The Queen and My Toilet Crisis

I wrote this blog entry over a year ago and forgot to publish it. Probably not very funny at the time but it's really funny looking back at this now. Haha, poor me!  

Sometime in October 2011

I'm sitting on my bean bag with a sigh... finally. Now that Floriade is over I felt like I could breath for a bit and tell you a story about when the Queen visited Floriade. The garden opens 4 days extra to accommodate the Queens visit and as a volunteer I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to 'view' her in the park. I could be more excited, but personally I don't care too much for the Queen, or the Duke of Edinburg. You may sneer at me all you want but when William and Kate got married I was exactly where I should be- on my desk making jewelry... or something responsible like that.

Greg and I felt so special we dressed up for the event. Greg even took the morning off work just to come with me. But then the event seem to die down drestically while Greg and I waited behind a fence in Floriade like everyone else to catch a glimpse of the Queen while the rest of the public waited around Lake Burley Griffin while the Queen ride on a boat ride to Floriade. We waited for 1 and a half hour in the sun and although it seem boring, it wasn't all that bad for me. We chatted to other fellow volunteers, and we also got free ice tea and magnum (expensive) ice cream. Woo!

I can't believe the length they had to go through to prepare for the queen to simply walk through a bit of the garden. Some say they planted new tulips in the garden to replaced the dead ones. Security is covered from the vicinity of the water, land and sky. And of course, the press is absolutely everywhere. They've also got a live string quartet playing just as the Queen about to walk through.

As my sister in law said, this photo looks like the bass player had fallen off the stage, but just like all professional musician, the others kept on playing...

And then it happened. I suddenly felt a very strong urge to go to the toilet. And maybe because the Queen had arrived and I was very nervous. But it was too late. The fence that we were standing behind is shut and just like that... I am trapped. I walked up and down agitated. I finally went to a security guard and asked him ," If I go to the bushes, would you kill me?!" He was like, "No, just go, go!" But I didn't. I hold it in. I was motivated by the thought that if a camera somehow caught an image of me from the helicopter, I would became the news sensation of the 7pm project or Hamster Wheel and I would have to move out of this country forever. I couldn't wait for the queen to just hurry up, get in the car and just GO AWAY so that I can go to the toilet!!!

With that being said, I had the nerve to pose in front of the queen and Greg to photos of me.

Turns out I wasn't the only one who had that experience. There were people queuing for the toilet complaining the same thing. Oh man... so much for the experience of seeing the Queen. It felt like I was just there to burn in the sun for 2 hours and now I know what it feels like to almost loose my kidney. And since the Queen will never ever come to Australia ever again, this will make an interesting story to tell my kids and their kids. yay... 

My First Market

On Sunday 11 of November, I have finally hit a milestone in my jewellery making career and put myself out there to sell in the markets. I've spent a very long time getting ready for this, almost a 2 years now. It is very silly, but the perfectionist in me wouldn't let me do it otherwise.

On Sunday morning Greg and I got up at 8am which is unheard of for both of us. We've packed up the night before so it was easy to pack everything in the car. But even then we had to go back home once because we forgot a few things. We aimed to be at the market at the 9am for 10am start. We got there at 9:30 in the end because of remembrance day traffic. I freaked out a bit because at 9:30am, there were people everywhere and I thought I was late! The jewellery stall next to me is already set up and full of people. So Greg and I frantically tried to set up everything as fast as we could. From the looks of the morning weather, it looks like it's going to be a nice day. 

I felt a bit nervous in the beginning. I wasn't so sure what to expect. I even bought 2 camping chairs and a bit of wire just in case I have time off and there aren't very many people around. Turns out I wasn't nervous for very long at all. Our first visitor is a friend that I met while working in the florist. This man had just turned 60 the day before and he came to visit me with his wife. He is probably the most extroverted 60 year old I will ever met. I told him that I felt a bit nervous so he decided to man the stall with me while his wife walks around the market. While he was with me, he was shouting "Good morning!" to (and I'm not exaggerating) absolutely everyone who walk pass. At one point he managed to pull 5 people to my stall and he doesn't even know what he's selling. I smacked my forehead in disbelief and felt a bit embarrassed, but it was really funny at the same time. He was there for not more than 15 minutes before his wife dragged him away from my stall. Hehe... 

