The search for the perfect venue

Crystal clear blue wave lapping slowly against white sand. The red hot sun beaming down from above, creating a picturesque landscape – perfect for a wedding. No we are not making our nearest and dearest fork out for a trip to the islands! Instead we found our very own piece of paradise right on our doorstep – Cheltenham Beach in Devonport.

Prior to locating this venue we had both agreed that we wanted our big day to be a relaxed, casual affair, somewhere outside. Seen as flowers aren’t our thing and a church wedding as definitely out of the picture (it really would fall on Hs head!) I was decided a beach wedding was the go.

Our next dilemma was where to have this celebration. After doing a few drive-bys of various places, our tummies started to rumble so we stopped and ate lunch. It was a great feed and not a bad location … it had a few flowers BUT we could do flowers if need be. After making a few enquiries it was found that come lucky sole had already booked this place, but they gave us a name of a place with a similar menu AND we were in luck, it was on a beach!

McHughs is the name, so we drove over and checked it out.
- Casual setting
- Beach
- Proper sand
- Great location
- Fit us all in
- Elderly friendly
- AND great food
This place seems to have it all!

We spoke to the guy there and really made his year when we told him we were getting married – because we are two girls. We told him we wanted a Feb wedding and he grimaced, but consulted his trusty diary anyway. First Sat in Feb was Waitangi Day – national holiday so public surcharge. Second Saturday was the 13th, not a problem for us but guaranteed that my Nana would not come. Last Saturday was the 27th, and taken.

Our hearts began to sink, until he realised that Saturday the 20th Feb was in fact free, as the people had cancelled that weekend! It was like fate – the 20th is our anniversary (of May, but still!). The staff at McHughs then proceeded to tell us that there is a lovely little reserve just along the beach that we could use for our ceremony. We checked it out and instantly fell in love.

It really is a beautiful piece of paradise right on our doorstep. So on the 21st Feb 2009 we were able to settle our wedding date and book a truly AWESOME wedding venue! It was amazing to finally have a date and something to countdown to. And only 364 days to wait…

The Proposal, Part 2

We approach Roxburgh, and keep on driving. Just a honk of the horn to acknowledge the whanau*. By now im thinking 'holy-moly where are we going'. My persistent nagging continues until poor Heid has to give in and tell me where we are going. Queenstown!

She also hands me some information about where we are staying as if pre-empting the next barrage of questions! Honestly im shocked - this far exceeds the dinky wee trips we have done in the past. The planning that has gone into this must have been colossal.

We reach our destination (fancy pants hotel) and do the usual. Dinner out is next on the cards then back to the hotel to pretend we are rich by drinking from the mini bar.

The next thing I know heid is handing me a large book with our photo on the front. She has made a scrap book of our first two years together. It blew me away... what a cool idea! Flicking through the pages I come to the final one which was a letter. Reading through the letter I had big tears in my eyes and turned to look at my girl on the floor. In her outstretched arms she held the ring (as well as tears roling down her face)

"OF COURSE I"LL MARRY YOU"

It was the most romantic, perfect, amazing weekend of my life. It has taken heid a good three years to get out of overdraft from it though!

I feel incredibly lucky to have this girl in my life and to be marrying my best friend. We compliment one another, her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. It has been (at times) a challenging five years because we aren't the 'norm' but thanks to family and friends we are embarking on our next challenge together. I love you babe.

*family

The Proposal

"Get in the car!"
"What?"
"Get IN the car!"
"Where are we going?"
"Just trust me and hop in!"

There are two things you need to understand here: (1) if Heidi is talking with exclamation marks - you do as she says and (2) random car trips are not unusual - it is kinda our thing we do when we don't have other plans and want to be spontaneous and see where we end up.

Anyways... thinking we're heading to South Dunedin for a cheese roll im quite content with that BUT as we hop on the motorway I change my mind and realise we must be heading to Middlemarch (where another great memorable moment inadvertently transpired) But alas we keep on driving...

Wow, she must be taking me home to visit the olds... nope as we turn to head towards Central Otago. Okay, we are going to Roxburgh to visit the extended whanau... wow she really is so thoughtful! My next thoughts were about pajamas and a change of clothes - what would we do? Again she remarked with a huge smirk "trust me babe, its all under control!"

Lets start at the very beginnning...

Otago University has a lot to answer for. Beer, rugby, pubs, mates, beer. All the stories about Dunedin are true. Our story starts here. From the dodgy corridors of Salmond Hall to be exact. Well thats not entirely true - to be fair we kinda didn't hit it off straight away. She was a little kid from Auckland (insert jafa jokes and cliches here) and I was fresh from Invercargill, my first major "Big Trip To The City". We couldn't have been more different, but opposites attract so they say.

After a bloody great year at Salmond in 2003 (oh the stories I could tell) it was time to venture out alone. I went flatting while Heid decided to stay at the hall for another year. This is when things got interesting!

Because our relationship is not normal and many people dont accept it, it is a bit harder for relationships between friends to happen. How do you know your friend wont reject you and be grossed out if you tell them you want to [explicit phrase removed]! These are the thoughts Heid was having before swallowing some liquid courage and taking the plunge!

Relief - was what I was feeling when she told me how she felt. I had felt that way towards her since the middle of first year!!

And from that day on (20 May 2004) we have truly been inseparable - like truly! Thanks to Heidi - imagine if she never said anything like I was going to!

PS. written by S and blogged by H.

Welcome

Wow, what a learning curve this blogging thing is! After spending a good hour attempting to get a simple countdown on my page I finally have something to show for it, but I am still not happy with how it turned out!

As Stef and I are already nine months into our planning I will have to do a few blogs to catch up with what we have organised. When I figure out my flickr slideshow I will update with some pics.

But right now I had better do some 'real' work!