Engaged, Officially

And so here we are, the final weekend of my Australian trip is ending with my own engagement party. I have successfully put on so much weight during my trip ( you can tell from my photos), clearly I have been having too much fun eating those Australian chips.

We invited Greg’s family and our friends to have a bbq beside Ginnendera lake to celebrate… other than that, we didn’t really plan much else.

I treated myself to go to the farmers market in the morning with Jess and Anita to buy whatever I feel like serving on the party. It also worked out as an excuse because I'm in love with markets! I end up getting some fabulous sugar plums and an amazing bunch of dahlia’s to decorate the table.




It was a chaotic morning to begin with. Our picnic spot had been taken over by someone else, and what’s left is picnic table and bbq in the middle of the sun. The rest of the place are extremely crowded with people too. I got upset and panicky… it took me awhile to convince Greg to move at the state I'm in, but we finally did. It was a bit of a hassle to move everyone, but the place we moved to is very shady and quite. It was worth it.





It was a great BBQ. Greg's dad said grace for us before we begin to eat. Our guests are involved with 3 groups of people. There’s Greg’s family, Greg’s church friends, and my friends. This party had confirmed me of the random collection of friends I have. None of them belonged in a particular set of group, just random people I meet that I somehow get along, and they somehow knew each other from somewhere else. Greg’s friends are the cool people sitting on the picnic rug under the tree looking at my friends going, “What’s up with all the hats?” Haha, I love my friends, they’re all fruitcakes. I’m still trying to get to know Greg’s friends, I guess I’ll have more chance when I move there.





I spent most of the time talking to people I forgot to eat. I sent out invitations with more of ‘sorry I can’t make it’ response than positive ones I thought I’ll only have 10 people on the picnic table with a $200 worth of meat and a bucket-full of fruit juice ice cubes. But in the end I had so many surprises I feel like I’m sitting in a concert with the ‘surprise guests’ turning up. There were friends I haven’t met in years, and friends who had driven up from out of town to be there. It made me so, so happy to have people that I love to be there.

And guess what? All 3 couples that got married in these past weeks had somehow finished their honeymoon and made it to our party.

Mr. Darran and Mrs.Sarah Holder:


Mr.Henry and Mrs.Joanne Halder.


And Mr.Nat and Mrs.Melissa Walker.


One of the highlight there is that we were going to have speeches. I wanted to hide behind Greg the whole time because I was shy… for good reasons. It’s not our wedding day and people already said embarrassing things about me and Greg. I have to say that in this case, Greg’s friends are the better story tellers. My friends had known me waaay too well to be able to blow all my secrets that made me want to dig a hole and hide, and Steve particularly is having difficulty to know when to stop. But all of them made me laugh and some made me want to cry even. My relationship with Greg would’ve been so boring without the people we share our lives with.



At the end of the speech, Greg’s grandma said prayers for both of us, and when she finished it felt like we are now properly engaged.



We took another quick family photo as we might not be together for much longer. I'm leaving for Jakarta the next day, Joanne and Henry are moving to Bangladesh permanently sometime in May and I wouldn't be back again sometime after that. So here's to us!





When the party was almost over, there is one thing left to do…. I have to announce my bridesmaids. This issue had been one thing that had been scaring me for years. Sometimes I even wake up in the middle of the night feeling all worried about it. One time I got so desperate I asked David (who's living in Germany) if he would be my bridesmaid. His response was "Can I say no and still be invited?" I told him that he's allowed only if he brings back a life-size gingerbread man from Germany to my wedding. He liked the idea, and planned to get an extra one way plane ticket for it.

The problem is that, I don’t have a sister or that one particular best friend. But during this trip, I have made the decision, and they will have to know before I leave the country the next day. Greg wanted 3 groomsman, so I picked 3 bridesmaids, and one of them is Caroline. When she told me she’s leaving because she needs to take some people home, I had a little battle inside my head. Should I just email her? Call her via skype? No, no I have to tell her face to face! Ok, how?

“Don’t go yet!”

“Why? ”

“Just, don’t go yet!”

“Do you need help?”

“Yes, I need help!”

O great, now I have to find an excuse for help…. O look, Jess is just sitting on the picnic rug by herself, and Liz vaguely standing behind me! Quick, grab her! I pulled Caroline and Liz and sat them down on the picnic rug where Jess is and said, “Ok you guys, I’ve thought long and hard about this… but… you guys are gonna be my bridesmaids for my wedding… I’ve thought looooong and hard about this… … blab la blaaa….”

Ok, so I couldn’t get over about the ‘long and hard’ thoughts because it was super long and hard to come up with that decision, but all 3 of them were a little too shocked and happy to notice the weight of seriousness in this matter. Jess said, “Wow… that’s a big honor…” Liz was giggling going, “Wow, I’m sooo… happy…!!!” and Caroline was making ambiguous Luis Armstrong sound sort of laughing voice and smiled so crazy it made her face look stupid. Hahaha… I’m laughing my head off as I’m writing this… aaaah… memories…. So, why was I so stress again?



I didn’t realize this, but I picked 3 different people from 3 different era’s of my time in Canberra. I don’t know how well they knew each other, but I’m sure it will all be crazy and fun!



Another highlight of the event is of course, the presents! I have never seen piles and piles of real presents dedicated for my household before. Not since my 6th birthday or something. It’s fun opening them up too. Pillows, towels for two, queen bed sheets, a set of wine glass…. Hm… was that my engagement party or my wedding just happened?

Because I felt nothing but love, love, love and looove...!



This is the triple layered chocolate cake that my friend Prabha made for the party. It disappeared as soon as it was served! Thanks Prabha, it was sooo yummy!

Notice how this post had better pictures than usual? My friend Ben Thomas took all these photos except 2 of them. You can visit his amazing site at:
www.benthomasphotos.com

And so, let the planning begin! =)