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Have you considered felt flowers for your wedding bouquet? Here is a story of a couple who did…. and how they sourced these amazing flowers for a wedding bouquet that reflected their exact choice of blooms.
Congratulations to Cherie and Josh on their stunning wedding on the Mooloolaba Spit Parklands.
Would it rain, would it not??? A teensy drop of drizzle chased all the beach-goers away, and left the whole beach and parklands to Cherie and Josh for their wedding. Thank you sky. Thanks for the cooling blessing of a drop of water, AND for a rain free wedding ceremony.
Rain and Retro
However today’s story is not of rain blessings, nor of beach and delightful parks for a wedding.
Nor is it even about their choice of retro styling their wedding, nor arrival in the heritage red kombi van from Deluxe Kombis. Although I must admit I did appreciate the beautiful restored ruby kombi parked next to my own retro car, a pt cruiser… However I divert myself.
Felt Flowers
Cherie and Josh inspired me with their choice of flowers. Flowers in the glass bulbs hanging in trees, flowers at the belt of the flower girls, in lapels of groomsmen and in the hands of bridesmaids and bride. But all made from felt.
Cherie found them on Etsy, from a gorgeous maker in Albania called Livija Kandele, who showcases her felted creations on her daughter’s Etsy shop. By the time wedding flower styles and colours had been negotiated, they were firm friends. Cherie tells me she will miss her weekly online chat with her new friend, the felter. Livija, a craftswoman from Albania, wove her creativity into new realms with the design of new flowers especially for this Australian wedding by the beach.
Cherie said: “She had never made wedding flowers before, but sells hand and needle felted brooches, toys and various homeware items, on her daughter’s Etsy store- Liga Kandele. I actually began talking with Liga initially who coordinated with her mother, and took professional photos of the work to send me as her mother progressed. Livija agreed that she would be happy to give wedding flowers a try, and I ended up speaking back and forth with both mother and daughter about the detail of the flowers quite regularly. They were both amazing, and so extremely helpful and accommodating to my very specific requests!”
Cherie and Josh had clear ideas on the colour scheme for their wedding. In line with their retro theming, and using a classic autumn colour palette, they chose browns and oranges and yellows and cream. The flowers were quite symbolic too.
They selected Australian yellow wattle for their home country,
English roses for the long time they spent living in England,
North American russet red spotted tiger lily flowers for their time in Canada, and creamy citrus blossoms, traditional for weddings in times gone by.
The combinations were just stunning.
Cherie told me,” The dark orange flower is an orange spotted tiger lily. This flower was actually the main reason why I started looking into getting flowers made in the first place! I had a Sesame Street “Little Golden Book” when I was little, where big bird walked around the neighbourhood with flowers giving them to different people – describing the different types of flowers as he went. I always had a fascination and love for the orange spotted tiger lily in the book – it had stuck in my brain all this time! I noticed over the years that I’d never seen a tiger lily quite like that in Australia – they look different here. So I started researching it for the wedding and found that these type of flowers mostly come from North America. We had just moved back from living in North America (Canada), so I thought why not include that, plus a flower from England, and one from Australia – the three places Josh and I had lived together 🙂
To set off the flowers and their colours, the boys dressed in browns and carried brown umbrellas. Very classy!
And the girls dressed in individual retro dresses in mustard yellows, and carried brown polka dot umbrellas. The overall effect was simply gorgeous, set under the she oak trees in the park.
Photos by Kari – the celebrant!
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~ with Sunshine Coast wedding celebrant Kari ~
Congratulations to Douglas and Melissa, a gorgeous and fun loving couple, married at The Little White Wedding Church in Maleny.
Both Melissa and her parents are from Paris, and key wedding guests were coming from France especially for this divine wedding. So they sought a celebrant who might be able to weave in a little French to make all the guests feel at home.
What they didn’t know at the time was that even some French ritual could also be woven into the ceremony. So when I suggested the white ribbon ritual, Melissa jumped at the chance for some fun in her ceremony.
In France it is a tradition for a town’s children to stretch white ribbons across the road down which the bride travels. She must cut the ribbons to make a path.
These are symbolic obstacles created for them to overcome together and thus pave a common path in their new life together.
On her wedding day in honour of Melissa’s background we stretched white ribbons across the aisle before she entered the church following the Bridesmaids.
As she strolled down the aisle, she had to cut her way through the “obstacles” to get to her guy. She laughed as she commented that she’d do anything to get to the altar where he was waiting. We hoped she had scissors with her tucked into that bouquet!
