my sister's wedding
A tale that is more than week old, but no matter! Obviously this is all very much my story of last Saturday - I won't even pretend to give the bride's point of view, I'm not her!
We all woke up pretty early, but probably none earlier than Steph... who decided to make pancakes for everyone for breakfast. We hung out a little, and commented how it felt kind of like Christmas... warm weather, lots of family around and everyone up early with a sense of anticipation in the air!
The other bridesmaids and the hairdresser came at 9am and the work started. I watched and hung around until about 11.30pm when some thoughts that had been rolling around in my head exploded and I called jeltzz and yelled at him for awhile (we have these fights where I get really upset over something done/not-done, he gives a perfectly reasonable explanation,and I go 'well... that makes sense... but I am still upset!' ;p ). After I hung up the phone everyone had eaten all the lunch so I grabbed some soup and took my turn getting my hair done. The others went to the make-up place and after my hair was done I got there just as they left. My make-up only took about 10 minutes and then it was back to the house and this is where things started getting a bit crazy...
Everyone was getting their dresses on (I'd had mine on for hours cause I had to put it on before getting hair and make-up done) and then we got Steph into her dress and the photographer arrived and I started doing bridesmaid-y things like getting water and carrying things which I quite liked. And there were lots of photos and everything got a bit blurry until suddenly everyone else was in cars leaving Steph and I standing outside her house waiting for... I'm not sure what we were waiting for! We were just standing there in a street suddenly devoid of people. Then it was all very... real. Steph got a bit freaked out. Then her car appeared, and Dad and I bundled her in. I got into my car and introduced myself to the driver. ;p
On the way to the church I managed to bop myself in the face with my bouquet, leaving a kiss on one of the flowers which promptly gave me a sense of ownership and I spent the rest of the day making sure I still had 'my' bouquet rather than one of the other identical ones. ;p
At the church we smoothed her out and the music started and we walked down the aisle and it was all on!
I had to hold her flowers as well as mine the whole ceremony and they were really heavy... and trying to hold them and fix her train the same time must have made an amusing sight for the audience. Nick (Ben's brother the best man) held flowers for me throughout the afternoon (phew). It was actually a bit difficult not to giggle during the ceremony cause Steph and I were sort of facing each other and the combination of happiness and adrenalin just made me want to laugh. I had to squeal really loudly as soon as we got out of the church - it had been building up! Anyway, the ceremony was over in a flash. Lots of photos, and then we all piled back into cars to go to the beach for more photos.
Then the other bridesmaids and groomsmen vanished and the photographer got worried but they turned up so it was fine. Beach photos were kind of fun... not the photo part but being on the beach was kind of relaxing.
Then we went to the wharf for more photos. There were other bridal couples getting photos taking and lots of random tourists watching. I told the onlookers they could rank us and vote a wedding off the wharf. ;p Then we walked from the wharf to the hotel were the reception was. They gave us a room to collapse in and eat snacks in for half an hour before making the 'grand entrance'. The whole bridal party was pretty tired by this point. When they came to get us we didn't really want to go. But go we did!
The reception was over in a flash... I don't think it was very long by reception standards (yay!) and the combination of responsibilities and having lots of relatives to say hello to made it whizz past. Steph felt sick so that was sad but she perked up towards the end. Nick started crying during his speech... nothing like a massive rugby player getting upset to make all the bridesmaids go 'awwww!'. Since I was head bridesmaid I had to give a speech too, which went down pretty well, even though I felt very irresponsible as the only speaker who didn't have notes. ;p My dad said some sweet things too.
And then we all had to leave! Jeremy helped us take the presents back to my parent's house, mum and I got our make-up off, and I showered and slept! My cousins wanted me to go out dancing or something with them, but I just wanted to go to bed. ;p
But my sister was beautiful and Ben will make a lovely husband (he spent a lot of the afternoon making sure Steph was okay and carrying her train for her, etc). So... yay!
But it felt so funny when they turned up to the BBQ together the next day! They are married! They come to things together!
Our last family photo!
Dad, Steph, Mum and I outside the house before leaving for the church.
Singing at the ceremony
The bridal party during the ceremony. Steph, Ben, me, Nick, Renee, Todd, Kristie (very hidden!) and Justin.
Married!
Steph and Ben are married!!
Nick and I
The siblings of the happy couple! Nick is a professional rugby player, which is why he is huge. ;p
Meanwhile, I haven't taken the bracelet they gave me to wear on the day off since I put it on.
