My girlfriend had found her victim and she was heavily chatting him up while his friend, Harvie, and I, just chatted about all things. After a while they wanted to go to another bar but I couldn't be bothered going. I was tired and had to work in the morning so I left to walk home. I didn't get very far, 10m, when I ran into the guys, Harvie asked where I was going and asked if he could see me again. I was flabbergasted, I did not often get this reaction from a guy, so I told him I would be at the shooters sports bar next Saturday for the big rugby match if he wanted to find me ... and guess what he did!

I would have to say it wasn't love at first sight, but gee he was a sight for sore eyes. We truly did hit it off and it was only about a month after this that we were officially going out.

On my 25th Birthday 2001, Harvs took me to Burleigh Hill early in the morning for a romantic walk. I had no idea what he was up to, I thought he was keeping me out of the house for a surprise family 'breaky type of thing'. He did seem nervous and his palms where sweaty, when I look back on it, however I just put it down to he worried about how to keep me occupied (I am a difficult customer!).

He found a great spot overlooking the coast and we stood there for a good 30mins taking in the view, just as my bladder screamed out for relief I asked Harvs if we could go, and in the corner of my eye I saw him fall to his knee. Out of shock and worry I went down to try and help him only to hear the words "Jaime-Maree will you marry me?" Tears instantly began to stream down my face in excitement, and I replied Yes! We stood up and hugged but I did not know that he hadn't heard my answer amongst the happy sobs, so he was still on edge wondering what it all meant. So he asked me "So will you?" I replied "YES" and ended it with a big soppy kiss.

Well, let it be known I am an organising freak, I took from the January after we were engaged to the day before the wedding organising. After that being said though, not every day of my life was organising, I just like to be thorough with the intention that the day will run smoothly hoping I took in all angles!

Well the day arrived and it was a hot and windy one. I woke to feel completely calm and not nervous, Harvie has said that he also feeling calm about marrying me but was a little nervous regarding his transport to the ceremony.

I felt that our ceremony was perfect, we chose a fairly typical ceremony with a few twists. Both the ceremony and reception were all held at a place called Avica Weddings Resort (www.avica.com.au) at Merrimac on the Gold-Coast. It was truly beautiful. They have constructed an old style English church on the edge of the lake within their grounds. So from the moment you enter the chapel you are struck with the beauty of the glistening lake that takes its place behind the glass window at the end of the aisle. The other great feature is it has its own toilet and air conditioning which helped greatly on the day.

All the guests arrived and where shuttled from the main house to the chapel via the gorgeous gardens they have their. Once they all arrived, Harvie and the boys made their grand entrance in a Helicopter, the guests were blown away and Harvs was riding a high!

With everyone now inside eagerly awaiting the other guest of honour, the beautiful bridesmaids made their way down in a little cart. And not far behind them, I rode in a replica Queen Elizabeth II coronation carriage with my uncle close by my side.

The first sight I was struck by was some of the guests standing outside waiting to take my picture, but they seemed to melt away when I looked inside to see Harvie standing there waiting for me to join him.

My bridesmaids and I walked down the aisle to the instrumental version of Des'ree's song 'Kissing You' from the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack.

The whole ceremony was fairly traditionally set out with us writing our own vows. The only added part was the candle ceremony, which symbolises the coming together of both families and of us joining as one.

During the signing of the registry we had a wonderful singer sing, 'Feels Like Home' which is from the Dawsons Creek soundtrack and was sung with such sweet heartfelt emotion that I couldn't help smile from ear to ear.

With all that done and all the bridal party standing there the celebrant, Robert Moore, proudly and loudly announced us as Harvie and Jaime Mehrtens! Everyone rose and clapped as we sashayed our way slowly back down the aisle greeting people along the way to the sound of the organ.

Following on from the ceremony we had our reception back at the main house at Avica. Having the whole thing there was wonderful as we had only left the guests for an hour while we flittered around the gardens having our pictures taken. So the excitement our guests felt didn?t fade by the time we graced them again.

We chose a traditional sit down style wedding with the guests being seated inside and out to give us the open feeling. We were surrounded by candle light everywhere.

With the crowd now seated and awaiting our next move a big band version of the song "It had to be you" by Harry Conick Jnr began to play. It really got the crowd going, clapping and cheering as we were all introduced. Once seated the reception followed a traditional line of speeches and greetings. We also dined on a huge seafood and meat buffet, We were all very full!

After dinner we danced our waltz, we had selected "At Last" by Eta James, it was wonderful, everyone made a circle around us to symbolise their love for us and we danced so close. Once that was over the party really started to get going with the two piece band we had chosen. They did such a good job of keeping people rocking.

At the end of it all it was a sad farewell but there was still important things to be doing away from the guests (wink).

Well yes ... our honeymoon - this is a funny story. We had spent so much time organising the wedding that the week before we had not thought of anywhere to go, so out of worry that we were not going to have a honeymoon I booked four nights at Twin Waters resort on the Sunshine Coast. Once we arrived Harvs had a wonderful idea lets go to Lady Elliot idea and extend our holiday for a couple of days.

After we inquired about the costs and dates Harvs had another flash, for that price lets see where else we can go, so in the end we ended up spending a week in the Whitsunday's on Long island. We only spent 3 days on the Sunshine coast and then we drove to Harvey Bay to see the whales, spent time in Noosa and had one other night in Alexandra Headlands before flying to the Whitsunday's.

We experienced so much and it was a real treat but we didn't tell anyone just sent back postcards as a surprise. We were meant to take 4 days, but were gone for two weeks!

There was so many memorable moments, but looking back now its easier to say that they are safely tucked away in memory to forever bring a smile to my face.

We would not change a thing. Things happen for a reason and really we were fortunate for it all to go perfectly without a hitch.

You can visit us at our personal wedding website (www.harvieandjaime.com) this is a pre-wedding site, the after wedding one is still in progress!