness was afoot.

The Woman In White... and the one in blue and the one in charcoal

The Wedding Part 3 (go here for part 2)

We have bought the dresses.  This happened over three shopping trips and I was going to post after each trip but then I thought it would just be more interesting if I posted after everything had been bought. Fair warning: there are far more photos of me in this post than the bride because I am just harder to please.

The first shopping day was a few weeks ago.  We went to a huge, almost discount shopping centre in Johannesburg called The Oriental Plaza.

It's very serious business, planning where to start...

My Mom and Darren were part of this expedition, as you can see.  Poor Darren. The patience of a saint, I tell you.  So we walked into the first promising shop, and tried on a few dresses.



This was the first dress Mouse tried one.  I chose it because I liked the lace on the skirt.  But it's not really her style and she wasn't that impressed.  Parenthetically, my sister leaves her sunglasses on for dress fittings - she's just THAT cool.

 

 

I really like the top on this one.  I think it really suited her.

 

And then, the third dress she tried on was it...

 

You'll have to wait for the wedding photos to actually see it.

My Mom and I talked her into at least looking around the shopping centre we were currently in a bit before making a final decision, so she did.

 

 

This one looked far better on than I thought it would.  It sure was fugly on the rack, but the style suited her. 

 

Serious business, as I said...

Very serious business.

Mouse tried on a few more dresses, and while we were browsing, Darren found himself the perfect shirt. But I don't have a picture of it! I had ONE job!

 

Anyway, nothing else really caught Mouse's attention so we went back and she bought the third dress she tried on.  I guess she knows her mind.  And the bonus was, it was on special so it is probably the most inexpensive wedding dress ever purchased.

 

At this point in time it was decided to look for dresses for the mother of the bride and the maid of honour.  Let me just say right now that the maid of honour does not enjoy shopping.

 

The mother of the bride was easy! We were passing a Chinese clothing shop and...

 

 

...MaHaw found her perfect dress.

 

 

Also, MaHaw is an exhibitionist ;)

 

My sister insists there will be no colour co-ordinating among the family members and the bare minimum of co-ordination among the bridal party.  She wants a totally relaxed wedding with no stresses about who should be wearing what.  Works for me, although I did insist on a teeny bit of colour co-ordination which I'll tell you about shortly.

 

By now the bride, the groom and the mother of the bride are all sorted for outfits.  Which leaves me.  Let me just say that what followed did absolutely nothing for my self esteem, but I did get a few giggles out of it.  And while I am fairly pudgy, the clothes I was trying on were meant for petite Asian girls, and there was just no way.

 

Fat fairy number 1. I particularly like the leggings, they're a nice touch.

Fat fairy number 2. The flower strap... I just can't.

 

 

This one was quite nice, and was my plan B.  It was longer than I wanted, but it looked okay and it sparkled.  You can never go wrong with sparkles.

 

That was that for that shopping day.  Everybody was sorted except me, which is pretty typical.  The only time I can find clothes or shoes I like is when I'm not looking for them and don't have the money to buy them.  We scheduled another shopping trip, two in fact, but Mouse got horribly sick and so I had a two week reprieve.

 

 

This past weekend was a long weekend over here, and so we put our walking shoes on and headed to Johannesburg again.  This time we went to a well-known shopping mall, where we have spent copious hours shopping over the years.

 

As we walked in, Mouse headed to one of her favourite shoe stores and found these.

 

Bridal shoes? Check.

At the same store MaHaw found these...

 

 

...and we all agreed they were pretty perfect for her Chinese dress.

 

So once again the only one who hadn't found anything was me.  We headed out with purpose to find my dress.  And can I just say that grey or charcoal dresses are not that easy to find at the moment.  BUT the retro styles in fashion right now are just so awesome.  Every clothing store we stopped in looked like the 50s and the 80s had decided to throw a revival party.  Awesome!

 

I actually found my dress at the first shop we stopped at.  But it was in a ridiculously small size so we asked if any of their branches had fat fairy sizes and we got a list of possibilities.  But while we were in the mall we decided to keep looking anyway.

 

 

This was very similar to the previous dress I tried on.  And I liked what it did to my boobs.  But it was still a bit small.  I tried a bigger size on the next day.

 

 

I did like this one, but I really wanted charcoal or grey.  And I really think those socks should be standard with any evening dress I wear.  Adds a certain something.

 

 

This is the most expensive dress I have ever tried on.  And I'm not sure what made it worth it's price tag.

 

 

This was the first dress my sister actually oooh'd over.  I liked it.  A lot.  But that other dress was still on my mind, and anyway, this one was too big. Ha! Yes it was.

 

We made plans to meet up at my house the next day, and try the Pretoria stores to see if they had my dress in my size.  While we were out we found that other dress in a bigger size and I tried it on as well.

 

 

But whereas the first one was a bit small, this one was a bit big.  Also, I was told I shouldn't wear those shoes...

 

And then we found it. The right dress, the right size everything!

 

It's practically exactly what I wanted.

 

Well we were just all so relieved.  And as we were leaving we passed a branch of the shoe store where by some fluke, we have found all my special occasion shoes and my sister insisted we go look.  I do not do heels.  My comfort is far too important to me.  But I do have a thing for a particular style of pretty heel, and I never get the opportunity to buy or wear such shoes, so I grab it when it comes.  I have, now, three such pairs of shoes; my graduation shoes, my best friends wedding shoes (I was a bridesmaid) and now my sister's wedding shoes.

 

 

At first I thought these were perfect...

 

 

 

...but then I saw these...

 

 

And I needed them.

 

I should just be able to get through the ceremony wearing these, but a pair of purple ballet flats for the reception will be absolutely necessary.

 

 

 

 

And now seeing as the the bride and the maid of honour are wearing purple shoes I insisted suggested that that the bridesmaid should too.  I think it will look great; subtle and great.  I can't seem to convince the groom to wear purple shoes though...