Sponge

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

2/3 cup castor sugar

1 cup corn flour

½ teaspoon bicarb

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Salt

1 tablespoon of vanilla

1 tablespoon of boiling water

Method

1. Set your oven to 190 degrees Celsius
2. Grease and line your tin: I prefer round springform pans
3. Beat eggwhite until stiff, gradually add sugar and beat well
4. Add egg yolks
5. Sieve all dry ingredients (remembering to check corn flour is you want it to be gluten free) and fold into mix
6. Add vanilla
7. Fold in boiling water
8. Put in pan and bake until done (this will depend on the size of your tin and oven)
9. Cool completely and then cut into at least two layers
10. Fill with jam and cream
11. I love covering the whole sponge with a layer of cream as well (and this hides imperfections too)

This is the moment we secured a love lock at our recent wedding. It was one of the significant moments of the day. We hope that it will always be there on that swing, which was built just for the occasion. That our children and grandchildren will play in the tree and have a piece of us, our love, and our vision for “Pleasant View” with them always.

We hope this blog will also serve as a record of the early days of our marriage. It will cover life on the farm, what the animals are up to, the changes we make, and of course stay tuned for some recipes from Kilmuir Kitchen.

Today’s blog, though, is all about our wedding day. April 18, 2015, is our favourite day in our story so far – and also the wettest. We had about 100mm of rain leading up to and on the day. Luckily most of our guests were from farming backgrounds - there were smiles all round.

Everyone pitched in to help. My brother Nathan, and brother-in-law to be Kurt ran around in the rain, putting down boards for people to walk on, painting, mowing, whatever was asked of them - they even kept the bar stocked all night. Thank you!

Special thanks to Mum and Dad, who were again spectacular. Your support for us knows no limits and as I said on the night, thank you is simply not enough.

And of course, thank you to our fantastic bridal party, Dave, Matt, Scotty, Alicia and Kara - you're all great sports and important parts of our pasts and our collective future.

Countless other people helped out, and we thank you all, for it wasn't an easy ride.

The electricity company turned off the power to our coolroom, freezers and house water pump in the days prior due to a clerical error. I was relieved. That was our disaster out of the way. Not quite so ...

Besides the wet weather there was a flood at the back door, power tripped off, boxes of wine went flying, our roast dinner caught on fire, the list goes on. But as in life, the setbacks have made our story stronger.

It certainly wasn't all bad. We had a beautiful moment when it was just mum and my bridesmaids. The boys were all out running in the rain, the hairdressers and make-up artist had left. It was the calm before the storm ... and the rain kept falling.

Natasha’s cousin Wayne arrived in their Nana’s car. It was used at her parents' wedding in 1982 and other family weddings along the way. It had to have a major mechanical overhaul the week prior, but it made it on the big day. 

Travelling along, Wayne trying to get the demister to work, Dad writing his speech, I looked out the back window and noticed the groomsmen were behind us.

Best man Dave explained in the speech they were late because Dean wanted to stop at a garage sale, but I was to later learn that they were early but had to turn around on the outskirts of town to retrieve the ring from Eldorado.

Walking down the aisle happens so fast. The minister had asked Dean not to look at me as I walked down the aisle but he did! I didn’t know whether to look at him or not! Although, in hindsight, the minister also said she’d lock the doors if we were 10 minutes late and we’d got in so she must have been bluffing.

As the rain tumbled down around the 150-year-old church, with its golden stars shining above us, we vowed to love and support each other forever. Dean actually vowed such twice, when the minister got a little confused.

No one prepares you for how emotional your wedding day is. The simple joy, being surrounded by so much love and well wishes from family and friends, it’s overwhelming in a perfect way.

We took off in the limo to for the photographs. It was still pouring rain so Scotty ducked into the historic Beechworth Courthouse to see if we could get pictures inside. The manager not only agreed but I think he loved it more than us. He pulled out a ball and chain for Dean, which had us all in stiches. Then he brought out heaps of costumes. He would of had us all afternoon if we had the time. Thank you so much.

It was still raining and didn’t even look like lifting, but as we turned into our lane at Eldorado the rain stopped and the clouds were breaking apart. It was the first sunshine we had seen in days. We were being welcomed home. We jumped, well as much as you can in a wedding gown, out of the limo and snapped some shots and a fantastic group shot.

Back at the farm we cut the cakes and took a group shot. The tractor with a pallet came in handy. Thanks to Luke for playing along. Without your brave move we wouldn't have been able to capture all these smiling faces.

There were speeches, dancing, drinking and laughter to come. But the rain had allowed us a moment we had been hoping for. The release of wish lanterns across the property. 

The collective will for the lanterns to soar and the support we felt from our family on friends at the moment and throughout the day were so incredibly special. Like those lanterns, it will be onwards and upwards for us now. There'll be a few falls along the way, we will burn if we get too close to a flame, we may even get a little stuck (in a tree) but we know our story is going to be beautiful.