Yep, it's here, my Hong Kong wedding blog post! I know I said I would blog during my holiday, but really, I didn't get a chance to sit down we were that incredibly busy. But I hope the wait has been worth it! I feel so happy when I look back our photos,(video coming soon) almost like I can't believe that was me on my wedding day! It was an amazing experience, and I'll remember it always as one of the happiest and exciting days of my life.
Another first was, the days before the wedding, I had my hair cut and colored at a salon in Festive Walk. I wasn't too sure on how the experience would go as I've heard a lot about Asian countries not really knowing how to deal with western hair. I should't have worried! 4 hours later and my hair was a perfect dark brown with lighter brown highlights and it was such a good result. I just hope my salon here in Australia can keep up with that reputation.
We picked up my traditional dress the day before, and did one last fitting before taking it home. It's such a beautifully crafted dress, the red and gold stitching together is just spectacular. At first I said I wasn't going to keep it (as I had the option to buy) but after putting it on, I decided right then and there it was coming home with me as this was now 'my dress' and had my 'memories' on it. I may not wear it again in my life, but it's one of those sentimental items you keep.
We woke up on Saturday the 15th at 6.45am, with Kane nudging me & saying 'wake up baby it's our wedding day!' which I thought was cute. I didn't really sleep during the night so I was quite tired but I had a long long day ahead of me. A shower and a cup of jasmine tea does wonders for relaxing though!  My hair & makeup started just before 8am, and all the while I was sitting there, there were two cameras and a video camera filming. The constant sound of the shutter clicking and the flash was enough to make me think I was starring in my own movie and I was the star!! The girls did a brilliant job with everything, and I was in love with my hair, it was just what I wanted, especially using the berry & flower combination so I felt a million dollars afterwards.

We had enough time to relax a little after getting ready, before I was helped into changing into my traditional dress which was SO exciting, I could not wipe the smile off my face the entire time! I think mum was just so proud & my dad cried when he saw me before he walked me out to give me away to Kane. It was a very special moment between us, and I'm so glad they were there with me. As you can see by the photos, I think they looked like very puffed up birds filled with pride!

I remember being so nervous performing the tea ceremony I was afraid I'd drop the cup! But Kane was whispering instructions along the way so I felt a little more comfortable. My dad was his usual self, cracking jokes - I scolded him saying 'Dad! Now's not the time!', but I think my parents were nervous, if not more than I was! But they did very well, and I was very proud to give respect to them like this.   After the tea ceremony, we were now heading around to the next building to give respect to our ancestors, and to perform the ceremony with Kane's Grandma. This was the really fun part, as not only were there cameras everywhere, people on the street stopped and looked and took photos, taxis pulled over to watch, it was all very exciting! (My parents told me the day after the wedding when they came for dinner, that whilst they were in the cab on their way to Kane's parent's house, the taxi driver asked if their daughter was the one getting married!)

My work colleague came all the way from Australia as well to be there for my big day, she has always said 'from day one of you dating Kane, we were already planning your wedding!' which is true because in a way, so was I! (But don't tell Kane I said that!) She was asked to be apart of the procession by throwing rice over the bride and groom. My mum pictured on the left below- held red umbrella and opened it whilst we were outside, this protects the bride from evil spirits before she's married, and the rice is somewhat a cleansing ritual. My work colleague was very honored to do this and she said thank you for having a wedding in Hong Kong!

I'm so happy with all the photos, Kane's brother and his team did an amazing job, and I can't wait to see the final video. They actually have company in HK and it's called C & Co Video, which you can check them out here. They do amazing work and the cutest music videos and wedding MV's for couples. I really do recommend them!
In my next blog I will upload more photos of the second tea ceremony with my In-Laws and Grandma, as well as our wedding banquet! Stay tuned!

Read more »

I had to share this magnificent post. My father got me to order these two watches as a gift to himself and to my mother. I think he did alright in the beauty stakes, my mum was over the moon! 
The two are are Rolex Datejust and the Cartier De Ballon Bleu De Cartier. Well worth the purchase I think!

Read more »

It's hard to believe in 2 months I will be jetting off with the love of my life and my parents for our wedding in Hong Kong. There have been a few ups and downs along the way, but mostly it has been easy flying, but now that it's sooooo close, I'm feeling a lot of emotions; happy, excited, nervous, anxious...I think that's totally normal, especially because its the 'unknown' of things to come. 
As K and I live on the other side of the world, it's been long distance planning with his parents, who've taken the time to do most of the groundwork, and organised everything for us. It's kind of like planning a wedding over Skype and photos sent by email. I'm positive his parents have done an awesome job and I can't wait to just walk into my wedding banquet and see how wonderful it is!
I'll be posting more of our Hong Kong wedding updates as the weeks pass, and I still have an enormous amount of packing to do for not only myself, but helping my parents as it's their first time overseas! Exciting!
In the meantime, I hope you like this little gem. This is my wedding band we bought last year in HK, so I could wear it on my other hand as a reminder of our first wedding!

