Imaginif prompts for daily writers.
If you wish to join the Writers Prompt Daily simply use the below photo (changes daily) as a prompt and post a short story, poem or paragraph to your blog. Leave a comment and your link here so that all participants can come to you and read/comment/encourage. Stories below are copyright and are Megan Bayliss' writing around the below daily picture prompt.


Showing posts with label wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding. Show all posts

Wedding in the Rainforest

6:06 am Megan Bayliss

Paul and I got married on March 31, 2007, Paul's 40th birthday. It was a truly beautiful and inclusive day.







Returning from our honeymoon on the absolutely fabulous Norfolk Island was difficult. We had such a fantastically relaxing time that neither of us wanted it to end.



Paul started work again yesterday and I start today. I will begin child protection blogging again tomorrow (yes, I'm trying to extend my wonderful holiday. We had to delay the start by a day because of the tsunami alert so I think it's fair to stick in an extra day off).

Thanks to all who forwarded good wishes to us for our married life together. They worked; the day, and ceremony, were just perfect.

Here's a few different blogs (done by guests) about our wedding in the rainforest:

The Wedding in Rainforest and Waterfall Mist

Day 62: Cairns - Mungalli Falls

Just Married

Wedding in the Rainforest

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Megan is Away for Two Weeks

6:12 am Megan Bayliss

As the ticker above shows, I'm getting married in three days time. The house is chaotic and manic. I am running around like a mad woman in an attempt to finish all the fiddly things that make wedding ceremonies memorable for guests.

For the next two weeks I may not be on-line at all. I will be back from my honeymoon on Easter Monday and I look forward to seeing you all then.

Take care and stay safe. Remember to try and post your support of ending sexual violence on April 5, Blog Against Sexual Violence Day.

Blog Against Sexual Violence logo



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Wedding Reading from Children's Picture Book: Guess How Much I Love you.

6:30 am Megan Bayliss

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney is one of our family favorites. I gave a copy to my oldest daughter on her 16th birthday (she's now 24) and we consistently say to each other, "I love you stars and moons." This phrase is a direct link to how much we have all appreciated the potency of love expressions in Guess How Much I Love You.



It is fitting then, that this story becomes a reading at our rainforest waterfall wedding this Saturday. Here it is for you all to enjoy too:




GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU
by Sam McBratney
©1994 Sam McBratney

Little Nutbrown Hare, who was going to bed, held on tight to Big Nutbrown Hare's very long ears. He wanted to be sure that Big Nutbrown Hare was listening.

"Guess how much I love you," he said.

"Oh, I don't think I could guess that," said Big Nutbrown Hare.

"This much," said Little Nutbrown Hare, stretching out his arms as wide as they could go.
Big Nutbrown Hare had even longer arms. "But I love YOU this much," he said.

Hmm, that is a lot, thought Little Nutbrown Hare.

"I love you as high as I can reach." said Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you as high as I can reach," said Big Nutbrown Hare.

That is quite high, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I had arms like that.
Then Little Nutbrown Hare had a good idea. He tumbled upside down and reached up the tree trunk with his feet.

"I love you all the way up to my toes!" he said.
"And I love you all the way up to your toes," said Big Nutbrown Hare, swinging him up over his head.

"I love you as high as I can HOP!" laughed Little Nutbrown Hare, bouncing up and down.
"But I love you as high as I can hop," smiled Big Nutbrown Hare - and he hopped so high that his ears touched the branches above.

That's good hopping, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I could hop like that.

"I love you all the way down the lane as far as the river," cried Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you across the river and over the hills," said Big Nutbrown Hare.

That's very far, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. He was almost too sleepy to think any more. Then he looked beyond the thorn bushes, out into the big dark night. Nothing could be further than the sky.
"I love you right up to the MOON," he said, and closed his eyes.
"Oh, that's far," said Big Nutbrown Hare. "That is very, very far."

Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed of leaves. He leaned over and kissed him good night.

Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile, "I love you right up to the moon - AND BACK."

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Children at Weddings: Acceptable or Non-Acceptable?

9:34 am Megan Bayliss

WINNER of the GNMParents


Our home is a full on wedding planner battle zone. We are getting married this month in destination Rainforest, below a magnificent waterfall (pictured).

The wedding is a child-focused event (I have four children plus two now out of care, foster children). My eleven year old is best man and in charge of the Laser Tag Buck’s party. He is also responsible for dispersing the numerous varieties of glow sticks, bracelets, and necklaces while the adults sit and sing around a huge bonfire. My eldest daughter is giving her stepfather away and my eldest son is giving me away. The six children will be standing up with my partner and I – my partner is marrying a family, not just me.

Following the wedding picnic lunch and while adults are toasting with champagne, making speeches and being thoroughly boring in their adult kind of way, fully supervised activities for the kids include archery, a wet slip and slide and a flying fox. We have karaoke and a DVD organised for later in the evening following a BBQ tea.

Children are important to me and I cannot imagine not having a family focused wedding with a major concentration on children. However, some interesting child protection concerns have arisen surrounding having children at weddings.

We wanted to have corroboree (Australian Aboriginal story telling dance) but the dance troupe of my choice said that they don’t take their children dancers to weddings because of the risk of exposing the children to excessive alcohol consumption, fights and abuse. Fair point and one that I had not previously considered.

Many of our friends have also stated that they won’t be bringing their children to our wedding in the rainforest. Their reasons were mixed (some alcohol consumption related) but most stated that they cannot conceive of attending a wedding with their own children. It is not that they dislike kids or have anything against other people taking children; they just don’t want to take their own because they’d like to relax and let their hair down.

We’re not changing our plans. We welcome children at our wedding and have designed the function to be safe, family friendly and enjoyable for both adults and children. This is not a new thing for us. When we launched my children’s book (Bitss of Caramel Marmalade on Toast) the entire launch was facilitated by children. I believe in children and I will always support child safety and developmentally appropriate functions.

With developmentally appropriate functions in mind, I am curious about your thoughts on children at weddings: Acceptable or non-acceptable?

Related Wedding article from my eleven year old son's site:


GNMParents said...
Congratulations this post has been nominated for a Hot Stuff Award at GNMParents (www.gnmparents.com)Voting closes Friday. Good Luck

Poll: Choose your Hot Stuff Winner

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