Prabha and Brendan's Cave Wedding

The most unforgetable memory of December 2011 was when I was asked to work for a friends wedding to be held inside a cave. The cave is located in Wee Jasper, hidden underground amongst the Goodradigbee valleys located just at the end of the magnificent lake Burrinjuck . I had the honor to do Prabha's and her bridesmaids wedding bouquet and additional flowers, as well as singing and playing the piano during the ceremony- which I'm absolutely thrilled about, especially for a location as unique as a gorgeous looking cave!

Prabha and Brendan visited my chair-less home at the time to talk about flowers and music. Flicking through the only floral magazine I have she has no problem in choosing what she wants. Baby's Breath mixed with roses for her, and something green for the bridesmaids. We emailed back and forth with what music would be suitable for the ceremony. We're trying hard to choose something that is going to be uniquely Brendan and Prabha.

The day before the wedding, I woke up at 5am to make 3 bouquets. I had to leave for the caves at 11am and had no experience in working with Baby's Breath so I had no idea how long it would take me to finish. Turns out I finished in less than 3 hours in a lazy pace. I didn't realize how much I've improved since Clare and Sven's wedding. I arranged the bridesmaids bouquet using white mini Gerbera, green spider Chrysanthymum, green Carnations and the rare fluffy 'Green Trick'.  

Friday turns out to be a very busy day including packing, travelling, wedding rehearsals, and setting up the reception venue. I was also busy carrying the live flowers with me making sure they are in water and don't sit anywhere near where there's heat. During the wedding rehearsal I had fun pretending to be the celebrant helping Prabha and Brendan saying their vows. I also had a hard time trying not to look at Catriona and the playful, 13 yr old flower girl Gemma carrying my $2000 keyboard down the cave. I nearly had a heart attack when Gemma decided to flip throw one of the bridesmaids bouquet during rehearsal- for that second it felt like time stopped as everyone gasped and looked at me. Wee Jasper is a very secluded area with no phone reception. If something happen to the flowers there is no way I can get it replaced.

After the wedding rehearsal a few of us stayed up until 11pm to set up the reception venue in the local hall. I stayed up a few more hours to make the groomsman's buttonholes and Gemma's wrist corsage.

With only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I slept well the night before the wedding. The girls stayed in a well furnished cottage separate to the boys. It wasn't until when I woke up the next morning I realized that we were surrounded with such beautiful landscape! It was truly a beautiful morning- one of those mornings that is just so perfectly picturesque.

One of our friend, Prema used to work for Clinique so she's responsible in doing Prabha's make up. The photographer, Ben Thomas came just in time as I was 3/4 of the way of working on Prabha's tiara of baby's breath. Greg helped me wire some of these tiny florets to speed the process. God is so good for giving me such a handy husband! When Prabha is all dressed up, she looked absolutely stunning beyond belief. I had no idea she was going to wear a traditional outfit. It's amazing to see how things work together in the end.

I'm very happy the way Prabha's bouquet turned out. Half of it thanks to my boss, Val for finding me a great opened bunch of mini roses and an extremely fresh bunch of babys breath and white Alstromeira. Prabha informed me a week after the wedding that the flowers are still alive- that is how amazingly fresh they are. 

It was an early 9am wedding, with a small audience of less than 40. Me and my keyboard were positioned next to a ramp where the wedding party emerged. I can't hear what my music sound like, but they told me that the acoustics is good enough for me to not use any amplifying. I sang "A Moment Like This" as Brendan took Prabha by the hand to escort her down the ramp, across the room and up on the stage. The lyrics to this song cannot be more suitable for this event.

For the signing of registry I sang "At The Beginning", and because it wasn't long enough I sang "If I Had You" a pretty jazz standard I whipped up a few days before just in case.

We emerged to the surface with light too bright for our eyes, and for some of us, extremely relieved that the ceremony is over and the couple is happily married. We had afternoon tea and mingled with friends. I had a clinging wish to have a proper tour of the cave after mingling- but by the time everyone left, we were too exhausted to do so.

Greg and I drove the bride and groom back to the cottage for a bit of rest before they head off for photos. Greg ended up chauffeuring the bridal party to their photo shoot locations for the day. As for me, I took this opportunity to fall back to sleep before reception starts.

It was time to enjoy the party at reception with a highlight of bush dance at the end of it. It's always a treat to be able to work- then relax with everyone else as the day goes on. As the music and the dancing played on, the number of guest dwindles starting with the older people for an earlier night, to people having to drive back to Canberra or Sydney on the same day. We danced the night away until there were only a few of us left and the music. 

And it came to the end of the night. Greg and I drove Prabha and Brendan back to the cottage while a few of our friends stayed back to pack up the hall. We looked back on the day with a smile, and a sigh of happiness. Congratulations Brendan and Prabha, and thank you so much for this unforgettable experience! xo

Photos are by Ben Thomas of www.benthomasphotos.com

Looking Back

2012 is finally here! Where has my head been? I’m scurrying all over trying to find and fix it in time for the new year.

2011 has been an interesting year. I started the year barely with anything to do and saw that new friends need to be made. I even got depressed at one time when I couldn't find enough creative outlet to do. It’s funny now that I can see how God shapes my path. By September I was caught off guard with opportunities and by December I landed on few too many jobs, and too many social commitments that I had to start shaking things off.

Admittedly I had to shake off writing this blog for a bit. But now I’m here. It’s 6.50 am and I haven’t slept all night. Could be because of the cold I’m having, could be of the excitement of new prospects in the new year- whatever it is, I’m grateful to be able to appreciate the rare first morning of sunlight whilst listening to Katie Noonan and writing this.

Working in the florist had been physically and mentally draining- it’s an art in itself to get used to. I find it hard to cope with our clients sadness for the deceased, as well as their high demand in pleasing their loved ones. But I love and cherish every moment of working there. The pressure to perform and to do it side by side with plants is really an amazing thing. My Etsy shop (and my online presence in general) had been completely absent. On the other hand my tangible shop in real life is doing extremely well. New jewellery designs come and go before I had the chance to document them online. It all had been so exciting and exhilarating- how I manage to end the year knowing that I’m doing the things that I love with and for the people I care about.   

Christmas was a much sought after break after what seem to be an endless journey to Christmas itself. Greg’s parents rented a house in Berridale- a tiny populated town of 80 only a few hours away from Canberra. We journeyed there through a dark and consuming thunderstorm but was surprisingly embraced with a breathtakingly beautiful full double rainbow on the other side of the dark clouds just a few km away upon arriving to our rented home.

God has been very good to us.