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saspip
Beginner May 2012

***Saspip's Wedding Report - 26th May***

saspip, 9 July, 2012 at 18:05 Posted on Planning 0 34

I've finally found some time to sit down and write this, fingers crossed it makes sense and I can get my photos inserted in the right order...!

In the beginning

H and I met in my first week at university, he was in the year above me and had stayed in halls to be with his friends who were part of the JCR. We were both with other people at that time but within a month or so we had decided that we wanted to be together and so we gave it a go. Our long running joke was that it would just be a fling to keep us occupied during term time but ten years later we’re still together and we’ve decided it’s definitely not a fling!

The proposal

Having returned from a once in a lifetime trip to the USA where we had the most amazing road trip I figured that the time for a proposal had passed until our next big holiday. So my 27th birthday which fell a few days after we got back was low key. I went to work and when I left chambers there was a parcel for me with a note from OH saying "DO NOT PEEK - to be opened later." I lugged this parcel all the way home and was pretty annoyed because it was bulky and I had to get it on the tube along with my work trolley. So got home, put the parcel away and played with my two new kittens that I had been told were my bday pressie. At about 5pm there was a knock at the door and a bunch of flowers was delivered. A dozen pink roses - the note read "do you remember these were the first flowers I ever bought you?" Of course I remembered! Valentines day 2003, a dozen pink roses were left outside my door at uni! I started to cry because I had an idea what was coming then...

OH comes in at 6pm with a huge box full of food from my favourite Thai restaurant which doesn't do take always but which he persuaded to make up a meal for him to bring home to reheat for me! He also had a bottle of Cristal champagne for me. I've had one bottle of that before on the day I qualified so it's a pretty special brand for me. He kept jumping around saying "look at the year, look at the year" It was a bottle from 2002, the year we got together.

We had our lovely dinner and then he asked if I wanted my parcel. He brought it out then said he would take a picture of me opening it (he never takes pictures of me, it was just an excuse to get down on one knee) I opened it and it was a box of cupcakes that were supposed to spell out "will you marry me?" but whoever delivered it had turned the box upside down and the letters were mushed up so he had to ask me himself instead!! I have to admit I was numb. I'm usually a crier but I just felt really spaced out. The ring was beautiful, exactly what I wanted. He'd been meeting up with my best friend for weeks after work to design it etc.

I found out later we were supposed to go to some plush hotel for the night but I insisted I wanted my kittens by my actual bday so he had to change his plans. It was perfect as it was in our own little house with our little kittens!

34 replies

Latest activity by saspip, 11 July, 2012 at 11:02
  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    The weeks before

    I found that the weeks before the wedding just seemed to go by in a flash. It felt like there was so much left to do and so little time to do it but somehow orders of services got printed, the table plan got made and so did the favours. I had foolishly decided to make all my favours myself and hours were spent baking cookies, filling cones with spices and boiling sugar to make lollipops. In the end the lollipops turned into something of a disaster...more on that later! The table plan was a bit of a mission as well. I am the least crafty person in the world and for some reason I decided I wanted to use a vintage trunk to display the plan in. I’m not sure if anyone knows exactly how many types of glue there are in the world but I think I went through 15 before I found one that would hold everything down properly!

    Two weeks before the wedding we had a small tragedy when one of my cats, Nastro, was run over outside our house and sadly died. We were both devastated, although it would have been awful whenever it happened to have to deal with that grief a fortnight before we got married was really tough. And I know I’m being soft but I’m a little obsessed with my cats! It felt doubly hard because she was one of the kittens I had got for the birthday that OH proposed and I felt guilty for ages that I hadn’t managed to protect her even long enough for her to ‘see’ the wedding. She wasn’t invited of course but you get my drift!


    Beautiful Nastro [:'(]

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    Thankfully I had taken the week off work before the wedding which was lovely as I got to go home to spend a last few days with my Mum before the big day. We had time to go to a spa and just enjoy being mum and daughter.

    I was pretty nervous about how the day was going to pan out if I’m honest. My parents had a very acrimonious divorce when I was young and they haven’t been in the same room together for 16 years. I’ve never had the two of them together at any of the important events in my life but I really wanted my Dad to be there and he had offered to give me away which surprised me as he’s well aware of how the rest of the family view him. I was touched that he would put himself in such a visible position on the day. My step-father, who is as much of a Dad to me as my real Dad was due to be making the father of the bride speech and my Dad’s new partner is my Mum’s ex best friend so you can see how I had concerns over the politics! I needn’t have worried, everyone was impeccably behaved, as I’d been reassured they would be, but it didn’t stop the nerves in the run up....

