the wedding, part 1


wedding

My little sister’s wedding – last Friday in the Hunter Valley – was certainly a family affair. Every immediate family member played a role in the ceremony as well as behind-the-scenes, which made the whole thing even more special.
- Gretchen’s new brother-in-law Shane designed the invitations and was the best man.
- Her mother-in-law, Charmaine, made and decorated the cupcakes, organised the tiered cake stand and was a witness (a sweet way to include the mothers who usually don’t get to do much!)
- Dad set aside 24 hours to handmake chocolates in special moulds she ordered in of little cars, motorbikes and boats – a nod to her new hubby Nathan’s obsessions.
- Mum helped out with the decorations, the chocolates and was a witness.
- Our sister Kristie made the veil and helped out with the decorations (her hand was almost crippled after I made her cut out all the placecards with fancy scissors!) and was matron of honour (we rotated the roles throughout all three of our weddings so we each got to be matron of honour. Not that it matters, but anyway!).
- Her brother-in-laws Steve (as in my Steve) and Tim (Kristie’s hubby) MCed the event.
And I got to play bossy decorator as well as bridesmaid. One slip though and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything as I spent a good portion of the morning of the wedding up in that tree balancing on one foot and perched on rather narrowish branches tying up the lanterns. But I think they were worth it. Here is a little of how the outside looked and the ceremony itself – I’ll post some more detail/decor pics tomorrow…
weddinglanterns
weddingaisle
weddinglanternsclose
weddingwithdad
weddingparty
weddingrings
weddingkiss
weddingtreenight
 weddingfairylights
 weddingbelles

We ended up including some battery-operated lanterns in the mix, which we turned on at dusk – so pretty in the evening having them glowing along with the fairy lights we strung up along the deck’s ceiling rafters and the abundance of tealight candles on windowsills… I’ll post some more detail and decor pics tomorrow as well as ways to cut costs with your wedding! x
{Images by me, Tim Christian & Amber Taylor}