THE BIG EVENT!

 

The Happy Couple


So.....................of course by now you all know that we married this year, but back then it was all very hush hush. The only person we really shared our plans with was mum – that was largely so she would understand our need to leave her for a few weeks. Mum was so relieved we were planning to wed. She had some very old fashioned ideas about my lack of vows and really, I think, worried about me unwed. She was also disappointed not to be able to be there with us, but she truly simply could not have managed the trip and subsequent ‘holiday’. Instead she was relatively content to be in the ‘know’ and part of the planning process.



The Bridal Party



Doug listens intently to instructions!

Initially we had some idea of simply having a Registry Office wedding but when we discovered just how much our Government charge to marry someone, we had second thoughts. We opted instead to have a very quiet and small civil ceremony utilising a celebrant. Logistically it proved a little challenging to arrange the wedding some 400 odd ks away from where we were living at the time. Thanks to the magic of the net however I was able to find a delightful lady in Denmark to do the honours for us. I also found a pretty venue, ordered flowers, booked hair-do’s and make up all from information gleaned on line.

I have to get a little girlie here and spend some time discussing the female elements of the day. The first items of course were the rings. DD’s idea here was to simply set me a dollar limit and send me off on my own to select my rings. Girls, I have to say I sallied forth with very mixed emotions. Part of me really wished he would have come with me to select the rings (more romantic I think) but part of me agreed with his logic which revolved around the fact that he would only rush me and I would end up with something I didn’t really like. Probably true! Anyway, I selected a set (whatever that is called) of matching Wedding and Engagement rings. The Wedder has a row of small diamonds across the top and the Engagement ring has a raised cluster of stones complementing the Wedder. Being a ‘bling baby’ I am not much of a one for solitaires, feeling that you get more ‘bang for your buck‘ with several smaller stones. Anyway, I am happy with the result.

This is how it is going to be!

The next challenge, much harder, was an outfit. We were only going to be four folk on the day, just us and our good friends Steve & Sylvia. The venue was a winery restaurant and the time was around midday. I just needed something pretty, feminine and not too over the top. Preferably something I could get use of at a later date. Considering my very un-sylph like form, that proved to be relatively difficult. Finally however in desperation I stumbled on a beautiful little boutique in downtown Midland (amazing!) and there after a brief discussion with the owner came up with a wonderful solution.

The Ring

The Vows

The Kiss

The very clever lady there had designed these knee length sheer jackets, in all different colours, the intention being to wear two different colours (one over the other) together. Brilliant! As I was a little undecided about the colours I wanted, I did the only sensible thing – I purchased one of every colour!!! Lovely.........I now have an outfit for just about every event and occasion I may ever need to attend – until the end of my days. In this event, the jackets were worn over a little black top and black dress pants. Accessorised, it all looked just fine.

As red roses have formed such a big part of our history, I wanted to include a deep red into the day, but finally balked at wearing red and black – just didn’t feel right somehow, and ended up with peacock blue over cerise – it worked very well. I told DD he needn’t wear a tie as we were keeping the day casual. We had thought he would wear grey strides and his blue blazer, but sadly when the blazer was aired it was discovered that it had shrunk a couple of sizes – truly! Instead he wore his grey suit, a deep blue shirt and cerise hanky – very swish!

The Blunder

The big day was planned for May 1st and to this end we departed Perth and arrived in Denmark one week ahead of time. We were so lucky with our dear friends Steve & Sylvia who were at the time visiting relatives in the area. We let them into our secret and enlisted their help for the day. It proved to be perfect as they are the only ones we still know who we were friends with when we were a young courting couple all those many years ago. They in fact were courting the same time as us. Couldn’t have been better!

Oh No!!

Of course I am assuming here that you all know our history – just in case there is someone there who is not conversant with our story, in brief, DD and I were teenage sweethearts, life intervened (as life does), we parted company, in due course both married others, had two children each and in our own respective times, parted company with those partners and then some 33 years down the track our orbits once again collided. Our first meeting, now almost 10 years ago, saw DD arrive at my home with a seafood banquet, wine, brand new crystal glasses, photos of then and now, and best of all ladies, 33 long stemmed dark red roses, one for each of our years apart. I was blown away of course. Each year after that he continued the roses, adding one each year until finally I had to call ‘uncle’ as it was getting a bit difficult to find suitable vases each time the roses came around in October. Since then he has simply given me a small bunch each year. Hence the preoccupation with red roses; I have to say girls that was pretty much the first and last romantic gesture by our boy – not that I mind, that was a good one and has stood him in very good stead ever since.

The Serious Bit

Back to the Big Event – once in Denmark we were able to visit the venue, and do all the little final things we had to do for the event. Steve & Sylvia arrived a couple of days after us and being the darlings they are, and tee-totallers to boot, they agreed to pick us up and bring us back to the van on the day. Yes, we did just stay in the van – I know that doesn’t seem particularly romantic t o some, but trust me, we were more than happy parked at the mouth to the river in beautiful Denmark.


Its Official


I had come across all feminine and decided to have my make-up done for the day – ladies, can I tell you now, if anyone of you in my particular age bracket decide for any reason to have you ‘make up done’ – don’t! Not a good time to discover just how many wrinkles one has on one’s face! I rarely wear much makeup and nor do I often look in the mirror with my glasses on (take my word for it, a VERY GOOD THING), but on the day in question, the lady who did my hair, also did my face and every hitherto unrealised crack, crater and wrinkle all of a sudden came out to say HI!! Bugger! On top of that debacle I for some peculiar reason opted to wear a fascinator. Why?! Buggered if I know now, but at the time it seemed like a great idea. Well girls, I would like you to picture the following.

