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| it started with a dance
janelle + david: Sunday, 10 June 2007; Roma Street Parklands, Brisbane.
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| When Janelle travelled to the Gold Coast from Sydney for the farewell party of her childhood friend, little did she know she was about to meet her future husband. Partying at a local club, Janelle’s favourite song, I am tha 1 by Mr Timothy, came on and it was her friend’s quiet flatmate, David, that offered to dance with her. One dance was enough to seal their fate and begin a whirlwind long distance love that would be ultimately completed with a marriage proposal.
Janelle and David felt that it was really important that both their wedding and any pre-wedding celebrations reflect who they were and what was important to them. This meant lots of family and friends, lots of fun and no hassles. This also meant that Janelle would have to make a very big sacrifice, she would have to have two hens nights!
“I had two hens nights, one in Sydney and one in Brisbane. That way everyone that has been important to me in my life could be involved. In Sydney, my best friend organised a night at The Russian Coachmen, a restaurant for dinner and dancing and then we moved on to the clubs in Kings Cross to party the night away. In Brisbane my sister organised an instructor from Bellacize to come and teach us Showgirl, Bollywood and Lap dancing. The instructor was great, she gave us costumes and we spent the night laughing at each other. I actually got to keep part of my costume and I was given a CD with the music so I could do the dances at home!” Janelle laughs.
That’s not to say David was left out of the celebrations. Whilst Janelle was dancing away the last of her single days, David was taking the leap into marriage a little too literally. David and his friends were busy skydiving on the Gold Coast and celebrating afterwards with a traditional pub-crawl in Surfers Paradise.
Janelle explains how they wanted the whole wedding to be a fun experience for everyone involved. “When it came to the big day we wanted the wedding to be similar to our pre-wedding celebrations - relaxing and fun for everyone involved. Straight after the ceremony we had eskies with cold cans of soft drink and alcohol to hand out to guests. Each came with a stubby holder we had specially printed with our names and wedding date. Many people commented on how much they enjoyed a relaxing drink in the sun after the wedding. It also meant that our guests were occupied while we had photos taken.
As most of our guests were from out of town we organised minibuses to transport everyone from the ceremony to the reception and then from the reception back to their accommodation at the end of the night. We didn’t want anyone to have to think about transport, just to enjoy the day. David and I wanted the reception to feel more like a party than a traditional wedding reception with people having to sit down for speeches or be restricted to groups. Instead we organised for our DJ to play the first song that David and I ever danced to straight after the speeches so everyone started dancing and didn’t stop for the remainder of the night. It was a lovely moment for my husband and I to share and reflect on how far we have come since we first danced together to that special song, I am tha 1.”
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