All Saints, the band, are back. They are a thing. I know this because they were playing their new single in the Co-Op (think IGA Aussies) when we stopped in for a cheeky post walk chocolate pud the other day. They were probably playing the song because it was 17 degrees and sunny, which for the UK is pretty much summer and was actually pretty similar weather to the morning of the wedding.
I managed to sleep through without waking up because of jet lag the night before the wedding, but still managed to wake before my family. Wanting to make the most of the sun, I decided to chill out and bake a little on the balcony and Pinterest hair and makeup because I still hadn’t fully decided what I wanted. Hair and make up wasn’t starting until 10:30, so it was a lazy start to the day.
By this point my cold had well and truly set in, so I was after a look that was ‘cold proof’. I went last for hair and makeup and chose a low fanned bun and rose neutrals for my makeup. I kept on crying whilst the makeup lady was doing my eyeliner because of my darn cold, which made things interesting! Luckily that was all of the crying for the day and everything stayed put! We talked, laughed and drank champagne whilst getting ready with my dad on the couch watching sports and ‘complaining’ about all of the girl time. Secretly though, I’m not sure he minded all that much!
The florist delivered the flowers around 1 and I was taken aback at how beautiful they were. I had given her inspiration pictures, but the bouquets were more than I could have expected. I was starting to get really excited. At this point, time began to pass quickly and before I knew it, I was in ‘the dress’ and had closed the apartment door behind me to leave for the wedding. We had joked about making sure we remembered the bouquets, but sure as anything, two stairs down we realised we’d locked the door and the bouquets were still inside! My mum had the key at the ceremony location, so with a few key texts, my dad was in the wedding car dashing to get the keys so we could get the bouquets and be fashionably, rather than worryingly, late.
Pete had booked me an E Class Mercedes to arrive in and the car and the driver didn’t disappoint. Franco was a 50 something Italian man, who was quite camp and extremely excitable. It was debatable who was more excited about the wedding.... him…. or me! I was expecting just a transfer, but Franco had the red carpet to the ready and white ribbons on the car. It was only a short ride to the venue, but very relaxed and fun.
The days preceding the wedding were over cast and grey. In contrast, the day of the wedding was stunningly sunny and bright. Pete’s had organised his friend Dorothy and her Dad to play live music for the ceremony, which was cued by Pete’s friend Dave. At the cue, Kathryn , my bridesmaid, began to walk and I decided that I wanted to take my time and make this moment last. At the rehearsal we had planned for us to enter from behind the yacht club, so we would appear without anyone seeing us get out of the car. What we didn’t realise was how the sun would play on my dress. As I made my way around the corner and into the eyes of our guests, and my groom, the 1000s of sequins and beads on my dress lit up in the sun, and to quote Pete’s cousin’s husband made me look like ‘someone out of Game of Thrones!”
As I made my way down the aisle, I was really only interested seeing in Pete. Everyone else was a blur. When I got to the end of the aisle, he whispered over and over again ‘you look gorgeous’ and the photos will probably catch my cheesy grin in response. He was looking pretty alright himself. After the introductions we had lovely readings from Pete’s sister Natalie and his friend Dave. Whilst I had been really nervous at the rehearsal on the Saturday, I felt very serene and happy during the ceremony.
Post ceremony we said our hellos and headed off to take photos. Our venue was right on the Swan River, so we headed to the pier first. Luckily the anglers were obliging and let us have a few photos without them in shot. We were temporarily photo bombed by a man wearing nothing by shorts walking his dog, but that added some humour to the moment! Then we headed to the park next door, to take more photos and have a boat race with some extra origami boats we had made. Pete was very pleased his boat went the furthest and lasted the longest, but I think it is a moot point since he tipped my boat and filled it with water whilst ‘apparently’ trying to help me. He was pretty pleased his floated longer than his best man Grant’s….not that they’re competitive or anything!
