The Buck's Night

Craig celebrated his Buck's Night yesterday. From what I've gathered, there was a lot of tom-foolery but the whole event can best be summed up by the words: Casino, a disabled toilet and infamous face-off with a certain Tabasco cocktail. Needless to say that when he stumbled home in the wee hours of 3.45am, he was completely wasted. Was it a success? Yes it was!

He woke up this morning in a daze, but within seconds, the hangover hit him. Watching his expressing was something akin to watching a storm roll into Ipswich. Poor sucker... but the torture didn't end there. After I weaselled some details out of him, at which point, it became apparent that a lap dance had also occurred, (*sigh* well I suppose it's not a true Buck's Night without one) he also confessed that he nearly got into a fist-fight with some poor uni students at the Casino. Something about Dan preparing to back him up if needs-be but thankfully, a security guard intervened and the situation was narrowly diffused...

Oh dear.

Unfortunately for Craig, we had an appointment with our wedding Celebrant, Janet. Luckily, I'd moved the appointment back (the chances of Craig making a 10am appointment had seemed pretty bleak) and I was under the impression it was just a 15min run-down of last minute details. What I didn't realise was that Janet also wanted us to do a quick rehearsal!

So visualise this scene for me: Craig, trying his best to look respectable but so blatantly hung over as I "walked" down the aisle with my imaginary "father-of-the-bride". We had to exchange our vows and Janet, being her enthusiastic self, was spurring Craig to "maintain eye contact, speak loudly, and bring the feeling of love to his vows." Needless to say, I nearly lost it as I gazed into Craig's red-party eyes while listening to his hoarse Tabascoed-ravaged voice. Janet wasn't overly impressed with his performance, giving him points for maintaining eye-contact but failing him in the areas of audibility and "feeling"! Priceless.

I only hope to God that I don't break out into a fit of giggles as we exchange vows on the day...

So in summary boys, a job well done! Thank you to Brett, Mat, Coridyn, Dan, Thomas, Zach and Al for making Craig's night so memorable.

PS Matt - Aren't you glad I gave you that handy tip about Craig being willing to do anything crazy when he's pissed? Muwhahahhahaaaaaa....

Why bother with a wedding?

When the word "wedding" comes up, it's usually accompanied by as many groans as there are women going "awww...". It can be really hard to find sanity in amongst thoughts about possible venues, dresses, table decorations, car hire & the mounting costs! Which really brings us back to this core question: Why all the fuss? Isn't it easier just to fly to Vegas, get married by Elvis and waste all your hard-earned cash on the roulette?

Okay, yeah eloping sounds fun. There wouldn't be any juggling of wedding meetings, delicate negotiating with various parties or hours spent shopping for plain & simple "olive" ties which none of the shops seem to stock. And while the messing around would be significantly less, here's the thing...

I can't wait to get married to Craig :D

We met when we were both poor uni bums, with absolutely nothing to our names except a HECS debt. It's been a few crazy years of jumping on public transport to see each other on weekends and fitting each other in between assignments and exams. Even when we did finally move in together, there was a lot of renting & furniture moving that was more painful than amusing. And while we had a lot of great times eating spaghetti for whole weeks on end, we were even more grateful when we both got jobs. Finally, we could see a movie without feeling ill for the next fortnight because we'd be having nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches.

This is why I'm really looking forward to the wedding. Everyone there will have seen us at our best and our worst. It's a celebration of the past, the present and also, the future unknown. I want to see all our family and friends, the living patchwork of our experiences. And I can't wait to see Craig's face when I walk down the aisle in (hopefully!) the nicest dress he's ever seen me in. I hope it was worth him waiting 8 years, hehe!

In the meantime, I'll keep paying those incoming bills. I figure it's an investment of sorts, so let's see if it pays off.

Yours truly,
Demi.

PS - Craig is on his Buck's Night as I type, so we'll see how he fares.

The "Bad Taste" Hen's Night

I had the most awesome Hen's night! Before I start ranting about the highlights of the night, I'm sending out a big Thank You to my friend, Meggles. You're an absolute legend and no girl can ask for a better friend. I know you went to a lot of trouble to make my Hens happen so have a huge hug!

