Down the Yellow Brick Road Part III: Setting up

Previously:
Part I : The night before.
Part II : Salon, Supermarket & Judy Garland

So after we arrived at The Moon & Sixpence and dumped our stuff in the honeymoon suite, it was time to go and see what my parents were up to in the reception hall. You may remember that I'd given them all the reception details to set up - the Oscar favours, the damask table runners, the guest book, table names, etc. My friend Henni's sister had her florist partner, Daisy (not his real name, but I've never found out what it actually is!) set up the table flowers and make the bouquets and boutonieres in the morning, so when we arrived we saw this in progress:


Mom and Dad Ruby Slippers hadn't been there long, but they were doing a great job so far with the setup. Look at my mom with her to-do list (which I made for her). And isn't it sickening how skinny my sister is, with her bareback little top?

This was the point when I spotted the only thing that I really wasn't happy with on my wedding day. If you look on the far right of the photo above, you can see it. The Cake.

If you remember, this is what I wanted, with only two layers, and sans flowers on top:


THIS is what the bakery thought passed for that:


I think my face says it all. Ugh, I mean, seriously. I was so miffed. Thank goodness, however, for awesome cake toppers:


Which sister and BFF Ruby Slippers placed on the cake for me:
And, you know what? I got over it, really quickly. It was my wedding day, for pete's sake. So the cake was hideous. Who ever even remembers what cakes look like at weddings? There were sooooo many things I cared so much more about, so I just shrugged and went, "Oh well, if that's the worst that happens, I'm lucky."

It's also lucky that the cake was something I didn't care much about to begin with.

I don't have the pro pics of the decor yet, so I don't want to give it all away, but I loved how the main table turned out. That's Daisy walking away:


My Aunt had flown up from Durban the day before, and because she was there she got roped into helping fill the confetti cones:

...along with sister and BFF RS, who did a great job. Henni's sister had provided a ton more petals than I expected, which was fantastic.
And here's my family, looking absolutely awful. I post this so you can see the contrast later when we're all beautified:
Ugh. Thank goodness for makeup, is all I can say.

While the cone-filling was happening, I went outside the hall to hang the table listings. This was the one job I really wanted to do myself, and I proved it by cutting my finger on the damn thatch not once, but twice.

I really want to leave the final look of the hall until I get the pro pics (I promise I'll do a whole detail blog!) so at this point we slipped on down to the chapel:
Where Sister RS did a great job lining the aisle with the ton of petals we had:


And I hung up the parent signs:
(this one's a pro pic, as is the next)

And laid out tissues on their chairs (I know how much my mom and sister cry!):
At this point I had to rush off to get my makeup done (I know that this was the moment when I started realising that we were running a bit late) but everyone kept asking me how I wanted everything. I know they just wanted things to be perfect, the way I wanted them, but in the end I just had to say, "Guys, it's going to look beautiful. Now I don't mind if the ribbons go under or over the chairs when they tie, or if the flower pot is centred on the table, or even if the candles stand up in their holders or not.* Just do it, and it will be wonderful."

And I took a deep breathe, and ran. And I have photographic evidence that my mom and aunt did, at least, get to relax with a cup of coffee (albeit from a flask and on the lawn):

Breathe, just breathe.

*They wouldn't. One of the venue guys had to stuff the holders with paper to keep the candles upright.

Coming soon...

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. A few days ago my computer's cooling fan decided to join the bleeding choir invisible, and because of the stupid time of year it is, everything is closed, so we can't buy the new pc we meant to get in the new year anyway. Even the fact that Mr Slippers works for a computer company doesn't help in this case. Stupid closing down of stupid everywhere. (I'm just jealous because I still have to work!)

Anyway, my pc having shuffled off this mortail coil means that I can't continue with the photo editing, which means I still can't start my wedding recaps. Actually I could do the next one which doesn't require the pro photos, but I feel bad using Mr Ruby Slippers' computer for as long as a photo-filled blog post takes. Sigh. At least I can console myself with the fact that everyone is away and the blog world is sloooow right now.

Here's a photo I love from what I have so far. It's my "I'm a bride" moment.

It's beginning to feel a lot like...Christmas movies.

