When Jenna and Jim told me what they were going to do for their wedding I was really excited.
From Jenna and Jim –
Our Wedding Day…
Amazing, overwhelming, magical & simply perfect…
Approximately 5 weeks before the date of our engagement party we together decided that we were going to attempt to plan our wedding for that same day. We had looked through several magazines, spent hours searching the internet, sent several emails to possible reception venues and still had no idea where or how to start planning our special day.After several weekends of researching, gathering information and attending bridal expos we had still made no decisions.
One afternoon we got talking about what we really wanted our day to be like, what was most important to us. We both said immediately that it was about getting married to each other and having our closest friends and family with us to share and celebrate. It was really important to us that we got to spend quality time with all of our closest loved ones as there are very few opportunities in life when you are lucky enough to have all of your favourite people in the one place all together. Once we had established this we further discussed that everyone that we wanted to share our day with was going to be here for our Engagement Party which lead to the decision to have the wedding that afternoon and attend the party at night to share our exiting news with the rest of our friends and family.
The decision to do this was the easy part but we knew that there were a few other things, out of our control that needed to fall into place for us to be able to make this a reality. After a few days of phone calls, it was like magic, everything we wanted simply fell right into place. That weekend my Mum flew to Melbourne so that we could go dress shopping and a few hours later, we had a dress!
 The morning of our wedding was very relaxing for me, I had a good night sleep and woke up feeling refreshed and excited. I went to the hairdresser with two of my closest friends Simone, Emma and Clare, Jim’s Mum, we had a lovely time getting our hair done. When we got home we had our make up done and I had a few quiet moment by myself in the lovely gardens and called Liz to pass on a small message to Jim for me.
Before I knew it, Liz had arrived and it was time to get dressed. It was at this point that it hit me. I’m marrying the absolute love of my life today, my best friend and I couldn’t be happier. I’m not usually a very emotional person but once I went upstairs with my Mum and my sister to get dressed the tears started… and they didn’t stop… I was so excited and so overwhelmed by the love, support and happiness that I was surrounded by it was so special to me. Once I was dressed and ready I spent some time with Liz and my family, chatting and having our special moments captured. When Liz first arrived that morning she gave me a note that Jim had written me and given to her for me to read before we saw each other at our ceremony. Once Liz had left I took the note and went up stairs, sat on the bed and read my lovely note from my husband to be. This made the tears start again. At that moment my beautiful friend Simone came up stairs with a glass of champaign for us both. My sister then came and sat with us and we all had a lovely chat about the day ahead. They then left to go to the ceremony and my Dad and my God Father, Paul were there with me to take me to our wedding. The car drive there was very relaxing, we were all very excited. When we arrived, Liz was there to greet us and once I got out of the car I was so excited to get inside the church to see Jim.Walking down the isle was magical, it went so quickly and I didn’t know where to look, I was so excited to see everyone, but most of all to marry Jim.
I had asked Jim to choose the music and readings for our ceremony, as he is much better with things like that than I am and I’m so happy that he did. I was so excited and surprised by every song that was played and reading that was read, as I had no idea what he had chosen. It was such a special touch and made it even more exciting for me. The immense happiness I felt throughout the entire ceremony way indescribable. After the ceremony it was so lovely to be able to speak with everyone and have some time with our family while we had our photos taken just outside the church. My Great Nan, who is 101 in August, was there with us and we felt so lucky to have her share our special day. Our ceremony was followed by a lunch with our friends and family. When we arrived at lunch Jim and I got the opportunity to spend some time together with Liz before we went inside. We wandered through the olive trees and could not have felt any happier or blessed. When we went inside we had a few hours to spend with our friends and family. This was such an important part of our day for us. Lunch was beautiful and we had such a relaxing afternoon catching up with everyone.
After lunch we came back to our house with Jims family. It was so nice to have that time, I took off my shoes and put on my dressing gown for a few hours and chatted with everyone. Once it was time to go to the ‘Engagement Party’ everyone left and we had some time to ourselves. Jim put on the songs from our ceremony and we danced around our kitchen with such happiness and kept saying to each other with excitement ‘we are married’. This few moments we shared are my favourite memories of our entire day.
When we first contacted Liz we explained what we were planning and enquired about having a slide show of a few photos from our day to show everyone at our reception. Liz shared our excitement and was happy to make this part of our day possible. We planned to arrive a little late so that everyone would be there to see the slide show prior to us being announced as husband and wife and welcomed into the venue. Jim and I arrived at the venue a little early, this was perfect as it gave us a chance to sit together quietly in the restaurant. This part of our day was so exciting, we heard my dad give a short speech prior to the slide show being played and the excitement we heard from outside was so overwhelming. When the doors opened and we walked in we were so excited. Everyone was so surprised and happy for us. It was everything we had imagined and more.  The rest of our night was incredible, we danced, sang and celebrated with all of the special people in our lives. We could not have asked for a more perfect day and night.
Liz, we cannot begin to thank you enough for being such a special part of our day. You helped us create the most amazing memories and made all of our dreams come true. Right from the start you set the perfect mood for our special day, our wedding day. We are so truly grateful, thank you again.
Jenna’s brother went out to get the flour/flowers
The Vault, Shepparton for the wedding reception – now comes the surprise to the others that Jenna & James are already married
