I'm so excited I can finally write my report here, after months of reading everyone else's I can add mine!
How We Met
When I was about seventeen/eighteen, I was very depressed, and had to come out of college to recover. Two things happened that year that made me much much better; one was getting a dog, the other was meeting Mark! I went on an online depression recovery chatroom and met him there; complication was, I'm in the UK, him in Australia. We added each other on MSN and talked for a couple of months before deciding we both liked each other rather a lot, and didn't want to see any one except each other. Plans were set in motion, and he came to visit the following Christmas and stayed for a month or so. Happiest time of my life, and I was so broken when he left to go back to Aus. We knew what the next step was, I was going to visit him in Aus. I got a job and saved hard for a year, whilst Mark and I decided that once I'd visited, he would move to the UK. Less complicated because he's Scottish-born, so he would be able to live here without getting a visa; over all it seemed the easier option, rather than me moving out there and having to go through the visa process. So I went out and visited him for a couple of months, and completely fell in love with Australia. He moved here on February 28th 2011, and proposed that night!
The Proposal
...was pretty uneventful, but I was over the moon. We'd just gone up to my room after arriving home and decided to go straight to bed. I was getting ready in the en suite, walked in to the room and Mark had the weirdest look on his face, happy and frightened at the same time. I said 'What is it...?' and he walked over to me, knelt down on one knee, and said 'Will you marry me, Beth?' and all I could say was 'Are you SURE?' before saying that yes, of course I would! Updated facebook and we were off.
The Few Days Before
Must admit I was so stressed out and upset those few weeks before; we were so low on money and Mark was made redundant, so I kept bursting in to tears and wanting to just elope. My stepdad came to the rescue and gave us our wedding present early; this meant things were a lot easier!
The Thursday before my brother arrived from Australia with his fiance, and we had a BBQ and chilled out in the garden with the family. My brother is my best friend, and because I don't have a father figure, I asked him to walk me down the aisle and give me away. To say he was proud to do it is a vast understatement; I've never seen him take to a task so much!
The next day was very busy; we went to Booker to pick up all the baking bits as my brother is a chef and was doing all the desserts for us, which were all baked goods, including the cupcake towers and cake to cut. After that we came home and my grandparents arrived at the house; this was pretty amazing as my grandfather is very frail now, he drove them from their home in Wales (we're in Norfolk). Really hit home then that I was getting married, and I finally started to enjoy myself and get excited! The weather was superb, sunshine late in to the night as we sat outside and ate/drank and chatted. But at 6pm we had to get to the wedding rehearsal, so off went myself, Mark, my brother, my mum, my sister (MOH), and her two kids, as well as my little brother. Her little girl was my flower girl, and my brother and her son my ring bearers. We arrived at the church and I was so nervous and excited! The vicar arrived and we had a run through. Nerves got the better of me, and as we were walking down I announced I felt like a bit of a twat walking slowly. Luckily the vicar was so laid back and funny that he didn't mind, but my mother went beetroot.
Mark's family arrived the following day, and that too was very very exciting. They all herded in and whisked Mark off for the day to where they were staying. I felt so upset by this for some reason, I wanted him all to my self, but in hindsight it was hardly a big ask. However, stress had taken its toll; we spent the whole day baking, and things kept going wrong. THe biscotti burnt, the brioche didn't rise, and over all my brother was frantic. However, it all got made eventually, and finally at 1am we were done baking. We stopped to eat dinner earlier in the evening with everyone, Mark's family and mine, which was a welcome break for me. When I finally got to bed I wasn't thinking of anything except that tomorrow I was getting MARRIED!
The Wedding Day
Terrible night's sleep, I kept waking up every hour, waiting to see if it was time to get up yet! When my alarm clicked 8am I shot up and woke up Mark, and ran through to the kitchen. I started making up all the packed lunches and trying to ignore my queasy tummy, and got out all the stuff I'd need to decorate and get dressed later on at the venue. My brother and sister arrived and we loaded up the car, leaving room for speakers (to be picked up along the way). By then it was 10:15am and I was starving! We had fifteen minutes to spare (the speakers couldn't be picked up till 11am) so I sat down and devoured a bagel with salmon, and we chatted together normally, which looking back was very bizzare actually.