Well, I'm definitely not going to be able to start my wedding recaps until after Christmas. We received some, but not all, of our photos, and though I could start with the getting ready ones, I want to edit some of them in photoshop first. Tanja doesn't really do much post-editing on her photos, and the perfectionist and photo blog junkie that is me feels like messing around with some of the pictures and making them go MY way! At any rate, it's too busy now, so I'll start after Christmas, I promise.

Quick question: I am such a photoshop novice that it's quite pathetic(I'm learning as I go). I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make a photo sepia. Is it somewhere normal, or do you need a special extra thingy? I even went to the help tutorial, which wasn't. ;-}

As it's the night before the night before Christmas, I'm about to continue with my longstanding tradition of watching Christmas-themed movies. These are some of my personal favourites that I make sure to watch every year:
Such a sweet movie. Mara Wilson is adorable, and it never fails to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Despite the fact that I love classic films, I've never seen the original. I just love this one too much.

So funny. I'll admit Juliette Lewis is more annoying than a movie starring Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy (and that would be unimaginably annoying), but Madeline Kahn (RIP, Love her) is hysterical, and it's generally a totally fun movie.

Ok, who doesn't love Love Actually? My favourites are Liam Neeson and his stepson, Bill Nighy, and Hugh Grant with Martine McCutcheon. Not that I don't love the rest. Except Laura Linney, who has always bugged me a bit. Ah well.

I think I've been watching this movie every Christmas since I was about twelve. I just love it. Does anyone else tear up at the end when Macauley Culkin sees the old man next door reunited with his family?

Ah, Judy. Need I say more? It's not exactly a Christmas movie, but it's the Christmas scene that's so memorable. Have yourself a merry little Christmas...sniff.

Kate and Cary. Love these two together! It's a really sweet, fun movie.


And some other happy, lovely, warm & fuzzy movies I love to watch around Christmas-time, even if they're only Christmas-themed in parts. Or not at all!








Yes, I know, you're seeing a trend here. But seriously, it's ALWAYS a good time to watch Judy Garland...but Christmas is even better. :-)

Happy holidays, festive season, Christmas, etc, everyone!

Photo of the Day

I just discovered Tinywater Photography - so much of their stuff is very offbeat and different (as are their clients!). How much do I love this dress shot? Did I ever mention I love hanging dress pictures? :-)

Shoot that Ring!

Like so many other bloggers out there, I got inspired by Anne Ruthmann's awesome post about taking great pictures of your ring with your ordinary old (crappy) point & shoot camera. My camera (Mr Ruby Slippers' six-year-old-at least camera, really), is pretty shite. But I set out to see what I could do!

I had SO much fun doing this. I really must take some kind of photography course. You know, to justify how much time I spend looking at photography blogs. :-)

First up, I tried the rings (all three, not just my engagement ring) on one of our invitations. I had taken this one with to the wedding, but in the mad rush I forgot to give it to Tanja to use. Doh. Rectifying the situation coming right up!

Then, continuing the wedding theme, I took some shots on one of the Oscar chocolates:
And on the ribbon that was round the invitation:

Then I found one of my books that I thought would have a good cover for this kind of shot:



And some random plant/leaf/flower shots:


I know you can barely see the ring in this shot, but I loved how the flowers looked against the sky. There was a very unobliging bee who kept getting out of the shot just as I took it. On the up side, he didn't sting me, so I guess that's a good thing!

Then I whipped out our Corpse Bride Cake Toppers and took a few with them:
And finally I had the totally adorable (I thought!) idea of hanging the rings on the washing-line with coloured clothes-pegs. Some of these aren't technically great, but I think they're so cuuuute!




Ok, so my crappy point & shoot wouldn't let me get as close as I wanted to take some serious detail ring shots, but I had a lot of fun finding cool places to put them!

Then I started getting sunburnt, so Mr RS and I took a dip in the pool to cool off, while he complained about his finger feeling naked. Aww.

Photographer Friday

You might remember I mentioned South African Photographer Ryan Graham a while ago when I drooled over the pictures he'd taken at the venue I still covet. He had some great posts lately of his favourite black & white pics, so I thought I'd share some with you.