When I married my childhood sweetheart

So... I'm about to get way too romantic and real soppy on ya.

The only day I wish I could relive a million times over. Your own wedding is really what it is all hyped up to be, and I hate to use the word... though to me it really was a fairytale wedding. When Sean (my now hubby) got down on one knee two years ago.. shocked was an understatement. When we had been in each others lives since we were 13, to others it was no shock at all. But I had never, ever in a squillion years imagined myself getting married, or had a particular dream in mind for this day. I was never that kinda girl. But now... now I understand why girls might long for their day to come. So to every couple out there, my god it is exciting, liberating, beautiful, like nothing you will ever experience, and so worth it. I see marriage as a way to have just one day dedicated to the amazingly special love that there is, to be excited and settled for the future and whats to come. 

There was no better way to share our photos than this, because how the hec was I going to choose just one to share when they are this effing beautiful! Roy Byrne sneakily and perfectly captured every, single, moment. He is seriously a rare and unbelievably talented photographer. There were 600 photos in total, so here is just a sneak peak...

We also had Josh Murphy from Shout Out Films do our video, and you can find it here on my Facebook page. I cry every time, and it captures the true essence of emotions on the day. 

The night before, our wedding location and where we stayed

On the night before, myself and my ridiculously beautiful inside and out Bridesmaids and parents stayed in the Watson House across from our venue, which was the insanely breathtaking Changing Habits Farm. This was perfect. We made a beautiful fresh dinner of salad and salmon, which is exactly what I felt like. We did Mukti Organic face masks, drank tea, danced, did our nails (definitely realised at this point I should have gotten my nails done properly, defs not my forte), snuggled and giggled a bloody lot.

The not so mysterious moth...

As we were settling down for dinner, we realised that a moth had landed on my dads shoulder, found a comfortable home and wasn't leaving any time soon. The moth had chosen well, because if it had landed on any of us girls - we would have firstly squealed, gotten all gooey and freaked out, and then flicked it off (or is that just me?). The moth proceeded to join our whole night, and then slept right next to Dad all night. When Dad woke in the morning, he put on his shirt, and the moth crawled back on him, like a pet. Keep reading for what happened throughout the day. 

So like, duh, I couldn't sleep 

I slept (kinda) with my beautiful friend Hayley... and we both had to shut ourselves up to try and get to sleep, but we tossed and turned all night, and then as soon as the sun rose and saw each other awake 'GOOD MORNING', followed by 'hehehehehehehe'. I had had roughly 4 hours sleep, and Hayley wasn't far off either.

I was shattered. But... so... excited...

And then we did blissful yoga

My beautiful sister organised the stunningly gorgeous Sarah Rose to come teach us yoga. 

Holy hec this is what I needed. I nearly cried 3894 times during the practise, my emotions were going crazy. But the deep breathing combined with headstands, stretching my tense body, child poses and meditation was exactly what my body, mind and whole being needed. It put me in the present moment and helped me calm my adrenaline and racing mind down, though also increased my natural energy. Thank you to every one of you who kept this a secret, it was the bestest surprise. 

For the rest of the morning I lied in the sun and watched everyone get completely dolled up. The house was brightly lit, cosy and we could relax and get ready right up to minutes before walking down the aisle. I think the only thing I said all day, over and over, was 'turn on a banger!!!!'. Meaning, Rhianna, Beyonce or something alike. As my adrenaline increased in the day, I couldn't eat, had only had a few sips of Bulletproof coffee, and along with my little sleep you can just imagine my mood - giggly, weird, delirious and couldn't stop moving. This all lead to needing to throw up, oops. I held it back... smothered my stomach in peppermint oil, a dose of coconut activated charcoal, had deep breaths, ate some leftover salmon and salad, danced to a 'banger' and I was fine. YEW!   

Dreamy flowers...

