YES!!

It's been over a month now since my wedding and I still haven't realized, that I have a new name now and that I'm really and truly a MARRIED woman! But so far I LOVE IT! It's a great feeling to know that my man really said YES! Can you believe that? I'm not always a simple person (though I try to make him as happy as possible!) and he really decided to spend the rest of his life with me and endure my ongoing madness! Crazy! But you can't say no to that! I really believe that I would never find another person whom I would love so much and who would be so crazy about me in return!

So let me tell you a little bit about the way a traditional marriage in my rural part of Austria is celebrated and then I will tell you how we did it. Two totally different things!

I grew up in a veeery small village. There are only 1800 inhabitants and it's located in the very east of Austria, just a few kilometers away from the Hungarian border.  There's internet, we have roads, shops, a pharmacy, a doctor, schools...but we also have traditions. And as some traditions are very nice and thoughtful and pretty, some of them are rather...let's say antique and outdated.
When you have a traditional marriage in our village, it starts the day before. Husband and wife spend the last night beofre the wedding apart. Friends and family arrive at the evening before the big day to bring A LOT of sweets and baked goodies. These are called "Krapferl" at this part of our country and are very similar to christmas cookies. My aunts baked. And baked and baked and baked. We had TONS of cookies in our house. Let me tell you that our wedding was really small. We invited 21 guests, one of those was our lovely photographer. So there really was no need for us to have six (yes, SIX) cakes. SIX CAKES FOR 23 PEOPLE! Do you see how insane that is? But just try tell these to my aunts. So we had a room full of sweets. Cookies, cakes and pretty much any other dessert that you can imagine.

this was all made by ONE.SINGLE.AUNT!!!

all of our cakes and sweets. everything is handmade. isn't this amazing? 20 million calories, all in one picture!

But the relative and friends not only visit to bring the cookies but they also came to bring the presents. So there were a lot of envelopes with cards and money.
We also got some traditional gifts such as crockery, bed dishes and linens. My brother and his girlfriend gave us Harry Potter wands. Hermiones for me and Rons for my man as they end up married and with kids. He knows how crazy I am about Harry Potter so this was a wonderful gift!

It was a nice evening full of eating, drinking and talking. At 10 pm everyone was gone and I collapsed into bed, where I couldn't sleep because I had a very sore throat and couldn't stop coughing.

On the next day I had my hairdresser appointment and afterwards my friend came over to do my make up. Everyone asked me if I was nervous already and surprisingly - I was not! I was really calm and relaxed and I looked forward to the day.
Meanwhile my man met with his guests at the restaurant of his mother. He had rented a Mustang for the day. (It looked like this . Not the usual wedding car, but we like it unusual!). They all drove half an hour to my parents house where we all met.
If this would have been a traditional wedding, some men would have blocked the road to stop him and my man would have to pay them money to be able to continue driving. Thank god nobody did that!

I was nervous when I heard the car outisde! At this point, people from all around the village, family, friends, neighbours and strangers had gathered around our house to have a look at the bride. Normally the bride and the groom and all invited guests would walk from the thouse to the church and everybody in the village would stand beside the road to have a good look at what everyone is wearing. Insane. I didn't want to present myself like that, so they just had a little glimpse at me when I walked outside and got into the car.

me and my first encounter with our Mustang! love the green! And here you see a glimpse of my crochet shawl!

We then drove to our location, a beautiful thermal spa and lodge. You can have a look at their homepage here. The ceremony took place at the library and anyone who knows how much I love to read knows that this was the perfect location! It was really nice and beautiful, my brother played the guitar, his girlfriend (a jazz singer) sang some songs, the mothers cried, we couldn't stop smiling and I was so excited all the time that I forgot my bouquet in that room and have not a single photo of it now.

After the obligatory champagne we took hundreds of pictures. Of every guest and then of course of the two of us. As my man doesn't know about this blog and as I don't want him to know about this blog, there won't be any pictures of him because I can't ask him, if it's okay with him. Does that make sense? Anyway, these pictures are rather personal so there will only be a few of them for you!

We then had dinner, danced a little and had a wonderful time with our closest family! We stayed at the lodge for two nights and in hindsight we should have stayed there for our entire honeymoon as our holiday in Mallorca wasn't really like we imagined it to be. But that story is reserved for a separate blog post.

