Wedded bliss

Yesterday morning, I:

* woke early, showered, dressed, dressed the kids, and shovelled (nicely!) breakfast into their little kid-mouths
* ran around the supermarket with Maisie in the trolley seat, threw groceries into the trolley and ran through the checkout, all the while talking gobbledegook to the Mouse
* flew home, packed three overnight bags of clothes, made sure the beloved teddies and dollies were in the bags, and put everything at the front door to be put in the car
* continuously took the above bags from my children and put them back at the front door until I did my block
* took the team down to the CFA barbecue down at Coles to buy a fundraising snag (you've gotta love anyone who's raising money for the flood victims!) and scored a surprise visit inside the fire engine (totally not within our time constraints, but cool nevertheless!!)
* drove home, collected Daddy, all the bags, Daisy the dog and enough food to sink the proverbial ship
* dropped Daisy at my parents' place, dropped the kids at Christian's parents' place, and dropped myself into a happy place - the hairdresser's chair!!

We were off to a wedding at Morning Star Estate, which is where Christian and I held our own wedding reception. The morning was fraught with remembering and organising and packing, so when I sank into the chair at the salon, it was with great relief!!! The kids were fantastic when we left them with their grandparents - even Mais gave me a banana-ry wave and a "Ta-ta!" I didn't have any concerns about leaving them - I just needed someone to fix my bird's nest!! The hairdresser transformed my horrendous mess into a glorious up-do, Christian and I grabbed a coffee without a side order of smeared rusk, and before you could say 'bonbonniere', we were ensconced in our room at Morning Star, with 15 minutes to spare!

After a week of extremely doubtful weather, it was a stunning afternoon. The ceremony was held in the rose garden, amongst the vineyards in the estate. The bride, our lovely friend Reghan, was a vision in the most beautiful wedding dress I have seen in a long time. She looked absolutely gorgeous, and I was so glad for her that the day was so perfect. I had really been looking forward to this wedding, as we knew several of our close friends were attending, which foretold a great night ahead!!

I am a sucker for weddings, this much I know. I have always loved the flowers and the dresses and the pomp - I'm shameless. But since I got married myself, there's one other part of weddings that I absolutely adore. Watching the bride and groom exchange vows, I always get swept away with vivid recollections of my own wedding. I remember the magic I felt, telling Christian in front of our family and friends what he meant to me, and the promises I made to love him forever. I remember how different I felt after our wedding, as though the vows had somehow changed the air around me, so that we were almost physically bound together. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I could sense a tangible difference in the way we were held together - it wasn't by a piece of paper, or a wedding ring, but the fact we had so openly declared that we wished to share our lives, for the rest of our lives.

So we witnessed Reghan and Derryn's vows in the garden, amongst the sunshine and the butterflies and the roses; we drank champagne under the shade of the vines; we enjoyed a lovely reception in the estate restaurant while the sun sank into the bay and sky turned pink and rosy. It was a perfect evening, and I am so grateful to have spent it with some beautiful friends and my husband, with whom I fall a little bit more in love with every day.