It's my 3rd wedding anniversary, can we all agree 5 canapes per person is just not enough ?
My opinionated wedding thoughts
Tomorrow - 25th June - marks my 3rd wedding anniversary. It feels so long ago but also so close and I have a lot of memories to cherish from our wedding. The low key civil ceremony a few days before, the 20 min post church ceremony drive with my just new husband in my dad’s little convertible (and the panic not being able to close its roof when it started to pour down in rain when we arrived to the Chateau) or when I finally took my wedding tiara off, let my hair down and started to dance before the first dance, resulting in the most amazing glorious dance off bringing all of the 180 guests on the dance floor.
But most of all, we were always very clear on what our wedding was going to be. It was going to be the biggest hosting exercise, where we’d combine our entire extended family and friends, to witness and celebrate our forever commitment to each other. When I met my husband, on our first official date (that’s a story for another day) I told him I wanted to get married, in France, where my parents got married before me and this was truly the only thing I had ever imagined about my wedding day. I never really fantasised on a dress, hair or something specific, and I let my instinct decide for me. Just like everything I do really! No regrets! One thing I knew for sure, is that I wanted the marriage. I was ready to commit to this man, he was going to be the one I was going to do life with, with whom I’ll ride the different seasons of life, figure out the ups and downs of a committed relationship and of course parent together.
But I knew that already, because we had committed to each other when we decided to start our family. We welcomed our little girl into the world one year before getting married. It still felt important for me and our family to create a union and we got engaged when we were 6 weeks pregnant. My husband isn’t really the romantic type but he organised a surprise trip to Barbados for us to get engaged! Prior to that, after a few ring conversations, and him wanting me to have the most cherished engagement ring, he actually organised for a gemmologist to select some sapphire stones for us to pick and for me to design my dream ring. It was so special and just very natural. When it came to the proposal, having travelled with said ring in his pocket all the way to Barbados, worried he might lose it, he couldn’t wait until we were on beautiful Gibbs beach to propose, and just went down on one knee - I was inspecting the mosquito spray and in my travel attire - not looking very glamourous haha! I think I said “ What are you doing??” and of course laughed and said yes.
Fast forward 18 months later, with a one year old in our arms, we got married and focused on delivering the most important non negotiable a wedding needs, whatever your budget is:
(This piece is to take with a pinch of salt, and I only mean my words to be a positive and refreshing view. Trying to take the pressure of a huge over OTT industry praying on people feeling like they have to have “the perfect wedding” when all it should be is a huge fun party with the people you love - and the person you love)