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How We Met:
Paul and I actually went to high school together, but didn’t
know each other back then. Years later, we became friends through
a mutual friend and it just developed from there!
The Proposal: Every
year since 2005, I have been going to Adelaide to spend a long weekend
camping in the hills with a group of friends and strangers from
all around the world. It’s a weekend to relax, meet new friends,
catch up with old friends, and learn some new fire twirling moves
(I’ve been twirling fire for over 5 years now!). In 2007,
Paul decided that he would come with me. On the morning of October
6, Paul gathered a group of our close friends around our tents.
I had no idea what was happening and just kept taking photos of
our friends, until Paul told me to put the camera down. Paul started
to tell everyone how long we’d been together, and that only
one more thing would make it perfect ...
Paul then got down on one knee, held out a beautiful engagement
ring and popped the question! After the initial shock, which was
quickly followed by "Of course I will!" there were smiles,
tears, hugs, mini bottles of champagne and donuts to celebrate.
Word quickly spread around the 150 or so people who were camping
that a proposal had happened, and then there were more hugs and
congratulations to be had! It was the most perfect proposal I could
have imagined and thanks to our lovely friends, we even have photos
of the proposal so we can remember it in years to come!
Our Wedding: We quickly
decided on a wedding date and everything just seemed to fall into
place over the next eight months! We knew that we didn’t want
to spend a fortune on our wedding, so we got creative! We found
a wonderful venue, secured a great cake maker and enlisted a fantastic
florist. I ordered my gorgeous wedding dress; started making the
jewellery for myself, my mum, the bridesmaids and flowergirl; and
then we found family and friends to complete the picture!
The wedding party was made up of three of my best friends and one
of their sons, Paul's best friend, two of his brothers and his niece.
Readings in the ceremony were done by another of my best friends
and my younger brother. My brother also designed the invitations
and drove Paul and his groomsmen to the wedding; my brother’s
wife handed out bubbles and seated guests before the ceremony; one
of my cousins was our photographer; my uncle was our MC; a friend
of my mum did our hair and makeup; some of our friends entertained
guests with crystal juggling and fire twirling while we had our
photos done; we borrowed a video camera from a friend to film the
ceremony; friends of my mum provided the music for the ceremony
and reception; one of our friends made the vests and ties for the
boys in the bridal party and my dad; our neighbours taught us how
to rumba for our first dance; and then family and friends helped
with doing up the table lists and making up the bonbonnieres! It
really was a combined effort to make our big day just magical and
lots of fun!
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