Reliving our Engagement Photo Shoot.

Our wedding photographer Matthew Mead has decided to feature our engagement shoot at Cockatoo Island on his blog this week, it's great fun looking through all those photos again.

Photography by Matthew Mead

We had so much fun that day, I highly recommend Matt, he was awesome. I also recommend going to Cockatoo Island, it is great fun to explore!

Honeymoon Highlights: Flat tyre!

Everyone has to be very resourceful in Cuba because you can't often get new or replacement parts for anything. The fact that their 1960s cars are still running like clockwork is testament to that. When our lift to the beach got a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere about 10km from the town I was a bit worried, but the driver had it fixed in about 5 minutes.

Uh oh!

The view while the driver changed the tyre

We made it to the beach, then it rained

I told the people that we were travelling with that it is probably my travel curse. Every time I travel something crazy happens; like the time my train got caught in an avalanche and I had to carry a 92 year old lady through waist deep snow, or the time we got stuck on a tiny island with no power or heat in minus 9 degrees. Luckily we only had 2 minor vehicle breakdowns in Cuba!

Wedding Wednesday: Black and White.

While our wedding was nothing short of an array of crazy and colourful stuff, there are some black and white shots in the mix that I think are really beautiful.

Photography by Matthew Mead

It could almost be the 1930s! My dress was a vintage 1930s silk number that I found on eBay for less than $150 including shipping from the US and it fit me like it was made for me, how lucky was that?

Salted Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies!

Oh yeah, you read that right. Salt. Peanut butter. Chocolate. All in a cookie. Read it again just to be sure, it is just as amazing the second time you read it. I read somewhere about someone eating salted peanut cookies, and then I saw a choc chip cookie and I thought to myself "This is your opportunity to create the world's first super-cookie!"

Super Cookie: Salted Peanut Butter and Choc Chip 

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 cup plain flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup margarine
1 1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup raw sugar
2 eggs
2 cups dark chocolate chips
5 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

METHOD
Melt your margarine and with an electric mixer beat the melted margarine and sugars together until thoroughly blended, add the eggs and continue to beat. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and peanut butter to the mixing bowl slowly and beat on a low speed until just combined. Fold the choc chips through gently and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours; this is the secret to getting chewy, almost fudgey, cookies.

Preheat your oven to 175 C. Make small balls of dough and place them at least 3 cm apart on a lined baking tray, flatten slightly. Bake for between 9 and 11 minutes; two minutes before the cookies are done take them from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt. The cookies look underdone but they will continue cooking for once out of the oven. If the edges have started to brown before you pull them out then you've cooked them for too long.

Let them cool before you handle them too much or they will get saggy and misshapen, then eat your cookies! These are so tasty that Michael kept eating them until he felt sick. Twice.

Honeymoon Highlights: Boats, goats, and a beach.

We accidentally ended up on a long, steep hike one day! We were meant to go on a gentle walk through the countryside to swim in some pools inside a cave near Baracoa, Cuba. Unfortunately for us the military had decided to do some training in the region so we chose an alternate route.

It was amazing, but I thought I was going to drop dead from exhaustion! Hiking is really not my thing! We walked all the way to the top of the hill and down the other side, it took us about 4 hours. We visited some local farms at the top of the hill and ate tropical fruit straight from the trees. We ended up on this beautiful yet treacherous beach at the end, so no swimming but a stunning outlook.

Wedding Wednesday: Beaming Bride.

Here are a couple of shots of me that I really liked from the huge number of photos from the wedding.

Photography by Matthew Mead

Staring down the lens!

Holiday Highlights: Classic cars.

One thing that Cuba is famous for is its classic cars. Since the American trade embargo came in to full force in the 1960s it has been crazy difficult for the Cubans to get cars. So they made do with what they had and many of the vintage cars are in amazing condition.

There was limited automotive trade with Russia up until the mid 90s, meaning that you see the odd Lada, and more recently some cars imported from Asia. Foreign diplomats have the fanciest cars around. I think I'd rather one of the classics, wouldn't you?

Wedding Wednesday: Tripping!

It's one of those things you expect to see in a slapstick comedy; the bride tripping over and rolling down the aisle. I am sure the possibility of it happening goes through every bride's mind, especially as she is trying out her wedding shoes. Well it very nearly did happen to me!

Photography by Matthew Mead

I remember my brother telling me it was going to be a tight squeeze getting all three of us down the aisle together in a dignified manner, and I remember that the last thing I said before the music started was "Both of you make sure that you don't step on my train or I'll fall arse over tit!"

Well, one of them (neither will own up) did step on my train and with nowhere for my next step to go in that fitted dress there was a stumble. I heard the whole church full of people gasp as I managed to take a few lollypop steps, regain my footing, and crack up laughing.

Could have been a disaster!

Honeymoon Highlights: Beautiful blue.

The Cuban landscape is so full of colours! Here are some of the beautiful blue things we saw in our travels there.

Broken bus

Dear little blue house

Soviet style apartment building

Motorcycle

Window and air conditioner

A shop sign

Window

Skinny doorway

The crazy mix of Spanish colonial and Soviet influences in the Cuban architecture is really amazing, certainly quirky, and like nowhere else in the world.

Wedding Wednesday: My Dad.

My dad passed away a while back now and I remember thinking at the time "Who will walk me down the aisle at my wedding?".

Photography by Matthew Mead

My biggest little brother and my step-dad both walked me down the aisle on the day. But my dad walked with me anyway.