Tell us about you and your business/blog?I run a travel blog at NotABallerina.com which turned ten years old recently – the first time I’ve ever stuck at anything for a whole decade! It’s all about travelling in a way which helps us learn about ourselves and others. I’ve just launched Travel Journal School as part of the blog to help travel lovers create really fabulous memories – written and more – of their trips. As a complement to all of that, I run a social media and blogging consultancy business here in Perth, and run workshops largely for creatives and solo business people.
Tell us about your wedding?
I got married in southern Germany in 2006. My new German husband and I were about to leave Germany to live in my hometown of Perth, so we decided that his family in Germany should get to be at our wedding before we abandoned them! We had a civil ceremony in a very picturesque town hall, and in the interests of keeping it simple had a barbecue lunch afterwards.
It was perfect – except that, despite being the middle of summer, it rained. People told me that was definitely good luck. The following day, when the last couple of family members were able to join us, we had a party at my mother-in-law’s house, and in usual German style the catering was amazing.
When we moved to Perth a month later, we recreated the wedding for the Australian side of the family – it was great to get two wears out of my wedding dress!
If you could change one thing, what would it be?
I would change the budget: we had just left our jobs to move to Australia and couldn’t afford to spend much. I wouldn’t have wanted it fancier, but if we’d been billionaires I would have flown all my family and friends from different parts of the world in to Germany to celebrate with us.
Who are your favourite vendors?
When we had our “repeat wedding” back in Australia we held our party at my sister’s house (given that we were still homeless!). She owns the Code Bloom florist store here in Perth so of course everything looked gorgeous.
Who was your photographer?
Ironically, my husband is a photographer, and so he took all the photos that he wasn’t in … and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law took the rest. Weirdly, my favourite photograph is one of us coming down the steps of the town hall, and you can see a bald guy coming along the paving nearby. A few moments later we bumped into him, and he was someone my husband had studied with years before and hadn’t seen since. I love those kind of stories and didn’t mind at all that it interrupted our wedding!
What advice do you have for others planning their wedding?
Keep it simple. I was honestly glad to have a few excuses to keep our wedding small and family-only, and I still have wonderful memories of it. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the idea of making it something for everyone, when really it’s probably only important that the bride and groom have a day that is special to them.
>Images via Amanda Kendle and Jan Augustin
>Ms Zigzag says: I love how relaxed and in the moment Amanda seemed during her wedding. It definitely helps that her husband and family are creatives too, and could take over some of the roles that are usually carried out by vendors. A simple yet meaningful day – perfect!
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