Turner Melbourne Wedding

After 14 years or so, my brother Paul and Lauren finally decided to tie the knot! With a lovely inner city apartment booked, we left the day after boxing day for a week in Melbourne with the Turners. The flight wasn’t too bad since Olive was still traveling for free (and no seat) she was pretty content with drinking from pump bottles, pulling sick bags out of the pockets and replacing them and the odd glance at the kids TV playing. She did however fall asleep about 20 minutes before landing after finding it impossible to get comfortable (don’t we all?). We successfully caught the AirBus into town which Olive thought was fantastic and was on repeat stating in a loud voice “Bus” “bus” as it was her first experience on a bus after all. We walked from the Southern Cross railway station to the apartment with two large suitcases and a buggy and we had a moment of nostalgia that we were once again roughing it in Europe with backpacks. It could be done with kids is all I’m saying.

We finally got to meet Olive’s little cousin Milla (5 months old) for the first time, which was interesting for Olive! a baby! and Tom soon skipped out on us ladies to join the Stag do in a pub somewhere. The next day we took a stroll to the Botanical Gardens to check out where the ceremony was to be before it got too hot. We stopped for refreshments and Olive took a real liking to Mama’s banana milkshake. Olive enjoyed kicking a ball around and walking small parts of the 20min stroll.

Before we knew it, the wedding day had arrived. Thank god it wasn’t us! Oh the stress! ;-) The Turners (and Pecks) managed to get out for a yummy brunch along the riverfront before the boys (Paul & Graham) left to get ready at the hotel. Olive went down for her nap (2 good sleeping days so far!) and we even had to wake her to get to the hotel on time. We were running a little late (the norm) and just when you don’t need a zip to break it did. The zip completely derailed! on her flower girl dress I had made for Olive. We left with a half naked toddler to taxi it over to the hotel with a needle and thread in tow. After checking in I managed to sew Olive into her dress not as easy as one would think with a moving target and needle but Olive survived without a scratch.

It was a lovely short stroll over to the gardens and refreshing drinks to greet us. Thankfully the weather had played ball and it was stunning and not too hot. It was a lovely ceremony with baby birds running around by the pond in the backdrop. Olive managed her role as flower girl and was very keen to hold cousin Ali’s hand to walk down the aisle but alas kids will be kids and Alex didn’t want to. So Olive being so brave (so proud) she walked down by herself with bunny (of course) and her flowers with Sarah & Ali not far behind. She almost didn’t stop before the pond. Lauren looked stunning full stop. It was interesting being at a wedding with kids. Since it was outside the noise wasn’t a problem but running around and climbing on everyones’ chairs was a bit stressful! She soon found a bunch of balloons which she loved and then she was happy. The family photos were interesting with Lachie having slept through the ceremony was a bit dazed and sat beautifully for the photos, Ali being the oldest held baby Milla and Olive being Olive wanted to climb the photographers ladder. So that is how the photo was taken.

The reception went really well for the kids, Ali and Olive survived really well, Olive had some food and then went off to bed around 8pm with a paid babysitter to look after her. It was a little strange as we put her down and left the room into the hallway and had to wait about 10 minutes with the babysitter before checking she was asleep so the babysitter could sit inside the room. We managed to have a cold dinner and some dancing before the clock striked midnight. Tom decided it was a great plan to continue drinking the night away with Graham, Paul & a friend Snowie and didn’t arrive back at the hotel room until 5am. Olive decided that 6am was the best time to wakeup so we managed to get up and ready and were invited to the honeymoon suite all while Tom slept.

We enjoyed our breakfast with the wedding guests masses and took a stroll to the kids garden inside the Botanicals for some ice cream and water play and ended the day with a nice swim in the rooftop pool back at the apartment. A walk the next day to Myer the department store (us Wellingtonians don’t get out enough) had something for the whole family, Tom managed to get his ‘much needed’ laptop …cough and Olive enjoyed the window displays and Mama got some Benefit makeup too (been missing that since London!). This was the beginning of Olive's decline in sleeping habits as Olive skipped her nap time and the night time sleeping had a few interruptions with Olive joining us a few nights there after. It was interesting to see how Olive played with Milla. She was quite gentle and really liked her ‘baby’ toes and fingers. She would often go and get ‘kiwi’ toy for her to play with as well. We managed one bath without any tears and Olive was a giant! My little baby is growing up.

Olive finally got to see a real ‘etde’ elephant and a bonus baby one too at the Melbourne zoo on our last day. Lots of lovely monkeys and the butterfly house was lovely for Olive to spot them on us. But all Olive wanted to do was follow big cousin Ali around, all we heard was ‘Aila’ and an Olive blur running after big cousin Ali. It was fun to see the relationships growing and how much fun the cousins will have in the years to come.

G