The Bridal Shower / Kitchen Tea / One of the Most Amazing Parties Ever Thrown For Me

(Warning: this post is SUPER long, so if you don’t want to read it, I completely understand. Also, I realised that the title is like a poem. I’m a poet and I didn’t know it. I’m also lame.)

Hi guys!

On December 15, 2013, an overcast Sunday morning met me and Mr Big. Mr Big and I needed to go shopping. One of the things on the purchase list was undergarments for the dress I would be wearing to my bridal shower/kitchen tea which would be on that afternoon.

Now, I had no idea what was happening. All I knew was I had to be ready by lunch and MoH M&Ms would then be shipping me off to the location. I was also told to wear something “that sort of matched your favourite Disney princess”.

Mine is Belle (you’ll get the reference later).

Taken from the Disney Wiki.

So off to shopping we went. We spent a good three hours there, where we got other shopping out of the way (yay!). Once Mr Big and I were promptly “shopped out”, we proceeded to head back home.

After some “alleged communication mishaps”, we finally got back home at 12.30PM. I was greeted by a rushed MoH M&Ms, who dragged me upstairs to get ready. I quickly shoved my dress on, did a quick onceover for my makeup, and then hurried downstairs.

I remember turning to MoH M&Ms and saying, “Uh, what shoes do I wear?”. She did the blink-stare and then said, “Wear whatever. Just make sure it’s comfortable. Also, get a drink.”

Get a drink? Weird demand, but ok, I did have a cup of coffee waiting! I moved into the other room and was met with 13 familiar faces.

SURPRISE!

It’s’a me! Looking shocked. Also, yellow dress! I love that dress.

My thoughts went something like: “OMG! I think I’m at my bridal shower!” to “Don’tcrydon’tcrydon’tcry”.

Hive, I’m glad to report that I didn’t cry (I got really close though).

Unbeknownst to me, my girls had been setting up the bridal shower at the house all morning and planning this amazing party for months. The setup was breathtaking.

There was a snack table, with crackers, sandwiches and assorted goodies for lunch. They even placed my favourite Assassins from the game franchise Assassin’s Creed.

Image taken by BM Superhero.

Image taken by BM Superhero.

We had leftover sandwiches after the party. They were delicious. / Image taken by BM Superhero.

The setup for lunch outside was equally as spectacular. They had three different tables – each with a different “centrepiece”. On each place setting, they got a Lindt chocolate, a jar of jelly beans labelled with the guests’ names, a bangle fastening the napkins (which I’ll explain later on), and a wee jar of Nutella:

Image taken by BM Superhero.

Image taken by BM Superhero.

Image taken by BM Superhero.

A close up of the place settings, including the bangle and the jar of jelly beans.

The dessert table was my favourite and I’m so bummed that I didn’t eat more from it. From what I did manage to grab between socialising and bridal shower games was absolute deliciousness. They even had a Belle and Beast/Adam figurine which we used at the wedding! The rose in the centre was mine, a gift from BM Cupcakes and Superhero when they went to the Disneyland in Hong Kong three years ago.

Image taken by BM Superhero.

Image taken by BM Superhero.

Image taken by BM Superhero.

After I entered, the girls got started. I was given a glass of mimosa by BM Cupcakes and jacked up in proper bridal gear fashion by MoH M&Ms.

Getting my tiara on (literally). Also, mimosa = yum.

BM Cupcakes then did a brief introduction, ushering everyone outside for lunch. The spread was spectacular and delicious! It was pretty darn obvious that the girls had thought long and hard about what food to get and how to set up.

Now before I launch into the games, I’ll let you guys know that there were quite a lot. So I’m going to make it easier and split them into sub-headings!

The First Game: Bangle Swap!

During lunch, BM Superhero explained the first game of the day. Every girl had one bracelet at their place setting. And fastened with a mini peg to this bracelet was a piece of paper. On this piece of paper were a list of words commonly used in weddings, including “Aww”, “Stressed”, “Excited”, “Bride” and “Groom”, “Dress”, and “Amazing”. There were more, but I can’t think of them at the top of my head.