At a traditional wedding, people would have "stolen" the bride which means that I would have been kidnapped by the friends of the groom, we would have gone to a bar and after a while the groom would have had to come to that bar, get me back and pay the bill of the consumed drinks. Let me tell you, I've been to weddings where the poor man had to pay hundreds of euros!
There also would have been a midnight dance, where EVERYONE dances with everyone. Which means, the bride has to dance with every single guest and also the groom. During these dances the godmother of the bride would slowly have to take off the veil of the bride. I didn't have a veil. And if you have a big wedding with 100+ guests (which is rather usual in the countryside) that means a lot of dancing. I've been to weddings where the midnight dance lasted over an hour!
After that dance, people would start to throw coins in the middle of the dancefloor and the bride and the groom would have to sweep up those coins whereas guest would always run through the pile of sweeped up money so it's harder for the bride and groom to collect the money.
Then there is a conga line accompanied by a ridiculous song about cowboys and bears, then everyone stands in a circle to sing a heartmelting and cheesy song about the value and friendship and by that time it's way past midnight and the bride and groom are normally so exhausted that they just want to go home.

We avoided all that. We had our dance (neither my man nor I are great dancers), we laughed with our family, we got tons of gifts (4 weekends at 4 different romantic/wellness/mountain hotels all over Austria!!!) ate tons of food and went to our beautiful suite at 2 pm.

The perfect wedding!

And for everyone who kept reading until the very end (thanks for your patience): Here are some pictures:

to me - the prettiest dress in the world!

me in my dress in our hotel room

we all sat on one table, since we were only 20 people. We made the decoration ourselves. I still think it's the perfect table!

two more days!!!!

Until my big day! I'm really not able to write a long blog post as I'm occupied with the last preparations. Just wanted to let you know that I'm off to getting married and right after that I'm flying for my Honeymoon to Mallorca. Just two more days until I'm having another name. Time to get excited! 

Wish you all a lovely weekend! Have fun! I sure will! Xoxo

weekend update

Hello lovely blogfriends,

I'm just popping in really quickly to give you a little update of what has been going on in my life this past week. Lots and lots of work - as always. Long days, early starts and short evenings. But the positive thing is, that I'm leaving my house when the sun is already shining and I always come home before it's totally dark. Spring is finally on its way and for a summer girl like me this is always the nicest time of the year!

It was my birthday yesterday and I really got spoiled by my lovely family!

My man got up at 5:30 in the morning to make me breakfast. Now let me tell you that C is NOT a morning person. So for him to get up that early although he could sleep for 90 more minutes is really a sign of true love! And it was the most delicious breakfast. Now picture of that, let's just say, that I'm not really a morning person either.

I went to work early (so I could leave early) and was gifted with these nice things from my nice colleagues! I was really touched, given that I only work in that office for 8 months now! 

I spend the evening lying on the couch (with the window open as the weather was really nice) and my man and I went to have dinner with my mother in law (who's birthday is today). She gave me the most beautiful flowers and a voucher for a new yarn shop that just opened up but that I haven't gotten around to visit yet. And it's not only a yarn shop, they offer knitting courses as well. I always wanted to learn to knit but I somehow never get around to really sit down, watch endless youtube videos and finally get a grip on it. So that voucher was just the perfect present!

Oh and speaking of yarn: here's what's on my crochet hook lately. Or rather, on my hooks, as I am working on 3 projects at a time now.

This will be a baby blanket for my niece/nephew. My sister in law won't tell us the sex because the baby father doesn't want to know. We're guessing it's a boy, but secretly hoping for a girl as she already has two sons. But in the end no one cares about the sex, as long as it's healthy.

This is a shawl that I'm making for my wedding dress. My dress has got a little color in it and I think that this greyish lilac should match my dress perfectly. I'm nearly done now, just two more rows and then sewing in the ends. The wedding is "still" 5 weeks away so I should be able to finish it. I really hope that it will look good together with the dress. I can pick up the dress only two weeks before the wedding, so there won't be time to crochet something new. So it will just have to look good! Oh and it's made from a yarn that's made of Baby Alpaca and Silk. It's the most luxurious yarn that I've ever worked it and it's just so soft and snuggly and light and yet very nice and warm. I am totally in love with it. If you want to make the shawl yourself, here is the pattern.

And this is a top, that I showed you here. Once it's finished it should look like the first picture on the post. I want to have it finished for our honeymoon in Mallorca, but if I don't make it in time it's no problem either.

