A New Year's Eve Wedding.

Sylvia and Hans were married yesterday, on the 4 year anniversary of their first meeting. Their ceremony was held at Yuulong Lavender Estate, which is a beautiful and intimate venue for a garden wedding, and the staff there are fabulous, so helpful and involved to make the couple's day perfect. It's only about 30 minutes from Ballarat, which is not too hard for people to travel to. The Estate now has new owners, so maybe we will see some changes there in the future, but as it is now, it is gorgeous.

To Sylvia and Hans, congratulations on your wedding. I loved your very laid back approach, your focus on a family wedding, and also in doing all the catering yourselves. That would have made your day that extra bit stressful I am sure, but no-one would have guessed that your were stressed in any way at all. Congrats again, you guys are lovely x

Reflections on 2013

Happy New Year's Eve everyone xx I hope you all have a safe and happy 2014 with your family and friends. With this year drawing to a close, I want to say thank you to all who have supported me during my first year as a Civil Celebrant: you have been so wonderful and kind, and I am truly grateful. When I started I was hoping to be able to officiate at 6 weddings, but I was so fortunate to have celebrated 13 weddings, with my 14th this evening. I have met some truly lovely couples, and a few of them have become firm new friends. I have married 3 couples who were already lifelong friends and that experience was incredible. I also buried one of my best friends, an experience which was so incredibly painful and yet so joyous. I have had fun with 2 naming days, so very sweet and just good fun. Thank you everyone, my support crew, my guides, my new celebrant friends and the people I have been honoured to work with. Thank you all for a terrific 2013, a year of massive learning curves, new paperwork and overall wonderful times xx

Alexa and David's Wedding

I have been so fortunate this year, in being able to marry 3 couples who are also very close friends. This is an amazing aspect of my new life as a celebrant. I am so honoured to be able to do this, to marry my friends, it is an amazing feeling on the day and in the lead up to the big day. I get the gift of time with my friends, something which others do not get, time to share this experience with them. 

Last weekend I married Alexa and David, two friends whom I love, forever and always. We all met at work, and we will always be friends. It was an amazing day, they looked so gorgeous, standing in lovely sunshine, pledging their lives to each other. Thanks to you both for having me there to officiate, I am so honoured. It means so much to me to have been the one to have officiated your day xx

"I Promise You All My Love, Now and Forever" -- Michelle Thomas

I promise to give you all my love, for now and forever, to keep your love close to my heart so that we will never grow apart.

I promise to confide in you
 if I feel insecure.

I promise not to doubt your judgements 
or actions, without first listening 
to the feelings in your heart.

I promise to support you in everything
 you try to accomplish, because your goals
 have become our goals
 to achieve together, side by side.

I promise to look back on the good and bad times 
with a smile, to learn by each mistake
and know that, with every step of success, we will make it if we just try.

I promise to offer you all the happiness 
I am capable of giving you, to see that the future is ours 
to make the best of.

I promise to set time aside to be best friends, to dream dreams and make them reality,
and just to say "I love you".

I promise never to take you for granted
 because you are the love of my life.”

A Wedding at The Tangled Maze.

Last weekend was Melissa and Adam's wedding at "The Tangled Maze" at Springmount. I had not been there for years, and had forgotten how very pretty it was out there. What a lovely spot it is, full of roses, beautiful hedges and really great staff to provide everything the bridal couple needs. It was a lovely sunny day, a bit breezy, but just a great day to get married. Congratulations to Melissa and Adam, I wish you both much joy for your married life together x

“Carrie’s Poem”, from the show, Sex and the City.

His “hello” was the end of her endings,

Her laugh was their first step down the aisle,

His hand would be hers to hold forever,

His forever was as simple as her smile,

He said she was what was missing,

She said instantly she knew,

She was a question to be answered,
And his answer was “I do”.

