Thirteen years ago at 1pm I was walking down the aisle of an old and beautiful chapel to get married.
Every year on our wedding anniversary, I always like to pause for a moment at that time and think about what I am doing now and what I was doing then, and marvel at the contrast.
My husband asked me yesterday if there was one moment from our wedding day that I could relive, which moment would it be? I already knew that it would be that moment - at 1pm or shortly thereafter (I was a little fashionably late), when I stood in the arched doorway of the chapel, heard the organ strike up Handel's Royal Fireworks (yes, we had plenty of ribbing about that, but it's very grand and very beautiful walk-down-the-aisle music), and saw my soon-to-be-husband turn his head as I took that first step towards matrimony and the next 13 years.
Here is the King's College Chapel in Auckland, where we were married.
Here is me with my Dad, just at that moment where Handel's Royal Fireworks began. (Ohhhh - look at that waist. Where has that gone?)
Some of my smaller attendants . . . one of whom is now married herself.
And my bridesmaids, all now married, and two of whom have had babies in the last week!
Seven Things About My Wedding Day That I'm Glad I Did
1. The soft butter colour and white of the attendants went perfectly with the antique wood and glass in the chapel
2. I had pure silk imported from Thailand for my wedding dress, lace from France, a 100 year old hand-embroidered vintage veil imported from England, and shoes borrowed from my cousin. I shied away from the blue garter and used tiny little blue flowers in my bouquet.
3. A chance encounter with Kevin Berkahn (NZ's premiere wedding dress designer at the time) turned into some of the best advice I was given - he told me to wear my hear down and natural and not to turn myself into someone my new husband wouldn't recognize (LOL). So I did, and it's one of the things my husband liked the most.
4. We used the old traditional vows - you know, the ones you hear in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice. The language alone is terribly romantic. Betrothing and pledging. Lovely.
5. On the invitations, we requested that the women wore hats.
6. In the chapel there is a bell tower. We asked for special permission to ring the bells when the bride arrived. It was a lovely surprise to the guests, and let the minister (my cousin) and the men know that we were arriving.
7. We had the old English hymn Jerusalem played as we left the church. This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written (in my opinion). You might recognize it from the movie, Chariots of Fire.
Seven Things I Wish I Had Done On My Wedding Day
1. Paid for a professional photographer. We paid for an amateur photographer, and while we were happy with most of the photos, there were a lot we weren't happy with.
2. I wish I had saved enough money to buy that Kevin Berkahn dress that I loved.
3. Have had all my Lees nieces for flowergirls. I didn't at the time because there were so many of them (11, I think), and I was worried about how it might look and how we'd transport them to the chapel.
4. Actually I can't think of anything else.
It was a perfect day, and we love to reminisce about it every year. It's incredible how fast 13 years can go by.
3 comments :
13 years, wow - and congratulations! :) Your wedding pictures are beautiful! And the venue was so grand and beautiful too! What a great idea, to ask all the women to wear hats; I like it and now I wish I had done the same!! :)
Your dress is beautiful - I think modest bridal gowns are SO much more beautiful than modern off-the-shoulder types. I also think wearing your hair down was a beautiful idea - and I agree with the advice you were given! My husband wanted to marry ME, not some dress-up-doll!! :)
I LOVE the music too - the majest of the music SO suits the chapel you were married in (the music for Jerusalem always makes me want to cry, it is so beautiful!) - and the church bells, what a gorgeous touch!!
I'm amazed at how many people I know were married in November - our anniversary is the 10th Nov!! :)
I enjoyed reading about your special day all those years ago, Rachel! Congratulations! Love the photos... you looked beautiful and it sounds like the day had a lovely old fashioned charm to it. We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in June - the years have gone so quickly. We were married in Cambridge NZ and we were the 4th generation on my mother's side to be married in the big white church there. We had a wonderful day... my husband asked me, too, not to wear too much make up (because I never do ordinarily - he said he wanted to see ME walking down the aisle) Looking back there are only a couple of things I would do differently now (like wear my hair differently) but otherwise I just wish I could re-live it all over again because it was so wonderful. My Mum (who helped me organise everything) *still* wishes she had made sure the pen we signed the register with was a feather quill. Instead it was a random ballpoint pen with bright colours on it from some local business that the Vicar had put there. She had been involved with numerous wedding ceremonies in the past through our church and that was one of the details she'd always remembered to do for other peoples' weddings, just not her own daughters! :o) LOL
Happy Wedding Anniversary!
It looks like an absolutely beautiful wedding and I LOVE all the dresses and gentle colours. What a beautiful chapel to get married in. Wow! That's the kind of wedding I love - all the tradition, oodles of love and romance, as well as natural beauty. You look absolutely STUNNING. Thank you for sharing your special memories.
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