Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Perfect Wedding Gift That Nearly Went Astray

Last year was the Year of the Wedding. My daughter Felicity married her beloved, Graham at our parish church, in October 2011. There were many decisions to make as we planned their special day including...

What should we give the bride and groom as a wedding gift?

Felicity and Graham live in Perth on the west coast of Australia. We live on the east coast. There is a lot of Australia between us. Felicity and Graham had to travel by plane to come home and be married in the parish where Felicity grew up. 

So I wanted their wedding present to be...

small enough to fit easily into their luggage and

light enough not to affect their luggage weight allowance.

I wanted it to be something that was very special, preferably hand-made just for them,

and something they could use for the rest of their lives.

I wanted to give them something beautiful, even exquisite 

and it had to have some religious significance.

I thought and thought and then I thought of my friend Anne. I visited her online shop. All Beautiful Catholic Beads and soon I'd decided the perfect wedding gift would be two sets of Anne's hand-made Rosary beads.

I emailed Anne and we discussed possibilities and then I waited... 

and soon I received an email: "Hi Sue, I have just finished the Rosary beads..." and there were some photos attached...



For Felicity, Anne had made...


 The Sunburst of Guadalupe



in golden stones and crystals.


And for Graham


a man's set


in matching warm, brown colours.


Felicity and Graham were married on the 29th October at St Michael's


and later, at the reception we gave them our wedding gift


and they were so delighted with their Rosary beads, hand-made just for them by Anne, and blessed by our parish priest. May Felicity and Graham pray many Rosaries on their beads... May God shower them with blessings... May they have a long and joyful life together...

Felicity and Graham set off back to Perth several days after their wedding. They packed their bags and drove to the airport and caught their plane and, somehow the Rosary beads got left behind.

I parcelled up the beads plus a few other wedding gifts and posted them off to the newly married couple. A few days went by, several weeks went by... I became anxious. What if the Rosary beads were lost in the post?

Finally, I received a message from Felicity: "At last, the parcel has arrived, Mum! You addressed it to Perth, New South Wales... not Perth, Western Australia. You probably confused the mailman."

Perth, New South Wales? Wouldn't that be nice. If Perth was in New South Wales we'd all live a whole lot closer to each other.

Thank you, Anne for making our wedding gift so special. The Rosary beads were PERFECT!


Anne's Rosary beads, Tenners and religious jewellery are works of art. 

If you visit her blog All Beautiful Catholic Beads, You will be able to see her Faithful Companions of Jesus Rosary, her Mother of Good Counsel Rosary, her Shower of Roses Rosary, her Two Doves Rosary, her St Joseph Rosary and others...

6 comments:

  1. So lovely to see the beautiful wedding photos, Sue! I'm glad they both love their rosary beads, may they be a blessing to them, all throughout their married life.

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  2. Anne,

    Thank you for your comment, but most of all, thank you for making the beautiful beads. They were the perfect gift!

    I must chat to you about my birthday present... can't wait!

    God bless.

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  3. Sue, those beads are lovely and, I think, the perfect gift! Paul and I were just talking about Perth tonight. That is where the chiropractic education conference is being held in September. I wondered how close that would be to you, but alas, it is not.:(. In any case, Paul decided not to participate and is planning on attending next year's conference in south Africa instead.

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  4. Grace,

    Thank you for stopping and saying hello! Yes, the beads are beautiful, even more exquisite in real life. They feel so good too!

    I am sorry to hear you're not coming to Australia. Maybe another time. I will just have to keep up with you and your family through your blog.

    I've never to been to Perth though my daughter has lived there for a few years now. She says it's a very beautiful city. She especially loves the weather. We have cold winters here and mild summers. Whenever Felicity comes home she shivers as she has become accustomed to the hotter weather of Perth.

    I guess we will travel to see Felicity and Graham one day and we will see Perth for ourselves. The long distance makes travel expensive especially for a largish family.

    God bless!

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  5. What a perfect wedding gift for a new bride and groom! Lets them know that prayer should be a focus in their marriage! I'm happy they got there!

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  6. Noreen,

    You are quite right: prayer should be the foundation of every marriage. I like how you expressed that!

    I was quite anxious when the parcel didn't arrive in Perth. I thought of all Anne's work and how it would have been so sad if Felicity and Graham had never got to use their beautiful Rosaries. Silly mistake I made addressing the parcel. Could I have been subconsciously wishing that Perth and Felicity and Graham were closer to us, here in New South Wales?

    Thank you for your comment!

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