Basically, if anyone was to use these words during the course of the bridal shower, and get caught by another girl, they would pass their bangle off to another person. At the end of the bridal shower, the girl with the most bangles won a prize!

I got caught out literally 5 minutes into the bridal shower when I said the word “amazeballs” (which is an offshoot of amazing, doh!). Funnily enough, a majority of the girls forgot about the game as we played the other fun-tastic games, and at the end, there was an average2 bangles per girl to those who remembered.

The winner was Friend Bee, who had three bangles at the end of the shower!

Friend Bee (on the right, in the white floral dress) catching out BM Proper (on the left, in the black cardigan). It was funny.

Grabbing the bangle. Friend Bee was the first to catch someone out. You can see why she won!

The Second Game: TP Wedding Dress

I’m pretty sure everyone knows this game!

Basically, you get several rolls of toilet paper and make a wedding dress. Some variants put the bride in the TP wedding dress, but we did another variant. We split the groups into their respective tables from lunch (so, three groups all up!) and had each group choose a model. This model would then be used to design the TP wedding dress. I was the judge to choose the winning group!

And guys, it was a hard choice.

The models, MoH M&Ms, BM Proper, and Friend MARs. / Photo taken by Friend Wonderland.

As you can see, all the groups put in quite a lot of effort on the dresses. BM Proper’s dress was especially hilarious as she looked pregnant and was playing it up when the girls did the “runway walk”.

I was laughing so hard. I wanted them all to win!

In the end, Friend MARs’ group won because they ingeniously used the napkins to add pops of colour:

See the yellow “obi” and bow? It impressed me. / Taken by Friend Wonderland.

And this was the winning group:

From left to right, Friends Mads, MARs, Wonderland, Whovian, and Chumballs. / Photo taken by me on Friend Wonderland’s phone.

The Third Game: “How Well Do you Know Your SO”, otherwise known as the “Chubby Bunny” Game

At the end of this game, I hated marshmallows.

Basically, my girls asked Mr Big some questions about our relationship. Some of them were relatively easy (“What was the day you first met?”), and the rest were just obscure (“If you could relate yourself to an animal, what animal would you be?” – FYI, the answer he put was “penguin”). With each incorrect answer, I had to shove a marshmallow in my mouth and let it sit there until the end of the game.

There were 20+ questions.

I think I only got, like… 4 right. My awesome girls had deliberately made the questions obscure just so I would look like this at the end of the game:

Chubby Bunny! The most UNFLATTERING photo of me EVER. This is how much I love you guys. And if you guys are wondering why there’s a peg on my boobs, that sash would just not stay up…

So, yeah, I had very full cheeks, guys!

The Fourth Game: Pass the Parcel.

When this game was announced, I was thrown back to days in primary school when I would play this. It was awesome playing it, especially as BM Superhero’s choice of music was my kind of music (Fall Out Booooy)!

I unfortunately didn’t win anything, but I didn’t care. It was pass the parcel folks. That’s all the mattered! 🙂

The “winner” of this game (i.e. the final recipient of a prize) was Friend Whovian who got a sweet portable little speaker system.

Friend Chumballs (left) and Whovian (right).

This was possibly my favourite game from the day and it will come into play when I launch into my recaps.

During this game, the girls and I thought of “10 Commandments for Marriage Life” and listed them down. Friend Whovian, who’s married to GM Swarley, was able to give me loads and loads and loads of options. She also stated that she would seriously consider doing it herself (if you’re reading this Whovian, we can totes brainstorm together :)).

BM Proper writing down the 10 commandments in a notebook as we brainstormed.

After the brainstorming was done, by BMs went through and refined them for the wedding day.

This game was really fun and I really do recommend it for bride-to-be’s who want to inject some humour into their day. I’ll just divulge that Mr Big’s reaction to this at the reception when we got married was hilarious!

The Sixth Game: Celebrity Husbands

The final game was full of hilarity. This technically happened after the “faux-to booth” we had at the bridal shower, but to make it easier for you guys to follows, I’ll divulge it here.

