Thirsty Kirstie: Bonfire Night

Last night marked the end of our very big weekend. With a wedding large enough to rival Will and Kate's, months of planning, thousands of dollars of hires, staff in the dozens and souvenir tea towels, it would be polite to say that it was a very big weekend.

The weekend started with the rehearsal dinner, with 16 bunches of flowers on each table as a centrepiece. We started setting up for the main event on Thursday, with hires from 5 different companies. The main event was Saturday with a late afternoon ceremony, followed by an hour of canapes, then a 2 hour degustation menu of more elaborate canape style options. With 32 waitstaff on the floor, the event ran like clockwork. I worked from 8:00am till 1:30am the following day, then was back up at 6:00am for a 7:00am start, for the next part of the event...the Christening.

Sometime betweenn 1:30 - 4:00am Cieran decided to rip up the outdoor dancefloor to save the grass.

In the cool of the morning we were hyped up from the night before, even though a random guest had set fire to a wedding program in the toilets (sometime between vomiting all ofver the floor) and almost burnt down the historical homestead. We set up 13 tables in the turning circle with nice white brollies, before the guests turned up 45 mins early to lunch. But by then nothing could dampen the mood.

A long afternoon of washing glasses, moving chairs, unpacking tents, and arranging dinner for the third night of revellries.

By Monday afternoon, when all the guests had left, we were a little more rested and relaxed, just in time for bonfire night. Some time ago most of the fence at the top paddock was replaced and the old fence railings were stacked up for a bonfire. With no better excuse than the wedding of the century, we planned the big night.

Cieran spent the day making the pyre larger and more impressive looking, sticking in a pole with a flag, just for good measure. By mid afternoon we gathered, in time to watch the sunset, while Cieran made the final touches. A jerry can of petrol, a pole dance for good luck, then came the Robin Hood moment.

In a moment of inspiration, Cieran decided to light the fire with spectacular means, with a burning arrow. Followed up by a gunshot (in something more resembling a Mythbusters episode). The first try of the aroow fell short and just ignited the grass. The gunshot also made no impact. The burning arrow was retrieved and re-shot. When no amazing fireball ensure, a beer bottle was filled with petrol and thrown in. Finally the pile caught alight, after some manoeuvering.

Hoorah! And then the night got silly. All afternoon I'd had visions of running around the fire like an indian and yahoo-ing. So we did. Until I fell in a hole and we lost some of our followers to bed time and curfews and D & M's, as inevitably happen at a staff event when everyone is emotionally and physically drained. It was a spectacular night.

By the way, all of these shots were taken with my new Nikon D5000, which I am still mastering.