Oh and because the Mario blanket photos are really, really, crappy, I'll show you the big blanket in all it's beauty and this time in sunny daylight. Looks much better, doesn't it?

So ladies, I'm off to Bratislava now. It's my bachelorette party and I'm spending the weekend "abroad" with my friends. It's really just a thirty minute train ride from where I live but hey - another country is another country. 
You won't hear anything from me for the next days because I rarely drink alcohol and I'm absolutely no party girl so I am in no way used to going out all night long and I will suffer for days on end for that. But hey - you only marry once. Or at least that's what my goal in life.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! :)

Taking Stock: March

Making : a baby blanket for my nephew/niece and my shawl for my wedding dress.
Cooking : quick and easy and mostly vegetarian things lately.
Drinking : nothing yet, but probably way too much alcohol at the weekend. it's my bachelorette party, yay! :)
Reading: Just finished the new book from T.C. Boyle. I liked it.
Wanting: for the next four weeks to pass so we can go on our Honeymoon!
Looking: at my wedding to-do list. It's surprisingly small.
Playing: Norah Jones on the stereo.
Deciding: on which way I want my hair at the wedding
Wishing: that the weather would be warmer. I long for spring.
Enjoying: the fact that it's my birthday on friday and that I will leave work super-early!
Waiting: for the weekend to come. You know, hen-night.
Liking: the fact that I still have butterflies in my stomach when I look at my man!
Wondering: if I will survive the weekend. I don't know the last time when I drank more than two glasses of wine...
Loving: my man.
Pondering: on my next crochet project once the baby blanket is finished. probably something that I can wear! 
Buying: nothing. I bought our rings this month, there's not much money left.
Watching: House of Cards.
Hoping: that spring will come and stay. I need warmth!
Marvelling: at my baby blanket. Will show some pictures of it soon.
Cringing: at the thought of having to work next monday after a weekend of drinking! ;)
Needing: holidays. and sun. and warmth. and a new bycicle.
Smelling: the hot, fresh coffee that stands here beside me.
Wearing: unfortunately still my winter jacket.
Following: a lot of lifestyle and sport blogs recently.
Noticing: that I got truly lucky with my job and my home and my man and my family and my friends.
Knowing: that I'll have my last name only for four more weeks. Strange feeling.
Thinking: about going for a run after work. I managed to go for a run twice a week for the last three weeks. I want to keep that up!
Admiring: every person who manages to stay organisied and tidy. I'm always drowning in chaos.
Sorting: out my bookcase. I actually did that last weekend, but it was already march. Got ride of some books that I got for free but will never ever read.
Getting: something for my birthday, this weekend, I'm sure.
Bookmarking: fitness plans. Though I never follow them!
Opening: a packet of chocolate to go with my coffee. I'm so sugar addicted at the moment...
Giggling: will happen on the weekend.
Feeling: grateful. and happy.
Snacking: on coffee and chocolate. Definitely will go for a run in the evening!
Wishing: that everything will work out fine.
Hearing: Norah Jones and Katie Melua. I'm so in love with their voices right now!

do you have a minute?

And by that I don't mean, do you have a minute to spare to sit down and read my post, but do you actually have a minute of time that you could give to me? Because I need every minute that I can get right now...

As you probably know by now, my man and I are getting married this year. In April. On the 18th, to be exact. Since it's a rather small wedding (only civil service and about 20 guests, parents, grandparents and our siblings) we decided that we don't need to start organising until the play is over. Which is now. So we started and boy, is there a lot to do! My calendar is full with things I have to do, to buy, to make, to organise, to look up...it's crazy! So there isn't much time left to do some blogging and oh, how I miss it...

If you're already married and have some useful tips for me, please, please, please let me know! We try to get everything done in January. AND we're trying to have fun and not get too stressed about everything. I will keep you posted and updated as soon as there are any news. 
We've secured the date and we already have a rough schedule. I bought my dress two months ago and still wait for the delivery. On Friday we're meeting our photographer to talk about the details and on Saturday we will probably have a meeting with the organisers at our venue. 

Oh and in case you're interested, we're getting married here. It's a Spa and Lodge and it's got something to do with the start of our relationship. Beautiful, isn't it? Yeah, I think so too!


P.S.: I'm a little more active on instagram. You can find me under the name woolly_bookworm. Come by and say hello! :)