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  • K
    Beginner April 2013
    Kadypants ·
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    Aww what a lovely, romantic proposal! (Just a bit jealous!!)

    Good start so far, can't wait to read more...

    (Although, I'm very sorry to hear about your kitty ☹️ but won't dwell as this is a happy thread!)

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    The day before

    I’d driven back to London on the Thursday to pick up OH who finished work on the Wednesday. I had a final round of pampering before heading back down the A12 with OH and a car full of wedding bumpf. (Is bumpf a word?!) The Friday was then spent prepping the marquee and attending our rehearsal. We had a mini disaster when the caterers were late to set up which meant I couldn’t put the favours out before we had to leave for our rehearsal. Control freak that I am this really stressed me out but thankfully OH went back to the marquee post-rehearsal to check everything was set up to my standards! I think that might be the most romantic thing he’s ever done for me. After the rehearsal I was so stressed about things not being ready that I was also going to go back to the venue but instead of driving us both there OH drove me to my house, ordered me out of the car and told me he would sort it and he didn’t want me panicking and ruining my evening. Bless. During the day I also had a lovely email from Waitrose to say they were sending us a bottle of champagne as I’d entered a Proposal Story competition and had come runner-up. I’ve never won a thing in my life and I love champagne so that helped to ease the stress a tad!

    The rehearsal was a really lovely part of the wedding. I managed to cry my way though the vows which was a bit strange but I was so glad to have had the opportunity to say them out loud once before, it meant I wasn’t a total wreck on the actual day. Our vicar helped to relax us all by asking my grandparents to sit at the back of church and give us scores out of ten for volume. After the rehearsal I went back to my Mum’s with two of my BMs who had travelled down from London. We had a take away and drank some bubbles. I felt weirdly spaced out and genuinely couldn’t get it into my head that this was the night before my wedding. Everyone had told me I would never sleep but in reality I managed to fall asleep sitting up in bed whilst watching Bridesmaids with my bridesmaids, despite the incredibly uncomfortable rollers my hairdresser insisted I sleep in.

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    The Wedding Day

    Even more bizarrely I didn’t wake up until about 7:30am. I can only assume I was exhausted from all the preparations! We were so incredibly lucky with the weather as I woke up to blazing sunshine and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky for the entire day. My three other BMs all arrived to start getting ready and things really kicked into gear. The only way I can really describe that morning is that I felt like I was in a bubble. It seemed like I was just wandering around for ages watching other people get ready before I actually had to do anything.

    The flowers arrived at about 10am, cue the first tears of the day. They were perfect, so much more than I ever envisaged they would look like. After some smoked salmon and scrambled eggs (dry toast and grapes for me!) I was given a beautiful gift from OH of some diamond earrings, some jelly tots and a CD. The CD was called “Music of our lives for my beautiful wife” and I was told to play it as we were getting ready. It was so lovely, although embarrassingly I had also made him a CD to listen to whilst he was getting ready that contained an identical track list. We could have saved each other the hassle and not swapped CDs at all!

    When the time came for me to have my hair finished off and to get into my dress I felt incredibly nervous. I was however very excited to put on the shoes that I had bought in New York as a wedding present to myself. The BMs were also amused to see my very tacky garter but I knew that OH would love a nod to his team on the day! One of my favourite moments of the day was seeing my step-dad and brother for the first time in my dress. They're not emotional, wordy guys but to see their faces was enough for me.


    THE shoes!





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  • *Mini*
    Beginner January 2012
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    More More More!

    Very romantic proposal. Love all the details so far.

    Also v sorry to hear about Nastro- she would have seen the wedding from where he was, don't worry. xx

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    All of a sudden it was really going to happen and I was going to get married. There was a sudden flurry of activity and before I knew it I was in, zipped up and having some horribly emotional photos in the garden before the family and BMs headed off to the church. There was some sort of mix up with the taxis outside. My usual reaction would be to storm out, take charge and sort it all out but I stayed firmly put in the house and ignored it all. My Dad was coming to pick me up from my Mum’s and because of the situation he didn’t actually arrive until everyone else had left so I had a few very strange minutes on my own in my childhood home to think about the day ahead.

