Finally Laurel’s wedding day came. Mother Nature decided to show lots of love and the sun shone brightly for the ceremony. Laurel and her fiancé Csaba were married in the Botanical Gardens in St. Kilda. The venue was gorgeous. We stood around the gazebo to watch the ceremony. My cousin Felicity led the bridesmaids in.
I had to take a picture of Csaba’s face as Laurel came in and he was all smiles.
My uncle Rudy and Laurel walking in sharing a laugh.
This has to be my favourite photo from the ceremony. Everyone loves the kiss. But to have it witnessed by the son of Laurel’s other cousin was priceless.
Momma B made for a very hot date. She makes my heart smile.
After the ceremony we had champagne and canapes in the park and then friends of the family took my mom and I off to Acland St for a coffee in a street cafe before the reception. The dinner was down the coast in BlackRock at a venue called the Cerberus Beach House. I took my camera off to the pier to snap the below two shots
The centrepieces made me so happy. I’m a sucker for dusty miller.
My cousins and I. Felicity on the left and Laurel the beautiful bride on the right.
It was a beautiful day. I loved spending time with my family. I loved meeting “new family members” that I had never met before and getting to know Laurel’s husbands family!
We decided to sleep in a bit the next day on Sunday and ventured off to explore the Docklands. Luckily I found that they had a Sunday market on so we wandered through the vendors. There wasn’t much going on but never the less cool to see this area of Melbourne.
You could see Etihad Stadium from the market and it was definitely impressive.
Based on a recommendation by a former Argo cheerleader teammate of mine who spent time living in Melbourne she told me to try Mamasita. So I convinced Momma B to go for Mexican with me and off we trekked across the city. The corn chips, the guac, the margarita, the fish taco, the ox tongue taco…. to. die. for.
Monday was my last day in the city so I was determined to enjoy the sun! I actually found a Groupon deal for SUPing in St. Kilda so off we went. We got to see the Palais Theatre and Luna Park as we walked down to the Pier.
I was part of a small group lesson with SUP St Kilda. At first I was given the blue soft board but after I was able to hop up easily and start paddling the instructor told me to go grab a hard board. Since this was my third time SUPing I was excited to try something a bit different. I felt so great out there. My legs were sturdier my ankles felt less wobbly and I really got to work on paddling faster and harder. I loved being out on the water.
The instructor was great with his beach tips and helping out the two other girls who were in my group. But truth be told halfway through the lesson when we got out to the pier he jumped off his board to talk to someone on the pier and then told me to go explore amongst the docks and took off back to the beach and then really took off. My mom and cousin were on the beach and think he went off to get a coffee. I didn’t mind because I was ok on my own but to the other two beginners I felt bad for them to not get any further instruction. So one hour of pure SUPing bliss and it was time for lunch. We headed back to Acland St for yummy wraps and salads and then I insisted on churros!!!! Delicious.
I asked if we could go back to St. Kilda pier that night to watch the sunset and I’m so happy the family obliged. We got to see the pier’s little penguins and water rats. We weren’t allowed to take flash photography as they come out at night but it was none the less awesome to see them in their natural habitat. The view and the ocean make me one happy happy lady.
Goodbye Melbourne. Until we meet again.