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Hi Everyone,
We got back from our honeymoon about 4 days ago now, after 9 nights in Fiji, and I think I've been on Fiji time since so finally getting motivated to post up a big day thread.
The night before I stayed at my own house, with one bridesmaid staying over. We had a quiet dinner, watched Mamma Mia and just chatted. Oh and uploaded her pics from my hens onto facebook lol She went to bed at 10 and I suddenly had this crazy panic that I hated my bridal hairstyle, so I sat up for an hour or so looking through bridal magazines and found a new hairstyle. So risky without a trial but I wasn't that happy with my trial style. I then got a few hours sleep, which is good for me before a big event.
Next morning was up early with hair and make up from 7. Dad picked up my sister and niece (BMs) along with my youngest niece and nephew and us 4 girls started getting primped and pretty. Took ages and the hair ended up taking longer and setting us behind schedule with photos etc, so that sucked as it meant less time for the photographer with the boys. However the hair & make up were done brilliantly by Kerry and Glenda from Perfect Reflection http://www.perfectreflection.com.au
The photographer (http://www.turningheads.com.au) and videographer (http://www.stvideography.com.au) arrived around the same time, instead of the half hour or so apart it was meant to be. Then they seemed to sort of be conflicted over photographing/videoing the accessories. Got a bit tense frome there and the house was full with my sister's partner and other 3 kids arriving, and brother, his wife and their 2 kids. But I was the only relaxed one in the house I think. Poor mum was flustered.
We had photos and all that with family and then the photographer and vidoegrapher left a bit earlier to go get some footage of the boys while we waited for the limo. We then jumped in and made our way, getting there a little early and having the limo do a couple of circles around our venue - The Bardon Centre http://www.centralapartmenthotels.com.au
Then as we lined up ready to walk down the aisle (or should I say winding garden path) then the butterflies finally kicked in big time. Thankfully all the kids were perfect walking down the aisle. They are aged 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and no one got too shy or anything. Then it was my turn, with both mum and dad walking me down the aisle. It was pretty amazing turning the corner and seeing my husband for the first time. He was smiling pretty wide and looking me straight in the eye as I made my way to him. I had mum lift my veil off my face too, rather than leaving it on during the ceremony.
Our ceremony went perfectly. We were both nervous at this stage. I could feel my husbands hands shaking and I had this crazy shaking knee (but no one could see it under the dress at least lol) But once our vows were done, the nerves just kind of disappeared. We had a sand ceremony and everyone laughed at how long it took us to create our masterpiece. Our celebrant is also a family friend, which made it more special. The first reading was done in Polish by my now Mother in law, to honour their heritage, and then re-read by my mother in English, so it was a nice way to have both mothers involved. And my sister in law did the other reading, which was a way to involve her since I was her bridesmaid back at the young age of 16.
Then suddenly we were husband and wife!
Its such a whirl after that. Its so true that the day goes so fast. We were being hugged and kissed and congratulated a million miles an hour. People were throwing rose petals at us and taking photos. Finally we found each other again and had to pose for pretend kiss and ring photos again and then were off to do family photos for half an hour and then off for location shoot. It was long and painful for our bridal party but we knew what to expect from our engagement shoot. The frustrating thing is now, I remember there were certain photos I wanted to get and that we didn’t get all of them. It goes so fast and you don’t have time to think about it. I’m sure our final photos will still be amazing, but am a bit sad we forgot those couple of specific photos. Also, our family photos were done on a hill. No idea how they will end up but apparently that’s where the light was. Our photographer has been in the business 20 or 30 years so he knows what he’s doing. We’ll just have to wait and see lol
Our reception went in a flash too. Everything ran fairly smoothly, with the meals coming out quickly and being amazing. We had sooooo many compliments on the food. Everyone loved it. It was delicious and so filling. Some friends said ‘best wedding food ever’ which is an amazing compliment. We then had speeches and again, they were fantastic. No one dragged on, they were all a bit funny and sentimental and even my poor dad did a great job. His was funnier by the fact that it was obviously written by mum and some of what he said had everyone in hysterics because of it. He’s never done a proper speech at my siblings weddings as he’s shy so it meant a lot.
We had vodka shots come out at the start of the speeches in our personalised shot glasses for guests to have during the best man speech as he did a traditional Polish toast.
Then cake cutting, first dance, father daughter dance and party time. I barely had a chance to dance or anything after that because we spent the rest of the night trying to catch up with people. But it was fabulous.
The only negatives we have of the entire night, which were more things we reflected on afterwards, were our DJ. It was through GMSoloutions.com.au and it hasn’t put me off using them in future, but our DJ was very young and lacked confidence, so he did not do a lot of the dedications or interactive stuff we requested. He also failed to activate the smoke machine until around 5 songs after our bridal waltz… we hired it for the waltz. So that was a bit disappointing. And our fairy light back drop… had no fairy lights. So minor aesthetic stuff mostly but otherwise it was a perfect day.
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