My wedding

It's been one week since A and I tied the knot. The day went so quickly, in the end. I started lazy like: woke up in my lovely designer studio room at Clarion Soho Hotel (had long polished concrete corridor, massive bed with missoni cushion, comfy couch and armchair, and a rooftop deck pool, though in the drizzling rain that wasn't much go). Nat joined me from Sydney and we made our way in my car to the markets, via a garage sale. It was raining, raining and we just wanted food at Lucia's before we kept moving. Fuelled up on coffee and then I relocated to get my make up done (never wear make up). 

By this stage it was apparent that we'd have to get married undercover, so Andy and I swapped calls before finally confirming with our celebrant and gatebearers this change of plans. I left A to inform the Botanic Gardens staff and our photographer, and returned home to dress. The dress looked beautiful on, as did my shawl, made of embroidered organza. Good choices. The dress was made of silk satin, and felt luxurious on, fitted in the middle and flowing to my knees, still a "me" dress, but still wedding like. 

We then had to visit Nana and Grandad, take some photos and then my friends arrived to take me into town. I was early and slightly nervous, so joined friends in the Botanic Bar for drinks (yes, a schooner of beer). This was a good idea, my photographer met up with me and my friends and I had fun with our phone cameras trying to capture the glamorous interior. Finally it was time to join A across the road, where we did a long loop through the gardens, past glistening flowers and autumn leaves, whilst our photographer snapped us. The walk ended in front of a pond, facing the rotunda. All I could see where our 80+ guests gathered together under the rotunda roof, peering at us. Music by Philip Glass from Glassworks was playing. 

I felt so nervous and happy but shy, overcome by emotion but completely thrilled that my wedding was going so well. Tears were in my eyes and my nose (and still come back when I recall the afternoon), but I grabbed A's hand and focussed on him. This meant that it was a long time until I was brave enough to look at all my guests. Instead I listened to my celebrant who guided us through, opened up with an explanation of why we'd chosen the Botanical Gardens for our ceremony and soon it was time for the readings. There were 5 readings-3 from friends, 1 from A's sister and one from him, on the topic of marriage. Each of the readings meant something to us, still, and it was good to hear them again. 

 I could see my 3 nephews seated in the front row. Ned was quietly listening, Gus was sitting in my Mum's lap before relocating, and Ash was intently listening and watching us. When he was asked to bring his older brothers to the front, for their ringbearing duties, he confidently strode up and watched the exchange. We read our vows from cards we'd written out the night before, and then it was over, time for signing the papers and smiling and laughing. Family photographs then took place, plus hugs from friends, farewells to people not coming to the reception. The boys had to run down to the pond, Ash took some skidding slides. He managed to cooperate with photographs then it was just the 2 of us and Ben, chasing the last of the autumn light as we posed for photographs. 

I felt as though I hadn't really looked closely at the gardens for a long time and didn't actually spend enough time there in each season. For a long time I had a screen saver of a summer's picnic on my screen, but revisiting it in autumn was quite touching: a place of tranquility and calm, a repository of many peaceful memories. Then it was on to the Flying Knife restaurant in Semaphore. All evening people kept telling us how good our ceremony was: simple, meaningful, touching. It was just as we wanted-authentic to us ,but still very much a ceremony about commitment. 

The evening reception was fun too. I can remember arriving and walking along the verandah that skirted the conservatory room. Inside were my nephews, slumped and sitting at the long table alone whilst grown ups chatted and drank. Then they saw us and their faces lit up. Ash ran to meet us at the door, yelling to me, "You're sitting next to NED!" (Apparently Ned was overhead telling his brothers excitedly that he was seated next to me). The atmosphere in the restaurant was perfect: a shelter from the cold evening, with a fireplace burning, beautiful table decorations and all our guests buzzing together. We tried to mingle as much as possible, enjoy our food and enjoy the company of family and friends. We each had cousins/uncles/aunties that had travelled from interstate, which was very special. Friends had travelled to, and it was just a good night to be together. 

I enjoyed receiving compliments about our night, about how well we had pulled together our wedding, on the choices we had made. A looked as though he was just enjoying himself, enjoying chairing the speeches, enjoying the limelight. I was so happy, then so overwhelmingly tired, I thought I was going to faint. Managed to work through that, but was very pleased when the night finally ended with all our guests leaving fairly uniformly together. It just went so quickly.