Welcome to the wedding blog of Angela Beesley and Tim Starling. We are getting married at Araluen on November 23rd, 2008.

Browse by category or visit these posts:

• Important dates
• Map
• When to arrive
• Gift registry
• Hotels and trains
• Dress code

I’ve had my hair trial and final dress fitting and most things are looking fairly organised. We even had a dance lesson yesterday so we will be able to waltz to Come Away With Me for our first dance. The advice I read about practising dancing in the shoes you’ll be wearing on the day wasn’t a good idea as I now have beautiful ivory satin shoes with part of Tim’s footprint on top!

Update: 18 November: The Bureau of Meterology is predicting highs of 20°C (68°F) with a “shower or two” and weather.com says highs of 21°C and “mostly sunny”.

Update: 20 November: Now that the 5-day forecasts are available, the weather is looking unpredictable. Each site has their own idea and none of them are consistent. The Bureau of Meterology, which ought to be the most reliable, says a shower or two, windy, 20°. weatherzone says wind and showers, 20°. The BBC says sunny, 22°. wunderground says scattered cloud, 18°. weather.com says showers, 17°. weather.com.au says light rain early, morning clouds, mild, breezy, 19°. accuweather says considerable cloudiness with a shower, winds from the west at 19 km/h, 21°. Finally, Yahoo is the worst with highs of only 16° and showers.

Most things are organised now, but we never got round to learning to waltz, I broke the unity candle, and I have so far failed to find a hairdresser (which shouldn’t be such a complicated task). The big things still on the to-do list are printing the order of service and finalising the cake & car details.

After we exchange rings, we’re lighting a unity candle.

Here’s the wording:
“We now give thanks for all the rich experiences of life that have brought Angela and Tim to this high point in their lives. We are grateful for the values which have flowed into them from those who have loved them. The heritage each brings to this marriage will continue to be an important element in their lives, but now will be shared between them.”

“In commemoration of the merging of these two rich heritages and in memory of those, living and dead, who were part of these heritages, I now invite Tim and Angela’s mothers to bring forth the lighted candles, representing each of the families of this couple.”

“Tim and Angela will now light their unity candle with these candles, symbolising the union of their families in this marriage and the rich heritage each brings to it.”

We went back to Myer in Chatswood today to complete our gift registry list. We started in August but didn’t get much onto our list that time.

Our registration number is 603502. We’re also happy to receive gift cards.

A new frying pan is one of the things on the list since I broke our one last week. A huge field cricket was lurking in it as I was drying it. The surprise of seeing it made me jump in shock and throw the frying pan in the air, and the handle snapped right off when it hit the floor!

Things which they don’t have at Myer that we need are tools (power tools especially), lamps and other lights, and any sort of storage device (my favourite shop in Australia is Howards Storage World!), so don’t feel tied to the Myer list.

This is not to be confused with casual, though semi-casual may be ok. Some of the bridal party will be in black morning coats, but we don’t expect guests to be this formal. For the ladies, I’d recommend against jeans, but pretty much anything else would go! Suits, summer dresses or cocktail dresses are all fine. This picture shows what my mum will be wearing. If you want to avoid clashing with the bridesmaid or flower girl, don’t wear an orange or gold dress.

Related post: all dressed up.

Tim has chosen the hymn “A New Commandment” which will be sung before we make our vows.

For my “something old“, I’ll be wearing my Nana’s thruppenny-bit bracelet. It was my mother’s “something borrowed” on her wedding day. When my Nana said that she could keep it, she didn’t want to because then it wouldn’t have been borrowed, so instead I later inherited it. It certainly counts as something old, with the oldest coin being from 1902 at the start of King Edward VII’s reign. The other eight coins were minted between 1913 and 1936, during the reign of King George V. The four oldest coins are sterling silver. The ones produced in the 1930s are 50% silver, at least according to Wikipedia.

For my “something new“, I’m still undecided. Perhaps something like this Swarovski Tiara, but the matching necklace I tried on looked too big and it would be hard to find something else which went with it.