Aileen & Marty

How you met

About two and a half years ago Aileen decided she needed a “tree change” and moved from the beach at Glenelg to the beautiful Adelaide Hills. As she lived in a bushfire area she decided to join the CFS (Country Fire Service) and thought it might be a good way to meet new people - that’s where Marty and she met, although it took about 18months for them to get it together.

The proposal

I think we knew almost from the beginning that we would end up getting married, it was just a matter of when. The proposal happened during a power cut  - Marty had originally planned to ask me on my birthday, but he decided he couldn’t wait any longer! It wasn’t the most romantic but definitely the best!!

Planning the wedding

We planned the wedding for autumn – a most beautiful time of the year in the Adelaide Hills. As soon as we had picked the date, everything pretty much fell into place. I organised the wedding myself, with the help of Marty’s three sisters, various wedding magazines and the Internet. I wanted to use local people, and indeed our photographers, videographer and florist were all local. We wanted to make it a day of celebration with our closest family and friends – and that’s exactly what we got.

The wedding dress

Now the wedding dress has a bit of a story to it, and up until 10days before the wedding I still was not in possession of one! I tried in the beginning to save money by ordering it from e-bay (disaster number 1), and then ordered a second from China (disaster number 2) – finally 5 weeks before the wedding I contacted Juliana from Cinderella Bridal in a bit of a panic, and was much relieved when she said she could make my dress for me in time for the wedding! And it was definitely 3rd time lucky! The dress is hand beaded and embroidered by Juliana’s sister and is the most exquisite dress I have ever seen – and I get to wear it twice! My shoes were by Alan Pinkus, ordered from Suna shoes (most helpful and to be recommended)

The bridesmaid’s attire

The three bridesmaids wore Alfred Angelo black strapless dresses with organza, teamed with a purple chiffon wrap, and black covered shoes with an ankle strap. The flower girl wore an Alfred Angelo purple dress with organza and had her ballet slippers dyed to match the dress.

The groom’s attire

A black pin-stripe suit hired from Peter Shearer, teamed with a purple waistcoat, and purple tie. The groomsmen wore the same suits but with black waistcoats, and purple ties.

The wedding theme

We wanted to try and keep it as personal as possible, bringing our heritages into our day – we had bagpipes (I am Scottish) and we drank a toast with Palinka (Marty is Hungarian). The reception was decorated with black and purple to match with the wedding party, and all decorations were kept simple and elegant. Purple orchids were scattered on the tables, and light was provided by single hurricane lamps with candles.

The wedding cake

I have a reputation for making fantastic chocolate brownies (a Belinda Jeffrey recipe) and Marty adores them, so it seemed appropriate that we should have chocolate brownies for our wedding cake. I spent many nights making tray after tray of brownies and an extra large one for the top tier. There were five tiers of brownies, decorated with purple orchids.

The wedding flowers

I used a local florist called “Cleverclogs”. When we first went to see Jules, she was fantastic – we told her our ideas and just let her run with it. When the flowers arrived on the day, I was blown away – absolutely stunning and went perfectly with all our dresses. The church displays were enormous – a vast number of beautiful roses to match my bouquet.

Transport

We were very lucky when it came to the wedding cars – a friend of mine has a beautiful old MG which he was only too delighted to provide as our bridal car, and he even ordered a “Craig” tartan tie especially for the occasion! A friend of Marty’s provided the cars for the groomsmen and bridesmaids, – 2 stunning Ford Falcon GTs in immaculate condition. Marty loves cars, in particular a Shelby Cobra, and I managed to arrange for him to be taken to the church in one as a surprise – apparently his face was an absolute picture when he saw it.

Honeymoon

A few days relaxing by ourselves in a beautiful homestead in Blinman, in the Flinders Ranges, and then off to Scotland for a Church Blessing and second reception. My father was not fit enough to come for the wedding, and as it turned out neither were my mother and brother able to get here (a certain volcanic ash cloud put paid to that), and so I wanted my dad to have the chance to walk his only daughter down the aisle – he’d waited a long time to get the chance – hence why we are going back to Ayr.

Also

• Advice for brides – don’t skimp on the dress – mine was worth every cent! Enjoy the day – I had a blast, and managed to stay calm and relaxed for all of it. I’d recommend dance lessons for the Bridal Waltz – thanks to Renee and David at “First Dance” for making us look fabulous on the floor (I think we surprised a few people with our moves!). Most of all make sure you have a great time – it should be the best day of your lives – I know ours was!
• The whole day was just one special moment after another – putting my dress on and never feeling more sure of anything in my life, seeing Marty as I walked down the aisle and not being aware of anyone else in the church and he feeling the same when he saw me, doing a dance routine to The Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling” with the girls and anyone else that wanted to join in - a real laugh, seeing Ronald and my cousin Mark do an impromptu Highland fling, our new CFS Pumper (Fire Truck) standing proudly at the church when we exited….the list is endless
• Special thanks need to go to our videographer, Anthony of Wedding Films, and our fabulous photographers, Kate and Merryn, of Head in the Clouds Photography, who took the best photos, and made us laugh along the way.

 

 

 

 

• Wedding date: 24th April 2010
• Wedding location: Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Stirling, SA and then Mount Lofty House, Mount Lofty, SA
• How many guests: 88
• Wedding style: The best day ever!!
• Photography: Head in the Clouds Photography