Wedding part two - the morning and ceremony

None of us got much sleep the night before and at 3:30am Steve and I sat up to talk, with his sister coming to our room shortly after. They decided to walk the streets of the city while I slept a little longer and I woke around 6am full of nerves. Around 6:30am, the boys headed home and us girls started to shower and get ready. I did my own hair and makeup, so I started to put some loose curls in my hair (they didn't last long!) and did makeup throughout that process.

Us girls were ready around 9am and caught a cab home to finish the house preparation. Half an hour later, my family arrived (an hour early), so we had to send them to the cafe nearby as the house had too many people frantically working to get it all together and more people in the way was too much. By this time I was getting really overwhelmed and was tearing up every so often. Our celebrant arrived at about 10am and I went out to greet her and have a little cry. She was awesome and helped calm my nerves. I couldn't even tell her why I was crying as I had no idea and she said it's just overwhelming and an emotional day which was very true. We got everything sorted, the house looked great and it was time to put my dress on. 

I went upstairs with K and Mum (Mum took our photos) and put on my dress which Steve hadn't seen and deliberated over whether to go down and show everyone now or wait until 11. Since it was only 10:45am and I hadn't introduced our parents yet, I decided to go downstairs. Well, everyone was waiting in the dining room and all eyes were on me..I almost ran from the room as I hate people looking at me but since I was about to have them watch me get married I just stood there awkwardly smiling.

It was about this time someone brought me over a shot of vodka and I threw that back in the hope it would settle any nerves I had. I didn't walk down an aisle, so Dad and I came in from another room together so he could walk me through a door and I stood next to Steve and tears started to fall again. Obviously no bride wants photos of herself crying, so I pulled myself together and we got on with it. 

Our celebrant was amazing. Honestly, I haven't been to a better wedding (if I do say so myself). Our ceremony was a story of the past 7 years of us and it had people laughing, crying and smiling the whole way through. It was just perfect. I read a little poem to my Dad and looked over and noticed him welling up with tears, so of course the tears started for me again. By the end of the ceremony though, I was all smiles with no smeared makeup. When the time came to 'kiss the bride' we tried to high five but we hadn't rehearsed that one obviously because I almost smacked Steve in the face. Second try was a winner, we kissed and we were Husband and Wife!

We had a small morning tea at home while we signed the certificates and then headed to a park for photos before Steve and I headed off for a couple of shots of just us. We literally had 15 minutes to get pictures of us and Mum did such a great job during that time. I told her I didn't want awkward posed shots and all the photos she took look natural and really good. 

I really loved this part of the day with just our family and close friends there. It was so special and romantic and everything I've ever dreamed of for a ceremony. As I said, I hate people looking at me and even with just the people closest to me watching on, I went bright red. 

I also have to add in here that L was a trooper through the whole ceremony. He was still sick (not vomiting), but made it to watch us get married. Good on you, L!

Our original plan of having the ceremony in a nearby park flopped as there were works being done there. The back up plan was the backyard, but that also flopped since it had rained the week before and made it muddy.. we don't get much sun in the yard in Winter so it didn't dry. I think we did a good job of doing up our tiny dining room. It didn't seem like people were too squished in and that is also owed to the fact that we had only immediate family there anyway.