Wedding Blog

I had the pleasure of marrying Craig and Emily at Bramble Grove back on 11 January 2014.

Then one day I was surprised to see Craig at a wedding.  He was providing the wedding  transport.  What a statement it made as the wedding party turned up in a Kombi.


I asked Craig to promote what he does and this is what he kindly shared with me:

If you want to arrive in style, but not in a limo, why not let Bazil make your day that little more special.
This VW style icon makes a fabulous alternative to an ordinary wedding car.  You can even capture the fun and romance by featuring a split screen in your wedding photography

We endeavour to create one of the highlights of your day with a unforgettable journey to your ceremony,
reception, event or photo site.

We will collect you from your first location (e.g. home/hotel) and drop off at wedding venue (e.g. garden, winery, church/registry office).  We will remain at the venue and then escort you to the second location wherever your wedding reception is.


http://canterbury-kombi-chauffeur.webs.com/

I love getting emails saying "Hi Julie, my boyfriend and I are getting married in November and we are looking for a celebrant.  You were recommended to us by friends of mine that used you for their Civil 
Union Richard and Richard."  It went on to say "at this stage the date  we have in mind is only tentative as Daniel and myself currently live in Sydney and trying to organise a wedding while in a different country
is proving more difficult than we thought".

So we started our relationship in February via email and on 6 November at 4.30pm the guests had assembled.  The couple to be married Dan and Phil were suitably nervous.  The guests were relaxed and mixing well.
Drinks had been distributed.  Renita Stuart the Photographer was present and the ceremony began.

A nice simple ceremony for the two boys now living in Sydney.  The energy around the couple was great and the wedding party with children were having a great time.

A lovely couple married.

Wishing Phil and Dan Marchant-Bell a long and happy life together.

"There is no moment when friendship ends and love begins, because friendship is always a part of true love."
That is a quote, I often get asked to read at weddings.

It is important to have friends!

 I am lucky to have a best friend who lives only a Facebook message away.  Sometimes email, often phone calls or even a flight away.  That is my female friend. 

My other best friend is my husband who is an email or walk away.  We often joke about me working in my office and him upstairs in his space.  We have a rule – you cannot yell out to communicate.  So sometimes an email is an efficient way to communicate.

I thought I would challenge you today to think about what characteristics are important in your friendships.

Write down on a page 3 columns with three headings.  Very important; important and not important to you.

Now think of the charactistics of your friends or people you spend time with.  Good listener, non judgemental .... the list could be very full. Here is a few to get you started.  Its not a complete list but a starting list!
Honest, sensitive, energetic, patient, happy, loyal, timid, funny, assertive, wealthy, artistic, dependable, happy, courageous, helpful, talented, enthusiastic, creative, clean, loud, serious, quiet, popular, polite, gentle, kind, intelligent, brave, ambitious, creative, sport, strong, tidy, fair, encouraging, attractive, confident, generous supportive, responsible. 

Choose five from the list as the most important; 5 mid range and 5 not important.

Now think about your friends again.

Can you find someone who has those top five characteristics in you friends?

Are they your best friend?


I had the absolute delight of marrying Francie and Andy out at Millwood, Ohoka.

I received this thank you message: 
Hi Julie, 
Thanks for the lovely ceremony. Andy and I both thought that you did a fabulous job of helping us relax and enjoy the ceremony. 

All the best,

Francie Sutherland

Emma Brittenden Christchurch Wedding Photographerwww.emmabrittenden.co.nz/


I did intend to blog the wedding but their photographer, the amazing Emma Brittenden has done
her photographic blog.  It tells such a beautiful story - that I have shared the link here for you.

http://www.emmabrittenden.co.nz/francie-andy-ohoka-wedding

On the 18th of October I was at Hampton Lea Gardens for a delightful morning wedding.

I said to the guests that this wedding would be one they would always remember.  Yes great groom; beautiful bride and I mean beautiful; happy guests; fantastic wedding venue; nice day; good photographer; great venue co-ordinators!  Yes everything you need for a great wedding.  Yes all those things, but that is not why, I will remember this wedding!

I hope Andrew and Emily don't mind that I share the lovely things that happened that made it very special.

The groom, a great guy, had to go to the bathroom just before the beautiful bride walked out so a few minutes delay.  Then I thought to ask the Groom if he had the rings.  I won't repeat what he said and off he went to get them from a bag inside.

Finally the bride was able to enter and I had noticed on her hand a blue plastic ring (probably came out of a Christmas cracker) - must ask Emily for the story behind the ring.  Emily tells me: "Yes, a christmas cracker ring!  Andrew actually stole it off my mum as she did the dishes on Christmas day last year, then proposed to me on boxing day."

So standing before me stood the couples and the guests were seated.

Laura, Andrew's sister was the MC, the reader and she had earlier told me a newly appointed Celebrant in Australia.  I thanked Laura after her reading and she sat down.  Andrew and Emily were about to exchange the vows when Andrew alerted me to the blood on his finger and hand.  The christmas cracker ring had sliced his finger!  Beautiful dress and blood don't mix.  So we got tissues and got that sorted and we got them married.

That was the first time I had a blood bin incident at a wedding in my fourteen year history of marrying people.

For all those little challenges, I still felt it was a beautiful wedding with its own unique twists.

Wishing Mr and Mrs Johnstone a lovely life together, up in Hamilton. 



