[Maddison Dwyer]

Do you remember your wedding?​

Tell us about your wedding, if you had one! We want to hear all about it. Was it the fairytale you were hoping for? Was it a disaster? Was there drama? Or was it drama-free? I’d love to hear it all. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the funny!

 

[Mazbru]

When I was 18, I went on a FairStar cruise in 1978. I fell in love at 1st sight as i saw him walking onto the ship. After our first dance in the disco, we realised our connection was a mutual affectionate love for each other that was deep and true, but didn’t have a physical relationship because he hadn’t broken off with his girlfriend back home.
When the cruise finished I told him I would wait for him forever and he committed to be free soon. Things didn’t go to plan as his circumstance was difficult when he returned and his parents encouraged him to marry his girlfriend within the following year.
My heart was broken and my mother told me to get over him and arranged for me to go out the the son of one of my father’s bosses. With constant pressure to be married before I reached the age of 20, I reluctantly agreed and wed this not very nice young man who had a very strong desire to be with as many women as he could. He liked that I was a hard worker who could provide financial support for him.
I rarely lived with him, worked 3 jobs at times to earn enough money for his endeavors and instead became focused on my career and knowing that the love of my life was gone, had no problem being solitary with lovely friends to keep me company.
11 years after the cruise I was working in the Centralised recruitment department in Melbourne of a major retail chain. I picked up an applicants file a called her name in the waiting room and she came into my office. As she explained where she was from, I said “Wow, that’s where the love of my life used to live” I then said his name and her eyes widened as she exclaimed, “You're not going to believe this but he was my boss. He has been divorced for over 6 years, has raised his children by himself and hasn’t dated anyone because he says he’s still in love with a woman he met on a cruise in 1978”. I looked at her is amazement and said “That’s Me”.
She rushed back to her home town and told him that he found me, that I was still officially married but hadn’t lived with my partner for several years. He then wrote something on the back of his business card and gave to her to bring back to me. As I turned the card over, it said “I’ll wait for you forever”
My job required having to move to another city to take up an important role, I took the opportunity as it was where my very promiscuous partner lived, I explained to him about wanting a divorce. He was not happy as he had loved his lifestyle. I vowed not to contact the love of my life until I was free. After many many months, my partner finally said he thought he was in love with his latest conquest. I was thrilled as asked if he wanted to marry her. He said yes but didn’t have much money so I took him shopping and bought the engagement ring for him and had it engraved. I gave him the ring and encouraged him to propose to her.
He told me she said yes, I was thrilled and my friends couldn’t stop laughing at how I had helped him to finally let me be free. I then phoned my love and within a year, I moved to his home town, had become the mum of his beautiful children and married him finally.
We have been together for 32 years and it’s still like we are in our honeymoon phase. our love is still deep and true and everyday is magical.

 

[Janiced53]

I met my husband at an Army boozer when I was 20, we married 13 months later. Although my parents only gave us 6 months here we are almost 48 years later and we still love each other. It certainly hasn’t been a fairytale as we’ve had some difficult times. The loss of his father, a difficult 10 years with one of our children, the death of my parents and sadly last year the death of our eldest son. Then the death of my hubby’s brother last year as well then the death of his sister on our sons 12 month anniversary. We’ve certainly been through a lot and I wouldn’t want to have been on this journey with anyone else.
Marriage is certainly not a fairytale, it’s two very imperfect people who, if they work hard on their marriage can get through life together.

 

[janj]

Do you remember your wedding?​

Tell us about your wedding, if you had one! We want to hear all about it. Was it the fairytale you were hoping for? Was it a disaster? Was there drama? Or was it drama-free? I’d love to hear it all. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the funny!

I got married 44 years ago it was lovely but the next day had a miscarriage and all the nurses at hospital wouldn't believe I got married the day before unreal and true story

 

[Mars]

I remember our wedding day everything was perfect including the weather. we were married in 1960 and next March we have been together for 63 years. 13 years ago my Husband had a Heart attack and survived. We are still going strong.