And she did.
And what story about a french wedding would be complete without some French Poetry;
Read by her sister and bridesmaid, Savita. Durant l’hiver by Célia Germinario
Durant l’hiver on s’est rencontré,
Amour, gentillesse, beauté à mes yeux tu es,
Mon coeur, mon corps et mon âme je t’ai donné,
Il ne peut rien t’arriver,
Eternellement prêt de toi je serai,
Nos coeurs sont mêlés à jamai
During the winter we met,
You are Love, kindness, beauty to my eyes,
my heart, my body and my soul I have given thee,
there is no more life can bring
Eternally ready for thee I will be,
our hearts mingled forever
What a fun day it was. Thank you to the delightful and subtle Matt Rowe for the images. He is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, capturing each moment, each smile. Thanks Matt. And checkout his new cover image!!!
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Walking River – a pilgrimage
This year was the tenth anniversary of an extraordinary pilgrimage; the Long Yarra Walk, as told in Maya Ward’s book The Comfort of Water.
She says of her book,
” The Comfort of Water: A River Pilgrimage is the story of my three-week journey along the Yarra River. I walked from the sea to the source, through city, forest, farmland, following an ancient songline. In the book I tell of those 21 days and 20 nights, but since it was a journey through my home city, a place I’d lived all my life, I also include anecdotes from before and after the pilgrimage…“
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The Comfort Of Water
The book begins:
Walk the path …………………….. And journey to the source
These are not metaphors …………………. They are instructions.
Maya Ward, the author, is an extraordinary woman, walker and writer. She invites us to listen deeply to the path and to the voices of nature.
This modern reinvention or re-exploration of pilgrimage explored the lessons of River. River can teach the importance of the path of water, and all who live along it’s way. River teaches history and story; connection to place, the importance of flow. Walking a river pilgrimage is essential to understanding all of this.
The ritual of walking a path evokes extraordinary learning, deep understanding and great forgiveness. This is pilgrimage.
Maya’s book is both a true tale and a guidebook for path. I loved following her journey as I imagined my own.
Recently a kindergarten teacher was inspired to use Maya’s text as a guide for a program of education for very young children. A film was made about their learning. Songlines of the Yarra, is an 8 minute short film which explores the children’s intimate relationship with the Yarra River and their sense of belonging to time and place. It has been selected to screen at the Little Big Shots International Film Festival for Kids, Australia’s major annual and travelling children’s film festival.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”40110″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Ritual and friendships
Maya is my friend. She has also been a mentor for me in the field of ritual. We met at a wonderful community ritual celebration some dozen or so years ago. The community event was the annual Return of the Sacred Kingfisher Festival held at CERES in Victoria. We were both a part of the artistic team who created the event. Maya inspires me always to do better, and to think more. She is one of the most connected people I have ever met when it comes to understanding place, and environment; deep ecology and connection. Maya helps me to understand the importance of ritual, and the many layers of ritual.
Let me diverge
…to tell the story of a creek.
Another River Ritual
The Merri Creek runs into the Yarra River not far from the centre of Melbourne. A twenty minute tram ride will get you there. Maya took much longer walking the river trail, for the Yarra winds around many bends through the city before you come to Merri Creek.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”40109″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Merri Creek
Decades ago the poor Merri had been reduced to a trickle such was the degradation of the environment. Industry poured raw effluent from pipes directly into the creek. The steep banks had been denuded of vegetation. It was used as a tip. The creek could not flow any more.
Sacred Kingfisher
Sacred Kingfisher’s cry had not been heard along the creek for many years. He had simply flown away. Wouldn’t you?
A community turned their love to the creek and put a stop to the decline of the Merri. The clean up began with bulldozers to remove the rusted car-bodies, rubber tyres and discarded washing machines from the creek bed. Work continues to this day with countless hours by community volunteers, revegetating, weeding, caring.
The Return of the Kingfisher
One day the Kingfisher was heard along the Merri again. Ki Ki Ki Ki They had returned!
The Return of the Sacred Kingfisher Festival is an annual community celebration welcoming the Sacred Kingfisher back to its original habitat, along the banks of the Merri Creek in Brunswick. For the CERES community, the Sacred Kingfisher bird has become a symbol of “hope” connecting people and place.
Community River Ritual
It is a community ritual and a working relationship or collaboration with the Wurundjeri people, various cultural communities and performers of all ages and abilities. As long as the Kingfisher returns each year in Spring, it is a sign that we are taking care of our local environment and the home of the Sacred Kingfisher.
