I'm a page three girl!

Over the course of the past few days I have become a wife, a local celebrity and a page three girl. That's three fairly major items ticked off my List Of Things To Do Before I Die. Not bad for a weekend's work.

Just married!

Many of you will know the story but for those of you who don't, it all started about two weeks ago when I was finalising all the preparations for the wedding. I realised that some of the jobs I'd given to Toby weren't being delegated. Or done. So when I sent his brother and best man, Andrei, the order of events and his list of jobs, I casually mentioned that it would be great if we could web-cast the wedding so that family and friends back in the UK could watch it and feel as though they were a part of it all. If anyone could do it, Andrei was the man, being a network engineer at one of the local councils and an out-and-out techno-geek and gadget dude.

It was never mentioned again. I didn't ask Andrei about it because I knew it was a lot to achieve in a short space of time, that if he was going to do it he'd do it anyway and didn't need me stressing him out by asking every couple of days but also because I was so busy with everything else that I didn't give it much more thought other than to occasionally think that it would be a nice and very cool thing to do and to mention to people that it may happen but it would require them being up and at the computer by 6am.

Before I knew it, it was Friday morning, the big day and all of my preparations were falling into place. I'd spent a lovely morning with my bridesmaids Lucie and Cherie, waking up in time to photograph the sunrise over the point where we'd be having the ceremony later in the day, then going back to bed again because it was bloody early, then popping out for a nice breakfast at my favourite cafe, Raw Energy and doing a bit of shopping. We'd had a relaxing evening the day before, being pampered at our honeymoon suite at Peninsular by the girls from Tranquility. I had a phone call from my friend Sadie in York, wishing me all the best for the day and telling me she was setting her alarm for 5.45am so she could watch it on the web. That was the first I knew that they'd pulled it off and I was so pleased they'd done it without hassling me for email addresses.

As with all weddings we did have a few things go awry. Our friend and videographer, Oscar missed his plane from Sydney because his taxi to the airport was two hours late picking him up. We sort of expected this anyway as there is an ancient gypsy curse which deems that Oscar, taxis and weddings do not go together. Thankfully Jon stepped up with my Dad's video camera to do the deed.

We had to trek through the bushes in order to get to the bottom of the aisle and make an entrance. I changed from sensible (but bling) flip-flops to my posh wedding shoes at this stage and we were greeted by Jill and Melissa who took our handbags and warned us the CD player wasn't working. I was scheduled to walk down the aisle to Fleetwood Mac's Songbird, a beautiful song with beautiful lyrics sung beautifully by Christine McVie. But instead I got to walk down the aisle to one of our friend, Pete Wheldon's own compositions. I asked Pete to play at the ceremony a few months back and he asked if we could play a CD for the procession down the aisle. He ended up having to play it himself anyway and he did a brilliant job.

A series of events led to the scheduled order occurring later and later than planned. By the time I arrived at Point Cartwright my friends and family had been logged onto the internet for about 45 minutes. By the time the party kicked off with our bridal waltz that evening we were about two hours off schedule. This all made the day fly by even more quickly.

The ceremony was lovely, so much fun. Anna and Jon did lovely readings for us and Anna looked absolutely stunning in a gold dress with black accessories. We even had an excited peewee join us at one point screeching his approval so loudly we couldn't hear the celebrant. The rings didn't go on very gracefully, due to the heat, which deserves a mention actually because the weather was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better day really and in fact, it got much cooler the following day so we were quite lucky.

I forgot all about the web-cast until Doug asked me to say hello to friends and family back home. Doug did a great job following us around with the video camera, laptop in a backpack, interviewing all the guests before the wedding. Andrei, lovely brother-in-law that he is, has chopped the recording up and stuck it online in 4 separate chapters so those that couldn't watch at the time can still see it.

Now I think there is a bit of a story regarding how it all came about but I don't know too many details. Andrei used his knowledge and expertise, and possibly some contacts to sort out some bandwidth details. This resulted in Telstra, the Australian equivalent of BT, getting involved. Word got back to a guy that Andrei and Toby know in Telstra about the wedding, Doug made some mention of sponsorship and before we knew it the local press were all over it.

Being interviewed by Channel 7.

During the photos following the ceremony Andrei came over and told us that the local TV station, Channel 7, wanted to interview us for a segment which I think will be broadcast this evening. What a spin-out!!! Then the next day, the local paper, The Sunshine Coast Daily called us and interviewed us over the phone. We made page 3 AND the front page!!! Andrei has stuck links to the newspaper clipping and the webcast on the wedding web page at wedding.clewett.org. This blog even got a mention. You can read the article online. Toby and I both had an absolutely fantastic day and really did feel like movie stars. Thanks to everyone involved.

The newspaper article

Now, I've struggled with this section of the post because I must point out some errors in the newspaper article, which is difficult to do now that they've advertised my blog and may even read it themselves but I just can't let it lie, I'm afraid. The journalist seemed like a lovely man; he conducted the interview in a very short space of time and over the phone, and really didn't have much time at all to write it up before the paper went to print. At times it was quite difficult to hear him so I can see how things might get mixed up or overlooked. So with all due respect to him I have complied the following list of erors. These are minor errors but I am pedantic.

1. As is evident by the URL of this blog, I am Lins, not Linds, but that's okay; it's a common mistake that many make.
2. Coco is a perfume by Chanel and my grandparents are not accustomed to sipping it of a morning, as suggested by the article.
3. I am a geordie, spelt G-E-O-R-D-I-E, not Jordie. This is a common mistake amongst Australians so perhaps if I explain it comes from the name "George" it will help them to remember the correct spelling. Knowing Aussies and their funny little ways, they probably sometimes spell George J-o-r-g-e anyway, in which case that little snippet won't help in the slightest.
   
4. I do not have relatives in York but my lovely friends Sadie and Tim live there.
5. At no point during the day did I have tears streaming down my face. I did have a slight tear in my eye because I'm not completely unemotional but the only thing that was "streaming" was the web-cast.
6. I do not remember hugging the computer. My dad remembers me taking it in both hands and adjusting it slightly so we could see better and I think I put my ear right up to it because it was very hard to hear. I can only guess that this little action was misconstrued as a hug. It makes a good story though... much better than mine.
7. Toby and I did not say that the live cam feed stops at the honeymoon threshold. I only clarify this because I was specifically asked by someone yesterday. It kind of goes without saying though, doesn't it?
   

If any of you out there are reading this because you got the link from the paper than welcome to the wonderful world of Buckle!! Or should that be Clewett? Or Cluckle? Blewett? Bucklett? Any which way, I'm still Lins, I'm still a geordie down-under and I'm now also a wife. Must dash... presents to open :-)