My Sister's Wedding

The family event of 2012.
The blessed and beautiful Bride.
The Groom with the grandest groodle surprise.
The sleepiest, snuggliest puppy Stanley.
The fairest of flower girls.
The bounty of blooms.
The darling decor.
The husband-to-be's handiwork.
The mouth-watering menu.
The tasty tiered cake.
The sentimental speeches.
The love: lavish, luminous and lasting.

You can (and should) see the fab photos here at Sweet Hope.
You can (and should) see the video from Bubblerock Studio here.
You'll be blown away by the love and beauty of the day.

But there were a few extra parts of the wedding that made it particularly special to me, and I want to make sure those memories are also kept in my mind for the years to come...

Setting up the reception area the day before the wedding was wonderful. The heady scent of flowers just increased the sense of anticipation in the air. It was relaxed and social and enjoyable (though there was much to do), and the last time I would spend time with my single sister. 

The flowergirl dresses were designed to suit the personality of each of the girls. Elara's was a long empire line dress with butterfly ruffles on the straps and a tulle over skirt. India's was a short and flippy ra-ra dress. Both were made with a piece of vintage silk, perfectly matching the colour and look of the bride's gown. It was gifted to me by my Grandma years ago, and I was just waiting for the perfect occasion to use it. The girls day was made even more special with name engraved bracelets from the Groom.

 Zeb's handmade tie and hat (and pants) made him look so grown up, and ready for his special job of handing the ring box to the Groom. 

 Elara wrote and gave some special advice for her Aunty and Uncle:

Dear Aunty Clare and Justin,

I have a thought of a few ideas to help you be good at being married.

Firstly, Aunty Clare, you need to: Give Justin presents that are good for a boy, like car or boat or fishing stuff;  Say ‘I love you’ lots of times; Cook nice dinners for Justin because I think you would be better at cooking than Justin; And go on fishing trips with Justin.

Uncle Justin, I have some ideas for you too. You need to: Tell Clare jokes and make her laugh; Give Clare massages; Give Clare manicures and pedicures, even if her feet are a bit smelly; Buy flowers for Clare, or pick some from the farm for her.

When you are married you definitely should:Be nice to each other; Do things together, instead of apart; Hug and kiss each other; Go to restaurants for dinner sometimes; Get a pet; And then have a baby, but don’t give it a mean name like Stinky Head!

With some guidance from the Bride, my baking sister Lauren and I wanted to create a rustic-but-hardly-regular looking wedding cake, and I think it looked beautiful on the day. But a stunning cake isn't nearly as memorable as a delicious one, so we set out to make this apple, cinnamon and caramel cake divine tasting. More than 2kg of apples and more than 2kg of sugar in this one made it moist and rich (and perhaps laden with dreams that involved running away to the country to grow apples and lie in the sun, or maybe that was just me?)

Above all, the friends and family and love surrounding made for the most meaningful memories. And this is exactly what a wedding celebration should be!