The Sacred Kingfisher on it’s annual migration also stops at the Sunshine Coast, my home of twenty years. Each year I measure the first day of Spring, from the first urgent call of the Kingfisher in my tiny forested garden. It was the Kingfisher festival, and this team of artists who taught me most about ritual and celebration. I bring this experience to all of my work as a celebrant.
River Ritual – Creek Celebration
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~ with Sunshine Coast marriage celebrant, Kari ~
Congratulations Hayley and Wade with their darling children, Charlotte and Kobi, married in the delightful Tiffany’s Chapel.
(Check out the photo which I call “Wrapping the bride!”)
We seek ceremony when there is something profound happening. We do things in ceremony that are symbols of a deeper meaning in our lives. Some things are not easy to express every day, as we live it. Some things are best expressed by ritual. A wedding does this. It creates an opportunity to gather the important people, and to enunciate deep feelings in the form of promises or gifts.
Hayley and Wade’s wedding day was a dream come true. And it was a wedding about family. Hayley and Wade believe that family is first, family is everything, family is LIFE.
Often a wedding is not simply about two people. It is about a wider group of people; community, family, heart families. This wedding was for everyone there.
A wedding could not alter what they already had, for Hayley and Wade had already built a marriage. I saw it expressed so well in their dear children, Charlotte and Kobi. As I spoke with the couple, the kids played with my lego basket. (Yes a relic of my own child rearing. I LOVE my son’s lego basket, and so do many of the kids who come to me with their parents.) As they played I noticed how gentle they were with each other and the things they created. Their parents took small moments to acknowledge what the kids were doing, and kids were very respectful of their parents having a talk. Impressive parenting at work here!
So this marriage was about a family unit, yet acknowledging of the important relationship that holds the family together, the parents. For Hayley and Wade wished to give the gift of marriage to each other. They had already promised forever in their kids, but on their wedding day they showed it to each other.
Charlotte and Kobi, (who are, may I say, the best behaved kids I have ever seen!) were delightful partners to the wedding as flower girl and ring boy. Kobi was quite emotional watching his parents wed. Who wouldn’t be? He could deeply appreciate the strong emotions that were being expressed that day. Check out Charlotte wrapping herself in Mum’s bride dress. I sneeked the ones of the “bridal wrap” while Toni, the photographer, was organising the group picture. Too delightful to miss!
A key to understanding this was their choice of reading:
The key to love is understanding…
The ability to comprehend not only the spoken word,
but those unspoken gestures,
the little things that say so much by themselves.
The key to love is forgiveness…
to accept each others faults and pardon mistakes,
without forgetting, but with remembering
what you learn from them.
The key to love is sharing…
Facing your good fortunes as well as the bad, together;
both conquering problems, forever searching for ways
to intensify your happiness.
The key to love is giving…
without thought of return,
but with the hope of just a simple smile,
and by giving in but never giving up.
The key to love is respect…
realising that you are two separate people, with different ideas; that you don’t belong to each other,
that you belong with each other, and share a mutual bond.
The key to love is inside us all…
It takes time and patience to unlock all the ingredients that will take you to its threshold;
it is the continual learning process that demands a lot of work… but the rewards are more than worth the effort…
and that is the key to love.
Thanks to Photographer Toni Snell for the glorious images.
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The Bridesmaids’ story
Today’s story is about the Bridesmaids. Lift your glasses for a toast to the Bridesmaids, Steph, Sharna, Vanessa, Alyce and Kristen.
First of all Congratulations to Sam and Jai, married in Byron Bay…but more on them in a later story.
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Bestie to bridesmaid?
Sam, the bride, took great care on planning her wedding, and involving her favourite people. She began by asking them all in a delightful fashion. As Kristen said, “We went for Friday after work drinks and Sam gave me a little gift box. Inside the box was a handful of tiny brown paper scrolls. Each had a different memory of us growing up, and some of the crazy things we did!
The very last scroll read Krisso…. Will you be my bridesmaid? I’m pretty sure everyone in the bar had a heart attack, I squealed that loudly!”
Will you be my bridesmaid?
Sam had been besties with her Bridesmaids since childhood, so all five girls signed up immediately.
How did you find the bridesmaid dresses?
The six girls, maids and bride, spent a day together seeking the perfect dress for Sam’s relaxed and elegant garden wedding to be held at a quaint farmhouse on the hill looking out over Byron Bay.
