My brother is married now.
His bride was so beautiful I could die thinking about that dress. She fretted for months and needn’t have worried. That girl would make a potato sack look good, with accessories to match!
He scrubs up alright in a suit and some smashing cuff links, and chose my handsome husband to accompany him as a groomsman. I won’t lie – I wanted to be up there with him and I reckon I’d have looked hot in a tie, but me in a three piece suit would have been plain weird. Sometimes the brother-in-law has to do the sister’s job, and my Josh did well making sure the groom made it to his altar.
I don’t know if they really
wanted me to do a speech, but then, who ever really wants anyone to do a wedding speech? Bad jokes and awkward anecdotes, right? Not this time and not at this wedding! Everyone was brilliant! So many laughs! Then there was mine…
I’ve been told it was good, so I thought I’d share the words I gave my brother Mark, and his new wife Brooke, on their wedding night…
I began my life with Mark by informing everyone within earshot that he belonged to me. He was my baby, my dolly, my brother. He was mine.
I began my time at high school terrified he would be so annoying and completely embarrassing. However I was equally determined that if any grubby Collie-kid lifted a finger to him they would face my wrath. He was, after all, still mine.
I began my married life with him at my side as my ‘brides man’. It was his rightful place. He was still, afterall, mine.
And many things are said about the Wanstall family. We like a good time, perhaps a little too much and a little too often, but always with the best intentions. We like new things, loud things, sporty things, fast things and furry things. We are gypsies and miners and work with our hands and serve with our hearts.
We also love. We love fiercely and without caution, sometimes against our better judgement.
My father once told me he ‘just knew’ my mother was his ‘one’, even if she took some convincing. I’ve seen that knowing in every day I’ve been with them and it has never waxed or waned.
I knew my Josh was my ‘one’ – again even though he needed some convincing. Fierce, unwavering love is the stock and trade of this family.
I knew Mark had found his ‘one’ by the way he spoke of Brooke, the way he cracked his wide, wild grin at the mention of her name. I knew he loved as powerfully as the rest of us, and this left me in no doubt of their future.
These two were bound together long before today. We were just privileged to witness the formality of something that has always been.
We Wanstall’s build our love strong as steel, yet pliable enough to weather the bitterest of storms.
I have no concerns for these two. They will bend but never break. And if the love between them is even half the potency of what I feel for the brother I still call mine, then it is enough to out shine the sun on its brightest day.
He is yours now Brooke – with his hugeness and his smile and his tools and his God awful snoring. May it always be your lullaby. His hands will keep you safe and his dancing will keep you laughing. His mess will keep you busy and his food will, I’m sorry, keep you full.
Congratulations and may your lives be happy and full for all your days.
All the best dearest brother and sister – be safe, be strong, be happy and be together, in all things.
xo
Alicia Wanstall-Burke 
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