I've been waiting on some more piccies before doing my report. Still haven't had the official ones yet but will post more when I get them 
I know 90% of you are going to completely skip all this scribble and go straight for the pics (I know this cos I do it too ?) but for those of you who will actually read it, hope it's ok!!!
Okaaaay, here goes. I must have been the most laid back wedding planner ever.....until two weeks before the big day!!! Never ever let anyone tell you that you won't get stressed out because you WILL!! I had everything organised by January '10 and was just playing around with the DIY stuff and telling myself I had aaaages to go. Then suddenly, OMG I have 3 days to go!!
I'd booked the week of the wedding off work so I could relax and enjoy some time with the other half. Ha!! I spent the whole week crying, shouting and just generally being a tad bridezilla-ish! I was a little bit surprised that S turned up at all after dealing with me that week!! Apparently, around 20% of engaged couples never make it down the aisle and I can really see why!!
Friday 17th was my last day at work. My boss took me out for lunch as she couldn't make it to our reception which was really lovely. I was presented with some presents from my colleagues and it all got a bit emotional but I was soooooo excited!! After work I went down to my cousins in Clacton. As they live quite a way away from us they couldn't make my hen night so asked me to go up there for a girlie pamper night. When I got there she ran me a lovely bubbly bath and i put my t-shirt on that my sister had had made for me with me and oh nicknames on. Cracked open the malibu and munchies, had a manicure, facial etc. Was going to have my eyebrows waxed but because of the tablets Im on at the moment there was apparently a chance it could rip my skin off. WTF??!! Imagine me walking down the aisle with a big red scabby face lol, so I passed on that one .
Saturday 18th Next morning, the news said we were in for more snow so I thought I'd check the Met Office for weather warnings and whad'ya know...we were expected to have mega snow that afternoon. So me, being a bit of a twunt (thanks Grace!) thought I'd leave and try and beat it as I had a fitting for the shrug my dress lady was making me. BIG mistake. My sister and OH phoned me on my way back (I did use my bluetooth though - no phone holding shenenigans for me) to tell me they had severe snow in Southend. Halfway down the A12 I told them to stop being so melodramatic, we had blue skies! OH told me to be careful and phone him if I needed him (awwww, I did feel a bit loved *insert fluffy icon here!*) and I must admit, I booted it a bit, 90mph down the A12 to try and get back, just in case. Then, on the A130 with everyone still travelling at 60/70mph we hit a wall of snow completely out of nowhere. Everyone started braking which = everyone skidding. The car in front of me started spinning toward me and I knew I was going to hit it so decided I'd try and hit the railings instead. Which I did. I then sat in the car like a muppet watching everyone around me crashing. All I could think was 'I'm meant to be getting married in 5 days!!!'. Luckily, I was unhurt and no one else crashed into me. I lost all confidence in driving then and decided to wait at the side of the road for OH to come and rescue me. Which took FOUR HOURS!!!! What annoyed me more than that was that I missed my fitting lol!!! I called her and rescheduled to Monday. Both me and OH ended up cancelling our stag and hen dos, both of which were meant to be that night. He went down our local with him best man and I stayed home and finished the Xmas present wrapping and listening to Matt Cardle to cheer me up!! hehe
Sunday 19th me and the OH went and did a bit of christmas shopping in the snow. We had to take me mum to get a jacket for her outfit for the wedding as she had 'neglected' to get one grrr. We tried about 20 shops then ended up getting one 5 minutes befor the shops shut, double grrr. Spent a relaxing night in with OH (the last one of those for a while!!!)
Monday 20th me and my CBM went for our final fittings. Dress lady had told me to get there for half 10. We got there, she wasn't there. Tried phoning, no answer. So we went and got breakfast and came back at 11. She still wasn't there and still wasn't answering the phone. Then my phone started playing up and I couldn't get a signal at all. We ended up waiting outside til 12 for her to arrive. Not the best start to the day!! I had been agonising over my shrug but luckily someone else had ordered the same dress as me (how rude!!) and had ordered extra fabric so my dress lady pinched some it and knocked me up a shrug - it fit perfectly. The first thing to go right in a while!! Dress lady promised everything would be ready to pick up the next day so off we trotted. Spent the rest of the day shopping and ticking little things off the list!
