Thanks everyone
Yes, somehow everything just came together very nicely, despite all the mix-ups and drama beforehand.
Marg, trust me, the only responsibility I can take for my hair is the person I chose to color, cut, and style it for me!
I am not very skilled at styling it myself (no patience).
I'm sure the harbor location with all its eucalyptus in the area does look very familiar to your little village
We've adopted many Australian plants in our landscape here.
They were fortunate to have the weather cooperating that day. The prior week it had been very overcast at the beach for most of each day.
Loth, yes, her favorite color is purple
That was made abundantly clear at her shower, too!
As they both arrived at the reception, the guests were to blow bubbles at them (some sort of inside joke they have) -- the label on the tiny bottle of bubbles said "Love Is In The Air" and the bride and groom's names... cute. And the party favor on the guest tables was a small cellophane bag of espresso chocolate in the shape of coffee beans (difficult child-bro is a Starbucks addict) -- with a little card inside that read "A Perfect Blend" with the bride an groom's names on one side and a request for people to share their photos with them at a Yahoo address they'd set up for the occasion.
The bride's mother did all the flowers herself (used to own a florist shop) -- and they really were lovely. Family friends helped with the decorating and did the catering -- a selection of fresh fruits, cheeses and crackers, veggies, bruschetta (with LOTS of garlic), warm mozzarella/pesto on toast, for the cocktail hour, wine, beer, champagne and sodas at the bar, Italian pasta (choice of penne with meatballs and marinara sauce or bowtie with chicken cacciatore), two types of green salad and two types of bread for dipping in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and of course the wedding cake for dessert (it was a very simple white cake with a good buttercream frosting). They had a decent DJ who played Sinatra for the cocktail hour and first dance, then rolled into '70's disco and 80's dance tunes the rest of the evening -- it was a good mix for that crowd.
I think this woman will be a good mate for difficult child-bro. She seems to really enjoy looking after him and he certainly needs someone to help him keep his life in order. I hope that he gives her what she needs, too. She seems to understand his faults so far, and seems to accept them, too.