Of course I'd heard people say that the day would fly by. However, nothing could prepare me for the beautiful whirlwind of events that was our wedding. Everything went perfectly.
The rain was threatening, sending scary clouds to hover above our venue and quick winds to sweep across Sydney before announcing a calm overcast afternoon for our outdoor ceremony. A photographer's dream!
At our venue, Pymble Golf Club in St Ives, our wedding was held on the first tee of the golf course overlooking the rolling greens and lush trees.
Our guests patiently waited for our late arrival (in a 1950's Austin Princess Limousine!) while my nerves developed. All morning I'd been excited but not exactly nervous.
As I sat in the backseat of this beautiful car, with my bridesmaids giggling excitedly, my father gripped my hand with a look on his face that only a father can have, and I realised for the first time that I was about to marry my bestfriend.
I couldn't help it, I began to cry. I walked down the aisle to Ben Harper's "Happy ever after in your eyes" while tears filled my own. I was finally here, marrying the love of my life and realising that it made me complete.
As I said in my speech on the night during my thank yous, while I was pained my mother was not able to see us marry, I thank her every day because I know she's the one who gave Pete to me, to love me and look after me when she could not anymore.
Angie King was our photographer and she rocked our photos. The shoot between ceremony and reception was the funniest, happiest half an hour of our lives. Especially the part where our Best Man ran his golf cart up the back of ours. Or maybe the part where I drove and didn't think the brakes were working, leaving the greens with a nice long tyre mark as a memento of our day!
The Reception was as quick as the ceremony, and involved the usual dinner, drinks and speeches (which we decided to do immediately after our arrival while entrees were being served). The kind words of our family and bridal party was overwhelming, and when I wasn't laughing, I was crying again. The curse of the emotional being!!!
Leading up to the wedding, I invested some time in personal DIY touches both to save money, and to personalise and tailor our wedding to our personalities, knowing there is nothing worse than an impersonal wedding. Two of my closest friends (one of which is now my sister-in-law) did all the flowers, including the beautiful centrepieces. Simple and classic, exactly as we wanted. The room looked stunning and I owe it all to them!
With the help of a bridesmaid, I designed our Polaroid guestbook out of a Kikki K diary. (All these personal touches will be uploaded when our photos are returned so you will understand the concept). Within the diary, I arranged hundreds of mini envelopes, and we organised the polaroid camera to be left alongside the guestbook with framed instructions for use! Our guests took photos of themselves (some nice, some naughty) and popped them inside the envelope with a note of advice or best wishes.
Later when we returned from our honeymoon, we spent a good hour looking through the guestbook and were again overwhelmed with the love and support of our guests and laughed hysterically at the random photos we were left with. If you are planning a wedding, I only have one bit of advice for you - USE A PHOTO GUESTBOOK! (polaroids to be uploaded in a future post!)
After a few too many drinks for everyone, and a load of dancing, our farewell ride arrived.
We were chauffeured to the Rendezvous Stafford hotel in The Rocks in....wait for it....
A BRIGHT YELLOW CONVERTIBLE CADILLAC! (I don't have photos of this yet, you'll just have to trust me when I say it was AWESOME.)
As we drove under the harbour bridge, hopelessly in love and drugged on happiness, it began to rain.
Small sprinkles of raindrops showered us in the car, and we laughed harder than we had all night. Because we were married. We would be in Japan in 48 hours. And life was great.
- to be continued.