Tuesday 21st I promised mum I'd take her christmas shopping. I had a huge to-do list and was counting on getting a few of the jobs done. I turned up to pick her up and she wasn't ready!!! I ended up shouting and huffing a bit then burst into tears. A big hug from mum helped a bit then she took my to-do list, took charge and off we went with our new battle plan. We got as much done as we could - which to be honest wasn't much and I took her home. While we were out my dress lady phoned and told me her shop had had a power cut and she wouldnt be able to get the alterations done. I didnt panic, she promised she'd go in early on Weds to get it all done and ready. This meant we had to pick up the dresses the day before the wedding. Talk about cutting it fine!!! I didn't realise how stressed I was until that evening when OH asked what still had to be done. I burst into tears again wailing that I had sooo much to do and no one was helping. He went out and collected my sister, ordered us a takeaway, told us to chill out and then bogged off down the pub!!! So, we made a new list, and after talking it over and making an all new sparkly battle plan I felt a little bit better. Roll on Wednesday......
Wednesday 22nd. I was getting married the next day!!! eeeeeek!! Armed with aforementioned sparkly battle plan, me and cbm set off to do our chores. We had our nails done then dropped off all the decorations and the ceremony music at the venue. It was all starting to seem real and just an ickle bit scary!!! Just as we were leaving the venue my cbm turns round and says - 'just to let you know- we have another bridesmaid'. Now, for those of you who dont know, my younger sister decided out of the blue a few months ago that she wasnt coming to the wedding and she was no longer letting my niece be bridesmaid. I had to explain to my 3 year old niece why she wasnt allowed to come to aunties wedding and wear the princess dress i'd bought her. I spent weeks crying over this and suddenly - the day before my wedding - my sister had changed her mind. Cue floods and floods of tears from both me and cbm lol. This did though present me with a new problem. I has no shoes or hair piece for her. The poor little bugger ended up wearing dirty pink plimsoles and a white fluddy scrunchie, but she was there and that was all that mattered to me. My cbm phoned dress lady to tell her the good news and to ask her to press my nieces dress. It was then she decided to tell us she was running late. I had a meal booked for 7pm for me and OH, parents and cbm and bil. By 5pm the dresses still weren't ready eeeeeeek!! So in the end went and sat in the dress shop waiting for the dresses. Didnt get time to get changed for the meal so had to go in my hoodie and combats while everyone else looked glam 
Had a lovely time at the meal, though we had quite a few texts from people saying they couldn't make it to the wedding due to illness, weather etc which was odd. Nothing all day then loads all at once! I started to panic that no one would turn up, but at the end of the day, the important people would be there so that's all that mattered!! After the meal, we zoomed back to ours, packed my overnight bag and collected that last of the bits for the venue for my step mum to take there the next morning. I was staying at my sisters (cbm) and we were meeting my dad there to take the dresses and venue stuff. OH helped load my dads car off then he went home. We spent an emotional few minutes saying goodbye as singletons while my dad was yelling at me to hurry up as he was cold lol then OH went, dad went and I was left all alone! I went in to my sisters and had a final look at the to-do list. There were a couple of things that hadn't been done but what wasn't done would have to be left. I spent an hour or so putting the finishing touches to flowers/guestbook then went to bed. My BIL had given up his bed so me, my sister and my two nieces all snuggled up in her double bed. I was surprised when I woke up and realised I'd just had probably the best nights sleep I'd had all week!!!
Thursday 23rd. My wedding day!!!
We got up at about 8am. OH was taking nephew to have his hair cut so I had to be locked in the kitchen so he didnt see me!!! I had a quite lazy morning then at about 10.30 all hell broke loose and it became mayhem!! Hairdresser arrived at 11. My hair looked nothing like it did in the trial but I loved it anyway. There were kids everywhere and my phone kept going off, I was starting to get stressed!!! We then realised I'd completely forgotten the pins for the buttonholes and corsages so I sent my sister off on a mad hunt to track some down!
Once hair was done I had to pile 3 kids and my sister into my car and drive to my dads where we were getting ready. I laid out all the flowers and accessories and kept moving it all around until my dad shouted at me to stop it and calm down lol.
