For two weeks now, I’ve been a married woman. Yes, you heard right. And I’ve never been happier. But, I thought I’d better post about it before the rush of the day completely leaves my brain (and only recalls the important parts!).

Now be warned, there’s quite a few photos, so for those of you on slower internet connections, here’s your warning – IMAGE HEAVY!!!

So the day started at approximately 8am, when I woke up at my parents’ place after having my Hen’s Night (which I did PROPERLY, by having it the night before, like you’re supposed to ). I heard rain. And I said to myself, “Holy shit. It’s raining on my wedding day. All the weather forecasts said it was going to be fine weather, around 21 degrees celcius. Why the fuck is it raining?!”. Then I realised it was my nature/rainforest sounds that I’d put on the night before, to help me sleep. So I turned that off, opened the curtains, and it was indeed a gorgeous day outside.

I got up, stumbled out to the kitchen where my mum was making breakfast. Sat down in the sun with a coffee and, to be honest, I was completely relaxed – no nerves whatsoever. My sister woke up a little later and came out to sit with us. The house then started to fling into action, with getting stuff organised (getting things ironed, etc.). I went and had my hair done at 11:30, which took about an hour, and got back home to my sister and my best friend doing their hair (as my bridesmaids). I had a bite to eat, then sat down for my sister to do my makeup. While she did Marion’s makeup, I had a little more to eat (because I hadn’t had anything much at all!) and then wiggled into my dress hoop and my dress. I felt like a princess – and for me, who is most comfortable in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, to say that is pretty phenomenal. The girls looked amazing as well, and by about 2:30, we were all ready to go. The limousine showed up, we ensured we all had our jewellery on and such, and went out to the limo.

The ride to the ceremony was pretty calm. I wasn’t nervous at all, which my sister said, “It must be right then, if you’re not at all nervous”. I agreed, but then again I realised by the time we got out there that I just hadn’t had time to be nervous! When we walked around the bushes and saw the whole group of people standing there, that’s when my butterflies kicked in and I started getting shaky. I was so glad my dad was there to hold me up!!!

So, I met Michael at the ‘altar’, and he started crying. This was what I’d been dreading, because I knew that as soon as he started crying, I’d start crying (thank you Maybelline Waterproof Define-A-Lash mascara). We did the whole bit – said our vows, exchanged rings, had our little handfasting ceremony, and our first kiss as husband and wife.

We then signed the register, and had our photos done (I’ll just post my favourite two, but here’s a link to the photoset on Flickr – there’s too many beautiful photos to post!).

While we were having photos, of course something had to go wrong (because everything had gone too smoothly up until this point!) – my dad’s bus (which we were having another person drive, to transport people from the mainland who weren’t driving, or those who didn’t want to drive because they’d be drinking) broke down. It was hilarious, simply because we all knew it could only happen to Dad!!! They eventually got it going with a tow-start, and the remaining guests (who weren’t shuttled to the reception venue by people there who had cars) climbed aboard and were taken to the reception. We (the wedding party) clambered into the limo with our champagne, and set off to the reception…

Now I don’t have many photos from the reception, but we had an awesome time, with many tears (of happiness) and laughs, including a great speech by my Dad (‘Terri is a determined, stubborn, intelligent young woman – essentially, she’s a smartass’). A few funny stories came out about Michael as a kid, and some beautiful speeches from my sister and my best friends. Then, our first dance to ‘Still the One’ by Shania Twain, which wasn’t our choice of song, but a favourite of my Mum and Dad’s. We cut our cake, opened pressies and ate, drank and made merry – one big party!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast that night, which was lovely, and pretty much crashed! It was an awesome day, couldn’t have asked for it to go any better, and a super-memorable occassion for all the right reasons. I had a ball!