Read more »

They are hereeeeee! We only had our engagement shoot last Saturday and we thought it would take awhile to get them back, but we had them in our hands in record time!
We were told they were ready to be picked up, but as we had other commitments, we wouldn't be able to get them until next weekend. But K, the sneaky thing, surprised me last night when he came over! I can't believe how good they are, and Neiyo did an AMAZING job capturing us. I can't wait for her to do our wedding photography! 
We kept our photos simple, with limited decoration, so we only had vintage books, suitcases and a basket full of iced donuts and cupcakes. (and they were delicious by the way!) So what do you think? Don't we look like a totally loved up couple?!! Enjoy! :)

Read more »

I got these beautiful Swarovski crystal earrings whilst in HK (yes I know I am posting a lot about my gifts, but they are so special!) I think these are perfect for the upcoming holiday season, and I can't wait to wear them as they are so adorably beautiful. If only Australia had winter Christmas holidays that would be perfect, but I can only dream can't I?!

Read more »

Whilst we were in Hong Kong, my wonderful finance bought me these beautiful handmade slippers after one of my dress fittings. They were so pretty we got a purple pair for my mum as well. Aren't they super gorgeous?! I almost feel like Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz because they are so vibrant! I love these soo much!

Read more »

After the tea ceremony, K's family and relatives all went out for a Shanghai lunch at one of the plazas in Ma On Shan. I tried a lot of different food that I haven't eaten before, some very nice, some not so much! Although it was a really nice opportunity to meet with all the family again. 
We left at around 1.30pm from the restaurant to head home to get ready for part 2 of the day which was the church ceremony. We had about an hour to get dressed and ready, before being taken by car by one of K's relatives to the church. There was a session going on in the church when we got there so we had to wait around an hour in the holding room before we could go in. Once we got in, it was actually quite large. I don't know what I was expecting, but being in Hong Kong I expected something smaller! Haha. But it was decorated very nicely and I realized that it matched the Brides bouquet.
Once the official ceremony began, which was in Cantonese (I couldn't understand) so K translated all the important parts for me. Matthew wore a grey & black trimmed suit, and Blanche wore was really beautiful, and covered in tiny crystals. I did particularity love her veil, it suited her very very well! 
The whole ceremony was cute and they had a lot of praise for each other in their speeches. K & I also got a special thank you for coming all the way from Australia, so that was lovely to be included in their speech which was unexpected :)

Once the ceremony was completed and the happy couple were now 'husband & wife', most of the guests were loaded onto a bus that took us to the reception at the Langham hotel. I don't think I've ever seen such an elaborate reception venue before. There were 30 tables for over 300 guests, a Tiffany blue backdrop for photos, and the napkin holders were covered in rhinestones. Not to mention the TASTY snacks that were going around, I was definitely in food heaven!

The menu had about 10 different courses on it, I think by the 7th I was over food, but still tried as many as I could, even the really bad sounding ones, which I'm pretty proud of as I'm not a big seafood eater. K's brother bought along a flash light (which later that week I bought) and did some videography of the night. I've seen video clips of it and it's amazing what he does. (I'm pretty happy I bought the same flash light as him so now I can do more (and better!) photography! (It was used on these photos of K & me below!

The night went on until about 12.15am, which considering I'd been up since 7.30am and doing a lot of running around, I was SO tired by the time and thankful for a warm bed and a huggable fiance! I still think I was very lucky to be invited to such a great event, and I'm thankful I got to see it, and it know what I will experience in March next year, maybe not on such a grand scale but at least close to it. I have so many good memories of this day that I'm sure I will keep with me for the rest of my life as the first HK wedding I've been to!

Read more »

The whole purpose of our Hong Kong trip this year, was for us to not only wind down and relax a little from our jobs, but to attend K's cousin - Matthew, and his bride to be Blanche's wedding. I'd never seen a traditional Chinese wedding before, apart from what I'd seen on You Tube. The day was an early start, and a late night, so we were definitely ready for bed by the time we arrived home! We were able to take lots of photos of the days events which I'll explain below. I've broken this up into two parts, the traditional tea ceremony, and the church ceremony & reception :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our day started at 7.30am, we woke up and got ready, as we had to leave at 9.45am to go to Matthews parents house in Ma On Shan for the traditional tea ceremony. It was a high rise apartment and the view was amazing. A massive window of sea views and a great view of the water park that was close by! All the girls, including the Groom's mothers sisters wore flower armbands, which we wore all night. Must say it did go well with the dress I wore later on for the reception! I had photos with my mother in laws sisters which was nice, now I have something to put in my photo album :)

LTR: With my flower wristband / My gorgeous man! / Cute pic of us!

Me & my mother in laws sisters. My MIL is on the far right :)

The Bride & Groom arrived just after 11am, and they both wore traditional costumes, which were so beautiful! After greeting everyone, the ceremony began. I would imagine with conducting the tea ceremony with most of their relatives, kneeling for the long period of time would have hurt, or either, you'd have very good leg muscles! Fortunately for me, I will only have to kneel for a short time at our wedding in March, as my knees probably wouldn't hold up that long!

The Bride and Groom arriving for the tea ceremony

Giving of gifts (red envelopes) Should also mention this is my father in law!

The Bride and Groom with the Grooms parents

I'm very lucky to have been able to witness such a great event, and it makes me a bit less worried and more happier that I know roughly how the day will go for myself and K. (Which by the way in other news, my two custom made dresses are finally finished, and OMG, I cannot believe how BEAUTIFUL they are. Our tailor did a superior job and I'm absolutely elated!)
Stay tuned for Part II of Matthew & Blanche's wedding!

Read more »