Well here it is… I can’t believe that I am now an OM and writing my report. It seems so long ago now already but I had the most AMAZING day! I have tried to include as much detail as possible and as I knew you wouldn’t want to wait any longer, I have posted with guest photos. I will still make sure I flash the professional ones later if you want to see? ?
Wednesday 16th March 2011 – 3 sleeps!
Wednesday was my last day at work, I had stupid meetings for most of the morning which was annoying but I was spoilt at lunchtime with a presentation from the HR director. They had decorated my desk with tonnes of confetti, banners, streamers and balloons and made me wear an L-plate all day! I was given a card and present and we all stood around drinking pretend champagne (cava!) for about half an hour. I apologised to the entire department for talking them to death about the wedding but they all still seemed genuinely excited for me! They gave us a lovely heart shaped blackboard and some honeymoon vouchers.
After work I raced home to get changed and we got straight in the car to go to the Church for the wedding rehearsal. As long as the motorway was behaving we would be ok. As it happens, the Best Man was late anyway. It was the first time I had seen my dad and his partner since they moved to Spain last April so was quite emotional. There was another couple and their family in the church when we arrived too. They were having their chat with the Vicar so we started with the service.
The verger ran us through the entire ceremony and we had to say all our vows out loud which felt a little weird! After we had worked out where everyone needed to be and when, we swapped with the other couple and went for our chat with the Vicar. He was lovely, and completely put us at ease. He checked a few formal details about us and the ceremony and then we just chatted for a bit about where we met (we changed “pissed in Hertford” to a “social occasion”!!), what our plans were for the future, our honeymoon… it was all lovely. We headed home and I finished printing and stapling all of the orders of service.
Thursday 17th March 2011 – 2 sleeps!
Mr C was still at work and so I had the flat to myself to get the last bits done. I picked up the cake from M&S at 10am, and then headed over to my mums to go and get my nails done, which took ages and I finally got home about 2pm to start on the menus and table name cards. Everything was taking longer than anticipated (partly due to my controlling need for everything being absolutely perfect) and I was finally sent to bed at 11pm!
Friday 18th March 2011 – 1 sleep!
I woke up and sat at my pc with a cup of tea reading my good luck thread… so lovely!!
Still with loads to do I had an appointment to get my eyelashes done at 10am – loved them! I still had the flat to myself as Mr C was still at work and had the place cards, table plan, activity boxes, frames etc. still to do. I was supposed to pick up my dress at 2pm and take it to the venue to hang up, then come back and pick up the rest of the decorations and take them over, come back one last time to see Mr C and then go for dinner with my family. But no, some stupid selfish arse decided to overturn a car transporter on the M25 and it had been closed since Thursday night. I wasn’t going anywhere fast.
I was running out of time and going through rescue remedy like it was going out of fashion. Mum came to the rescue and collected the dresses for me (the seamstress had also repaired the god awful mess of the replacement zip incident and it was perfect!) and then turned up at my flat to make tea, sort the table decorations into envelopes and generally calm me down. No matter how organised you think you are, do not try and do everything on your own!!
Mum took as much as she could in her car and I was going to follow with the rest after I had seen Mr C when he got home from work. I had planned to give him his gifts that night but they were still not wrapped so I took them with me with the intention of dropping them at his mums later that night.
After we finally packed everything up that we needed we set off, I dropped Mr C off at the pub to see his friends and then carried on to the venue. I finally arrived at 8pm, shattered, hungry and in desperate need of the very large glass of wine that awaited me in the bar! I met with the coordinator who was a very lovely little man called Adrian (I think he was French) and showed him all the decorations and what was to go where. He loved that each table had its own envelope with table card, menus, place cards and favours. He made lots of notes and I trusted that he would get everything sorted for me.
My family and I finally sat down for dinner at 9.30pm!!! My sister gave me a present at the table which was our guest book (Oh So Cherished) and a keepsake box. She had even gone to Hobbycraft to get ribbon in the right colour to wrap everything with and my sister is the least crafty person ever! Inside the box was something old (a photo of me & my sister as bridesmaids in these hideous aqua 80’s puffball sleeved dresses!), something new (box of hotel chocolat yummies), something borrowed (a photo of my niece who I was “borrowing” as flowergirl for the day) and something blue (a personalised blue garter with “Mrs Cross” embroidered onto it). There was also a sixpence and a poem inside. I cried… again.
I still hadn’t sorted the children’s activity boxes and so after dinner we set up a production line in the bar and they were sorted in no time at all. I still hadn’t made the dressing up props or wrapped OH’s present but it was too late.
We headed to our rooms at about midnight. I had my own room which I was quite grateful for after all the rushing about and stress of the day. I put on the tv and went for a shower, painted my toenails and pottered about laying out all my make-up and everything ready for the morning.
I hereby relinquish my most organised hitcher award *hands back award* for leaving everything to the last minute!!!
Saturday 19th March 2011 – 0 sleeps!!!!!!!!
I woke up before my alarm went off as the sun was streaming through the curtains. I got up and looked at the window to be greeted by blue skies and sunshine! Yay!!!
