Carley and Michael McCarthy,
Married Saturday, 13 March 2010

We first met in a Brisbane pub in 2003.  We didn't exchange details at that time but met again at another Brisbane pub around 3 months later.  We have been together ever since.  Michael proposed on our 5th anniversary together.  He had me convinced that it would never happen because he couldn't afford a ring.  Little did I know that he had opened a secret bank account and was saving for a ring.  After we had been out for dinner he told me that he had a small gift for me - even though we said no anniversary gifts.  He presented me with a beautiful engagement ring.

We set our wedding date pretty much straight away and we then had around 15 months before we were married. We decided on a formal wedding theme with a natural, neutral, white and green colour scheme.

My bridesmaids were my 3 younger sisters.  My flower girl was my 3-year-old niece.  Our groomsmen were good friends of my husband.  Together we had invited around 115 guests.

Our wedding day finally arrived and started off well, having lots of fun getting hair and make up done, putting on my wedding dress and knowing I could wear it all day was great.  It turned out that my wedding dress was the simplest part of my wedding to organise.  I had a clear picture of what I wanted and found it.  It was an Elizabeth De Varga custom made wedding gown.  The dressmakers there were just fabulous.

Our wedding ceremony was in a Catholic church, Corpus Christi Nundah. We were both a little nervous just before the ceremony but once at the church we felt an overwhelming sense of calm.  From here on we were both very relaxed and happy. 

We had a string quartet who were asked to do an arrangement of Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros for me to walk down the aisle.  The atmosphere was beautiful.  You could feel how happy everyone was for us.

Our wedding reception was beautiful.  It was at the Queensland Rugby Club Downtown.  The set up was impeccable.  The staff had made it look exactly how we had wanted.   The speeches were great.  My mum is deaf and Michael had learnt part of his speech in sign language. It was fantastic.

Our florist - Beth and Renee from Divine Flowers Newmarket also set the tables beautifully with votive tea light candles and flowers. My mother made our  bomboniere - succulent plants in small pots with decorative stones. The whole day was fantastic.

For our honeymoon, we spent one week in the Cook Islands and then went to Vietnam for two weeks. I enjoyed all aspects of the planning and our wedding day.  It helped that I had a clear idea of what I wanted for most things.  I also had plenty of support from my husband and our families.  I would love to do it all again but I would just love our wedding day to never end!