Our Wedding Day...

So where do I begin...

I had been working full weeks and had been photographing a wedding every single weekend for the month of November, so saying I was ran off my feet is an understatement. I shot my last wedding on the Saturday and then we had to drive to Sydney the next day to meet up with my family at the airport hotel. When we arrived the bedding was an issue so we had a floor in the hotel while sharing a room with a teething 18 month old, so it wasn't the best start to our trip. 

The next morning we started organising ourselves and made our way to the terminal. We checked in very easily and then we got on our way. The flight was good, Jetstar is the easiest and most direct flight from Sydney to Phuket - just make sure you buy entertainment & food. (I have travelled with Thai Airways before and think they have a great service, but this was quicker, easier)

When we arrived my brother and his family where so overwhelmed, they just wanted to check into the hotel and go to bed. On the other hand we wanted to show my parents around and went for a walk. We stayed at Gracelands Resort & Spa in the new Sunset wing section. Excellent resort that I would highly recommend it (even for a wedding actually). Easy walking distance from things, so no expensive tuk tuk rides, great pools, over on the quieter end of the Patong strip. 

So the next few days more family & friends arrived, we visited elephants, Buddha's, having tuk tuk rides, lots of swimming, shows seen, Thai food and alcohol consumed. We had an amazing day in the sun with everyone on a Phi Phi Island day trip, we organised a group trip & I highly recommend doing this with your guests. A great lunch, monkey's and so much snorkeling.  

The day before I remember saying - "Oh my gosh, we get married tomorrow!" We had been having such a good time that it took away all the nerves and created excitement and surprise.


The Wedding Day...

On the morning of the 11th December 2013, we had stayed together and sat up late chatting. It was so nice to wake up with my husband-to-be. I think this is what kept me calm all day. 

I had a shower when I woke up and left him to sleep while I went upstairs for breakfast and to see the wedding planning team. The make-up artist, Lisa Allen Makeup Artist was lovely and we started prep in the air-conditioning (a god send that day as even the Thai people said that it was hot for them) She used air brushing which looked amazing.
With my hair I wanted soft pinned in curls, but the humidity just wouldn't allow such thing, so she had to pin and spray everything into place. I still liked my hair and really the best thing was having my mountain of hair off my shoulders.

Due to budget restrictions, my sister-in-law, a hairdresser in the past did my bridesmaids hair & make-up. She did an amazing job. My sister-in-law had to re-do my foundation as in the head with all the sweating it had melted off my face. 

So once all done up, it was turning into a bit of a rush as the hair & make-up took 3 hours. I slipped into my dress and the photographer popped her head into the room and said, "I have a very nervous Evan waiting out here." 

He was standing at the end of the long walk way with his back to me for our first look. As soon as I could see him the emotion hit me. I started walking down, shaking, scared and then I put my hand on his back and he turned around. He had the biggest smile, he looked so content and happy. I was crying so much, he kept wiping my tears away saying, "stop crying, it's happy." My make-up needed fixed before we even left from the tears. Luckily Lisa could fix it. 

We had a few quick shots at the villa then both of us and my brother (aka best man) & hubby's sister (aka bridesmaid) jumped in our air conditioned van and went on our way. 

We had only a short amount of time, about an hour. We went to a private estate with it's own beach and garden. The garden had lots of shade and allowed us to get some good pic's on the sunny day. We then had a few pic's along the beached area. 

I could see a big white rock that I loved the look of and streight away was like "I want pic's on that" - she looked at me like I was crazy, as did hubby. But we did it, we climbed up and sat on the rock together. I hope she could picture what I was seeing (sometimes great spot ideas don't always work out in midday sun) It also had a little garden path we had a few shots along. 

Then from that spot we drove around looking for some wild flowers, but instead stumbled upon a very rustic, funky beach bar. It had a great big tree over it and a very rustic bridge. We had pic's here and stopped for a drink. Sadly that was all the time we had, I wanted funky street shots of us walking down Banglar Road & us in a tuk tuk but we just ran out of time. It was so hot, that any longer in the sun would have been hard on us anyway.

