Balled and Chained i.e. The Wedding

So this is a really long time coming. Only three months late... I'm sorry. Forgive me?

Let's jump right in. This post is going to be ALL pictures with very little writing. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So get ready for a gazillion words worth of pictures! And a huge thank you to Michele, our second sister, Ma's third daughter and Mouse's best friend for taking the majority of these wonderful photographs. She did a fantastic job of capturing the day, authentically and candidly without any stuffy formal poses. Smooches to Michele!

And hugs to Sian, my wonderful friend, who gave Mouse a CD of the photographs she took during the Day, some of which I have used as well.

To recap...

This is what it's all about.

We woke up on the Saturday morning to a relatively overcast and drizzly day. Everybody kept telling Mouse that rain on your wedding day is lucky. But she was still quite calm, despite the weather.

While the staff at the wedding venue were putting this together...




Reception Hall.

Seating plan and head table.

Chapel.

Where the happy couple would be spending their first night of wedded bliss.

... we began putting ourselves together, starting with our hair.

 

Oooh pretty!

Then we drove to the venue to continue our primping there. Mom was the official makeup artist for this lavish affair, making the bride, the maid of honour, the mother of the groom and herself look beyootiful.

First up, the bride. Mom attended to herself when she had a chance.

The designated music person, Megan (dressed in the peach coloured dress) assisted as needed. Here you can see me, mom dollying up the mother of the groom, Mouse puckering up and Megan helping Megan (the bridesmaid) with her hair.

You'd think it would've got confusing with two Megans, but we managed fine.



All the bling.

Waiting...

The HawFolks. I think they like each other...

Can I come out? Yep, we're ready!

Bridal retinue is a GO!

Everybody is waiting!



The iPod Touch my friend Lori gave me had a very important role in the wedding. It played the processional and recessional music! The happy couple chose The Vitamin String Quartet's version of Aerosmith's Don't Wanna Miss A Thing for the processional music, and I chose their version of All You Need Is Love for after the ceremony. Megan, she of the peach dress, was in charge of playing the music at the right times and she did an excellent job of listening to my precise instructions despite my inability to follow those same instructions...

Standing next to Darren is his Best Man and best friend, Darryl.



It's aisle time!

Very serious business.

Exchanging rings.

Making it all legal...

It's official!

Official photographer and designated music person. Also known as Michele and her daughter, Megan.



Smooches and confetti and bouquets hoisted as trophies!

All you need is Love. Dum da dum da dum...

Posers.

Just Married.



They look kinda happy, don't they.



The wedding party, from left to right: Megan the Bridesmaid; Nikki the Maid of Honour; Marcus the Father of the Bride; Yo the Mother of the Bride (crouching mother hidden tickle); Lisa the Bride; Darren the Groom; Becky the Mother of the Groom; Darryl the Best Man; Stan step-Father of the Groom.

 

Happy Families.

It's a wedding party.

The four original Haws.

Time to get silly.

Me and my famdamily.

Shoes.                                               No Shoes.                               Dancing Shoes!

Where's the baby?                                         There's the baby. Yay!

Celebrate good times! Come On and Hava Nagila!

Speeches. And a few tears.

Fairy tale wedding fairy cakes.



First dance. And other stuff.

Throwing the bouquet. Catching the bouquet. And guess who caught the garter.

It's a Party in the RSA!

Flower petals and bubbles for the newly weds.



The morning after with the new mister and missus.

So that happened. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us. Thanks to everyone who made the day possible and improved it impossibly. And thanks to everyone who has followed this journey here on the blog.

Next up... We'll be birthing a baby :)

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.