Claire & Pedro - fabulous, fun, feast for the senses

 Oh Claire & Pedro, I  love you!  I love you for the gorgeous portugese tarts Pedro presented me with on the day of the wedding - in case there were none left for me, after the ceremony. For the huge mound of chocolate wedding cake you brought me the next day. (Yes, there's a pattern, people - bring me food). I love you for your wonderful sense of humour, for one of the best proposal stories I have ever heard.

I love you for your united-nations wedding - where virtually everyone had flown in from some far-flung overseas country ( and I was desperate to make it worth their while) . For the gorgeous super bright orange bridesmaids and the matching orange converse on the boys. I love you for the wonderful seamless way that we blended cultures, personalities, family history - portugese tarts and eastern tea ceremony

I love you for the way you completely and utterly gave me licence to celebrate with you, to laugh with you and because, even though I practised rolling the r's in Pedro, a zillion times, you wouldn't have been mad at me if I got it wrong.

I love you for the sheer joy I felt in being a part of something that was so colourful, so bright in it's tone, and so absolutely, positively you. I love you for the giggle we had at the end, when everyone thought it was all over  - and then you turned your backs on everyone, Pedro lifted his pants and revealed a texta message on his shoes. JUST MARRIED.

Actually, there's just about nothing that i don't love about you two. Happy dance! 

                            

And while, I'm spreading the love, Matthew Mead, all round nice guy and master of the camera, I love you too - for capturing the sunshiny glory of this beautiful day in all the colour and joy I remember!

Nguyen & Teak, under the fig tree.....

I always have fun at my weddings. I always find joy in celebrating different people, and helping in my own little way to share it with every guest. I want each and every person at one of my ceremonies to walk away feeling like they know each couple just a little better than they did before. Maybe that helps them to be just a little more excited.

Nguyen and Teak made that so easy for me. Even though they are based in London, and we did virtually everything via Skype and email, I got a really good feel for what delightful people they are - and found myself  every bit as delighted on the day as I would have been had I met with them in person, over and over again. Funnily enough, even as far away as London, they were referred to me by another couple, dear to my heart, that I had married a couple years prior, Helen and Kai. They moved to London, met Teak and Nguyen, and sent them to me. Very, Very Small World!

I spend a lot of time, these days under the beautiful big fig tree across the road from Dunbar House at Watsons Bay. It's a beautiful venue, despite the beach going rubber-neckers usually right behind us.

Nguyen and her lovely bridesmaids were settling in to the bridal room with drinks, and the great fellows from GM Photographics , who took these beautiful photos ( thanks, guys!) before the ceremony and I was able to go in , have chat, make sure everyone's nerves were good - they were - and hug everyone before the ceremony. The boys had already been whipped into shape and reassured that I would take care of everything!

Nguyen was utterly elegant, completely natural, without any signs of nervousness - and looking beautiful. Her super-simple cream lace dress was divine. That girl has style.

There were laughs, they were tears and an overwhelming sense of everything being exactly as it should be, as we celebrated Teak and Nguyen, on an early January evening.

And as they walked back up the aisle as husband and wife, after many, many years together, it was written all over their lovely faces!

See!  Look how happy they are! 

Nguyen & Teak I'm sending you oooooooooo's and xxxxxxxxxx's across the ocean, and smiling as I do!

Zoe & David- super-duper-gorgeous-sweet

Some people are soooo huggable! Zoe and David are those people. Sweet and friendly, and funny and easy to get along with. Every moment  spent with these two absolutely delightful people was a treat.

We really had fun.

Their October wedding at Mandalay Lane Cove was tears one minute, laughs the next. We had worried about rain, but the morning sky held out and we were able to have our ceremony outside - which was good, because we had balloons to release in honour of the sheer good luck of them finding each other! 

I remember telling everyone that Zoe was the emotional one, David was the calm one. A moment later, a teary David interrupted me to say that clearly that did not apply today! He was the emotional one - which of course, set everyone else off.....( and then we al laughed about it!) He was just so happy... the way he should be! There was a lot of love floating around! Zoe, who looked just like a princess, just beamed the whole time. 

