Aw, I love weddings. Especially weekend away weddings. Especially, especially weekend away in the Hunter weddings! Mark and Carlie were married on a beautiful spring weekend in the Hunter. They picked a cracker of a weekend. The weather was gorgeous! Actually, everything was gorgeous. The ceremony and reception was held at Peppers Creek, a lovely venue. The Bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome. Gorgeous!

Andrew and I like to tell people that we are responsible for Mark and Carlie getting together. They met at our Green and Gold party which was held in 2006 before we moved to England. I'm not sure how they met though as Mark was only there for a short time. Carlie obviously saw something that she liked.

We moved home to Sydney last year just in time for their engagement party. Obviously we're some kind of catalyst for their relationship. (It's all about us! right!)

We made the most of our weekend in the Hunter. We stayed in a lovely villa (bigger than our apartment) with Sue and J. On Saturday we lunched at Margan (winner of 2010 Sustainable Restaurant of the Year, Good Food Guide awards), napped in the afternoon and caught up with the wedding party for drinks in the evening. On Sunday, we even squeezed in a visit to a few wineries before the wedding.

So congratulations Mark and Carlie. May your life together be filled with much happiness and joy (and thanks for giving us an excuse for an awesome weekend away).



More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

So back to a few weeks ago and Christina's hen's day at the races. Great fun! (Thanks to Clare for the use of her photos from the day.)

When we received the invite, Clare mentioned that she'd never been to the races before. I gave her the run down of a typical day at the races - dress pretty, drink champagne and bitch about what other women are wearing. And that's pretty much what we did. I'm always surprised by how much fun it is!

Chris was assigned dares during the day which were designed to embarrass her as much as possible. For example, at one point she had to stand up and yell "I'm not wearing any knickers" to everyone in the stands. Hillarious! I'm so glad that I've had my Hen's party already because I wouldn't want anyone getting any ideas.


Most people go to the races to put a bet on but it has never been one of my chief pursuits at the races (see above - dress, drink, bitch). When we do bet, it's usually for silly reasons. Last time we went to the races we bet on a horse called Stella just so we could yell Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllaaaaaaaa (a la Streetcar Named Desire) as it ran the track.

This time, I bet on a horse called Jessicabeel (for what I hope are obvious reasons). It won! hurrah! It won at quite good odds too so I walked away with $40 after an initial outlay of $5. It was enough to pay for most of my champagne on the day and it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside (both the win and the champagne). To win on Saturday you had to bet on a horse named after you. In the next race, Natalie bet on a horse called Speedy Natalie and it also won!

So that's going to be my theory when I next head to the races. Only bet on horses named after me!

Addendum: Andrew mentioned that I'd won with a bet on Jessicabeel to his friend Steve. When Steve went to the races the next weekend he also bet on Jessicabeel and won. He won $70! So, obviously you should just bet on Jessicabeel. The horse is a winner.

More photos (slideshow) on Clare's Flickr.

Last weekend Christina and Adam were married in a beautiful ceremony on a beautiful day at Little Manly Reserve. Christina's mum officiated so she was able to speak sincerely and from the heart. It was one of the most personal and moving ceremonies that I've attended.

It was also a very relaxed wedding. Adam and Chris only set the date for the wedding a month or so ago. (I imagine the lead-up to the event wasn't so relaxed though. Poor Chris.) It's the first wedding I've been to where Thai was served for dinner. Not only Thai, but "shared plates in the middle of the table and serve yourself" style Thai. It was awesome (and so was the masaman curry... soooo good.) There was no DJ or live band, just an iPod loaded with Chris and Adam's favourite tunes hooked up to a speaker and set on random. It was enough for me! I spent the usual amount of time on the dance floor (most of the evening).

So it proves you don't need three course meals or fancy eight piece bands to have a great wedding. You just need love baby! (awwww)


More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

Last weekend it was Christina's turn to celebrate her last days as a single woman. For her hen's celebration we headed to the David Jones Australian Derby Day at Randwick race courses. Unfortunately, our point and shoot gave up the ghost a few weeks ago so I wasn't able to take any photos during the day. So, the photos from the day will be forthcoming.

I can show you what I baked for the day though. I baked caramel mud(cup)cakes and topped them with dark chocolate icing. I decorated them in a Looooooooove theme. I took photos of my cupcake creations before leaving the house which was a good idea because once packed in my rolly esky, they got bounced around a bit on the journey. Oops! They didn't look quite this good when I brought them out at dessert time. They tasted just as good though!

Finally got around to editing the photos from Clare and Brendan's wedding.

Andrew was lucky enough to be present when the professional photographers were taking the arty photos. Well, not exactly lucky. To take the professional photos, the bridal party went for a bit of a wander down the road and I was wearing ridiculously high heels. I called Andrew to come and rescue the bridesmaids. He drove down with flats for Ange and I. He stuck around too and drove the ladies back up to the ceremony. He's such a nice boy.

Here are some of my favourites from Andrew's photos. Andrew says it looks like I'm trying to eat the frisbee in the last photo.



More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.