Advice/comments:

Enjoy having all your family and friends in the one place at the one time – there aren’t too many occasions in your life that this happens. Also, accept that you will worry about getting the day right, but know that when the time comes you will have a great day no matter what.

 

 

 

Special Memory

Our wedding dance. We had a dance choreographed and it went off really well. My one regret is that we didn’t film the dance.

Advice/Comments

The speeches – everyone who spoke made us all laugh (some also made us cry), but more importantly they kept them short!

Proposal

Nick took me away for a lovely weekend at Secrets near Montville QLD, a romantic getaway with cabins set in the treetops overlooking a lake. On the balcony of our cabin after cooking dinner together, Nick got down on one knee and proposed!

 

Wedding theme

1920’s. I have always wanted to have a roaring 20’s party, and having my wedding at Old Parliament House – which had been restored to its 1920’s grandeur – was the perfect opportunity. Almost everyone came dressed in 1920’s attire. The women were dressed in flapper dressers with drop waists, feathers, furs and pearls. The men came in hats, spats, canes, scarfs and suspenders! We had a jazz band plus 1920’s type music playing during parts of the reception.

 

I was also inspired by the art of Jack Vettriano, especially the imaged titled “Dance me to the End of Love”. Images of his featured on all our wedding stationary. The tables at the reception were also named after different paintings of his.

 

Preparation

We were going to have our wedding on an island in QLD, but chose not to because of logistical factors. We were living in Canberra when Nick proposed and through sheer convenience, decided to have the wedding there. It all worked out for the best as it was much easier to organise a wedding in location.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Text Box: Ceremony We had a short ceremony, presided over by a celebrant, in the gardens of Old Parliament House. A guy from my work, who had lived in Canberra all his life, had warned me that October is the windy month and he was right. So unfortunately, not many people could hear what was happening, because of the wind, but it didn’t matter. Afterwards the guests enjoyed champagne in the gardens. Gown I loved my dress! I wouldn’t have picked it off the shelf, but the lady at Annabel's Bridal Studio suggested I try it on, and of course as soon as I did, I knew it was the one. It was a strapless straight dress with lace and beading all over. The small train was a nice touch. I liked the idea of having a vale so that my husband could lift it to “kiss the bride”. Reception After champagne in the Old Parliament House gardens most of the guests went on a tour of Old Parliament House as a lot of them were from out of town. OPH put on a great tour centred around the opening of the House – I’m disappointed I couldn’t attend as well! After this tour, at 5:30pm the guests arrived at the Members Dining Hall OPH, for canapés and drinks. Whilst the guests were still standing enjoying the canapés, the bridal party was introduced. The MC was my brother and he did an amazing job, he welcomed all the guests and asked everyone to enter the main dining hall for dinner, upon this announcement, the dinning hall doors were drawn back, to reveal the main dinning hall with candles ablaze and the band beginning to play. The two course meal that followed was delicious and a great night was had by all. I wanted to keep the decorations elegant and simple, but still suit the 1920s theme. I chose to have black table cloths and silver candelabras as the table decorations. I had to source these from Pages Event Hire in Sydney. Flowers My good friend Dianna, with the assistance of Penny, did the flowers for me as a wedding present. She did a spectacular job – I have never seen such a large wedding bouquet. I had red roses to match the colour of my bridesmaids dresses and my bridesmaid had white roses. The contrast looked fantastic. Hair and make-up Lisa, the makeup artist, did a fantastic job and everyone loved her. She came to the suite and spent all morning doing our makeup whilst we got ready around her. It is important to have someone who you can relate to, because she will generally be with the bridal party all morning. Cake We didn’t see the need to have a cake, a bit of a break from tradition. Most people didn’t realise we went without one. Photography Our photographer was a friend of the groomsman and therefore he made us feel at ease the whole time. The Parliamentary area of Canberra provides so many photographic locations, so make sure you allow enough time to get photos done. We had 2.5 hours between the ceremony and arriving at the reception and I think this was a good amount of time to get some great photos at a couple of locations (behind OPH, in front of OPH, shores of Lake Burley-Griffin). Music and entertainment I put together a CD of 1920s type music (heavily featured on this was the Robbie Williams “Swing When Your Winning” CD) which played during the canapés service. When everyone entered the dinning hall, the jazz band began to play and continued until 10pm. All the guests of different age groups had lots of fun dancing to the jazz band with plenty of Charleston renditions happening. For the remaining 2 hours we had put together a CD of our favourite music.

 

Couple:

Jillian May & Nick Basten

Date:

14 October 2006

Ceremony:

House of Representatives Rose Garden, Old Parliament House

Reception:

Old Parliament House

Gown:

Annabel's Bridal Studio

Shoes

White Doves Bridal Boutique

Decorations

Pages Event Hire

Bomboniere

A card saying “In lieu of a Bomboniere we have made a donation to the cancer council”

Flowers:

My wonderful friends Dianna and Penny

Hair:

Hair Connection, Lyons

Make-up:

Lisa M

Jewellery

Annabel's Bridal Studio

Gift Registry

Wishing Well from Diane’s’ Bridal Studio

Transport:

My trusty Corolla Seca

Stationery:

Invites designed by my good friend Dianna

Music:

Black Mountain Jazz Band then our own compilation CD

Photography:

Guy Young

Accommodation

Bently Suites, Manuka

Honeymoon

Lake Crackenback Resort, Snowy Mountains

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