A bush wedding

The reason I have not been blogging much of late is because of my niece's wedding - and all the dramas that go with planning a wedding. I wonder if there are weddings without them? Even our own tiny, tiny, tiny wedding way back then had its dramas - no photos exist because of one camera being left in a taxi and the other one being stolen before the photos could be developed. And the groom was a tiny bit late too, which caused me some angst. Anyway, that was then, this is now.

And now - well it's all over, and in spite of all the dramas, and spats and scenes beforehand the actual event was perfect. Of course. Which I knew in my heart it would be. So there they are - the bride and groom - in our garden, with their simple, but rather lovely little 'altar'. There were Chinese lanterns in the trees scattered around the property and a multicultural audience. The groom is Chinese - hence the Chinese motifs, and the fact that the bride is dressed in red - which, as most of us now know is the colour for Chinese brides.

The weather was perfect. It took place at 6.30 pm so the natural lighting was spectacular and the Australian bush looked - well messy as the Australian bush does, but subtly beautiful.

There were two masterstrokes (apart from the wedding itself of course). We had painfully completely cleaned our tennis court, which the dozen or so children found to be a wonderful playground, as we hoped they would. We had lots of balls, and rackets and toy bikes and thank you so much for whoever provided the jenga. Which was not only used for its original purpose but also as building blocks. The children played there well into the night. I saw very few wandering around aimlessly. And after dark it was illuminated (a little) and became a dance floor - well the children still played on. So no stress for the parens who could relax knowing that their little ones were safe - well apart from the odd tumble.

The other masterstroke was finger food. Anyone planning a wedding - do not have people sitting formally at arranged places for a full meal. Save yourself the hours of wondering who should sit next to who. Get yourself some enthusiastic, if slightly disorganised (in our case) caterers and a barman, keep the food coming and everyone will mix and mingle. We had dotted our various outdoor tables around the garden, so some amongst us sat and chatted, and moved on, and some stood around in groups with people moving as it took their fancy. At one point I thought it was a bit sloppy that the barman was not bringing round the drinks but when I thought about it a bit more it was really good, that he was sort of trapped in our laundry dishing out drinks to whoever came to get them. The more serious drinkers stationed themselves outside the 'bar' and it gave others the opportunity to leave where they were, go and get a drink and move on to another group if they wanted to or return if they preferred. The food was plentiful and tasty and kept on coming for a couple of hours. The caterers seemed to enjoy themselves too, joining in the conversation here and there. I heard one of them saying that he was actually a graphic designer, so he must have been chatting to someone.

Here is the multicultural table at which I sat for most of the night, but I think you can see a couple of other 'standing' groups in the background. The only thing missing was the kangaroos hopping by. But then I guess they might have been put off by the noise. And I'm not sure the cockatoos did their nightly passage overhead, shrieking and cawing as they went.

And then we were all brought together again for the cake. The children got there first and pinched all the seats around the table but I think they were told to move on because of the cake cutting and a couple of speeches - with the groom's sister giving a really, really good one. By now it was quite late, but the children were all still fully alert and involved even the two littlest who were around three years old. I shall have to ask them what they thought about it all when I see them next.

And here is the cake. I don't think you can see the little pieces of gold leaf - discreetly tumbling down the side of the cake, and just right. Simple but so right. It was made by a friend of my niece, the bride. I think she does it professionally but as a sort of sideline. So if you need a wedding cake I can find out. And did I mention that the bride's bouquet - actually a posy - was put together by her mum with input from the cake maker so that it all tied in.

Some of the younger people there seemed to be going into the city to party on, but I don't know whether this eventuated or not. It might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe not as much when they got there.

Anyway it was all perfect. I hope the marriage turns out that way too. So hard to tell these days is it not? It started well anyway. The groom's mother said it was the best wedding she had ever been to. So happy, and so relaxed she said. Mostly because of the informality of it all I think. And the Australian bush of course. And there is lots of drink left!