I couldn't thank the incredibly talented and beautiful Jules Smith from My Sunny Essentials enough. I showed her pictures of the flower style I was after, and she nailed it plus more. By coincidence, I had Austin Roses in my bouquet! Unfortunately through tragedy our other helper could not make it on the day, so Jules did our tables, arch, bouquets, ladder, cake topper and literally EVERYTHING else that involved the flowers. Seriously, wow. This made the wedding. Everything was jaw-droppingly stunning and exactly what I imagined. Thank you, my darling girl! 

I wore a robe from Spell, which my sister Courtney wore for her wedding, and my other sister will wear it for hers. 

A beautiful woman Lisa Kingsbury made my dress, because any dress off the hanger didn't feel like mine, or me. The details in this dress are so fine and intricate and it came together perfectly. Not only is she such a talent, she is the sweetest of all ladies. 

When my Dad and Pa (Grandad) walked me down the aisle

See the moth on Dad's suit? As I was ready and still at the Watson house, my sisters and Mum approached me and said that they looked up what a moth symbolises, and it is a message of love and support from someone that has passed away. My Pa had left us only a month before the wedding, and my family was using the wedding as an event to be happy and excited about, as it was only two weeks before that we had his funeral. My Grandma was there, and she had written on her card 'love Pa and Grandma'. The moment my family made this clear to me, I lost it. I was in tears sobbing at this thought, but a combination of sadness, happiness and excitement. Although we already had planned to mention Pa in our service, that we wished he was there, I quickly messaged Jake (my now brother in law) to let Kim Morrison our beautiful celebrant to mention the moth and that Pa was actually present with us. The moth stayed on Dad right up until the ceremony was over. We knew it was him and it made everything that much more special.

The feeling of when I saw Sean at the end of the aisle is indescribable... a feeling of bliss, nervousness and excitement, and like it was the first time we saw each other.

Seriously... that face though... 

There was not a moment where I held my sh** together, if only I was one of those girls that looked good when I cried. Everyone was very patient with me, because a few sentences were like reading a novel through my tears. Kimmy from Twenty8, our celebrant, was hilarious, soft and said everything right in every moment. She made me laugh in the perfect moments and revealed our answers to our questions in a bloody hilarious way. Kim is an angel on this Earth.

So once we finally got our vows out, we made ittttt!

Meanwhile our epic platter came out. All local, real food, mostly organic and the purest of pure ingredients. I had made rosemary and garlic pate along with dill and turmeric cashew cheese, and then we had market olives, fruits, veggie sticks, traditionally cured chorizo, a variety of cheeses, seed crackers and more.   

And then we ran away to have us time. 

Essential.

We had a couple of minutes in the car just us, and Sean looked at me and just started crying because he was so happy. Haha! Bloody cutie. 

And now we feast... 

Something For Catering, weren't just the average somethin' somethin'. They did exactly what I wanted, all gluten and grain free beautiful share platters of slow cooked beef cheeks, fish, roasted vegetables and salads. Everyone commented on how good the food was, that it wasn't the average wedding food! 

We then did the ol' cake thang! A stunningly beautiful friend, Franca Conti, made our cake for us and she went over and beyond for this. It was a masterpiece! We settled on this recipe from Wholefood Simply, a gluten, dairy and everything free cake that is ridiculously moist and so flavoursome. I suggest making this just because! Within the week before I also made the Wholefood Simply caramel slice altered slightly along with my own recipe of peppermint chocolate slice. These were all so good that they went before we could get a photo of them.  

Post cake, you can see things went from zero to a hundred, real quick.

I kicked off my shoes, hoisted up my dress, and danced all night. When the dress-ups came out, everything became that much more hilarious. My favourite part was that not one person was judged for being their true, beautiful, hilarious and ridiculous self. WOOOO! 

To everyone that came, from the bottom of our hearts we thank you so, so much for making our day the most blissful day. It was honestly the best day in my life. 

How beautiful is love, eh!

Sheridan Austin ;)

xxx