All the girls, sans me, got a scrap piece of paper. They each wrote who their “celebrity husband” would be (e.g. Justin Bieber (yeah…), Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Michael Buble (he was popular choice), Benedict Cumberbatch, etc.), and then folded it up and put it in a hat. I then had to guess who of the girls went with each celebrity husband.

My “who-the-heck-likes-this-guy” face.

I had a 50% hit, because some of the girls gave it away and others were a little obvious (for example, Friend Wonderland and her diehard love of Thor/Chris Hemsworth). This is another one of those recommended games, because I had SO MUCH FUN.

The Photobooth

Finally, we had a photobooth at the bridal shower (or “faux-to booth”). This was so.much.fun and I have to give a HUGE shout out to Friend Sahara for setting this up. Not only did she take amazing photos of the day (most of the photos were taken by her), but the photobooth was so amazingly fun.

Here are a few of the fun shots:

Mr Big calls this the “That’s My Girl” shot, because I downed that glass of mimosa in one go. In this photo, from left to right, there’s Friend Whovian, Wonderland, Chumballs, MARs (who’s hidden behind me) and Mads.

A photo with Mama Bighorn. She played a big part in hosting the party.

My BMs and the best girls in the world. From left to right, Groom’s Homie Oddball, BM Proper, Superhero, Miss Big, Cupcakes, and MoH M&Ms.

A group hug from all the amazing girls. Top row: BM Proper, MoH M&Ms, Friend Bee, Chumballs, Mads, Cousin Witty, Groom’s Homie Oddball. Bottom tow: Friend MARs, BM Cupcakes, Mrs Big, Friend Wonderland, Whovian, BM Superhero, and Friend Sahara.

All-in-all, this was the best.party.ever (equal to Mr Big’s 25^th superhero birthday bash). All my BMs, my girlfriends, and my family played a significant part in getting this all together and I couldn’t have asked for better people in my life.

(All photos taken by Friend Sahara unless otherwise stated.)

A Spot of Tea

Hi Hive!

Can you believe it’s already been more than a week since Mr Big and I got married? ‘Cause I certainly can’t. So far, married life is treating both Mr Big and I pretty darn good. We spent most of the post-wedding week catching up with friends and family, New Zealand, Indonesian and Australian-alike. (We may have also gorged ourselves on a little too much food).

I can’t launch into my recaps yet since I’m still waiting on my pro photos, but let me show you a picture of Mr Big and me with some Bighorn Sheep relatives:

Mr Big and I with some Bighorn Sheep relatives! You can barely see them, but they’re there! / Personal Image.

Now, I did mention in my last post that I had a few more things to talk about. So Hive, let’s talk tea.

In a previous post, I talked about the Chinese tea ceremony and the significance of this cultural event in a Chinese wedding. Mr Big and I were happy to have it in our wedding, and ultimately decided that we would be having it at the Oriental Pagoda in the Hunter Valley Gardens.

However, the one task that proved difficult for Mr Big and I was selecting the tea. I mentioned previously that the type of tea often used for a Chinese tea ceremony is either a sweet tea, such as longan tea, or a standard Chinese tea such as green or jasmine.

Tea served with lotus seeds and red dates, symbolic of the newlyweds bearing children quickly and often. The sweetness of the tea is also supposed to invoke “sweet relations” between the families. / Image via Are You Gonna Eat That?. Photography via Pelaez Photography (out of business).

Mr Big and I however, ever the non-traditional, decided we’d go with something else.

You see, Hive, in Australia there’s a tea shop called T2 which sells a whole heap of different tea, from green to black, jasmine to tisane. During our first few months together, Mr Big decided he wanted to “try more Asian things” (he’s adorable), so he bought a container of tea called “Geisha Green”. Essentially, it was green tea infused with dried strawberries and cream.

That container was finished within a month.

And so it was decided by Mr Big and me that we would be using the Geisha Green for our Chinese tea ceremony (for obvious reasons). However, about 6 months away from the wedding, we got my parents to try it. My dad took one sip and reeled backwards.

