~Wedding
2005-01-08 - 7:52 p.m.

I had that Skyhooks song "All My Friends Are Getting Married" in my head on and off yesterday. Somehow, though, it doesn't seem such an amazingly grown-up thing as it did when Alysha and Nick got married last January, or even when Laura & Benj got engaged.

EmmaH's wedding yesterday was lovely. It was a very simple Catholic wedding but very classy. The church was nice, with this wooden statue kind of thing suspended above the altar of Jesus with one arm and one leg in the air. It looked like a very groovy, hippy Jesus prancing around. I could kinda imagine those 60s-70s psychadelic rainbow patterns behind him as he turned into SUPER JESUS! There was one reading one of the guests did that spoke about "My Beloved"...something like: "My Beloved dances through the fields; my Beloved peeks through the window..." and it was all I could do not to laugh, imagining this groovy Jesus dancing through fields and peeking through windows. If I had a church I would so want a groovy Jesus statue.

It was funny because Lachie was far more emotional than EmmaH. He started tearing up as she walked down the aisle, and getting soppy when he was saying the marriage vows. When he was putting the ring on her finger, he forgot to say the vows and EmmaH had to remind him. She also then had to remind him, once they'd been declared married by the priest, to lift her veil and kiss her! Typical EmmaH: there's Lachie, all caught up in the moment, but EmmaH can't be happy unless everything goes according to the script.

She did start getting a bit teary and she and Lachie walked back down the aisle and out of the church, though. Ooh, and, boring as most of the Catholicy stuff was (I couldn't even be bothered joining in the Prayers of the Faithful or Our Father, which I normally do), I did like the bit where their mums lit a family candle each and then, when they were married, Lachie and EmmaH lit their own candle from their family candles. It was nice, until they then blew out their parents' candles and gave it back to them. I felt that symbology became a little ungreatful or something. "Here, thanks all the birthing and raising and supporting, but we don't have any use for you anymore!" Of course that's not at all how it was meant, but it still seemed rather off.

Luckily, the whole day moved fairly well. They didn't linger too long over any of the ceremony. They also didn't drag out all the things like the speeches and the cutting of the cake, making people wait until after the main course or something mean like that. The problem is that the wedding was in the Dandenong Ranges, which are far on the other side of town from me, and about 20 minutes along the windy windy Mt Dandenong Tourist Road into the mountains. So, when I left at around 10:25 (fairly early for an evening reception party thing), with my back aching, my neck a bit stiff and feeling rather tired, I had to cope with 20 minutes of dark, winding road driving, before I then got to drive the next hour and twenty minutes to get home. And, of course, it took me so long to unwind and get my stretches done that I didn't get to sleep til after 1am.

Needless to say, this morning (especially after waking up at 7:30am), I was tired and achey. Worst of all, though, is my migraine. If it was just a migraine (heh, like a migraine is ever "just") stemming from the tiredness I would simply be resigned to a day of ickiness. The problem is, all down the back left side of my neck feels stiff and sore, and I know I've gone back to having those old neck-pain migraines that tormented me a few months ago. I've got a massage on Monday (I originally had it scheduled on Friday, which is my usual massage day), but I'm thinking that I probably really need some Physio work, and that's a bit daunting. My Physio is currently on holidays and, when he comes back, will be working at the Australian Open as usual, so he won't be available til the end of the month. There are other physiotherapists available but, chances are, the only one with appointments free will be the same woman locum as they had last time he was on holidays, and she wasn't really any good.

It's all so annoying, though. Because it always takes me a few days to get over a late night (it's not so much that I can't stay out late, it's more that I know I can't handle it the following days), and because of my very awful period pain this previous week, I've really wasted the past seven or eight days without either enjoying myself much nor relaxing much. Now I only have two weeks left. (And if I can't sook in my diary, then I may as well stop writing in it!)

