Sunny weddings, Skype, and some serious fun at the Boat House by the Lake

Hello, and welcome

Kyrsty and Jesse were married in the Heart Garden
on a typically warm and sunny summer's day
Friday 1 February 2013

It amazes me that this is my first post for 2013 and next month will be winter! It’s been a busy wedding season and it’s about to quieten as the temperature drops and the days get shorter. 
     We’ve had beautiful weather at almost every wedding recently. The wedding of Kyrsty and Jesse in February was 'fairy-tale' in its loveliness and I sent photos to my young grand-daughters. 
     Only the wedding of Katherine and John on Friday April 19 was held in the green room, because the wind was coming from the Antarctic and it was just too chilly to stand in the garden. We got some great autumn photos in the garden afterwards.
(As always, there are extra photos of recent weddings in the slideshow on the right.)
     
The Boat House by the Lake
     
At the end of January, I returned to The Boat House by the Lake in Grevillea Park in Barton for the wonderful family wedding of Jess and Mitch. 
     I had not been to a wedding there for quite a long time and I'm happy to report that it’s still a top wedding venue. 

Late January sunset over Lake Burley Griffin, as seen from Grevillea Park

     The views, especially at sunset, are still superb and the whole place is still very classy. A great feature of the Boat House by the Lake is a private room for a small wedding reception, separate to the main room. I’ve been to several weddings over the years in the foyer of The Boat House, and more on the lawn outside. If you’re not confident about being outside on your wedding day, the foyer is an attractive venue. It has a picturesque stone wall as backdrop for the ceremony. 

     The main function room of the Boat House has many windows with expansive views of Lake Burley Griffin in its many moods. There’s plenty of space for dining and dancing, and a big deck for spending time outside. As I’ve always experienced at weddings there, a pair of birds swam close while we were celebrating love on January 27. This time it was ducks. At other times, a pair of swans.
     Jess and Mitch included their daughter Emmeline in the ceremony to add a family bonding to this significant event.

I like Skype

Mitch and Jess were the first couple to take me up on my offer to talk on Skype. 
     For the past twenty years, I have only been available for meetings with couples who've already booked me for their wedding.          Of course I realise the importance of choosing the right celebrant for your wedding, so I have made always myself freely available for any number of phone calls and emails while couples are doing their research and narrowing the field. 
     Last year I added Skype as a contact option. My call with Jess and Mitch.was lots of fun for all of us and the booking for January 27 was soon made.
     Well, the fun just kept going. Their wedding was such a happy occasion, with attendants dancing down the aisle and jokes in the vows. My role was to solemnise (or legalise) their marriage and the serious parts fitted seamlessly with the frivolity. 

Mitch, while Jess is making
her vows  to him

     The wedding party stood on the grass with the lake behind them. To stop their stilettos from sinking into the grass, Jess had made big custom-wood hearts for her attendants and herself to stand on. She’s kindly given me one of these hearts and it’s been used three times already at Heart Garden weddings.
     Since Jess and Mitch's wedding, two Heart Garden ceremonies have been Skyped across the world, a private one (no photos) to the groom's home country, where it was about 3am I think. And there was this one (below) for John and Katherine on 19 April, Skyped to John's extended family in Minnesota USA, where they drank a toast at midnight. We could truly sense that they were with us.

I'll finish this happy post with kind words that the Boat House newlyweds sent me.
     If you'd like me to be celebrant at your wedding at any venue, including my beautiful peaceful Heart Garden, or you are simply at the enquiry stage, please phone me on 0406 376 375 on any day between 9am and 9pm. Or on my landline 02 6161 0718. Or use the email contact form in the Wedding Pages to the right of this post. And remember - we can easily arrange a chat on Skype if that works well in your celebrant search. 
     With whomever you choose to officiate at your wedding (and I hope it's me!) I wish you both a wonderful joyful event, as successful as the one on Sunday January 27 this year for Mitch and Jess, with all their family and friends.

Jess wrote:

Hello Michele,

THANK YOU! We had guests comment to us how lovely our celebrant was, and both Mitch and I are so, so, so happy with how the ceremony went - it was just perfect.

I hope the wooden love heart gets plenty of use in your heart garden - I love that other brides are going to enjoy it too. It adds a touch of uniqueness to the ceremony, I think.

Anyway - thank you once again, and take care

Kindest regards
Jess, Mitch & Emmy

Till next time

Sincerely

Michele