    My Dad then walked in and as I was gearing up for another emotional moment I heard the following: “You’ll never guess what’s happened – my shoes are broken” I looked down to find that the rubber on the soles of his shoes had totally perished and was disintegrating all over my Mum’s floor. So much for a touching father-daughter moment! It transpires that Dad didn’t feel the need to buy new shoes for his only daughter’s wedding, he thought he’d just wear the only pair of ‘proper’ shoes he has that he last wore in 1997. No surprises then that the rubber had perished! He had sent his phone and house keys to the church with his wife so we couldn’t go to his house to pick up his brown pair and I was reduced to calling my hairdresser back (who thankfully lives at the end of the road) and sending her to ask all our neighbours if we could borrow some! Thankfully we found a pair to fit, not polished but not falling apart either, and then we were on our way to the church. Although I was grateful for the sun boy was I HOT!

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    Gah! This is really annoying but I keep getting an error message when I try to insert photos. I'll keep trying...

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    Meanwhile OH had arrived at the church with his brother in a Ferrari that we borrowed from his cousin. Granted there were a lot of photos taken of me that day but I think there were double the amount taken of that blasted Ferrari!

    I really enjoyed the journey to the church. It’s in my high school grounds so it really was a trip down memory lane and I felt like I was really leaving the ‘Miss’ behind me and becoming a ‘Mrs.’ As we pulled into the church grounds I could see my BMs and my Mum waiting for me. I was so excited to see OH but terrified about having to see everybody else first. As I stood in the doorway I heard the first notes of Pachelbel’s Canon in D start and I nearly went to pieces. The music was played by my 15 year old brother, a friend from uni and a friend from Bar school on two trumpets and a clarinet so it sounded beautiful different from the usual strings version and was so personal knowing that they were playing it. My BMs went in first and I eventually followed, hyperventilating as I went! I can just remember my Dad saying over and over again, “it’s ok, you’re ok, it’s ok!” The aisle in our church is a dog leg so I had to face a barrage of people taking photographs before I eventually turned the corner and spotted OH through my veil. I immediately felt so much better and I feel like I paced it up the aisle just to make it to him. In the photo he has his “I’m not going to cry” lips pressed together face on which makes me smile. When I got to the front we couldn’t stop chatting to each other. I hope our vicar didn’t mind too much, we were just really excited to see each other!


    My school church


    My lovely Mum and Gran arriving at church




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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    The service was beautiful. I completely forgot that anybody else was there as I was concentrating so much on OH and how happy I was to be saying my vows to him. I managed to hold back on the tears until two of our friends did their readings; I found it particularly emotional when a friend from uni read my favourite poem, “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven.”


    My talented little bro



    It whizzed by and before I knew it we were Mr and Mrs W and heading out into the sunshine to greet our guests properly. My favourite moment of the day was the half hour journey from the church to the venue. The two of us just had time to relax together in our car, drink a bottle of champagne and just smile. We also had a moment to talk about our wedding rings. We had each had the others secretly engraved and hadn’t seen what the other had chosen to engrave. There was no time to look in the ceremony and OH couldn’t get his off in the car so we could only look at mine but it was brilliant when we realised we’d written exactly the same thing: ‘Jelly Tots xxx’



    My Step-Dad and Mum


    For anyone considering a veil by Margaret this shows mine beautifully. And only £30!




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  • Sparkly Momma
    Beginner November 2013
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    More,more I need more! Soooo romantic so far, and you look just beautiful. Sorry about beautiful Nasro though Smiley sad

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    Our guests travelled to the venue on a London bus complete with Pimms or a G&T. One of our trumpeting friends had also bought his guitar with him and lead a sing along for the entire journey. A family member who didn’t know who he was later told us he thought we’d paid this guy to come along and entertain our guests! I was almost jealous I wasn’t on the bus...



    Pimms on the bus


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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    Once we arrived at the reception venue and I heard the strains of the steel band coming from the croquet lawn as a nod to my Grandad’s heritage I knew we were going to have an amazing party. The champagne flowed, as well as ice cold bottles of Peroni for the men which seemed to go down a treat. Our venue was full of little secret gardens and we were so happy to see the guests going off to explore in the sunshine.