Girana & Jed's Wedding

A few weeks ago Girana and Jed were married. And to make this wedding even more special to me, Jed has been a wonderful family friend for too many years to count. He is a wonderful man, warm, caring, soft as butter, funny, smart and handsome. And he met his match in his new bride Giarana. I have watched this relationship grow, and I have watched my friend become just so happy and settled with the comfort of her unwavering love enveloping him. And this makes me happy. Congrats to you both, you are gorgeous x

Hollie & Ben's Barn Wedding.

Yesterday I had the extreme privilege of being able to marry one of my dearest friends, to her high school sweet heart. It was held at her parent's home, where she grew up, and the barn was turned into a magical wedding venue, full of flowers, lights, music and great food. However, the most special moment was listening to the vows they had written for one another. They were absolutely personal, incredibly romantic, and the best tear makers. Thank you Hollie and Ben for having me as your celebrant, I love you guys, and I know that your life together will continue to be one of devotion to another and ongoing adventures, side by side.

A Rainy Wedding.

Yesterday Belinda and Nathaniel were married at Kirks Reservoir. They are a great couple, with two little kids, who each had an important role during the ceremony: they each handed over a wedding ring to their parents. So cute! And so emotional for us all, they were just so happy they both had happy tears.

 

The only difficulty was the weather. It poured down with rain, even hailing at one point, and we were so lucky that most of the guests had an umbrella. However, this did not really dampen what was a gorgeous family event, and I am so happy to have been a part of it all, especially being able to witness how happy the children were. It was just a truly beautiful moment in time. 

A Truffleduck Wedding.

When I was doing my celebrancy training, in Geelong, the trainer would often talk about a local wedding and reception venue, in hushed and awed tones. This magical spot was called Truffleduck, and we were told that if we were lucky enough to be able to officiate a wedding there, then we were very lucky: we had arrived. And of course, being from Ballarat I never, ever thought that I would ever get to work there. But guess what? I did, last weekend. I officiated my first Truffleduck wedding, with the totally gorgeous Shereena and Bo.

And it is indeed a lovely spot, with a sheltered garden area, and internally, the reception area is beautiful. But the best thing? Being with Shereena and Bo, and their families. We had a lovely time, in fantastic weather, blue skies with a balmy breeze. And I thought, what a great job I have.

Absolute Weddings

Not long ago I met a whirlwind, called Renee. And she has this great idea about a website to assist brides in the Central Victorian region arrange their weddings, a one-stop-shop of wedding inspiration. And she has done it! Her webpage is called Absolute Weddings, and this is my page. Congratulations Renee, your webpage is beautiful & I wish you all the best in making all your business dreams come true.

Sick At Home - YUK!

This week has been a week of feeling sick and sorry for myself. I have man-flu and it has knocked me off my feet. I hate feeling unwell, probably like all of you huh?? At least the weather has been reasonable (at times) and I have been able to spend time staring at it from the couch whilst watching really trashy TV (there is always an upside right, to everything?). It has been nice to be home with the animals though, they bring us all much happiness, and the orchard is coming into bloom.

Iggy and Coco

The Orchard

Remy

The Chooks

Chooks Continued.

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens

Last Sunday was a day of wedding rehearsals. One in Geelong at Truffleduck, and one here in Ballarat at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. Of course it was raining here in Ballarat, so we had some time to shelter in the Statuary Pavilion. And it is gorgeous! You really must visit the Pavilion. I had forgotten how beautiful it is.

A Lovely Wedding Poem

I found this poem online today & I just love it. It's kind of quirky & quite a bit sweet, a bit modern too.

Taking: By Andrea Porter

Is this the part where I say I do?

I lost track somewhere around

us being gathered here together?

I don't recall anyone objecting.

My mind was somewhere else,

I had this image of us both older

weathered by the years, a scene

of us driving to your mother's

every Sunday for roast beef.

Discussions about good gravy,

the dog's arthritis, your sister,

the cost of bedding plants

Do you take this man?

Yes I take him, all of him.

