Introducing.... Mrs & Mrs Masson-Oakden!

WE ARE MARRIED!

... and do I ever want to get married again?????  NO.
... am I madly madly crazily in love with my WIFE????  HELL YES!

the cops that turned up at our hens night... that WEREN'T strippers...
.... what are the odds???

I have always heard that weddings are stressful, but I never understood just how true that was until the last month or so.  Planning our wedding wasn't stressful when it was deciding a date, deciding on a venue, purchasing dresses and shoes.  But then the big 'one month to go!' mark rolled around, and suddenly there were 1,000,000 decisions to be made, decisions about seemingly pointless things (to me, remember - very un-girly), that I couldn't really have cared about whatever we'd decided...

BUT seeing it all come together as beautifully as it did (hugely in part to the amazing Kath and Sophia), I see now that those 'pointless' things we needed to decide on were all equally important, and without them the wedding would have been just another day.

with my Mum & sister before the wedding

I don't want to talk about the stress any longer though, because it's all in the past now - and it all seems so unimportant, because that stress led to the best day of my life (tied with the birth of both of my babies, my niece and my nephew).

The weather forecast was for showers, but we woke up to BLUE SKY, and throughout the morning the sky turned grey, but it didn't really look like rain... until about an hour before the ceremony was due to start.  We got to the venue and it looked like it'd rain, but it also looked like it would hold off.

The gorgeous Mrs L. Masson-Oakden

We began our march down the aisle.  And it began to rain.  Heavier and heavier and heavier.  By the
time we got to the 'altar' (read:  goalposts) it was starting to rain heavily - and it proceeded to get heavier right throughout the ceremony.  You know what though?  I hardly noticed it.  I KNEW it was raining (my hair was saturated, my shawl was saturated, my face was saturated), but it all kind of took a backseat because the only thing I was focused on was Lauriel, and the fact we were finally getting married!

Our walk down the aisle... in the rain... and wind...

After the ceremony we were supposed to do a sand ceremony, but it was too wet, so the table carrying the marriage register was taken into the changing rooms under one of the grandstands.... the food table was carried through, all our guests came through - and the next two? hours were spent socialising in a rugby changing room.

Lauriel saying her vows

It was strangely perfect for us.

We always joked about getting our photos done in a changing room - and well, ALL our photos (sans a few) were done in one!  I am sure people will look at our photos and go "WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?", but what we were thinking is "this is the low key wedding that suits us, just like we always wanted".  We got to spend time with family and friends, we had refreshments, lots of laughs were had.  What more could we want?

After we left the stadium we went to the

After signing the register

Brickhouse for our reception, the girls did an amazing job setting up the room, and walking in I felt truly happy.... wet, but very happy!!!!!  The meal was lovely, the speeches made us cry, and again lots of laughs were had.  It was brilliant, it was exactly what we had hoped for.  Again I am sure a lot of people will raise an eyebrow at how low key it was, and the fact our guests had to purchase their own meals... but from the start nothing about our relationship has been traditional, so it makes sense we had a very untraditional wedding and reception!

After the reception it was back home with our

Our beautiful wedding party

four gorgeous kids and two of my best friends in the world.  The kids went to bed - and were asleep within minutes, then we did what we do best.

Got out of our dresses.  Put on our jammies.  Got the appropriate snacks from the cupboard.  Flopped down on the couch.  Turned SkyTV on to channel 30.  And watched  1 1/2 games of rugby.  And we couldn't have been happier.  (minus the loss) it was the perfect end to a perfect day for us.

I would now like to thank all of you who played a part in our big day, particularly our bridesmaids and Marion, our cake making

the four most wonderful, beautiful, amazing bridesmaids
who ever existed...

queen, my Aunty for doing our professional photos for us, Sharyn for all her help over the past few months, Amy for making the GORGEOUS flowergirls dresses, my sister for planning the hens night, my parents for being as wonderful as ever.... and EVERYONE who sent us good wishes for the day, and who was thinking of us, whether they were in Wanganui, another part of New Zealand, another part of the Southern Hemisphere, or in the Northern Hemisphere.  We love you all!

We both have unofficial photos up on Facebook, and I will post a link to an online album for the photographs my Dad took... then when we have our professional photos, we will put them on Facebook and on here.

Ten Days to Go!

This time in 10 days, we will be about 1 hour away from getting married.  Time seems to have suddenly sped up, and we now find ourselves on that final countdown - which is oh so exciting, and also just a tad stressful!  Everything is essentially organised, there are just final little details to iron out.... like y'know - finding a way to assure that the weather forecast for the 13th is sun, sun and more sun!  Tomorrow the 10 day foreceast on the Metservice website will include the 13th, and there better be a nice yellow sun forecast!

The Easter break was full of chocolate - of course, but also full of our patience being tested.  Whoever decided to give school kids a 5 day break really needs their head read.  I know that teachers probably won't agree with me on that, however.  Overall though, the kids were good and played nicely!  On Monday they built a gargantuan tower with the blocks, and all worked very well as a team to complete the tower, though I think if anyone had touched it and broken it prior to the photographical evidence being taken, chances are they'd have been ostracised for the rest of the day. 

the 4 little engineers, all very proud of their work!

Last week Lauriel and I picked up a curling wand for $3.00 - so naturally it didn't take long before we

my little blond curly wurly

began experimenting with it, with surprising success, I may add!  I am the only one who hasn't had her hair curled - well, neither have Emmy or Aidan, but I'm pretty sure I could give Aidan a bit of a flick to his hair!  I have a feeling the curling wand is going to get a lot of use on our wedding day - Gaby has already demanded she has her hair curled, and I think Eloise is rather fond of the idea as well.  And whether she knows it or not, Lauriel is having her hair curled - because she looked gorgeous when I did her hair!  With our outfits all good to go, I think the only thing left to purchase may be some mascara and lipstick.  Neither of us are makeup people, and though we know it looks good with photos, we are opting for minimum makeup - if any.  I'd sooner spend money on rugby tickets, than on makeup I will wear once...  And realistically it'd probably be smudged two seconds into the ceremony, because I'm sure I'll be crying!

The hens night is the night before the wedding  - so that my few guests can actually be there... more to the point, my sister is organising the whole thing, so it's kind of essential that she is there!  All we know is that there is going to be Sing Star at the end of the evening...  The rest is all shrouded in secrecy...  Well, minus the fact we are having an 'adult novelty items' party, courtesy of my sister who is a retailer of said 'adult novelty items'.  I have a feeling the night is going to be verrrrrrrrrry memorable!!!!!

No doubt I'll update again in the coming days... But for now, I am off to write my vows!

.... though I will share the most recent photo of Richie McCaw, because I want to see Lauriel melt when she reads this....