Wedding Weekend #2

Well, off we went again!  Up way too early for a Saturday morning, to the airport and off to Melbourne.  Then straight into a hire car and off we headed to Avoca for the wedding of the lovely Maree & Mark.  After a brief mishap trying to get on the right highway, we were on the road.

A brief toilet & coffee stop in Ballarat was colder than I expected anywhere to be at this time of year (and this is from a girl who grew up in Canberra), and before we knew it we were in Avoca.  We had lunch at the lovely Avoca Hotel - very swish for a local pub in such a small country town.  Then off to find our accommodation at Summerfield Winery.  We arrived at exactly the same time as my old friend Dave, who was sharing the room with us.  We literally drove in right behind him.  Unfortunately the room was not ready & we really needed to stress that we had a wedding to get ready for.  But eventually we were in the room & getting ready, and then back into town ready to party.  Well, we were - Dave was driving as he was taking lots of photos & video.

The ceremony site was lovely, and it was a glorious day.  It was quite hot by this time! 

Me looking smooth-as, with my sunnies & overgrown fringe. (and yes, having put on way too much weight since my wedding - back to the gym ASAP!)

Here is the beautiful bride Maree arriving.

I first met Maree over 12 years ago (wow, I'm so old), when we were both living in Edinburgh.  I was working with a fellow Aussie by the name of Dave (yes, the afore-mentioned Dave, our roomie & chauffeur for the night), with an absolutely wicked dry sense of humour.  He's a fair bit older than me, but he befriended me & we went for drinks a couple of times, then he invited me to his place for dinner.  Maree was his flatmate - they had previously worked together in Melbourne & were at this point sharing a flat in Edinburgh.  As I later found out, Maree had been suffering for the lack of a girlie friend there & had instructed Dave to bring her home a girl.  And he did ... ME!  Well, needless to say we hit it off enormously well & all had some great times together there.  Maree went back to Australia, I moved to Wales ... but when I came back to Australia we always stayed in touch & visited each other.  Dave stayed over there for several more years, but has been back in Melbourne for a couple of years now.  I feel so fortunate to have made such wonderful friends in my time there, and thinking back to that time when Maree & I were young & sort of fancy-free ... and have been through ups & downs together over the years, and now to be sharing each other's weddings less than 6 months apart.  It's just wonderful where life takes you ...

To add a lovely personal touch, the celebrant was a very old & close friend of the bride's ... and one of the few people there I actually knew.  There were over 200 people there (big weddings seem to be the theme so far for 2011 - we only had 60 at ours!), and I knew about 5.  Rima the celebrant has been a friend of Maree's for many years, and has always been so welcoming & fantastic to me.  She is an absolute hoot!  And now she's qualified as a celebrant & was able to marry one of her best friends ... only her third wedding too!

Mark the groom has only been in Maree's life for just over a year - it has been a whirlwind romance. 

The first time I ever met him was at our own wedding, but we recently stayed with them when we were down there & I think he is wonderful & they are perfect together.  Just look how happy they were when they were declared husband & wife!

Ahh, it was lovely.  The reception was definitely unusual - at times it felt more like a big disco where everyone knew each other, than a wedding.  It was a bit fluid with some of the details such as run sheet, catering, flow of the night, etc.  But that was ok - it was a lovely occasion & the bride & groom had the perfect day for them.  And that's what it's all about!  We were thrilled to be there & to see Maree & Mark so happy.


The famous Dave



Bit exhausted from the interstate parties & weddings now and definitely need a break.  I'm glad I don't have any more weddings on the agenda for the time being, but I have enjoyed them & hope to maybe have some next year or even later in the year!  (nobody else is engaged yet, but you just never know)

More boring domestic news next time.