The wedding

I'm back! I know I have been terrible lately, it's been over a month since my last blog entry. But in my defence I've had a wedding to plan and execute. The best wedding ever! Here are the highlights:

On Friday the 13th April (we like to tempt fate) we travelled up to the Peppers Anchorage hotel in Corlette, Port Stephens. The entire wedding party consisted of Dwayne and I and our parents. We went for a lovely tour of the Hunter Valley in a mini bus driven by a man who according to my dad resembled Vic from the Flying Doctors (similar hair do, at least). A very happy Dwayne spent what was left of our wedding budget on some fine wine.

Result of a day in the Hunter Valley

On the morning of the 14th April (100 years to the day since Titanic hit the iceberg) we went sailing. It was a glorious morning with clear skies and bright sunshine. Unfortunately one of the main features of sailing is wind in the sails - and there was no wind. We had to motor around for a while until the sun whipped up a little wind and eventually we managed to get the beautiful yacht to do about 4 knots under sails. Not much of a sailing adventure, but I was quite happy at the bow dangling my legs over the side and watching the dolphins play near the shore. One dolphin even swam up right next to the boat and rode the waves off the bow just like you see on telly. Amazing!

Husband-to-be

Champagne on Ice

Once back at the hotel, just before lunch, the hair and make-up ladies arrived for me, mum and Dwayne's mum. We had some chilled white wine, got some room service for lunch and were made pretty. Dwayne and the boys were in the very next room so we were communicating over the balcony partition, but the rules were strictly no peeking!

Dani from Wedlocks working her magic

Just before 3pm Phil the photographer arrived. He was rather surprised to find the bride (that's me!) lounging about in jeans completely chilled 20 minutes before the start of the ceremony. I think that was the best thing about our wedding - no reason to stress! It was all for us, about us and by us. I was happily project managing in my jeans until the very minute before the ceremony, then I simply jumped into my dress and with a quick touch-up of the lipstick I was ready to go. Just the way I like it.

Final touch-up

Proud father of the bride

The ceremony was perfect. My sisters were present via webcam, even though it was 7am in Sweden everyone was dressed up and ready with the champagne. Dwayne was so nervous when the time came for him to say his vows, I thought he might topple over and faint. He nearly had me in tears, I think I was channelling all his emotion. But we got through the entire ceremony without fainting or crying (we left the crying to everyone else), and were finally presented to our families as Mr. and Mrs. Cassidy.

After the ceremony we headed out to the marina for some photos. Phil the photographer did a wonderful job and I had the time of my life. I never thought I could enjoy having my picture taken so much! I think it was all because of my fairytale dress. It was a chiffon dream with a long train and I think every girl should be allowed to spend one day (at least) in a dress with a train. I felt like a six-year-old girl in a princess outfit.

Mr. and Mrs. Cassidy

In the evening we all gathered for dinner in the hotel restaurant. We had chosen to have the chef's selection menu, and I have never seen so much cutlery on a table before! We were served plate after plate of gorgeous little dishes and in the end we spent four hours in the restaurant and used every single piece of cutlery.

It really was the perfect day. Everything went to plan (due to excellent project management, I'm sure) and even the weather was smiling at us. I had so much fun I would do it again every weekend, but Dwayne says we can't afford it...