May 30, 2011

What is it about weddings?

I’ve always loved weddings. I love attending weddings, I love hearing about weddings, I love wedding photos – and I just love the idea of having a big party to celebrate being in love. I always have, and I’m sure I always will.

I received my first speeding fine - ever!
 - driving home from work to watch Will
and Kate's wedding. Whoops!
I’m the friend who, when a recently engaged friend apologises for going on about flowers - or some other wedding related topic - always makes it very clear that I don’t mind in the least. Talk as much as you like! Even better, show me photos of what you’re deciding between!

I’m sure you get the idea - I love a good wedding :)


So, you’d assume that when I became engaged, I would have had my wedding all planned out. Well, I didn’t. I guess I’m a bit superstitious, but it never felt right to me to think too much about my wedding until I was actually having one.


And just to make things interesting, I decided to have the wedding nine months after our engagement (surely weddings aren’t all that difficult to plan?), and at about the same time I entered the New Voices competition.


Thanks to New Voices, I had significantly less time to plan my wedding that I expected (not that I’d complaining!), and a really positive result of this was that I had no time to over-think anything. I had to make decisions quickly. And consequently, two weeks ago, I had my dream wedding. I married my own hero at the park where we first met, and had the reception in my mum’s backyard beneath a beautiful tree, rice paper lanterns and wooden hearts dangling amongst the branches, and our friends and family all around us – and all absolutely carving up the dance floor! I wouldn’t change a thing – it was absolutely perfect.


The best thing about weddings is that they’re all different. The weddings I’ve attended, and the weddings I’ve read about in so many romance novels, are never, ever the same. But they’re always beautiful, and always so full of love.


Do you love weddings too? What do you love about them?


In your romance novels, do you like to read about the hero and heroine’s wedding, or are you happy to end with the proposal?


PS I don't yet have the professional photos, but I love this pic of my new husband and I (still not used to saying that!) taken by Nikki Logan.

20 comments:

  1. I love that photo of you and your new husband, too. You were a beautiful bride, but best of all, you both look amazingly, wonderfully happy. That's what I love about weddings - real and fictional. I love celebrating the joy and affection of a new marriage. I wish you both every happiness as you begin yours.

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  2. Congrats, Leah! Yes, it's a most spectacular photo of the two of you. Could definitely be used as a M&B cover!!!

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  3. Leah

    I too love that photo beautiful you can see the love
    Yes I too love weddings I had a great time planning mine 34 years ago and I do love a wedding in a book but I am also happy with a proposal.

    Have Fun
    Helen

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  4. Ah, you both look wonderfully happy and in love. Congratulations, Leah! Wishing you both every happiness.

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  5. Congrats Leah! You both look so happy!

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  6. It's often the informal pictures that people treasure much more. A good professional one is nice to remember the day but the informal ones have a lot of character and true emotion in them.

    Like everyone else, this photo of you and your husband is gorgeous. That's the one I'd be putting on my wall! :-)

    And how romantic, getting married in the park where you both met. Sigh.

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  7. Julia - yes, that's exactly it! Weddings are just so joyful. I was so stressed leading up to the wedding, but on the day I was so relaxed and don't think I stopped smiling :)

    Aimee - Thank you! I'm so pleased that how happy we were (and are!) translated to the photos.

    Helen - wow, 34 years! Congratulations! Yeah, I love proposals too - that's what I forgot from my blog, to mention how much I love proposal stories :)

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  8. Alexandra - Thank you! He makes me very happy - we're always laughing together :)

    Kez - Thank you!

    Kylie - Thanks Kylie! He proposed at that park, too, so it's a very special place.

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  9. Meeting in the park, proposing in the park, marrying in the park -- how romantic, Leah!

    Oh, and Aimee is right -- your wedding photo could be the cover of a M&B!

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  10. I had tingles reading your post and I was THERE! It was a gorgeous wedding and like you I'm a sucker for all of them :)
    I totally agree that that pic would make a good cover - maybe you should suggest it to the eds!

