Engagements, weddings, it’s all happening!
Tomorrow, Sunday 19th February, sees in the first Wedding Expo of the year where all things wedding related are at your disposal under the one roof. The annual Sydney City Wedding Expo will be held at the Stamford Plaza Sydney Airport Hotel, 241 O’Riordan St, Mascot. Its free entry and open to the public, and I’ll be there to meet visitors and assist couples with information regarding civil wedding ceremonies.
Welcome to the first blog for Make My Day Tina. I have much to look forward to in 2017 and it has certainly kicked off to a happy, healthy and very loving start.
Half way through last year, I left my job of almost 25 years to dedicate myself to my secondary vocation of Marriage and Civil Celebrant. Clearly I loved what I did for the previous quarter of a century, or I couldn’t have possibly hung in there for that long, but on the top of my bucket list during that period was the dream of being a celebrant.
The biggest challenge was making the time to execute the training, study, assessments and dedication required, to becoming a commonwealth marriage and civil celebrant, whilst heading up a marketing team for a well established events company.
Finally, I made the decision to go part time at work and just make it happen. Best decision I ever made! Whilst juggling a few ceremonies as well as my events role successfully in that first year, predominantly my heart was in the ceremonies, and I decided that was what I wanted to do exclusively going forward.
Initially I enjoyed a much overdue sabbatical for 6 months and made the most of my time off putting creative ideas into action, whilst taking bookings and making preparations for this year. And what a year it’s been thus far, it seems 2017 has kicked off with celebrations of love all round.
After a delightful Christmas retreat in the Kangaroo Valley with my beautiful family and then a fun filled new year celebration in Sydney, January also started off with my youngest daughter’s birthday bash and my first wedding of the year. What a highlight it was to kick off the year by marrying such a lovely couple who share such a genuine love and respect for one another.
Francesca and Hakan Dalan, had a spectacular wedding on the Harbour View Lawn of the Royal Botanic Garden, with a magnificent back drop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, on a very warm but perfect summers day. They had visitors from around the globe and they celebrated their marriage with a beautiful reception at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant, where they all partied the night away. It was such a feel good day and I believe it set the bar for the year to come.
It really seems that “love is in the air “at the moment, I have had numerous enquiries for weddings, vow renewals & commitment ceremonies already this year, and to top it off, my middle daughter, Chloe, recently announced her engagement to her best friend and boyfriend, Thomas. Around the same time, our long time family friends, who have a son the same age as Chloe, also announced Anthony’s engagement to his girlfriend Jennifer.
To say I’m excited is an understatement! I can barely contain the happiness I feel for couples that I come to know, imagine what I’m like with people that have always been part of our lives, and my own kids! Chloe’s engagement party is coming up next weekend and its going to be a blast celebrating it with all of our family and friends, and just a few weeks later we have the pleasure of joining Anthony and Jenn at their engagement celebration. St Valentine certainly has spread his wings and shared the love, and I don’t think it was just limited to February 14!
I wish everyone a very happy new year and hope that the love continues to flourish and prosper.
PS: Don’t forget if you are out and about tomorrow, and maybe having brunch or lunch around the southern inner city end of town, pop in and say hi to me between 10 & 3 at the Make My Day, Tina stand, at the Sydney City Wedding Expo, Stamford Plaza Sydney Airport.
Watch this space for next months update!
Tina ❤️
make my day, tina 