My Flying Visit to Sydney + Bonus Footage of the Wedding of the Year

Bridesmaids at Paris & Todds' wonderful wedding

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post about my trip home to Sydney in early November. I guess I arrived back in Thailand and hit the ground running, and after putting pics up on Facebook I just put it out of my mind.

On November 4th I returned to Sydney for a flying visit. My pals Paris and Todd got married on November 12th and I was blessed to be one of Paris' bridesmaids. I was only in Sydney for about 9 days but the weather was amazing the whole time, blue skies, sunny and warm - lucky me!  

Here's a little photo diary of the trip.

Josette (who collected me at the airport) and I enjoying
a fresh pineapple and  mint  frozen drink from Miss Chu 

Driving over The Harbour Bridge

My girls, Evie, Brielle and Julia.
Bri made cocktails and mini cupcakes for Jules' birthday :)

Tequila, enough said.

Bri and her beautiful son Josh
(in a hand knitted froggy hat from Thailand)

6am play time...yaaaawwn

Super morning photo or me, Josh and Jules

Bri, Joshy and I on our way to do some
shopping at my fave antiques store.

So cute!

Joshy and Mummy.

Lunchtime and 'I'm not happy!'

The day I left for Thailand (March 22nd 2011) my dear friend and kind of surrogate grandmother, Tess d'Alpuget, passed away. She is buried in possibly the most beautiful cemetery in Sydney. It is on a headland and overlooks Bronte beach. My mother and I went to visit the grave.

Mum and Tess' grave

Me and Eloise at Balmoral Beach.

Yummy dinner with friends at Fu Manchu,
one of my favorite restaurants in Sydney

Beautiful Linda, my amazing friend from L.A
who writes a food blog

My beautiful friends Eloise, then me, Amanda, Julia, Evie and Katie

Amanda had come from a wedding,
I decided to wear her hat in an attempt to be Mrs Bucket 

My 2 friends named Craig doing a 'Craig sandwich'
with me in the middle

On Saturday November 12th my beautiful friend Paris married the gorgeous Todd. It was a perfect day, full of love, fun and flowers.

Beau doing Paris (in a beautiful Vera Wang dress) up

Paris was (and is always) breathtakingly beautiful!!

Paris and her beautiful sister Beau,
having photos in the park just after the ceremony

This is me at the reception,
which was held on an island fort in the middle of Sydney Harbour - WOW! 

A perfect sunset

Me and the bride

Beautiful Sydney

Todd (the groom)and I

Just Married!

The flowers at the reception were amazing!!

There was a wonderful and uplifting performance by a friend of the Bride's, Richard Tognetti AO. Who is the Artistic Director and Lead Violin for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and Satu Vanska, the Assistant Leader of the ACO. Satu plays a 1728/9 Stradivarius violin, which is pretty special!!

They played 4 songs but I was so mesmerised I only filmed about 20 seconds of one, which I have added below. 

The view from my seat at the reception.

Cutting the cake

On my final morning in Sydney I caught the ferry into the city with Craig/Dad. It was a perfect morning in my beautiful city so i got a bit snap happy.

Dad and I. I love this pic :)

And that ends my journey to Oz. It was lovely to be there, but sad to have to say good bye so soon. Seeing my buddies, eating some great food (yes including 2 dinners at Thai restaurants...WHY?!) and hanging out with my folks was wonderful!

Paris and Todd's wedding was beautiful and I am so blessed to have been asked to be one of Paris' bridesmaids. I will never forget that day.

Farewell Sydney.