Wedding Bouquet Practice with Australian Native Flowers

Wedding Bouquet Practice with Australian Native Flowers from Flemington Flower Markets

With eleven months to go until the wedding, Hai and I have hit a slight lull. We've done alot of the hard work -  booked our Reception hall, our Ceremony location, celebrant, photographers, videographer, make-up & hair. I've also ordered my bridal shoes and once I have them I can order my dress with my final height in mind.

With my flowers, I wanted to make my own bouquets, knowing that just one can cost into the hundreds of dollars. I visited the flower markets in Flemington with Betty and once in there, most of the flowers reminded me of what I saw while on my monthly hikes with Hai and friends.

I drew inspiration from that and put together wattles, banksia, cotton, small white wax flowers that grew from thick dry branches, red willow leaves and eucalyptus leaves into a fancy bouquet and white ribbon.
I then added some purple flowers to bring it all together. and it cost me at least a third of my budget - only $32.

I'm extremely happy with the result and I keep imagining me walk down the aisle with these in my hands. I also kept these flowers for a few days to see how long it took to wilt. It took at least until the 5th day to see some discolouring and drying up, which is great news since I have to make these bouquets two days in advance.

For the next months I'll continue to practice making these bouquets - for my bridemaids and maid of honours, with the Australian native flowers theme in mind. Future ideas may include bunches of baby breath, in dusty blues (they have them coloured), silver dollar eucalyptus, and coloured banksia. So much inspiration coming from my own backyard. Watch this space over the next few months.

Mogo Zoo & Pretty Beach Camping

Mogo Zoo, 222 Tomakin Rd, Mogo NSW 2536 Australia

Pretty Beach Campsite, Murramarang National Park, NSW Australia

For my thirtieth birthday, Hai surprised me by taking me to Mogo Zoo and camping. At 5am we packed our cars and drove off on our adventure. It took us three hours, driving through Berry and for their famous doughnuts on the way.

Once there, we payed our $31 entry fee plus the $10 to feed giraffes. I raced to the giraffes first, bypassing all the other animals. I was clearly keen. 

The zookeeper finally ushered me in and I walked up the steps with my Eucalyptus leaves in hand. I never thought about how big a giraffe's head is until I was face to face with one. It's face filled my field of vision with its big innocent eyes and a giant blue tongue reaching out for my leaves.
I then raced over to feed the deer with my $2 bag of food. The deer was so cute as they poked their heads out of their pen. One greedy deer did headbutt the others to get to my hand and pushed them away. Annoying deer, but still cute.

There are some really beautiful animals at this Zoo. We met monkeys, lions, a Fennix fox, hippopotamus, tigers, meerkats and red pandas, all in spacious enclosures, lazing about or climbing trees or eating food. We attended most of the talks by the Zoo Keepers - the Gorillas at 12pm, the Rhino at 1.30pm and the Tigers at 2.30pm.

And after a satisfying lunch of cheese & ham toasties, the carnivore burger and hot chips, we picked up a toy Red Panda on the way (we named him Rupert) and drove ourselves down to Pretty Beach. Here, wallabies and joeys grazed the front lawns of this sleepy town and across the beach campground. The wallabies watched us from a couple of metres away while we pitched our tent and collected firewood.

Hai and I spent our night sitting by our fire and drinking beers. Then we ate like 4 packs of instant noodles (with poached eggs!) since we packed light - but it was so worth it. The next morning we had a stroll on the empty beach and took in the fresh air and sound of the crashing waves.

On our drive back, we picked up some more doughnuts from Berry and listened to my iPod. We also discussed what super hero powers we wanted (a never ending discussion) and talked about the pros and cons of each situation in which to use our power. Only with Hai would I enjoy such geeky yet fun conversations, carrying on for hours.

 Thank you Hai for an amazing trip <3