The royal couple Kate and William were at the arboretum until mid-morning on Thursday, planting an oak tree, while Yarralumla couple Alicia Fehily, 30, and Alan Martin, 37, were to be married in the chapel there at 3pm.

And here they are, now officially Mr and Mrs Martin, next to the royal-watered oak tree on the big day.

They plan to return each wedding anniversary to get a photograph next to the tree.

"It’ll grow as we do," Alicia said. A lovely sentiment.

Congratulations!

As one renovation show ends, another begins.

In the wake of WIN’s The Block finishing, Prime’s House Rules starts on Wednesday.

And the ACT can boast a contestant.

Grant Lovekin is a former Canberran now living in Tasmania. He is competing on the show with his partner Brooke Strong. Between them they have seven children.

And that’s a big reason for going on the show – the blended family of nine shares a 100-year-old timber cottage in the Huon Valley which boasts just two and a bit bedrooms.

Grant, who went to MacKillop Catholic College in Canberra, is a cabinetmaker with a strong competitive edge.

"We’ve got seven reasons for winning," he said.

"We’re not leaving our kids behind to come last, no way."

A confessed workaholic, Grant, who grew up in Wagga Wagga and Canberra before moving to Tasmania in his early 20s, regularly puts in 14-hour days to make ends meet. The couple reckon if they don’t win the first prize to wipe out their mortgage, they’ll have to split the family up and find separate accommodation for Brooke.

"Getting selected and knowing we could get an extra bedroom or two? We’re pumped," Grant said. "It’s already changed our lives and we haven’t even started."

And a word of warning from the first house renovation: not sure how many times one tatty, old orange cupboard can make an appearance in a show but this one seems set to have its on spin-off series. Watch and marvel.

House Rules returns to Prime on Wednesday at 7.30pm

We love the presence of children on Anzac Day.

Spotted at the national ceremony at the Australian War Memorial were three-year-old twins Eve and Elizabeth Roberts-Smith, daughters of Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith and wife Emma.

South Tuggeranong Girl Guides Charlotte, eight, and Siobhan Jacobs, 10, were handing out springs of rosemary.

Henry Martin, five, of Palmerston, was there marching with his dad Major Andrew Martin.

And little Tilly Eshbach, five, of Gordon, was dwarfed by the crowds but still hopeful of handing some flowers to the Duchess of Cambridge.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laid a wreath of poppies on the Stone of Remembrance at the Australian War Memorial on Friday, their accompanying hand-written note attached by a silver pin reading: "Never forgetting those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, William and Catherine".

Lens envy anyone?

Canberra photographer Jodi Shepherd from Hot Shots Photography was among the roving media pack for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to Canberra this week.

She got a photograph of herself among the mainly British photographers and their massive cameras (see her beaming in the front row), which gave her husband a bit of a chuckle.

"My husband said, 'Look at the size of your lens compared to the others!’. And I said, 'It’s not the size, it’s what you do with it’," she said, with a laugh.

Obstetrics and gynaecology specialist Dr Barry Kirby is an inspiration.

While working as a carpenter in Papua New Guinea in 1990, he had a life-changing experience.

One night, he found a seriously ill woman by the side of the road and drove her to hospital. Sadly, she later died.

The shattering experience made him want to do something about PNG’s failing health system.

He went back to studies in Queensland and PNG and at the age of 52 obtained his Australian medical registration.

He worked as an emergency department doctor in Brisbane and studied further in PNG in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Dr Kirby (pictured) now lives in Alotau, Milne Bay Province, and is working with the Australian maternal health charity Send Hope Not Flowers to address maternal mortality in Papua New Guinea.

You can hear him speak in Canberra at a fundraiser for Send Hope Not Flowers, which is also doubling as an early Mother’s Day luncheon.

His address is titled, Why are one in twenty women dying during childbirth in the developing world?

The event is on at the National Press Club on May 7, starting at 11.45am. Mothers take your daughters; daughters take your mums.

Tickets at www.npc.org.au/speakers/