Ten Years...

In late June, DH and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Compared to many of our friends, who are these days celebrating 40+ wedding anniversaries, I guess we could be classed as newlyweds! Lol. But considering I never expected to remarry as I was quite happy with my life, it just shows 'that you never can tell!'. And I can say in all honesty that it has been a wonderful 10 years!
So this year the bridal party from that ceremony in 2004, went out to lunch; DH's younger brother had been his Best Man and, his cousin, and also my best friend for over 30 years, was my bridesmaid.
Then and now photo...

My BiL and SiL were on 'grandparent duty' that day, so young Ashleigh had to tag along...she was so beautifully behaved...in the photo below, my BiL had left to go an pick up Ashleigh's brother from school...

Interestingly, my marriage to DH linked 2 branches of the family back together...a split had occurred 2 generations ago but no one knows the reason. For example, DH's branch had stayed in contact with one great aunt but  Pamela's side of the family did not, so her generation did not know a significant part of the family...they do now though! And conversely DH's family did not know the branch of the family in the US...they do now... :-)

Sitting between cousins who 12 years ago didn't know the other existed...

I love the view out of the windows at Eatons Hill Hotel...

Now over 10 years ago my friend and I purchased some fabric featuring hydrangeas and her plan was that she was going to make DH and I a quilt for a wedding gift. Time was her enemy so plans changed and the quilt was to be a first anniversary present....you know where I'm going with this don't you? A week before this year's anniversary, my friend and I went shopping for some homespun to complement the 2 fabrics that we already had...my friend was now determined to make this quilt in a week! The original pattern that she had selected with lots of pieced blocks was discarded in favour of sewing a series of borders around a large central panel of hydrangea fabric.

Thanks to a wonderful quilter at Taigum, the pieced top, batting and backing were dropped off on the Sunday, when I also chose a design for the quilting. The wonderful Toni had it all quilted and ready for Pamela to collect on the Wednesday. My friend then sewed the binding on this huge quilt and had it ready and waiting when we met for lunch on the Thursday! Phew....

The quilt is huge and so warm...well worth the wait as it's so special! And I can still see why Pam and I fell in love with that fabric all those years ago.

June 26...our anniversary.

Today DH and I celebrated our wedding anniversary... He had proposed to me in the January while we were having a gelato in Lygon St, Carlton in Melbourne. The wedding date had been chosen carefully as a federal election was due that year and DH's job involved running federal elections which meant long hours and weekend work. The election was tipped to be later in the year, so June was considered 'safe'. 

It was a second marriage for both of us so the OTT wedding gown wasn't an option. I vaguely thought that I'd wear a caftan like gown with lots of colour. It was organised that my best friend, ( and bridesmaid), my future SIL and also my brother's wife at the time and I would go dress/outfit shopping on a certain Saturday morning. We had a list of a number of dress shops as I expected to take ages to find something. Our first stop was a suburb away and a favourite shop of mine over the years. The shop owner, Marlene, brought out a number of outfits...she recommended cream rather than the lurid colours I had thought about! lol The second outfit I tried on was the one !  I knew as soon as I had tried it on. And it was cream :-) 

So we all decided to then drive to Sandgate to a shoe shop that my friend recommended...and lunch of course too. By the end of the day I had bought some lovely new shoes, so I did well. 

On my wedding day my future SIL surprised me by organising for a friend to drive us in a limo...

The bouquets were made by my friend's god-daughter at 'mates' rates'...no hydrangeas at the time of year so I chose irises and Singapore orchids...

DH with his brother and our parish priest at the time, Father Rod, waiting for me to arrive... We were early, so Phil, the friend who owned the limo, drove around nearby suburbs and people waved to us...until it was time...

My baby brother was waiting at the church to 'give me away'....

To start the service my 2 girls and DH's 3 girls lit 2 candles to signify the 2 families...

At the end of the service, DH and I light the 3rd candle to signify the joining of the families...

With my 2 darling nephews...they are so much taller than me  these days!

With my new inlaws...My widowed SIL on the right in the back row was to later  catch the bouquet and she still keeps asking me 'when it is going to work'?  lol

 We had the reception in the old church hall and we had one big party for 100 of our friends and family. It was all in a lovely atmosphere. Our caterer was at that time, the owner of a renowned tea shop here in Brisbane, 'High Societea'...I had known Cathy for a number of years through my friend Pamela.

Here we are walking into the reception...to the tune of  'I do I do I do I do I do, by Abba.

Here is our beautiful cake with its sprays of hydrangeas and morning glorys...

 And here is Pamela, the wonderful friend who made and decorated this cake for us...

It was a lovely day and it's been fun looking back through all the photos. It has been so wonderful to 'get a second chance' in love.