He absolutely hated it.

That was when Mr Big and I realised that, if my dad hated it, his brothers would really hate it and my aunts and uncles from Indonesia would despise it.

Balls.

So what’s a bride and groom to do?

Sit on it for 3 more months, that’s what.

It was in October that we decided to get off our asses and pull the trigger on the tea conundrum. We needed to get this tea thing sorted. Our choices were either:

1. Go the traditional! That meant either choosing a traditional green or jasmine tea (boooo-ring) or going the sweet tea route (and we had never tried the sweet tea, so we were wary about that).
2. Find more non-traditional options. Our local T2 was about a 20-minute drive from us and we loved shopping there anyway!

It’s pretty obvious from the two choices above which one we chose (its 2, guys).

So on a Sunday morning, we dragged Groom’s Homie Oddball, MoH M&Ms, and The Don – M&M’s boyfie – out to Parramatta mall. The first shop we hit was T2!

Upon entering, we checked out all of the options and made mental notes on what would work best. The things we needed to consider were:

• The elder folk and their tastebuds. Papa and Mama Bighorn are used to, and enjoy drinking, traditional tea. So to them, and probably the rest of my aunts and uncles, green and jasmine tea would prove the most enjoyable. On the other hand, Mr Big’s side of the family is used to the “typical cuppa” – tea with milk and sugar. Traditional Chinese tea can be pretty darn strong, so I worried they wouldn’t be able to drink the traditional teas. Therefore, the tea for the Chinese tea ceremony needed to be traditional enough for my side, but light enough for Mr Big’s side.
• The quantity of the tea. Leading up to the wedding, we had relatives state that they weren’t going to make it to the Chinese tea ceremony. However, Mr Big and I had contingencies in place (read: extra tea and an über jug to brew said tea) just in case they decided to change their mind and make an appearance on the day without telling us (they did).
• The quality of the tea. It was important for Mr Big and I that the tea not only tasted and looked good, but we also knew was of great quality. We’d heard a horror story of two friends who shopped at a local (and popular) spice mart and had weevils in the spice. This place also sold tea. This was one of the top reasons why we chose to shop with T2.
• And finally, how we’d serve the tea. We wanted to make it easy for my bridesmaids and our Good Luck Lady Lucky to brew and pour the tea, therefore making it significantly easier for us to get through each of the elders.

So with that, our search commenced. After some faffing around, we decided – ultimately – that the best port of call for us would be to get the helpful suggestions of the ladies at T2. One in particular was extremely helpful, having done tea ceremonies herself.

She suggested Snow Dragon Jasmine as the “base notes” for the tea.

Tea leaves of the Snow Dragon Jasmine. / Image taken from the T2 website.

This tea combines both green and jasmine tea together. It’s a light tea, good for the palettes of Mr Big’s family, but traditional (and so tasty), which is good for my side. She suggested we brew two to three teaspoons before serving. It’s also “re-brew-able”, which means the flavour lasts for longer.

We thought that was it, but she then brought out a tea from their “Just” range – Just Rose.

‘Just Rose’ rose buds. / Image taken from the T2 website.

Like the picture implies, the ‘Just Rose’ tea consists of dried rose buds only. To brew this tisane, they recommend grabbing 3-4 of them per 200mls and brewing them in water for 5-7 minutes. It’s also high in Vitamin C and the scent you get from it as you sip is amazing.

Our assistant that day told us to pop just one rose bud in per cup of tea during the Chinese tea ceremony to infuse the flavour and give it a unique taste and aroma. We took her word for it and decided to buy them both. It also helped that I have a thing for roses. We also bought two pretty containers for them in green and red.

Pretty green container for our green-jasmine tea! / Image taken from the T2 website.

Once we got back home, we brewed ourselves a cup or two (or three) and shared them around. Papa Bighorn’s reaction was what sold us on the idea. He absolutely loved it and went back for another cup. Mama Bighorn was pleased with our choice as well.

And finally, that meant Mr Big and I had crossed off an important to-do on our list!

