Groom's party drive to the church

Hello everyone, this is the first of the post-wedding posts. It is of the drive myself (Brooke), Best man (Andy) and Groomsman (brother Sam) took to get from my house to the Church. Its a little amusing. I hope you like it.

Given that this is the first post since the wedding, I'll let you know that the wedding went extremely well. We put in sooo much effort planning the wedding and honestly we were extremely stressed and we had a number of tiffs as the heat rose. This was testament to how much effort we put in to organising it. June did 85% of it of course! What a wonderful woman. Mmmm, she's my wife! Not one hitch on the day - it all went to plan, everyone was happy and had a great time.

Check out the video.

The Bucks party

I was kinda dreading the Bucks party. I've heard the stories - the buck wakes up naked, chained to a lightpost in another city he doesn't recognise and missing an eyebrow. Well ha, I fooled them all and evaded such antics. It was pretty typical apart from that - got pretty wasted, visited a strip club (I protested all the way of course!) and had a good time with all my mates relieving me of having to pay for much. What follows is the mail I sent them the next day (the evening of the next day after having slept during the daylight hours). This is not a great story or post, but is necessary to complete the Wedding blog.

Gidday all,

Thank you very much to all of you for attending my Bucks party. An extra big thank you to Andy T and Pete for organising the day/night. It was a great day that started with bare foot bowls. We all had a great time and I really look forward to playing again. I think Andy T won with 5 points - I had 4 and some others had some also. We had some more drinks there and moved on to the Valley (thanks to Richard for driving a group of us across is his spanky Mercedes 180). We had dinner at a Turkish Restaurant - Shisk I believe it was. Fantastic food and all for only $15 each. Good one Sam for dropping the bottle of Scotch just as we were leaving. We were all very relieved to see it was empty. Onto the Zoo we went to see some live music. Unfortunately we left before seeing the main act Vasco Era - I was really hanging out to see them. The guys were obviously keen to fulfill the proverbial bucks party visit to the strip club. The bulk of the group ended the night at The Caberet Club. Say no more - a nods as good as a wink to a blind bat. Looking at the photos (none in the strip club sorry!), we left there about 3 hours later at 2am. AB and Derec were the last to leave (Andy, thanks for coming up from Sydney). Pete and I both went back to Damo's place (Damo was there for the bowls and restaurant though left during dinner as he was feeling sick with flu or similar). Pete is staying there. We had a scoob or two and chatted about life and strip clubs. Pete left a message on my phone today saying "thanks for showing yourself out; I can't remember much after I passed out". I did let myself out though Pete was talking to me as I left. I didn't drink that much though I drank constantly. My brain doesn't cope well with extended periods of drinking so I didn't feel all that great today. Not sick, just really tired and a general headache. Wes at this point is saying "Suckers!". Wes doesn't drink. He likes strip clubs though.

Thanks again everybody, I'm glad you all had a good night (I'm sure you did) and please enjoy the photos we took on my phone camera during the night (not the best quality but better than nothing at all!).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tintuna/sets/72157600379259345/

Cheers,

Brooke

ps. June was staying with a friend and didn't get home till after 5pm on Sunday. She asked what happened. I told her the bulk of the day though with the Caberet Club I told her that what goes on tour stays on tour. She's got her hen's night week and I guess I've set myself up for a similar response!

BBQ on the Sunday

We will be holding a BBQ on the Sunday following the wedding. It will be held at New Farm Park, which is right near my place. When I say "we will be holding", I mean that it will be in our name, but hopefully mostly organised by others!

The map can be found at Google Map, and this can also give you directions. On this map is marked:

• New Farm Park - where we eat
  
• Coles New Farm (plus grog shop) - where food and drink can be bought
  
• Home - Where food can be prepared
  

Wedding Bands

We've decided on the wedding bands. We liked the look of Rosegold as it seemed to complement our skin tone better than white or yellow gold. And white gold has been so popular over the last couple years so I wanted to do something different.

June has an antique (1940's) 18ct yellow gold ring and so required an 18ct rosegold wedding band. Due to the features on the ring, the yellow gold doesn't look out of place next to the rosegold.

Being a bloke, I have a 9ct rosegold ring. That's because 9ct is tougher.

Can't wait till 30th June when I get to wear it!

Wedding Accomodation

June and I have been around to inspect places of accomodation in the Toowong area and have selected the following. I've included two extra scales along with my notes on the place:

1. Views - from the hotel (1 .. 5 - 1 being excellent, 5 being drab)
   
2. Nice - how nice it seems (1 .. 5)
   
3. Location - to restaurants, cafes (1 .. 5 - 1 being close to such places)
   
4. Transport - how close to public transport (train, bus) - (1 . 5 - 1 being close)
   

Update: I believed the family (including my wheelchair bound mum) would be staying in the Cosmo or Toowong Inn and Suites. They are now staying in the medina which is on the Eastern edge of the city. We were hoping to accomodate the guests nearer the wedding reception. The city isn't that close (15 to 20 minute drive). Now that a large number of the guests (ie. my family!) are going to be in the city then I open it up for everyone to go for it and choose hotels in the city or surrounding suburbs if they wish (Spring Hill, New Farm, Kangaroo Point, East Brisbane, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane CBD).

The local suburbs to the reception are Indooroopily, Toowong, Milton, Auchenflower, St Lucia and Kenmore. We chose the below hotels as places that are most closest.

