Sprangles

I started a post about our wedding when we got back from the honeymoon, and for one reason or another we never got around to finishing it. It’s been more than five months since we were married (January 28th) and while I was reflecting on that today I figured it would be nice to finish off this post for a trip down memory lane. So here we go.

We decided to get married in Melbourne since Lana has a much larger family who are all in Melbourne, and it’s also closer to Adelaide for all our friends from there. After much deliberation we chose Kellybrook Winery as both the venue for our ceremony and reception.

The day started with Lana waking at the crack of dawn at home with her parents to begin the first of her Bride Preparation Activities — hair, make-up, flowers, flower girls, page boys, etc. Her morning was carefully scheduled and full of activities in preparation for the big day.

Dunc & Stewart stayed in the Pacific International hotel in the city and had a relatively relaxing start to the day — big buffet breakfast with Flick and Damien, throw on a suit and some aftershave, and away in a limo to Kellybrook.

The ceremony was held under the giant old oak tree at Kellybrook with 100 of our closest friends and family gathered around. As Lana & her father walked up the steps to the oak tree (preceded by the flowergirls and pageboys) the string quartet played Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus” (Here Comes The Bride). She looked absolutely beautiful, especially in the fantastic dress that her mother had spent many nights stitching together.

Our celebrant was a great guy called John Byrne — a loud bloke with loads of personality who took us through a really relaxed and fun ceremony. He made special effort to make the kids in the bridal party (our nieces and nephews — three flowergirls and three pageboys) feel really important and part of the ceremony, including special certificates, a handshake and a photo opportunity. He really was fantastic, we couldn’t have been happier with our choice of celebrant.

Dallas did a special reading from Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” (a book Stewart’s father gave to his mother when they were dating) and Tina read an anonymous passage that we’d selected. It was such fantastic moment making that commitment in such a great setting in front of everyone that we care about, it went perfectly and we’ll always be grateful that we got to share that moment with everyone. Thanks guys!

After the ceremony John presented us as husband and wife to our friends and family (to Handel’s “La Rejouissance” played by the quartet) and the photo opportunties started! Lana’s cousin Giulio was our official photographer for the event, and he took many terrific shots on the day. (Check out the full gallery of photos). It was really good having someone in the family take the photos for us, it made it a more personal experience. One of my favourites is the overhead shot of everybody all at once — we used this one as a postcard to send out to everybody as a thank-you card after the wedding.

The reception was held in the restaurant at Kellybrook, Lana’s cousin Steven DJed and MCed for us — it seems that Lana’s family had every role covered! Having all the important roles done by family members gave the whole day a family-oriented tone that made it really special for us, so thanks Steven for doing such a great job!

The food at Kellybrook was excellent, and of course there was loads of wine for everybody — and that certainly got the party going. Lana & I spent the whole reception floating around between tables talking to everybody, and the time really flew by. We managed to get some food in, my priority was getting a slice of the fabulous cake made by another one of Lana’s relations (Mandy). It really was worth waiting for! Delicious!

The speeches from Lana’s father and Dunc the Best Man were really touching and beautiful, and thankfully Dunc restrained himself and didn’t bring up any embarrassing details from the past. Both of them had talked about being nervous before the day, so Lana & I were really impressed that they both did such a professional job and shared such sincere words. I know that I was really nervous for our speech, I was sure I’d forget to thank somebody or just freeze up in the spotlight. Thankfully it all went well, and we were able to tell everybody how great it was for us to have everyone with us.

A couple of dance lessons saw Lana and I successfully spinning our way through our bridal dance to Split Enz’s “Message to My Girl” (there’s a special story to that song from our first date) and before we knew it we had to say good-bye to everyone and leave the reception.

The day wasn’t done yet though — we’d organised a bus to take us and all those interested back to BearBrass in Southbank for some post-reception drinks and snacks. The fully-loaded bus ride back to the city was loads of fun, and then we got to share drinks with our friends as the sun set over the Yarra at Southbank. A fantastic close to the day!

Lana & I snuck out of the post-reception reception late in the evening and retired to our beautiful hotel room in the Langham at Southbank (directly above BearBrass). Apparently some folks kept going after BearBrass on to the Crown Casino looking for tennis, but Lana & I had more important things to attend to.
Thanks again to everybody for making the whole day so special! We had a really memorable day (5 months later and I can still remember all the details!) that we’ll cherish forever. Yay weddings!

View the complete set of photos from the wedding.

Stay tuned for a post detailing the exciting adventures on our honeymoon — we’ve had a draft of that one for 4 months too!