Man, this week has been crazy. I’m so glad that I’ve had the week off, as I don’t know how things would have been sorted out if I was still working! Let me tell ya something – I’m surprised there isn’t more shows about the “joys” of organizing a wedding, because the last few weeks have been nothing but drama after drama.

Firstly there was problems with the bridesmaid’s dresses. They were supposed to be ready about a month ago, after only 3 fittings. 6 fittings later, not only were they very badly tacked together but they weren’t even close to looking like they were supposed to.. So, the hired goon (read: gerrod) had to call up “Dorris” (name witheld to protect the.. err.. “innocent”) and tell her that we were walking. Thankfully with only a few weeks to go, the ladies have managed to find some replacement dresses and have the necessary alterations made, such that they won’t be walking down the aisle naked.

Yesterday, I got a call from the limo company, telling me that they could no longer fulfil my booking. No I won’t detail their shonky reasons nor their questionable business practices, but instead I’ll tell you that my the options they presented me were:

• Go with a red stretch instead of the white one I booked;
• Have a sedan limo pick the girls up, and swap with a stretch whilst we’re in the ceremony; or
• Get a refund

Now, call me crazy, but none of those options really appeal. Given that I have already paid in full for the booking, and that it is now 2 days from the wedding day… well let’s just say I was somewhat stressed. After quarrelling back and forth, many angry phone calls, and dropping the “I’ll call my lawyer” line, we were all sorted… or so I thought. Today, I have again been called with more problems. I’m not really sure how things are going to turn out on this front, but no doubt most of you will find out on Saturday.

So anyway – if you’re thinking of organizing a wedding, take some advice from my Mum: ELOPE!!!

To solve all the dilemmas of people who couldn’t remember when the wedding is, I’ve added a countdown timer to blog. Well, the real inspiration is so I can see how much longer I have to wait until the best day of my life; but any old excuse will do

I never learn. Every week, I soldier on at work longing for the weekend. Sleep ins. Leisurely cooked breakfasts. Maybe a long walk with the dogs, or a quiet coffee with Kristy and a chance to catch up on the week that was. ‘Cause weekends are the times you relax and recharge your batteries… right?

Nooooo! Weekends are when you run around doing all those things you didn’t have time to do during the week. They might well be pleasant things in themselves but they inevitably leave you feeling exhausted. This weekend I cooked, cleaned, shopped, entertained some friends and was entertained by others, rearranged furniture, watered plants for travelling family, did a 14 kilometre bike ride, and still found time to select some pretty cool wedding bands (if I do say so myself!) – see review below of De Vita Diamonds, Logan Hyperdome. The wedding rings were a highlight, as was the awesome Saturday night feast of lamb roast and homemade sticky date pudding

So now it’s time for bed, and a long-awaited rest, albeit brief, before work tomorrow. Tell you what, I’m really looking forward to next weekend. Sleep ins. Leisurely cooked breakfasts….

Yesterday was a sad occasion at the gerrod.com house, as my favourite housemate of 2 years – Bender, King of Stickfly – moved out. Bender’s move serves to make room for Kristy to move in after our wedding. No doubt Kristy will start moving her stuff in over the next few weeks, though as she rightly pointed out yesterday, I will probably need a lot more furniture to hold it all.

Anyway, the house feels very empty without Bender here. The computer room looks bare with only 1 desk in it. I had to set an alarm this morning because I knew there’d be no-one to wake me up (though I ended up getting up very early due to bad fish and chips). The only thing that Ben left was his bed, as his new house is fully furnished. Which is good, because the puppies were getting a bit sick of sleeping in the garage, and found their new quarters very comfortable last night.

It was a successful weekend as far as wedding planning goes. Saturday morning, Jason, Bender, and I headed down to Spurling Formal Hire to try on some suits for the wedding. Trying on clothes is one of those situations where it’s great to be a guy – the first suit we tried on, we liked! After some minor configuration changes, we were all set.

Then, over to Chermside to find us some shoes. Again – the first ones we found were the winners! Unfortunately the sizes they had in stock were none too good, but we’ve got them on order. And, they were on sale too!

Finally, this afternoon was spent at The Harvey household, nutting out a few finer points of the wedding. Looks like we’ve sorted out:

• The menu
• Times
• Invitations

Plus, we have a list of follow-ups that once sorted out will have us even further along the planning track. Woohoo!

We have finally booked a photographer! Marina Ridgway is the lucky lady who will be taking many fantastic photos at our wedding. Her prices were good, she is super flexible (in terms of her work that is; I’m not sure how she is at yoga), and both Kristy and I got along with her really well. And as it turns out, she photographed Luke & Jen’s wedding last year! There’s a couple of their pictures up as ads on her site, so all you IDT employees may recognize some faces!

Kristy and I had an appointment with another photographer last night after work, so we trundled on down to his studio after enjoying some dinner at Garden City. I made the mistake of not looking too closely at the photographer’s website – and as such I was rather surprised to walk in and see giant photos of Louisa and Steve! Turns out it was the same photographer that they used for their wedding, and old-mate Ross is using quite a number of their photos for advertising. I can see why Lou & Steve went with these people; their photos were excellent, they use all digital photography, have a great eye for shots, and their albums are fantastic. We have an appointment to see another bird on the weekend, so we can’t make a decision just yet.

Saturday morning started early, with a very unhappy gerrod.com waking up at 4:10am as usual.

Anyway, being the first day of the weekend, Saturday’s are usually jam packed with excitement, and yesterday was no exception. Following gym in the morning, Kristy and I headed out to Parkinson to check out a photographer what was so cheap, it was too good to be true. Well, turns out there’s a reason she was so cheap, she was like totally amateur, man. So we have politely declined to use her services – but not to let the time be wasted, we caught up with Matt & Lauren whilst we were in their neighbourhood.

Last night we headed to The Regatta hotel with a whole bunch of larrikins, to farewell Lou & Steve as they head for Sydney. (Check the photos.) I was pleased to discover they knew what a 50/50 was (a schooner containing 50% Toohey’s Old, 50% Toohey’s New), as I thought it was strictly a Sydney thing. May I recommend though, that if you’re heading to The Regatta, don’t take your car. There’s no-where to park, and even the slightly daring spaces will land you with a $60 parking fine. *Curses Brisbane City Council*

Though I slept very heartily last night, I still managed to wake up in the normal 4am – 4:30am range. Though admittedly, I was quickly back asleep. Hopefully things have started looking up.