I can’t believe it, I’m getting married tomorrow.

It’s been such a long time coming (14 months since we got engaged), but the last two months and especially the last two weeks have flown by. The last couple of days Elaine and I have been ridiculously busy getting everything in order, from meeting with Jeremy our DJ (who has graciously offered to do our reception for free) to catching up all our overseas friends and family. Despite Elaine’s propensity to worry and stress I would have to say that she has been absolutely wonderful, way better than me in the past couple of days.

I’m about to head over to Justin’s place to stay the night. I hope that everything is in order, or if not it will work itself out.

Last night was my buck’s night, which was an absolute blast. Thanks to all the guys who helped make it great, especially Victor and Justin. I would love to go into intimate detail of the night (and I could go on for pages and pages), but as they say – what happened on the buck’s night stays on the buck’s night!

Weddings are such amazing events, and I hope that everything will go smoothly. All I know is that if I end up married to Elaine at about 2:30pm tomorrow, it will be the most memorable and happy day of my life.

Elaine, if you’re reading this… I love you sweetie.

Wedding preparations continue to chug along nicely.

Last night we had the rehearsal at the Doncaster Church of Christ. It looks like quite a small venue from the outside, but the inside is really cosy. As part of the rehearsal Elaine and I had to go through our lines. As I repeated my lines I could already see that Elaine was in trouble, so by the time it got to saying her lines, Elaine was in tears! Can’t blame her though… I’d have to admit to feeling a little tingle in the back of my throat. Who wouldn’t?

After the rehearsal we got the bridal party together for a BBQ on my new BBQ! It was fun having everyone together considering Amiee has spent the last year in Germany, and Jean the last five in England. It was even good to see Victor again after his ‘work’ trip to Europe (again).

I’m off now to catch up with some guys that I used to work at Drummond Golf with. I know it’s going to be a blast.

Partly taking advantage of the Easter holidays, and partly as a getaway before the final run into the wedding, I went up to the Dandenong ranges with Elaine, Jean, Jae, David and Carl.

We spent the day wondering around the beautiful mountainous area. The first stop happened to be the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden. We ended up spending quite a bit of time there, thanks to Carl (and my) issues with over zealous photography. I can’t wait to see his shots. We were both running around the garden snapping off shots while the rest of the group… well I was so engrossed in what I was doing, I’m not sure what they were up to!

When we finally managed to drag Carl away, the hunt for food ended up being a lot harder than expected. After stopping by a couple of towns we found ourselves in Olinda at Pie In The Sky. These would easily have to be the best value pies in Victoria! If you’re in the area, a MUST eat.

To end the day we went to SkyHigh. It’s like an overgrown lookout with a restaurant, multiple balconies and gardens. Very nice. The only unfortunate thing was that the day was very hazy, but we could still manage to see way across to the west side of Melbourne. I managed to get some nice photos, but felt like I stood out like a sore thumb with my 28-135mm with hood and flash mounted, while everyone else was happy with their mini point-and-shoots! Oh, well.

One of the major phenomenons of the internet is the emergence of online retailers. I know many friends of mine that are hesitant buying from the web, and surprisingly it’s not confined to just the old codgers. Sometimes people fear its facelessness nature or they fear the unknown quality of the product. Even the people that can get over those hurdles, stumble at the warranty issue. See, as many online goods come from overseas, they carry warranties that are only valid in the original country of purchase. That can be an issue if you are purchasing some new fangled electronic item that could cost major deniero to fix locally.

However when it came to camera equipment, I personally took the risk because I for one actually trust the internet, and secondly the price differential was just too great.

Well as I mentioned in an earlier post, it turned out that one of my lenses that I bought off the internet was faulty. BIG STERSS! However, Stu at Quality Camera Sales was really understanding, and sent out a replacement overnight.

Now, that’s top notch service.

So, if any of you are in the market for Canon SLR gear, drop by Quality Camera Sales.

On only the second day since going on leave, I finally remember how nice it is to be on holidays.

I’m currently writing this from my parents’ house because I STILL don’t have internet access at home. I’ll be sure to get cable (Telstra BigPond of course) when I get back.

Elaine’s best friend Jean has come to stay with us until just after the wedding. They’ve been friends since they were really tiny people, so it’s great that she can make it down here to be the maid of honour at our wedding. She’s been spending the last few years studying medicine at Cambridge, what a smarty!

The wedding preparations are really ramping up. All the small things need to be put in place, and that is perhaps more daunting a task than organising all the ‘big’ things. Last night Jean and Elaine got Bethany’s flower girl basket ready, together with the guest book and pen.

I know in the back of my mind that at the end of the day, everything will come together; the real question is how sane we can keep during the process! In that way, the calming influence of Jean has really been a Godsend for both Elaine… and me.

Happy Easter for tomorrow everybody!