    Dinner was served and as we walked into the marquee I noticed that my day spent making handmade peppermint lollipops had been wasted – they had melted in the heat! The only thing I hadn’t planned for was the fact that it would be so hot! Hey ho. The guests found it amusing and thankfully only a third of the guests lost their favours and I’d made cookies and a spice mix as well. I can honestly say that the lollies and my Dad’s shoes were the only disasters and they made not one iota of a difference to my enjoyment of the day. The marquee itself looked amazing. My CBM and I had spent 3 days solid sewing bunting together and it looked so effective and perfect in the glorious sunshine.


    The table plan weighed down by ten tons of glue.


    Melted lollipops ☹️



    The food was delicious, or so I’m told. Despite spending months choosing the perfect menu I found I couldn’t eat a thing on the day. We took a bit of a risk and had sea bass because it’s one of our favourite things to eat. Nobody told us they hated it so that’s a success as far as I’m concerned! I could tell that my Step-Dad was getting really nervous about his speech so I asked OH to take him outside for a double Scotch which seemed to do the trick! He gave a very touching speech and ended by saying he couldn’t love me more if I was his own daughter which meant the world to me. I broke with tradition to give a short speech before OH gave his. I was so surprised by how confident he was. He hates to be the centre of attention but he did me so proud. His brother was the Best Man and had everyone in stitches. We then went to cut the cake which I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t even had a chance to look at before then. MIL made the cake which was beautiful and another friend of mine from uni had made the topper. She wouldn’t tell me what she was doing and I was happy to have it as a surprise but she took our breath away with what she had done. It was a lovely mix of all the things that matter to OH and me made out of clay and hand painted. The hours of work she must have out into it was unbelievable. Cue more tears from me and a very worried friend rushing over terrified that I hated it and she’s ruined my day! The next day she gave me two perfect little cats that she had also made to go on the topper but that she had left off at the last minute after we lost Nastro. I’m so glad she made that decision as I would have gone to pieces on the day but now they have pride of place in my lounge.



    We had to redo some of our group shots at this point because it had been so sunny at the church that our TOG was unhappy with the light on people's faces. We had also decided to do our couples shots at this point for better light. I found it all a bit embarrassing but our TOG was very fast and efficient with us so it didn't feel too cheesy...


    Sorting my little bro out!





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  • lisaloulou
    Beginner
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    You look absolutley STUNNING! (I love the neckline of your dress). Congrats Mrs x

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  • Jalapeno
    Beginner October 2012
    Jalapeno ·
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    Everything is beautiful and you and your dress are amazing. Congratulations. Oh, an I just fell to pieces at "Jelly tots xxx".

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    The time for the first dance came round which we danced to Everlong (acoustic) by the Foo Fighters. Neither of us can dance so neither of us was looking forward to it but in actual fact the few minutes we had to ourselves then were lovely. OH couldn’t stop grinning and telling me how lovely I looked. It felt so incredibly right to finally be his wife.




    After that the dancing kicked off with people getting the chance to choose what they wanted to hear on the juke box. We had a photobooth which went down very well with the guests and gave us a really fun guestbook to look at the next day!

    Before I knew it I was grabbing myself a bacon bap and jumping into a cab with OH to go back to our penthouse suite in a hotel overlooking the marina. We had a night cap in the bar with some of our guests before OH carried me up in the lift and across the threshold of our room. I have never felt happier in my entire life.

    Although I don’t post that much Hitched has been an amazing help to me in planning our wedding so thank you to everyone. I hope the report wasn’t too boring – good luck to all you ladies with your weddings.

    Suppliers:

    Side tiara by Lynsey of www.lynseysdesigns.co.uk Brilliant service, brilliant price.

    Veil – Margaret the veil lady! Don’t buy your veils from a bridal shop, Margaret is a fraction of the price and her veils are beautiful.

    Wedding video – Shoot It Yourself. I know there have been a few threads about this company. It was hands down the best money we have spent on the wedding, we can’t stop watching it. If anyone wants to see our montage as an example let me know and I’ll send you the link. So much better to show friends and family than a video of the whole day. http://www.shoot-it-yourself.co.uk/

    Photographer: Justine Ferrari (the photos above are a mixture of professional and guests)

    Florist: http://www.cherylbirdflorist.co.uk/ If anyone is looking for a florist in Suffolk I can’t recommend this lady and her husband highly enough. They went above and beyond what I expected including tying all of the men’s cravats for them!

