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~ with Sunshine Coast wedding celebrant Kari ~
Congratulations to Fanny & Tommi married in both French and English at Flaxton Gardens in brilliant sunshine.
Fanny contacted me to request a marriage ceremony on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Range, that both her family and Tommi’s family could understand. In fact they wanted the entire ceremony in both languages! Now there’s a challenge I love.
I always offer to create bespoke ceremonies to suit each couple, so that part was not difficult. For Fanny and Tommi, I simply had to translate the custom ceremony into French as well. Now whilst I converse in passable French, I will admit to seeking guidance from my dear French friends, to ensure the grammar was all correct.
The outcome was a delightful ceremony ….read twice, as French & English took turn about during the ceremony! On top of the usual wedding day nerves, both bride and groom made their promises to each other, first in their love’s language, then in their own. It is not an easy task when one of those languages is not your mother tongue. The guests were particularly encouraging, and warmly congratulated them for their efforts. It made for amusing times as half the guests would laugh then moments later the other half got the joke! As long as everyone understood, in the long run.
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Fanny surprised us all arriving in a retro red Kombi with her two beautiful sisters and her charming father, all of whom had travelled from France to be here for Fanny’s day. She walked down the aisle on the arm of her Dad, under brilliant blue skies to her waiting groom, Tommi. Their ceremony was not complicated; simple and chic, elegant yet relaxed, with some laughs and I noticed some tears of emotion too.
Tommi and Fanny I wish you well in your future lives together and congratulate on including both your mother tongues in your wedding ceremony. Thank you for the opportunity to use your poetic and musical sounding language.
One of the specialities I can offer couples, is a ceremony with other languages. Some of the requests I have fulfilled are a French poem, a prayer in Afrikaans, and a blessing in Sanskrit, to name a few. My background as a musician means I have a trained ear for catching sounds. So even when I do not speak the language, I will learn something in your tongue for you. I’ll try anything, and with a bit of practice I have delivered so far.
However two languages are my specialty. I speak fluent Indonesian, having lived there for years in my youth, and Fanny says my French was perfect. Well at least her family who flew out from France for the wedding day could understand the whole ceremony, and not feel at all left out.
It simply helps to know that a wedding in Australia can encompass whatever tradition or culture you wish to include. Languages are no barrier, and I welcome customs from other traditions.
Photos by Alan Hughes
“Thanks Kari for everything you have done. We had a great day and the ceremony was amazing; your french was perfect 😉 Thanks again” Fanny
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Leap into marriage
It’s a leap year. And whilst you may consider yourself a modern woman, you may like to adopt a vintage marriage tradition this year.
It’s the girl’s turn
In a leap year, traditionally a woman may propose marriage to her man. The leap year marriage tradition was introduced centuries ago. According to folk lore, the leap day was an invented day to fix a discrepancy in the calendar. It was not considered a “real” day; it had no cultural status. Thus, the reasoning goes, social customs also had different reality status on that day too.
Leap Year Wedding proposals
Given the leap day was to fix a glitch, women thought they could fix an unjust glitch in social custom, freeing them up to pop the question to the man they adored.
How did the leap year marriage proposal begin?
The first documentation of this practice dates back to 1288, when Scotland supposedly passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year. Tradition states they also made it law that any man who declined a proposal in a leap year must also pay a fine. The fine could range from a kiss, to a silk dress or a pair of gloves. Now this wedding celebrant thinks that’s a win win situation!
So for women who tire of waiting for the bloke to ask for their hand in marriage, the leap year gives them a legitimate occasion to propose, to leap into their own power.
Or does your wardrobe need a few more frocks? Propose away girls.
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He sang her a song…
But first let’s look back at how it began.
Congratulations Royanna and Tyler married at Tiffany’s Maleny looking out over the Glasshouse Mountains. And he sang her a song.
Wedding date
They chose an auspicious date, the 11th of the 11th of 2011. Tyler had first proclaimed his love on 8th of 8th 2008, so recurring numbers were a theme. However recurring love was the theme of their 50’s style wedding day.
