See Part 1 for the start of the story, and then Part 2.....
THE CEREMONY
We had the ceremony on the beach at Woodgate. We hired plastic chairs for the beach and bought a pair of white peace flags and a beach style “isle runner” (both ordered from the net, the runner was supposed to be hemp, but turned out to be plastic). We probably could have done more to decorate the ceremony, but the beach was a beautiful backdrop, I just didn't want to have to buy or hire heaps of stuff and then have to deal with returning/owning it afterwards!
My husband and I walked down to the beach and down the isle together, with Elvis Priestley’s “Love me Tender” playing in the background. When we made that decision to walk down the isle together, I was worried that my dad would be offended and I asked mum what she thought. She said that they had done the same thing (it was the 70s after all!), so we could proceed without any worries! I think some people may have thought it was a bit odd, but it felt right for us, seeing as we already lived together, it seemed a bit bazaar for my dad to “give me away”.
Our celebrant was George Dean, a Woodgate local. We met him a few times before the ceremony and he was very professional. He had also been married for a long time himself, so we trusted him to present a nice ceremony. We were very pleased with his work. He provided his own sound system and made a nice speech before we read the standard vows. Instead of writing our own vows, George suggested that we write “special words” to each other to describe the reasons why we each wanted to get married. We wrote these and emailed them to George separately, so that when he read them out on the day it was the first time we’d heard them.
Many people commented that this was a nice touch.
THE RINGS
I was happy to just have my engagement ring as my wedding rig, that's what my mum does, so I'm not used to seeing two rings, but my husband wanted us to both have wedding bands, so we bought plain gold bands. I wasn't sure if he would want to wear his, not really being a jewellery kind of man and as a tradesman it can be a safety hazard if it gets hooked up on anything. In the end we bought a nice thick gold chain and he wears it around his neck all the time, more than I wear mine, so that's been really nice.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY
We were very very lucky that a good friend of ours had just taken an interest in photography and bought himself a huge range of professional gear. We asked him if he could do our photos. He took some lovely photos during the ceremony and also videoed it for us, then some more personal shots after the ceremony and lots of group shots at the reception. After the wedding he gave us a dvd with all the photos (and made dvds for our parents and friends) and then made the video into a dvd. I used the photos to create a photobook through clickonprint.com.au because I liked their software (there are plenty of other options) and we gave copies of the books to our parents as mementos.
THE CARS
Haha, just kidding! We didn’t have any cars, we just walked across the road to the ceremony together J
THE PRESENTS
We put on the invitations that we didn’t need presents as everyone was travelling so far to be at the ceremony. Even so, most people brought something with them, which was a lovely surprise. I was worried that we would get lots of impractical and pointless presents, but we have some very intelligent and practical friends and family who all gave us useful items like towels, sheets, kitchen items, books, a magazine subscription and money (of which you can never have too much or too many).
A simple wedding in several parts - location, guest list and invitations, accommodation
A simple wedding part 2 - the dress and flowers
A simple wedding part 4 - the reception
Did you have a simple wedding? Any tips? Share your own simple wedding post here
THE CEREMONY
We had the ceremony on the beach at Woodgate. We hired plastic chairs for the beach and bought a pair of white peace flags and a beach style “isle runner” (both ordered from the net, the runner was supposed to be hemp, but turned out to be plastic). We probably could have done more to decorate the ceremony, but the beach was a beautiful backdrop, I just didn't want to have to buy or hire heaps of stuff and then have to deal with returning/owning it afterwards!
My husband and I walked down to the beach and down the isle together, with Elvis Priestley’s “Love me Tender” playing in the background. When we made that decision to walk down the isle together, I was worried that my dad would be offended and I asked mum what she thought. She said that they had done the same thing (it was the 70s after all!), so we could proceed without any worries! I think some people may have thought it was a bit odd, but it felt right for us, seeing as we already lived together, it seemed a bit bazaar for my dad to “give me away”.
Our celebrant was George Dean, a Woodgate local. We met him a few times before the ceremony and he was very professional. He had also been married for a long time himself, so we trusted him to present a nice ceremony. We were very pleased with his work. He provided his own sound system and made a nice speech before we read the standard vows. Instead of writing our own vows, George suggested that we write “special words” to each other to describe the reasons why we each wanted to get married. We wrote these and emailed them to George separately, so that when he read them out on the day it was the first time we’d heard them.
Many people commented that this was a nice touch.
THE RINGS
I was happy to just have my engagement ring as my wedding rig, that's what my mum does, so I'm not used to seeing two rings, but my husband wanted us to both have wedding bands, so we bought plain gold bands. I wasn't sure if he would want to wear his, not really being a jewellery kind of man and as a tradesman it can be a safety hazard if it gets hooked up on anything. In the end we bought a nice thick gold chain and he wears it around his neck all the time, more than I wear mine, so that's been really nice.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY
We were very very lucky that a good friend of ours had just taken an interest in photography and bought himself a huge range of professional gear. We asked him if he could do our photos. He took some lovely photos during the ceremony and also videoed it for us, then some more personal shots after the ceremony and lots of group shots at the reception. After the wedding he gave us a dvd with all the photos (and made dvds for our parents and friends) and then made the video into a dvd. I used the photos to create a photobook through clickonprint.com.au because I liked their software (there are plenty of other options) and we gave copies of the books to our parents as mementos.
THE CARS
Haha, just kidding! We didn’t have any cars, we just walked across the road to the ceremony together J
THE PRESENTS
We put on the invitations that we didn’t need presents as everyone was travelling so far to be at the ceremony. Even so, most people brought something with them, which was a lovely surprise. I was worried that we would get lots of impractical and pointless presents, but we have some very intelligent and practical friends and family who all gave us useful items like towels, sheets, kitchen items, books, a magazine subscription and money (of which you can never have too much or too many).
A simple wedding in several parts - location, guest list and invitations, accommodation
A simple wedding part 2 - the dress and flowers
A simple wedding part 4 - the reception
Did you have a simple wedding? Any tips? Share your own simple wedding post here
Very sweet!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your new blog banner.