 

[Andrew]

I too met my wife on a ship migrating here 53 year's ago. She was returning to her family in Adelaide having cared for her Grandmother in N Ireland. She wasn't the first girl that caught my eye, there was another in group. She wasn't interested though. We were to go ashore together at our first port of call. But they left without me. After returning l noticed one of them was missing. She had got too much sun and was back in their cabin. It was suggested l go see how she was. Needless to say we became very close friends. Unfortunately she was going to Adelaide, and l came to Melbourne. We kept in touch, then a couple of months later l flew to Adelaide to meet her family and celebrate her 21st birthday. Cutting a long story short. 2 year's later we got engaged and had saved for a house here in Melbourne. Then married a year later in Adelaide. Our wedding night is one to remember. Had a hotel room booked, but couldn't get in or find anyone to help. Spent almost an hour looking for somewhere to stay. One place offered us 2 seperate rooms. We did manage to get a room in another hotel. All's well that ends well. That was 49 year's ago. Still married.

 

[DottyWiff]

I met my beloved at a conference in an English seaside town while doing my nursing training in a big London hospital in the old days when we nursed and trained and got paid. I instantly fell head over heels in love. He had some strange quirks like a few funny physical actions, but they didn't matter to me. Our wedding had to wait 3 years for me to finish training and him to study and as we had vowed to wait for our honeymoon it wasn't easy. It was a simple wedding as I had no parents to pay and saving on a trainee nurses salary didn't amount to a great deal, but it was wonderful to us, and nothing went amiss. Almost! I had bought my wedding dress in a sale months before followed by midwifery training "on the district"". This is babies born at home like "Call the Midwife" (complete with bicycle) and trainees were billeted to private homes. The lady of my home was determined to keep me fed well for my hard work and I put on weight. I thought I'd better check my dress for fit -- oh no can't get it on 5 weeks before wedding! Severe diet for about 4 weeks did it. We flew off to Scotland for our honeymoon and all was going to be bliss!! But!
My childhood had the tragedies of - my father's suicide (WW1 trauma) when I was 15 months old, the death of a stepfather, whom I was thrilled to have at age 7, in Western Australia (my birthplace), 3 weeks after their marriage and being sent away from my mother and 8 older brothers to an unloving Aunt in UK at age 9. But now I thought my life was about to be good. As so many of us I thought my happiness was in him (all those romance novels!) but I found unexpected behavior and lack of behavior I could expect hard to understand and deal with. In his 50"s he was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome- hence the funny physical actions and later as classic Asperger Syndrome - hence the behaviours- so it was not surprising he couldn't make up for my past pain - not his job anyway! The happy note to end on is that we recently celebrated our 60th anniversary. This was possible because I found the love, security, self-esteem, encouragement and happiness I needed in a close relationship with our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ and let him "off the hook" to be who he was and function in what he could do. He served God as a Pastor much loved and respected and then a Chaplain with Police and other organisations. And I am still head over heels in love with him! It took 50 years for him to be able to look me in the eyes and say I love you, but it was worth the wait! Marriage is not dependency, a changing each other challenge or a competition but a complementary relationship which can over time, patience and forgiveness build to a beautiful union of two souls.

 

[Caravan2022]

I was a groupe Ray was a drummer in a band i would throw all sorts on the stage and I don’t mean the sweets I was 15 he was 18 when we first dated We would meet in the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool he was at Tec by day I was already working .Monday lunchtime we we dance from the minute we got in the club to the time we left hotdog in one hand coke in the other the sweat would be running down the walls Those were the days We went out for 9 years married now for 50 years Lived on three continents and are now very happy Grey Nomads been on the road 13 years and love each other and being on the road

 

[Suzanne rose]