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A colour palate not a colour
The Bride did not wish to dictate to her friends, so she pretty much gave them free reign on bridesmaids dress. She did show them a picture of the colour palate she’d prefer; earthy colours, pale dusky pinks, mauves, champagne. Said Sharna, “Sammy’s idea was for all the dresses to be unique and different but from a similar colour palette. We opted for full length as it was elegant and flattering.” They couldn’t find anything that first day. So off they went back to their own life schedules and continued seeking on their own. Kristen commented, “The first time we saw the dresses all together was the night before the wedding and they just worked perfectly together!!” PHEW! Check out the pix.
Bought One at a time
It is hard to believe that the dresses were bought one by one, separately by each bridesmaid.
What was the bridesmaids highlight?
What was the highlight of Sam and Jai’s wedding day for you?
Kristen said, “Getting ready back at the hotel and seeing how happy Sammy was. She’s usually a control freak and everything has to be perfect but she was just so relaxed and ready to marry the man of her dreams. Seeing her walk down the aisle was pretty amazing!”
Sharna said, “Hard to say as it was all stunningly beautiful. Probably milling around after the ceremony and getting our photos taken. Getting our hair and makeup done together was fun too.”
Will you wear your dress again?
“I hope so. I love it!” Here we are having a play in the archway after the service…In the distance is Byron Bay lighthouse and the best surf of the week! Not that we were interested![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_masonry_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1714442880624-c2cd1b8c-75fe-0″ include=”40178,40168,40169,40171,40172,40173,40174,40175,40176,40170,40177,40179″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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A Mc and a Mac
When McNamara married MacKinnon, there was bound to be somescotsman around somewhere!!! And what a lovely use of tartan. And what a choice of place! Congratulations Sandra and Jason, married at Gardeners Falls, Maleny. Unique, different, touching, romantic and down to earth, their DIY wedding was simply perfect.
A Scotsman and a Nymph
When Sandra and Jason first met in Canada they recall talking about travelling Australia and the food they both missed. Jason proceeded to load up the juke box while Sandra picked most of the songs and introduced him to her love for disco. Not less than two days later Jason had to leave Canada!! Mere hours before his flight took off they were enjoying their first “date”. The conversation flowed easily and touched on so many subjects that they would have forgot to order food, if the waitress hadn’t kept reappearing to ask if they were ready to order. Jason’s friends were worried he was cutting it close for time to catch his flight. There was really no time for eating!
It was not long before they were together again, in Australia.
Sandra describes Jason as her calm in the storm. Jason describes Sandra as his down to earth rock. No wonder it threatened to storm on their wedding day. But come the right time, they stood on a rock mid stream, with not a drop of rain.
They relish each other’s company, laugh at each other’s jokes and make fun happen every day. These are qualities that will sustain a relationship. They are also great qualities for planning an extraordinary wedding.
Dressed in wedding Tartan
They turned up to their wedding dressed as Scotsman in family tartan (complete with sporan I may add) and forest nymph. They wanted something quite unique and intimate for their ceremony, and yet grand in meaning. Choosing Gardeners Falls, a small out of the way place, with running creek and rainforest all around, they created a wonderland.
Wed Over Water
Sandra and Jason asked if they could be wed on the water. We took off our shoes and stepped onto a rock in the stream. Guests gathered on a larger rock close by. They chose a hand binding ceremony to seal their vows. In this way drawing on Celtic traditions from ancient times, bringing the ceremony into modern day with our own twist on the promises and bindings. Jason had prepared a strip of tartan for the bindings. For wedding rings they had special rings created, each a combination of an Australian saphire and two Canadian diamonds.
Tartan sash
At the conclusion of the service, Jason draped a MacKinnon tartan sash over his new Mrs MacKinnon, and had photos taken in the middle of the running creek. He carried her across the water. Later that weekend they continued the fun by taking their own wedding photos, with just tripod and themselves.
Here is a glimpse of their DIY wedding day:
What they said:
Kari was an amazing celebrant. She was just what we were looking for, she listened to our suggestions, went with our ideas adding her own input when we knew what we wanted but weren’t sure how to do it.
Kari got a good feel for how we were as a couple and what we liked. She even offered us choices to choose her dress colour for the ceremony and was even willing to go barefoot.
Kari helped a lot making our ceremony just what we wanted and we had an amazing day. Sandra and Jason MacKinnon
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