Who else had trouble pulling the trigger on a particular wedding-related task? Anyone else have to change the direction on something because someone important didn’t like it?

Remember when I bet he would cry? He cried. <3

Three days ago, I married my best friend, my superhero, my prince, my co-op gaming partner, and the love of my life. Our wedding was perfect – it was everything we wanted and more. The love, support, and warmth we felt was amazing.

Hive, I’m still waiting for my pro pics back, but I’ve been seeing loads of guest photos over Facebook. I still need to go through some planning posts in the meantime, but right now, I’ll leave you with these gems:

Photo taken by Friend Sahara.

Photo taken by BM Superhero.

I’m not gone yet guys!

From the new Mrs Bighorn Sheep ❤

The Gratuitous Last Day

So guys, I’m sitting in the Crowne Plaza, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that in 9 minutes, it will be midnight of the morning of my wedding day. The last three days have been hectic and busy, but gorramn, it’s been 110% worth it.

I have the most amazing support team in.the.world. People have been rallying around Mr Big and I, and I really, really, really cannot believe how incredibly lucky I am. I don’t know how I’m going to thank all the zillion and one people who have been so über supportive, but I can try.

To all of my fabulous, fabulous friends – the bridal party, the attendants, Australians and New Zealanders alike – thankyou, truly, from the bottom of my heart. You guys have been amazing to both Mr Big and I, and I really, truly cannot tell you how blessed I am to have you guys in my life.

To my family, I love you all. Words cannot express how lucky I am to have such a supportive group of people raise me and care for me like you all. Even though I can be insane at times, you put up with me and my madness, and for that, I thank you.

To the Hive. When I first started off with the venture – writing this blog and sharing my plans with the world – I didn’t think I’d ever be in the position to share my wedding on such a huge scale. You guys have given me advice when I needed it, made me laugh with the stories you share, and most of all, you’ve been with me throughout the hectic last months of my wedding. So to the Hive, thank you for being there, for making me chuckle, and for being just downright awesome.

And finally, to Mr Big.

It’s been a year-and-a-half of ups and downs. You are the reason we’re here today. You took the leap of faith and asked to meet me and my life has been pretty much perfect ever since. You kept me sane through the bad times, and laughed with me in the good. I love you, with all of the strength of my every fibre, right down to the very core of me. I cannot wait to meet you at the altar, to say “I Do”, and to call you my husband.

We’re finally here Mr Big. Let’s get this shindig on the road.

Signing off for the last time as a Miss,

Miss Bighorn Sheep xx

Down to the Last Minute

At the time of this post, I was filling 143 photo frames with place names.

The end product is gorgeous.

Getting to the end product is another thing. My index finger and thumb have never been in this much pain in, like, well.

Ever.

After practically whining at my parents to help (since my previous helper, Groom’s Homie Oddball was still sleeping), Papa Bighorn suggested a screwdriver. I had my doubts. Previously, Mr Big had suggested the same thing, but because the metallic flat bits (I’m so technical) that fasten the back of the frame like completely flush against the frame; I didn’t believe a screwdriver would work.

However, Mama Bighorn decided to prove me wrong and grabbed the tiniest screwdriver in the world.

The screwdriver, relative to my mouse and a normal-sized pen.

She then proceeded to unfasten those metallic flat bits with precision and ease.

And now my index finger and thumb hate me.

Lesson to learn in this whole thing? Listen to suggestions, no matter how doubtful you seem. So a shout out to Mr Big if he’s reading this – you rock, I love you, and I wish you could share in the laborious task of place card assemblage.

Now, on to the post at hand.

Last minute DIY projects! As Mr Big always says, who I think got it from his own De Papa, “if it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done!”.

I’ve been hinting at a whole number of these projects from day one, and by the time this goes up, most of these will be done. This post is basically just going through the relatively easy ones.

First off, the Xbox Achievement Sign.

You guys might remember this sign from this photo:

I’m still in love with this photo. Even despite the shoddy paint job! / Photography by StudioSomething.

Now, back then, I had made a huge mistake with the chalk paint. The edges turned out jagged and well, the chalk marker we used was cheap and craptacular. I decided to leave that project on the back burner for a while.

