Darwin- The Wedding!!

There's nothing like a wedding to bring out the emotions, and believe me I bawled like a baby watching my bestest best friend get married. I always used to pooh-pooh people who cry at weddings, now I've turned into one of them, damnit!

Apparently there are lots of fab photos floating around but I'm sick of waiting for them to surface, so here goes with the pics I took myself.

Being the $$ conscious types we are, all the wedding bouquets and buttonholes were made from fresh frangipanis, picked for free from the side of the road on the day of the wedding itself.

Here's bridesmaid Laura in full swing, frangis (as we call them) are more abundant in Darwin than anywhere I've ever seen, so we'd have been silly not to have taken advantage of these beauties.

Michelle (the bride) bought this wishing well to contain gifts and cards, then painstakingly hand painted the entire inside by hand on her lunch breaks at work and glued a green glass frog into the base. LOL, she then forgot a lid needed to go on top so no-one saw the inside at all, woops!

Table centrepieces were also made at the last minute, thanks to bridesmaid Nettas children for doing the bulk of the work. Because we had drinking and talking and catching up to do, you know.

 And of course VB was on hand to 'help'!!

It was all such a mad rush on the day!!

I can't believe I pulled off a hairstyle for the bride that I'd never done before in under ten minutes, AND it stayed in all night.

In a small hotel room with 15 people in it, with no time to relax and concentrate, it was no mean feat.

This is Michelle saying HURRY THE FUCK UP in her head. You can see it on her face, can't you?!

Apparently the celebrant had told Michelle in no uncertain terms that if she didn't arrive by 6pm she'd be a spinster forever, so when Michelle realised we were running 15 mins late we had a couple of bridezilla moments. But Michelle being the trouper she is, we soon got over that.

Bride arrives. Bride is happy!

The wedding was held on the beach just below the above boat club, at sunset, the timing of course was chosen in order to beat the heat.

Michelle and her parents, who flew up fom Sydney

 A wedding in the middle of the day would be unthinkable even for locals, and the ceremony itself was short and sweet so we could GET INSIDE AND PARTY ASAP.

That's ma girl!!!

Jeans and sunnies at a wedding?? Yes people, welcome to Darwin. Bridesmaid Netta gets the job done doing some crowd control on the wind versus Michelles dress.

Married!!!!

Bridesmaid Netta excelled herself by making enormous tubs full of super-strong jelly shots, the first were naturally enjoyed by the bride and groom as soon as the necessaries were over.

Don't be fooled by the small cups, in Darwin they take their drinking damn seriously, and these babies were demonic!

Ok now for a few wedding-y shots....

In a wedding our Vix (dare I say it) might even find bearable, it was a 3 minute ceremony, a 2-minute signing, and just 5 minutes for photos.

We were then treated to a blaring mix of the Ramones, Devo, Queen and Radio Birdman, amongst others, and went without any speeches, borrowed and blue, embarrasing photos, cake cutting or bouquet throwing. This fab two were determined NOT to have a traditional wedding and they sure did that.

Vb hit the dance floor early, and lasted until nearly 2am, what a champ, eh?

 And me? I ended up buying this dress at the last minute, of the brides' choice. I was kidding myself thinking I could wear even a lightweight maxi with short sleeves in this heat, currently Darwin is experiencing the season called 'buildup', the highest humidity of the year in the lead-up to the wet season. Also, the entire reception was outside, and considering the amount of dancing and drinking to be done, a cooler dress was compulsory.

But all too soon the night, and our trip, did come to a close. I swear I will *not* leave it another 3 years before visiting again. 

No makeup. No pretensions. Not necessary. Just friends.