On the road, my sister and I and the satnav, I was so nervous I couldn't talk, my sister was so nervous she couldn't stop! Got to the speaker place and loaded them up. The chap there was so nice, he said 'Got a party later then?' and I said 'Well, sort of. I'm getting married today.', and liked his face turn to surprise. I'd taken a shower and washed my hair but I looked pretty skanky in my maxi dress, not very bridal! We left the speaker place and went along to the venue, where we began to decorate like mad. I felt so excited then, scattering book confetti and setting out the favours. My sister was a star. Couldn't believe how beautiful the weather was, it was sunshine all day long with no clouds, and just a slight breeze, perfect. In fact a lot of people commented on the nice day, surprised and a little bitter I thought! We popped across to the church and dropped off the pew ends and confetti cones; a lady there said that though we hadn't paid for the bells to be rung (£160, I think not.), the bell ringers enjoyed it so much they would do it for free as we went out! Felt like kissing her, and we ran across the road to finish decorating. My brother and step dad arrived right on cue and started setting up the dessert table, and then we waved them goodbye and I ran across to wait for the bridal suite to be ready (it was still being cleaned). My sister drove off to get her kids, and I had a few minutes reflection time, just staring at the sky and thinking about the later events. The manager showed me to the suite, which was in the converted stables beside the venue; I could see everything, who was arriving and when, it was fab placement. I went in to the room and felt like jumping on the bed! Instead I put my things out ready for when I was going to put them on, and went for a wee. A few minutes later Mark's sister arrived, as she's a make up artist, and I got REALLY excited. Started leaping about and such. I'd done my hair before she'd arrived, just put some mousse in and scrunched under the dryer as it's very very curly. She pinned it back for me and started on my face. I felt like a celeb but it was really fun too, I never wear make up so it felt so special to have her make up my face. My sister arrived whilst we were doing this, by then it was about half one (ceremony starts at 3, church is literally across the road).
Once my face was done and I looked incredible, it was time for me to mill about a bit whilst my sister and her kids got ready. Her kids got out her make up and promptly covered each other in blue gunk, whilst my sister did her hair. At that point my sister looked out the window and said 'Oh ***. Tom and Dash are here.' who are my very annoying brother and his wife, and their kids. As if it wasn't enough that they were two hours early, they started peeking through our windows to see if we were in there! I was fuming at them for invading my privacy like that and shut all the blinds. Time ticked by and at ten to two I said to my sister 'I think I should start getting ready soon.' Well my sister said to me 'I'm not ready yet. When I'm ready, then we can get you ready, but you're going to have to wait.'. Think it took all my strength not to blow my top just then, instead I got her kids ready with the help of Mark's sister, and at about quarter past said to her 'I'd really like to start getting ready now.' and got a similar response as her hair was still not done. Then I told her that one of us was going to be wearing a dress at the wedding today and if it came down to it, it wasn't going to be her. She got the hint and finally I got in to my dress! I put on my petticoats, my corset -'Is it tight enough?' 'No, I can still breathe.'- and then my dress, then my bolero, my pearls, and my tiara and veil.
After all that I checked the time; only half two! Still had forty minutes till we went over. My sister, her kids, and Mark's sister all left to walk down to the church, and then ti was just me! My step dad was arriving soon to drop off my brother, and wait until ten past three to drive me over. When my brother did arrive I thought he was going to burst in to tears, he looked so proud of me, he couldn't stop saying 'You look so beautiful!'. He looked fab too, he'd lost a lot of weight before teh wedding and looked like a model! I kept asking him the time every few minutes, until finally it was time! My step dad arrived and I walked across the gravel and carefully got in to the car. We drove across the road and parked up, before I got out and stood in the alcove with my brother, step dad, mum (who was crying a lot) sister, and the kids. My step dad walked my mum to her seat and the vicar said 'Right, I'll walk down now, when you hear the music start, that's when you choose to walk down.' I wanted to wait until the music hit a higher tempo but I couldn't, I shot down like a rocket! Mark turned around to look at me but his dad's head was in the way, so I was trying to beam at him but ended up just smiling at his dad a lot. My eyes filled up and when I got to Mark he said 'You look so pretty.'. The ceremony went by so quickly, before I knew it it was time to sign the register, and then walk out to Morecamb and Wise. Everyone clapped like mad.
When we got outside the bells were ringing, but we need to walk around the church for photos, so we left the guests and had a little stroll and had a chat. Mark told me how my awkward older brother (who is in a wheelchair) insisted on rolling in behind me so he could sit in the middle aisle, and had caused a big scene, shouting at my sister about it (even though we had found him a special area in the side aisle). Mark told me that when he'd gone to see what was going on, my brother had said 'Well she'll just have to have a hissy fit then.' and that's when he stepped in and told me that he would NOT be sitting in the middle aisle. That was pretty huge as Mark is so shy he would have never, ever said a word to him other wise. So he filled me in on that as we milled around the church, being papped by my togger and his wife. When we got round to the front of the church we were pelted in confetti! But it was lovely, I felt so special. We all walked over to the venue and the sun was shining so brightly. We were greeted with a glass of Pimms and all had a toast.
The rest kind of blurs to be honest! It was such a perfect day, the sun was beautiful and everyone was so happy! I'll put pics on when I get some, hope it wasn't too badly written!
Signing off as Mrs. A!
