Articles

.This was a beautiful deeply touching wedding ceremony were words of love and vows were exchanged. The reason that Mervyn finally wanted to get married because “I am getting too old not to” with Pat sharing “I am proud to be Merv’s wife. He has always been there for me. Mervyn is my rock and we have done everything together. We have been through rough times and tremendous times. We have enjoyed a lot of travelling together. Now we are putting Merv’s health first.” After two decades of being together, this was a magical moment for Pat and Mervyn and heart opening for all who were there….yes true love is ageles By: Ankya klay

Soul mates Pat Argles, 68 and Mervyn Timbs, 81 have been together for 21 years. Around Christmas time Mervyn asked Pat to marry him and gave her an engagement ring. On Saturday, in their backyard in Brunswick Heads their long awaited marriage was conducted by wedding celebrant Oceana. Mervyn is unwell and mostly in a wheel chair these days. Patricia was so excited and honoured to be his wife. When she first contacted Oceana they were planning to elope…however word got out to the family who were thrilled and many were there, flower girls were in abundance.

True Love is Ageless

Pat and Mervyn

Brunswick Heads NSW

"Last Saturday I photographed my longest-lasting ceremony, at one hour and thirty-one minutes of joy!

Wedding celebrant Oceana crafted a heart-felt, inclusive ceremony on beautiful, sunny Belongil beach for David and Rowena. Here guests joined in a warm up circle, sharing feelings and memories about this gorgeous couple, bringing everyone together into a shared heart space before the ceremony began. The men honoring the groom and the woman honouring the bride.

Then as the waves danced along the shore, these two beautiful souls spoke words of love and commitment to each other and also to the new family they were creating. There was the holding of hands, hearts connecting, blessings on rings, stone stupas and the Velveteen Rabbit even made an appearance.

This sentimental softie of a photographer struggled quite a few times to stay in control of the tears as I photographed one of the most sincere, from-the-heart ceremonies I have ever beheld.

I love their bravery in having a ceremony that left the well-trodden path of "this is the way it is supposed to be done". I love that they sprinkled symbols and sentiment the whole way through. I love that all the guests spoke blessings during the ceremony. I love that to finish proceedings, guests formed a tunnel of love, which Rowena and David walked through and came out at the other end as soul mates, kindred spirits, best friends and now husband and wife! It was amazing!

I will stop gushing now...here are a few photos from their day...” Natsky (photographer)

Rowena and David

Belongil Beach wedding

Byron Bay

Article by Natsky

We Made Dreams Come True in Paradise

By: Katharina Schulz, Bremen Germany

How to get married on the other side oft he world? We found it out!

Christmas 2013 my former boyfriend and I decided to get married after being a couple for over five years. That was an awesome and exciting decision to make, definitely one of my best ones ever, but figuring out when and where to get married ran into difficulties easily. We didn’t know the right time or place at that time. All we knew was that we didn’t want it to be a typical German wedding. We didn’t want the standardized procedure lasting not longer than ten minutes, which is the same for every couple. That’s not how we wanted to keep our special day in mind. And we didn’t want to through a huge party which none of us could really enjoy because we wouldn’t have the time to care about every guest individually. We would neither have the time nor the energy to do so. That’s why Wolfgang and I rather wanted it to be a special day just for the two of us to celebrate our love and make a very special promise to each other.

Right after we proposed to each other (and we actually did) we started to plan our trip to Australia. After a few days we realized it would be the perfect location for us to get married. We chose Byron Bay to be the special place to enjoy our special day just with the two of us and to remember it for the rest of our lives.

We found a couple of wedding celebrants in the internet but when we read about Oceana all of a sudden we knew that we wanted no one else then her to guide us through the ceremony and help us with the wedding of our dreams!! There was something in the way she wrote about her ceremonies that made us contact her and ask her to be our wedding celebrant. By the way she answered to our email and the way she talked about all the different options we have so enthusiastically we knew that she really loves doing what she’s doing.

