Lynda + Rae's Great Gatsby-esque Celebration
We celebrated Lynda and Rae’s love story on the land of the Ngunnawal People. The venue was unique and versatile, HQ 34 offered a refined industrial setting, a blank slate for Lynda, Rae and their team of humans to create a Great Gatsby-esque celebration. Lynda and Rae had even made an arbor out of old timber pallets!!! If you’re not already familiar with the venue, I suggest you check it out here.
As for Lynda + Rae’s story… A mutual friend had thought that Lynda and Rae had things in common and could be good friends, so with some encouragement, they consented to a dinner date. Late in the afternoon Rae’s boss added a last minute meeting to the day which meant Rae not only had the first date jitters but was running slightly late. She pulls into the carpark, jumps out of the car and runs – in high heels – into the venue to arrive feeling red faced and flustered to meet a very cool, calm and chic, Lynda, looking like she owned the place.
Whilst Rae was feeling immediately intimdated, Lynda’s internal dialogue was “wow, she’s tall and very composed”. With the help of a little prosecco (and some online investigations by Rae), these two had a lot to talk about. Determined to ensure that their following dates would also be filled with chat, Rae found herself turning to the “46 questions to fall in love”. Rae figured that if they didn’t succeed in love, they would at least succeed in friendship. In the coffees, dates and catch ups in the following weeks, Rae would whip out one or two of the questions so there were no awkward silences. It only took a few weeks, they found they had lots to talk about, so there are still plenty of questions for the future...but I don’t think they will need them.
Lynda was also similarly smitten from the very early days and made sure to spoil Rae with ice cold prosecco or fancy gin cocktails and delicous dinners at fabulous restaurants. And when Rae went to Cairns for work for 3 months – Lynda realised how much she missed having Rae around, and how close they had become.
This wasn’t the only time Rae creatively sought ways to keep Lynda on the scene. For their first Christmas, Rae made a date night jar, that is; a jar containing 104 dates, plus a few spares thinking that it would allow for two or three dates a week for another year. Surely Lynda wouldn’t ditch Rae if there were still dates in the jar?! The jar still exists and is still part filled with dates, so maybe... it will forever hold at least one date so that both Rae and Lynda are reminded that there are more adventures ahead. For Lynda, things were a lot more straight-forward – finding opportunities to hang-out together, going to movies, having coffees, cooking dinner .. and realising how the little things are important and meaningful. The little things leading to love. When Lynda asked Rae to marry her, when Rae said yes, Lynda thought we don’t really need to get married, that yes was enough.
But... there we were...
Highlights? There would be snippets of overseas travel and one off experiences but ultimately these two shine in the everyday. Rae plays the role of head chef with Lynda her own personal dishy. Lynda’s the barista, ensuring Rae’s caffine needs are met – always dropping in on the way home from work to put on a batch of cold brew for Rae to drink the following morning. Poems and love hearts accompany the coffee so the buzz is felt in everyway. And on their trips away, going out to source morning caffeine is Lynda’s way of showing love...... because.... Rae isn’t naturally a morning person!!!
It was such a fun engaging ceremony, Lynda and Rae held the space in the most natural and fun way. I was all smiles following this ceremony. It was for love stories like Lynda and Rae’s for which I wanted to be a celebrant in the first place!!!