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Falling in Love
She described falling in love with him as experiencing two people dancing to a beat that nobody else could hear.
So much love and thought was poured into their wedding day; from the first moment the guests received a save-the-date with pics taken in a field of the couple-to-be peeping from behind a parasole, until the games on the grass and the dress-up-photo-booth at the reception.
Wedding music
Coastal Jazz warmed the air with relaxed Jazz tunes, fan tailed doves wandered around the sandstone courtyard, the sun shone brightly. It was a perfect day.
The bride arrived in a baby blue 1950’s Plymouth, called Alma May. Ooooh ain’t she sweet.
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He sang her a song
However there was one item, Royanna did not know about until the middle of the marriage ceremony. Tyler turned to his bride and apologised because he had recently spent money on …wait for it… a ukelele. He proceeded to sing to her, their special song….and brought the house down. It’s hard for a celebrant to keep a dry eye occasionally!
Photos by Karen Buckle
Kari, We cannot thank you enough for marrying us, and not just for marrying us but for taking our every phone call and meeting with us and always making us feel as though we were your only clients. You continued to make us feel as though we were incredibly important to you. Your attentiveness to us helped us feel secure that all the personal touches that we wanted throughout the ceremony would be honoured.
It is clear that you love what you do and that shined through on our wedding day. The whole bridal party loved you and we received so much positive feedback from the guests about you also. I have heard many people say that they spoke to their celebrant once over the phone before their wedding or simply communicated over email. With you, we felt as though our friend was marrying us by the time our Wedding Day arrived because you provided us with so much personal attention. I will be recommending you to anyone I meet that tells me they are getting married.
Lastly, you were so kind to us Kari and we will always remember you. Thank you for absolutely everything. You are a godsend!!
Royanna & Tyler [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_masonry_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1714442880624-c2cd1b8c-75fe-0″ include=”38241,38243,38242,38245,38258,38257,38254,38253,38250,38252,38248,38247,38249,38251,38255″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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Married in purple
This was a cosy and intimate wedding and full of love…. AND the colour purple
Bianca and Christiaan married on the veranda of The Country House B & B homestead looking out from Hunchy, over the glorious flowered garden. We could see all the way to the coast over the trees. What a spectacular place is Hunchy tucked away from the world along an old track over the cattle grid and beyond. The Hunchy secret is discovered by Peter Pans and Mary’s seeking a retreat under the hills of Montville on the Range. Bianca and Christiaan found a country paradise for their Australian wedding.
They chose not to go with white for their wedding, but got married in purple instead.
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Purple wedding theme
Bianca’s favourite colour was definitely the theme of the day, complemented by bold pink and orange gerberas. And there were flowers everywhere; in lapels of each guest, in her hair, and woven lovingly through the slats of the veranda rails. She proved how absolutely stunning a bride can look without wearing a white wedding dress.
Christiaan cut a most handsome image as he waited for his bride. The bold colours suited their young and bold outlook on life, migrating to Australia to make a family life.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39853″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Prayer in Afrikaans
Originally from South Africa, Bianca and Christiaan wished to include in their ceremony something reflective of marriage back home. They requested a prayer be read in Afrikaans.
So this celebrant takes herself off to learn how to pronounce Afrikaans!
We were also privileged to watch a video message sent from South Afrika on the computer screen. [/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”39857″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Purple jacaranda blossoms for the wedding
As they walked away from their hinterland wedding ceremony, we noticed the road was strewn with jacaranda blossoms.
It was a perfect purple day!
Photos by Andrea Sproxton[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Don’t get married in white! Try other colours instead. Like this bride who married in a green dress[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][/vc_row][vc_column][vc_masonry_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1714442880624-c2cd1b8c-75fe-0″ include=”39845,39847,39848,39849,39850,39851,39852,39853,39855,39856,39857,39858,39859″][/vc_column]
