You and Me: Speeches, Love & An Awfully Big Adventure

After the falling-off-my-chair-in-front-of-our-entire-wedding-audience incident, we got down to the good stuff - the food. We snacked on the most scrumptious cannelloni, yummy chicken & herbed lamb, and the most gorgeous pastry slice for dessert. Amazing. Soon after that, it was time for the most beautiful part of the evening - the speeches!

Being a bit of a control freak, I have to admit: I was a little nervous. Not being able to know what our family members and friends, and even Jase himself, were planning on talking about in their speeches was scary - but turns out, those fears were completely unfounded. You guys, they blew me away. I laughed, I pulled faces, I cried. It was amazing. And seeing pictures like this one, which was my beautiful mum's reaction to my dad's speech, just make my day.

First up was my dad - who did such a great job! Sure, I may be biased, but I do believe I have the cutest father on the planet. He was a little nervous - but his speech was beautiful. He only threw in a handful of 'dad jokes' too.. something which we always tease him about mercilessly.

Jason's dad was up next - he spoke so well, and absolutely loved having the microphone! His speech was lovely & heartfelt, but the highlight was when he finished with: 'Aly. Thank you for loving my son.' Sob!

After the traditional speeches from the dads, Jase had his turn with the microphone. He'd shown me some of his speeches, so I could help him with the thank-you's, but had saved the best part until last. The card he'd gifted me earlier in the day had been a cute cartoon revolving around the general theme of 'Once in a Lifetime'. Jason's speech was gorgeous - telling me he was so excited to have me as his wife, and that I was his once in a lifetime.

Jason's best man & brother followed with another awesome speech - made all the more special, since he'd flown out from London to attend the wedding.

And then, the tear-jerker of the evening - my lovely Maid of Honour.

Miss K started off so well, telling our guests how she'd known us for nearly our entire relationship - and then teared up, as she continued. It was so gorgeous. She made mention of her favourite quote in her speech: do you know where it's from?

               “To love would be an awfully big adventure.”

Hearing her kind words about what sort of a friend I was to her & what we'd been through together... it was really humbling. I'm so lucky to have a best friend who has been there through thick and thin with me, who's travelled with me & survived to tell the tale, who's crashed on the floor of my apartment, and who appreciates what Jase & I have.

If you want to Miss K's speech in its entirety, it made its way on to our wedding highlights video that you can see here.

With the speeches over, it was time to face the wall of cameras to cut our cake!

All photographs by the team at Follan Photography unless otherwise noted.

Let's start at the very beginning - it's a very good place to start.
Our wedding rehearsal went by in a flash.
We finished off our last minute projects at home.
I had some girly time the day before the wedding.
I checked into the bridal suite and spent the evening alone.
A prank call woke me up... to my wedding day!
The girls had their hair and make-up done.
The boys relaxed and took it easy playing pool.
It was finally my turn to get beautified!
I put my dress on & became a bride.
My bridesmaids and I rush, rush, rushed to the church & arrived early!
The wedding began with a processional...
Our guests waved us out of the church with our home-made ribbon wands.
We took some bridal snapshots in the wind and rain.
I took a few moments with my new husband, just he & I.
Our bridal party posed with us as the daylight began to fade.
We relaxed in the bridal suite.. and I got sewn into my wedding dress!
All of our wedding details came together beautifully.
The Jaguar bridal party made their way into our reception...
And on the way there, I took a tumble & landed on my butt!