The Mercedes came to a gentle stop, and the chauffeur hurried around to the passenger door opening it wide. The sunlight fell on the passenger illuminating her white tulle veil and golden-blonde hair beneath giving a halo-effect. A flurry of activity, dress-straightening and hair-fixing occurred and then the first notes of Pachelbel's Canon in D began to play, the string quartet heralding the arrival of the most important person in my life. Filtered sunlight streamed through the arched framework of climbing roses that covered the 40 meters of pathway, the light sparkling off jewellery and illuminating the brilliant white dress. Step by step, in time with the music, the procession made their way into the rose gardens towards the assembled guests and myself. It was like I had lost my peripheral vision; Everything blurred into a kaleidoscope of colour except for one person whom I saw with crystal clear clarity. Our eyes locked through the white veil covering her face and we both smiled...
My wife and I were married that day, surrounded by 130 friends and family, in a lovely setting at Carrick Hill a historical site located in Springfield, South Australia. The year was 1993. It was also the day my wife turned 22 and the day her parents were also married, many years earlier. It was an emotional day for us both but more for my wife. Her father died from cancer when she was 11 years old. Her grandfather gave her away but she felt the absence of her father keenly.
This is not the actual string quartet we had at our wedding but this is the music my wife walked down the isle (pathway) to. (Thanks to Jo Montgomery on YouTube and the Aurora Strings.)
Twelve months earlier I had asked my wife to marry me and fortunately she said yes. We spent the year planning the day and saving up to pay for it. We were, and are, not the type to take handouts and refused to allow our parents to pay; They could do so anyway to be honest. We accepted a small amount of assistance though; My parents paid for our invitations and my mother in-law paid for the wedding cake.
We decided on the location of Carrick Hill as it's a spectacular building in the foothills of Adelaide and the grounds and gardens are equally amazing. Having an outdoor wedding could have been disastrous from a weather perspective however we got lucky; There was a very light shower in the morning but by 2:30pm the sky was blue, but for a few white clouds drifting in the light breeze. It was lovely October day; The birds were singing and we even had a kookaburra add to the day by singing out its endorsement of our marriage.
My wife had decided upon 5 bridesmaids so I had to call in favours from 5 dudes happy to dress up and stand next to me. My three brothers were there of course along with a couple of mates. I recall about 30 or so minutes before my soon-to-be-wife was due to arrive I was feeling pretty nervous. The guys rallied around me offering taunts, ribald remarks and no solace whatsoever. Nice huh? 15 minutes later I was standing there by myself wondering where they had gotten to. As the 4 wedding cars rolled around the guys were still nowhere to be found until they sauntered in wiping crumbs from their mouths. They had decided they were hungry and needed a toasted sandwich right at that moment! It worked out though of course and they didn't miss the ceremony.
Because my wife and I paid for our wedding ourselves and were on a budget we had to limit attendance at our reception to about 110 people. We held it at a winery function centre in the Adelaide Hills. Apparently the food was very nice but we, unfortunately, didn't get to eat much due to a constant stream of well-wishers. After the speech's were completed (mine was awesome) the most dreaded part of the night (for me) finally arrived. The dance. I'm not a huge fan of dancing, I mean I like watching it, I just don't like doing it. I'm not good at it. But on this night I had no choice, no excuses and as usual no idea! We had selected a song by 1980's band Chicago called, You're the inspiration as below thanks to mrmusician98765 on YouTube.
It seems a little corny now but back in 1983 it seemed appropriate. Well, actually it's still appropriate now I guess. I feel the same way about my wife today as I did then.
That October day I married my best friend and we continue to fill that role for each other to this day, 25 years later. We have no regrets and wouldn't change anything about our lives together other than the fact we are childless. To this day on my wife's birthday, our wedding anniversary, she tries on her dress. She comes out into the lounge room with it on and says with a grin, "still fits!" and it does too. My wife has hardly changed since our wedding. I, on the other hand, have become way more handsome! :)
I dug out the wedding album today to find some pictures for my blog. We have no digital images of the day and the album and a VCR tape is our only record. The couple of images you see here are photo's of photo's. We don't need anything other than our memories to remind us of the day though. In truth it was just one day out of the thousands we have spent together and it certainly doesn't define our relationship. It was simply a step in the journey of our lives together, a very special one of course, but just one step among many, with many more to come.
[- Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default - @galenkp -]
Main photo by Nick Karvounis on Unsplash - Thank you nick.
That's so sweet! I'm sorry it was such a tough day for your wife. Special days like that are hard when there's a parent or other significant loved one who is missing.
You gotta eat at the wedding. Tell people to stop congratulating you. Leave a present and go. Ha ha ha.
There you go, man! More of you to love.
Cheers mate! I reckon I gnawed on a chicken leg and had a bread roll. To be honest I was probably more concerned about that bloody wedding dance and too nervous to eat.
Ha ha ha. When my wife and I were having our first dance, my drunk younger brother strolled out on the dance floor and kept tapping me on the shoulder that all of my cousins wanted to take a picture together. The cousins all kept calling him, but it took a minute for him to figure out that his timing was off. Doh! :)
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STOPShe must feel pretty good inside when you write these lovely things about her and your life together!
Gentle praise, yet well crafted. Cheers to you two!
Not saying I am trying to be like you just that I hope to look back down the road and be able to say the same stuff with mine. You know.