However, as the months ticked down to weeks, I knew I had to get cracking.

With that, I set about making the Xbox sign with a new plan in mind. First things first, I painted over the entire sign, sans the Xbox sign on the left.

This was taken after I had primed it, but you get the general idea.

I then primed it, which basically means grabbing some good ol’ chalk and scribbling all over it. Well, technically, Oddball primed it. She was excited to play with chalk.

All primed. You can still sort of see where the old shoddy paint job is from the engagement photo shoot.

After it was all primed, I left it for a little bit.

You see, originally, Mr Big wanted to stencil on the words “Achievement unlocked, 100G”, but… that didn’t go as planned. The words were too thin and we couldn’t find suitable stencilling materials.

Also, I suck at stencilling.

And then I remembered Hive member, CakeyP, giving me a link to a tutorial on how to write on chalkboard without the added difficulty of free-handing. Fellow Bee, Mrs Orchard, also wrote about this method in this post.

Determined to get this sh*t sorted, I printed out the words “Achievement”, “unlocked”, and “100 G –” and cut them into strips. I then haphazardly scribbled white chalk on the back of the words, slapped ‘em on the sign, and with a blunt lead pencil, traced over the words.

With that step done, I lifted the paper and was quite pleased with the results. I don’t have any pictures, because I was in the zone and my phone wasn’t with me at the time, but the words looked pretty much bang on.

With my white permanent marker, I then traced over the words and was left with this:

The final sign!

When I took this picture, I hadn’t fixed that dodgy looking ‘m’ in ‘Achievement’. It’s now all fixed up and presentable! The words are a little high, but that means more room for people to write whatevs they want!

And here it is when I fixed the sign a tidbit:

The sign and my cheesy self. I sent this over to Mr Big whilst he was in Melbourne on business.

Moving on now to the gratuitous Wedding Hangers,

Like most brides out there, I decided I needed a hanger.

Thing is, I’m cheap, and don’t live in America. The cheapest bridal hanger I could find was $25 and I am not paying $25 for a hanger I’ll only use once. The cheaper ones are all in America, and add to that the cost of shipping, and it ain’t cheap no more!

So what did I do then?

I grabbed a pack of 20 hangers for $10 at the local supermarket, a sharp lead pencil and eraser, a black Sharpie, some nice coloured ribbon, hairspray, a small thing of sand paper, and then DIY’d that sh*t!

I did a total of 14 hangers, 15 if you include my very dodgy test run (I basically just scribbled all over my first prototype to get a feel of how the Sharpie would work on the wood).

The result is this:

Mr Big’s hanger – the boys just got their monograms on their hangers because it’s ‘manly’!

My hanger! The girls hangers are all basically like this, but different coloured ribbon.

It was relatively simple to make these and I’m super proud of ‘em!

Next up to the plate we have the Bell Jar.

Mr Big and I bought a bell jar for 18 bucks, Mama Bighorn got a bouquet of roses, and we went about making a bell jar similar to the one from Beauty and the Beast.

Taken from Tiffany Leigh Interior Design.

First off, we got the base and we drilled a hole into it in order to keep the rose in the middle. I then grabbed two rose stems, one for placement and another for petals.

The goods!

As a warning to those who want to try this one at home, be careful when disassembling the fake roses. I cut myself pretty darn badly on the wire at the base of the stem. Use pliers (like the ones pictured above) to ensure a clean cut.

Once the rose was placed in the centre, we then scattered petals in the base.

TA-DAH!

We’ll be displaying this on the gift table at the front. I’d like to add some tealights around the table to give it some ambience! I’ve asked our event decorator what her suggestion would be, so we’ll see what she comes back with!

And that’s it!

I’d show you guys the place cards, but I stupidly packed ‘em all away in preparation for the wedding. Let me just tell you guys, stuffing 143 place cards in 143 photo frames is hard work and I thank my stars that I have a wonderful mother and little sister for lending a hand!

Who else is doing or did last-minute projects?

(All images personal unless otherwise noted.)

