fun in the queensland sun.

i'm back!
i packed my bags, said goodbye to husband who sadly couldn't get the time off work, and headed up to my aunt and uncle's home near brisbane for a week with the extended family culminating with my cousin's wedding.

we spent most days enjoying the sunshine, eating cheese and crackers by the pool, lazily reading magazines and visiting some of the theme parks. with 21 of us together meals were epically big, it was sometimes noisy, but so enjoyable to spent lots of time together. i slept out in a revamped new caravan with a lovely comfy bed that i shared with my one female cousin and my own tv as my many boy cousins crammed head to head into two little rooms. however i had even more company with some little hens and a particuarly cheerful rooster as my neighbours. this delightful rooster thought 4am was just the perfect time to be alive and tell the world about it.

...and now for some wedding photos.
nb i know the dress i'm wearing in these photos is looking mighty familiar to anyone who regularly reads this blog but it's pretty and i'm a terrible packer and didn't have many other clothes to pick from. and no one at the wedding had ever seen my lovely dress before...i must get as much wear out of it as possible:)

such a beautiful day. i love family time.

some more cute wedding ideas.

i started the new year off with a bang at the beautiful wedding of michelle and paul. husband was a groomsmen as usual:) and it was a very hot but absolutely fabulous day. the wedding was absolutely gorgeous and i thought i'd share some ways they made it special for all those brides to be out there. for other cute ideas too check out here and here and here.

isn't this a lovely set up for a signing of the registry table?

chandeliers are so stunning and this one was simply gorgeous.

a lolly table - fill a container with lollies to take home. i love the idea of using scrabble letters, i'm always on the search for old scrabble boards when thrifting.

a love letters table- where each guest writes a special little note to the bride and groom with marriage advice or best wishes etc.

photos in different frames of the bride and groom on adventures and also pictures from their parents wedding days.

and some photos too with the beautiful bride, uni friends and the most handsome groomsman.

bombonieres.

i like the word bomboniere, it's got a nice ring to it but it's a word i only learnt when planning my own wedding. when i got engaged people asked me what i was doing for the bomboniere. i didn't really know what to do so i played it safe and went traditional. since my own wedding i've seen lots of good bombonieres ideas. i've even got photos of a few, but at a recent wedding i was absolutely smitten with their bomboniere idea of a place card to add your own photobooth photo. oh how i love photobooths!

 the first wedding i've been to, my own. this photo doesn't really capture it too well but each guest got a bag of the traditional 5 sugared almonds.

 

my friend's husband is an ebay enthusiast and found these adorable notepad with fruit patterns on them rather cheap. each notepad has a fruit print on it, like apple seeds and the outside of an apple and folds in a circular shape to look like an apple (or other fruit such as oranges, pineapples, watermelon). i love using my notepad at home and sending out different fruit messages to people.

another idea is a frame with a picture of the person from the engagement party in it. now it's not husband's best photo but nice idea. the couple bought frames super cheap from ikea and painted them up to give a personal touch.

and yes of course, a very fun idea is hiring a photo booth and letting you guests go wild! and then giving them a cute little holder to display the funny photos. my fridge looks so much more interesting since going to this wedding.

cute wedding ideas.

high tea kitchen tea

it seems to be the season in our lives for weddings, kitchen teas, bucks and hens nights and i thought i'd share a few cute little ideas i saw at a recent wedding. there were lots of other fabulous ideas but i got a bit caught up in all that was going on and didn't get as snap happy as i would have liked.

bird cages on the ground filled with flowers...i'm a lover of bird cages and this was just a cute detail.

a painted wooden sign nailed to a tree (and i could resist including a photo of my charming groomsman husband).

having photos of the bridal party in black and white pegged to an old frame.

i'm thankful for...

every time i go to a wedding i'm reminded of my own. i was very naive about weddings when i got married having not been to a full wedding except as a flower girl when i was 5. i followed everything the magazines told me but now one of my favourite things about weddings is seeing the unique way people plan their special day. i'm so thankful for the chance to share such a special day with special people, and to see my handsome groomsman husband all suited up.

and a pretty new dress doesn't hurt either :)