I called all my family to see who was up and ready for breakfast and we all headed down to the restaurant. I got myself a huge full English and sat down with my parents, their partners, my sister and her other half and their 2 kids. We were quite merrily talking and I kept randomly bursting into tears for what seemed like no reason at all… it was all very surreal. I managed to eat all my breakfast though which was good.
We headed back to the room just as my hairdresser arrived about 9.30am. I changed back into my rather fetching cow print pjs and sat in the chair ready to get my hair started. About 10am the videographer arrived, he was so lovely and was just like one of us. He came in with all his kit and I put some music on to chill us all out. I felt fine at this point, we were all nice and relaxed, my sister was chatting away to me and my niece was playing on her Nintendo ds on the bed. Once my hair was finished, it was my sister’s turn.
I sat cross legged on the floor by the window putting on my make-up. The videographer asked me where my shoes and jewellery were and I think I just said “over there somewhere, help yourself!”. He found the blue evening shoes and loved them, even cleaned the window so he could shoot them in the glistening sunshine.
Before I knew it, the photographer had arrived, all our hair was done and the champagne arrived. We had relaxed a little too much and it was now 11.45am. The car was arriving at 12pm and none of us were dressed yet! My sister and mum were meant to leave first as my mum had the orders of service, we ended up all leaving together at 12.15pm! I put on my lip gloss, shoved it down the front of my dress for later (classy!) and I was ready.
As we walked out of the room I suddenly remembered the garter… so dad ran back in and grabbed it. We snuck out of the fire escape as it was closer to the car park and the white taxi was shining outside in the sunshine. Dad and I got into the car and it was a bit of a mission to be able to sit down in my dress!! I eventually got comfortable and the back of the car was filled with a cloud of ivory French silk taffeta!
My dad, bless him, helped me put on the garter in the car and that was it, we were off! I realised looking at my bouquet that I had forgotten the little pictures of my grandparents on their wedding day too, I was gutted, but they were still there with me.
Lots of people waving and car horns tooting on the way and I started to get a little self conscious of everyone looking at me! I noticed that the tax disc holder in the cab was a Liverpool FC one… Mr C would be pleased!
Mr C had been having a laugh with the photographer outside the church, him and his best man striking comedy poses and then checking themselves out on the camera!
As we pulled up outside the church there was a group of people gathered with their cameras, most of them were parents of our friends who had come to see us get married! I got out of the car as ladylike as possible (!!) and straightened myself out. Took a huge gulp of water from the bottle that Dad had stashed in the car and we headed for the door. I was met by the Vicar and we gathered ourselves in the porch area. I heard the piano start and took a deep breath. I felt my eyes welling up as this wave of emotion came over me. Dad squeezed my hand and my sister turned round to say that she loved me… to which I responded “not now”!
They opened the huge wooden doors and the vicar entered first, followed by my sister and niece, then me and dad. I made sure that I didn’t rush and took my time walking up the aisle but the minute I saw Mr C, all I wanted to do was run up and hug him. He looked so proud of me (I am crying now writing this!!).
I saw my oldest friend of 25 years and she started to cry, I was apparently heard to say “don’t you dare!”. I understand that there were a fair few tears in the Church!
I reached the top of the aisle and stood side by side with Mr C. He had that lovely glint in his eye and looked so handsome. He whispered to me and said that I looked amazing and that he loved me. I never let go of my dad’s arm the entire time! My legs were shaking with adrenaline and I just concentrated on what the Vicar was saying. We all laughed when he started the first prayers and asked the congregation to “close our heads…”.
I whispered to my cousin that my garter was falling down so she promptly ducked under my dress to put it back where it should be! I had visions of it falling round my ankle!
We gathered everyone outside the main church door for a big group photo. The sun was so bright the photographer decided to try something to stop us squinting. We all had to stand there with our eyes closed until the count of 3 when we opened them and smiled! It felt ridiculous but it worked!!!
The weather was amazing and we all headed around the back of the church into the gardens to do the few formal shots that we wanted and some more group ones. The photographer managed to get a candid shot of all the boys taking photos of two naughty ducks!! We laughed loads and eventually started making our way back to the way to go to the venue. All the guests headed straight for the courtyard (which was beautiful in the sun) while we snuck off to the formal gardens for a few couple photos and had a little dance on the lawn!
We arrived at the courtyard and had a little strut down the red carpet with a glass of bubbly and a strawberry which was cool. Chatted with friends and family while drinking pimms and bucks fizz… don’t worry about filling time with entertainment, people will entertain themselves!
I had a quick look at the room layout and it was perfect, just as I had described it to Adrian. My mum did tell me later that there was a problem with the favours on the top table – I had personalised wine glass charms for everyone but when doing the place cards gave the top table cards with titles not names – Bride, Groom, Best Man etc. and the venue had no idea who these people were! Luckily I had sent mum and dad’s partner down to the room early morning to check everything was up to my standards and they rectified it all!
The time went so fast and before we knew it we were being called to dinner, everyone headed in and were seated while me & Mr C waited outside, they closed the big barn doors and then we were announced in as Mr & Mrs!! I just about got through the gaps in the chairs with my dress (we had a round table in the middle of the room) and managed to sit down in the chair with a bit of help… if you haven’t tried sitting down in your dress yet – I recommend that you do!!!