We all woke up pretty early, but probably none earlier than Steph... who decided to make pancakes for everyone for breakfast. We hung out a little, and commented how it felt kind of like Christmas... warm weather, lots of family around and everyone up early with a sense of anticipation in the air!
The other bridesmaids and the hairdresser came at 9am and the work started. I watched and hung around until about 11.30pm when some thoughts that had been rolling around in my head exploded and I called jeltzz and yelled at him for awhile (we have these fights where I get really upset over something done/not-done, he gives a perfectly reasonable explanation,and I go 'well... that makes sense... but I am still upset!' ;p ). After I hung up the phone everyone had eaten all the lunch so I grabbed some soup and took my turn getting my hair done. The others went to the make-up place and after my hair was done I got there just as they left. My make-up only took about 10 minutes and then it was back to the house and this is where things started getting a bit crazy...
Everyone was getting their dresses on (I'd had mine on for hours cause I had to put it on before getting hair and make-up done) and then we got Steph into her dress and the photographer arrived and I started doing bridesmaid-y things like getting water and carrying things which I quite liked. And there were lots of photos and everything got a bit blurry until suddenly everyone else was in cars leaving Steph and I standing outside her house waiting for... I'm not sure what we were waiting for! We were just standing there in a street suddenly devoid of people. Then it was all very... real. Steph got a bit freaked out. Then her car appeared, and Dad and I bundled her in. I got into my car and introduced myself to the driver. ;p
On the way to the church I managed to bop myself in the face with my bouquet, leaving a kiss on one of the flowers which promptly gave me a sense of ownership and I spent the rest of the day making sure I still had 'my' bouquet rather than one of the other identical ones. ;p
At the church we smoothed her out and the music started and we walked down the aisle and it was all on!
I had to hold her flowers as well as mine the whole ceremony and they were really heavy... and trying to hold them and fix her train the same time must have made an amusing sight for the audience. Nick (Ben's brother the best man) held flowers for me throughout the afternoon (phew). It was actually a bit difficult not to giggle during the ceremony cause Steph and I were sort of facing each other and the combination of happiness and adrenalin just made me want to laugh. I had to squeal really loudly as soon as we got out of the church - it had been building up! Anyway, the ceremony was over in a flash. Lots of photos, and then we all piled back into cars to go to the beach for more photos.
Then the other bridesmaids and groomsmen vanished and the photographer got worried but they turned up so it was fine. Beach photos were kind of fun... not the photo part but being on the beach was kind of relaxing.
Then we went to the wharf for more photos. There were other bridal couples getting photos taking and lots of random tourists watching. I told the onlookers they could rank us and vote a wedding off the wharf. ;p Then we walked from the wharf to the hotel were the reception was. They gave us a room to collapse in and eat snacks in for half an hour before making the 'grand entrance'. The whole bridal party was pretty tired by this point. When they came to get us we didn't really want to go. But go we did!
The reception was over in a flash... I don't think it was very long by reception standards (yay!) and the combination of responsibilities and having lots of relatives to say hello to made it whizz past. Steph felt sick so that was sad but she perked up towards the end. Nick started crying during his speech... nothing like a massive rugby player getting upset to make all the bridesmaids go 'awwww!'. Since I was head bridesmaid I had to give a speech too, which went down pretty well, even though I felt very irresponsible as the only speaker who didn't have notes. ;p My dad said some sweet things too.
And then we all had to leave! Jeremy helped us take the presents back to my parent's house, mum and I got our make-up off, and I showered and slept! My cousins wanted me to go out dancing or something with them, but I just wanted to go to bed. ;p
But my sister was beautiful and Ben will make a lovely husband (he spent a lot of the afternoon making sure Steph was okay and carrying her train for her, etc). So... yay!
But it felt so funny when they turned up to the BBQ together the next day! They are married! They come to things together!
Our last family photo!
Dad, Steph, Mum and I outside the house before leaving for the church.
Singing at the ceremony
The bridal party during the ceremony. Steph, Ben, me, Nick, Renee, Todd, Kristie (very hidden!) and Justin.
Married!
Steph and Ben are married!!
Nick and I
The siblings of the happy couple! Nick is a professional rugby player, which is why he is huge. ;p
Meanwhile, I haven't taken the bracelet they gave me to wear on the day off since I put it on.