When you put your mind to it, a lot can be achieved in such a short space of time. Erin and I are testament to that over the past 12 days since my last blog post.
Without wanting to sound overly repetitious and talking about the same content week-on-week, or 12 days-on-12 days, all of our spare time is being eaten up by wedding stuff.
Until you are in the midst of it all yourself, you don't really get a sense of perspective of just what actually goes into the planning of one. Erin and I have been quite lucky in the respect that once one big piece of the metaphorical jigsaw was in place, we'll call this piece the "reception venue", we were blessed that everything else has followed suit quite easily.
A lot of this though has been largely down to the fact that Erin is the most organised person you could ever wish to meet, and I am majorly OCD with things like planning. I need to know if it has been done, and if it hasn't, when it will. We're probably not a healthy mix for when it comes to a holiday, or say a round-the-world flight, but on the whole we work extremely well together.
Erin had the early part of this week off work to enable her to study for her Law exam on Wednesday. Stress levels at this time of the year are normally a lot higher than normal and it is to be expected. Couple that with what was later diagnosed as a viral infection and the early part of the week was quite a stressful one for Erin. Wednesday has been and gone now though, nothing can be altered. The past is in the past. Que sera, sera.
Wednesday for me though was a completely different story. I decided I would book a days flex from work and accompany Erin to her exam, but I chose to spend the time Erin was quoting Australian Constitutional Law more effectively and went on a walk to take some photographs, for this very purpose - my blog.
We parked at Wentworth Park, a much more grandeur version of Belle Vue for all the Manchester readers. Sunshine makes everything look better I have realised.
I ended up strolling down to the Sydney Fish Markets and started snapping away.
The other bridge in Sydney, the ANZAC Bridge. The name paying tribute to the
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who served in WWI.
Whilst I was happy in my little ANZAC Bridge little world,
an Australian White Ibis became a little too friendly, and close for my liking.
The Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis moluccus) looks so prehistoric to me.
That beak is the stuff of absolute nightmares!
Oh, okay. You're a brave Brucie, encroaching on my personal space now.
YOU TAKING THE PISS? BACK THE F*CK AWAY FROM ME NOW!!!
Following on from staring death in the eyes, I also encountered another species of bird, this time from a much more respectable distance. This bird was content in the water, scooping up fish in its rather prominent throat pouch.
Two Pelicans in the water near ANZAC Bridge.
There's something Finding Nemo-esque about Pelicans in water, near Bridges in Sydney.
After photographing copious birds for blog post content, we left the vicinity and headed over to Alexandria to look at suits for our wedding. I had seen a Prosecutor at work with this Suit on and it was the EXACT shade of blue that I had been looking for. Suffice to say when Erin saw it, it was made abundantly clear that it wasn't the right shade of blue for a wedding, and on reflection she was right.
It was a light shade of blue and for a wedding I've come to realise a darker blue is much more formal.
Once our time had expired in Alexandria we headed to Erin's friends place for dinner, Hannah and Tristan, who are getting married this coming Saturday. We were treated to home made burgers and were able to wash it down with some Pepperjack Handcrafted Ale. #delicious
Thursday and Friday passed by in somewhat of a blur as I was working both days and experienced some cases in Court which were a little hard going. I won't go into the intricacies of them for fear of breaching client confidentiality but it was, yet again, another eye opener and a massive learning curve for me.
Erin succumbed to a viral infection too so her working week didn't even materialise. A journey to work on Thursday morning on the train was swiftly followed by a journey home from work on the train via the Doctors surgery for a course of antibiotics.
Alas the weekend. Time to relax. Or not as the case may be.
Friday night we finally decided to book our flights for our Honeymoon. We opted to pay more and fly with Vietnam Airlines, than pay less and fly with Malaysia Airlines and run the risk of not arriving at our destination of Nha Trang.
Our flight plan is more direct with Vietnam Airlines too, flying SYD - SGN - CXR.
Malaysia Airlines was SYD - KUL - SGN - CXR with an overnight in SGN because you would have missed the connection to CXR. The significant price difference of $400 each wasn't enough to entice us, or compromise our safety/lives.
On our return flight we have staggered the flight back to Sydney (SYD) from Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) by two days, which gives us a bit of time to spend in SGN.
So we will land in Ho Chi Minh City on 09/04 after a 55 minute flight from Nha Trang (CXR) and then we will leave Ho Chi Minh for Sydney on the 11th of April.
