Bride: Emily Gartside
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Bridegroom: Paul Eliades
Wedding date: January 17, 2015
The meeting
My niece's birthday. I remember saying "there is something about that guy I find really attractive".
Paul was my brother in law's employer, so I started becoming a regular at his work.
Before we knew it, it was 11 years later and we love each other more and more every day
The proposal
We had our dearest friends coming to visit from England, Paul's best friend of 20 years from when he lived there himself.
We had mentioned that if we were to ever get married we wanted them there.
We were happy the way we were. Paul, myself and our lovely golden retriever.
The day standing in the kitchen when Paul asked me to become Mrs Eliades was one of the happiest days of my life.
After 11 years our families nearly fell over with shock as they had given up on any chance of a wedding a long time ago.
The wedding day
We had so many people involved in our wedding that mean so much to us.
My twin brother was my "mate of honour" and our siblings and lifetime friends were in our bridal party.
The girls from Hairem Scarem looked after all our hair and beauty needs.
We had a beautiful day at the White Hills gardens, it was 25 degrees and it had rained the week prior and the gardens were so green.
We were so blessed that we had so many people come support and witness our marriage.
I had our dog Samson wear a tie and walk down the Isle. Two of the most important men in my life walked me down the aisle, my twin brother and then my dad.
We were so proud of Paul's nieces, Maddy and Lucy, who read a reading that was very important to us.
It was an emotional service, the happiest day of our lives.
We followed with pre-dinner drinks in the Gold Dust Lounge at the Shamrock before retreating upstairs to the beautiful Federation Room. The food was amazing and the service sensational.
The dress
I had found a dress online but couldn't find it anywhere so I gave up. To my surprise a random link took me to Brides and Maids in Shepparton.
I fell in love. It was me and I was comfortable, so there were loads of visits to Shepparton and to my trainer 3T Fitness, to ensure those buttons did up at the back.
For the reception the drape on the back was detached and the veil removed and glitter thongs.
Time to party! And party we did, we were the last ones to leave, we didn't want the day to end.
The cake
Choloclate, much to my grandmother's disgust. No, only joking. Kit Kats and Ferrero Rochers what more could you ask for? Thank you to Greg from the Shamrock, he did an amazing job.
The photographer
Our dearest friend Desiree Crandall did our photos! We were so happy, we wanted a relaxed approach and she stayed back and managed to capture all of our important day.
The honeymoon
We did a pre-honeymoon in Vegas, Paul said it would've been a lot cheaper there.
Daryl our groomsman came with us, he had it all planned, however I refused.
We did a Flight Centre bridal registry. We are heading to London, can't wait.