Sorry for the delay - what with the honeymoon and my new job this is the first time I've been able to post it.
Friday 8th August
Woke up about 8.30am feeling very relaxed about getting married in the registry office. Suddenly had a complete panic and couldn’t eat my breakfast. At 9.30am both me and my H thought we were going to be late so dashed over to the registry office – and got there an hour early! It must have been the date but there were so many weddings - there were 15 all together. We saw two other weddings whilst we were waiting outside. When the registrar took us into the room before the ceremony we couldn’t remember what we were going to say and made the mistake of saying we were having another ceremony on Saturday. She said that she didn’t think we were taking it seriously enough. Anyway the ceremony was over in a flash – we had the bare minimum with no readings or anything:
Us outside the registry office.
We didn’t celebrate or anything as there was too much to do. We went back to my mums house and decorated like mad. My friends came to help me which was a really life saver – we had been really busy all week doing things but we really needed some people to help us put things up at that point! It did look fab in the end though:
We finished about 10.30pm and let off a sky lantern to celebrate – it was lovely and calm at this point. Then H and our son went to his mum’s for the night and I did my nails and re-read my vows.
Saturday 9th August
I surprised myself by actually getting some sleep and I woke up at 7.30am to rain – I phoned my H in panic as we hadn’t put any of the wet weather precautions up the night before. So H and his brother came round to put up the gazebo and tarpaulins, whilst I tried to dodge seeing him. So I went into Hebden Bridge and booked into our first night hotel and went to get some flowers from the florist for our mums to say thank you. My friend Emma, my sister who was chief BM and myself went to get our hair done – it was so relaxing after the stress of the day before but I kept looking at the rain (which never stopped all day). Also when I came out of the hairdressers my tiara got stuck in my umbrella! Very scary but my sister managed to untangle it. When I got back to my mum’s house, the garden was water proof but the house was a tip – I had a complete bridezilla moment (the only one I ever had) and started to rant at my mum about how unorganised she was and how I was very organised about everything and she had let me down (I apologised loads for this!). I decided to go and can my dress on and do my make up so I could calm down. Then my little BMs came and were fantastic – they ran around and did loads of tasks. When I was ready and went downstairs everything was perfect – just goes to show that everything will come together in the end.
At 3.30pm on the dot I decided I wanted to come out so the minister gathered everyone together, the music started to play and we walked out – the smallest BM first followed by the two 11 year old bridesmaids and me and my sister:
One tip for any B2Bs out there – let the music play for 10-15 seconds first. I didn’t and wish I had because it was about 3 minutes long.
The ceremony was just perfect – because it was humanist and we had chosen everything ourselves it was such a brilliant reflection of us as a couple.
Our son was brilliant as our best kid and our friend did the Dr Seuss reading in a Dr Seuss style which was brilliant. Once we said our vows, we signed a Quaker style wedding certificate (which said our vows on it and everyone who was there signed it to say they had witnesses our marriage).
and as the signing was going on everyone was given a glass of champagne for a toast:
The toast was great – we weren’t going to walk back up the aisle so it was a fantastic end to the ceremony.
Once the ceremony was over, we had confetti throwing:
And group photos:
I think the best thing about the reception was seeing so many people from all parts of our lives together and having a great time. The rain never stopped but the kids loved it. We didn’t have any speeches but did have an informal thank you session to give presents to those who helped us. Lots of champagne and Bottleneck Bride (the local beer) was drunk and everyone had a merry old time!
Things I have learnt:
- It is stressful but worth it – I thought that all brides had a bubble bath and a glass of champagne on the morning of my wedding. Instead I didn’t stop doing things until 1.30pm when the ceremony started at 3.30pm.
- It is the best day of your live - it does go really quickly but it is also completely wonderful and amazing. Don't worry about the weather - in many ways the rain made our wedding day (well it certainly made our sons day!)
- You might be very emotional afterwards – I thought I might cry at the ceremony. Instead I cried for about a week afterwards because I was so happy (and so did my H!) I was a complete emotional wreak and I still have my moments.
More pictures -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/14671778@N08/sets/72157606574560870/
N&P:
Richard Alridge – our humanist minster for creating a unique and wonderful ceremony http://www.humanistminister.co.uk/index.html
Coffee Culture – for all the lovely food https://www.coffeeculturecatering.com/cccoffee.html
More Cake? – for yummy lemon and carrot cupcakes http://www.morecake.co.uk/index.html
Vin Bootle – for making our rings http://www.vinbootle.co.uk/
Shropshire Petals – for the confetti which smelt as lovely as it looked https://www.shropshirepetals.com/
