Wedding Blog

It was very special to be invited to be the Celebrant for Truly-Bell and Chris.

They chose to marry at the beautiful Horotane Lodge and it was a particularly happy wedding that came together perfectly. 

Lovely readings by multiple people; stunning Mother of the Bride, the most gorgeous tribe of flower girls; vows with love, meaning and from the bride theatrical flare.

Yes the perfect wedding for Mr and Mrs Hanna.


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When I first met Joanne and Wayne I knew that this was a very special wedding.

Frank Visser the Photographer who I work with heaps (because he is so good at what he does) said about the photo above "Speaks for itself......" and it does. 

We were at the lovely Tai Tapu Pub and it was the perfect Spring day for this awesome wedding.

What makes "A perfect day?"
Gorgeous location Tai Tapu Hotel - Facebook:  www.facebook.com/taitapuhotelrestaurant/
The day itself - A Spring Day with nice weather.
The ceremony location - blossom on the trees; guest seating, archway - just beautiful.
Supportive attendants -  they all stepped up.  
Family support - the family all pitched in to pull it together.
The guests - friendly and delighted to be at the wedding.
Professional wedding vendors - Frank and I, we are both good at what we do and its always nice to get
feedback "Thank you for officiating at our Wedding . It was a glorious day."
A little person - the cute factor and a delight - read what is on the back of the cart - classic. 
The Ceremony - exceptionally meaningful ceremony with me being able to say:
"Ladies and Gentlemen and Little person, I introduce you to Mr & Mrs Spud.
I mean Johnson".

Finally and by no means least you need the key people the couple getting married.  
Joanne and Spud are an exceptional couple and chose to have in their ceremony "The contract of Marriage is written on paper whereas the act of marriage is written within the heart."  Having been together for just over 13 years they have journeyed from a friendship to a loving commitment. Spud proposed to Joanne in hospital, shortly after his stroke.  This was the wake-up call Spud needed as they were both happy with their relationship.  As a couple they have had some challenges but that has made the commitment to each other stronger.

The ceremony was an emotional one with plenty of  tears and laughter.
Congratulations Joanne and Spud may you have a long and happy life together Mr and Mrs Johnson.

​Frank Visser photographer - Facebook: www.facebook.com/frankvisserphotos/

Julie Lassen Celebrant - Facebook: facebook.com/Celebrant4you​

Julie Lassen Gay Celebrant - Facebook: www.facebook.com/GayMarriageChristchurchCelebrant/

Our affordable wedding packages to remove the stress:  https://www.facebook.com/simplyweddings4u/

Friday 30 August and I have just finished what I can describe as the perfect elopement.  Why might I be saying perfect. 

An email came in asking if I would be available to marry Gabrielle and Nathan.  How could I refuse.  I said I would find a photographer "oh no we don't need a photographer". They sorted the documents and I sorted the ceremony and the witnesses.

We got them married and they will be telling their families tonight.  We agreed there was no risk of their family finding out from this blog before they told their families! 

​They seem so happy and I was truly blessed to make it happen.
​Congratulations - you have eloped.

This was the surprise I found in the envelope.  Yes a wonderful compliment to our special fridge magnet collection.  Special gift to the person who can guess what Island this came from.  

What is a Celebrant to do when you get a call from a a happy man saying I want to get married as soon as possible?  There is really only one answer:  "Let's get you married within 3 days - we are the easiest place in the world to get married."

Yes John and Christiane were both born in the roaring 1940's and wanted to get married while travelling here from Australia.

We sorted the paperwork, agreed the venue and arranged a day and time.  The lovely team at the Christchurch Registry office sorted the marriage documents and they emailed them to me.  

We were marrying them at the Sudama Hotel, 550 Memorial Avenue - yes that great hotel near the airport.  Our bride and groom were going to have a night in the hotel.

The day of the wedding crisp but fine and as my husband and I entered the hotel - the concierge said "are you here for the wedding?".  I said yes and I needed a witness.  He said I think the front of house manager was keen.  So it was Alexis took her responsibilities seriously and assisted to make happen.   

It was a simple and intimate ceremony which certainly did not detract from the special celebration of love.  

Congratulations John and Christiane it was my privilege to get you married.  
Thanks to you Alexis for all your efforts and to you David.

Another happy couple married by Julie Lassen Celebrant.  

 



Alexis Hickman-Green

​I love my job! My job - being a Mum!
I have done this job for 15 years and I am talking about my job as a Mum – my most important job of all.  This is the tale of how life changed.
As we had been told we could not have children it was a surprise to find out I was going to be a Mother.

My husband, David a keen fisherman came home on this particular Saturday and smoked his freshly caught Kawaii. We sat on our terrace and poured ourselves a glass of wine and had prepared crackers and cream cheese with the fish on time. 

Much to my surprise, I said to David “I can’t eat that”.  David responds “you must be pregnant”.  I said “You must be joking” knowing full well that we couldn’t have children according to the specialists.