They were so beautiful, so sweet, so utterly delightful, that I hated dragging myself away - but I got a big hug in there, first! ( and from the car, on their way t there hotel, post reception, they called and made my day by saying that I had made theirs!)

Zoe & David, Thankyou!  You make my heart sing!

Lillian, Hinson & the Brangelina moment!

Meet Lillian and Hinson. I had a lovely, lovely time with these two - and their friendly, fun bridal party  - and even their guests! 

This was one of those ceremonies where everything is easy. Hinson was beaming, happy and relaxed from the moment I laid eyes on him. Lillian and her girls looked beautiful, excited and happy. 

The bridesmaids wore coral - which seemed to be the colour of the year - and the most difficult colour to co-ordinate with, until I bought this dress, that seems to go with everything! Hurrah for this dress! 

I had written them a ceremony that was light and funny and friendly , and I could tell the guests were enjoying themselves... and then it happened. I accidentally called Lillian, Hillian!  Hinson plus Lillian equals Hillian. Oops! So what did I do? I said it again. Hillian. I turned to them both and told them it was their very own Brangelina moment! Everybody laughed - it was pretty funny. (I bet it makes the video!)

We kept laughing and smiling the whole time, and watched as they let go two huge red balloons into the sky, to honour the legend of the red strings. 

November was an incredibly busy month for me. I did so many weddings I felt like I never stopped. But I don't get tired. I don't get worn out. I certainly don't get sick of it. People like Lillian and Hinson keep me smiling and excited every time. I might have done a lot of weddings that week, but I only did one Hinson and Lillian. No wonder I hugged them when I left :) xxxxx

up, up and away!!!!!

a huge thank you  - again - to the fabulous, funny and super clever Vincent Lai, for these gorgeous photos of Hillian - oops, I mean, Hinson & Lillian xxxxxx

Veronika & Robert - and the nudist beach!

Meet Veronika and Robert.  (They are really, really sweet)

Veronika came here ( from Slovakia) to Sydney to study English. Robert followed her over because life was no good without her. They decided to get married while they were here, and I was lucky enough to do the best bit! I had to hug her almost as soon as I met her. She was utterly delightful, and although there was a little language barrier at times, we got there!

There were some giggles along the way. Lots of them. 

Imagine a couple from overseas, unfamiliar with Sydney's little secrets, who stumble upon a "deserted beach" and decide it would be perfect for their casual holiday wedding. ( On the day they found the beach     - Little CongWong - it was wet and cool) Imagine their surprise to revisit the spot on a  sunny day and find it FULL of nudists! As it was on the wedding day....

Imagine the sight of Robert and Veronika and myself, sitting in a pub beer garden, whilst they give me a beginners (phonetic) lesson in Slovak. Believe me - Cantonese and Mandarin are easy.......

They'd say the words and I would repeat them back, over and over again, until I kind-of sort-of got them right. Why? Because Veronika's mother was at home in Slovakia, thinking of her daughter and had written a letter for her for the big day. It was a long letter. I did my best....

Imagine the poor photographer, Felipe Dorlhiac as he tried to find a safe place to shoot his photos with a minimum of  err appendages in the back ground, and videographer Tedy Sutanto in the same pickle. 

There's something funny about men on nudist beaches. Women are reasonably modest. Men are out there. Right out. And they won't sit down. So every know and again, we would catch one just (deliberately) cruising through the background.

None of it mattered. The guests  - all travellers  - had a beer in their hands and a smile on their faces. The bride slithered into a slinky (blue) g-string that one of the guests brought her as a gift, behind the rocks, and over what she was already wearing - and we laughed a lot. (They may have been laughing at my Slovak, but I was laughing because being there was so gorgeous!)

When Veronika first met me, she started to call me "Our Wedding Angel". Yep, I'll wear that one, too. 

Veronika and Robert xxxxxx

                                                            

Thanks for the lovely photos Felipe!