Our wedding day: getting ready.

(Picture by Camille)

I covered the wedding venue on Monday, and this post is about getting ready for the wedding. Thank you for all your lovely comments on the previous post! I have so many photos from friends, it's so lovely to see the memories.

The day before the wedding, I came down with a cold. I dosed up on pho, vitamin c, lemon and honey and brandy - because I can't take cold and flu meds. Adam and I loaded the car with all our stuff (it was pretty hilarious stuffing three giant helium balloons in there!) and took one last selfie as an unwed couple. We delivered it to the venue, Laura was there to collect it, and then we said our goodbyes.

Adam stayed at his parents the night before the wedding - he said he relaxed. I asked him to elaborate for this post, and he said he did nothing but relax.

I had a manicure and pedicure - after a little drama of one business not wanting to touch my skin without gloves because they thought I was contagious, and then they didn't have vinyl gloves on hand. I had to speak loudly in the salon that I'm not contagious, and everyone looked. I left. Sigh. Why does it have to be so hard?! I eventually found a great nail salon and sat in a massage chair while my hands and feet were pampered. I provided my own gloves.

I booked an AirBNB apartment in St Kilda for Mum and I to stay the night prior to the wedding. I chose a fancy one for the purpose of photos! And for relaxation of course! It was stunning - so modern and perfect for a modern woman (beautiful furnishings and stocked with Girl Boss books - Tina, Amy, Lena). There was a bottle of wine in the fridge on arrival - it went down well with barbecued octopus for dinner. Mum and I had long chats and lots of laughs - it was nice.

On the day of the wedding, I woke up early as usual, and stayed in bed for a while. As mentioned, I wasn't feeling well, so I stayed in bed as long as possible. I called Adam to tell him I loved him, and Mum told me how soppy it was. He said he'd found my present and card I had snuck into his bag, and loved it. Naww!

The weather was perfect - sunny and cool - not like the previous week when it had been unseasonably hot and then rainy.

After a shower, I went to a new favourite cafe (Sister of Soul) for a hearty and healthy vegetarian breakfast and juice. The waitress asked me what I was up to that day, and I told her I was getting married - she almost cried with excitement!

I returned to the apartment at around 10.00 am and the girls started arriving. First Cassie, then Clare (our videographer), then Camille, Kendrie (our hairdresser), Souri (our photographer) and Jo (my dressmaker). There were so many people in such a small space, but it worked. It was fun! We played some wedding videos via YouTube, decorated the apartment with flowers, our clothes and trinkets in readiness for the photos, and snacked on cheese, olives, fruit and cold meats. My day job manager gave me some French champagne so we drank that too. Getting ready for the wedding was one of my favourite memories of the day!

(Picture by Camille)

A little note on our videographer: quite close to the wedding, I put a call out for a videographer in a blogging group. I suggested bloggers who are interested in making videos might like to video our day, and we'd pay. It'd be an opportunity for them to develop their skills and get a little promotion. Clare put her hand up and we are SO glad she did. She makes cute little videos of her life in the country, and I wanted her to capture moments of our day. Gosh she was great - and she learnt a lot from our photographers. She was calm and eager to learn and a lot of fun to be around. Adam and I gave her a meal and paid for her accommodation.

(Picture by Camille)

Kendrie from Chick Flicks Event Hair was busily doing the bridesmaids' hair - braids and curls. Souri was snapping photos - not intrusive at all, my bridesmaids were using the clothes steamer to iron my dress and jacket, and I was a bit stressed because I worried I was going to get my period (I did!). If that's the worst thug to happen on the wedding day, I'll take it!

I had another shower - this time lathering up with oil and sorbolene in the shower - I wanted my face to be less red and to last a long day - and moisturised my body well. If I didn't have that second shower, my skin would have felt dry as the evening progressed, and I would not have been comfortable. I was amazed at how quickly my face settled.

And then Kendrie styled my hair. A friend recommended Kendrie on Facebook, I got in touch, and we clicked on our first meeting.

(Picture by Clare)

Kendrie gave me big curls, even though I don't have a lot of hair. I loved it - it was my Rapunzel moment! And she placed my headpiece on my head so carefully. She gave my bridesmaids curls and braids - I had hair envy! And she was also an excellent suitcase packer. Love her! I had a Champagne as my hair was being done. It was nice. The time went so quickly!

I felt like we were running out of time (we had to be out of the apartment at 2.00pm - strict instructions from the rather terse AirBNB host). I apologise if I was a Bridezilla for five minutes - I had misplaced my recently sparkled engagement ring (thanks for finding it Clare!) and mum was MIA when I wanted her to help me with my dress! She finally came and this was a lovely moment!

(Pictures (above and below) by Cassie)

Jo, who had altered my dress, helped me into it. My dress - amazing as it was - wasn't the most practical! So many layers (six!).

(Picture by Camille)

All was well, though - my dress was perfect, we hauled the luggage to the cars, and checked out of the apartment. And then we were on the street. I took a selfie. I've never had so much confidence in my face as I did that moment.

It's a strange feeling being in a wedding dress in a non-wedding setting, though. I felt on show, in a good way. And I felt a bit like a newborn foal trying to find its legs - trying to manoeuvre my dress to walk stably. It was amazing how many people stopped and smiled, even just on the pavement outside the apartment.

I thought it would be cute to have some photos in the community garden across the road. We had visited there the previous evening, admiring the veggies and flowers. So we sat on a bench for photos, only to be met with a disgusting smell. Gardeners were shovelling manure! It was so bad Cassie exclaimed it was probably human poo! So stinky! We got out of there quickly! I feared I had got manure on my dress and the smell would be with me all day! Imagine!

How gorgeous are my bridesmaids?! (That selfie was by Camille.)

We had a few photos behind Luna Park, and again strangers stopped to watch, smiling. It was really nice to be stared at because I was a bride, not because of my different appearance. I actually had a few people track down my social media to tell me they'd seen us being photographed that day, and sent their congratulations and compliments. Gosh people are lovely!

(Both pictures above by Camille)

And then it was time to be driven to the venue.

(Picture by Camille)

We arrived way too early (I was worried about Grand Prix traffic!), and I had another Bridezilla moment, worried Adam would see me. We saw some guests walk to Red Scooter. And we parked in a glamourous car park between some cars and skip bins. And we waited. I ate half a muesli bar. We took selfies and checked Facebook.

Then we went to the venue, entering so Adam wouldn't see us, and went upstairs for a drink of water and more photos.

(Picture by Camille)

I felt like such a princess. I loved getting ready so much and really want to take the time to pamper myself like this more in future.

To be continued...

For information on our photographer, visit Fresh Photography. To book my hairdresser, visit Chick Flicks Event Hair. To talk to our videographer, visit The Life of Clare. Read about our venue here.