It wasn't long that things pick up after he left. I must've got into the 'zone' and the selling skills I had in he florist starting to come out. I'm starting to realize the stall-holder etiquette and finding things to say as people browse through my items. Throughout the day I had friends who gave me a surprise visit and it made me jumped around in excitement. I also met people that I've met online and have been looking forward to meet face to face for the first time. The support that my friends showed me is really unbelievable and humbling. It really meant the world for me to have them there. I really wished I took photos of all of them who came, but it will just have to be a mental picture in my head now.

While I was busy chatting with friends and serving customers, suddenly the amplifier of the market sounds really loud reminding us that the time is 11am. That day happens to be our remembrance day, and exactly at 11am, for one minute, the entire market stops and everyone fell into silence. I've seen clips like this a lot in youtube, but it was so awesome to actually be in it. It felt so incredible... I think I will remember this moment for a long time. 

My stall was completely busy for a few hours after that I felt a bit overwhelmed by the interest of the crowd. As busy as I was, I tried to sms my dad letting him know that I'm over the moon. I kept thinking that I was going to run out of stock even though I wasn't. I felt a lot of joy striking conversation with people and letting them understand what's involved into making my jewellery. Another the personal highlight for me was when the dancing club, jumptown was just around the corner. Oh, how I wish I could be there to watch the dance, but just listening to the music makes me so happy already.

And where was Greg all this time? Initially I thought he'd be bored to death, but after doing a few errands he stayed with me until I finished. He also helped by getting me treats through out the day. Orange juice, apple cider, bottle of water. The food in bus depot market is always sooo good! Things are starting to die down after lunch time and Greg got me a couple of curry puffs and a basil chicken stir fry with some rice. It was sooo yummy but I couldn't really stomach it since I felt like I don't really deserve it yet.     

By 2:30pm things are starting to slow down. I was chatting around with Greg and my friends Steve and Glen. I had a few people taking a look at the stall and had a descent chat with them about the jewellery which I enjoyed immensely.  One highlight was when I had 3 Indonesian girls visiting me. It was super awesome to talk in Indo again. And for some reason, when you talk in Indo, we laugh at everything. We were laughing so loud about nothing when there's really not that many people around us anymore. It was ridiculous how much fun i had with my customers I almost can't believe that I'm at work. 

After I finished serving my last customer, it was the perfect timing to pack up and go. Unfortunately it wasn't the end of the day for Greg and I. We are both on duty at church that night and Greg is leading the service for the first time. We head back home to drop our jewellery things and picked up sounds equipments and we're off again. It was clearly a very big day for me and Greg, and we were so proud of each other to pull off these massive challenges in one day. We were one of the last ones to leave church as part of our duty is to wash and pack up everything.

When we were driving home, I was so incredibly tired I don't have the energy to think of what to do for dinner. After suffering the Melmoth family curse of indecisiveness we finally settled on our favorite Japanese place. A $2 miso soup had never tasted so good, ever.    

3 days later, I still feel like I'm dreaming. I still can't believe people actually like my stuff. Clearly I have a major self esteem issue. I've been working so hard for a long time without much credit and suddenly everything just took off in one market. I have 2 more markets lined up for the next couple weeks... Looks like the next few days is going to be very hectic, in a great way of course. =) 

It's 1:25am. I don't like going to be before midnight if I don't have to. My mind seem to spark at this time of the night. Maybe it's because everyone else is dreaming. I will have my first market on Sunday. It feels very strange. This is everything that my mind had set out to do for a few years now, but I feel like a crazy person. One part of me just can't stop making and doing things to the point that I feel like this is what I'm here for. The rational part of me is still confused of why I'm doing this because so far, it is a hollow and empty investment. I've poured thousands of dollars and a lot of hours to do this properly. I've exhausted my poor husband who constantly has to do me favors... I wonder if I've created enough things to prove justice to all that effort. I really hope that I have.  

