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Jamie and I arrived in Canada about 2 weeks before the big day. It was so exciting, as we were arriving with our paperwork for permanent residency!! We travelled from NZ to Australia, where we met up with my mum and Nanny as well as my Aunty Shirley and her husband Evan. It was emotional to spend time with my Nanny as she wasn't able to come over for the wedding, but Kirsty and I got dressed up together in our dresses so Nanny could see. We took a trip down to Burleigh Heads (my favourite beach) which was also a bit emotional. The build up to the wedding was so exciting, but I couldn't help but feel a bit sad that my dad wouldn't be there. We scattered his ashes at Burleigh Beach almost 9 years ago. I have so many personal memories at that beach and Kirsty gave me pictures of our dad as well as memories that we'd written together after he'd passed away. We sat on the beach together and had a bit of a cry and and I spent some time by myself, just taking it all in.
After the beach we all went for
dinner in Burleigh before heading home. We only spent one night in Brisbane before leaving for Vancouver with a stopover in Taipei. Even more exciting as Kirsty was travelling with us!
When we arrived in Vancouver, we said goodbye to Kirsty - she was going to visit friends in Victoria and we would catch up in Jasper again before the wedding. Jay and I bought Tim Hortons (at last the wait was over!) and then caught a flight to Edmonton. Spent two days in Edmonton, getting a few bits and pieces together and meeting with our photographer Lloyd for the first time. I was a bit nervous as I hate having my photo taken, but he was so lovely and laid-back - the perfect choice for our wedding! He and his wife would be coming down to Jasper to shoot the wedding, and also offered to go pick up our cake the day before and bring it down with them (saving us a trip to Edmonton!).
Driving down to Jasper was exciting. We'd gone to pick up our rental car and found that it wasn't available so they had given us this HUGE pick up truck instead. So
we drove down to Jasper, talking excitedly about the mountains and the wedding and how everyone was coming to Jasper. By the time we got to Hinton we could see the mountains stretching out before us - the excitement was intense! We were back in Jasper!!! And we were getting married!!! When the man at the Parks Canada station asked us how we were doing (a rhetorical question most likely), Jamie told him our whole life story and told him all about our residency plans!
The plan for the wedding was that most people would come out the week before the wedding so they could relax, enjoy Jasper and get to meet everyone. That would give us the week before to organise all the last minute stuff that was so complicated from NZ and have a few days to relax. When we arrived in Jasper, we found that Jamie's mum and Ken were already there! We caught up with them at the Downstream on our first night and had a few drinks. It was so exciting to see them again and to catch up. We spent the next week hanging out with them, and organising all the last minute
stuff for the wedding. We also got to go out to Spirit Island on a boat tour (thanks to my friends at GSE!!). The next week everyone started arriving - Kirsty and mum and grandma, then Kim and Craig (friends from NZ), Jane and Helen (friends from Australia). Kirsty and I drove to Edmonton one day to pick up Amy (my best friend who came over from Ireland) and Diane (another friend from Australia). Jamie's boss and her boyfriend came over from England, and our friends Catherine and Keith arrived with their two boys from England as well. Then Roxy and her fiance Adam flew from Ontario with our other good friend Marie. Jordan and Lisa also came with their daughter Ainsley - it was a big reunion! Each day we would do something different - kayaking on Maligne Lake, a mountain biking trip, climbing, bbq's at Pyramid Lake, dinners in town, lots of drinks and of course, the Hen and Stag night. So much fun.
We had individual hen and stag nights planned. The boys started in town with dinner and drinks, while us girls started things off at our B&B. There were a few drinking games -
Jamie and I were both asked a series of questions about the other person and for each wrong answer we had to take a shot. Needless to say we both ended up pretty tipsy, but Jamie obviously doesn't know anything about me at all and ended up being carried home around midnight! After the loss of the groom, the boys joined our party and we made it home at some point the next morning.
Jamie pulled up pretty well the next day - while most of us were feeling pretty quiet, Jamie and his friend Craig still managed to go for a climb - not even a hangover can stop those boys. We had one last dinner together as a group on Monday night (the wedding was on Wednesday). Although we had told everyone we didn't want any presents, and although everyone had travelled so far to be there with us on our special day, they still all clubbed together and gave Jamie and I vouchers for an hour-long massage at JPL the day before the wedding....pure bliss! We were so touched by everyone's generosity, and so grateful that we got to spend the week with everyone. And so
so happy that everyone got on so well. As my grandma said - it was the best wedding ever, even
before the wedding!
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Nanny Gibbons
non-member comment
Excited!!!
I was really excited to see the photo of you with me in your wedding gown as I do not have a copy of this photo :-) Lots of love to you both, Nanny