When I was 18, I went on a FairStar cruise in 1978. I fell in love at 1st sight as i saw him walking onto the ship. After our first dance in the disco, we realised our connection was a mutual affectionate love for each other that was deep and true, but didn’t have a physical relationship because he hadn’t broken off with his girlfriend back home.
When the cruise finished I told him I would wait for him forever and he committed to be free soon. Things didn’t go to plan as his circumstance was difficult when he returned and his parents encouraged him to marry his girlfriend within the following year.
My heart was broken and my mother told me to get over him and arranged for me to go out the the son of one of my father’s bosses. With constant pressure to be married before I reached the age of 20, I reluctantly agreed and wed this not very nice young man who had a very strong desire to be with as many women as he could. He liked that I was a hard worker who could provide financial support for him.
I rarely lived with him, worked 3 jobs at times to earn enough money for his endeavors and instead became focused on my career and knowing that the love of my life was gone, had no problem being solitary with lovely friends to keep me company.
11 years after the cruise I was working in the Centralised recruitment department in Melbourne of a major retail chain. I picked up an applicants file a called her name in the waiting room and she came into my office. As she explained where she was from, I said “Wow, that’s where the love of my life used to live” I then said his name and her eyes widened as she exclaimed, “You're not going to believe this but he was my boss. He has been divorced for over 6 years, has raised his children by himself and hasn’t dated anyone because he says he’s still in love with a woman he met on a cruise in 1978”. I looked at her is amazement and said “That’s Me”.
She rushed back to her home town and told him that he found me, that I was still officially married but hadn’t lived with my partner for several years. He then wrote something on the back of his business card and gave to her to bring back to me. As I turned the card over, it said “I’ll wait for you forever”
My job required having to move to another city to take up an important role, I took the opportunity as it was where my very promiscuous partner lived, I explained to him about wanting a divorce. He was not happy as he had loved his lifestyle. I vowed not to contact the love of my life until I was free. After many many months, my partner finally said he thought he was in love with his latest conquest. I was thrilled as asked if he wanted to marry her. He said yes but didn’t have much money so I took him shopping and bought the engagement ring for him and had it engraved. I gave him the ring and encouraged him to propose to her.
He told me she said yes, I was thrilled and my friends couldn’t stop laughing at how I had helped him to finally let me be free. I then phoned my love and within a year, I moved to his home town, had become the mum of his beautiful children and married him finally.
We have been together for 32 years and it’s still like we are in our honeymoon phase. our love is still deep and true and everyday is magical.

Ok that has to be made into a movie or at least a book .

 

[Suzanne rose]

I was 14 and a rebel , hanging with the wrong people, smoking cigarettes plus other stuff.

We would go to a pool room in Dulwich Hill it was May 1975 and I saw this long haired Greek Adonis

He asked if I played Pool and was surprised that I could play.
He walked me home and unbelievably we lived in the same street , I had only moved there a couple weeks earlier from a couple of suburbs away.

We were also at the same school he was two forms above me.

As an Aussie girl with a Greek boy in the 70s there was a little family clash. He was supposed to meet and marry a good Greek girl and my family would say ' why are you with a wog'ect ect

At the time there was a beautiful song playing on the radio To Young To be Married well that was us.

I was 16 he was 18 and we were going to have a baby.

His best friends mother kept pressuring us to adopt the baby out, saying things like
...you are selfish to keep it.
..you are ruining his life ( not mine)
You will make another couple very happy. ( what about us )

My family and his ended up very supportive.

We had a daughter then when she was 7 months old we moved into a small rented unit.

Did we argue ? Yes
Did we struggle? Yes
But I was determined to prove everyone wrong.

We both worked hard and purchased our first house then went on to have two boys and another girl .

We decided it was about time to get married , why didn't we marry before ? Well because we weren't married with our first we would wait until we completed our family so none of our kids could say to our daughter ...mum and dad weren't married when they had you. Yes I thought like that and my how my line of thinking has changed

Planning our wedding there was so much arguing between my family that we decided to elope with our best friends as witnesses.

We got married on the 17th march 1988. ( my mother's birthday to teach her a lesson ) In the Sydney registry office we then went to the newly opened Chinese gardens for pictures, then of to the centrepoint tower restaurant.

Six weeks later we found out that we were 8 weeks pregnant,

We then went on to have 13 amazing children in total 8 girls and 5 boys
And 18 grandchildren with more to come.

See the picture at the bottom, we are holding 2 of our granddaughters at our daughters wedding

I became an amazing Cook Including Greek cuisine, I'm currently writing a Cookbook

Yes we still occasionally argue but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Now that our youngest is turning 18 we can now take trips away just the 2 of us .

