First family wedding in Perth

Went to my first West Aussie wedding last weekend. A cousin of Mickys got married in a big church ceremony in Fremantle in front of a hundred or so guests. The ceremony was probably the most religious I’ve witnessed but very lovely from the bride and groom saying their vows from memory, to the readings (including one from on Micky’s mum), to the funny Irish priests’ humour throughout the ceremony and the cute little flower girls in tutus who walked down the aisle by the grooms' six year old son. I had a tear in my eye during the vows which is funny as I hardly know the couple - I have only met the groom a few times. The bride Anna wore a gorgeous vintage-looking tiered lace dress, a style I haven't seen before and she looked elegant and relaxed. The bridesmaids wore a light pink satin strapless floor length dresses.

The weather was quite typical for the time of year, around 20 degrees but a little cloudy and some rain later in the afternoon, it is officially winter in Australia now. After the service, strawberry cream and sponge cake was served outside the church on the lawn which was a lovely and different idea to serve cake at this time I thought.

The wedding reception was held at the Cottesloe Beach Hotel facing the Indian Ocean right on the seafront, a prime location for a wedding. After drinks on arrival in the cocktail lounge, dinner was served in the next door dining room with three long rows of tables seating and feeding around 120 guests with a seafood starter, salmon or pork main and a sticky toffee pudding dessert - all very good. There were lots of speeches, five or six if I remember correctly presented in between courses. I have attended two Australian weddings now and at both the brides have made speeches. Apparently it's common for Aussie brides to do a speech. The brides’ speech was incredibly heartfelt and not scripted even if it was long. The Aussies know how to party just like us and there was lots of dancing and drinking with some break-dancing later on from younger cousins which commanded the attention from everyone, even grandparents were throwing shapes! I seem to notice a pattern in the number of Micky’s relatives asking “you two must be next...?” which is met with an awkward ummm silence or I did actually enquire to one cousin that there are 100 cousins in the family, surely there must be another cousin in the family due to get married next? Moving on swiftly, the day was a lot of fun and the bride and groom looked chuffed to bits.