When we got back to the villa my brother joked we should ride the scooter, my bridesmaid was like yes!!! Do it, lol so we did. She doubled my brother and then hubby doubled me up and down the driveway. Hopefully they make for some fun pictures. 

The guests had been picked up at 3:30pm and as soon as we arrived back in the villa, the guests started to arrive. Looking back I think the guests didn't need to arrive until around 4:30pm, as our ceremony was at 5pm. Being such a hot day they where all sweltering in the heat waiting. She asked me to start earlier but she knew I wanted a sunset ceremony. I had taken my dress off to help me cool down and my sister-in-law fixed all my make-up.

Then my dad came down to my room. He was funny, he didn't say much and my mum is saying "tell her she looks beautiful" - my dad isn't an emotional man, so it was funny to me.

I put the dress back on and then we had to start walking up the stairs. I could hear the music and started feeling emotional again about half way. My dad and I spoke about silly things like the construction of the villa so I wouldn't cry again, but as soon as I could see everyone I was tearing up. 
I had to look at the ground as I walked the aisle, everyone was looking at me, but I did look up a few times and then I could see my hubby. 

My dad gave me away and we held hands. Both of us where sweating. He squeezed my hands, like a cute hello. The celebrant, John Lindsay - Celebrant was really good, he is an Aussie, living in Thailand and spoke beautifully. We are both really happy with him. It was a simple ceremony, he made a short reading, then exchanged rings & the kiss! I cried when Ev said "I do" and again when we kissed.

After that everyone congratulated us and then drinks and cool towels started to be served as it was so warm. The sun was setting so we got pictures with everyone who made the journey. I'm hoping if my photo's don't take too long to use them as our Thank You cards. 

As we didn't have long for photo's the bridal party popped up stairs for a few more shots alone. While we did that canape's where served. I only got to try two but they where very yummy... everyone told us the food was amazing thanks to Phuket Catering!

My dad introduced us and we had all the tables outside on the grass over looking the pool. It was lovely with the candles lit. We had little elephants as our keep sake for everyone. 

The main meal was roast chicken, lamb and massaman curry served in a family share style per table with veggies and rice. It was great way to serve dinner, you could eat as much as you wanted and pick what you like. Everyone was so impressed. 

We then had speeches. My brother spoke first and was the only one to prepare his speech, it was lovely. I am going to ask him for a copy to keep. Then as my bridesmaid wouldn't speak we had asked a close friend to say a speech. It was hilarious. My dad then spoke, he was short and sweet and huby's best mate spoke on his mum's behalf (as she was crying the whole time and couldn't form a sentence) 

We spoke together, later he told me he wished he wrote something out as he had so much to say but couldn't think of anything other then thank you for coming. I got a bit teared up thanking our parents and his mum for all the support with his illness. 

Then we had our first dance to The Rubens - Lay it Down. The family joined us for the dancing, which was nice. 

After this they served creme brulee in tea cups. My favorite!! Some of the boys where really hot by now and that is when Ev got chucked in the pool. Everyone had brought swimmers so most people went swimming, but not before the fireworks started!

The fireworks where amazing!! For what we paid I was so impressed! They where right at eye level for just over 3 minutes. Everyone said it was the best wedding they had ever attended. 
We all drank, swam and chat for the rest of the evening until the transfer came at midnight and took everyone back to the hotel. It was nice to end the night with the family sitting around reflecting on the day that was in our private villa.

It's funny it wasn't that long ago and already I feel like I have forgotten so much of what happened.

The only issue we had was the language break down about alcohol. We asked for pre-mixed drinks and instead got bottles of straight vodka, whiskey, etc. I would tell someone to organise the grog themselves at a supermarket, we ran out of soft drink because no one could pre-mix so they had to run out and get more.