Hi Girls,
Report at Last - its sooo long I got a bit carried away Ill forgive you if you die of boredom before you get to the end
Thursday 5th August
Wow Ive finally finished work and can start the preparations!!! Its really strange I have been a bundle of nerves for the last two weeks to the point Im practically main-lining rescue remedy and today Im really calm, yes Im getting married in 24 hours and no I haven’t picked my dress up yet or packed for the venue or sorted anything out or packed for the honeymoon but Im soooo chilled out it really doesn’t matter.
So here goes I drop my son off at nursery and Im off to the Nail bar with my best friend Lisa who is treating me to getting my nails done and a pedicure – hmmm blissful relaxtion – NOT!!! It starts off good then the guy doing my pedicure really doesn’t like me I think what other reason could he have for cutting my cuticles on my toes so much my feet are now bleeding, at one point he actually slaps me on the leg because Ive lifted my foot up to inspect the damage. At which point me and Lisa are now in fits of giggles sitting next to each other and have now resorted to texting each other insulting things about this evil man!!!
Mid foot abuse my phone rings and its my H2B who I work with, one of our employees has been caught stealing our entire database – not today of all days and the next couple of hours are spent frantically on the phone to solicitors trying to sort the situation out! Damm that rescue remedy is good its now about 3pm, still no dress, still nothing packed, Ive got kids to pick up and drop off before I leave for hotel near venue and im still not stressed!!!
My mum cant take my chilled out ness anymore and picks my dress up for me then collects one of my sons to take back to her house and so I decide sod it Ill pack for the honeymoon on Saturday I’ll go and get my car cleaned instead (not sure why I wanted to do this but there you go). Finally 5pm i start to organise all the bits that Matts mum needs to take to the venue the next day and then pack my car up. Finally leave home at 8.30 that night, after saying bye to Matthew for the last time as his girlfriend (two hours later than planned) and call the bridesmaids who are already on route to the hotel and lie that im halfway there as how can say, yes i moaned at you girls insisted you leave at a certain time but instead myself decided to go and have a sunbed!!
Needless to say the girls get lost on the A12 and we end up meeting up at a service station then all three of us getting lost as my sat nav dies and end up trying to check to in to the wrong hotel (im not stupid they both had the same name and was on opposite sides of a roundabout). Any way we finally get to the hotel about 9.45, I give the girls their gift bags containing Angel perfume, their jewellery, handmade chocolates, champagne and cards then announce to the girls that I haven’t filled the favour boxes and we have 150 chocolates to put in boxes, at which point they are not even listening as the champagne is flowing!!! Anyway as the two of them end up worse for wear its decided that they will fill the boxes and me being the Bridezilla that I can be am on quality control!! This would have been fine had I not been completely blotto at this point and ended up eating nearly 50 chocolates – it was very lucky I had bought extra and also that I wasn’t sick! We ended up staying up to about 12am at which point i did start to feel nervous and thought i best go to bed. Staggered giggling back to my room and fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow!
Friday 6th August
My alarm goes off at 7, i have to be at the venue which is 5 minutes away at 9, so I make myself a cup of tea, have a shower and wash and dry my hair then get dressed and meet the girls downstairs for breakfast. At which point both of them are saying i bet your really nervous and wont be able to eat I manage to polish off a full English, while both of them sit there practically jittering with nerves, unable to eat and completely shocked about how matter of fact i am (I totally neurotic IRL). As we are packing up my mum calls and says that my dad got emotional when practicing his speech which for the first time today makes me well up.
We set off for the venue at 8.45 and as we pull up the girls jaws drop, they hadn’t seen it before and this was exactly the reaction i was hoping for. The wedding planner greets us helps us unload the car and off we go to the room we are meant to be getting ready in before moving up to the bridal suite later in the day. The hair dressers arrive waiting to do our hair and at which point Im so taken in with the venue and so chilled out I give up getting ready and give the girls a guided tour of the place, half an hour later I think the wedding planner and hairdressers have had enough of my total laid backness and insist i come and have my hair done. The make up lady turns up to and we all start to get ready. The wedding planner walks in room and announces that the cake people have delivered my cake but literally just dropped it off and not set the bloody thing up like they was meant to, a bit of grovelling later and the florist has it all sorted for me.