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  11. Oh, Leah, it sounds as if you both had so much fun! And you look blissfully happy together.

    I love weddings, but in a romance I love reading about the weddings in marriage of convenience stories. I love that whole sense of what a wedding should be and how the reality in the story falls so far short because love isn't part of the equation. Of course, love does eventually become part of that equation... :-)

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  12. I'm blushing at all these M&B cover comments! You are all lovely for saying that :)

    Emily - The only flaw was that our dogs weren't there for the wedding (they witnessed the first meeting and proposal), but we were too worried about adding to the stress on the day. Plus, my dog Stella tends to whine when separated from me. Not very romantic! :)

    Rach - Awww! Thanks so much for being part of our special day :)

    Michelle - Oh yes, of course! Marriages of convenience can be so much fun to read - all that tension and forced (illusion of) intimacy. Yum!

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  13. Lovely photo Leah. Looks like you had a wonderful day.
    I love a good wedding to finish off a great book . . . but the proposals are my favourite part . . . the more schmaltzy the better. I got flowers and a bended knee, and it still makes me smile thinking about it.
    Great post :)

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  14. Thanks Helen! Flowers and bended knee sounds perfect! I got fish and chips, the Saturday paper, two dogs, an upside down ring box - and a bended knee :)

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  15. Leah, that's a *gorgeous* picture! I can't wait to see more of them from your wedding.

    Re: seeing the wedding in a book, it depends on the story. Sometimes I'm happy that we just know there's a HEA, and sometimes I want to see the wedding myself.

    Your reception with the rice paper lanterns and the wooden hearts in the trees sounds blissfully perfect!

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  16. A fabulous pic of you and your new husband, Leah! You look so very happy - just looking at the photo makes me want to smile.

    Your wedding sounds wonderful - lots of lovely special touches. The way you planned it might have been part of the successful magic of it - less time to agonise and sweat over the small stuff.

    Hey, your dh's wedding band looks rather special? Or is it just the way it's caught the light?

    Congratulations and happiness always, Leah!
    :)
    Sharon

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  17. Rachel - Don't worry, once I have the pro shots I'll be bombarding the LoveCats :)

    Sharon - Glad you like the ring! My husband was very particular about it - it's "black gold" (gold plated in black rhodium - same technique as used for white gold). The line in the middle is etched into the ring (and is white gold).

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  18. Nikki, you look stunning in that photo with your husband.
    I love weddings. And the variety is wonderful because they reflect the couple getting married. I don't think I've been to a church wedding for years as everyone seems to want to do their own thing in surroundings that mean something special to them.
    Sue MacKay

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  19. Cannot BELIEVE I'm late to your wedding (post). I promise everyone I was on time for the real thing. In fact I was super early because I was so scared of being late.

    It was a beautiful wedding made even more hilarious as Leah appeared around the corner by the small, blonde moppet who cycled to the top of the crest that the wedding gazebo stood on, got off her bike and turned to scream back at her family at the top of her lungs - 'Mum! A wedding!'

    I always love the nervous wait at the start of the wedding. Totally understand why the groom has some backup groomsmen--to keep him distracted while he waits. The bride has it easy, she gets to make a glamorous entrance but the groom has to stand there while the crowd assembles, all pointing and giggling...

    Oh wait... maybe that's just me...

    Anyway, your hero was spectacularly calm the whole time. He had his work face on :)

    And then he turned around and saw you....

    *sigh*

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  20. Thanks Sue! We ummed and ahhed about the location (as it was quite a drive from the reception) but decided that we just had to have it there :)

    Nikki - I didn't hear that girl, how cute! I was too busy fending off a few random dogs :) Does not surprise me at all he had his work face on! But he's such a fraud - he is a big sook, really. I'm very lucky :) Thank you again for all the wonderful photos you took - I love them!

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