I take his mother, her better gravy,

her hobbling dog, the sucked a lemon sister,

the cost of marigolds and geraniums.

I do, if it's the price for loving you.

The Tradition of the Wedding Garter.

Ever wondered why we have the wedding garter? It fascinates me, but I did not have one for my wedding. So, I have investigated and I did not expect the answer that I found! Apparently the wedding garter was developed as a way to actually protect the bride. Who knew?? 

There was once a tradition in medieval France and England, which was called "fingering the stocking", where wedding guests would be invited to go into the newly married couples bedroom to investigate the bride's stockings for evidence that the marriage had been consummated.

In addition to this practice, there was also another tradition in France where the wedding guests would rush to the bride at the alter to cut off a piece of the wedding dress as this was thought to be a piece of good luck. Imagine how scary that would be? And how odd as the wedding would obviously end with a beaten up bride left standing at the altar in a shredded dress.  

Eventually these traditions were probably considered to be too intrusive and aggressive towards the bride that some kind soul decided to save the bride and amuse the wedding guests by developing the garter for the bride or groom to throw at them. 

A photo at the launch of the Ballarat Wedding Industry Network.

As I have previously said, I went to the launch of the Ballarat Wedding Industry Network, (BWIN) and I had my photo taken with two other local celebrants, who are also great friends. This is the thing, the BWIN is there to promote the wedding industry and to encourage greater collaboration between service providers. I am lucky to already have this with quite a few local celebrants, who are kind, generous and happy to share knowledge with each other. We are a lucky little group of celebrants, and we seek to support one another as professionals, and also as friends.

 

Ballarat as a Wedding Destination.

Last night I attended the launch of the Ballarat Wedding Industry Network (BWIN). This not for profit group has been formed to unite as many of Ballarat's wedding industry professionals as possible, to help promote the industry as a whole, which is a marvellous idea, and long overdue. The goal is to provide a possible "one stop shop" for bridal couples, based on the BWIN website. After the official launch we heard from George Sossi, who is the head of Ballarat Regional Tourism, and it was interesting to hear the two entities can merge together to make Ballarat a place to destination weddings. And why not? This is a gorgeous town, with such a rich history, and where this history can be seen and experienced beautifully at a wedding event. I think as people who live in the region we are so lucky to have such great opportunities to marry amongst this all. I wish BWIN all the best, and very much look forward to being a beginning part of this amazing opportunity.

Kathryn's baby shower

I have a lovely friend called Kathryn. We met through our husbands, who used to work together, and they are also good mates. From the moment we met, Kathryn and I have bonded, and I know that we will always be friends.  She funny, warm, caring,  she has an enormous generosity of spirit, she is beautiful and smart and she is PREGNANT! Yesterday we had her baby shower, where I was able to meet some more of her friends and family. It was actually the first baby shower I have ever been to, and it was just so sweet, to focus on such a joyous event in her life. And look at the cake! It was amazing, and obviously, "we" are having a baby boy. He is a lucky little boy, because he will have a very happy family life, his parents are awesome, and I am so pleased to be able to call them my friends.

Janine & Troy got married!

Last Saturday I had the honour of officiating at Janine & Troy's wedding. I first met these two at a previous wedding, on an extremely HOT January day. I was struggling to carry all my equipment to the venue & I was wearing stilettos. Troy offered to help me, & as I told Janine at our recent rehearsal, that was the day that I fell a little bit in love with Troy. He is such a caring man, what an absolute gentleman, & she is just a carbon copy of him, a warm, loving & genuinely awesome woman. They took my card, & then contacted me to officiate their wedding. I adore these two, they are so funny together & it is patently obvious how in love they are. We had fun: so many laughs, a few tears but above all there is their abiding love & respect for each other, which made this a perfect day.

They chose to marry at Mount Buninyong Winery, in Scotsburn. What a great venue! This was their first wedding after updating all their menu. It was a beautiful venue, set in amongst the bushland. Please go to have a look yourself, they are lovely people.