Sunday 21st August

I am looking forward to hearing accounts of the Big Wedding in Vanuatu. My niece Leah and her boyfriend, Mark, were invited to Alice’s nuptials last Saturday – Alice works in Island Princess (the shop not the ute…they are connected but not interchangeable!!), and her wedding was a huge affair, involving a week or so of festivities, ceremonies, changes of – ahem – costume. Leah was the only non-ni-Van guest. An honour!

The whole Tasmanian family was involved; Monique’s role was…to procure the wedding dress, on ebay, from China. Alice chose a most elaborate meringue-like gown, with much ruffling and bling, for $150. Great excitement! Great value! All Monique had to do was…order it… It turned into a nightmare; every time she pressed “continue” on her computer, the order would multiply and she would get a polite Chinglish message – “Dear Valued Client, two wedding dresses are on their way to you!” Then four…and eventually – SIX identical meringue-like gowns, with much ruffling and bling were soon to be winging their way to Australia. It took a lot of emailing and a fair amount of blind panic before Monique could stem the flow of frocks. And then the worry – would it arrive in time for her to take it to Vanuatu?? Her new Chinese Best Friends Forever (BFFs) were very encouraging. “Yes! Your dress has transport!” She hoped and prayed this meant it was on its way, and indeed it did arrive, just in the nick of time. She was too frightened to open the plastic packaging enclosing The Frock – the dog might bite it to shreds, the cats might wee on it…

Pete and I were actually in Island Princess (the shop not the ute…) at the moment of The Reveal, and we saw Alice in tears of happiness – the meringue-like gown, with much ruffling and bling, exceeding expectation and fitted perfectly.

Phew….