Sometimes my husband relates to me with 'pretty things'. Depending on my perspective at the time, 'pretty things' means a lot of work and I get exhausted just by looking at it. When that happens, I'm taking beauty for granted. I forgot how and why beauty draws people. I've become a business owner and not an artist. In the past few months I learnt that when I decided to take business seriously, I became a making machine. 85% of the time I probably ended up doing things that I'm less interested and only have 15% to do actually what I want to do if I were an artist. I often wish to be left in Greg's parents farm and have a few weeks there where I can bring my piles of sketches to life... perhaps winter next year.

Nevertheless, the display is sitting pretty in my living room and I'm very excited about my first appearance in public. My biggest hope for the jewellery stall is to meet and talk to people. I hope people will enjoy looking at the stall and be inspired somehow. My biggest fear, is to have someone telling me that they think my stuff is ugly. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that situation just in case that ever happens so that I won't cry on the spot.

I have to say that I'm very not like myself tonight. Usually on a moment like this I would be so stressed to the brim and over think everything. But I feel so relaxed... and it feels so weird! I feel so grown up being able to overcome the feeling of stress. Not just that but I am so excited I have a feeling I will get very little sleep tonight. Some of my friends are coming for a visit tomorro- and there is no treat like having friends visiting you while you're at work. I feel so incredibly blessed already.

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary

Our flower courier at work, Ben said to me, "Still a spring chicken hey?" That's right- 2 years in marriage and going stronger than ever! I remember last years anniversary, we couldn't afford going anywhere so Greg cooked me dinner and bought me flowers. We sat on the floor because we didn't have a dining set- it was very modest but I felt it was very special to have our first anniversary that way. This year however, was quite eventful we might find it hard to top it off next year. Greg had been so busy with work lately, but he has planned to take 2 extra days off and I'm looking forward to spend the next 5 days in a row with him.

On our actual anniversary on the Thursday, we visited the Tulip Tops garden- the garden where we exchange rings and vows. On the way in, we met the garden owner, Pat- she still remember both our names! She lets us into her garden for free and I'm just so blown over by her generosity. I was looking forward to see the trees we got married in front of- when we got there we found that one of the trees had been chopped down and the other had been heavily pruned that to me it looked like an Japanese umbrella. I really love those trees... it's really sad for me to see that one of them is gone.    

While walking around, we noticed that some of the tulips aren't doing so well. Later on we went inside the'history of the garden' marquee and learnt that on the second day of the opening of the garden, a huge hail storm fell all over the flowers and damaged the flower buds and leaves. Pat was standing under the main marquee when the hail storm happened and she thought the ice is going to collapse the marquee because it was falling so heavy. I can't imagine what she felt that her hard work in the garden is destroyed by a few minutes of hail. We saw that some of the tulip leaves are heavily damaged and some tulips have gone completely, but many are resilient and still spread colours all over the garden.

After visiting the garden Greg and I began our 3 hour drive to our hotel in Sydney. We booked our hotel through wotif mystery deal. I know where the hotel is and what but I really don't know what to expect. When we got there, the place was so fancy that we thought we got lost! We had to use the valet facility and concierge. I'm wasn't expecting that type of service and I only brought a tiny suitcase and some of my belongings aren't even packed inside the suitcase! So the valet and the concierge had to stood there and wait for me to quickly shove my stuff in my bags so that we don't leave anything in the car. It was so funny to see the concierge carrying our tiny suitcase in a giant hotel trolley thing. Hehe... I feel so out of placed. 

When we got to our room I was sooooo excited I get to stay in a fancy hotel without my parents that I started screaming and jumping around on the bed Greg thought I was high. No time to waste, we have to get out of here and start exploring! We got out to darling harbour where we found a restaurant next to the water with a sign that says "Special all bar food $12, cocktails, $10 from 3pm-6pm". It's 4:30pm and Greg is hungry... perfect!  After that we decided to see an imax movie because Greg has never been before. the film is starting in 15 minutes so we walked around the harbour a bit more. 

