The Honeymoon...

Our honeymoon started off so nicely. We left Bram Leigh and the rain (that had managed to hold off for the day) started to pour down. We hopped in the car, waved goodbye to everyone and off we went. The first thing that we noticed was the silence – there were no children in the car! (Although there were traces of them everywhere – bibs, transformer toys, school readers – the obvious lack of tiny voices was very noticeable!).

I had no idea where we were off to. Brad had planned the whole honeymoon. He had asked me for my ideas and suggestions a few months before the wedding so that he had an idea of what wanted to do during our few precious days of leisure. As we drove towards our hotel, I hoped that he had tried to incorporate my ideas in some way, shape or form …

When we arrived in Melbourne (roughly half an hour away from Bram Leigh) it was still raining slightly. I found the rain to be quite romantic but I think Brad thought it was just plain annoying! We arrived at our hotel - The Stamford Plaza. The man showed us to our room where we found chocolates and wine. Brad took his suit off and got into something more comfortable when I realised that I SO didn't want to take my dress off. I had fallen in love with it!

We decided to take a self-guided tour around the hotel. I was happy to wear my dress through the gym, up to the pool and down the lift to the lobby, but I finally decided that perhaps it was time to take it off … and then tackle the hundreds of bobby pins in my hair!

That night, I had one of the best sleeps that I had ever had. I felt 'complete', if that makes sense ... I was happy and content. In the arms of my husband! Things felt right.

The next morning, Brad said that we had a busy day ahead of us. We went down for breakfast before going to the Queen Victoria Market – somewhere I hadn’t been since I was a child. I was amazed at some of the things that they had there. Hundreds upon hundreds of stalls, some with the same things but different prices. So many people wanting to sell you things! If Brad wasn't there to help me control myself, I would have spent a fortune! They didn't have one thing that I was looking for, though. A pair of Crocs! I realised I hadn't brought any other shoes with me except my wedding shoes! My comfy shoes were sitting next to the front door at home and – given the fact that I have size 11 feet that are extremely swollen at the moment, finding shoes is not easy! I didn't manage to find any, but I did find some that were stuck under the front seat of my car from the night of the rehearsal. Luckily, they held out.

Brad hurried me as it got later on in the afternoon, saying that we had to be somewhere at a certain time. I had no idea where he was taking me, so I did as he suggested and got into my 'dressy up' clothes. I straightened my hair and tried to take off my false eyelashes from the night before (without success) and we headed down to catch a tram. We got off outside the Arts Centre. I had asked Brad where he was taking me but he hadn’t given me any clues. When we went inside, I heard them announce that 'Cinderella on Ice' was about to begin. I was so excited! There were hundreds of children there, so I thought maybe it was a 'Disney on Ice' version, but I quickly realised that it wasn't. It was the 'Imperial Ice Stars' from Russia. There was no talking in it at all. It was fantastic. Some parts took my breath away and I actually had a tear in my eye at the end of it. It was so romantic!

We then headed off for dinner at Melba, which is at the Langham Hotel on Southbank. It was delicious. It's a buffet style meal where they have ‘cooking stations’ and the chefs cook your food in front of you. It was a great experience and one I would highly recommend. They had seafood, pasta, roasts, Chinese, stir fries, Indian and a dessert fridge where I felt like a kid at a lolly shop. It was so good! We headed back to our hotel and went to bed at roughly 2 in the morning. I was so tired!

We got up the next day and headed off to Melbourne Central where we saw 'The Dark Knight'. (Not really my taste in movies.) We saw it in the 'Director's Suite', which made it a bit more pleasurable. After we left there, we went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. I could have stayed there all night, but Brad had planned to take me somewhere for dinner.

There is one thing that I thought Brad knew about me and that is the fact that I am not a fan of heights. I hate them. It takes me a bit to get used to them and then I am OK, however the initial few minutes are awful. I even feel sick when sitting up in the top rows at the Telstra Dome! That's how bad I am. So, I guess I didn't think that he'd take me to Cafe La, on the 36th floor of the Sofitel! After the initial shock, I was so glad that he did. It was a wonderful dining experience. The food was fantastic and the wine was superb. When I went to the toilet, I was amazed by the view of the city through floor-to-ceiling windows. It was just beautiful.

We got back to our hotel and I opened the door to see the bed covered in rose petals, a bottle of personalised wine on the table, canapés, champagne, luxury shampoos, bubble bath and soaps, soft music playing – dimmed lights. It was perfect. It was part of the package that Brad had organised for the last night of our honeymoon. I was a bit taken back at first. I felt so honoured that he had organised something like that for me. It was a wonderful night. We laughed and talked. It was perfect. He even let me give him a facial! Nothing could have made it better ...