Funnily enough, I've never really had much interest in doing the clucky stereotypical woman thing of planning a wedding, beyond perhaps thinking that I'd like something simple and elegant. Last night really set me off thinking about what I'd like. Not so much because I'm getting all mooshy about getting married, but more because it's fun to imagine what I would have ideally, assuming my hypothetical fiance wanted whatever I did. Considering all the other things I daydream about that will never happen, I'm surprised I've never really got into thinking about weddings. Maybe it's simply because it's never been something I've felt is likely to happen, and I've never really felt ready to get married even if I had a partner. I suppose it's really another sad sign of my shedding my childhood well and truly. *sniffle*

Anyway, at first I thought I'd just like a simple wedding with the basic family and friends, keeping it small. Then I realised that if I invited my modest array of aunties and uncles and cousins and their partners, and similarly modest group of friends and their partners, I'd already have 50 people, and that's not including the internet friends I'd want to invite! Of course, if I had a choice, I'd go for friends over family, but I couldn't have any kind of medium sized wedding and not invite family.

I don't want to get married in a church. I don't want a religious wedding. I don't even really want a very long wedding. Blah blah, mush mush. Maybe a few nice poems or something, some nice songs, get married, sign register, hunky dory. I don't know where I'd really want to get married if I was having a normal wedding. I suppose a park, but that doesn't really appeal to me - nothing outdoors does. Maybe if we had a reception at a really nice place, we could get married there.

For the reception, I don't want one of these awful loud music DJ types. I'd like something like a string quartet playing a mixture of classical and modern stuff (I'll never forget how cool it was to hear the string quartet at my cousin's wedding playing Beatles). Or maybe a band of some description, that could play some proper dance music. But it'd be my wedding, and I've never enjoyed dancing in public, much as I love dancing. I don't like these big formal things. They bore me to death, and I don't want to feel bored and awkward at my own wedding. It's no good saying that I'd know everybody, because I was sitting at table of friends and was hard-pressed to find something to say (even when the music wasn't too loud to be heard), and don't even really have anything to say to my sister when I speak to her.

Just a simple, civil service with my parents, my sister and Emma & Sally might be nice, and either a party after that, or straight off to the honeymoon. Eloping might be nice, if I felt I wouldn't mind not sharing the day with my family. I think I'd want it to be a well-organised elopment, because I'd still want a video recording of it, and photos! So I was thinking where would I elope to - definitely overseas. Not some tacky beach, but somewhere like Paris, or Gretna Green, with the honeymoon in a Scottish castle. I think my best idea is Monet's Garden. How heavenly would it be to get married on that famous bridge over the lake?? Such a personally as well as asthetically pleasing idea. So far, that's my favourite wedding idea.

As for the dress, none of this strapless rubbish. Yes, they look gorgeous on the models, but of the past four weddings I've seen, only two of them (my cousins) really looked lovely in the strapless dresses. The other two, Alysha and EmmaH, looked nice, but I couldn't say that strapless was the style that would have suited them best. As for me, anything showing too much bear upper chest or shoulder just looks terrible on me. I'd need something that didn't leave a huge expanse of flabby white around my neck and I'd like a little covering over the shoulder/tops of my arms. Even a little frill just seems to make the difference on tops I wear.

Mum had this lovely straight, simple gown with a lace jacket over the top. I'm not saying that's my favourite look, but it might be a look that works for me. While her's didn't look like this, it's a kind of idea that might work:

But I think I'd probably just try on lots of things and see what elements work the best and get a dress made up using all the most flattering bits. Also, I mightn't even get married in white, especially if I eloped. It's hardly a colour that suits me!

Hehe this is a fun topic.

OOH OOH. I could get married on a cruise ship. They have bay cruises that I was looking at for my 21st. I could get married and then we could go straight into the reception there. If I don't elope, that'd be a good idea.

Hehe, of course, this is all fantasy. If I ever even get married, I'd have things like family, budget and, of course, my fiance to consider. But it's fun to imagine a big party, someone who loves me, and a special dress!