Our "Lucky" Dance

While we're away, here's a short photo memory.

When we return I'm sure there'll be more. Feel free to email us some if you'd like us to use them.

Special Car

We're happy to announce that our friends Rob and Helen have kindly agreed to drive Christine to the wedding in their electric car - the Nissan Leaf. It will also be the car in which we take our first trip as a married couple.

Getting there on the day

The wedding ceremony, and afternoon tea reception, will be at Indooroopilly Uniting Church. There's a nice location map and picture on their website to help you on the day.

If you're arriving by train, it's 3 blocks from the Indooroopilly train station.

If you're arriving by bus (practically every bus that starts with 4 goes through Indooroopilly) it's even shorter. Step off the bus at Indooroopilly, look right, and across the road you should see this.

Why we do the things we do

As you follow our wedding planning journey, you may find our plans a little 'different' from what you routinely see with weddings.

One main way is in our attempt for a simple, low-waste wedding. This helps our environment, and also helps us avoid our celebration becoming a profit making exercise for the multi-billion dollar wedding industry. By avoiding unnecessary purchases, we also reduce the risk of buying items produced in a sweatshop, or other forced-labour conditions.

We try (with varying levels of success) to live these principles in our everyday lives, and believe that our wedding can reflect these values. So this is why you'll receive digital invitations, why you won't see 7 bridesmaids with identical dresses (never to be worn again) and why much of the stuff on our gift registry is mostly practical assistance rather than expensive tangible gifts.

I (Chris) have always been one to question tradition, and the idea of doing things 'because it's always been done this way'. Especially as we try to action our above values, it's been interesting to discover the basis of many long-standing wedding traditions. Whilst some may seem sweet, others are just plain weird, culturally outdated, and most are unnecessary.

It may surprise you (as it did me) that groomsmen are a remnant of the days of marriage by capture, where a man called his friends to assist in lifting or kidnapping the bride, or to protect the bride from would-be kidnappers. Talk about absurd (in today's society)!!

And did you know that the custom of bridal bouquets originates from ancient times, where women carried aromatic bunches of garlic, herbs and spices to ward off evil spirits?

And that wedding cakes were apparently thrown at the bride, not eaten??? (mmm now I feel like cake....)

[See more on wedding traditions.]

While many traditions are no longer culturally relevant, some are still fun and symbolic so you'll likely see a few of them at our wedding (still pondering the cake-throwing... what do you think???). And let's face it, 8 weeks is not a long time to completely re-invent the wheel.

We look forward to celebrating with you in our meaningful way, that respects God's creation (people and planet).

Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.

[Related post - Some things may be different]

Where to stay?

If you're coming from out of town and looking for somewhere to stay, here are some suggestions.

We love AirBnB where you can rent anything from a bed to entire homes for great prices. airbnb.com.au

Alternately, we suggest staying in Toowong, close to the wedding venue, city, & all amenities.

In Toowong there are a number of hotels within walking distance of the shopping centre and public transport (including buses and trains every few minutes to Indooroopilly Uniting Church where our wedding will be held- travel time 5-7 minutes). It's also very close (3 trains stations, 2 ferry stops) to the city/southbank area, if you have time to explore Brisbane during your stay (we hope you do).

My recommended Toowong hotel is www.toowonginn.com.au which is across the road from the shopping centre, train station, and around the corner from my house ;)

Other nearby hotel options:

www.toowongcentral.com.au

www.jephsonhotel.com.au

www.toowongvillas.com.au

Still in Toowong but a little further away from the main area is this great value hotel www.bensoncourt.com.au

We hope you enjoy planning your Brisbane long weekend holiday and please let us know if you have any accommodation/planning questions :)

Flight Information

We've heard from a number of people who will be coming from interstate to be here for our wedding. We really love that they desire to be here - and are going to all that effort.

But you know that we also really love this gorgeous planet we've been blessed with, and want to take care of it. :)

Fortunately these days you fly carbon neutral by using carbon offsets - and they're very cheap. For a Sydney to Brisbane trip it's just $0.78 per person ($1.56 return) to offset the carbon from your flight. And Qantas's carbon offset program also helps the health of people in Cambodia.

So if you're flying to Brisbane for us, please use the carbon offsets. In terms of the happiness it brings for a very low cost, it's one of the best value gifts you can give.



PS. While I've given Qantas links here, Virgin and Jetstar also offer a carbon neutral program.

It's a date

We can now announce that 6 June is our wedding date.

This means different things for different people.

For us we're a bit excited, and a bit nervy, at how close that seems.
For NSW people it's the chance of a long weekend in sunny Queensland.
For numbers nerds, it's nice that the month and the date are equal.

Disclaimer: it wasn't David who picked up the numbers thing, but an accountant friend.