Wedding Bells ...

Celebrating Family!

and

Sep 19, 2023

Something quite unusual, unique even, took place in the World of Thru the Garden Gate … our family gathered for a very special occasion: Kels and Nick’s Wedding.

Let me explain why this was unusual and even unique: our families are spread out down the Eastern Seaboard of Australia so getting everyone together is a very uncommon happening. We have parents on the Central Coast (north of Sydney), parents in Sydney, kids in Melbourne, kids in Launceston (Tasmania ~ the little island across the sea from mainland Australia) and, of course, we are without a home base (although we have been in Melbourne and are now on the South Coast of Victoria).

When we do gather, as Kels described it: ‘it’s a more formal affair’ (meaning we ~ the kids and us ~ get dressed up and we go out to coffee/brunch), which is different from back in the times of the Family Home.

We added in the Grandparents: my mother and her husband and David’s parents. The last time we were altogether in Melbourne was Christmas of 2011! Of course, that meant some ‘intimate’ gatherings of 10 people so reconnections and new connections could be indulged … all in the final days before the Wedding.

It was a HUGE Family Week!!!

We would love to share some of our favourite photos of the day with you …

Bracelets and Lace aren’t always a good combination! David places the “something blue” on Kels’s wrist after it took 3 of us to work out how to get the Family charm onto a new bracelet (a gift from Kels’s Grandmother in-law). Our “something blue” is a tiny topaz and gold charm which we bought with the intention of beginning a family tradition of “borrowed and blue”.

The Bride’s Family gathered outside one of the Villa’s at Araluen Lodge, with the videographer … for some ‘pre-wedding’ recording (we did request that Sam ~ videographer ~ delete some of the audio from this part!).

Daniel and Josh were ‘flower boys’ and David and I walked Kels down the aisle. The celebrant was fabulous, the groom was nervous, and the bride’s family were emotional!

There was definitely a LOT of Love In The Air!

Kerri and Daniel are getting married in 2024!

Marriage really does need to start with laughter and JOY … there was a lot of this shared through speeches offered by David and Me, Nick’s parents, Nick’s sister, and Josh and Daniel.

The wedding week journey began with multiple trips to the airport, lots of juggling car arrangements, lots of discussion about food and meals, and lots of ‘making sure’ that each member of the family, and the almost-inlaws were okay.

The wedding week journey ended with an awareness that our family had reconnected with each other and expanded to include Kels’s inlaws, a recovery brunch (where it was very obvious that a lot of us were very tired!), and multiple trips to the airport, again.

The newlyweds have jetsetted to Europe for a couple of weeks; the boys have gone back to their ‘regular’ lives; and David and I have run away to the beach to rest and recover from our 3 months in Melbourne where we’ve had a focus on all things wedding and family.

THANK YOU to all who have asked about the wedding, who have offered well wishes, and who have listened to all the pre-wedding stories. We are grateful for You.

Where To From Here?

We are spending the rest of 2023 in Victoria and Tasmania. Right now, we are enJOYing our alone time (although it is sad to not have as much access to the kids) and focusing on what overseas life in 2024 is going to look like.

Over the next little while, there will be more wedding photos on our Facebook Page: Thru the Garden Gate so we’d love you to stop by and have a look.

Wishing you and yours lots of love and smiles,

Michelle & David xx

Inverloch, Victoria, Australia