I've just finished, so figure I may as well post it, but pls bounce for people tommorrow (won't be around as I have a wedding to go to!)
A few pics are on here, figured I should put them at the top as my report is quite long, so you may not want to wade through it all!! https://www.flickr.com:443/photos/7331247@N03/sets/72157605593838006/
Wedding Report 31/5/08
Thursday
Call from my parents saying mum had come down with a huge migraine, and they wouldn’t be coming down till the Friday – which worked out well as it meant I could actually tidy up the spare room and move all the wedding stuff out of it!
Friday
Parents arrived, mum went straight to bed! In the evening we went out for dinner with both families and everyone involved in the wedding (apart from my mum who was still vomiting!) which was lovely as it gave us a chance to catch up with everyone. I also issued everyone with their highlighted order of the days which caused huge amusement! Saying goodbye to Dave was really weird and I felt a bit teary – we exchanged pressie’s to open the next morning. I didn’t expect to sleep, but went out like a light, only waking up as my friend text me to check I was OK!
Saturday
Woke up to glorious sunshine (amazing as the forecast was terrible!), and was so excited about the weather!! Opened my pressie from Dave which was a gorgeous diamond necklace – I’d given him cufflinks which he loved. Mum was feeling better, and I got a cup of tea in bed. Then ran myself a bath, and stayed in there for about an hour doing facemasks and exfoliating everything, till my bridesmaids arrived at half 9. Went to the hairdresser for 10 with one bridesmaid, but I had forgotten my tiara and veil so she had to make a mercy dash home to collect them for me!! Luckily it didn’t slow my hairdresser down, and we were both done and home by half 11 – which was way earlier than I expected so we painted each others nails and watched legally blonde for an hour or so, till my parents arrived back from the venue with food for lunch. I must have been more nervous than I thought, and I managed a couple of strawberries and a bit of water and that was about it!! After that we did our make up, during which my brother arrived to pick up the buttonholes and let us know that all was set up at the reception, and my bridesmaids hubbie arrived with her little one to say hello before they went to the church. Before we knew it, it was time for me to get into my dress! I had a bit of a panic when my bridesmaids disappeared and my mum couldn’t do my dress up, but it fitted beautifully. We had just finished and walked outside when the photographer (Daves friend) walked up, to take some pics as we walked to the church, and then the church bells started ringing – so perfect timing! All our neighbours were out and wished me luck as we walked by. We then walked up to the church, which was lovely, as it gave me time to talk to my bridesmaids and parents.
We paused before we went in the church for my bridesmaids to put my veil on, and had a chat with the vicar (who was wearing his green DM boots under his robes!). The wedding went so quickly – the readings that our friends did were so lovely, everyone sang loudly for all the hymns, and we managed our vows fine!! We had a few friends pray for us too which was great until my friend prayed that we would have a ‘full quiver of arrows’ when I got the giggles (it’s a reference to a verse in the bible apparently!!) Then it was all over, and we went to sign the register – Dave was really emotional when we did this, so after all the witnesses had gone to sit down, the vicar gave us a moment to ourselves, before our walk out.
After we walked out, we realised we didn’t know what we were supposed to do then!! So we just stood around and chatted to our guests –some people had to rush off after the wedding. We then did the group pics outside the church, there were quite a few people still hanging round– so our chauffeur (and my bridesmaids husband) had the genius plan of fake leaving, so we drove off and hid round the corner for a few mins before going back to the church to have some photos taken of just me and Dave. We were then taken to the reception – they had thought of everything and we had bottle of water and mini bottles of champagne in the car!
When I arrived at the reception, I was so chuffed, the boys had put so much work into it and the hall was totally transformed!! It was exactly how I had pictured it. There were so many people to talk to and I gave out all the kids bags to them. They were really chuffed to have their own bags with their names on them, but mainly they enjoyed all the garden games outside! There were people everywhere enjoying everything!! People were especially excited by the wedding post box, and one little girl was kept entertained almost exclusively by collecting peoples cards and posting them for us!!!
Then it was time for the cutting of the cake, speeches and to give out thank you presents, my Dad’s speech was really emotional which was totally unexpected, Dave cried during his, and the best man was brilliantly funny! The food was AMAZING – we had hog roast and veggie paella – some people went back for 4 helpings, so I’m glad we over catered!! The chocolate fountain was fantastic too and well used – although I only had 1 dip as I felt like I couldn’t eat a thing! It was a beautiful warm evening, and people were outside for the whole evening which was exactly what I had pictured!! The band started after that, and totally blew us away with how brilliant they were, and everyone was up dancing (even my Dad, although not sure if that was a good thing!!). And all too soon it was time to leave!! My sister had arranged a surprise though and had armed everyone with a sparkler, so we had a sparkly send off which was lovely as it was the only thing I hadn’t planned!!!
All in all it was just fantastic, and I couldn’t have wished for a more perfect day!!
