In case you hadn't spoken to me somewhat recently on msn, or follow me on facebook, I thought I'd tell you about my weddings. Yup, I had 2 of them and both to the same person, well technically the second one was just a restatement of vows but it was only a month later so it's close enough.
First wedding was a combination of religions, I am a
Pastafarian and my now husband a Buddhist. I wanted a fun wedding so the pirate theme was most apt (since if you know anything about the followers of the flying spaghetti monster, we dress as pirates to help stop global warming), Paul protested as its not his religion so said it should be combined. I didn't want to give guests the Buddhist option as people were likely to confuse it with a toga party and just drape an old bed sheet around them but told Paul if he wants to dress as Buddhist monk that fine, but cant do it half arsed - as well as a proper robe he'd have to shave his head and shave off his beard to which he agreed.
Now the engagement was just a discussion, which mixed with practicality.
"You wanna get married at some point?" I asked him,
"sure" he replied
"when?",
"don't know, soonish?"
We had already planned a trip to the UK in May, so I figured if we had a wedding here beforehand we could have another bit of a backyard do there so his family could dress up a bit, take some pictures etc. ( some may remember/ recognise Paul from a hellfire blog entry a while back where he had orange face paint on - that was first week i met him when he came to visit!)
So I figured April would be good for a Sydney wedding. I had previously asked a friend if he had a backyard and if he did could we borrow it for a party of sorts to which he agreed, so I got back to him and asked if we could get married in his yard in April. April wasnt any good for him since he was supposed to be sailing across the Atlantic then, so we moved it forward to May. Now all this occurred mid January so I had a hell of alot of planning organising and invitations to do. Which was the first period for which my site updates all but ceased. Invitations were special maps i designed printed on parchment paper with all the details over the top in a very old school cursive font and written in pirate speak. They were rolled carefully and sealed with red sealing wax, placed in bottles I got from an essential oil company along with some pirate shaped glittery stuff. I wanted to post them as was, since i got plastic bottles for that reason but the post office chucked a spacca so i wrapped them all in clear plastic bags then sent them off. Also I made a support website which included location map and costume ideas as all guests were required to be dressed up.
I then arrange catering tables chairs etc, his costume my costume and got on the sewing machine after doing much fabric shopping, I also got other decorative bits and pieces and we worked on the cake decorations as I was doing the cake myself too. I got my hat made by neil Grigg. Also I found somewhere to make the rings I had always wanted, simple bands with 10 coloured stones in the order of the rainbow with white and pink added to one and and black to the other - each of us assigned our own meanings to the stones and we told each other on the wedding day - so it was a surprise to the other - this was something I came up with when I was about 16. I wanted to do the whole event on a fairly tight budget but that got blown out of the water, mostly because we decided to get marquees just in case the weather was not ideal. We had pirate baloons, treasure chests full of begian chocolate coins, mini bottle of british navy rum and little cannon ball bubble blower things.
After some hunting around I found the perfect celebrant
Philip Holland he was friendly but most importantly he had done a pirate wedding before and was prepared to do the whole ceremony in a pirate voice, in piratey words and get dressed up. I wrote the ceremony with an online friend of mine who goes by the name of Smashbeard on
Puzzle Pirates and after about 4 hrs on teamspeak we had come up with something fantastic. It was about 8 mins long and more like a skit than a ceremony, it was funny, had jokes, loads of stage directions and some fights. Basic premise was that the celebrant would be a drunken pirate who got drunker and more offensive as the ceremony went on. i don't like boring weddings so i didn't ant to organise one of them.
As gifts to the wedding party they all got swords, sharp ones too, but display swords so not hardened for battle but good enough to take a good chunk out of someone, I got myself a very particular one too. Few issues best man quit the role a few hrs before rehersal, that was ok we shifted up the ranks and got a new groomsman, he ended up sick on the day but was uncontactable and we were relying on him to drive a carload of people to the venue in the morning for set up s had to get a cab, and the guy who agreed to video didn't bother to show and to this day has not answer any of my messages and I didnt take my DV cam so there is no video of my wedding. That said the whole thing was still totally awesome.
Pictures below.
Full wedding party assembled. To the far right is page boys ho had rings in a red velvet lined treasure chest, and the flow/ coin girl who threw big gold sequins and gold choc coins as it was a flower free wedding except for those growing in the garden. I carried a bottle of rum instead of a bouquet.
Swords were drawn when all those who object were invited to stand up. No one stood :)
The monk is amused at the scowling pirate running the show.
I seem to think something is hilarious.
Ring giving and paper notes for remembering what meanings were assigned.
Traditional wedding snog.
Walking the plank under crossed swords - my friend built a plank across the sandpit which was betweened the paved area and the grass hill the ceremony was on.
I'm showing off my sword.
Best man and maid of honour punk style pirates ready to decapitate.
Cake and champagne clinky.
Using a sword to chop the cake
How esle was I supposed to get the chocolate cake off there without wasting it?
Bigger picture of cake i decorated and assembled so you can see detail.
Ultra close up of the birde and groom walking the plank, I made the little figures and the cannons and canon balls to go on the model ship.
en guard!
The monk has spotted a garter stuck in a tree.
Intoxicated but still standing
Why is the monk so pleased to be decapitated by a gang of pirates?
Bride and wenches show some leg
Same as above but different angle at same time
Swords and tongues
More bridesmaid misbehaviour
Close up of my nail art, the pirate fish.
Wedding 2
What was meant to be a small backyard ceremony, some nibblies, cake then all bugger off down the pub turned into a proper event. I think it was the Welsh not wanting to be outdone by Australia, but the Cardiff event was organised by Paul's dad who got a swanky venue, swanky food a dj with disco lights and 50 relatives and friends all attending. Just as well we'd planned to do proper outfits. British people I figured are more conservative so pillaging pirates, bisexual bridemaids and a wedding night orgy weren't going to be on the cards like we had in Sydney. A white wedding it was. I went semi traditional as you will see, but some of the detail of my dress isnt that visible int he pictures. I kept the Flying Spaghetti Monster theme going, and had the creation on my dress and an FSM made of crystal beads for the tiara. The corset I ordered from gallery serpentine and made the little jacket to match to hide my tattoos, the tiaras and veil i made and the skirt ended up being 65 metres of fabric. No that isnt a typo. I wanted the fullness of a hoop skirt but don't like how they sit so its layers of tulle and the top layer is silk organza which I screen printed FSMs on it and around the bottom mountains trees and midgets in micro pearl powder. There was 2 cakes, 1 traditional fruit cake and the other a chocolate cake which had a buddhist dharma wheel with an fsm sitting on top of it. Paul wore Scottish get up as he is half scottish and we got the correct tartan colour for the clan they belong to. I think its amusing at both our weddings he basically wore a skirt and no undies.
Smile for the camera
Papers out for the colour meanings
More wedding snogging
With my new parentals
With immediate family
Thats alot of Welshies
Cutting some rug
Cakes and wedding certificate to prove to the british it was for real :)
More detail of the FSM Buddhist cake - its all edible!
Chopping the cake
Oh look a camera!
Detail of my nail art which was done digitally - FSM with mountains, trees and midgets to match the dress.
