Our Masters of Ceremonies

Getting friends to MC your reception is a huge ask. I never thought about this until we got rejected by S's High School friend and felt a huge shock about it. I mean, we've been to other weddings of our friends where he had been emceeing for and he had been absolutely fabulous! I asked him coyly once if he would do it for us when S and I do get married and he (albeit drunkenly) did cross his heart and swear that he would!

Anyways, the search for a new MC really became a challenge as I know people have famously put the fear of public speaking right up there with the fear of dying. I did think that S being a lawyer and having been in the Debate team in school would have several contacts suitable for the task, but we got rejected two more times in the process.

Then we approached two friends from our really close knit group, heart filled with anticipation of rejection and they surprisingly said yes! We never told them that they weren't our first pick. I mean we hadn't thought of them as someone who would be keen to speak publicly before, but they made asking them so easy that we were really thankful for it and didn't make any more demands from them.

On the day itself though, R and C really came through for us. The first guy who rejected us was in the audience as our guest and I think he hung his head in shame as R & C showed him down and did a really personalised performance that outshone anything he could ever have done in his MCing career.

So I know I alluded to their performance before, but after getting yet some more rave reviews from some other guests yesterday, I really wanted to explicitly note down how awesome my friends were in what they did for us.

R & C introduced us by telling everyone why we had chosen a NYC theme (and both sportingly braved hat hair by putting on Yankees caps), being that S had proposed to me there.

They then went on to explain that the first song we were dancing to was from Jersey Boys, the play we watched in NYC on the very same trip. And then whilst introducing the bridal party, they did little spiels about the bridal party because we were all friends and so they had some really lovely things to say about each bridal party 'couple'.

Whilst there was a lull in the reception as I was getting changed, R & C came out into the crowd in I Heart NY T-Shirts and backpacks. They then went to each table which were named after boroughs and places in NYC pretending to be lost tourists and interacting with our guests, asking for directions to Central Park which was the name of our Bridal table! When they finally 'found' Central Park, R cracked a joke about how C got caught up in Broadway because of all the pretty girls that were there which was an inside joke because C's girlfriend was sitting on that table.

Then, as we were performing our first dance, they quietly slipped away for a third costume change of the night and came back in Broadway splendour!

I loved how much effort they had put into the whole night. They also shared little insights into S and I with the guests as R & C has known us throughout the last 9 years and did have many funny stories to tell.

To top it all off, after all that when they were finally let off their duties and could finally enjoy the reception like every other guest, they cajolled our photographer to take pictures of them in each of their costumes at our Crazybooth so that we could have them as a keepsake for our happy memoirs from the wedding.

Better friends I could not have asked for and I know we were truly blessed and undeserving because of how much fuss I kicked up after the first guy rejected us. I know, I owe R & C a lot and we hope that one day we will be able to pay them back for their great efforts.

Hen's weekend just passed

If you had checked my facebook wall this past weekend you would have seen something like this:

Mrs.Happyeverafter was with J & E at Pitt St Mall
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with J at MSM cafe
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 20 others at the Gazebo
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 20 others at Kit & Kaboodle

Then on Sun it continues:
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 6 others at The Victoria Room
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 4 others at The Goldfish. $10 cocktails till midnight Yeah!

What a cocktail filled weekend it was. This was a big one with A and SY getting married this year, both members of our bridal party and both destination weddings that I cannot attend. Sighz...but, it was good to be celebrating others for a change. 2011 was all about me in the limelight and it stressed me out big time. This year I can focus on helping them have the best year ever and I was happy in that role.

A is a very different personality from SY. She is vibrant, sociable and a great dancer. So it was no surprise that she had a danceoff with another birthday guy at Kit & Kaboodle. It was $10 cocktails there till midnight too so we had lychee bellinis and swayed to the RnB/ dance DJ mix that night. I loved dancing when I was in uni, but haven't really gone dancing in a while (bar my hen's when I was absolutley plastered). It took me a while and quite some watering before I lost my awkwardness and self awareness. And it was a really good time with lots of really nice girls from all walks of A's life, but I was still very happy for Mr.Happyeverafter to come swish me away from outside the club slightly after twelve, and then after a hot shower, climb into bed with my husband in my warm pajamas.

SY's Hen's was more intimate, with just one group of us that all used to work at the same place so we all had something in common. High tea at The Victoria Room is gorgeous. It was a bustling place, but nestled into a corner and tucked away from the crowd, we devoured the decadent sweets and sandwiches and sipped away at our lovely teas and cocktails chatting about the good ol' times.

