Two years ago today

,,,the Pal and I got married. A magical day followed by an eventful (and still magical) two years. We've been together for about 9 years, now, and our wedding was one of our many wonderful days. Happy 2 years, Pal! 

1st wedding anniversary

The Pal and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on the weekend. We spent a beautiful, sunny day in the park with a Sydney Picnic and it genuinely couldn't have been lovelier. Picnic + sun + The Pal = much happiness.

Henna

Photo by our friend Mark

When we were in Dubai, we attended one of my bestie's wedding. He married a lovely British-Indian woman and we all wore saris and had hennaed hands. (I'm the one with the red bangles). It was a most wonderful three days of celebration.

Our Wedding #7: Dancing and Party Times

Well it's one thing to have a good time at your own wedding, but we were so delighted that everyone else seemed to have an amazing time, too!

We borrowed this frame from some friends - it was sitting unused in their basement! - and it became such a great prop. Instead of shying away from the camera, guests were lining up to have their photos taken!

We also had a few chalkboards about for guests to write us messages - they were amazing!

Nothing says I'm having a good time like a sweat-soaked shirt on the dance floor. These last six photos were taken by my most excellent cousin Sarah (she of the purple flower hat below). Thank you muchly, my dear - they are perfect!

Details:

Our brilliant photographers are Jen and Justin Roberts - they are not only wonderful people, but as you can see, phenomenal photographers.

This is the last post in a series chronicling our wedding, which took place on the 23rd October, 2010. Thank you so much for reading and commenting xx

Our Wedding #6: Reception

The reception tent was just so beautiful. Big, turkish-harem style drapes, all in stark white. I put a bowl on each long table filled with green apples from a local orchard - I had hoped the green would echo the green garden outside, and be a sustainable form of decorating. People who came the next day to help clean up all took a bowl filled with apples with them - I love useful decorations!

I set up a table at the back of the room with photos of our grandparents and parents on their wedding days. Not only was it wonderful to have them all in the room with us, but it gave our guests an opportunity to get up and move around the reception tent, which is what we wanted.

That's why I also wanted to have a dessert bar. It not only looked wonderful, but gave everyone a chance to move around, meet new people and indulge in wonderful ways.

We also had small green and pink bags (you can see their edges in the shot above) for people to fill up - almost everyone took a bag to eat on the way home!

Details:
White lace paper bunting from Bauble

All glassware from Ikea and thrift shops.

Lollies ordered from here and here.

This is a post in a series chronicling our wedding, which took place on the 23rd October, 2010. Tomorrow? Dancing, dancing and more dancing!

Our Wedding #5: Post-ceremony shots

The exhilaration of the ceremony continued afterwards, hugging friends and family and having lots of photos taken.

Towards the back of the garden, there are some beautiful trees, that happened to provide a beautiful background, and protected us from the raindrops that were beginning to fall.

We found my favourite tree - a big, old Chestnut, and managed to scramble up the mossy branches for some amazing shots.

These are some of my favourite shots - and allowed us some really special time with close friends just before the reception began. It was surreal to be sitting in the tree with the Pal, looking at each other and thinking, 'We're married'!

After the tree, we ran out the gravel driveway to take some more shots. Ironically, it was here I thought we'd get the best shots, and I think it shows that you should try to be really flexible on the day and trust your photographers: they really know what they're talking about!

We chose to have lots of photos in front of the garage doors, and the one below is one of my favourites of the wedding. It's a shot of a whole group of our friends, many of whom the Pal has known for almost 20 years. Hilariously (or so I think), I am the only one smiling. We were trying to do a Victorian-style 'no smiling' photo, but I am biologically unable not to smile.

This is a post in a series chronicling our wedding, which took place on the 23rd October, 2010. Next up will be inside the reception tent!

Our Wedding #4: Ceremony

I walked down the aisle with Mum and Dad - it has always seemed to me the obvious choice. All three of us were crying - happy tears! - but crying nonetheless. We walked to our very good friend Mike's beautiful song, 'I See Love', which meant that there weren't that many dry eyes in the garden!

Our very good friend Rob was our ceremony 'MC' - he has known us both for years, and it was very important to us to have a good friend introduce the ceremony. Our official celebrant was very gracious, and was very happy to do the legal parts of the ceremony.

The whole ceremony felt like a dream - I couldn't look beyond the Pal, but felt waves of happiness and love flowing from the crowd. When I looked over the Pal's shoulder, I saw his brother and groomsmen, who all looked choked up, too. I could have never thought that the ceremony could have been so intensely emotional.

We walked and laughed back down the aisle together to 'All I Want is You', and good friends blew bubbles and wiped away happy tears, too.

This is a post in a series chronicling our wedding, which took place on the 23rd October, 2010. Next week - the reception!