As we were walking around the harbour, I saw this couple that looked exactly like me and Greg 5 years ago. They are sitting on the edge of the deck facing the water. The girl is a small asian girl with floral dress. The guy is tall and skinny with short blonde curls, scruffy shirt and a square backpack that Greg used to own. I was so amazed that I stopped and started poking my head on different angles trying to catch their faces. I called Greg back as he kept walking away from me and I'm like, "Greg! This is so creepy! But cool at the same time!!! And it's kind of like, 'aaaaaw...'. I really want to take a photo of them! Should I ask if their names are Greg and Fionna? We can tell them that if they get married, 2 years after that they'll look like us!" As I kept going with my suggestions he tried to drag me away from them. Although as he observed more I think he agreed with me on the level of creepyness. So he eventually lets me take a photo just before we get in the cinema. We saw "The Last Reef" and I really enjoyed it. 

After the cinema we went to the hotel for a shower and went out again for a romantic anniversary dinner! Happy anniversary my love!!! 

That night we went to bed early and got up late... we really needed that. We got out of the hotel at midday and walked around Sydney CBD when we ran into The Sydney Swans victory parade. Greg loooves AFL, and the Sydney Swans. They happened to win the grand final this year and are parading on the main street. Seriously can't believe our luck! And more importantly, I happen to be wearing the right coloured dress for the occasion! Ha! 

After the parade we had yum cha for breakfast/lunch before we started our major hike to Cirque Du Soleil! That's right! Our trip to Sydney revolves around this event and I was sooo excited!!! We booked 6 months in advance to get a good seat at a reasonable rate to see this world class circus! I left the task of navigating our journey towards the circus to Greg- and truth be told, it was a complete agony. He kept telling me that the circus aren't too far away from where we're at so we might as well walk there. What he means by 'not too far' was actually 4 blocks, an oval and 2 stadiums away. I went crazy and became one of those wives who just kept nagging and nagging. Greg wasn't phased a bit about my harsh tone and negative vibe. He knows that I was uncomfortable but kept walking anyway, and for that he just kept holding my hand and said,"You're doing well honey. Keep going we're almost there!". And then I remember how much I love this man. 

As soon as I saw the circus tent, I forgot about everything. "Ovo" was amazing beyond words. 'when the show is over I wished I was rich enough to see it over and over again.

After the circus we've learnt our previous lesson and took a taxi straight back to our destination: Crave's Sydney food festival! It was nothing much other than walking around surrounded by fairy lights and people queuing for Asian food in the out door, but it was still great to be a part of it. 

After dinner we walked all the way from Hyde Park to the Rocks just to visit our favorite book store, Ariel. It has always been a habit of ours to always stop by this bookshop. From that night on we've realized that whenever we go to Sydney we have to visit this bookstore, otherwise it'll just feel like we haven't been to Sydney at all. 

After just a few minutes browsing around the store, we walked all the way back to our hotel for a break. And then for some reason we decided to go out again at 11pm for a cocktail each at Cyren. We were surrounded by the reflecting water, the city lights and the weather was great for us to be outdoor. It was perfect a night! 

The next day is pretty much the end of our anniversary celebration. We got up at 7:30am, check out of the hotel at 8am and moved on to our next task. I had to meet my Sydney friends on the far west of Sydney in the middle of nowhere to go for bridesmaids dress shopping of all things. My very good friend Liz is getting married in 3 months time. Seems like the rest of the bridal party are living in Sydney now apart from me. Greg and I are not by any mean a morning person at all, so it was a struggle for us to meet them ready in a sound mind to go dress shopping.  I merged with the girls while Greg went away to see "Looper" in the movies. I don't know how we managed but we looked for dresses for about 4 hours and come up with nothing.  I have to admit that clothes shopping in Australia is pretty lame... so since then our shopping had pretty much moved to online. 

At 3:30pm we all met up in a cafe with the rest of the bridal party. It was interesting since I've never met any of the groomsman let alone their partners. 