So on Monday I went off did a pregnancy test saying “to the woman that I was 40 years old and I couldn’t be pregnant.”  So there was another surprise waiting for me – I was handed the pregnancy test and told it changed immediately I was well and truly pregnant, no question.

So let’s get this straight in spite of us both being tested and told that we were unable to have children and I was 40 years old, I was going to be a Mother.
I left the pregnancy test on the table for David to see and he asked what is this?
I said I am pregnant. I think he went into shock it was big news!

The news was going to change things as we had a comfortable life and had accepted after the testing that we were not having a baby.   
Yes, we had accepted that.  So everything would change.

To my surprise, I loved being pregnant.  It certainly helped to know that it was meant to be – we were going to be parents.  My body really loved carrying a baby.  I stopped drinking any alcohol in any shape or form. I watched what I was eating.  I was determined to give our baby the best chance.
No morning sickness.  I had what they term a dream pregnancy.

I had waited 40 years to have this baby! I continued to work in my businesses and faced more than my share of challenges that put my body under extreme stress. This was my first experience of being bullied and undermined.

I was thankful to have David’s support and a  longtime friend, an astute businessman Alan Knowles support. This baby was determined to stay put and continue to grow and develop as babies should.

In spite of a baby determined to stay and my dream pregnancy the  specialist whose care I was under made the decision owing to previous major surgery that I would need to go in on the 15 September 2003 at 3.00pm at St George’s Hospital (Merivale, Christchurch) for the birth of our baby girl.

After the baby was delivered by cesarean my blood pressure dropped quickly.  I could feel it happening and it was an awful feeling.  I was aware there was lots of activity and soon there was a sense of calm and mother and baby went off to recovery.

Congratulations to us -  David and I had produced a truly beautiful baby with no hair.  Incidentally, she was 3 before her hair really grew.
The proud Father was happy to tell family and friends Amelia weighed 8.3 lb a keeper. Both fish and babies are weighed in pounds in case you didn’t know.

We had settled on Amelia as her first name – a strong name - meanings "industrious", "striving" and "defender."   We added Jane on as David’s Mother Ivy, always said she would have loved to have a second name.  Her Father never gave her one. She was disappointed and we heard that story on many occasion – it was on auto-repeat.  Amelia Jane Kirkness – yes the perfect name for our daughter.

I wanted to breastfeed and instead of gaining weight our little girl was going backwards. Thankfully the midwife suggested we go see a Doctor at Christchurch Women’s Hospital. I didn’t want to bottle feed.  Having only one child I had to do all I could.  I was frustrated and overwhelmed with advice.
Everyone knew what was best for me and happily shared that advice.
I know their intentions were good but I was a businesswoman and was unimpressed with the sheer volume of shared wisdom that came my way.

A very wise woman told me – listen with gratitude to all the advice and thank them.  Then do what you think is best for you and her.  Unfortunately, baby Amelia didn’t come with an operation manual.  This was not like running a business at all.  Who was in control – yes it was the baby who had her own timetable.

So you can imagine the heartache I had with a baby that would not sleep.
I had done all the recommended checks and she cried and cried.
Walking up and down our hall was the only way to get her to calm down.
As Mum’s know if you are not blessed with a sleeper you function on what sleep you can get. The suggest that Mums only get four hours and 44 minutes of sleep in an average night in the first year!

My Mum gave me the best advice. If the baby sleeps you sleep.
Oh I loved my Mum’s advice.

It was the Mid-wife’s advice we followed with breastfeeding.   Amelia was not gaining weight so she suggested we make an appointment with a recommended Doctor at Christchurch Women’s hospital.  She could see her tongue was tied. 
A short discussion, a quick flick of the scalpel under the tongue – no tears by Mum or daughter and we left for home. As soon as we got home we gave it a go. From that very first breastfeed she was latched on and drinking with enthusiasm. 

I really didn’t realize this was such a controversial subject until a good time after when it was discussed with other Mothers.  There are as many people who think this is a great idea as there are those who think it is not necessary.  They are the ones that say it is a bad trend, some even calling it a fad.
I quickly learnt not to mention it at all even though I was 100% behind the procedure - it had worked for us with wonderful results.

On a couple of occasions I was courageous enough to quietly say to anyone having problems breastfeeding to check this out with their own mid-wife saying it had made an instant result with no tears from Mother or baby.
To reinforce my belief all was good from then on she had a very healthy appetite until at 14 months she made a decision she no longer wanted breast milk from Mum. 
I loved having the responsibility for our baby girl, Amelia Jane Kirkness.
I love my job!

NOTE:  You may know that I am involved in a writing and recording project - "This is my tale to tell".  We get a topic and write.  This topic was "I love my job".  This week my 1161 words will be broadcast on Plains FM.  Five of us in our small group and our writing on each topic is so different - I think you will find it entertaining.  This is also why I have been a bit slow on my blogs.