What we liked the most about the wedding was this personal and individual touch in everything. Before we went to Australia Oceana sent us a couple of emails and asked us to answer her questions about our relationship. She asked us what a relationship actually means to us, why we wanted to get married and what we expect from life. So my husband and I we sat together many evenings and thought about all the years we already spent together and we talked about all the years that will (hopefully) follow. And all these thoughts and words finally were part of our wedding ceremony and we listened to our own words. That was really touching.

We had such a wonderful day – the day we were hoping for and the day we were dreaming of. And we had so much fun – of course we cried as well, no doubts – but these were tears of joy and emotion.

Thank you so much Oceana for planning this wonderful wedding. Thanks for your help, the pictures, the arrangement and your warm and heartfelt way you made us feel welcome from the very beginning. Whenever we think of Australia now we always think of you as well.

We are so grateful that in you Oceana we found such a lovely new friend! Now that we are back home in Germany we have a look at our pictures very often and we can’t wait to come back to paradise one day… and when we do we hope to meet you again and go back to the cosy corner beach in Byron Bay… the beach where our dream came true.

Thanks again for everything!

All the best from Bremen!

Yours

Katharina & Wolfgang

At my wedding I wore my mothers 39 year old wedding dress

The Story Behind My Wedding Dress:

By: Katharina Schulz, Bremen Germany

My boyfriend and I really wanted to get married on the other side of the world – in Australia! But I knew that I would really miss my family and friends when I get married thousands of kilometres away from home. I was really looking forward to go on this adventurous trip but I was pretty sure that I would specially miss my mom on this important day in my life.

When I told my mom that we wanted to get married we started all the preparation right away. My mom was really excited and then I started looking for a wedding dress. I was dreaming of a wedding dress as pretty as the one my mom was wearing on her wedding day. When I was a little girl I used to admire my moms wedding dress she always kept in her wardrobe so I could see it almost every day. For me it looked like a dress only a princess would wear (from a present-day perspective a hippie princess). I asked her if I could try it on so many times but she always gave me the same answer: “Katharina, when you are old enough and get married yourself then I will let you wear my dress if you still want to wear it. But it’s nothing to play around with.” And she was strict. She never let me try it on.

After I was looking for a wedding dress for a couple of weeks, a dress, which I wanted to be as beautiful as hers, I remembered her promise and gave her a call. First she laughed about my idea and then she realised that I am serious. She was really moved and said: “I was waiting for that call – I knew that you would remember the dress.” From this day on I wanted nothing more than wearing her dress on my own wedding day. When my mom can’t be with me on my wedding day then at least I wanted her dress to be with me as a symbol of our bonding.

So she gave me her dress one week later. I had to get some damages fixed (my mom used to be a passionate dancer) and bring it to the dry cleaner’s. But after that the dress looked almost brand new even though it was already 39 years old. Traditionally a bride should have something old, something borrowed and something blue with her on her wedding day. My dress was this something old and borrowed… and the ocean was my something blue! So here you go! I think that was a good omen for my marriage!

And my mom put all her best thoughts in this dress – just for me. She kept her dress for 39 years to make good on her promise. And the best part is, that my parents are still married! They are a couple for 45 years now and now they are married for 40 years. I think that’s the best omen a wedding dress could possible be! So nevertheless my mom was on the other side of the world on my wedding day she was still with me … and not just in my heart.

Back in Germany I showed my mom all the pictures of our wedding and it was a really moving moment for her and me to see me wearing that dress – that was a very special mother daughter moment. She was really proud to see me looking like her 39 years ago. And after she saw the pictures she gave me the dress for good and said: “See, I promised to keep it for you and let you wear it once you are old enough. Now you have to keep it for your daughter! And I hope this dress makes you as happy as it made your dad and me.”

I am sure it will.

Byron Bay Wedding Celebrant|Oceana

Unforgettable Weddings