You won’t be surprised to learn there’s a backstory to the dress I wore for our wedding. In fact, it was quite the international effort to get it made and ready for the day.

To start at the beginning; Greg and I really enjoy the history that’s on display everywhere here in Italy. I know we’ve talked before about that feeling of walking where others have walked for 2,000 years, or the thrill of seeing a painting created centuries ago by a Renaissance master. It’s amazing.

But always top of mind for us, too, is our own history. The ancestors of Australia’s indigenous people have walked on that land for 60,000 years, and rock art thought to have been painted up to 40,000 years ago can still be seen there. Now that’s astonishing.

So for our wedding we wanted to bring something of Australia to Italy, something that would help us celebrate both countries and their unique histories. That something was a beautiful fabric designed by Deborah Wurrikidj, a renowned fine arts practitioner from the Northern Territory. For almost two decades, Deborah’s work has been exhibited throughout Australia and overseas (most recently in Paris earlier this year). We found Deborah’s fabric (her depiction of the Manwak blooms that are a favourite bush food of her people) on the website of the Babbarra Women’s Centre (www.babbarra.com).

The moment we saw Deborah’s design Greg and I knew it was exactly what we wanted. The team swung into action but by then, the race was on to get the fabric to Italy before every dressmaker in the country closed for the August holidays. Our daughter, Grace, contacted Babbarra – who were terrific – and arranged to have the fabric shipped to her and then she forwarded it on to Italy.

Meanwhile at this end, the search for a dressmaker was proving difficult. Apparently no one was keen to embark on a rush job to create a dress based on a design that was nothing more than a vague pencil sketch, from an unseen fabric produced on the other side of the world which might arrive who knows when. Really, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?

And then our wonderful friends, Anna and Benedetta, found a dressmaker in Piedmont who was not only willing to take on the project but who also happened to be a highly-skilled designer and seamstress.

So finally – after a lot of effort on everyone’s part – the dress became a reality. And the rest, as they say, is history.