Perth Part I - Wandering

I took so many pictures in Perth that I thought it made sense to split the posts up by happenings rather than have one never-ending ramble.  (I forsee each post being a massive ramble anyway, so, um... sorry?)  I don't understand people who split the trip up by days either, particularly when there are days when nothing interesting happens, but that's just me.  

This first post is about all the random places we went and things we did rather than about the actual wedding itself.  Like me, Beck is very interested in photography and having studied it in school, she's a lot more knowledgeable as well.  This worked out just fine for me because (unlike more sane people) she was extremely tolerant of me climbing and crawling and jumping everywhere and demanding to take a thousand and one pictures of her.  

The entire journey was interesting for me, both emotionally and mentally, and I tried to take pictures that would capture the gamut of feelings.  I learned, and felt, a lot.

But, let's start at the very beginning.  

My plane landed at four in the morning.  When I bought the ticket, some weird, rational voice in the back of my mind kept saying that the earlier I arrived, the more time I would get to spend with Becky.  As I stumbled blearily through customs, they caught me and sent me back because I had left my luggage at baggage claim.  I mentally kicked that voice three times.  Beck and her fiance Marty, as it turned out, hadn't slept the whole night either because they were waiting for me.  Sorry guys!  Henceforth, I will pick more humane timings.

I was delighted to see Becky.  We've been friends for 13 years - one of those friendships where you would jump through fire for each other.  Anytime I get to see her (or Mel, for that matter, though Mel lives within reasonable range), my heart sings.  You don't find many people who stay loyal friends in your life for that long.

We got back to her place, took long naps and woke up closer to the afternoon and ready for business.

First, I said hi to Kootches, one of Becky's cats.  Becky has two cats (the second being a massive black boy called Jet who is too sneaky to be photographed) but Kootch and I go a long way back.  We rescued her when she was just a kitten when we were still in school.  She was sick with worms and ticks and Becky took her home and eventually nursed her back to health.

Many years later, Kootches repaid me by falling violently on me from six feet up while I was asleep, extending her claws into my stomach as she landed.  In the next bed, Becky heard my scream, snickered evilly and went back to sleep.

While Marty welcomed his side of the family in batches, Beck and I took off to run errands (and get coffee).

The first place we tried was the adorable City Farms where they grow and then cook their own food.  Unfortunately, the cafe was shut thanks to the hot weather.  I snapped a few pictures before we took off.

I loved the rustic, tangled look of the place, particularly those desert flowers in the last picture.  The handmade decor and bright mosaics were lively and homey all at once.

Some of the buildings were also spray-painted in interesting graffiti.

This was the first of many pictures Rebecca let me take of her.

Walking down the street, we came across a pretty flower bed and some very cool kangaroo statues.  In teaching me about composition, Beck suggested taking the kangaroo picture from across the little pond.  As Becky laughed, I walked out across the middle of the pool, balancing on a thin strip of slate.  You may expect me to say at this point that I fell in, and let me tell you, I was pretty close but thankfully no such disaster materialised. 

We eventually made it to a place called The Coffee Club where we ended up sharing chocolate cake and having two very large iced coffees each.
         

Before I came up, I'd asked Beck whether we'd have just a little bit of time together by ourselves and she promised that she would make time for it.  That's what best friends are for.  It was a calm oasis that let us catch up so that things afterwards felt very balanced and unhurried.

Check out her cool green Pandora ring and the awesome engagement ring Marty got her!

And of course, an obligatory shot of the both us in a slightly unusual way:

On the drive back home that day, we kept passing amazing views of the river and Beck asked if I wanted to pull over and take pictures.  She proceeded to oblige me by standing in front of the water and allowing me to take fifty photos of her so that I could practise looking for lens flare.

I try to learn something new about photography every day, and Becky was equally adamant about helping me.  We spent a very funny half hour in front of the setting sun, turning this way and that, standing and squatting and tilting at angles as she made face after face.

When I finally put the pictures on my computer, I realised that even though it didn't show up well on the camera screen, I had captured lens flare in every single shot.  Achievement unlocked.

Now, if only I could pull it out and position it exactly where I wanted.   

Back at home (after I'd stuck my feet into Beck and Marty's patch of succulents), we all got to work on wedding prep.

Over the next few days, we worked sporadically on various DIY bits and pieces.

Becky's brother and resident cake pirate Jeremy baked a massive pile of cupcakes for the cupcake tower.  Those Rocher ones?  Amazing.

He's a patisserie chef, so various other forms of cakes came waltzing through the door each day.  One of the fridges started stuttering because it had so much cake to cool.  I was even given a frozen Opera cake to bring home with me.

One morning, we even woke up to find very yummy poached eggs and hollandaise sauce on the counter, which was especially funny because we'd been sharing a running joke about eating poached eggs throughout the week.