My hairs done and Im waiting to have my make up done and which point i decide to go and check the flowers out and walk into the grand hall and bump into guests that have arrived early as they are staying at the venue overnight – lucky i didn’t have the dress on, but hey its all part of the fun, meet up with the florist and the flowers blow me away, he has even made me two bouquets so i can pick the one i prefer. Its around 11.30 now so me and the girls move upto the bridal suite at which point the tears have started...not mine, the girls...they didn’t stop all day.. no one can believe how relaxed I am, apparently brides normally go one way or the other and i have gone completely off the chilled out scale.
I have had my make up done and we can hear guests that have arrived outside on the lawns so we have a sneaky peak my family have just arrived at the venue so now i have all my brothers, my eldest son and mum and dad in the room, its a bit of a madhouse, they go off to get ready and then my brother, who is an usher comes in and says its ok i sorted my shoes, im confused, everyone is giving him daggers and its transpires he left his shoes at home an hours drive away, but the venue managed to find a pair that a previous guest had left!!
Its now time for me to get into my dress and it goes on really quickly and easily and the tog comes in and takes some more pictures, i put my veil on and the girls are now sobbing.... Its now a full house in the bridal suite in preparation for the ceremony with all my entourage in tow and the registrar comes in for a chat. The we start to make our way to the Queens Gallery where the ceremony is being held we are all waiting outside ready to go in, the quartet have started playing, they had told me to count to 24 before i came in so Cannon would have kicked in properly and then it happens..... jack my 3 year old decides to peg it in the other direction he is now about 200ft away the girls are running down the corridor trying to get him and its chaos.... in the end the wedding planner says just go as the entrance music has been playing for ages so i just walk, but im panicking a bit so its more of a power walk, no one can keep up ¼ of a way down the aisle i manage to sort myself out and slow down, the guests said to me afterwards they just thought i really wanted to get married.
Matthew looked lovely and when I got to the aisle next to him I just forgot about all the other people in the room, we both managed to say our vows without crying all though matthew fluffed up one line 3 times at which point everyone was laughing, i got the giggles through mine. Finally we was husband and wife and it was perfect. We signed the register and then it was time for photos with the witnesses. As i said earlier i wasn’t at all nervous but i had a really dry mouth and me being me announced to matthew God ive got really manky breath, then I saw the video camera, and every body laughed!!!!
We left the Gallery to the sound of Vivaldi and had had 5 minutes to ourselves before we joined all the guests in the courtyard for the drinks reception. We managed to get most of the photos done and then it started to rain so the guests and the quartet moved inside and we finished the photos in one of the spectacular rooms in the venue. It was during the photos we spotted a grand piano and my brother who dresses like a hoody but is a classically trained pianist had a tinkle on the piano and totally shocked all the guests, the jaws visibly dropped, some people cried, it was amazing and really was a nice touch to the day.
All the guest was finally seated in the ballroom for dinner and the speeches began, My dad who is a complete joker done the most perfect speech and actually got really emotional, something ive never seen from him, which did start me off completely.... Speeches were out of the way and the most amazing meal I have ever had was served upon us, the service was amazing and it all seemed to pass in a blur.
After dinner, we cut the cake the evening guests started to arrive and Matt and I went off to have some pictures taken on our own, then it was time for the dreaded first dance to Etta James At Last which was so terrifying in front off all those people my maids and their partners danced with us.
The caricaturist went down a storm, everybody loved him and im really glad we decided to do it at the last minute.
That out the way and it was finally time to just relax and enjoy myself and that i did, the jack daniels was unleashed and i boogied my little arse off for the entire evening, not very sociable i know but all day we had really been pulled from pillar to post and it was time to have some fun. There was a few mishaps, someone stood on my dress and it ended up with a big catch down the back – but oh well it least it was after the ceremony!!! The tog has suggested that me and the girls do a trash the dress shoot and im really up for it.
We had paid for the bar all night and everyone was really drunk but in a happy high spirited way and the tab managed to last till the last 10 minutes of the evening – which was a result! The evening just went so quickly and before you knew it, it was time for the dj to stop playing and the guests that wasn’t staying over with us (45 of them was and was having breakfast together with us the next morning), the girls undone the billions of buttons for me on my dress so it would be easier for me to get out of later, so now the wedding night..... 55 hair pins, 40 buttons, shoes, and chicken fillets later we were both ready for one thing....sleep.....
It was really strange waking up the next morning as a Mrs, surreal, it took a few days to actually sink in, I can honestly say hand on heart clichéd i know but my wedding day was the best day of my life, and I wish It could be my Groundhog day. I love being married and I love my husband.
Thanks fellow hitchers for all your support over the last 6 months I couldn’t of organised it without you, a few pictures below and also a link to my official pics, although these are untouched proofs