The next morning was going to be hard as we had to get back to reality … starting with Brad losing his wedding ring. He couldn’t find it anywhere. We looked everywhere in the hotel after we had packed and also told the management that it had gone missing. We had spent an hour trying to find it to no avail, so we waited anxiously for the phone call from the hotel staff, which came about half an hour after we had left, informing us that they hadn't found it either. Brad was devastated. I was sure it would turn up.

We went to Mum and Dad's first where we picked up David and Callum. I had to leave some of their packing and our mountain of wedding presents until the next day as there was simply no more room in the car. We then went to Brad's mum's house and picked up Lachlan and Charlotte. We also had to leave a lot of stuff there! On the way home, things were back to normal – babies who wanted to be fed and the boys, who hadn't seen each other in two days, wanted to compare what they had and hadn't done whilst they were away.

I closed my eyes and played back the past few days that we had spent on our own in my head until we pulled up at home and had to unpack the car.
It was all over (almost!).

Steph xo

The day!

I have been sitting here for the past few minutes ready to type something … however, I am really not sure where to start!
Firstly, let me introduce myself as ‘Mrs Stephanie Lowdell’. We got married on the 9th of August and, I must say, it was one of the best days of my life.

The week leading up to the wedding was probably the hardest and most stressful of all. Even though I have been quite organised the whole time, there were still lots and lots of ‘little’ things to be done at the last minute – like place cards, menus, seating arrangements, paying for things, choosing music (which we didn’t finalise until the night before!). Take into account the fact I had four children and two adults to pack for and bags to label (so they were sent to Brad’s mum’s, or my mum’s, or Bram Leigh), I now see why I was so stressed. I had to get my nails done twice because I wrecked the polish the first time as I was so busy when I got home from the salon!

I was a self-confessed ‘bridezilla’. I was very hard to deal with. When things got too tough, I would announce that I was no longer going to speak about the issue, which, on reflection, would have left Brad in quite a difficult position!

So, was everything worth it? All the drama, financial and emotional expense, stress, panic and annoyance? I think so …

I stayed at mum and dad’s house on the Friday night. Not without my fair share of disasters though. It rained on my fake tan! I spent the whole hour and a half that it takes to get to mum and dad’s wiping the tan off my arms and face with baby wipes. I didn’t get there until quite late in the afternoon. I had the babies with me – Brad kept the boys with him.

Brad and I spoke on the phone at about 11 pm, as we still needed to finalise the songs. He said he wouldn’t speak to me again until the next day. I tried my luck by sending him an SMS just before midnight, but got no reply! I had brought everything I needed to mum and dad’s – my dress, veil, jewellery, shoes – so at least I slept well that night knowing I was all prepared and hadn’t left anything at home.

The next morning, Charlotte woke me up about 6:30 am. I fed her and thought about going back to bed but I couldn’t. I was just too excited! I thought the time would drag between when I got up to when Kendal (the hairdresser) arrived at 10.00 am. Funnily enough, it didn’t. It flew! My sister and Lana arrived shortly after Kendal and we had the most fantastic time.

Dad went and picked up the cake and took it to Bram Leigh. We all had a glass of champagne (or two), listened to music and each took turns holding a baby when it was our turn to get our hair done. Nikki arrived just after 11.00 am to do our make-up and both she and Kendal did amazing jobs. The flowers arrived around 1.00 pm. Everything was starting to take form … just as I had organised it!

Before I knew it, Glenn (Brad’s step father) arrived to take some video footage. I couldn’t believe the time! It was just after 2.00 pm. Only an hour left until I had to be at the chapel! Between grabbing a bit of lunch, feeding the babies, getting them dressed, and chatting to Bruce (the photographer), I managed, with Sarah and Lana’s help, to get myself ready. When I put my dress on, I felt so excited! A little nervous but, all in all, I was looking forward to leaving. As soon as I put my dress on, the cameras started clicking. As I discovered, it would be something I would have to get used to all day – having my photo taken.

When the cars arrived, I still wasn’t quite ready. I didn’t have any shoes on and I didn’t have something ‘borrowed’, so I quickly grabbed a silver thimble out of Mum’s sewing box (which was the first thing I saw!). Dad and I walked out the door and hopped (or should I say kind of slid) into the car and then we followed Sarah and Lana in their car … and the trip took forever (although it’s literally a five-minute drive!). Dad was chatting to our driver about the car and how many kilometres it had done. Listening to something I didn’t really understand helped pass the time. I felt sick: I felt like asking the driver to pull over so I could vomit! It was a horrible feeling.

