Our Wedding Day - Joleen & Jerry Get Married

Weddings... It's always a funny day this one. Butterflies in your stomach and last minute panics with bursts of bridezilla moments. I think I did quite well (well, in my mind at least I wasn't a diva).

The morning started out quite cruisy really. My 3 bridesmaids (maid of honour Melanie, sister Edeleen and cousin Alicia) said they've got everything sorted and I fully trusted them. There's nothing more I could do except to let things go and just enjoy my big day.

We got to Wairakei Resort at 9am so my girls could do some last minute set up with the tree. Mel did my makeup and Jess Wall did my hair. Love both my makeup and hair btw, the girls did an amazing job.

Getting ready...

My handsome Daddy xx

The pics made it look so calm but by the time we got to getting me into my dress, we were frantic as we were running late and my guests had been sweltering for 20 minutes under the hot Taupo sun. At least it was better than windy rain and cold!

We finally got me all laced up and down to my handsome daddy. Oh he looked radiant that day. So happy he's walking me down the aisle xx

We walked in to none other than Ed Shereen's Thinking Out Loud which I so love because of his beautiful lyrics of mysterious ways people fall in love and how they will keep on loving each other till they are 70 (and beyond...). I was gripping my dad's hand very tightly as I was feeling so nervous and excited at the same time.

It was a magical feeling walking down the aisle, passing all my family and close friends, to my handsome husband to be. Quite surreal actually.

Daddy gave me a peck on the check and handed me over to Jerry. It's happening!!

If you are ever looking for a celebrant, I will highly recommend Belinda de Lautour from The Wedding Angel. She will take care of you from the beginning planning stages, and hold your hand all the way until the end. She was so amazing. Made our ceremony so beautiful and personal. I couldn't help it. I teared up and mucked up my makeup after our vows when Belinda was doing the blessing of the hands.

Tearing up *sniff*

Pronounced Man & Wife

We performed a beautiful sand ceremony where we poured two different colours of sand (red representing me and black representing Jerry) to symbolise the coming together of our two cultures and individuals as one - and as the grains may not be separated, so would our lives be intertwined forever.

Sand Ceremony

Mum closed the ceremony with a touching reading and it was all over and done in half an hour. Felt like time had passed so fast! We had some amazingly fun shots with the bridal party by our lovely photographer Krystle from Bespoke Photography. Love love it!

 

It was on to speeches and a BBQ lunch before the next round of guests arrived at 2.30pm. Jerry's soccer team, my colleagues and friends shared our day with us as we cut the cake, did a yam seng and had our first dance. Thanks to best man Ray for getting Jerry to agree to the first dance!

Yam Seng!!!

Our guests xx

Check out all our pics here...

Pre-Wedding Pics in Taupo

It's been ages since I wrote in this blog. A lot has happened since 2012!

Jerry finally proposed at 23:05 on the 23.05.15 (on my birthday) at the lovely Chateau Tongariro.

I said YES!

At first I wanted to do our pre-wedding pics in KL but I didn't think Jerry would like being in a suit for hours in 30 degrees much. We decided to take our pics in Taupo instead with the lovely Krystle from Bespoke Photography as our photographer.

Loving her photos xx

View the rest of her pics here...

In front of Taupo's Floatplane

At the Taupo Harbour

Malaysian Prawns in Taupo

Saturday 3 September 2011

Bought a GrabOne deal for half price on the Huka Prawn Park in Taupo but found out later that locals get half price anyways so felt slightly cheated but nevertheless.. since both of us have not been to Prawn Park, I thought it would be great venue for a date.

Saturday came and we were there on the dot for the hourly guided tour around the centre. Check this out - the prawns here are actually - wait for it - MALAYSIAN prawns. What the hell right??? Steal our prawns and make it a tourist attraction hmpph!!! But they're doing a great job at breeding them so they're forgiven.

Macrobrachium Rosenbergii otherwise known as Giant Malaysian River Prawn

The species is called Macrobrachium Rosenbergii (Giant Malaysian River Prawn) and was chosen because they are good for commercial production. Basically because they breed fast and grow big - can be harvested at 8 months. Our guide told us that their largest prawn was named “Horse” - an amazing 68cm. He died of old age at 2 years old.

Old Horse

Coming from tropical waters, the prawns won’t be able to survive in the cold Taupo waters so the park uses the nearby geothermal water to heat up the fresh Waikato River water up to 20c which they then circulates throughout the ponds. Their bill would be $40000 each month if they used electricity to heat the water up!

Our first stop was the educational tour through the Nursery & Hatchery where more than one billion babies are born each year. There are quirky signs placed at the various stages of their growth. A male stud has SEVEN girlfriends who spawn up to five times per year - a 50-gram female can produce up to 50.000 eggs. Had fun hand feeding the baby prawns – very geli and they bite.

How true

Ouch!

Our guide showed us how to fish for prawns too. You need to be VERY VERY patient to fish for prawns which I am NOT. Draw in the line THREE minutes after you feel the first bite coz they want to take the bait away, run and hide, then only start eating. It was torture waiting.

This is how you do it...

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Another popular attraction is “Shawn’s Walk” which incorporates an Interactive & Educational Hatchery Tour where guests can stroll through the park experiencing Shawn’s Jumping Rocks, Riverside Nature Walk which includes feeding wild trout and a Geothermal Foot Bath where visitors can soak their feet and enjoy fantastic views of the Waikato River.

Quick before I get wet!

I was getting hungry so we headed to their Riverside Restaurant where you can sample their whole prawns and other prawny dishes. The place was filled with Asians! Hahah. Goes to show how adrenaline seeking we Asians are :P

Prawn platter

All in all, quite a good date. And the number of prawns we managed to catch – ONE.

Beautiful Lake Taupo

Woke up to a cold cold frost this morning and was cursing that it's too bloody cold here. Missing my warm humid weather.

But the sky was clear and the sun was out. It was a beautiful day.

Moments like these, I appreciate Taupo again.

Check out the awesome view. Mt Doom is the cone-shaped one in the middle.

And I wore only 1 layer today :)