Saturday 22nd April 2006 - Reception

A lovely couple that I met at the wedding! The veranda where we were to have the meal is just behind. It's a beaut (mate) - Awwww Yeah!!

Wahey, my favourite part – the beer! The veranda we were seated on was lovely, looking out over the vineyard as the sunset. Stupidly, I only took video, so can’t show you all, but you get the picture…. Green fields, sun setting over the horizon, loads of red and magenta hues…!

The food was lovely, I remember, but my god, the wino and champers has caught me up!! Ben and Bianca have done me proud, thanks kids, I’m seated next to all the hot and single chix – wahey!! There’s an advantage to being the wedding crasher!! Even if I'm so puddled that I can't string a sentence together!! I've also got Johnny Knox as minder, but he's a cool wingman, running interference!!

So Duane, Speeches mate! First up was the Father of the Bride – Ken. I’d met Ken earlier and had had a good natter with him. (Check the left hand pic!!)

I really don’t know how it is that Bianca is such a chatty type because Ken really is quite and retiring! As I’d mentioned before methinks, one of the best wedding speeches I’d heard before was merely 2 weeks prior when Duane delivered, IMHO, a top drawer Best Man’s speech for Neily and Troods. However, Ken was up there! One of the first things that Ken explained was that Bianca, in her rush to get over to Blighty, left ‘Puddles’ the poor feline at home with Mom and Pops! So, 7 years later, Ken is tabling an invoice to Ben for the upkeep of his new wife’s old cat – welcome to the family mate! There was also a brilliantly funny moment, where Ken was soliloquising about the Australian and NZ relations with regard tgo Anzac day next week but of course, he’d forgotten Jamil, our Turkish cameraman and who is due to get married to the Bridesmaid, Charlene I think later this year! Good on ya Jamil, he chips in with ‘…and Turkey’ as just the right moment. Maybe you had to be there but it was good!

As mentioned, the beers were catching me up but I do remember Bianca’s very funny moments in her speech(es)! First was her endearing way of beginning a story before drifting off the point and forgetting where she was before exclaiming ‘…oh yeah, I’ve got it…’ as other people who knew the story shouted up prompts!! The other endearing memory is of Ben’s workout at Bianca’s behest.:

‘Ben, how many ‘standy-uppys’ was it mate?!’

By the way, it was light when Bianca started this story...!!








Pascale demonstrates the cake - Ben's Sister and a gorgeous gal - who can cook as well - she made the wedding cake. Where can I get one?!