Yes we've booked!

We've finally booked a venue and a date! The last two venues we were tossing up on were either Copthorne at Hokianga or Castaways at Waiuku. It was either going to be a small quiet wedding at the beautiful location of Hokianga or a larger wedding at the West Coast of Auckland. The final decision however were made purely on practicality, as we do not know where Danny will be working in the near future, in the event it's out of Auckland, I think it's fair to say I would not want to drive 3 hours to and back for the wedding planning. On top of that Castaways helps with table settings etc, which just make things a bit easier. Check out the website if you are interested. :) http://www.castaways.co.nz/

Anyway, the date we've settled on is 05 May 2012! Mark it on your calendars :D

Hunt for a Wedding Venue

Seeing Danny and I are and will be spending quite a bit of time and effort planning our wedding, I decided to document our adventures in planning quoting from Emily 'the biggest party of our lives'.

First logical on the agenda is venue. I have this 'obsession' of getting married next to the sea. I guess living close to a beach, I just love how the water colour is ever-changing. As we are not religious by any means, it makes sense for us to have the ceremony and reception at the same location. So with that in mind, our absolute criteria for the venue are:

• to be next to the sea or have a seaview
• need to have place for both ceremony and reception
• need to have a rain (back up) option for the ceremony
• a good room size to fit approx 80
  

We visited or have looked at almost all the venues around Auckland and below are our review for the venues we physically visited.

The floating pavilion
One of the more unique venues we've visited, it's the only floating venue that we are aware of. The venue is currently 'floating' next to the viaduct carpark, the view is very much a mixture of metropolitan, industrial harbour feel. I was told by 2012 part of the ship container's yard will be the new 'party central'. The venue itself can comfortably sit up to 120 guests, catering, standard chairs,tables, table linen and cutlery are provided. We decided not to go with this because it doesn't have the 'vast' seaview we are after, and it lacks a ceremony location.

Romfords
Part of the Tamaki boat club. It has two rooms, the Romfords room (seat up to 80) which is on the seaside, and the bigger Commodore room (seat up to 120). The Romfords room has absolutely amazing 270 degrees of seaview that look over the Rangitoto Island! catering, standard chairs,tables, table linen and cutlery are provided. Unfortunately this doesn't have a good ceremony place, and the Romfords room which we like can only fit in a maximum of 80, which can be a problem if our guest list increase in the next year or two.

The Wharf
Situated at North Cote ferry terminal. Amazing view again, one side you have the serene beaches of the North shore, and on the other side, a total metropolitan view of the harbour bridge and the city. Again two different room option, The Grands is the one with most of the seaview so I will only review this one. The Grand which is a circular room with clever two circular level design around the windows, the middle of the room can fit in more tables, or a lounge area for smaller wedding, and on the inner wall the bridal party table. Very cleverly designed in a way so all the guests can see the view, and the bridal party and vice versa. The interior were very well designed by architectures, definitely the most 'luxurious' place we've checked out. There is a place for ceremony overlooking the harbour bridge, but it is rather small, i.e. for 80 guests most will have to stand. The pricing is also quite expensive, so we decided it wasn't worth the extra money for a less than perfect ceremony location.

McHughs
Two locations, both situated at Devonport. We were most impressed with the Cheltenham so will only review this option. Again STUNNING location, right by the waterfront overlooking Rangitoto. Apparently it's a popular buffet lunch restaurant, my parents have eaten there and quite liked it (so you know it'l have a good food). Quite a comfortably large room, reasonably well decorated interior. Again no place for ceremony, and plus because it opens for lunch everyday, we cannot access to the venue until after 4pm (which both Danny and I feel would be a rush to have the place set up.

The Dunes
Situated at the lovely beach of Onetangi beach at Waiheke. Excellent service I must add, they paid for our ferry ticket plus picked us up from the Ferry terminal. Very generous! The venue is right across the road from the beach, but it was very cleverly designed in a way where looking at the sea from in door, the road was completely blocked out by the fence, and the colour deco all complimented the view very well. It has a back garden with a waterfall in the middle where ceremonies can be held. Very rustic, cosy feeling venue. Catering, table linen, cutlery included but decorations is up to the bride and groom. It doesn't' have a very good rain option, and Danny and I felt for the hassle of organizing ferry and transport for our guests, it wasn't worth having it in a less than perfect place. But this was definitely one of our top choices.

So what did we end up going with? well.. undecided.... wait for the next entry for our top 2 choices :D

Last ride in our First car NZ

After 15 years, dad finally decided it's time to sell our Mazda MPV. Truth be told it has been somewhat deserted in the past 2 years, except the odd occasion where we needed to rent a trailor for our garden waste, the car stays under a car cover most of the time.

