Chris and Alice's Wedding

Wedding Photos & thanks

Our Wedding Day
Thanks to everyone for making our wedding day so bloody fabulous.
We were so proud and happy that everyone could be a part of our wedding celebration and we hope everyone had a great time - it looked like it. We cannot say enough about the fab crew at the Botanical Gardens and we cannot gush enough about our friends and family, so many of whom travelled from far and wide to make it special for us. Thank you!

Presents
We do not deserve all the fabulous presents we received. They are so thoughtful and generous and gorgeous and more than we could ever have hoped for. It is such a great start to our new life together and our new home together.
We are currently working on our thank-you cards, which will be printed and sent soon, so please don't think that we have been rude and forgotten to thank you. Thank You - a BIG thank you.

Photos
Here are some wedding photos. We have about 1500 - however if you have any wedding photos sitting around that you have yet to give us, please email them through... or put them on a disk and give them to myself or Alice. I am hoping to break the 2000 mark in the next week or so.

Seven Strong Groomsmen
from left to right
Nathan (hidden behind...)
Aaron (blondy)
Don (blurred and concerned)
Sarah (best man face)
Alan (stoicly considering his next move)
Sandy (our celebrant)
Chris (slightly anxious)
Simon (possibly bored)

The Gorgeous Bride (and parents)
from left to right
John
Alice
Tricia

Our first kiss as a married couple
from left to right
Chris
Alice

The girls
from left to right
Andrea
Mel
Alice
Alice (confusing huh)
Isabel
Mirjam

A happy anti-climax

Well, today was the court case and here's how it went...

We arrive. No sign of the loser.

We rose when the magistrate entered and told us to take our place on the bench. Still no sign of loser. Our hearts rise in anticipation that he will not arrive. The magistrate asks the court lady to call for him. She does.

Still no sign of loser. The magistrate says "that's a shame"...

We sit around for a bit.

The magistrate says "since he has not shown up you will be awarded your $500" (or something close).

I inwardly said "yay".

And that, as they say, is that.

The moral high ground

I would like to rename our conciliation session "the moral high ground". Without going into all the details of the session, it entailed myself, the other party and a registrar of the court sitting around a small table discussing the case. I believe I spoke about 5% of the time, the registrar spoke 8% of the time and "the other party" spoke 87% of the time.

The session involved "the other party" taking what he believes to be the moral high ground and in the face of an almost certain loss in court, ensuring that we all have to attend because he wishes to teach us a lesson for our bad manners.

I continue to find it difficult to believe that he can run a business (in fact several businesses in Canberra) and not expect people to want and need access to that place of business - especially something like a wedding where people have so much invested into this one event (hopefully in their life).

I welcome everybody's comments - let me know if the comments thing isn't working.

Our Court Case

We go to court on Tuesday, wish us luck.

Don't forget, you can leave comments by clicking "Comment".

The Bridal Registry - Your Questions Answered

Friends and family, first let us say that your presence to help celebrate our wedding is more than enough.

However, if you wish to purchase a gift that is on the registry and it is too expensive, but you wish to contribute towards its purchase (or organise a group purchase) give Alice's mum a call (the phone number is in the invitation stuff).

Also, if you find something that is on the registry cheaper somewhere else, call Myer and let them know so they can take it off the registry.

Happy

Progress and the groom

Things are certainly happening in 2006. A year to remember...

At the end of it all for Alice and myself, there will be a wedding (a first for both of us), my first court case (Alice's third), a house purchase (my first, Alice's second), my first mortgage (Alice's second), an end to world hunger (that's just for perspective).

Today, I made some important groomsmen purchases. So as not to spoil the surprise, I won't tell you what I purchased, but Turbo (Simon) as self nominated man of fashion and taste came with me to assist in the process. Suffice to say, we will look back in 20 years and be smug in our astute fashion sense while our kids laugh.

We won't however laugh at the following lyrics to one of the great 80s theme songs and on the shortlist for the bridal waltz. A prize to the first correct guess in the comments (click on "Comments" and write something)

Show me that smile again (oooo show me that smile...)
Don't waste another minute on your cryin'
We know we're near the end (we know we're near...)
The best is ready to begiiiiiin (oooo ooo ooo ooooo)
As long as we've got each other
We've got the world the standing right in our hands
Baby you and me (we gotta be)
The luckiest dreamers who never quit dreamin'
As long as we keep on givin'
We can take anything that comes our way
Baby rain or shine (aa aall the time)
We got each other, sharin' the laughter and loo ooooove

Bling

Invitations designed, created, cut, folded, stuffed and sent

If you are here, you must have received an invitation... and are net savvy. Yay to both!

All the invitations have been sent... whew. After having our wedding venue cancelled on us (more of this story after the legal proceedings have concluded) we rushed around looking for somewhere to have both our ceremony and reception.

Has anyone booked a wedding before? Yes, most venues book out 9 months in advance. We scrambled, phoned, emailed, thought about Thredbo, the south coast, Fiji and eloping and then made the decision to have our ceremony and reception at the Botanic Gardens and thanked deity that they had availability on the same date.

We wanted an outdoor venue - somewhere amongst the nature I usually spurn for its weather extremes and itchiness. The Botanic Gardens is beautiful... and a lot closer to everything in Canberra than our previous venue (currently unnamed for legal reasons).

RSVPs

Please don't forget to RSVP as soon as possible. We forgot to put your dietary requirements onto our invitations. If you have any dietary requirements, please let us know.

If you lost the email address, it's chrisandaliceswedding@hotmail.com

Following is a list of links to various websites

Karaoke Song List for Reception: http://www.ravenentertainment.com.au/docs/1stsystem.xls
Choose a song and start practicing... you will be called upon.

Botanic Gardens site: http://www.anbg.gov.au
Everything to do with the Botanic Gardens. Maps, photos, trees.

Accommodation: http://www.check-in.com.au/CanberraHotels/Canberra.htm
A pretty good website for booking accommodation in Canberra. There are lots of options, cheap and ritzy.

Other Accommodation Options:
Two Sisters Motel (close to home): Ph: 02 6281 5499 Address: 106 Cotter Rd Curtin, 12 rooms, $80 p/night dbl, $15 p/extra person, family rooms also available

Crowne Plaza Canberra (a bit ritzy): Ph: 1300 662 218 Address: 1 Binara St Civic, mention Chris Barry for Wedding for special rates.

If you want to take the risk, you can try booking in the month before the wedding at www.wotif.com but I wouldn't recommend it. There is a Super 14 game on the same weekend as the wedding and Canberra usually gets pretty full for any sporting event. If you are a Super 14 fan or would like to take in a Brumbies game on the wedding weekend, click here: http://www.brumbies.com.au/act/

Stay tuned for further updates. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Canberra for our special day.