Ross & Kay's Wedding

  By Alison Wardle

Kay and Ross' wedding day... Where shall I start? Being the logical engineering type, I think the beginning would be a good place.

Actually I did not witness the beginning of the day. Kay was up and awake at 4 am. By the time I emerged bleary-eyed at 6:15, she had done her washing, had breakfast and was lying on the lounge watching a video of the 1992 Tour de France.

Then off to the hairdresser at Oh-dark-hundred. The sun had come up ... just! Here we had our hair done and met the 'Make-up Artist'. I was actually quite surprised that the word 'Artist' was not spelt 'Artiste'. She turned out to be the rate-determining step in the whole process. I never knew that make-up could be so complicated, despite the fact that we all said we wanted the natural look. Eventually we made it back to the house in dribs and drabs. Kay went first, all made-up, wearing her veil, jeans, shirt and cardigan. I would have given anything to have seen the looks on the faces of unsuspecting passing motorists.

We had a superbly beautiful winter's day -- about 18 degrees Celcius-- just gorgeous.

Julie (the dressmaker) helped each of us to get dressed. Susan arrived to take my photograph and to lend Kay her string of pearls. Robyn (the other bridesmaid and Ross' sister) and I wore sterling silver chains given to us by Kay.

The photographer was excellent. He was efficient, competent and, most importantly, unobtrusive. He was with us for 4 hours - from 9:30 - 1:30 and we barely noticed him.

We were driven to church in 1960s White Jaguars (one was a Mark 2, I can't remember what the other one was). Many drivers tooted their horns at us and people waved - is this what royalty is like? We arrived in Lindfield early and the drivers made an executive decision to drive around the block and park. I could easily imagine Kay's thoughts - she just wanted to get to church and get married. The service was held at St Alban's - the church where Kay and I met about 6 years ago.

The flowers at the church was wonderful. Rob Jones had arranged the flowers for the communion table and someone else had done the other flowers. There were Oriental Orchids which are cream with purple streaks. There were also pink flowers and white flowers which included stock, daisies and Geraldton wax flowers. Our bouquets were small and sweet with small roses. Kay's were all cream. Robyn and mine were cream and cream with a tinge of pink especially around the edges with some small purple hyacinths. I am planning to dry mine.

Years ago, when Kay had said to me that she wanted me to be her bridesmaid if ever she married, I had said that I would laugh all the way up the aisle. I did not manage to do it - there were tears in my eyes. (Others will attest that I laughed all the way up the aisle during the rehearsal. I managed to walk slowly up the aisle - this was a big relief because I had had enormous problems at the rehearsal walking up the aisle S-L-O-W-L-Y without overbalancing. This had been the source of much of my giggles during the rehearsal.) We came in to the tune of the Trumpet Voluntary (Clarke) played magnificently on (surprise, surprise) a trumpet.

Graham Young (Pastor Number 1) welcomed us. He then asked Kay's father, Colin, the usual question about who was bringing this woman. He then prayed for Kay and Ross.

Crown Him with many Crowns was a great way to start the service. This was followed by an excellent address by Max Harris (Pastor Number 2). His advice to Ross was to always see Kay as beautiful. And to Kay, to have a heart with whom Ross would always feel safe. Then the formal bit. Kay's nephew, Sam (aged about 8), brought up a cushion with the rings from which the Best Man took the rings. Ben, her other nephew, is about 10 and had decided that he was a bit old for such a job.
We then sang two songs: Jesus, God's righteousness revealed and Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing. During the singing of the first song, Kay and Ross took Communion together.

Kay, Ross, John Elliott (the Best Man a.k.a. the Morally Advantaged One, in these politically correct days) and I signed the register while a friend of Kay's played two classical guitar pieces.

The recessional was the Trumpet Concerto in A Flat, Third Movement by Haydn. The beginning of this sounds like the old theme music for the TV show GP.

The photographer took photographs of the families and the happy couple in the church after Kay and Ross had greeted their guests.

The reception was at a restaurant, Perdie's, opposite the church. While all the guests went off for drinks and nibbles, we went to Swain Gardens in Killara. The gardens are very beautiful but very cold. We all behaved ourselves reasonably well while being put through the rigours of 'Formal Photographs'.

Lunch was served at Perdie's - a rather sumptuous restaurant with prices that are way out of my league. The food was suitably superb with a choice at every stage of the menu. Just to get those taste buds watering I started with Lamb fillet with Tzatar and Lemon on a Tomato and Pine nut Couscous. This was followed up by Char grilled Beef Fillet on Dauphin Potatoes with Shallots and Parsley Jus. Dessert for me was Baked Pear and Ricotta Tart with Lemon and Mascarpone Ice Cream. Yum! The restaurant had printed up lovely menus for the everyone - nice touch.

Recently, I had been to a wedding with countless inarticulate speeches, most of which started with the words: 'One night, me and Mick and Kerry were out drinking ..." Erudite they were not. But at this wedding, we were blessed with excellent speeches given by Colin (Father Of the Bride), David (Father Of the Groom.), the Best Man, Bridesmaid Number One (that's me!) and the Bridegroom. There had been no plan for me to give a speech. At the rehearsal, Max Harris asked me rather flippantly whether I was going to give a speech. I gave an equally flippant remark about how strange I found it that, at a reception, someone gives a speech about how beautiful the bridesmaids are and then proposes a toast to them. And then, WHO gets up to reply? The Best Man who speaks behalf of the bridesmaids. This works along the lines that it is thought that one cannot be both beautiful AND intelligent/articulate.

Overnight, I had second thoughts and decided to ask if I might speak. And I was GOOD! I had them in the palm of my hand. I got everyone laughing and, later, many of the guests came up to complement me on my efforts. Many of the women also commented to me that they were glad that a woman had spoken. I was chuffed with how I had done especially with so little preparation.

Kay and Ross cut the cake and soon it was time to go. It was a wonderful day. Everything went smoothly and calmly. It was a simple and unpretentious day but a lovely one that I will long remember.
  Alison Wardle

This page was written by Alison Wardle & arranged by Ross Wonderley. Best viewed using Netscape Navigator