the party

we finally had our engagement party (4 months after getting engaged-- we wanted to wait until my mom was out to have the party). it was really fun. we had it at the north fitzroy lawn bowls club and had soulveg cater (the food was excellent and ALL vegan). i'd highly recommend them to anyone.
the speeches:

start of the evening: the cake:
fortunately the weather cooled down slightly and the forecasted rain never hit our area (although we REALLY need it!). i didn't even get a chance to bowl cuz i just kept ending up talking to people. i suck at lawn bowls though (only done it once before) and it was cool to have everyone that we never get to see all together in one place so i didn't feel like i missed out on much by not bowling. the wedding is gonna be fun too 8)
we had a few little mishaps and challanges before the party started but we took care of them. first the balloons. i'd ordered 40 helium balloons that we had to pick up by 3pm when the balloon shop closed. we'd arranged for densie to come help us pick them up with her car. we were gonna bring them home but then we ended up talking to the lawn bowls club and it was ok to bring them there (which ended up being a good plan cuz it was WAY too hot for the balloons outside and in our house). unfortunately just getting them in the car proved to be a challenge. i poped 2 in my handful when the brushed the side of the hot car (the high winds added another challenge). another one went inside the car (hit the window i think). we couldn't fit them all in one load so denise took me and load 1 to the bowls club. zac lost 2 balloons just trying to get back in the shop. we lost a couple more at the bowls club cuz the upstairs room we were hiring didn't have the a/c on. when we got all the balloons there and the room cool we lost a couple more to the a/c (we think it might be cuz they went from hot car to sitting near the a/c unit). we had enough though (the balloon guy was nice enough to throw in a couple more.
then zac's dad was supposed to pick us up at 6:30ish so we would get there before the caterers who were coming at 7. 6:45 zac's dad calls and says the cab was late and they're about 15 minutes away still. zac hoped on his bike with his mp3 player loaded with 4 hours of party songs he'd specifically put together for the nite and went down to the bowls club. right as zac's dad arrived at our house to get me and my mom zac called to say his mp3 player was acting up again (he's had it 2 weeks and its done this a few times) and told me to bring mine. i brought it but i only had about 30 songs on so far and 1/2 of them not really party songs (and zac worked so hard to make a "everybody friendly party mix" on his). his mp3 worked again for a bit before the party started then died for the rest of the nite (its fine again now but he's taking it back tomorrow). fortunately one of our other friends had her ipod in her handbag and we put that on for most of the nite. everything worked out good and the party was lots of fun. and we got some great gifts too 8)