Weddings of the week: Rain couldn’t dampen couple’s special day

ON THE eve of Rodney Crump and Lindsay Chappel’s wedding, torrential rain threatened to wash away their preparations for their big day.
They had chosen to have the wedding at their home in South Maroota and had landscaped the property in anticipation of their 210 guests, but Mother Nature had other ideas.
“We were shovelling heaps of mulch and digging drains. One day we shovelled all this mulch on a pathway, and a day later it was washed away, but we did it again,” Rodney says.
Adds Lindsay: “We had no power for three days, so we ended up having to redo everything. Then the week of the wedding, it started raining again. The night before, grooms are usually with their mates in the pub having a few drinks, but at two in the morning, he was digging trenches with my brother and best friend, putting in sump pumps.
“I was getting calls from him saying: ‘How are your nails? We’re digging trenches’.”
The pair met working at the Royal Easter Show in 2009 and felt the sparks of romance, but it took another year, after again meeting at the showgrounds, for love to blossom.
“We caught up for a drink and have been together ever since,” Lindsay says.
“We just clicked, personality-wise.”
Both have an appreciation of nature, which helped them make the decision to create a home in bushland surrounds, and they moved into their home in the Hawkesbury in 2013.
Rodney, 35, works as a master farrier and also competes in campdrafting.
Although Lindsay previously had no interest in horses, her time with Rodney has made her a keen rider.
“She’s quite sporty, so she picked it up very easily. It’s part of our lifestyle and what we do,” Rodney says.
It was during a ride together through their local area in September 2014, they came to a clearing overlooking a valley near the Hawkesbury River and Rodney proposed.
“We had the horses and the dogs, and a couple of beers he’d packed. He proposed with three fake rings so we could pick a ring together. It was so funny,” recalls Lindsay.
Rodney adds: “I’d bought three rings for $10. I pulled one out of my pocket and asked ‘would you like one of these?’ Before she could say anything, I said: ‘if you don’t like it, I’ve got options.’ It wasn’t too much longer before Lindsay ended up with a proper one — just to clear that up.”
The couple decided to have the wedding at home because they didn’t want to be restricted on numbers and they couldn’t find a venue that would hold their number of guests in their preferred Hawkesbury area.
“Once we made the decision to have it at home, we turned it around it four months,” Lindsay says, adding that her role as a marketing general manager helped her to plan for such a big occasion.
“It was a good excuse for us to get our property up to scratch — or so we thought — but then it rained so much.”
They called on the talents of friends and family, who all pitched in to transform their property.
“It was the wedding that love built,” Lindsay says, adding that her mother’s background as an interior decorator and artist helped create their wedding’s stylish decorative touches, such as lights made from jam jars and hand-cut metal hearts, while her father created much of the wooden furniture used in the ceremony and reception.
When the rain came and appeared to settle in, they also decided to use rig up teepees to provide shelter.
Luckily, as the couple’s big moment approached, the clouds finally parted.
“When I got out of the car, it stopped raining and we had two hours of no rain. It was just amazing,” Lindsay says.
“We had set up a thousand lights all through the trees of our paddocks, taking everyone from the ceremony up to the teepees, and when the last person walked into the teepee, it started to rain again. We were just so lucky.”
Catering was provided by Simon Ekas, with a smorgasbord and shared platters on tables, and Lindsay’s mother made the desserts and wedding cake.
In the end, the day went exactly as the couple had hoped.
“It was perfect, it was really festive,” Lindsay says.
“For me, the homemade touches were what made it really special.”

After losing contact, the pair met again in 2010 and have been inseparable ever since. They were attracted to each other’s sense of humour and love of good food and wine.

Christopher proposed at Bondi Beach under an umbrella in the middle of a big storm in June.

They wed on November 7 in Prince Edward Park Cabarita with 130 family and friends. Instead of presents, the couple raised funds for charity.

CARLA met Jordan at a Christmas party in 2010 that she was reluctant to attend.

When she saw him in a crowd of people she knew she had to talk to him and they have been inseparable ever since.

Jordan proposed in Melbourne in September 2014 when they were both celebrating their birthdays. He had hired a boat for them and dropped to one knee.

The wed on September 5 at Sacred Heart Church Mosman with 80 of their closest friends and family.

THE pair met at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in August 2012 and Sally was instantly attracted to Charbel’s personality, family-orientated nature and sense of humour.

Charbel proposed on the roof top of Our Lady of Lebanon in August 2014, two years after they met.

He organised a path way of candles leading to a big heart shape. When Sally said yes, he had fireworks set off and arranged for her family and friends who were hiding, to pop out and surprise her.

They married in the same church where it all began on August 2 with 430 family and friends.