The Beatles had them in mind

Dear Readers, things have been busy of late at chez Rose Eater, and I have let March, well, march halfway through before I came around to posting. But I am ever so pleased to share the reason: there is going to be a wedding in my family for the first time! Cue in theme from 'Love Actually'!
My sister Berry, love of my life, is engaged and is to wed in a couple of months her lovely boyfriend M.J. (He has been mentioned in this blog before, in a post that invariably mentioned good food, with which he is often associated. Clearly, I like the guy.) Berry got the dreamy and romantic surprise proposal she deserved on a bridge (above) in Mangenguey, a tiny, private island in Palawan during a Philippine holiday in October. She promptly let out a tearful, touched "Ja!"--and now we're all about pegs for flowy dresses and fonts for invitations. There's a flurry of activity and swatches and (excited) shrieking going on in our household at the moment...When things get crazy, I simply threaten to swallow her diamond ring; this always succeeds in creating that pause.

My parents and I are flying over to Zürich for the civil rites in May. What makes this event even more special is that it would be the first time for me to travel with my parents to Europe. Berry and I are overjoyed we can show them our corners of the continent, the cities we've grown to love, the little things that have inspired us, the parts of our lives that were lived out largely away from their view for the last two, three years and which we have always wanted to share.

The couple wants to have another ceremony next year in this island in the Philippines. (We've got plenty, all 7,107 of them!) As they both reside in Zürich, I'm handling a chunk of the planning from over here. More checklists in my future! What amazes (and partly alarms) me is that it seems relatively simple--even too simple--to plan for a wedding. Perhaps, I am unfazed because I've handled conferences and other events before. This one just has more gowns, bigger hair.
A part of me is bracing for a scream over Skype on the day my sister realizes we missed out on a major detail of the wedding preparations. I've told her, Just don't forget to tell the groom where and when. I bring the flowers, you two bring the romance. Love is all we need.


Image credit: All photos by Berry.