Welcome to 2009! Whether you're back at work or still on holiday we've got loads of goodies to help keep you feeling the summer love! Click here for a taste of what we've got...
Now as tradition would have it, it’s usually the bride-to-be who takes charge of the wedding, but then there is nothing traditional about nzgirl.
Jenene our managing director is getting married but instead of dragging out her childhood scrapbook and planning the day, she has passed the reins to fiancé Ken.
Now you can understand any girl being a little nervous at the thought of their boyfriend planning such a momentous occasion so we’ve asked him to keep a column on his progress. Fingers crossed he’s got it under control.
One thing that has confused men for decades, and will no doubt continue to do so for decades to come, is the desire of brides to keep their wedding dress after the big day has been and gone.
Now don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the sentimentality surrounding a bride’s wedding dress, but isn’t that what wedding photos are for? I’ll use my mother as an example (hoping she won’t read this). I first discovered that my mother had kept her wedding dress when I was about 15. It was hidden so far back in a cupboard that I literally had to climb over boxes to get near it. Needless to say it never got brought out or tried on, thank God, over the entire time I lived at home.
However, the history of my mother’s wedding dress took a turn for the worse the other day. Mum decided it was time to pull the dress out to let it see the light of day for the first time in over thirty years. Disaster was shortly at hand as Mum discovered her pride and joy had turned yellow! After taking it to the drycleaner the prognosis was not good. The wedding dress is doomed to remain in the cupboard for many a year to come. That is, of course, unless Mum takes the bold move to actually throw it away.
You may be wondering where I’m heading with all this. Well, the time has come for Jenene to organise her wedding dress. Obviously this is one part of the wedding preparation I’m having nothing to do with, other than to join Jenene, two of her bridesmaids and respective boyfriends on a scouting trip to Sydney.
The plan was simple, spend a few days in Sydney getting design ideas for the wedding dress to bring home and get made here. A simple plan or so I thought. Jenene had made appointments with a few dress designers, so off trotted the girls, leaving us boys to fend for ourselves (quite an attractive prospect!)
Day one went smoothly. Apparently a few nice dresses were seen, along with some straight out of the cheesiest and most expensive American weddings you can imagine.
Day two dawned, and off they went again. Later that afternoon, bridesmaid number one’s boyfriend Grant and I were back in the apartment enjoying a nice cool lager. In walked the girls, and the ‘we’re trying hard not to look excited’ looks on their faces made it obvious they had big news.
The conversation went something like this:
Jenene: Darling?
Ken: Yes… How was your day?
Jenene: Well, we found a dress.
Ken: Fantastic! Did you manage to take a photo so you can go home and get it copied? (Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not really cheap.)
Jenene: Not quite. Um… we bought it instead.
Ken: You bought it? That’s great. (Note that this was said with a sound of trepidation in my voice, knowing from the previous day how expensive the dresses were she’d been trying on.)
Jenene: We had to make a hurried call to Mum to ask for her credit card, and Sarah (bridesmaid) has put some of it on hers.
(At this stage I sit down.)
Jenene: I’ve got to come back in November for a fitting and pay the balance.
(Shit, she’s only paid a deposit and already she’s had to use three credit cards!)
Jenene: But it’s Ok, because the lady in the store told me that I can expect to get back between a third and half of the cost if I sell it after the wedding, so we’ll do that.
It was at this precise moment I had it confirmed to me once more that I had met the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
.jpg)
Now as tradition would have it, it’s usually the bride-to-be who takes charge of the wedding, but then there is nothing traditional about nzgirl. 
Now don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the sentimentality surrounding a bride’s wedding dress, but isn’t that what wedding photos are for? I’ll use my mother as an example (hoping she won’t read this). I first discovered that my mother had kept her wedding dress when I was about 15. It was hidden so far back in a cupboard that I literally had to climb over boxes to get near it. Needless to say it never got brought out or tried on, thank God, over the entire time I lived at home.