the tropical vegan wedding

The reason both sets of parents were visiting Far North Queensland was for our wedding, which has been in the planning stages since August 2008 -- nearly two years.  It feels like we've been engaged *forever*, but it was a good thing because it meant I could plan the things I wanted to plan early (allowing me to focus on my PhD and teaching in the past six months).  I'll share some of the DIY details, and some of the food, in future posts.  For now I will just share some wedding snaps.

I did a bit of searching around and found a hair/makeup duo who use cruelty-free products.  It was fun to be preened by someone else -- it sort of helped make the occasion feel a bit momentous.

The wedding was at the Daintree Eco Lodge, a high-end resort with a very casual attitude.  The wedding package is a really good deal, as it included three nights of (expensive!) accommodation, flowers, celebrant, and a few other little things.  The spa bath on the balcony was a nice touch in the room, as was the gigantic king size bed (especially in comparison to the puny caravan park bed we'd just tried squeezing into).

My dress, made for me out of non-animal fabrics by my good friend and the very talented Ruth Groundwater, was beautiful and so fun to wear.

Photo by Ali George.

Despite all of the planning, things never go the way they are meant to.  For instance, Andy's dad was scheduled for hip surgery 4 days after the ceremony; we contemplated changing the location but he assured us it was fine, so up we walked to the waterfall at the Daintree Eco Lodge.

Photo by Ali George.

Photo by Ali George

Our 5 wedding guests watching us arrive. Photo by Ali George.

Andy and I wrote the ceremony ourselves, piecing together bits of tradition, things we found on the internet, and other random bits so we ended up with something meaningful for us.  That was sort of the overall goal of the day -- not to blindly go along with tradition just because, but rather to think about all of the details.  Andy's brother (whose Thursday flight was cancelled and ended up arriving the morning of the ceremony) read us A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton.

Michael reads to us about dinosaurs. Photo by Ali George.

We exchanged titanium rings.

Our rings and A Lovely Love Story. Photo by Ali George. 

My dad tied our hands together in the style of a handfasting ceremony; we used shell money, traditionally exchanged in wedding ceremonies in PNG, as the ties (and I forgot to take off the daggy hairtie on my wrist!).

Photo by Ali George. 

It kind of passed in a blur -- fittingly, many of the photos I've gotten from our parents are also blurry thanks to the bright light in the rainforest, and the photographers' preoccupation with the ceremony (or things like hip pain, perhaps).  I remember everything, but surreally.

Photo by Ali George. 

Luckily, the photographer we hired (Ali George, from Cat's Eye Productions, who I highly recommend) took lots of clear and gorgeous photos, but no less surreal, thanks to the vivid colours of the rainforest and the waterfall.

Our little wedding in the rainforest. Photo by Ali George.

After the ceremony, we chilled out a bit and then headed down to the Daintree River for a late afternoon cruise on the Solar Whisper.  This was a great way to spend the two hours before dinner.  We drank champagne, spotted crocs, chatted to the boat owner about the wildlife and the history of the area, and in the last ten minutes, got totally poured on by a late-season storm.

Hello, saltie. 

Sunset over Daintree River.

Then it was back to the Eco Lodge for dinner.  There was a three course vegan menu prepared especially for us, but I will leave that for a future post.  Suffice to say that it was delicious, and Andy and I were happy to send everyone off to their accommodation by 9pm.  I highly recommend afternoon weddings for this reason.

A full set of chronologically ordered photos is available here.
Or, for a highlight reel a bit out of order, click here.