The Venue

Early in the morning, I dressed myself in jeans and a shirt that didn’t have to be pulled over my head and took myself off to the hair-dressers. There the nice lady curled my hair and ‘put it back and up’ for me. Very nice; She then proceeded to layer, oh at least a kilo of stuff on my poor old face, hmmm.............oh well! Then to top the whole thing off, she placed my dark blue fascinator on my locks. Ohhhhh!

Now, the plan was that as soon as I was ‘done’ I would phone DD who would come and pick me up pronto – right. I am now in down town Denmark, country WA, home of all good ferals, alternatives and solid country folk – sitting out the front of the strip of shops, looking like...................you know I’m not really sure what I was looking like, but from all the sideways glances I was receiving, raised eye-brows, grimaces, grins and the likes, obviously if nothing else I was good entertainment value. DD you ask, where the hell was he.....................oh, out chatting somewhere, not with phone in pocket, and so not getting my call. Lovely! I am not sure how long I sat there for awaiting my errant knight, but suffice to say long enough to entertain the locals considerably.

Steve & Sylvia picked us up and drove us to the very pretty winery – the day was not wonderful, but at least it didn’t rain. As rain looked possible, we elected to have the event inside. We had by now met our lovely celebrant Wendy and had explained our somewhat eccentric idea of our day. We all sat......yes sat, around the table. On the table was, you guessed it, a vase of dark red roses. Steve kindly took DD’s camera and ‘shot’ the wedding for us. I’m not sure what particular demon demanded he only take photos of me looking like a stunned mullet, perhaps it was because he is such an avid fisherman, but whatever, each and every photo of me is a shocker. Maybe I just always look that way! Everyone else looks fine in the photos Steve! Hmmm. We also took movie camera with us and that was running the whole time – some of the stuff on that is quite good.

For your edification, the following is the ‘reading’ I wrote for the event:

Sometimes in a lifetime there comes a love that is so enduring it can survive even long absences and hibernations. Our love is one such as this.

When we met we were in the moment of youth. Our ambitions were clear, our spirits were strong and our respective pathways clearly mapped.

Passion was strong and we, in love’s sweet youth taught each other a little of love. Like sweet champagne love bubbled in our veins, sweetened our kisses, warmed our embraces and heightened our senses.

Youth however is headstrong and too soon our pathways, whilst briefly intertwined, separated as we both followed our dreams.

Parting was steeped in sorrow. Only the resilience of youth made our separate journeys plausible. As often happens with those who truly love, we each locked away a scrap of love, a place in our hearts that would always belong each to the other. That small particle of ourselves was to forever belong to the other, as so much had been shared and so much had been given, that vestige of our love was as perennial as the seasons.

The people that we are, did not allow any examination of that scrap of love for many years – as we clove to others, we honoured those relationships and put old loves aside. No waking moment was spent in reliving old loves, no conscious thought was sacrificed to regret. New promises made to others were respected and our new loves and families rightly occupied our thoughts and endeavours. Our dreams however, visited occasionally the first love. In that pleasant realm we sometimes returned to remember the sweetness of youth and the delight of discovering love for the first time.

As too often happens in this hurly burly world, despite our good intentions, those other loves, those other lives we lived paled and eventually faded away. Only then did we each allow our thoughts to return to those heady days of youth. Only then did we each separately stretch out our senses and begin our search to reconnect with our youthful love.

Wondrously somehow, perhaps with God’s blessing and help, with our spirits seeking each other, we reconnected on this earthly plain. In the magic of the moment 33 long years evaporated and once again our deep and abiding love for each other emerged. Now where once love had bubbled in our veins like sweet champagne, a deeper, stronger, quieter love flows like golden cognac.

Dark red roses marked the day of our love’s return and will forever remain to us a symbol of our love - love that is enhanced by our separate life experiences, and blessed by our respective families - a love that is so deeply enriched by all that we have been and all that life has taught us.

We have been twice blessed in our love – to experience love’s first bloom and then to be enriched by each others’ company in later life and until our days’ end. As they say in the classics, we have indeed saved the best till last.

For the second reading, we chose Robert Burns classic poem, A Red Red Rose.

A RED RED ROSE

O, My Luve’s like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June:

O, my luve’s like the melodie

That’s sweetly play’d in tune



As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I ;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry :



Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun :

And I will luve thee still my dear,

While the sands of life shall run.



And fare thee weel, my only luve!

And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.



The plan was initially for DD to memorise the whole poem and quote it to me, I was advised by said man however, that he was literally incapable of memorising so much. Plan 2 was for us to both memorise alternative verses and quote them to each other. Plan 3, was for me to memorise my verses and DD to simply read his. Oh well..............when it came to the crunch ladies, he still mucked it up and instead of romantically declaring in the second verse “I will love thee still”, instead he rather violently and vehemently stated to our various amazements, “I will HAVE thee” – well, due to his other stuttering during the preceding ceremony I was already having trouble keeping it together. Poor Sylvia, sitting directly opposite me had been watching my face, and this proved to be the final straw. Sylvia who is the most contained and poised lady generally just lost the plot and I followed. Thereafter all decorum was lost and the day evolved into a lovely happy luncheon followed by slowly consumed coffees and for DD and me, several lovely glasses of bubbly.

After lunch, Steve drove us back to the van park and left us to our own devices. I know some of you will feel we let the side down with our low key celebrations, but for us, it was perfect.