We wanted to avoid the "cliché" Hen's Night. You know what I'm talking about - feral man-strippers, drunken lewd tasks that involve dildos and hunting down single men, etc etc. And when Lindsey suggested "bad taste Bride's Maid dresses", it was a total winner. Which is how we ended up looking like this! I raided my Mum's wardrobe and after digging through some lovely shoulder-numbers, found this lovely lacey frock. I think I would have made Madonna proud. Meggles picked me up from my house but she wasn't alone! My friend Lisa flew all the way down from Rocky to join us, despite the imminent threat of tropical cyclone Ului. It was such an excellent surprise and I only wished Vicky could have joined us. Sadly, she was having too much fun in Argentina!

From there, we headed to Meg's pad in Hawthorne where we were joined by the other girls for drinks and party games. In amongst Twister Dance, 'Pin the accessory on the Bride' and amateur dress making, there were a lot of laughs and fun. Even babies were getting into the madness and tolerating all the shenanigans! One of my favourite highlights was Baby Skye vs Nurse Lorraine in our very own "Who could be Australia's next cutest model". Oh and Emily won a copy of the Princess Bride by pinning the bouquet perfectly on Poster-Me. Nice one!

6pm rolled around pretty quickly so we chugged around the corner to Ahmet's Turkist restaurant at Balmoral. We were fashionably late and by the time we arrived, the Greenslopes party were already waiting and so was my very own Mum! She was in heaven when Baby Cormack was passed into her arms.

Meanwhile, the rest of us tucked into Turkish bread and dips while trying an assorted mix of cocktails. Meg picked me up a lovely Turkish Martini and not only did it smell delightful, it tasted scrumptious. Soon we were inundated by various casseroles, meat platters and turkish delights! But then the Belly Dancer manifested and naturally, she made a B-line for me. To be fair, I was kinda an unmistakable target with my flashing Tiara and Wand.

I figured, what the hell? How often do you get the opportunity to embarrass yourself in front of all your friends and colleagues? So I crawled my way out of my side of the table (I was kinda marooned against the wall at this stage) and upon making my way onto the dance floor and in public view of the restaruant, made good worth of 10 years' worth of dance training. However, I was thrilled when the Belly Dancer asked who else I wanted to dance and at this point, I immediately dobbed in my mother. She's always complaining about how she doesn't have a dancing bone in her body but she did a fabulous job! Go Mum, shake your booty!

Only five of us (Meggles, Lisa, Farenn, Amanda and myself) made it out to BrisVegas afterwards for a session of bad Karaoke but we sure did have fun at Strike Bowling. And they even had props to go along with the songs of our choice! I had to admit, the pixelated tiger that accompanied the hit, "Eye of the Tiger" brought back memories from the time of Pac Man and Space Invaders! But it was a lot of fun and I think we may have converted Amanda and Farenn, who had seemed a little doubtful at the onset. I have no pictures from karoake as yet and I'm sure there are some crazy photos floating out there... so we'll all have to wait and see. In the meantime, the full scope of our crazy adventure can be glimpsed by visiting here.

In summary, an excellent excellent Hen's night. And do you know what the best part is? I haven't even had my second Hen's yet! I'm due to have another Hen's with my little sisters Sharl, Erin & Siobhan so they can share in my madness. Can't wait! Oh and Craig is having his Buck's this weekend so I'll be sure to report on his side of things. Hope he has a great time! Till then, take care of yourselves.

Demi.

Bugger! My dress still isn't finished.

Last week, I was high as a kite because I picked up my dress from the Posties. I saw my Bolero and tried it on and it's absolutely gorgeous. However, the only other person around the house was Craig and I was damned if he was going to help me into my wedding dress. Somehow, I don't think that's in the groom's job description! Luckily, my mum came down from Cairns last night so it was a chance for us to see the whole kit & caboodle.

But that was when we discovered that the dress was still too tight... >.<


Luckily, I still have three weeks before the wedding so there's still time for alterations. I was a little disappointed but hey, I'd been having such a smooth run that a hiccup was long overdue. And seeing how ridiculous my back looked did make me smile. I'm just grateful that we didn't find out on the day of the wedding! Imagine the scene as I glide gracefully down the garden path, exchange vows and a passionate kiss with Craig, only to turn and flash him my second cleavage! The look on his face would probably have been priceless, haha! Anyhow, the dress is making its way back to Cairns (by now, it probably has more mileage under its belt than the average Australian) and hopefully will be all ready to go by the 11th of April.

