3 weeks of wedding (and a funeral)

i have been itching to blog for weeks (it almost feels like months), but my rushing about has kept me from it... and now that i have actually made the time i have no idea what to say. or perhaps it is a struggle with where to begin. the past few weeks have certainly been eventful!

alright... where did i leave off?

the kitchen tea
i've only ever attended a handful of kitchen tea's... and never really participated in any of them fully. well this was to change. i had to help host & organise (mostly by myself) my darling sister's kitchen tea! my what alot of organising goes into these things. mostly getting people to actually attend! unfortunately many of the ladies attending the wedding were going away the last weekend of october, and so there were but a handful of us that did make it to the kitchen tea - it was a very lovely and memorable occasion none the less.

p & i have always dreaded our kitchen tea's... i guess in anticipation of some awful humiliation. thankfully for sis i was organising it, and i would not have any of the talk of doing anything remotely embarassing to her! well... not too embarassing at least...

















marius...
i have already posted about marius' passing away, i mention it here because... well, it had a great impact for me, on me - and is indelibly intertwined in that moment.

he died on the morning of 5th november. i was told by t as i got in at work on monday. at first i thought he was joking, some sick joke... it slowly sunk in... and that whole week was just one big blur... life had to carry on, and yet it felt like everything had stopped... or should've stopped. more pre-wedding festivities had to be organised, and in between was all this sadness. i really nearly lost it, almost didn't quite make it. thanks to the support of my family and close friends, and God's love and strength, i did carry on.

i went to marius' funeral in mpumalanga's delmas on friday 10th november. it was a bit of a bitter-sweet (?) experience. the pastor got marius' surname wrong, and never corrected it. it seemed like he cut and paste all the sermons he could find into this one sermon, and didn't really sound like he'd taken much thought to it being a funeral. i will remember marius differently.

v & p's first afternoon at a day spa
i had decided to treat p to a bit of a pamper session before her wedding, so off we went to life day spa. it was the first time either of us had been to a spa and we were really excited! we were delighted by everything - fresh bathrobes and slippers - all sorts of different showers - ice tea on tap - the decor - everything; as you are if you've never done anything like this before. (spa's really should give newbies an introduction on the do's and don't's so that one doesn't feel too much like an idiot when trying to figure out what to do in seemingly simple situations)

i tried out the swiss shower... and nearly drowned. clearly not designed for short people, hot water just comes gushing out at you from all angles and then when you switch on the cold water "waterfall" in front of you that overwhelms you with rivers of cold water aimed at your face! after the initial panic i managed to escape in fits of giggles.

all in all a wonderful experience - and i will return a "seasoned professional" to show that swiss shower who's boss!

the girls* night on the town
* although it started out as a girl's night out, we decided to invite o to join the girls for the fun, and it wouldn't have been the same without him!

all sorts of prep went into this evening - with me feverishly searching the web as well as asking people on mailing lists for advice on where to go, what to do, etc. but eventually the places were booked, the transportation arranged, and we were ready to have a blast!

the night on the town actually started out in the morning with all sorts of pampering and preening and the sisters going off to the hairdresser to have our hair coloured, cut, and straightened. i spent the longest at jeauval with my hair being coloured as well as having highlights put in (and them making the highlights too light!)... as i was leaving i received a call from the limo company i had booked for a limo (2 hours before arrival) that the limo had a crash, and there was nothing to be done! of course the whole evening had been planned around having the limo so i was in a bit of a panic. thankfully b (p's fiance) came to the rescue and saved the evening by finding another limo which was just a bit more expensive. *breath a sigh of relief*

the evening started off with each of the girls giving p a flower / bunch of flowers and telling her how it reminded them of her. this was really touching, and p never expected it at all. i even managed to give her my bunch of flowers and how it reminded me of her when i arrived home an hour before without her suspecting a thing.

the limo finally arrived and we climbed in, hitting our heads on the entertainment box awkardly placed as one got in, but that was soon forgotten with us opening up the complimentary bottle of champagne and the sun roof. just as the sun roof came off in o's hand (oops!) the limo stalled whilst still inside our complex! and it wouldn't start again. not that this stopped us from having a good time, we were standing outside the broke down limo, glasses in hand - when a kind girl who was leaving for a braai offered to jump start the limo with jumper cables. so we gave her a glass of champagne for her troubles. of course when the limo did start again we couldn't continue our evening in it, and were driven around montecasino boulevard waiting for the replacement 4x4 limo to arrive.















when you're new to limo's and someone says that you're going to be picked up by a 4x4 limo you're hardly impressed. heck, you wonder whether they actually mean a limo at all. well we needn't have worried... we were only upgraded to one of the best limo's in south africa! and what an experience it was...

so off we went with our second (or third depending on how you count 'em) limo, popping open our 2nd bottle of champagne. on the way to the cocktail venue i played a dvd, which i had made on thursday evening, on the flatscreen tv inside the limo. i had gotten together with b and interviewed him using some questions o and i had come up with. the basic thing is that p had to guess what b's answers were! because it was such a big surprise i think p was too flabbergasted to respond at all, but it was wonderful playing the dvd, and having everyone joking around and getting to know b better.

we were running at least an hour late by the time we got to the cocktail venue. as we walked in o and i looked around in confusion, whilst the 3 girls merrily disappeared. this didn't look like the website at all. there were carpeted walls! there was a cheesy piano man! the regulars were leering from the bar! we had been taken to the wrong place! i eventually located the girls in the bathroom and had to explain to them through fits of giggles that we were at the wrong place entirely.

so back we trapesed to the limo. as we got back the limo owner was showing a pair of policemen the interior of the very zooty limo. when we explained we were at the wrong place the policemen gave us a police escort to the right venue! there is very little to say about the cocktail venue, except that it was dead quiet and the service was shockingly slow.

on to dinner at moyo's!

b, who was our after dinner transport, met us for dinner since we were running so late. as we arrived we were told that the electricity was out! we decided to stay anyway, and descended into the dark depths of moyo's basement dining area, lit only by candles. it was a lovely experience with all sorts of interesting dishes and flavours. the girls even got blankets (amongst complaints from o about the lack of cleavage showing) to get all cosy with after dinner.



















all in all it was an amazing experience, however i wouldn't want to be in charge of organising something like this again anytime soon!

the wedding
the wedding finally came around after months of preparation... and what a delightful day it was! everything went so well in spite of a few hiccups, like it drizzling and raining on the day... or perhaps i should say because of... because of the rain the wedding turned out to be incredibly intimate and lovely. i managed to carry out my part as bridesmaid with aplomb, and delivered a cool speach (prepared the evening before) too. there were many tears shed, even by some who professed to *never* cry. the food was outstanding, prepared by james the resident chef at lethabo (the wedding venue p&b had orignally booked) - every tray contained treats more delicious than the ones before. everything looked beautiful, and the bride looked stunning. it really was a day of love and sharing.