Temp to Perm - part I

Prelude to a kiss...

Our wedding on Saturday was the bane of any storyteller. There were no attendants who shagged the groom (at least, none that I know of), no last minute photographer cancellations, no food poisoning or in-law barneys. There was not even any rain. It was just about perfect. Sorry.

When Matt and I decided to get married, we had this dream of being married on the beach. That's all we really wanted. I didn't care if I was wearing a bikini and Matt was wearing Speedos as long as we were near the ocean. I also know a lot of people have an image of their "ideal wedding" and because of geography or family expectations, they compromise and don't get it. We got it. And more. Sorry. Am I sounding smug?

We settled on the beach at Palm Cove on the Great Barrier Reef. We wanted it to be more of a big holiday than a wedding, so 30 family members and close friends hiked up and spent a few days with us basking in the sun on the beach. I know. We were asking a lot.

We basically organised everything on the internet from Japan. The Wedding Coordinator at the Sebel Reefhouse arranged the ceremony and reception (we're also having our honeymoon here), I bought my dress on E-bay, and spent 8 months praying for 1) no rain, 2) no evil cold-sores to fuck up my day and 3) pretty shoulders, which I hoped would magically appear with me not having to do an ounce of work to get them. I didn't really believe in God before Saturday, but now I'm reassessing my options.

I was calm. I was an entirely low maintenance bride (repeat a few thousand times until Bride really believes it). The only inconvenience was the hair and makeup girl, Michelle, who took two hours to do my do and left me with about 15 minutes to do everything else. At 3.30 (the wedding was at 4.00) I asked her gently how much longer she'd be and she said "Doesn't matter, mate? We run on Queensland time here, mate? If you're late, it doesn't matter, mate?" Which would ordinarily be fine, but we had only 90 minutes after the ceremony for photos before sunset so WOULDYA GET THE HELL MOVING?????

Michelle and my gorgeous friend/witness, Bronwyn, kept feeding me champagne through a straw cos they thought I was nervous about the wedding. I was merely anxious that she was taking so frikkin' long, particularly because I really didn't give a shit about my hair and makeup, as long as I didn't look like a prostitute. She was a lovely girl though, and I quite enjoyed her company so I'll shut up now.

Pen, Dad and Bron watching me shit my pants

I was only 20 minutes late, which was a seriously nice touch, 'cos Matt was waiting for me for a change...

To be continued...

See pre-wedding shots here!