The rain came as scheduled. As granny used to say, "If the skies open up on the day of a wedding, it's because the bride enjoys her soup." Anyone who has seen Constance lift a bowl of soup up against her face, would undoubtedly have been led to believe that our wedding was to be a wet one.

At 1.30pm on the 31^st of December 2004, just 1/2 and hour before the wedding was to begin, the heavens sent their showers of blessings and our new lives together were to begin.

The guests came streaming in – despite the inclement weather and were ushered to their seats by the smartly dressed groomsmen all too eager to impress the 11 stunning bridesmaids.

For us, the ceremony was a blur but highlights embossed on our memory include having Fr. Joseph Tan mistake our wedding for starting at 2.30pm and Fr. Terry Burke – giving a rousing sermon on how a marriage resembles the delicate petals of a rose. He spoke about how our union was a creation of our love which had bloomed years before the day; but yet, our kiss at the alter was like our first.

The flower girls had put a smile on our faces, Daryl – our page boy had only mastered the art of walking a week before our wedding and Judith our niece did a couple of laps to and from the alter to our amusement. Jessica, Amanda, Brenda and Cassandra were consummate professionals; walking down the aisle like they did it for a living.

Following the Eucharistic celebration, we were treated to a feast by "Papa" Pakir & "Mummy" Anne. The staff of Shatec turned up in force as they left

no guest unattended and no glass empty. Our cakes (all seven of them) baked by Eugenia, Mom and the "Bakers at Blandford" were to die for; and we were sure we caught a glimpse of guests sneaking a few slices in their bags for later.

As the bouquet was thrown, we were grateful for all the bridesmaids who clamored for the flowers – not to be the next to get married, but rather to return the bouquet to us for later use. Patricia, thanks for catching them.

As we have concluded, this was something we were only going to do once. And I'm glad we have some memories in these photographs which we hope you'll enjoy having a look at.