We haven't booked a Hotel yet but we think we are set on two nights in the Intercontinental Asiana Saigon Hotel.
Saturday was a long day, but my goodness was it productive. The early part of Saturday was spent in the beautiful Trinity Chapel at Trinity Grammar School for a rehearsal of Hannah and Tristan's wedding, which is happening this coming Saturday.
The place is gorgeous. It felt like I was in a Church in England. The high ceilings, the exposed terracotta coloured brickwork and the coldness of an English Church. The pictures below don't do it justice.
The Groom awaits his Bride.
And here she comes, accompanied by her Dad!
Somehow I don't think Hannah will be this relaxed next week... ;)
And here is my bride-to-be. It won't be long until it is the both of us rehearsing our big day!
Group shot!
After the minutest of details were ironed out, we said our goodbyes and headed off to the City to see if we could find a wedding suit. The excitement was palpable.
ANZAC Bridge, we meet again.
Once we parked in the City both Erin and I decided that before we delved into the world of wedding suit shopping we would relax and have a bite to eat, so we headed down to the food court of David Jones (think Selfridges) and plonked ourselves at the Sushi Bar and went weird.
Spur of the moment Sushi. It's the best kind of Sushi.
Shopping in David Jones was a first for me, I had never before had the pleasure of the place. Floors and floors of everything and anything. It really is like Selfridges, and maybe John Lewis all in one.
We found our way into the Mens Formal section and immediately found ourselves attracted to a navy blue suit. We asked questions of the knowledgeable sales assistant who was a little on the older side, which for me is a novelty. I am so used to young females, wearing an abundance of makeup and terribly drawn on eyebrows that to come by a placid older female who is there to help and not in anyway to garnish a sale from you is a rather strange concept for me.
She wasn't pushy, she just helped me with the styling, with the pinning of the jacket and told us both what would look best and what wouldn't. I loved the jacket, it felt so elegant on and felt just right. It wasn't too heavy and it wasn't too light either. I decided I wouldn't just jump two footed and buy the first one we saw and liked. So we wandered around the floor and looked at some others. We saw some okay ones that were way out of our price budget and some ghastly ones that were well within, typical! :D
After David Jones we called in to TM Lewin. Quintessentially British Suit Makers, so they say. Shit I say. Total shit. We didn't stay long.
After a pit stop at "Nutorious" for some combined sweet and salted popcorn (it works, believe me!) we ventured away from the City and via Alexandria on the way home to the Ron Bennett Outlet.
I have already purchased a suit from Ron Bennett before, for an interview in early June and they fit me excellently.
It seemed logical to go there and we weren't disappointed. Again the customer service experience was one I wasn't used to. The (again) elderly assistant, this time a charismatic Italian man, a little on the rotund side with grey balding hair left us to our own devices. He only came over when we asked for his help and he knew what size I was without even asking me. Now that's professionalism!
I tried on one suit in particular, of the "Super Slim Fit" persuasion and you know when you just know? Yea, that!
I have no doubt when the Italian dude said "You should be a Ron Bennett model" he was humouring me, but he did have a point. There are some suits sometimes that you try on and think, "Yep, this looks good" and then there are other ones when you try them on, you think to yourself, "I just need to have this suit". This one fell into the latter category.
We even managed to secure four other suits for the Best Man and Groomsmen too. How's that for a productive afternoon in Alexandria?
Happiness. It's infectious.
After the success of procuring my wedding suit Erin and I headed home. Not before we were then back out again with some friends, Katrina and Stuart for a Curry and then to watch the Arsenal vs Manchester City game. It was so good to meet up with them both again as Erin and I had met with them previously a few times when they were in London and Erin was in Manchester.
We ate a place called "A Taste of India" in Marrickville, not India. The food I was impressed with, the service not so much. We were asked if we were finished with our Naan bread when it was clear we were still eating them and we also received a starter we didn't order which they tried to leave for us in the hope we'd eat it, and then pay for. Our mains were also extremely late in arriving. We did find out that the waitress was new, but that doesn't excuse the fact for the long wait for our mains. I probably would recommend the place as the food was nice, I'd like to think their lack of customer service was just a one off.
Today has been a day of rest and a day to enjoy this beautiful Spring weather. It has been so nice today in fact (24C) that I have worn shorts for the first time since arriving at the end of May.
I just hope the weather is here to stay...