 

Break it down now!

RSVP breakdowns are always fun!

I love it when Bees give the Hive an idea on the demographics of their guests – where they’re from, how many people are attending, how many declined, who will be coming from out-of-town, etcetera, etcetera. It’s such a good way to get a snapshot of the wedding and definitely does give some awesome insights into the guests and the wedding itself.

Unfortunately, that means using programs like Excel. And guys, I am really bad at Excel. Mr Big is a pro at it, thankfully, so when I got this post under way, I turned to him for help. After some fiddling around, I managed to break down the RSVP list.

So without further ado, here’s the RSVP breakdown!

The Bighorns invited approximately 187 people to the wedding. Of the 187 people we invited, 43 of them declined, which means that our guest list sits at exactly 142 people (77% acceptance rate!). This means that approximately 23% of the people invited to our wedding declined to come.

Woohoo! People like us Mr Big!

Of the 142 people who accepted the invitation to the wedding, 98 will be attending the ceremony (69.0%), 58 will be attending the Chinese tea ceremony (40.8%), 26 will be going on the wine tour (18.3%), and 140 will be attending the reception (98.6%).

A total of 116 guests will be staying at the appointed guest accommodation, Crowne Plaza (81.7%), with 11 staying at other accommodation (7.7%) and 14 guests driving back home from the reception (9.9%).

The Crowne – the place to stay (statistically, anyway).

Guests will be a mixture of out-of-town International guests, out-of-town domestic guests, and local residents. One-hundred and thirteen (113) guests are Australian (79.6%), 22 guests are from New Zealand (15.5%), 6 guests will be flying in from Bandung, West Java, Indonesia (4.2%), and  finally, 1 guest will be flying in from London, United Kingdom (0.7%).

Our multicultural wedding! Sorta.

Now let’s get specific. I broke down the areas from which our Australian and New Zealand guests would be coming from and got the following.

Of the 113 Australian guests coming to the wedding:

• 97 will be driving up from the Greater Sydney Region (85.8%)
• 4 will be driving from a local Central Coast suburb (3.5%), and
• 2 will be driving down from the North Coast (1.8%)
• 8 guests will be flying down to New South Wales from Queensland (7.1%)
• 1 will be flying up from Melbourne, Victoria (0.9%), and
• 1 will be flying in from Perth, Western Australia (0.9%)

As for our Kiwi folks, of the 22 New Zealand guests:

• 13 will be flying in from Christchurch (59.1%)
• 4 will be flying in from Auckland (18.2%)
• 3 will be flying in from Nelson (13.6%)
• 1 will be flying in from Greymouth (4.5%), and
• 1 will be flying in from Dunedin (4.5%)

When looking at how the guest list is split according to whether they are on the “groom’s side”, “bride’s side”, or miscellaneous, it was found that:

• 41 guests are mutual friends of Mr and Miss Big (28.9%)
• 5 guests are “just” friends with Miss Big (3.5%)
• 17 guests are “just” friends with Mr Big (12.0%)
• 39 guests are from Miss Big’s family (27.5%)
• 7 guests are from Mr Big’s family (I know…) (4.9%)
• 4 guests are family friends of Mr Big’s family (2.8%), and
• 29 guests are family friends of Miss Big’s family (20.4%)

I know guys, those statistics seem loaded, but it’s true. I have a rather large family and Mr Big’s family is small. So a majority of the guests at our wedding will be on “my” side, although a lot of our mutual friends are making up the bulk of the guest list too. 🙂

In terms of guest transportation, approximately 60 guests will be taking transport from the Crowne to the ceremony (42.3%) and approximately 68 guests will be taking transport from the Crowne to the reception (47.9%). From this, we can infer that approximately 50% of our guests are probably going to party and drink at our wedding (yay!).

And that’s it guys! The Bighorn RSVP Breakdown!

Who else feels that, statistically, your “portion” of the guest outweighs your partner’s? (I feel pretty awful about it, honestly.) Who else is going to have a 50% party rate!? (And is it sad that I’m actually quite happy about that?)