It was weirdly calm for a while, then the make up lady arrived and it became mayhem again! All the kids were bathed and my dad had to have his hair straightened lol. Then my step sister arrived with her clan. She was going to take some photos once we were all dressed and he OH was taking me to the venue in his shiny black 4x4. Make up was done and we got the bms dressed.
I ordered them not to move for fear of getting their white dresses dirty! They looked gorgeous We then realised the time and I had to get my dress on. My step mum unlaced it and I pulled it on.......and got stuck. This was when bridezilla reared her ugly head. I was SCREAMING at them to help me, they were rubbing my make off, my tiara was getting caught, it was a nightmare!! I could hear my mum and cbm sniggering and trying not to laugh and I was shouting at them. I'm pretty sure the whole street could hear me!! I was totally stuck with all the laces out then I suddenly realised what the dress lady had told me to do.......I scooped my lady lumps up and hey presto, the dress slid neatly into place lol. They laced me up (breathing was not going to be an option this evening!!!) then turned me round to the mirror. WOW!! Was that me??!! I was so happy with the whole look and it just felt so surreal looking at myself in a WEDDING DRESS!!!. Everyone started to panic then as we were running a bit late. We had just enough time to get a few photos before my step mum whisked all the bms away.
Then it was just me and my dad. It was weird. The house was completely silent and he was just staring at me. He asked me if I was sure I was doing the right thing. I said OMG definitely! So he smiled, gave me a big hug and said good. He told me I looked beautiful and it was all I could do to hold the tears back the daft old s*d!! At last, the car arrived, and I almost ran out the door forgetting to pick up the skirt. Dad shrieked at me that I was trailing my skirt in the mud but thankfully it looked ok!! We pulled up at the venue and it just felt surreal!! The tog was there and people started bossing me about!! Bizarrely, the one thing I remember in detail is that the venue had spelt my name wrong on the board announcing our wedding!!! I was taken upstairs to see the registrars and then I was standing outside the doors to the ceremony room. The co ordinator had queued the bms as they wee going before me. My entrance music started up, I had gone for a piano version of endless love, and as the doors opened everyone stood up and looked towards us and I caught a glimpse of OH waiting for me. eeeeeek!! I dont know how I stopped myself running down that aisle!!! I was so proud of my bms, my flower girl went first, dropping rose petals. Apparently that started all the guests off crying lol!!! Then my two little bms went holding hands, then my cbm who was crying and looking at the floor the whole length of the aisle, then me and my dad. I dont really remember much of this bit. I know I caught the eye of a few guests but I'm sure I walked too fast and I dont know what I was looking at, its all a blur!!! The one thing I do regret is that I wanted to give my dad a kiss when i reached my oh but I just totally forgot in all the excitement and just threw my bouquet at him instead!!! When I turned back to OH we had a little hug and kiss and he told me I looked beautiful. He said the tog had had a sneaky word in his ear and told him I looked stunning hehe!! He said he was surprised by my dress, he thought it was going to be bright pink!!! The ceremony went without a hitch, my OH repeated a few extra words and had to say 'impediment' twice hehe but it was fine. He couldn't get my ring right the way down my finger so I had to push it all the way. It was all over in a flash and we were suddenly being announced as the new Mr and Mrs.B!!!
It was then photo time!! Can't wait to get the official pics back!!
Me and HUBBY didnt see much of each other as we were trying to get round and speak to everyone but we had the most perfect day. It was all wrapped up by midnight and we went off to our posh travelodge lol!!! I shed a few tears that it was all over but I've got so many good memories!! I had hired hubby a campervan for the wedding day and the day after so we got to ride around in it all christmas eve. I just wish i'd seen his face when my BIL arrived to pick him up in it. I guess I'll have to wait for the official pics to see that!!
Few more pics for you....
So, that's it!! It's over and I can't believe it!!! It really is true that it goes too fast!!! If I could do it all over again I would! Congrats to anyone who got this far and didnt just peek at the pics lol!!!
For everyone whose wedding is yet to happen - ENJOY EVERY SECOND, it's truly a surreal but amazing feeling!!!!
Tx xxxx