Red Velvet cupcakes, cucumber sandwiches, scones and little cheesecakes...amongst others

SY enjoyed herself which was important. I can tell she's been really stressed out organising her destination wedding and balancing western ideas with eastern cultures. I saw her more relaxed yesterday with the girls and just voicing her frustrations from the wedding planning and the other more delightful parts where she is getting the things that she wants whilst we nodded in support and agreement. Another friend shares about her experiences with a one year old child and all eager ears from the newly weds in the group lapped up the wisdom hungrily, storing it away from the blessed time in the future when we become mothers ourselves. I loved it! The epitomy of what a girly High Tea should entail.

So, here we are today, most of us feeling a little weary from the Monday blues and the one-too-many cocktails. We are all happy about our friendship and the network of support we have built over the years. J is already happily brewing away at a surprise wedding present for SY having picked up on something juicy from yesterday that she will need. (Those are the best surprises!)

And me? I am just happy. Happy to have a lovely bunch of people in my daily life. Happy to have S to come home to each night. Happy to have had such good food, wine and company this weekend.

Something Yummy on the menu in Gazebo turns out to be a rich warm brownie with ice cream and topped with choco fairy floss. *droolz*

Sipping at the Queen Mary tea at the Victoria Room

The Gilded Lily drink from the Victoria Room

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/70/752358/restaurant/Sydney/The-Victoria-Room-Darlinghurst"><img alt="The Victoria Room on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/752358/biglink.gif" style="border:none;padding:0px;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>

Kibera Paper

I got a late Xmas Card at work in the mail this week. It may be the last, but it was definitely the best one. It was made for me by a woman called ElPhridah Ngori from Nairobi under this beautiful project called Kibera Paper.

I think receiving Christmas cards is already something really thoughtful and lovely in this day and age. On top of that, knowing that what I held in my hands has probably helped improve the life of another human being in poverty somehow just made it more sentimental.


From the website:

The project was started to assist the women who live in Kibera Slum, the largest slum in Nairobi; majority are widows. The women are engaged in making handmade cards from waste papers.They recycled the papers and produce cards, by selling the cards they earn some income.Helping them to escape from some of the extreme problems of urban poverty. The Project started with 6 women and now has grown to accomodate 24 women who make cards.

I will be sending my Christmas cards 2012 from them. Watch for it!

New year resolves

I am terrible at keeping resolutions but every year I do love looking back at the year gone by and cherishing the good times. So this is time to do both. 2011 was big for goodbyes... Goodbye to my single days, I swapped sipping soy lattes with the girls on Sunday for home cooked brunches with S on weekends.

Goodbye to my family in Malaysia as I made a commitment to S's family to be their daughter. Goodbye to my cute little first home and my meticulately styled rooms to now trying to fit the furniture from two homes into one that I now share with S that will become our collective style. Goodbye to Louis Vuitton purchases as we will from now on be (in the words of my most favourite single girl) "cheating on fashion with furniture".

                                       

If 2011 was the first movie, then 2012, it's the SATC movie part deux sans the kissing of exes. But you know what I mean. Married in 2012. My life is not just about me now and I now look forward to making beautiful meals for S at home instead of a quick cocktail with a girlfriend.

And going back to work in 2012, there's so much baby talk! 2011 was about the four brides in our division, but with the last of use wedded on the 31st December, the focus is now on the new mothers-to-be in the office. We have 5 ladies in the office about to go on maternity leave in 2012 and whilst I am not clucky, I know it is the next thing I would be looking to do.

 We aren't saying no, but I think I will not focus on it yet. Perhaps it is more important to get our finances and my health in order as priority. And whilst cultivating the garden, I should also be working on building my relationship with S and really developing mutual trust, dependancy and respect before we let the perpetual exhaustion that comes with having children kill our romance.

Anyways, I had meant to write out some New Year Resolutions and here they are:

1) Start taking some of Mum's advice and taking care of my health and stress levels

2) Cut back on the alcohol. Not every drinking event needs to be to the point of teetotalling

3) Really take charge of my career and start building the next step up in the path

4) Take more interest in my everyday dress, its about being elegant.

5) Be cheerier at home so that S doesn't get stressed unncessarily

6) Pray more.

I mean it. This time I really do.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy New Year from Melbourne's Southbank

It's been a few hectic days on the great Melbourne Trip with a fair few friends and the husband.

What with the 33 degrees days... My brain is just not able to process words. So here's just pics of what we have been up to.






Heart my Cappucino...wait... somebody already did!







London Bridge



Fireworks from Southbank

My favourite Grafitti art in Melbourne

Happy 2012 all loved ones! May it be all you want it to be and thank you for sharing a lovely 2011 with me!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone