29 November 2011

A fairytale wedding, my biggest blogpost yet


Over the past weekend I got to share in my cousin's fairytale wedding and I'm sure it will stay one of my fondest memories throughout my life. 


My uncle and aunt's beautiful cottage and new kitchen extension. My dream home - cosy, white, weatherboard, cottage garden, in the country, near two picturesque rivers, cows in the paddocks = my paradise


The barn where the ceremony was moved to when it started raining


Inside the beautiful marquee, setting up




Brothers Mark and Nick (Groom) setting up the chairs for the ceremony on Friday afternoon


My cousin Fi, setting the tables




My sister, mum and I organising the place names for the tables - a nightmare! 



My cousin Fiona, bridesmaid Charis and I


Our beautiful bouquets that smelt like heaven


The weather Saturday morning!


The bridle party's dresses and suit 




Charis and Erica - two of the most beautiful people I know


Me getting my make up done 



The dream-worthy car


Kevin - the bridesman and Charis 


The most beautiful woman I know 








This past week I certainly learnt a lot about marriage and love through my cousin, her husband and all their friends and family around us. I learnt that true love really does exist and just how powerful marriage is when I watched Fi and Nick together at the alter, my uncle with his wife when they cried together during the speeches, and also through my cousin's good friend Kevin when he showed us an equal marriage rights video on youtube which brought him to tears. It certainly changed my strong opinion against myself getting married and my desire to have an exclusive 2 person family. I finally saw what everyone else sees in it, realising that I was always blinded by the fact that my own parents are divorced and we can still make a family work. I never really saw the importance or appeal of marriage but now I do. 

On Thursday the 24th after my father dropped me off in Armadale my cousin, Erica and I (as we were in the bridle party), all spent the hot spring day getting our nails done and then later that afternoon, a spray tan. (Which I must admit was a very strange experience!) We all got coffees after and drove around Melbourne collecting last minute details before heading up to Alexandra in the late afternoon where the wedding was to be held over weekend. 
On Friday we spent the day setting up the marquee, the ceremony, the candles, the thank you gifts and every other last minute detail that needed finishing. For lunch we ate home made zucchini slice  around the island bench in the new kitchen and the moment seemed like one out of a book, simply perfect with us all laughing and making small talk to calm our nerves. My cousin of course, was slightly more flustered than the rest of us, as no doubt, she wanted every tiny detail to be perfect. I think all the stress was defiantly worth it though, after watching such a huge event come together so well. 
At 9.30am the next day I went over to the spa area where we were staying to spent the whole day with Erica, Charis, Fi and Kevin getting out hair and make up done while drinking champagne and in my case, eating hundreds of pringles! At around 3pm my stomach filled with butterflies as we began to slip into our dresses and get ready for the photos and then later, the car that would take us to the 160 eagerly waiting guests. 
I was first down the isle with Kevin at my arm and as soon as I stepped onto the white carpet a sea of iphones suddenly came into view and I realised just how many people were taking my photograph...I felt like a princess. 
When my cousin started to make her way down the isle, my teary uncle at her arm, the heavens opens and umbrellas flew up in the rows of guests, our hearts beginning to sink. When my cousin reached her fiancĂ©e she began to ask everyone if we should move into the barn. Eventually we did. The ceremony was a lot more cosy in there, with everyone crowding around us but I hardly noticed as my eyes, and I'm sure everyone else's too, were on Nick, the groom, because as the celebrant spoke he was blinking back tears that he simply couldn't hold back which made a lump rise in my throat and I'm sure it was the most beautiful moment I've ever witnessed, one of true love and one that I'm not sure I'll ever get to share so intimately again. 



On the Saturday, whilst Erica was getting her hair done, Kevin, showed us this Get Up video for equal marriage rights. It gave us all goosebumps and made us all cry as tears rolled down his eyes, acknowledging the fact that he and his partner Pete and millions of others are discriminated against in a country that calls itself so well developed. It still disgusts me that we don't allow it and that religion, something that is so important to many people has such a big role against it. 

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