My Step-Daughter's Wedding

Well, the wedding was an absolute success. There were a few small hiccups as one would expect but all were managed well and with great credit to the excellent organisation skills of the Virgo Nurse.

There were so many amazing photos from the day but I think this is one of my favourites:


Don't you think this photo belongs on the cover of a magazine. She has such a radiant smile and was able to maintain it until 4am the next day (as they did night shots in the city after the reception) even though it was not long after this photo that she passed comment how her cheeks were already aching.

Here's a picture of the whole bridal party:


The Kman was the junior grooms man on the left, the smiley monster was the page boy in the middle and the impossible princess was the junior bridesmaid on the right. They all behaved so well, considering they were woken at 6am for the two hour drive and had to put up with a two bedroom townhouse full of people for another four hours during the preparations and then had their very important roles to play through the ceremony and the photos and then the long night of the reception. I was so proud so many times that day but far from the least of that was in my own children in how gorgeous they looked and how they had fun and let everyone else have fun as well.

And did I mention gorgeous? Here's the smiley monster with The Starchild and the flower girl all looking out the window of one of the cars, which I think makes a really gorgeous photo:


The next photo is from the wedding ceremony. It was Coptic Orthodox as the grooms family are Egyptian and it was so beautiful even though I didn't understand most of it. The church was so amazing and the jackets the bride and groom are wearing were one of the parts of the service, which also included crowns and incense and singing and all the rest of it.


There were six '71 and '72 GT Fords as the wedding cars as well as four motor bikes.


I didn't get any good photos of all of the bikes but here is one of them with Bones in front of it that someone else took:



The reception was held at a place in a town in the outer South West of Sydney so you wouldn't really expect anything too flash but it actually was one of the most lavish reception venues I've been to. There were fireworks and pyrotechnics, the bridal table was a full length fish tank and behind the bridal party was a bubbled glass wall with water running down it, there were light up centre-pieces on the tables and everything was done up so nicely. There was a magician entertaining the guests as they arrived in the foyer of the reception while we were off doing the post-wedding photos and it was pretty much non-stop the whole night. The parents of the bride and groom had to do a bit of a grand entrance along with the bridal party and this is The Starchild and I coming in:


We all made our way to the dance floor to await the entry of the bride and groom and it was lovely to see so many family and friends there to help celebrate.


The magician did another performance during the reception...


...and there was a Michael Jackson impersonator along with his five dancers that did about half a dozen costume changes and were really very entertaining:


The grooms men even got a lesson on how to dance like Michael Jackson which was loads of fun:


There were also speeches - that was the part that The Starchild was dreading the most but he spoke so wonderfully...


The cake almost looked too good to eat...


...and the bridal waltz included more fireworks, fog, a beautiful spin, a dip and, of course, a high lift being that the bride used to be a competitive gymnast...


The Starchild and I even danced (although he left me there once the fun dancing started) and I think you can tell by the smiles on our faces how much fun we had!


It was such a wonderful night and it was so special to have Bones as part of the celebrations even if the nine live cat with clipped wings couldn't be there. I think the thought of him undoubtedly shedding more than a few tears at missing such a special occasion and knowing that it won't be the last one he misses was the only down side to the whole thing but everything else was just perfect and I'm so glad that they had the wedding that they had spent so much time, money and effort planning for so long.

Now, I am sending blessings of protection, safety and more amazing memories as they start their honeymoon and look forward to seeing them in a few weeks when they get back.

Nice Being Needed

Two days to the wedding. The Starchild was organising the present but then yesterday asked me to look after it. Gotta love it when that happens. Have my dress and wanted a shawl/wrap but couldn't find one that went well and that I liked so off to Spotlight yesterday with the Tea Lady and bought some lovely material that I will turn into exactly what I want - and at about half the price, too! Have shoes and bag but still have to get necklace and possibly earrings and bracelet. Hanging on Virgo Nurse to provide details on hairdresser/make up as this was changed at last minute but she apparently has a plan b half organised but I'd like to contact them just so I'm all sorted. Kirs are all sorted for clothes, shoes, accessories. The Starchild did the first draft of his speech last night and that has also now come to me to finish off. It's nice being needed!

For Sure

Is time going by faster than normal for anyone else?

I wanted to get a job riding horses but it didn't happen. I've sent a few enquiries to a few places but I'm not holding my breath. But don't worry - there's always a Plan B (or Plan C in this case). We have a friend who has a horse and I'm going to ask her if I can ride with her. Being paid to do it would be wonderful but the main thing is that I just want to ride. It would be nice if everything we wanted just fell in our laps but that isn't the way the world works so when you want something you just have to go out and make it happen - and there's some free advice that you can take all the way to the bank!

In other news, it's going to be another busy weekend: dancing photos tomorrow morning, then driving to Sydney for a Wedding rehearsal and supposedly getting the wedding present then our church is relocating on Sunday and there is a set up and music practice at 5pm. I can't see how it will all happen and I'm thinking of skipping the Wedding rehearsal. I don't want to go anyway as I know I will cry. It's a long story but due to the different traditions there are a number of compromises that have been made for the ceremony. Apparently for Coptic Orthodox it is traditional for the parents to walk down the isle at the start of the ceremony but Virgo Nurse was adamant that she wanted The Starchild to give her away (which is our tradition) that means that I could either walk down the isle by myself, with my step-son or not at all. I said I'd do whatever Virgo Nurse preferred but she was entirely non-plussed so I've said out of the three options I'd prefer to just be seated at the front rather than having to walk down. That's not the part that will make me cry though. It will be having to watch her birth mother and her partner walk down the isle and to see them in this position of honour in front of everyone when the reality is that she hasn't been much of a mother. She has made so little effort often not even bothering to turn up to access visits, has never paid a cent of maintenance, has given broken and sometimes even stolen gifts for presents, has openly prioritised going to the club over spending time, money and effort on her children, has subjected them to the verbal and physical abuse from her partner and that's why I'm going to cry. I never tried to be a mother and I made so many mistakes myself as well but I was the one who was there and I know that they know that in their hearts but there just isn't a way to have both traditions work. The Starchild offered to walk down with me and then walk out again and to walk down with the Virgo Nurse but that would be as ridiculous and uncomfortable as the other options. There's just no nice way to do it and I'm just going to have to bear is as I have had to bear all of the other insults and heartbreaks that have come with being a step-mum but if I have to do it then I'd prefer to only go through it once.

There's more on my mind and in my heart at the moment but I don't think I can go through it all now. I had a bit of a bad day yesterday and am worried but still seem to have a fighting spirit somewhere inside of me that all of the voices don't seem to have been able to scare away yet. I'm feeling raw and increasingly unmotivated (if that's even possible) but I'll take things one step at a time because I know that as long as I keep moving then I will be making progress. There's a lot of things that I don't know and even more that I thought I knew but have been questioning lately but the thing about keeping moving is something I do know for sure.