And it's not all bad news. The bolero is simply divine and I can't wait to wear the whole thing on the day. Here's a sneak peek of the Bolero.


Oh and did I mention it's my 1st Hen's night this weekend? I get to have one Hen's night with my friends in BrisVegas and another with family and friends from Cairns. But that's another blog altogether! You'll just have to wait till Sunday to hear about the antics.

Getting ready to party,
Demi!

To Invite or Not to Invite... That is the Question.

So you always hear about those horror-story-weddings, where the fuss about who "could" and "couldn't" be invited escalates into full blown scrimmages. And you think to yourself, please please, may I be one of the lucky ones. May I not turn into Bridezilla and may no one emerge as Gamera.

When it came to wedding invitations, "a small shin-dig" was kinda never going to happen. My mother is Chinese and I spent a good 7 years of my childhood, growing up with my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. My mum has always encouraged us to understand and appreciate family and our Chinese heritage, so we're pretty close. And besides, who in their right minds doesn't love a good wedding?

So according to my mother's family traditions, it was essential to invite her Brothers & Sisters - all 8 of them in fact! And yes, that included their children. (Note: at this point, I'm nervously twiddling my thumbs, but still holding up a smile). But then my mother points out that it would be rude to invite all her siblings but not my Father's. Oh, did I mention that my Father is Irish, comes from Kilkenny and is also one of 9 children? (Note: I'm actually sweating as I contemplate how I'm going to organise all these relatives when they all pour into Brisbane). Thankfully, my parents downsized when they had kids. I only have 5 siblings.

The real fun part was breaking this news to Craig. But as always, he took my family's craziness in his stride. I think he's used to it by now. When we were on our third date, I had to break the news to him that my Mother just became pregnant with her 6th child. Yes, that was kinda awkward but Aidan, we still love you, hugs & kisses.

Anyway, back to the story. So I ask Craig which of his extended family members we need to invite. But it turns out that his family is the polar opposite of mine and most of his extended family are either too distant or too unwell to make the journey. My mind is spinning as I envisage the wedding list. Clearly, 95% of the wedding party is going to overwhelmingly made up by my side while the other 5% is going to be made up by Craig, his brother Brett, Craig's Mum Olga & Dad Graham, and his sister Kali & family.

Did I mention that our families haven't actually met yet? Since my family are based in Cairns while Craig's family are based down south in Coffs Harbour, there haven't been many opportunities for meet-ups. Can you imagine Craig's Aussie family, meeting my crazy Chinese-Irish family for the first time? I can. And yes, I'm nervous.

Thankfully, Craig's family will be spared the full force of my relies. The majority of my Irish relies weren't able to make the expensive trip to Oz and while I'm sorry they couldn't attend, I understand entirely the financial inconvenience involved in such a venture. So my cousin, Paul, is going to help represent the Irish and I'm looking forward to seeing him, as it's been a good 10 years since we last met. My mother's family are all based in Malaysia so it was easier for them to come to Australia. Last count, there are 11 members coming, which isn't a bad turnout :D

Last count, the guest list was at 66 adults, 4 children and 2 babies. So by Aussie-Chinese-Irish standards, it's pretty modest. And it's going to happen in exactly 28 days. Wish us luck.

Yours truly,
Demi & Craig.

Playing Dress Ups!

The sky was absolutely miserable, feeling more like London than Brisbane. To top it off, I had the flu and was battling a sore throat/cough. However, none of that mattered because today, the Groom's Party finally got themselves organised and hired some suits! When Craig and his brother, Brett, walked out of those change rooms, I already knew their mum, Olga, was going to bawl. They looked very handsome in their "wade" suits. All they were missing was a top hat, coat watch & cane! Okay, okay, I probably shouldn't have been there. I should have waited to see Craig on the Big Day but he asked me to go! So my bad. But at least I made myself helpful by giving the Tailor information about colour-coordination. The sad thing is, the entire cost of the suit hire is like 1/2 the cost of my dress. ^^; Scary, scary. However, at least I've got the comfort of mind knowing that Craig will be just as dressed up on the day and he won't be rockin' up in board shorts & a pair of thongs. It might be a very popular Australian look but I probably would have re-acted Run Away Bride! (And yes, that was an awful movie.) Anyhow, that's the Gos for the day. Oh and for those attending, make sure you look out for Craig's Poker cuff links. That is, if he manages to get his hands on some! Wish him luck.