 

[Possum Lover]

I met my husband when I was 15 and I can remember looking into his very brown eyes as if it was yesterday. We had to wait two years before we could get permission to marry and have been married for 56 years. We are blessed with children, grand children and great grandchildren. What a joy.
Our wedding day was the coldest July day for 40 years, really quite a miserable reception but our life together has been worth having, so it really does not matter what the wedding is like, one day only, but it matters very much how you continue after that.

 

[Mazbru]

Ok that has to be made into a movie or at least a book .

That is very sweet of you Suzanne, the stars definitely aligned to bring my love back to me. We hope you are having a wonderful day and life.

 

[Maddison Dwyer]

Oh my goodness, I have tears coming down my face reading all of these! Such incredible stories, all of you! Thank you so much for sharing them with me. Gosh, I love, love

 

[Suzanne rose]

I met my husband when I was 15 and I can remember looking into his very brown eyes as if it was yesterday. We had to wait two years before we could get permission to marry and have been married for 56 years. We are blessed with children, grand children and great grandchildren. What a joy.
Our wedding day was the coldest July day for 40 years, really quite a miserable reception but our life together has been worth having, so it really does not matter what the wedding is like, one day only, but it matters very much how you continue after that.

I worked in bridal and I would tell my brides if it rains on the day it brings you even more luck

 

[Maddison Dwyer]

Everyone on this thread who has been kind enough to share their stories, I'd love to know if you would be comfortable emailing us an extended story attached with some photos? The lovely @AprilSDC and I think it would be gorgeous if we started doing 'Member Spotlight' segments and we thought this would be a great place to start! If you are comfortable with sharing your story, please email us at [email protected] - just put the subject line as Member Spotlight.

I cannot wait to read even more about you all. Sending lots of love!

@Suzanne rose @Mazbru @Possum Lover @Caravan2022 @DottyWiff @Andrew @Mars @janj @Janiced53

 

[janj]

more info on my marriage we were born in the same hospital I am 6days older than Ed, my uncle and his father did time together both drunk and tried to rob my uncles place of work for more money to buy drink. We weren't born then, We found out when they both came to over for my Birthday at 22. I met up with a friend when I was around 20 she kept complaining to me, about this Eddie, how he was always out with her husband and guess what lol we met and went out and are still together after 44 years. He took me to America 4 years ago for our anniversary to see Disneyland as i always wanted to go . Here is a pic of our wedding and on our 40th anniversary.

 

[DancingDolphin]

Do you remember your wedding?​

Tell us about your wedding, if you had one! We want to hear all about it. Was it the fairytale you were hoping for? Was it a disaster? Was there drama? Or was it drama-free? I’d love to hear it all. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the funny!

My husband and I got married on Watson Beach at Lizard Island. We invited everybody anchored there, to ensure we had some control over what people wore: the invite said no bikinis allowed but fancy dress fine. We had Neptune's Handmaiden (who performed a Sea Blessing Ceremony for us), some gangsters, pirates, people in shorts and in formal wear. I wore a floor length gown with train and Rob - husband - wore white top hat and tailcoat, jeans and bare feet. It rained in the morning, then the sky turned blue and the turquoise waters did not disappoint. We had photos of more than one hundred and fifty "virtual guests" from all over the planet and conducted a hand-holding-via-linked-waters ceremony (all the world's water is connected, even tap water will eventually run into a river or sea). All we had to do was find a time to suit all the different time zones - which meant later in the afternoon. The seaplane pilot's girlfriend caught the bouquet, and the retiring seaplane pilot/owner walked the bride down the beach. Lizard Island Resort supplied ice and fresh flowers from the manager's own garden. It blew a strong wind warning, and I discovered a new "use" for matron of honor: untangling the bridal train from round my legs in the strong winds! I'll post a photo or two when I find which hard drive they are on!

 

[DancingDolphin]

PS: Marianne Pearce from Lizard Island Research Station was the celebrant and her hubby Lance the "official" photographer. He even got some aerial shots taken from a plane that was landing at the time.

