Glenda and James

Is that sunshine I see? As much as I adore winter and Autumn I do have to say a wedding like this morning’s makes me excited about the prospect of sun on my skin. Especially with a venue overlooking Sydney Harbour!

Glenda and James are our newlyweds and Glenda explains how they met. “James and I met at work. I was James’ apprentice. I was in my 2nd year of my Engineering apprenticeship and James had just finished his apprenticeship. He had just been permanently placed in the section that I was working in. We started to work with each other, and when we fought like brother and sister we knew there was something special.”

Nerida McMurray is the photographer and I always see sunshine in her work- from crisp, clean captures in a natural, fresh style. I love seeing how Nerida captures a wedding!

Glenda wore a gown from Wendy Makin and her hair was styled by Olivera Cirillo. The bridesmaids wore tea length gowns from Dusk. One of Glenda’s bridesmaids Susana Derrin is also an event planner and helped James plan the wedding – Glenda didn’t have to do a thing!

Sydney Wedding Flowers created the bouquets. Glenda and James had their stationery made by Glenda’s brother. Glenda recounts, “My brother (Andrew Homan, Process Creative) designed the invite and we came up with a great idea to have white printing on recycled brown paper. It sounded good but what I didn’t know was that you can’t do white on normal printers. After a lot of looking we started to think that we would have to dismiss the idea. But then we found that we could get them screen printed. This worked out really well. The invites, name cards, RSVP and envelopes all together only cost about $4.50. I also did all the place cards by just printing on the paper we used for the invites and cutting and scoring them. We printed the orders of service ourselves.

Andrew designed us a family symbol.  The family symbol was printed on invites, name cards, and orders of service. Invitations were all sealed with wax featuring the family symbol.”

The wedding was at the Gap Bluff Centre, The Armoury. Glenda says, “We wanted a place with a view because we had family and friends flying in from Ireland, Canada & Sweden. We wanted to give them a taste of Sydney. We liked the idea of having the whole wedding at the same place so that our guests didn’t have to move, and could simply enjoy themselves. The venue was very simple and you can dress it up or down to suit the party.”

Glenda and James’ nephews acted as page boys.

Glenda’s brother played a special role in the wedding. She says “I think we were the first wedding to have a 28 year old male as a flower girl. My brother and I had always been close and we have made a pact that if I ever got married he would be my flower girl. It was a very funny moment when Susana (my brother’s girlfriend, a bridesmaid and my wedding planner) and I were at the florist and she asked: ‘what age is the flower girl?’ and we looked at each other and said ‘28 and not so girly – he is male’. The florist then said ‘ok if you are having a male flower girl I guess you want a neutral ribbon?’ Susana and I looked at each other and said ‘no – we were thinking hot pink!”

Glenda walked down the aisle with her mum and dad to ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ by Israel Kamakawiwoole.

There were many special moments for the bride during the wedding day including the alter ego of the groom ‘Jacque de Clemont’ being recognised in the wedding ceremony. James’ speech he gave during the wedding reception was another Glenda recounts “In a touching moment in his speech, James shared some of the reasons that he loved me:

There are so many things I love about you
I love your childlike quality,
Your sense of wonder,

Especially with the little things.
Your enthusiasm for life and love,

Excluding the mornings of course.
I love the way you sing my alter ego’s song,

Even when you are asleep.

I love the way you understand me,
better than anyone ever has.
I love the fun we have together
The way you can always make me laugh
Just when I need it most.
And I love the way I am when I’m with you
I see things differently through your eyes and your touch.
I love discovering the you that others rarely see
And the more I discover, the more I find to love
I love you simply because you are you
That’s why I know for the rest of my life I will always be in love with only you.”

After photographs and cocktail hour, guests headed inside The Armoury for a sit down reception.

Glenda and James chose a cupcake wedding cake from Baby Cakes iced in pinks and browns. The tables were decorated with pink blooms, succulents, mirrors and plenty of tea lights.

Each place card featured the family crest designed by Glenda’s brother. Glenda explains “The family symbol has about six concepts wrapped up in it including; Three key elements Me / James and a life together.  Rising sun – new beginning. Mobius Strip – infinity. Celtic styling – Irish Heritage of us both. Three lines: me, James and children.”

Dancing was an important part of the wedding for Glenda. “I though it would be fun to get the whole bridal party to do a choreographed dance. They were not too happy at first. One of our friends Sher Manu is one of the choreographers for ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. We were so pleased when she agreed to teach our very uncoordinated bridal party to dance. We were very lucky to have someone so talented…and patient to coach us.

We started seriously with a slow dance – just the 2 of us. Then the music changed to the rap version of ‘these are a few of my favourite things’ and the whole bridal party got in on the action. We had lifts, turns, jumps, leaps, catches, spinney bits and the dance ended with the boys bench pressing me into the air. They almost dropped me but we pulled it off with no broken bones.

We had two dance classes over the two Saturdays leading up to the wedding, and some last minute practice the night before. It was a great way to bring the bridal party together before the day and have some fun.”

Glenda says “We had a photo booth instead of doing bonbonniere. Best idea ever! It printed two strips – one the person took home the other went in a guest book where they could write a message next to their picture. The photo booth did not stop all night every time I looked there was a line. The photos are some of the funniest of the night and every time we go to a friend’s house they have them up on the fridge or beside their beds. It’s great that they have a fun reminder of the day – a bonbonniere that people actually like and use!”

A big thank you to Glenda and James for sharing their wedding day on Polka Dot Bride! Thank you also to Nerida McMurray for sharing today’s photographs!