ciaran and viv

watsons bay hotel wedding 

“You know you can ask me out”.

I feel like most high school / early university romances don’t last. It’s too much of a formative time when people change and grow and mature and learn a lot about who they are and how they see the world. You have to find someone who’s not just willing to grow but willing to grow in the same direction as you, someone who’s going to support and guide and influence you, and you have to be willing to do the same. It’s rare. But sometimes you get lucky.

Ciaran and Viv met at college at UNSW, in a time where initiation nicknames, late night cramming sessions, and strategies like studying-outside-someones-dorm-on-the-regular-because-you-had-a-crush-on-them-and-didn’t-know-quite-how-to-deal-with-it were thing.

They are both thoughtful and introspective to a degree one may not expect from such young years. They each wrote the other a letter to read the morning of, with Viv also writing one to each of her bridesmaids (including her two sisters). They went to lengths to make sure the occasion was not just about them, but about celebrating all of the people and all of the love in their life that they are grateful for.

I was struck by a few things this day. The incredible closeness of each of their respective families, and (unsurprisingly) how large a role their families play in their lives. By how affirming it is to express gratitude to those you love can be and you know, how well a raucous party can cap off a whole lot of beautiful declarations.

A few moments to look out for

• The many faces of Ciaran as Viv was walking down the aisle

• Some laneway basketball and a resulting finger wrapped in a receipt

• Viv, generally looking pretty damn overjoyed all day

• Various moments between Ciaran and his mum that I felt speak of their closeness

• A whole bunch of great (and incredibly varied) reactions to the various speeches

• Some pretty raucous reception entrances

Enjoy

Dane