For dinner we met up with the man who will be hosting us for the night. Greg and I are staying at Conan's house for the last night to save some money- the thought of staying 3 nights at a 5 star hotel is waaay beyond me so I insisted on thisidea. Liz and our friend Steven from Canberra also joined us for dinner. After dinner, Liz went back to college while I now merged with the guys for a walk around the park in Burwood and chocolate dessert at melt. I had an awesome night out. Felt like we were just talking and laughing and eating great food all night. I'm so happy! 

 So, here's a bit of history about Conan. Years and years ago, about a month before I started going out with Greg, I had to move out of college and needed a place to stay while looking for a rental home with 2 other girls. And that's when Conan opened up his spare room for me to stay. It ended up to only be for a month, but it was one of the most memorable month I've ever had as a college student. Conan was just a dream housemate, and a big brother that I wish I had. Driving to his new house in Sydney I said, "I can't wait to see your new house!" "Oh, why is that?" "Well, cause all I can think of in my head is your house in Downer!"

Well, what do you know. As I stepped into his new home, the interior of the house, and the furniture that he has was almost exactly the same as the house in Downer 6 years ago! It's like someone had just picked up his house in Downer and planted it in a slightly bigger land in Sydney. Conan is working in a high paying public service job as a treasurer. His office is in one of the high rises in circular quay facing the Sydney Opera house... and yet the tv that sits in his living room is a 30 inch box tv, and his furniture is pretty much vintage without him trying to be retro just because he never replace them. "Well, if it still works, why replace them?" As I sat there in awe of what time really reveals about Conan when Greg said to me, 'He's representing this country's treasurer Fionna... that is what they do." Right... and that supposed make sense how?

The next morning, Conan seem to have our breakfast planned out. I'm in charge of the bacon and eggs, Greg is in charge of toast and Conan tea and coffee. We seem to find endless things to talk about but well... it was time for us to go as breakfast time is quickly turning into lunch time. We packed out bags again and it was time to explore Sydney one last time before we drive back to Canberra. 

From there we drove to Eveleigh Market- which I love visiting even though it was just for a little while. At that market I bought a vase and a mug with flannel flower pattern molded into it from Denise MacDonald as presents for my workmates. 

After the market, Greg and I have a strange curiosity to visit Ikea. We both had never been there before and was wondering what the fuss was all about. And now... we got it. Walking through Ikea was also like going through tunnels of display like in an aquarium, or 'it's  small world after all display' except looking inside  a model of a fully functioning rooms. I found it fascinating that when I open ambiguous drawers and cupboards in a display area, there's stuff in it! Wow! I know it's only a furniture store but for me it was still an incredible experience. I'm glad I went there with my husband and not with some guy that I'm not sure if I'm going to have a future with or not. The place really sparks up imagination of what a married future would be like. The things we will own and the memories we will create in it. Greg and I are so inspired by this visit that in the car on the way home, we started to plan our finance in order to buy a house by the time we have our 3 year anniversary. And just like that, our spending is now very restricted, and we're poor again... hehe.

Thank You God for spoiling us. I feel so blessed and happy to have these wonderful moments with someone that I love so much!    

Helen & Cory's Wedding

22 September 2012 

Life is just so funny sometimes. One moment it seem like it takes more than what you've got trying convince people that you're good at what you do- yet you don't get anywhere. Then at other times, for no rhyme or reason, people just decided to give their trust to you on a silver platter... and then I just don't know how to react. 

Piero and Violet are new comers to the same church I go to. The first few weeks they came I knew that Piero was a photographer, but it wasn't until much later that I told them that I work in a florist. Not even a week after he referred me to Violet's workmate, Helen who agreed for me to do her bridal bouquets. I was SO surprised! Besides working under Florever, I have no reputation, and she hasn't even seen a single photo of my work- how can she trust me so easily? I'm so keen to do this wedding, but at the same time I had to act cautiously and made sure that after a few phone calls, emails and face to face meeting that she was sure on her decision- and she was! 