With a final goodbye to Pete’s 98 year old grandma, who made the effort to not only come to the ceremony, but to buy a new dress for it, it was time to enter the reception as Mr & Mrs Robinson. We are both Rudimental fans, so we entered to ‘Feel the Love’. The venue looked spectacular. The large full height windows looked out over to the Perth CDB and the golden sunset silhouetting the skyscrapers. We did not know we would get such a view, and this Victorian was very impressed with Western Australian sunsets! As the sun faded, the room glowed with Chinese Lanterns and candle lit tables and had a warm and intimate mood.
We named the tables Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Scotland and Iceland after some of our favourite destinations and had post cards on mini easels to guide our guests. The tables were adorned with dusky pink table runners, and silver and pink natives to match the bouquets. On the bridal table our florist had made us an enormous spray of natives resting in a rustic box that took pride of place in the room. We had also placed small quizzes on the tables to get our guests chatting to each other and talking about our relationship and how well they knew us.
Pete’s sister Natalie, his best man Grant and Pete all gave heartfelt and lovely speeches before Pete and I finally answered the questions to the much-awaited quiz. I’m not sure that anyone got 100% but it was pretty funny to relive moments like Pete running through Edinburgh to get my handbag last year when I’d left it in the hotel and having our guests debate whether Pete had ever let me drive his precious Premier or not! (Answer is no, and I’m not that silly to ask!)
After all of the formalities, it was time to dance. For those of you who have seen the ‘dance map’ that Pete constructed, you might be wondering what song we danced to. It was an acoustic version of Beyonce’s Halo from the ‘Shall I Stay’ movie sound track. It is quite haunting and poignant and meant something to both of us, so we were both very happy with our song. Our dance went well and soon nearly everyone was up having a boogie.
It was not long after this point that my dad asked me if my cake was wonky. In my eyes the cake was nothing but a spectacular two tiers of frosted confection adorned with native flowers and our ‘the best is yet to come’ cake topper. Post wedding, and a confession later, Pete told me that in fact the cake was wonky. The top tier was too heavy for the bottom and had caused it to sink slightly. The poor florist was greeted by two stressed out blokes (Pete probably more than Grant) who had no ideas how to solve such a problem and couldn’t get onto the bakery, as it was a public holiday. Pete had been frantically smoothing out the icing with a knife and fending of his best man’s helpful, but not helpful ideas on how to fix it! Luckily the florist knew what to do and arranged the flowers in such a way it wasn’t immediately obvious! The florist later wrote me a note telling me how she quite enjoyed the panic and that Pete was a definite keeper as he was running around prior to the ceremony to make sure everything was perfect for me. Nawww!
When the clock struck 10, it was time for our sparkler send off. Our guests gathered on the lawn to wave sparklers as we left the venue to begin our married life. Well, not before Pete’s best man Grant stormed out the front door with my suitcase pretending to be the groom and gave poor Franco a heart attack by demanding that he’d had enough and he wanted to get out of there. Luckily, Franco had a great sense of humour and thought Grant’s prank was hilarious. Even luckier for me, my groom was by my side, holding some of our wedding cake in one hand, and my hand tightly in his other as we left the venue and waved goodbye to our guests. Franco of course tooted the horn and made sure we had the send off that every newly married couple should!
All in all, it was an absolutely spectacular day weather, venue, theming, food and guest wise. It was so wonderful to catch up with friends and family and celebrate our day with those closest to us. I had met many of Pete’s friends and family before, so it was all very comfortable and fun for me, and for Pete it was really special to have people who had a great impact and importance in his life there to help him celebrate such a special occasion.
For now, Pete is a happy house husband, but as the cake, and Pete always says, the best is yet to come…
Stay tuned for our hop across to Melbourne and our 'Happily Ever After Party'.
At the wedding we: had origami boat races, held a funny couples quiz, had a guest who brought his own wine glass, sparkled in the sun, said ‘I do’, caught up with friends and family, danced our first dance, stared the DJ down when she suggested a Conga Line, watched the DJ chat up a guest, renamed dusky pink to ‘man salmon’, had a sparkler send off, fixed a wonky cake, became Mr & Mrs Robinson
