Wedding: How to...

* Decided to get married. See our proposal story here.

* Made a list of everything we wanted and everything we didnt want. (We all know how I feel about lists.)

* Decided how much money we had to spend. ($5000 )

* Picked location & a date.

* Got amazing friends to make amazing invitations. George did the picture (below) and Michael did the design.

* Made a website. We thought this was so cool and forward thinking of us!

* Plan, plan, plan. Make it yourself, and call upon all random & distant friends with skills.

The things weddings have:

*Clothes. I found my dress in the Strand Arcade in Sydney. In a small shop called Millenium Girl (no longer there) on sale for $300. I attempted going into a wedding dress shop once. It was horrible and I left. Sometimes I still wish I went for more of a gown, as I don't think I'll ever have another excuse to wear one (come on with that Hollywood acting career Timmy!), but at the end of the day I looked like me and was comfy. The lace is a couple of hundred years old and has been passed down the female line of my family for generations. I was the first of this generation to wear it. I also had a sapphire and ruby brooch that I inherited from my Gran and I wore flat shoes. Best decision ever. I wore a plain white ribbon in my hair.

He wore pants and a shirt from Calibre and white Vans. In the end I think his outfit came to just a bit more than mine! The only thing I insisted he have was 2 day old stubble... mmmm perfect.

*Flowers. My flowers where a mix of closed purple tulips, berrys, lambs ears, purple & blue freesias and hyacinth's and greenery too. We only got flowers for me and the cake, so they came to under $100.

*Cake. We were lucky enough to have Tim's mum make our cake. She has crazy good cake making skills. It was two offset tiers of rich fruit cake with white icing and fresh fresias and peppertree leaves on top. Oh, and lego Tim and Soph's on top. One with a T on his t-shirt and one with mechanics overalls (well I use a drill and screwdriver in my job) and princess Leah hair.

* Catering. We were amazingly lucky to have our family friends do the catering as it is their proffession. It was all vegetarian and simple and tasty. Pumpkin soup made by mum was brought around in cups, containers of freshly cooked paella (with asparagus and halouomi through it), stuffed mushrooms and other yummy nibbles which I can't even remember any more! Then later cake, Baklava, FAIRY BREAD and heaps of amazing cheese.

* Decoration. We decorated with flags and bunting made by my mum. She bought heaps of different coloured fabric from spotlight and sewed around 60 meters of square flags/bunting and also made giant umbalas (I call them ompalompas) which are like thai flags. We bought some marquees to cover our driveway in and set up a bar. We put a ceiling in our garage and dressed it up with swags of cheap fabric and huge containers of gumtree and peppertree branches and wildflowers we picked from down by the river. Lighting being my thing, I was in charge of this department. A kind friend at a theatre I worked at lent me a heap of lights and extension leads. I lit up the big gum tree's around our property and made pathways with rope light and fairy lights. We had festooning (party lights) under the marqees and tea lights in glass jars everywhere. We borrowed picnic tables and brightly coloured table cloths from family friends. Everyone chipped in!

* Favours. We made about 150 origami boxes out of paper that had sweet messages we had texted, emailed and left in noted for each other. Inside we put chocolates and thank yous. I have no idea how many hours (in front of the tv we put into all that origami!)
* Readings. Our reading was from The Message version of the bible and we had 1 John, Ch4, v.7 - 21. We have been to a lot of weddings that have had Ephesians 5 read. We had this on our what we DIDN'T want list.
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God...

 Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing abut God, because God IS love - so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed His love for us: God sent his only son into the world so that we may live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about - not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they have done to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No-one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us - perfect love!
This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: he's given us life from his life, from his very own spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way Love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on judgment day - our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life - fear of death, fear of judgment - is one yet not fully formed in love.
We though are going to love - love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.