I had a hard job choosing which photos to include with my blog.  Beautiful work Astrid.
Astrid.
Pohutukawa PhotoGraphic

So in Christchurch it is our anniversary day.  It is referred to as SHOW DAY.  Yes our big A&P Show happens in November.  For three days town meets country or if you prefer country comes to town.   It starts on Wednesday and goes, Thursday and culminates with Show Day on Friday.  The sun is shining and it is expected to get to 15.  I noticed fresh snow on the mountains yesterday so there could well be that chill in the air.

Parents and children generally flock to the show today and there are many traditions built around this day for families.  I remember back to the days when my brother was shearing at the show and that meant we went along to support him.  In recent times, I remember going with my daughter, when she was about 3 years old.  I think my husband and daughter went together one year.   It is expensive to get in and I think many families would love to go if they could afford it.   I know the radio station has been swamped with calls of people looking to attend by winning a free pass.  $27 for adults and $10 for children, under 5 are free.   Yes, I think that is expensive.

What does all this mean for the wedding industry?  Yes, indeed another day to celebrate weddings.  Why do you think people want to marry on this day?   It is a very easy answer.  You know why!  Yes you do.  Can you guess?   I want to tell you?

Its love!  That’s why couples choose to make that commitment to each other.  Around love, there are many interpretations of what love is and what it means.   When you really listen to couples sharing their vows, you can get a pretty good indication of what love means to them.  It’s a combination of promises they are committing to sharing for the rest of their lives.

A while back they said couples were not saying until death do us part.   I personally believe that many couples are sharing the same sentiment with a different choice of words.  “For evermore” is popular.  That will have to be another blog.

So YES today is a big day in the wedding industry.  
There are lots of weddings and that means, lots of couples will today say  “I DO”. 

 Photo from Auckland Cat Club Inc.

Every now and then I receive a lovely message through Facebook.  This particular message was received recently.

Hi Julie
You married myself and my husband Wayne on 26/11/2011 at a cricket themed wedding and just wanted to tell you a wee story.
We have recently become very good friends with a couple and we were talking about our wedding day and found out that they got married the same day, month and year that we did. We all thought what a coincidence and laughed.
I have nearly finished scrap booking my wedding album and was showing it to her the other night, and when I turned to the pages of the ceremony she laughed-not only did we get married the same day we also had the same celebrant!! You. (And you were wearing the same outfit)
She loved her ceremony just as much as we did. 
Rebecca

Oh Rebecca - I do remember your wedding - it was so special because of the cricket theme you had - not sure who the second coupes was!!  Probably had no time to go home and change. Can I share that story - love it! In fact I would like to blog your wedding - have you got a photo I could put with the story. Thanks in anticipation, Julie

I asked Rebecca to tell me what she enjoyed most about her wedding day!

My favourite parts of the wedding was where I was able to walk through the white picket fence like the batters do, stand in front of the wickets, and having the date in the score board.

You helped us write in, that my husband had to provide me with chocolate, and I had to let him think, dream and play cricket.  Then at the end of the ceremony my husband (Wayne) had to bowl at the wickets (and hit them!!) before you pronounced us husband and wife.

You were beautiful how you helped incorporate our children into the ceremony and you made the whole process so easy and not stressful.  Once again thank you for such a beautiful ceremony and being so accommodating for our requests.
Thank you and regards
Rebecca

PS:  Have to see if I can find a copy of their ceremony and send it to them.

Today I had the pleasure of marrying Jenna and Kris.  A psychologist and social worker respectively.  Two very unique people who married in front of a small gathering of family and friends.  Only 22 people, I believe. They were doing things their way!  That is the best kind of wedding to have. 

This was by nature a relaxed wedding in their chosen venue, The Curators House.  The team did an amazing job pulling together a lovely sheltered area where the ceremony for Jenna and Kris could take place.  It’s been a funny day with rain one moment and sun the next.

Jenna arrived by punt.  The guests watched her go past and Kris escorted her into the ceremony area.  I had wanted all the guests inside before they made their entrance but everyone was keen to capture “that photo”.

I encouraged them to do a few family photos.  Always important as it is a gathering of family at a special time and it needs to be treasured.

Wishing Kris and Jenna, husband and wife, a long and happy life together.

 

On Saturday I made my way to Ferrymead Golf as I was going to marrying Renee and Ben at 2.00pm. 
I arrived in plenty of time and met some Renee's family including her lovely Grandmother.  She was delightful.  She gave me her little container of hairspray to put more on as the wind had whipped my hair around.  
I sampled with the family a couple of lollies from the beautiful lolly bar.  I am sure that was going to go down really well as there were heaps of children attending.

The cake was delivered and Jess the photographer was impressed and snapped her photos.  The Groom arrived without the marriage documents and without the rings. (I am hoping they have found the rings and anything else that was missing).  I felt very sorry for Ben as the traffic would have been challenging.  The bonus was they had already had their wedding photos taken and without a doubt - stunning images.

The bride arrived with her amazing dress and without doubt Renee makes a great advertisement for not having a traditional coloured dress.  It was just stunning.  Knowing the groom was still on his way the bride was relaxed.  I was disappointed to hear the bouncy castle was not there.  Despite negativity from some quarters - it was arranged and would be delivered very soon.

The ceremony highlight for me was Isaac their oldest son (yes they have 3 boys) read a great poem.

I left after drinking a small glass of bubbly (Ben suggested I have more - nice gesture but no) and watched Jess use her organisational skills to rock through the family photos.  

I trust Mr and Mrs Beedles have an amazing married life with their 3 sons.