the wedding

❀ what a fantastic wedding!!! so, so beautiful! it did rain as we arrived and i thought donna would freak out but she was very cool about it. it's supposed to be good luck anyway. we just moved everybody under the balcony and it was still a really sweet and intimate ceremony. after all my assurances to donna that she wouldn't cry since she'd be in 'stage mode', in the end i couldn't stop my own eyes from welling up at the sight of her coming down the aisle.... she truly was a beautiful bride.

there was such a lovely atmosphere the whole day and night, with everyone happy drunk and dancing the night away to sam and sam's live music. everybody loved my speech and i even got up on stage with donna to sing a song! in fact the whole wedding was more like a big show, with all the singers and performers we have in the family. my cousin dale was a hilarious MC, mum did her tina turner impersonation, my uncle did his famous head-stand, my cousin nick did his hilarious ad-lib 'la bamba' and the newest addition to the performing group was donna's little boy who got up with no shame whatsoever and sang his own rendition of 'fireflies'.

the highlight was the throwing of the bouquet. donna was under strict instruction to throw it in my direction, i bullied all the other single-girl competitors to stay out of my way with elbows and threats, and was still surprised and ecstatic that i actually caught it!! when i told jerry the next day, he said 'hmmm, that's scary'.... um...wrong response!

after the wedding we camped out on the reserve, surrounded by eucalyptus trees, koalas, kangaroos and kookaburras, as well as the hoards of flies, an ant-nest under my tent and a big nasty grey spider that chased me around while i tried to pack up the tent the next morning.

i was full of mixed emotions leaving. although i was missing jerry desperately, i also had such a lovely time that i would have loved to have stayed just a bit longer... the sunshine especially, i've never appreciated as much!

after nearly 40 hours of traveling, i'm finally at stockholm airport, waiting for my last flight and just found out that jerry has broken his leg skiing, is in the hospital and obviously isn't picking me up from the airport...in fact i may not see him for a few days! ....great. :o(