Mrs Peta van Wyk.... am I dreaming

So today I have been engaged for exactly 2 months and 5 days and man has it been an amazing time! I keep having to get over the fact I'm going to be Peta van Wyk?! (mom keeps telling me it sounds like the name of a pizza?) Anyway from the moment I've had beautiful diamonds on my finger I have been obsessed with everything "wedding". I got my first bridal magazine the day after the proposal from my friends mom and its been opened countless times... it had folded pages, circled pictures, pages torn out, after only a week! Since that first Fairlady Bridal, I've been given two more magazines, one from a family friend and the other as a gift from my mom from the states. A Martha Stewart bridal magazine! I was ecstatic when she gave it to me, a thick, 200-and-something page magazine on EVERYTHING wedding!

One thing I have realised in this whole process is that there is so much to choose from. From colours, to venues, to dresses, to favours, to decor.. the options are endless! So what I did was found a hardcover book and on the first page I wrote down all of my ideas.... and it looks a little something like this;

-barn

-rustic

-country

-bohemian

-beach

-morning

-red

-vineyard
-roses
-vintage
-proteas
-shwe shwe
-bunting
-bedouin tent
-garden
-stone chapel
-rusted tins
-mismatched vintage tea cups and saucer
-coke bottles
-wheat
-wildflowers
-powder blue, cherry red
-lace bunting

-felt bouquet

-vintage glamour

-grecian

-felt flower brooches/corsage

...and the list goes on. As you can see there are some HUGE differences, but like I said I wrote it aaaalllll down and I am going to slowly work through them one by one. But at least I have made some sort of start, however vague, towards planning the wedding of my dreams.

So thats it for now from the soon-to-be Peta van Wyk!!

going to the chapel and we're going to get married

It all started on Sunday the 10th April 2011 with my mom coming into my room and telling me to dress nicely for church that morning. Wierd! Our church is the type where guys rock up in their slippers and old people wear ear plugs because the musics too loud, plus its not like I dress badly everyday, I stick to my daily uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. Anyway I put it down to mom being a little uptight because were on duty and my sister and I were going to be selling donuts and serving coffee i.e. being seen by the entire church. So I rocked a smart-ish outfit, we did the church vibe and as soon as I got home I changed back into my uniform.


James had told me that he wasn't able to come down and visit because he'd been down that previous week. So my Sunday was going to be spent sitting on the couch and watching tv. Bliss! So about half an hour after being home I heard the fromt door open and just assumed it was my dad. He started walking up the stairs and before I knew it there was James standing in front of me saying 'surprise'! Needless to say I was so excited to see him. I LOVE surprises!


So James said he needed  to go and check on their holiday house in Port Edward, he said the housekeeper had phoned saying there were a few things wrong, so he'd told his parents he would go and do it (and also see me). So I decided that Desperate Housewives could definitely wait! A day with James, just the two of us, nothing could be better. So I put my sneakers on and we walked to the car. When I got to my door there was a  little brown teddy bear sitting in my seat... James took it out and gave it to me saying he bought me a little bear to go with my other one (the one he'd bought me for christmas). Sweet, who doesn't love a new teddy bear?!


When we were halfway to Port Edward I started getting bored, so I started examining my bear... I asked James what his name was and he said Rufus. So I looked under his feet trying to find his name and instead I see the name 'BROWNS'. Woah! The only 'Browns' I know is a jewellery store. So I asked James where he got the bear and in true James style he managed to convince me there was a "Browns Bear Store" in Gateway, and I haven't ever noticed it because its in a bad location?? Then straight away he asked if I was hungry. Unbelievable! i didn't give the bear a second thought, and having only had 2 donuts and a cup of tea I was STARVING. So he told me to look in the back under the blanket and there was an entire picnic! With ALL of my favourite things from Woolies, man does this guy know me well!


So when we got to Port Edward we stopped at our little favourite beach, the one we spent most of our 2009 Christmas/ New Year holiday on taking pictures, climbing rocks, catching crabs and lying in the sun. We set up our picnic and dived right in. Amazing chocolate&caramel cupcakes, portuguese rolls with peri peri chicken, mini hamburgers, salt&vinegar chips,sour sweets, creme brulee(James and I have quite the sweet tooth) and fruit juice for me and ice tea for James! It was beautiful! We decided we needed to walk off the food so I took off my sneakers and rolled up my jeans and started walking towards the rocks. James was following nervously behind, he seemed to be a little on edge. He'd walk from one side of the rocks to the other. Looking here, looking there. I just tried to ignore it, although he was starting to irritate me a little, he'd stop talking, become very snappy and just grumpy! Anyway he told me that he wanted us to walk on the bigger rocks and I should go put my shoes on, I said no. He then asked again, and I again replied with a firm no. I was on the beach, why on earth did I need to put my shoes on?! However when James asked a third time, sounding a lot more irritated, I huffed and puffed and marched back to the blanket to put my shoes on.


When I was back on the rocks, looking like someone fully dressed for a day at the mall, James decided to sit down. He was very edgy and started asking me what I thought we were going to find. In my mind I couldn't have been bothered I was still fussing over the shoe issue! Anyway we carried on chatting, James all nervous and jumpy and me all grumpy and irritated, until James asked me for about the hundreth time what we were going to find on the beach! I'd had it! The guy was clearly desperate for us to start looking around the beach and had had enough of my talking! So I started looking around us for any dead crabs (eew wierd I know but the last time I was there the beach was covered in them).... then I saw it!!!!


Hidden between two rocks was a medium sized red box with 'BROWNS' written across the top... yeah Browns Bear Store in Gateway.. whatever, I may be slightly gullible?All I could say was NO. WAYS!  James kept telling me to look inside look inside with the biggest smile on his face and suddenly it all fell into place.... James being all nervous, Peta needing to put her shoes back on, searching the beach for dead crabs! All I could do was laugh. He got down on one knee and asked if I would do him the honour of spending the rest of my life with him. I was shouting YES before he'd even finished!

So here is my ring from BROWNS jewellery store, I think it is absolutely beautiful and I have not been able to stop staring at it even after nearly two months (3 days to go till its exactly 2 months ;).

And so, it is with great happiness and excitement I can officially say, I AM going to the chapel and we ARE going to get married <3