Monday 4 January 2016

Kiwi wedding #17 Wedding Wedding Wedding Day!

Too much to say, too few words...



Family breakfast











Foreign Legion  the frisbee team and its first international director








Dear Sue Campbell


Lorne Campbell



Running buddies wedding selfie


Kiwi wedding #16 Final preparations! Set up! #somuchtodo!!

Then it was the day before the wedding. Jonny and Adele, Alex and Faith went off to tidy the church and prepare it for the wedding with the trees which Adele and I had put into hessian bags, tied up with white ribbon.
Adele, measuring and cutting hessian for the trees.
The trees in the foyer of the church.
Then we went out to Houhora for a picnic lunch before setting up tables in the marquee, hanging white and gold lanterns, putting out the table plan and wedding favours...





All of us assembled and hung the lanterns in the marquee and in the trees, while Richard put up the fairy lights we had used for Jonny and Adele’s wedding.




Jonny #typically #upatree #servingandhelping


 There were so many little touches: table numbers in gold frames to match the gold framed table seating plan; a ‘chill out’ area with hay bales and fleece blankets; a wicker picnic basket for cards and gifts – mercifully, very few actual gifts as Cat and Andy return to Vanuatu with little more luggage than a rucksack...and Cat had arranged sunscreen and insect repellent in a little wicker basket.


...and so many helpers. Family, extended family, friends.... the reception was to be held at Houhora Heads, inbetween the original family homestead and Owen and Lois Wagener’s house on the edge of the harbour, Mount Camel and the farm in the background across the water.  Owen and Lois had worked in Tanzania and knew our dearest friends Byron and Lisa: and so do Sue and Allan, Andy’s parents: so small is the Christian family.

I lost count of the many tasks done. Andy’s brothers made and hammered signs into the ground; a signpost pointed to the many places which have meaning for Cat and Andy...and had a practical application too, pointing to the afternoon tea table - and the toilets.


The sisters-in-law baked for the afternoon tea which all were to enjoy on arrival at the reception;
friends organised and put out games to play – Lorne and Sue Campbell provided a game, there were swingball and croquet, Frisbee, hammocks to laze in...

Jon Pirini, musician and music teacher, played and sang for the ceremony with two other friends of Andy’s, Carl and Michael; then he organised the power supply and entertained at the reception.

Andrea, a family friend, took on the catering: a Kiwi spread of salads and roast meat, with a wonderful fresh fruit platter and mini tarts for dessert. And I made the wedding cake: carrot cake, coconut cake, a jam and cream sponge, a chocolate cake and a gluten-free chocolate fudge torte for Sue Campbell, Adele and Richard.  We set them out on cake stands created by Cat from wooden tree slices supported on golden candlesticks.

Nicola, a florist married to one of Andy’s cousins, had created a floral centrepiece for each cake.

She had also arranged bouquets for Cat and the bridesmaids and flowers in milk bottles which hung on the end of the pews.
Centre pieces on the tables were jars with candles and flowers set out on large slices of macrocarpus, cut by a family friend who is a carpenter working with kauri wood.

The school van and pick up truck were decorated with gold and blue ribbons; the order of service tied up with a white ribbon; and ice cream put in the church freezer ready for after the ceremony.
And all was ready.
So only one thing left to do: the wedding rehearsal. The ceremony was to be held at St Saviour's church, Kaitaia, a modern church built on the site of the first Christian church to be established in the region. (And that is a story in itself, involving dreams and visions, bravery, cannibals and conversions...)
Inside the church

The musicians and the bridesmaids

Andy's brother Tim, the celebrant

The musicians, all friends of Andy's, practised the song he had written especially for Cat: I'm so happy....