Not sure what driven me to be so eager to do this gig. I've been a florist for 1 year now and I've learnt so many things that made me want the experience to do things differently. I've seen too many amazing bouquet by my boss Val that it really elevates the standard that I'd like to provide. I also wanted to order my flowers differently which felt a bit risky- but it worked out great in the end. 

For the flowers, the bridesmaids dresses are blue-ish green teal and Helen would like deep orange bouquet for them. For her, she would like the bouquet to be peach/apricot/cream? I didn't get a colour or picture example for her bouquet so I just have to go with my gut on this one.  What really helped me choose the flowers for Helen's theme is the hypericum berries. They are so gorgeous at this time of the year and they come in 2 different colours, red and cream. The cream will dictate me what to do with the rest of Helen's bouquet and the red will push the orange colour in the bridesmaid bouquet a lot deeper. 

Helen also mention that she's got crystals all over her dress. Inspired by that comment I dragged Greg to take me to a trash and treasure market to hunt for an old sparkly brooch that I can possibly use to tie in her bouquet. I walked around and around and just as I was about to give up and leave, I saw sparkles at the corner of my eye. I walked towards the sparkly table and found sooo many brooches! Just as I thought I was going away with nothing, I'm suddenly spoiled for choice! Turns out that all those brooches are really, really old. Possibly around 40-60 years. They are collected by Lesley and Donald who collect sparkly things from auctioneers. It was probably a bit too good and pricey for what I'm looking for, but I couldn't go pass the novelty. So after chatting away for a bit I got their number to keep in touch and bought 3 of their brooches. hehe....  

I normally receive my flowers and start arranging them the day before the wedding. This time I decided to start 2 days before. Thing is, I don't normally sleep the day before weddings that I do flowers for- and I would really like to break from that habit. Also if there's a problem with the availability, I still have 1 extra day to look around for substitute. The bridesmaid bouquet are made of Orange "Voodoo" roses, deep orange mini gerbs, double tone carnation, rananculous, red hypericum, wired green berzilla highlight and magnolia leaves backing. Helen's bouquet was a bit tricky. Her bouquet is very light apricot and it was so hard for me not to fall into the trap of putting just white flowers and rely on the berries for colour. I caught my intentions early enough to replace my order for white carnation to blushing bride. The blushing bride that I got turns out to be amaaaazing so I ordered another bunch to pick up on Friday. I have to say that for a tiny bunch they are a lot more expensive than carnations... oh well. whatever. Helen's bouquet includes cream "Vendela" roses, cream hypericum, blushing bride, white freesia and a tiny bit of white spray roses, swarovski 'margarita' crystals, dusty miller backing and of course, the precious vintage brooch.  

And now here I am, sitting on my computer happily looking back at what had happened and smile. The look on Helen's face when she saw her bouquet is absolutely priceless and the best reward ever! Without even exaggerating, the flowers literally took her breath away.... My heart started flying when I saw her reaction and I can finally breath again.

Can't wait to see the photos that Piero takes- it would be so different to all my instagram attempts I think. Hehe... 

More photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.396856277047801.94300.137007083032723&type=1

Spring is Here!

6 September 2012 

I’m so chuffed to know that I have my own up and running website. All thanks to weebly for their free website and user friendly services. I’m SO excited to be posting my first blog post in this website. 

Spring is finally here. Today in Canberra the temperature nearly reached their first 20C and yet I didn’t have the health capacity to enjoy it. I am a regular migraine sufferer, but after a few weeks without it I thought I’ve mastered the art of avoiding them. I wonder if the warm weather made me dehydrate a lot quicker. This is the 2nd migraine of the week. I hate not being able to do anything- especially when I’ve got a long list that needs to be ticked. 

After mothers day rush this year, I’ve decided to take a break from selling for 3 months in order to develop my branding and stock up. Winter has never gone so fast before. I’ve been working 3 days a week as a florist not far from my house and 2 days working on my jewellery. My attention will always be divided between the two so I try to steal some hours over the weekend or even after work to catch up. 