    London Bus: London Heritage Travel – fantastic service. http://www.london-heritage-travel.com/

    Photobooth: Rentabooth. The staff on the night were brilliant and each person from each group that goes in gets to keep a copy of the photo, not just double prints as with other companies. http://www.rentabooth.co.uk/

    Marquee: https://www.hadleymarquees.com/index.htm Based in Suffolk, beautiful Marquee and very friendly, efficient service.

    Venue: https://www.otleyhall.co.uk/

    ETA: Sorry, that was all a bit more flash-tastic than I expected it to be!

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  • F
    Beginner November 2013
    FutureBright ·
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    This is one of my favourite wedding reports the pictures are so lovely, ?

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  • JuliaTaff
    Beginner May 2013
    JuliaTaff ·
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    Stunning wedding!! Lovely personal report!! You look beautiful, as do your BMs! Who is Margaret the veil lady? She has done a lovely job - your veil is exactly what I had in mind!! Could I also have the link to your video? I wish I lived near to you to use your florist, but unfortunately I'm in Gloucestershire!

    Fab report - hope you have a long and happy marriage!! xxx

    :o)

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  • raindrop_eye
    Beginner October 2012
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    Great wedding report and everything looks perfect! Congratulations!

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  • Lynseys Designs
    Beginner
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    Awwww C you look absolutely lovely. Many thanks for the email with photographs from your day, the tiara looks so beautiful with your dress and makes me desperate to be able to make another but I can't get the materials now. Many congratulations to you both xx

    JuliaTaff I think this is Margaret's email ****@*******.*****.**.**. She has a Ebay shop but I'm sure she makes bespoke veils to order http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WAIST-LENGTH-54-2-TIER-WEDDING-VEIL-NEW-/180920951880?pt=UK_Bridal_Accessories&var=&hash=item2a1fbaa448. A previous thread about her https://www.hitched.co.uk/chat/forums/t/260125.aspx?PageIndex=1.

    x

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  • kharv
    Beginner March 2012
    kharv ·
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    Beautiful wedding Saspip. Exactly my taste!

    Lovely report.

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  • charlottelucy
    Beginner August 2012
    charlottelucy ·
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    Everything looks amazing and you looked beautiful congratulations.

    ps i have the same garter as you - sure OH will appreciate it haha!

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  • saspip
    Beginner May 2012
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    View quoted message

    He definitely will - H was wearing mine as a captain's armband by the end of the night!

    Julia Taff - if you send me an email I'll send you the link to our video.

    The contact details that I used for Margaret are those that Lynsey has given above. She is very quick at responding to emails or ebay messages.

    Thank you for your kind words everyone. It was the best day and it's lovely to be able to share it with all the Hitchers.

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  • FaeBelle13
    Beginner April 2013
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    I really love everything about your day and is exactly how I would like mine to look. You are so stunning and sounds like you and your H are completely made for each other (both writing jelly tots is the rings!) Very sad about your little kitty but glad you still had an amazing day. Congrats xxx

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  • Flumpkin
    Beginner December 2012
    Flumpkin ·
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    What a fab report - your dress is stunning and you looked beautiful. Sorry about kitty too

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  • sal.san
    Beginner December 2011
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    Lovely report, fab photos, gorgeous bride! Congratulations x

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  • Ali_G
    Beginner October 2012
    Ali_G ·
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    Absolutely stunning!!

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  • Sparkly Momma
    Beginner November 2013
    Sparkly Momma ·
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    Beautiful; loved all of it! Congrats!

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  • Chickster
    Beginner August 2013
    Chickster ·
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    This is one of the prettiest weddings I have seen on here! You look absoutely beautiful! Congratulations x x x x x

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  • Knees
    VIP August 2012
    Knees ·
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    What a lovely report. You look so freakishly like my sister I had to do a double take several times!

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  • Cakeycase
    Beginner December 2012
    Cakeycase ·
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    Stunning photo's.....What a gorgeous day!! ?

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  • Honky
    Beginner October 2013
    Honky ·
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    This is just too beautiful! What a gorgeous day X

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