Last week dad put our car up on trademe, and it is pretty much sold within a week. So today dad decided to drive it out for one last time. The thing is, altho it is somewhat 'abandoned' for the past few years because we have since gotten much smaller cars that are easier to drive and more cost efficient to run, that car hold many many great memories.

The times when my aunty's family still live here, when both of my grandparents visited, we (8 of us) crammed into a 7 seater van, where i took a wooden stool and placed in the gap between the door and the second row seat as my own personalized special seat. We went to many holiday destinations in the car, where many hours of cassette music played, many hours of good conversaion held, and good snoozing occured.

Then there was the first three year of college where I spent every wednesday night dinner in the car. Mum would pick me up after school in the green van, and go straight to piano class. Then from there mum would drive me to orchestra practice, and on the way pick up Mac's wednesday special mc chicken. And just like that was how i spent my wednesday dinner for 3 years.

Our old mazda MPV... I will miss you. I hope you will hold many more create and hold many more fond memories at your new home with your new family.

The White Rabbit Trail

A week before my birthday, I received gift from 'White Rabbit committee' member no. 1



What was odd, was the enclosing card had a enigma message... follow the white rabbit???

I (and my mum) spent some time pondering this. Sure there was a white rabbit on the front cover of the rabbit, but it certainly doesn't look like it is going anywhere.

Sure enough, two weeks later, a white rabbit showed up at my letterbox.

and what does the white rabbit tell me to do?? Have ramen with Dan... well.... not often I have the pleasure of following instructions given by a white rabbit, when such opportunity present to oneself, what does one do?


Here's Dan, eating ramen, (p.s. thank you so much for agreeing to have this photo taken). and as so happens, he presented me with....


A lovely (and stylish) card written by all four members of the 'White Rabbit committee". There were the usual encouraging words such as repetition of the words 'old', 'wise' and 'wrinkles'. There were also very heart warming birthday wishes.

The White Rabbit Trail crosses 2 countries, 3 cities and exchanged hands with 4 people (5 including mine). that is no easy feat.


Thank you so much for all the people involved. It was mysterious, fun, thoughtful and frankly pure genius! I had so much fun guessing what was coming next. Thank you so much for these wonderful gifts, I feel grateful to have friends like you. :)

Sometimes i wonder...

If it is worth working fast... wanting to get things done... having short lunches, not taking tea breaks...

Thinking to myself that i should finish things faster, just in case there will be more just around the corner...

then comes Monday meeting... board blank.. with manager wondering why I haven't got much to do....


sometimes.. maybe.. just maybe it's better to do things slowly.....

Birthday Photos

This year my birthday somewhat didn't go according to plan. Just as well my birthday plan consisted of bumming around, taking dad to meet Danny at Lloyds Elsemore so Danny can show my dad how to operate his motorbike. Then go to Vinnies for dinner with parents and Danny.

The plan was disrupted when Dad decided to strip down our wall the day before my birthday, so on my birthday he needed hire a trailer and dispose of the wall. Meanwhile we had to clear out the plants that has been growing for x number of years between the striped down wall and the retaining wall. So on the morning, I got all suited up in mum's work cloths, with a garden knife in one hand and started chopping down the plant. One embarrassing scream and two bugs on me later, uncle Dean who came to help Dad carrying the wall rescued mum and I suggesting we should hire equipment to get rid of the plants instead of doing it by hand (yay for uncle Dean). I then happily got placed on lunch duty and made lunch for everyone. Needless to say kitchen is a far happier place for me than garden would ever be.

Dinner went according to plan. We went to Vinnies on Jervois road which my colleague raved about few months earlier. I have to say, I was impressed. I've been to a couple of fine dining before but the service of Vinnies just brought it to a whole new level. Each plate that was served were explained in detail what the dish is. It just add a wow factor to the whole dining experience.

The entree came and went before I remember to take photos. I had scallops and crayfish with an amazing lobster bisque sauce.

then there's our main (notice my mum and i are wearing matching colours. I had venison that was cooked perfectly (medium rare) with things i can no longer remember. lol


then came the dessert platter. there as lavender creme brulee with a wonderful flavour of honey. a trio of ice cream, garden mint and chocolate chips, somethign i can't remember and buffalo yoghurt. then on the right corner is parfeit with meringue, and finished with chocolate fondant on the left.

then the restaurant gave me a special passionfruit marshmallow with a little candle on top for my birthday (how sweet). what a nice way to finish off the night.

You know you are a carnivore...

When you haven't eaten meat for the whole day, then at 9pm, you sneaked into the kitchen and ate half-defrosted smoked salmon....