Valentine's Day inspired post

I'm not particularly into Valentine's Day rituals, never have been and probably even more so now that I'm married and that's all behind me.

However, in the spirit (in spite of?) the lovefest going on (mostly by retailers), I'd thought I share something related to red, love and romance..... my wedding dress!

My husband, an Australian born Chinese, and I decided to have a civil ceremony in the lovely Chinese Gardens in Darling Harbour, Sydney. So to match the setting, I chose to wear a traditional Cheongsam in the wedding colour of red. My lovely bridesmaids also played along nicely and wore cheongsams as well, in the lucky colour of purple (well lilac).

Of course being the thrifty sewer I am, I made my wedding dress and the two bridesmaids dresses, and I even made my mum an outfit which she didn't wear because it turned out to be very hot that day indeed.

The pattern I used for all three dresses was McCalls 9395 (now OOP). The only modifications I made was to extend the sleeves to elbow length for mine.

Here are the three of us having our photos taken in a very public place and doing our best to appear natural and not contrived. These photos were taken in Circular Quay, near the Sydney Opera House, and we had to line up and wait with other wedding parties for our turn at this spot (it's that popular!).

I made the frog enclosures from braiding twisted just so and then sewed on (they are for decoration only), gold for me and silver for the girls.

And of course, here is me and my husband, aka the giant asian. He is over 6ft in height, and despite me wearing the highest heels I own I still look like a munchkin next to him............