Truly....a white wedding!

---

Its New Year’s Eve today but more importantly its Brett and Alana’s mountain wedding and the day could not have been more perfect. The sky was such a brilliant blue that it looked like a movie back drop. You could almost see the crispness in the air. I started by going for a quick ski with Mel. Actually it was only one run but it was early morning on a beautiful, groomed corduroy run so we had to make a very hard decision to leave and go get ready for a wedding.

Back at the chalet Alana was looking every bit the beautiful blushing bride. After all getting ready with a glass of champagne in hand, Alana donned her beautiful wedding dress for the second time and we took some photos. She looked so stunning, happy and content and I was so honoured to be part of that moment. Finally it was time to leave and off we trudged through the snow to the gondola. Luckily Alana had a classic grey trench coat and grey boots to make the journey. Teamed with the white wedding dress, she pulled the outfit together so well that it looked like the most normal thing in the world, to be walking to a gondola in a wedding dress! It was very “Vogue” and a very cool (pardon the pun) way to get to a wedding.

Of course we had to open a bottle of champagne on the gondola because why not. It was a magnificent day and we were on a gondola on the way to a wedding with great mates...how very amazing! At the other end of the gondola we again trudged through the snow to get the beautiful little restaurant where the wedding was to take place. We were walking across a ski run so we just had to put our heads down and go! Thankfully, no punters ran over us and we made it to the restaurant untouched! Brett was waiting like the good husband he is and after some more champagne and toasting, they got down to the business of getting married....again! It was such a great ceremony, light hearted but heart felt, intimate and interesting, incredible views and perfect weather! We then had a yummy, funny “reception” inside with more great champagne, schnapps and conversation. You couldn’t ask for a better afternoon and the night hadn’t even started yet.

We slowly realised that we couldn’t stay in this blissful state forever and regretfully left the restaurant. However, it didn’t take us long to cheer up as we still had a New Year’s Eve dinner to get through. We put the newlyweds on the gondola back down and although we didn’t hang any cans or “just married” signs, we did hurl snowballs, some of which hit the mark! Jas, Rory and James didn’t waste any skiing time and skied home in their suits. It was a very James Bond exit and certainly freaked out a few skiers! Brett and Alana didn’t have much alone time as us girls were in the very next gondola and everyone met at the bottom to pick Mykenzie up from ski school.

Back at the chalet we had an hour or so of down time which meant bathing kids, feeding kids, reading stories to kids and re-dressing kids to go out for the New Year’s Eve kids fireworks. And what a fireworks display it was. This quaint little village known as the jewel in Les 3 Vallees, put on a great display with an instructor flare run and about 15 minutes of lighting up the sky. Edyn was enthralled but Mykenzie spent the entire time with her head in daddy’s neck. She was not impressed and probably more scared than anything but everyone else had a great time. After this it was time to take the kids home to bed and start “adult time” which we look forward to on a daily basis. And contrary to what most people are thinking, it’s simply the time after the kids go to bed!

Tonight for New Year’s Eve, Kate pulled out all the stops and made a delicious, sumptuous 7-course dinner! This was combined with lots more champagne and took us through to almost midnight. But after an early start, a wedding and two huge meals it took at lot of motivation to see in the New Year.

For me, two out of my last three New Years Eve’s have been spent in hospital having children so I was adamant that this one was going to be big. I certainly didn’t expect the fabulous wedding but I was pretty certain that I would at least see the New Year in. So with all the energy I could muster, along with Jas, Lans, Brett, Mel and Rors we went out to the piano bar in St Martin to boogie the night away. We did manage to dance on the tables but as it turned out the night only lasted another 20 minutes and as soon as the clock struck 12 we fought our way back out (I think every man and their dog had made it to the Piano Bar for the occasion) and were in bed within another 20 minutes. It would have been sooner but the boys, being boys, had bought some firecrackers and were letting them off along with the rest of the village!

We rolled into bed around 12.30am with a smile from ear to ear, a full belly and memories to last a lifetime!

---