We arrived at Bram Leigh. There were so many people out the front of the chapel hovering around waiting for me to arrive. I got out of the car and the cameras started again. Sarah and Lana (who both looked simply beautiful) had arrived shortly before I had and were standing there waiting for me. Lachlan and Callum were waiting patiently (hey, it was 3:20 pm – I was SO happy I was late!). Dr Harris greeted me at the door and then the music started. I walked down the aisle to Pachelbel’s Canon.

The next few moments are a blur. I remember seeing Brad and having everyone stare at me as I walked down the aisle. That’s about it, really! I remember people clapping and Matthew and Clinton telling me how wonderful I looked. Lachlan and Callum proudly did their reading (which was perfect).

When it came to the ‘I do’s’, I went to say ‘I do, however, when I spoke, nothing came out. So I coughed and said it again – quite loudly and quite enthusiastically (unintentionally!). Everyone laughed when Brad said something about how he better look out then! Vows were exchanged (Brad had written his own) - this is when I felt like crying (but, I didn’t!). It was then time for the kiss! At this stage, I realised that I had forgotten to put my veil over my face! Brad and I had perfected our ‘chapel kiss’ so that neither one of us would go back for more without the other one being aware of it! This would be embarrassing!

We signed the appropriate documents (I signed in the wrong place – I was SO nervous!) and then it was all over! As we walked out, everyone congratulated us and handed me horseshoes (which I will treasure for life). Mum had made little bags of coloured rice for guests to throw … I am sure I got at least a cup of it down my bra! It was then time for photos. I have never smiled so much in my life! We had so many different combinations of photos! I can’t wait to get them back.

Then the reception. I managed to grab a few minutes with Brad on my own prior to walking in. It was nice to just be able to look at each other and have a quiet moment.

The reception was fantastic. It went SO fast. The introductions, the food, cutting of the cake, the speeches, the dancing – it went for over four hours but it felt like it went for just an hour. By the time I was just getting into it, it was time for the farewell circle! This is where I had a bit of a cry! I wasn’t ready to go. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone – even though we were only going away for three nights! I cried when I said goodbye to the boys and the babies.

When we walked outside to drive off together as a married couple, it was raining quite heavily. It had held off for the whole day. I was okay with the fact that it was raining at the end of my day rather then the beginning, or during!

I have to mention our very, very special friends, Cynthia, Amelia and Damien who looked after the babies for us during the service and the reception. And an enormous thank you also to Sarah, Lana, Matt and Clinton. You helped and supported both of us in so many ways, and we will be forever grateful. Thank you for being part of such wonderful memories.

We then headed off on our Honeymoon… more about that next week :)

Steph xo

Last blog before I am Mrs Lowdell!

It’s amazing to think that just over a year ago, I was flicking through wedding magazines for inspiration for my wedding which seemed as though it was so far away. Now, it’s only a week away and I can’t work out where all that time went. It seems like only yesterday Brad proposed – that was now almost two years ago!

With our wedding only a week away, I am excited more than anything else, however, I am also a bit nervous to see how everything ‘pans out’. I have spent so long in the last few months making sure that whatever can go wrong doesn’t and I have learnt not to worry about the sort of things that aren’t in my control. My strategy has resulted in me feeling quite relaxed however, ask Brad and he’ll tell you I am a Bridezilla.

I have such a short fuse at the moment. Brad said to me just the other day that bringing up anything about the wedding in the past few weeks has been a challenge. Sometimes, I just put my hands up to my head and declare that I am not in the mood to talk about wedding things. I realise that this makes Brad’s job harder, however, sometimes I am just not in the mood to talk about seating or flowers or money or guest books or menus or ANYTHING! I should nominate a cut off time (say 9pm) as to when I am no longer prepared to talk about anything to do with it.

Things are pretty much on track for the wedding. The most recent thing I have been struggling with is the seating arrangements. I have to have this done by the end of the day so that we can inform Bram Leigh as they need to set up the tables. At least I got the name tags done – that’s one less thing to worry about! They turned out quite well. I don’t think yelling at the computer when I couldn’t get the margins set up perfectly helped at all. Or swearing at the printer when it ran out of ink…

The boys have done so well in practising their reading. They have spent so much time getting it perfect to the point that they have already managed to memorise it! They are going to do a fantastic job. I am so proud of them! Mum has taken up David’s pants so that they don’t swim on him and she also found Charlotte a cardigan to match her dress – something that I was unable to do despite the fact I went to 6 or 7 different shops!

We have got our rehearsal on Wednesday night. Once that is over, I think everything will feel so much more ‘real’.

I have started writing some more dreaded lists. Regardless of the amount of lists I have, I always seem to forget something! I am so disorganised lately!

The next time I write a blog, I will be married! The day will be over, we will be back from our honeymoon and I’ll wonder why I was stressing in the first place as my day will be perfect - like a fairy tale.

Steph xo