It was easy to make the decision to take a break in winter- but it was hard to leave shop handmade in May. When I got my jewellery back and did some inventory, it’s been discovered that $500 worth of my items are missing from the shop. After some searching , the shop co-owner Rachel and I are convinced that the items had been lost to petty theft.  So I cried for about 2 weeks before I picked myself up again. Fortunately shop handmade is willing to compensate the lost money by lightening the amount of my rent at their shop. This way I can afford to rent the glass cabinet for 4.5 months to avoid theft.  Not really sure what’s going to happen after that but I’ll deal with that later. 

So. whoever had stolen my stuff and taking my work and time for granted- SHAME ON YOU!!!  >.< 

Bad news aside, I’m back in the shop again now with beautiful new things. This time my items are protected and I’m 110% organised on my stock inventory. This week I’m putting making jewellery aside and will be spending time on photography and putting details on this website.

I shouldn’t say too much, but building up an exclusive bridal jewellery collection is not far from the plan. Bring on the pretty whites!   

Testing my Loyalty

I was contemplating to leave blogspot to start another one a my new weebly website. It wasn't long that I faced a dilemma. I missed reading the blogs that I follow, and I missed being in blogspot in general. Writing a blog in weebly made me feel a bit lonely and secluded- so here I am crawling back to blogger. I have to admit that I hate the result of me moving around too much. It's like I change my business and nickname every year... why do I do that? Stop it Fionna stop it!!!  Anyways, so before I delete the 2 blog entries I've written on weebly, I will copy and paste them here. And I'm staying put... really, this time it's going to happen.

Prabha and Brendan's Cave Wedding

The most unforgetable memory of December 2011 was when I was asked to work for a friends wedding to be held inside a cave. The cave is located in Wee Jasper, hidden underground amongst the Goodradigbee valleys located just at the end of the magnificent lake Burrinjuck . I had the honor to do Prabha's and her bridesmaids wedding bouquet and additional flowers, as well as singing and playing the piano during the ceremony- which I'm absolutely thrilled about, especially for a location as unique as a gorgeous looking cave!

Prabha and Brendan visited my chair-less home at the time to talk about flowers and music. Flicking through the only floral magazine I have she has no problem in choosing what she wants. Baby's Breath mixed with roses for her, and something green for the bridesmaids. We emailed back and forth with what music would be suitable for the ceremony. We're trying hard to choose something that is going to be uniquely Brendan and Prabha.

The day before the wedding, I woke up at 5am to make 3 bouquets. I had to leave for the caves at 11am and had no experience in working with Baby's Breath so I had no idea how long it would take me to finish. Turns out I finished in less than 3 hours in a lazy pace. I didn't realize how much I've improved since Clare and Sven's wedding. I arranged the bridesmaids bouquet using white mini Gerbera, green spider Chrysanthymum, green Carnations and the rare fluffy 'Green Trick'.  

Friday turns out to be a very busy day including packing, travelling, wedding rehearsals, and setting up the reception venue. I was also busy carrying the live flowers with me making sure they are in water and don't sit anywhere near where there's heat. During the wedding rehearsal I had fun pretending to be the celebrant helping Prabha and Brendan saying their vows. I also had a hard time trying not to look at Catriona and the playful, 13 yr old flower girl Gemma carrying my $2000 keyboard down the cave. I nearly had a heart attack when Gemma decided to flip throw one of the bridesmaids bouquet during rehearsal- for that second it felt like time stopped as everyone gasped and looked at me. Wee Jasper is a very secluded area with no phone reception. If something happen to the flowers there is no way I can get it replaced.

After the wedding rehearsal a few of us stayed up until 11pm to set up the reception venue in the local hall. I stayed up a few more hours to make the groomsman's buttonholes and Gemma's wrist corsage.

With only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I slept well the night before the wedding. The girls stayed in a well furnished cottage separate to the boys. It wasn't until when I woke up the next morning I realized that we were surrounded with such beautiful landscape! It was truly a beautiful morning- one of those mornings that is just so perfectly picturesque.