Beck herself was engaged in some highly impressive arts and craft.

At this point, I should probably mention that she took art at 'O' levels and is extremely creative and meticulous.

She made cutout holders for the candles to shine through, made those guestbooks and place markers for each of the tables.  She even made fairy wands for the flower girls to hold as they walked down the aisle.  I was deeply impressed and kept staring, hypnotised by her slow, calm, precise work.

The slightly less artistically inclined yours truly was asked to cut out sparkly paper hearts for the guestbook.  I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I have to say that I have quite a bit of talent in the area of paper heart cutting.  If you need someone to help you with this and you have a comfortable balcony overlooking a park, I am more than equal to the task. 

The day before the wedding, we took an hour's drive North of Perth to get a special stand for the cupcakes.  I made Beck stand against the light to practise taking backlit pictures.  I also love the shot of her neighbour's little bird feeder - I caught sight of it hidden among a press of leaves while standing in the driveway.

Driving up together was awesome.  We ate hot Jester's pies and chips and sang songs and talked about boys and laughed a lot.

At the cupcake stand lady's house, I was completely transfixed by the mailbox on her lawn.  Becky stood guard as I got down on my knees and snapped frantically.  Afterwards, once we'd collected the cake stand and went to make our getaway, I suddenly thought of the felt heart that I was carrying in my wallet - part of the bridesmaid gift Becky had given me.

"Oh god," I groaned, "That would look super cute on the mailbox."

"Oh crap it would," Becky said, "Maybe we can knock on her door and ask her for permission."

We took one look at each other, flung the car doors open and hurtled up the lawn, giggling.  The very kind lady was more than happy to let us take the picture - she probably assumed we wanted to buy one for ourselves.  Becky suggested capturing the heart in the newspaper holder and off we went.  We drove back, laughing as I brushed the grass off my knees.   

When we got back, we went to check out and decorate the wedding venue with paper stars and electric candles.  The staff were working on setting up the lighting already and it started to look just lovely.

We even decorated the wedding cars with white organza.  At one point, I asked Becky's mother whether she had any flowers to spare and she suggested the fake bouquets that flanked the TV.  We tied one on the front bonnet and it looked surprisingly grand.  Each time we got in the car and saw the house flowers fluttering in the wind afterwards, I giggled.  I wish I had a picture of them, but my camera wasn't on hand.

At some point, they squeezed in a rehearsal at the church.

When I wasn't practising tripping down the aisle, I was busy examining my gelish nails.  We had gotten our nails done a little bit before, and while we both went for French manicures, the bride got a light wash of pink glitter over hers, while I chose gold glitter for mine.

All in, for four days or so of wedding prep, it was remarkably calm.  We worked on the decorations slowly, drank lots of tea and ate lots of cake.  We joked a lot and managed to spend some time relaxing.  Becky's and Marty's families were both really chilled out and genial.  Like many weddings, it was lots of fun to get involved in.  There's something satisfying about being part of a team and helping to create things. 

And of course, it helps when the bride is one of your best friends in the whole world.

As I was sitting on the floor cutting hearts on Thursday, there was a knock at the door.  

"Present for you, Bubby!"  Marty called, bounding up the stairs with a crinkly package.  

"What's that?  Is it for the wedding?"  I looked up from my superlative cutting.   

"Hmm kind of," Becky murmured, opening the envelope with her back to me.  

As I craned my neck, she turned around and presented me with a little gauze pouch covered in red hearts.  "It's your bridesmaid present!" 

I opened the pouch to find a sterling silver ring on a chain.  The ring was engraved with the words "For all that we've been through, MTV '99".  I stared at her, puzzled, and she grinned at me and took down a set of battered brown exercise books from the shelf.  

When we were in our teens, we had started writing a series of novels together, centered on our adventures with the Backstreet Boys (don't judge).  At the back of the first set which Becky'd kept, after we'd encountered some very complicated and exciting terrorism at the MTV Music Awards, one of the characters had given my character a ring on a chain to commemorate the experience.  According to the book, written in my scribbly teenage hand, the ring was engraved with "For all that we've been through, MTV '99".  

I couldn't believe it.  I was almost in tears at the thought that Becky had remembered and that she'd found such a special memory from the year we'd met.  After all, I have the second set of books filed away in my house.  In the file, there are flattened packets of mentos.  We used to go through tubes of the sweets each time we stayed back in school to write.  It was in those moments in Singapore that we grew really close and that led to this whole week in Perth.  

I'm both touched and happy that I have something to remember this whole experience by, and to mark this milestone in our friendship.  There is nothing like the chance to share special moments with people that you really care about. 

And of course, I ended up wearing the ring to the wedding.  But that's another tale, for another time.