I've finally finished it - ***Sapphire's wedding report***

Friday, 2nd September, morning of the wedding.

CBM got up at 7am to get ready while I lay in bed eating coco pops and pretending that I wasn’t getting married in 4 hours. Getting washed took ages because there was no shower (or shower attachment) in our room, only a bath. My cousin came to my room to put my hair in rollers and the togs turned up to take some photos of us getting ready. Too late I realised that I really should have worn something a bit more glamorous for the getting ready shots than my Primarni pjs.

I got a worried text from the pianist 30 minutes before the ceremony saying she was at the church and no one was there – was everything alright? I text back saying not to worry as, knowing our families, mine would still be pottering around in their pjs like they have all the time in the world, and H’s would be downing shots of palinka (v strong Hungarian spirit) somewhere. I was right on both counts.

My mum stopped by to see me and give me a hug. One of H’s best friends turned up, which was completely unexpected, with a present from H. It was a pair of Vivienne Westwood earrings, which I was very pleased with.

I had had lots of elaborate ideas about fake individual eyelashes and tricky eyeshadow application, but in the end I decided to wear the same make-up I put on for going out because I felt more comfortable like that. And also because I couldn’t be @rsed...

Meanwhile, at the church, the BM still hadn’t turned up and H was panicking. When H panics it starts small and kind of spirals until someone (usually me) is able to bring him back down to earth. Unfortunately, none of the guests knew how to do this and decided that comedy would be the way forward, eg. Joking about having to borrow rings from guests a la Four Weddings and a Funeral. This pretty much tipped H over the edge and he had to be calmed down by several people, including the nice lady who works in the church, as he ranted about exactly what he would do to BM when he saw him.

H (left) strangling BM who cleary isn't getting into the spirit of the photo to the same extent that H is.

Back at the reception venue, I was ready but the car wasn’t (roadworks); CBM took this time to ask me if I was 100% sure I wanted to get married. I said “actually, no. This marriage is just a cover. I’m really a lesbian and for the last 17 years I have secretly been in love with you. Let’s run away together.” We both cracked up laughing and I wasn’t so nervous.

As the car drove out of the venue CBM noticed that there was a car following us. It was BM, BM’s gf, bro and bro’s gf. I kept thinking that they were going to overtake us and shrieked every time whilst trying to duck my head down because I didn’t want them to see me before H. Luckily, our driver was lovely (with a very strong Devonshire accent, which I enjoyed!) so I don’t think he minded too much that I kept screaming in his ear. Turns out that BM had got lost and had to follow us to the church.

When I got out the car there were several people who we hadn’t invited but who lived in the town so knew me when I was growing up waiting to see me and take photos. It felt a bit like being a celebrity, except with middle aged women in place of the paparazzi.

CBM sorted out my skirts, layer by layer. I was a mass of nerves by this point and kept saying ‘oh God!’ and ‘Jesus Christ!’ and then remembering that I was in church, apologise to the priest, only to keep saying it. Everyone was quite shocked when I told them that my dad wouldn’t be walking me down the aisle. The nice old man who was registering the marriage, (not a registrar but someone who is very involved with the church and has known me since birth), offered to give me away. I said thank you but it might look a bit odd to have someone else give me away when my dad is sitting, quite able-bodied, in the front pew. He was very worried about me though and kept asking whether I would be ok, which was sweet.

Lovely! Keep it coming ?

The walk down the aisle was one of the scariest things I had ever done. I was concentrating so hard on walking in a straight line, not falling over and not stepping on my dress; I practically ran the last metre, I was so relieved to get there. H lifted up my veil and told me how beautiful I looked. I was so nervous still that I was shaking through the entire ceremony. Finally, we were married!!! ?

Thanks ?

Few more pics of the ceremony:

Loving it so far................ keep it coming xx

Loving the report so far, the pictures are amazing

can't wait for the rest

The tog arrived and we did a few B&G shots then we grabbed a drink and chatted to the guests. It was a lovely sunny day, but boiling hot; I thought I was going to pass out in my huge dress.