One of our friend, Prema used to work for Clinique so she's responsible in doing Prabha's make up. The photographer, Ben Thomas came just in time as I was 3/4 of the way of working on Prabha's tiara of baby's breath. Greg helped me wire some of these tiny florets to speed the process. God is so good for giving me such a handy husband! When Prabha is all dressed up, she looked absolutely stunning beyond belief. I had no idea she was going to wear a traditional outfit. It's amazing to see how things work together in the end.

I'm very happy the way Prabha's bouquet turned out. Half of it thanks to my boss, Val for finding me a great opened bunch of mini roses and an extremely fresh bunch of babys breath and white Alstromeira. Prabha informed me a week after the wedding that the flowers are still alive- that is how amazingly fresh they are. 

It was an early 9am wedding, with a small audience of less than 40. Me and my keyboard were positioned next to a ramp where the wedding party emerged. I can't hear what my music sound like, but they told me that the acoustics is good enough for me to not use any amplifying. I sang "A Moment Like This" as Brendan took Prabha by the hand to escort her down the ramp, across the room and up on the stage. The lyrics to this song cannot be more suitable for this event.

For the signing of registry I sang "At The Beginning", and because it wasn't long enough I sang "If I Had You" a pretty jazz standard I whipped up a few days before just in case.

We emerged to the surface with light too bright for our eyes, and for some of us, extremely relieved that the ceremony is over and the couple is happily married. We had afternoon tea and mingled with friends. I had a clinging wish to have a proper tour of the cave after mingling- but by the time everyone left, we were too exhausted to do so.

Greg and I drove the bride and groom back to the cottage for a bit of rest before they head off for photos. Greg ended up chauffeuring the bridal party to their photo shoot locations for the day. As for me, I took this opportunity to fall back to sleep before reception starts.

It was time to enjoy the party at reception with a highlight of bush dance at the end of it. It's always a treat to be able to work- then relax with everyone else as the day goes on. As the music and the dancing played on, the number of guest dwindles starting with the older people for an earlier night, to people having to drive back to Canberra or Sydney on the same day. We danced the night away until there were only a few of us left and the music. 

And it came to the end of the night. Greg and I drove Prabha and Brendan back to the cottage while a few of our friends stayed back to pack up the hall. We looked back on the day with a smile, and a sigh of happiness. Congratulations Brendan and Prabha, and thank you so much for this unforgettable experience! xo

Photos are by Ben Thomas of www.benthomasphotos.com

Looking Back

2012 is finally here! Where has my head been? I’m scurrying all over trying to find and fix it in time for the new year.

2011 has been an interesting year. I started the year barely with anything to do and saw that new friends need to be made. I even got depressed at one time when I couldn't find enough creative outlet to do. It’s funny now that I can see how God shapes my path. By September I was caught off guard with opportunities and by December I landed on few too many jobs, and too many social commitments that I had to start shaking things off.

Admittedly I had to shake off writing this blog for a bit. But now I’m here. It’s 6.50 am and I haven’t slept all night. Could be because of the cold I’m having, could be of the excitement of new prospects in the new year- whatever it is, I’m grateful to be able to appreciate the rare first morning of sunlight whilst listening to Katie Noonan and writing this.

Working in the florist had been physically and mentally draining- it’s an art in itself to get used to. I find it hard to cope with our clients sadness for the deceased, as well as their high demand in pleasing their loved ones. But I love and cherish every moment of working there. The pressure to perform and to do it side by side with plants is really an amazing thing. My Etsy shop (and my online presence in general) had been completely absent. On the other hand my tangible shop in real life is doing extremely well. New jewellery designs come and go before I had the chance to document them online. It all had been so exciting and exhilarating- how I manage to end the year knowing that I’m doing the things that I love with and for the people I care about.   

Christmas was a much sought after break after what seem to be an endless journey to Christmas itself. Greg’s parents rented a house in Berridale- a tiny populated town of 80 only a few hours away from Canberra. We journeyed there through a dark and consuming thunderstorm but was surprisingly embraced with a breathtakingly beautiful full double rainbow on the other side of the dark clouds just a few km away upon arriving to our rented home.

God has been very good to us.