harrison reid // maxi // bondi rescue

33 will you give me away?

Harrison and I aren't having a very big wedding. No nice cars and big fancy setting. We have friends who have a piece of land, that backs onto the beach. they have a beautiful house that it situated on it and were nice enough to let us use it as our venue. We have hired a giant marque, chairs, tables, some lovely catering and a few decorations here and there but nothing more. Actually the one place we did splash out on was a beautiful back drop for where we are getting married. It's a large white frame – about 6'5" tall and have silver and white sheets and ribbons hanging from it. Our florist who did our bouquets and my flower crows designed some floral arrangements for around the frame and it looks absolutely stunning. I cant wait to see it in place at the venue.

My mum has flown from new Zealand to come but unfortunately my dad couldn't make it. That was heart breaking for me because its tradition for the father to walk their daughter down the isle. But thinking about it I had the perfect person in mind to give me away. I obviously talked to mum and asked her but surprisingly she said no because she wanted to be able to watch the whole thing. And she would struggle walking down the isle with me because of her leg. That was also heart breaking for me to hear her say no but I stayed strong and didn't let that bring me down. But I did tell a special someone to meet me at the venue ‪at 12:30‬, half and hour before the ceremony started so I could talk to them. ‪

At 12:15pm‬ Hop and I leave the house in his car and the other two bridesmaids follow in the other car where hop's wife grace takes them. We arrive at exactly ‪12:30‬ and I step out of the car as the girls pull up beside me. i say a big goodbye to hoppo and he gives me a quick chat telling me about how harrison and i are perfect for each other. i say goodbye and I see a few people already here but take the back route into their house where I wait for the special someone to come. I whip out my phone and text them, telling to come into the house and meet me in the lounge. Soon enough I hear the door slide open and deano walks in.

"elyse... you look stunning" he says and pulls me into a hug, being gentle of my dress. "thanks dean" I say and we pull away. "are you excited?" he asks and I nod. "a little bit scared and nervous but im ready: I say and he frowns. "why scared?" he asks me. "im committing my life to him which im ready for but I just never want to loose him. Im just scared that soon he wont be committed to me any more" I say and he shakes his head. "elyse, don't think about that. He loves you. He adores you so much" he says and I smile. "he would be stupid to not be committed to you" he says and I smile. "anyways, I actually wanted to ask you something" I say leading to the reason why I wanted him here in the first place. "what is it?" he questions me.

"would you be willing to give me away today?" I ask and he looks up at me with his eyes wide. "are you serious el?!" he exclaims and I nod. "of course I would, elyse what the heck yes!" he exclaims and jumps up with excitement and pulls me up by the hands to embrace me in a hug. "yes yes yes" he says to me and I laugh. "I wouldn't want anyone else to. Dean, you've such a massive part of my life and you've been such an amazing father figure while ive been living here. I don't think you know how much I appreciate you" I say and I see him smile gently. "you're going to make me cry" he says and I laugh and shake my head. "please don't cry, it'll make me cry" I say but its too late as I see a tear slip down his face. This is the first time I have ever seen him like this. "too late" he says softly and I bring him into a hug.

Soon enough the other bridesmaids walk in with my mum and I greet her and all the jazz. "elyse, you look stunning" she says and I smile and thank her. Its almost ‪1pm‬ so soon enough she scurries off to her seat and I hold deanos hand as we sit on the couch and wait. The photographer has just left the lounge and has moved outside ready to capture some picture sfrom when I walk down the isle. Lauren and ellie are on the other couch fixing each others hair and just prepping them sleves. "I cant believe this is happening" I whisper to deano and I lean into his side. "neither. It's like my little baby is leaving the nest and getting married" he says and chuckle slightly. Im incredible nervous now and im just not in the mindset to laugh and have a good time.

To our wedding we invited only 50 people. Our parents, and close family although lots of them couldn't fly to aussie from new Zealand so there are many people missing that we would have wanted here. From my side of the family only my mum and aunty and her husband are here. For harrison he has a few more. His parents, aunties and uncles and their partners, his dads mum and dad and his cousin. He has a few mates out of lifeguarding he invited but apart from that, everyone else is made up of the bondi beach lifeguard team and some of their partners.