The food was lovely, the music perfect and everyone was busy chatting away! Mr C kept getting up between courses and visiting each table but it was such a challenge for me to get into my chair there was no way I was getting up until I needed to!
After dinner it was time for the speeches. The videographer had one camera trained on me and one on whoever was speaking. They were lovely, not too long, funny and not too embarrassing. I think I cried about 3 times! I can’t wait to watch them back.
After dinner, we cut the cake; they had moved it into the middle of the dance floor so that we were centre stage again! The penguins were a huge hit!
Cake cut, we headed back outside for a few more drinkies while the venue moved a few of the tables. The evening guests started to arrive about 7pm and we were called in for our first dance at 7.30pm (I say called in, we were actually outside trying to bustle up my dress when the DJ suddenly announced us!). The first dance was Jack Johnson – Better Together and we had practiced it a few times, however the DJ didn’t play the intro so we were a little thrown off but pulled it together and loved it. About two thirds of the way in we ran off to get his mum and my dad and finished the dance with them. We should have told them that this was our plan as at this moment my dad decided to walk off to find the baby!!!
The disco kicked off and we had a great night, I was so hot in my dress I had to keep going outside to cool off and ended up drinking water for most of the night. The DJ was not that great (but had got us out of a sticky situation when our original DJ cancelled with 5 weeks notice). We had given him a list of specific songs that we wanted him to play and he only played a handful. Mr C was getting quite irritated! We had also given him the songs from the stag and hen do and he thought it was a good idea to get me to do a shot of tequila with the hens and the stag and best man to down a pint of lager… we just paid him to play music!!! Oh well… it didn’t spoil the night, guests have told me that they enjoyed it and we danced away!
Secret sneak peek video... https://whitedressfilms.co.uk/
Before we knew it the night had ended, we cleared the gift table and headed back to our room (all of 10 metres from the reception!), Mr C helped me take about 100 pins out of my hair (mood killer!), released me from my dress (and breathe...) and we collapsed on the bed and fell fast asleep!
TMI alert… I am afraid I can’t help with advice on going to the loo in a mahoosive dress… despite the gallons of water I was drinking to cool down; I never went once all day!!!
Sunday 20th March 2011 – 1 day married!
The next morning we woke up, showered and headed down to breakfast, everyone who stayed was there and we relived the day before over a fry up! Sunday afternoon was spent sat on the sofa opening all our cards and reading all the lovely messages people had written for us. It was quite emotional really.
We did realise at this point though that some of the gifts that we knew people had brought with them were not there, they had been nicked/drunk the night before. This put a real dampener on the moment and I am still waiting for whoever did it to own up although not likely, I just hope that they feel suitable ashamed and guilty.
We were also short on the lanterns (three missing) but I now know who helped themselves to one as there is photographic evidence on facebook of them in the taxi on the way home with the lantern, a hotel cushion and umbrella! I will be getting this back! It’s funny how you can suddenly see people for what they really are… Note for future brides, get someone you trust to clear the gift table early.
We started packing for honeymoon and were picked up in an executive car (thanks to mummy!) to take us to the airport Monday afternoon… it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!
(don’t worry Claire… carefully edited honeymoon report to follow!!!)
Best. Day. Ever.
A few words of advice…
Don’t sweat the small stuff, I forgot loads of things on the day and they really didn’t matter!
A lot of people commented on the personal details, they are worth it!
Enjoy every second, it really does go fast.
We also only catered for 75% of the day guests in the evening (49 heads) and with 150 evening guests there was still food left… don’t overcater!
N&P…
Hitched - A huge thank-you to all of the girls and boys on here – I don’t think I could have done all of this without you and am very proud of my internet weirdy friends!
DeVere Venues – Theobalds Park – perfect day, very well organised!
Sherrie @ Aisle be Yours – Beautiful flowers, people really had no idea that they weren’t real! Great communication and general emotional support!!!
Lisa @ Louloubelle Designs – the most beautiful jewellery I have ever seen.
Richard @ Your Perfect Day – the loveliest videographer ever!
Nicole & Neil @ Nicole Griffin Photography – a really lovely husband and wife photography team.
PDA Card & Craft – Used for all my stationary… Amazing value and great service (and super sparkly card for Flow to drool over!)
Esmeralda’s (JS Tailoring) – Seamstress who arranged for my dress to be steamed and stored and perfectly repaired the disaster bridesmaid dress with only 3 days notice before the wedding! Would trust her with anything!
Karl Karter – Amazing value handmade wedding rings, workshop in Hatton Garden
I would never ever recommend the lady that I got my bridesmaid dress and flowergirl dress from. The flowergirl dress was beautiful (if a little too expensive) and the bridesmaid dress turned out lovely in the end, once I had it fixed. Some of you may know the story and maybe even the supplier. It was bad and definitely not what I needed a week before the wedding.
There.... I think that is everything!! More photos on fb for those of you on there...
Lots of love and internet weirdy hugs...
Officially Mrs C!!! xxx
