I know Australia is big but....

[MarkCDodd]

I just received an invitation to my niece's wedding on the 18th December.

The ceremony is at her local Kingdom Hall (she is a Jehovah's Witness) and the reception is near her future in-laws Australian property, about 120 miles from the hall!

I don't mind the two hour drive to the reception but that means we will be driving over 200 miles in a day to attend a wedding.

Should be an interesting wedding as her fiance' is French. By law the ceremony has to be in both French and English so everybody is certain the vows are understood.

The Jehovah's ceremony is a bit old fashioned and feminists in the family have been known to turn red with anger at the vows taken by the bride.

Even up to a few nights before the wedding the young couple always had a chaperone on dates.

All my JW nieces accept this as part of their faith so even though I think it is archaic, they are happy with it.

[Teifi]

So - are you going then?

[MarkCDodd]

Of course. Family weddings are fairly important.

[peterd]

Of course. Family weddings are fairly important.

plus the misses is driving

[MarkCDodd]

Its not a bad drive either. A bit flat, and it will probably be in the mid 30's and 80% humidity, but plenty of farms and bushland to see along the way.

[dianel]

At least it's green out there now, Mark. Better than last year's flat and brown and dessicated.

[Northern Lass]

Of course. Family weddings are fairly important.

Some of em are...........not sure I could sit thru a service that didn't sit well with me

[snoopysue]

Of course. Family weddings are fairly important.

Some of em are...........not sure I could sit thru a service that didn't sit well with me

It probably depends on how close I was to the people concerned.

[MarkCDodd]

I just look at it as part of their faith. I do not agree with many things the Jehovah's teach but they do so the ceremony and vows are acceptable to the most important people, the Bride and Groom.

I have felt very uncomfortable at the Funerals of members of the family who are scientoligists. SImilarly they felt uncomfortable at the funeral of my brother.

I have beent o a Scientology wedding yet but I am sure that would feel a bit weird as well....

[snoopysue]

One wedding I didn't like was a Danish civil service. It was so short, almost over before it started.

I have a thing about weddings, be it a civil service or a religious one, both people need to take it seriously, and somehow that very short ceremony didn't fit the bill (for me!). It did improve slightly as the registrar read a poem about marriage being an empty box, and you got out of it what you put in (can't remember the exact wording but you get the idea).

When we got married I wasn't initially for a religious service, as I'm not particularly religious, and we didn't want a big do; but at the same time I didn't like the idea of a ceremony that was to me without content.
We ended up getting married in church with just two witnesses, but otherwise a traditional church service. It was just before Christmas so one of the hymns was a traditional danish wedding hymn which has the same melody as "Once in Royal David's City" which we thourght was appropiate that there was the double Danish/British theme there. We had a choir to, so no-one had to put up with our terrible singing!
So I got my vows with the seriousness I felt they deserve!

[Antie Em]

We do the BIG fat Greek weddings - really lovely, especially as it necessitates a fortnight in Cyprus.

[MarkCDodd]

Trouble N' Strife and I got hitched at a pretty place called the Tatra Hut in the Dandenongs.

http://www.tatra.com.au/

We paid for everything and had 200 guests.

The Celebrant who did the ceremony was terrific and our wedding photographs are beautiful.

I proposed to her over a Big Mac at McDonalds. Romantic or what!

I had to ask her out 8 times before she said yes. Had something to do with me working my way through the entire dance school and juggling two or three lady's at a time

She was the one for me though any my carefree bachelor days were soon over.

[dianel]

Trouble N' Strife and I got hitched at a pretty place called the Tatra Hut in the Dandenongs.

http://www.tatra.com.au/

Wow, Snap! So did I, Mark!

[MarkCDodd]

Ooooo...spoooky.....

Pretty place.

I was at Miss Marples the other day for lunch.

Thats when I did the face plant in the antiques shop....

[dianel]

Ooooo...spoooky.....

Pretty place.

I was at Miss Marples the other day for lunch.

Thats when I did the face plant in the antiques shop....

Actually, we only had our reception at Tatra Hut. The ceremony was at Upwey.

That's when you did the what? Must have set Sassafras abuzz.