There were only 41 guests (including us) and the room we ate in was quite small so the wedding breakfast was very intimate, and everyone got on very well. My mum made a speech in place of my dad (who doesn’t like public speaking); she didn’t have anything written down but said she had a vague idea of what she wanted to say. She said how last year she and my dad celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary and how much she loved being married. Then she talked about having her children and some funny stories from when we were growing up. She said how proud she was of us all, and that if we weren’t her children she would like to have friends like us. She welcomed H to the family and said she loved him and my siblings’ partners as though they were her own children. Everyone was in tears by the end of it. H decided not to use his speech and improvised instead. He thanked my family for treating him like a relative from the first time they met him and said some really nice things about the people who had helped him when he first came to England. Plus some stuff about how happy he was to be married to me.

My brother bawling like a baby over my mum's speech ?

What fabulous photos. LOVE the one of you walking down the aisle and the one of your brother crying ?

After the WB we had some group shots and then H and the other Hungarians disappeared for a while; I later found out that they were all upstairs downing Palinka.

The singers arrived at 7pm, they were buskers which H and I had heard whilst out shopping months ago, but we loved their style so asked them to play at the wedding. I hadn’t had time to set out the dancefloor in the way I had imagined and I was expecting someone to have switched on flashing disco lights because I hadn’t specified any other form of lighting. When we walked into the room though there were no coloured lights, only some led tea lights in little glass jars dotted about and around the stage there were white fairy lights. It was all exactly as I had wanted it, and I still don’t know who made it like that. Our first dance was to a cover of Elton John’s Your Song, which was sung by the female singer. Before it started, H turned to the guests and said “I know that this was another couple’s choice of first dance song this year, but I want you to know that we thought of it first.” I was worried that no one would dance but the dance floor was filled all night.

At 9pm we had a barbeque in the garden, which was yummy and perfect for soaking up all the alcohol. We had given out personalised miniatures of palinka (a recurring theme at our wedding) and several people were asking H about it; H ended up filling a massive jug full of the stuff and before long everyone was doing shots of it - including my normally tee-total cousin and my 83 year old grandmother.

By midnight everyone had gone to bed apart from me, H and my family (still quite a few people as there are 26 of us!). We collapsed on the sofas in the entrance hall of the venue and stayed up chatting for ages. Eventually we all went to bed, but people kept coming to our room to see what the bridal suite looked like and chat some more/make stupid innuendos about what we would be getting up to later. There was a last knock on the door, but when we looked out there was no one there, only a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. H and I had a bath, changed into our pjs and drunk champagne while we opened all our cards and chatted about the day. There was a half-hearted attempt at consummating the marriage but we gave up in the end and fell fast asleep.

A few more photos:

And FINALLY:

Huge N & P to Sherrie for the fowers. They were so beautiful. My gran's corsage now makes an appearance at every occasion ?

Lovely report Sapphire x

Congratulations, great report and gorgeous pictures.x

You looked gorgeous, thank you for sharing (finally) xx

Congrats! The pictures are beautiful! Was your bouquet silk flowers as well?

You looked lovely! And you got married 2 days before me! Nearly date twins!

Stunning photographs and a lovely report!

Congratulations to you both!

Yes, they were. The bouquets, buttonholes and corsages were all silk and made up by Sherrie. The flowers in the church and reception venue were real.

Wow, they are beautiful. Your bouquet looks real in that close up picture

Thanks LilMissRed, yeah, I was really pleased with them.

What stunning photos! congratulations x

Congratulations, you looked beautiful

Congrats u lookd stunnin

We've not "met", but I loved your report and the photography was ace.

Who is Sherrie?

Congratulations, everything looked beautiful

Love your photos and well it all really! Congratulations!

Oh Sapphire, everything looked lovely. A great report of a beautiful day!