At the reception, Rick showed John how to find the North Star. John then set up the camera to take time lapse segments & merged them to form the image on the left - on the right of the image is the hedge at Mick & Brenda's with a power line next to it. The stars "rotate" around the North Star (~Celestial North)- there is a line with dots around it going from the bottom of the left hand side, above the tree to the right - this is a plane.
As a comparison this is a StarStax that John did in Australia, in the back yard. The ~Celestial South has no star. There is a plane trail in this picture too, from the light pole to the tree.
Sunday, there was a brunch at the Raffa's with another chance to catch up with the extended family and friends. Here is a tired but happy Lindsay with friend Cat, she too is married to an Aussie. Lots of lovely food again with some leftovers from the night before and bagels with salmon or jam, and fruit - and lots of coffee too!
Carmen and Rachel were also feeling tired as the night had gone on into the early hours of the next morning.
After brunch (early afternoon) we all 'retired' for an afternoon nap as all the celebrations had caught up with us all.
Dinner time we walked to Deep Cove. Also tried to find the trail to Quarry Rock to get a different view of the Cove. Didn't find the trail...but asked someone where it was...decided it was too late to start at that point as it was probably about 7pm - mind you it wasn't because it would be too dark as we would have still had at least 3 hrs of light it was more because we had used up any energy we had left .
Bought some fish & chips (fries), sat in the park and enjoyed the view.
Went down and sat on the sea wall & watched quite a few people kyaking & paddle boarding.
A reluctant dog (the black thing with a life jacket on) going for a paddle.
The Raffa family and Andrew were busy setting up the yard for the reception in the morning and running around picking up things.
There were tables which had candles, flowers and bottles of wine spread around the yard - some higher for standing at and lower ones to sit at. There were lights strewn across from trees to balcony and lots of lanterns hanging in the trees.
Later in the afternoon Lindsay and Rachel went off to a hairdresser for their long hair while Louise and Dawn picked up the flowers for the tables then went and got their hair done together.
The yard looked stunning and Andrew and Lindsay did an amazing job of organising just about everything themselves with plenty of fantastic food that kept coming all night and thinking of everything possible that needed to be done so all was ready by 7pm when the guests arrived.
All dressed up again for the reception -
Andrew & Lindsay
David & Louise,
and the Butler Clan (missing the newest Butler of course).
During the course of the evening everyone was encouraged to write some words of wisdom or encouragement and hang them from the 'tree'.
One of the fun features of the reception was a photo booth where lots of props were provided so everyone had lots of fun dressing up.
the before
and after shots.
Dawn & John read their speech out about Andrew growing up and meeting Lindsay. Perhaps people learnt some new things about Andrew they didn't know. Neither Dawn or John held it together for the duration with a pause to regain emotion at a couple of points. A toast to Andrew was given.
Steven caught Lindsay's response at one point!
As you will see in this photo, to be different from the wedding, Lindsay has her hair up and the net that was across her face is now incorporated into the head piece. She also had her dress altered so that is was shorter and wore black shoes and had a black sash around her waist (you can spot this in some of the other photos).
Louise was MC introducing everyone and David gave a speech about Lindsay with heartfelt pride in his words and emotion. A toast to the bride.
Then it was Carmen and Rachel's turn to pay homage to their big sister for all her wisdom passed on, looking after them and 'putting up' with them.
Another toast was given to the happy couple by Sarah on behalf of all their friends present and for those friends that couldn't be there.
Lindsay's good friend Cassie also gave a speech (Lindsay is to be her bridesmaid in a few weeks time).
It was then Andrew and Lindsay's turn to thank everyone for coming and for all their best wishes.
Then it was more fun at the photo booth.
Lindsay's cousins particularly got into it !
They liked dressing up so much they even wore them around a bit too during the night.
Lindsay, her mum, sisters, aunts and cousins
- before
and after
Some of Lindsay's girlfriends.
and Louise's.
Louise, John, Dawn and David - in case you don't recognise us !
Andrew relives his mullet hairdo and Steven checks out what it is like to have a beard like Uncle Kev in the middle - his beard is a bit like John's was for the Children's Christmas Party at Dawn's work a couple of years ago when he played Santa for the kids.
The Butlers got into it too - it is amazing what people do with a few props to play with!!
The 'oldies' surprised the young with some of their dance moves - time for the shoes to come off and get into the groove - couldn't beat Rachel's moves though - she knew all the songs (she had worked with Andrew on the playlist for the night) and all the moves.
At the end of the evening each couple went home with a bottle of 'hot sauce' hand-made by the bride and groom the label has two chillies making a heart shape.
After a good night's sleep (Dawn's first proper sleep since leaving home - John's sinus infection meant more snoring and hardly any sleep for Dawn!) we awoke to another beautiful morning at Rockwater. We packed, checked out and drove back to the ferry for the 40 minute ferry trip back to Vancouver.
David drove us so we didn't have to worry about getting lost and we then followed him after he had to pick up his car from being repaired. Caught up on some laundry then updated this blog so you could all see the wedding photos -after a couple of failed attempts the night before and during the ferry trip (due to technical difficulties).
That evening we were introduced to Louise's extended family at a bbq dinner. Her oldest sister is Gloria who has four girls - Dawn, Kim, Denise, Karen and her husband is Richard (Rick). The next sister is Ishbel who has two girls - Cathy & Kristen and her husband is Kevin.
In this photo front left Denise, Gloria, Ishbel & Rachel, in the background Rick, Karen & Louise.
Here are the cooks for the evening - Kevin & Andrew, with Steven supervising and dog Chico just hoping for any possible scraps.
Here are more of the girls with (from the left) Dawn, Ishbel, Kristen, Kim, Cathy, Karen, Gloria and Denise.
Here we have Rick with Simon (an old school friend of Lindsay's and his girlfriend Bethan in the middle.
The Dawn you all know with newlywed son Andrew and with the other Dawn in the background.
Louise & David with Rachel and newlywed Lindsay.
The newlyweds.
Pennies have just been discontinued in Canada but Aunty Ishbel gave all the girls their own collection of pennies so they could keep up with some of their Oma's (grandmother's) traditions.
We were all standing around the kitchen listening as she explained the background story. Here you see the three sisters together with Lindsay's sisters Carmen and Rachel next to mum Louise.