Milton Motel

• http://www.milton-motel.com.au/index.php/sttropez/
• Almost on Park Road
• Ok, but didn't like manageress much
• No disabled
• Prices OK
• Potential

1. Views - 2
2. Nice - 2
3. Location - 5
   
4. Transport - 3
   

Central Cosmo

• http://www.centralgroup.com.au/property.aspx?i=4&m=4&s1=8&s2=9
• Park Rd Milton (249 F11)
• Disabled room in studio (more than one)
• 20% discount for wedding bookings

• $132 studio
• $144 1 bedroom Junior
• $152 1 bedroom standard
• $160 1 bedroom deluxe
• $180 2 bedroom apartment
• Definitely an option including for mum
• Looked at again 7/4/2007
• Yes, a lip into bathroom about 1.5cm
• Good shower chair - we'd need to hire one at Inn & Suites
• Disabled room only has one queen bed so would have to share or hire a roll-out at $25 / night
• Cots are $10 per night
• No pool and outdoor area not special
• Has 2 bedroom apartments with full kitchen (Queen bed, single and sofa bed + space for roll-out)
• River views on one but coronation drive inbetween (noisy). Close to lots of cafe. Bit further away from church.
• Available 29th June +

1. Views - 3
   
2. Nice - 3
3. Location - 4
   
4. Transport - 3
   

Toowong Inn and Suites

• http://www.toowonginn.com.au/
• 24 Lisner St Toowong (249 A17)
• Disabled good
• Sleeps one in queen and other in single + foldout
• Pool, bbq and parking
• At toowong shopping center and train
• Prices - add $5 - $15 per extra person (all prices are for one person)
• $125 Studio
• $130 Double
• $140 Twin
• $130-$140 Loft
• $180 Executive room
• Road side of street has not best views of back of Toowong shopping center - would choose other side room
• Accomodation available
• Definitely an option including for mum
• Looked at again 5/4/2007
• No apartments - hotel room like but with kitchen
• Disabled room has queen and single bed + easy access bathroom (no lip)
• SHower has small chair - may need to hire one. June can do that.
• Not as nice area but closer to reception
• Available 29th June +

1. Views - 2
   
2. Nice - 3
3. Location - 4
   
4. Transport - 4
   

Toowong Villas

• http://www.toowongvillas.com.au/
• 9 Ascog Tce Toowong (249 F11 (near)
• No disabled
• Accom available
• Pool, quiet, Nice views if 2nd floor
• $300 3 bedroom
• ? 2 bedroom
• ? Studio

1. Views - 4
   
2. Nice - 4
3. Location - 2
   
4. Transport - 2
   

Toowong Central

• Cnr Jephson and Lissner St Toowong (249 A17)
• http://www.toowongcentral.com.au/
• Not much available due to sporting event
• No disabled
• Prices from site:
• Internet Rates for Direct Bookings
• - Per Night, prices in Australian Dollars
• Guests Room Only Bed & B'Fast
• Single $120.00 $125.00
• Double $125.00 $140.00
• Twin Share $135.00 $150.00
• Double and Single $140.00 $160.00
• Triple Share $150.00 $170.00
• Quad Share $155.00 $180.00
• Quin $160.00 $185.00

1. Views - 2
   
2. Nice - 3
3. Location - 3
   
4. Transport - 3
   

Bensons Court

• Macquarie St Toowong
• http://www.bensoncourt.com.au/
• No disabled rooms
• Good prices, not amazing
• Pretty average looking place + on main road
• Continental bfast to room
• BBQ area (pretty average)
• 2 ajoining rooms

1. Views - 2
   
2. Nice - 2
3. Location - 2
   
4. Transport - 3
   

Wedding Day details

June and I decided on June 30 as the date of our wedding. That fitted in with various things going on in our lives.

The service will be at the Christ the King church in Graceville at 13:30 in the afternoon. We will be holding the reception at Hillstone Function Center, St Lucia Golf Club starting at 17:00.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Love,

Brooke and June

The unified household

Things are certainly starting to change around here now - June is moving in! This is a good and bad experience for me (Brooke) and I'm sure June would like to add something too.



It's good that what were once our future plans are now happening; it's good that we are uniting and coming together as one; it's good that we can share the burden of runnign a household; and it's good to have a women's touch in the unit that I've lived in for 8 years alone.

On the downside, I have 8 years of living as a bachelor in my decent size unit. And like a hard drive, the space quickly became filled up with sheit. And as a bachelor, I loved it. Come home with some junk, "oh where will I put it? I know, I'll throw it in the cupboard!". On the upside is the deft hand June brought to cleaning out the horde of things I'll never look at ever again, let alone use. So all is good really.

The question any fun loving bachelor must also ask at this time, is what am I going to do with my stash of men's magazines! When I faced this decision my mind immediately turned to and what Tony said when faced with this dilema - (from memory) "oh no, sarah, jessica, sam - they mean so much to me ;-(", or something similar. So funny! I guess you had to be there.

You've gotta check this out!



Not everything here is junk - take all my clothes. We threw alot out - giving to others or to St Vinies (or tossing), but most are very much loved possessions which say "me" and I've kept them. Unfortunately, we've now got to combine two wardrobes into one place and it is a challenge! We'll get there.

We know it will all be good in the end when everything is done and dusted (so to speak!).

Oh, I've just been told to make dinner. June is on the phone - my phone! - no, our phone now! To her friend. And she's unpacking her stuff and putting it where it will fit (try, pushing my stuff aside - only joking). She just came out and motioned for me to make dinner with a gesture of thrusting her pincered hands into her open mouth! So I'd better go. June may write her entry below if she feels up to it, though I'm sure I've represented us both very well in this post.



Oh number 2 - did I mention all the smelly stuff everywhere - my toilet is like walking into the perfumery section of Myer / Harrods / Macys.

I'm sure there will be alot of joy!


Yes, I know, dinner.