 

[Ricci]

I met my husband in 1977. I lived in Southampton UK and London was 100 miles away. Myself and a work colleague went to London for a business meeting, I was going to be arguing quite forcibly for some preferential treatment for our small enterprise, had all my ducks in a row and was ready to go to war. My colleague was to discuss our needs, delivery etc. and I was to talk finance, credit terms etc. I was ushered into the financial controller's office and there he was, a blonde haired, blue eyes Adonis, dressed immaculately in a three piece suit, boots polished to a high shine. All my arguments flew out of my head but luckily he was open to working with us and offered favourable terms. He took us for lunch which lasted over three hours and all that time he was trying to get some personal information out of me. Whilst I could be loud and forceful talking about others or business needs I was painfully shy about anything personal. The next day, back at work I got a phone call from him, mostly about business but personal stuff as well, then a phone call every day for a week until he asked me out, He drove down to me and we went out for a meal. After that we met every night, we'd leave work and drive towards each other, meeting halfway at a motorway services, jumping into one car and going on from there. At the same time I was looking to buy my own place and did in fact end up as the first female in Hampshire to get a mortgage in her own right! One weekend when he came to visit me I took him to a property, telling him I was interested in his opinion, he looked and was impressed so I told him I'd bought it. He asked how I was going to afford it so I told him that the mortgage was his contribution and I would pay for everything else. The next weekend we moved in together, we'd been together for just shy of three months. He continued to work in London, driving back and forth daily but that wasn't sustainable so after six months he got a job locally. The rest, as they say is history, all I can say is I'm glad I took a punt with a couple of friends and opened a joint business in Hydraulics. At the time I was the only female in the industry in the UK., I didn't just run the office, I made hydraulic systems and installed them too.

Our wedding didn't happen for another 3 years as it took that long to get established. We had moved to a 4 bedroom house with a decent size garden so that's where we got married, surrounded by 30 of our closest family and friends. We catered it all ourselves, my Mum made the cake, my Dad supplied the flowers for my bouquet and table decorations and everyone mucked in with the rest of the refreshments. I wore a long, high waisted caped apricot dress and Hubby's suit was brown with an apricot shirt. It was all very relaxed without fuss which suited us as I would have died if I had to be the centre of attention for very long.

 

[Suzanne rose]

I met my husband in 1977. I lived in Southampton UK and London was 100 miles away. Myself and a work colleague went to London for a business meeting, I was going to be arguing quite forcibly for some preferential treatment for our small enterprise, had all my ducks in a row and was ready to go to war. My colleague was to discuss our needs, delivery etc. and I was to talk finance, credit terms etc. I was ushered into the financial controller's office and there he was, a blonde haired, blue eyes Adonis, dressed immaculately in a three piece suit, boots polished to a high shine. All my arguments flew out of my head but luckily he was open to working with us and offered favourable terms. He took us for lunch which lasted over three hours and all that time he was trying to get some personal information out of me. Whilst I could be loud and forceful talking about others or business needs I was painfully shy about anything personal. The next day, back at work I got a phone call from him, mostly about business but personal stuff as well, then a phone call every day for a week until he asked me out, He drove down to me and we went out for a meal. After that we met every night, we'd leave work and drive towards each other, meeting halfway at a motorway services, jumping into one car and going on from there. At the same time I was looking to buy my own place and did in fact end up as the first female in Hampshire to get a mortgage in her own right! One weekend when he came to visit me I took him to a property, telling him I was interested in his opinion, he looked and was impressed so I told him I'd bought it. He asked how I was going to afford it so I told him that the mortgage was his contribution and I would pay for everything else. The next weekend we moved in together, we'd been together for just shy of three months. He continued to work in London, driving back and forth daily but that wasn't sustainable so after six months he got a job locally. The rest, as they say is history, all I can say is I'm glad I took a punt with a couple of friends and opened a joint business in Hydraulics. At the time I was the only female in the industry in the UK., I didn't just run the office, I made hydraulic systems and installed them too.

You astound me all the time.
I love all your life stories.
Now an important question...Have you started that book yet ?