Ok, here goes, hope its not too long!!
A Little Background
A little background to us, we meet on a Dating website at the end of 2007, met for the first time in early January 2008, I had been on my own for a year after my ex had left me for his girlfriend, and H was on his own after his ex just decided to leave and go back to her ex!! We hit it off straight away and became in separable, in mid-2009 he moved in with me and my daughters. At the end of 2010 H proposed and the planning began!!
The Planning
We had planned a Church Wedding with the Reception in a Marquee, but by February this year we had down nothing more than to book the date and Church, and with the cost of the Marquee etc. getting higher, we made a dramatic turn and changed our minds and booked a local Village Hall…. It turned out to be the best thing we could have done!!
As this was a second marriage for both of us I wanted our Wedding to be as different as possible to the first ones, we decided first that we wanted a Big Family Party with all our closest friends with a Wedding thrown in on the side, we wanted it to be relaxed, fun and informal, with as much stuff Homemade as possible, which gave me plenty to do but I loved every minute of it!!
Our Church, and Hall
The Wedding Week!
The week of the Wedding was very busy, my daughter AJ helped me make Cookies for Favours, and Cupcakes to go with the main Cake, plus all the last minute shopping for booze, filling the Confetti Cones and making last minute changes to the Table Plan, packing for the Reception, as well as the Rehearsal at the Church and my final Dress fitting just days before the Wedding! However by Thursday evening I was knackered but everything was done, so now I could let the excitement take over!!
Friday 6th July
Had a fairly calm morning, finding time to clean the house and do the weekly shop, before loading the cars to head out to the Hall for 3pm. With the hard work of lots of friends we managed to give the Hall a Village Fete feel, along with the 150mts of Bunting I had made, Gingham Table Runners, the Centre Pieces for the Flowers and all the other Homemade Bits and Bobs, by 5.30pm we were heading back home again.
H had his Best man staying for the night so we ordered Takeaway, before me, my daughters and the dog headed off to my parents for the night
It was as we were leaving that H said to me he wasn’t going to look round as I walked down the aisle, as he would cry, big softie!! I then spent a quiet evening at my parents before having an early night, however slept very little as I was too excited!!
Confetti Cones, Table Plan and Bunting all Homemade!
7th July - The Big Day
My youngest daughter EL, the dog and myself were up drinking coffee and eating biscuits by 5am, we gave up on trying to sleep, and we sat and waited for the rest of the house to wake up. And checking the weather forecast every 5 minutes!! By 8.00am the house was buzzing and by 8.30am my other two Bridesmaids had arrived, along with the Hair and Makeup girls. One by one each girl was transformed, and had fun being pampered!
I was left to last and disappeared to spend a little time on my own, although this was my second marriage I was feeling emotions that I had never experienced the first time, I was so tearful and nervous, I couldn’t stop shaking, and had to keep eating chocolate to give myself something to do, (well that’s my excuse).
Next was my turn for my make up, and was all finished by
11am all I had to have now was my hair done. My Florist arrived soon after,
bringing the Button Holes in first, when
she brought in the Bouquets I promptly burst into tears, which earnt me loads
of shouts of stop that you have just had your make up finished!! 
Getting ready!
All of a sudden I began to panic, time was running out, I still had to have my hair done, the house had gone mad with more family arriving, all looking for somewhere to get ready, and I couldn’t think straight, (time to get someone to open the Champagne), I gave the Ushers their Instructions and sent them to church by midday, made sure the Bridesmaids were getting dressed, I was being shouted at to go and start getting dressed, all at the same time as having my Hair done. Thank god for Bach’s Rescue Remedy, along with the abandoned glass of Champagne one of the Bridesmaid had left, in the bedroom, which I quickly drank as I was getting ready. I had a friend who helped me and she was brilliant, shutting everyone else out of the bedroom so I could have a little peace.
In the end I don’t know what all the panic was for, as we
got to the Church 5 minutes early and
the Vicar told us we would have to wait, that’s a first for me!! 
My Hubby, Best man and Ushers
Me and my five lovely Bridesmaids
As we stood waiting outside the closed church door, I got more and more nervous, getting close to tears, I remember hearing my Entrance Music (Jesu Joy of man's Desiring) starting, having to take several deep breaths as the doors of the church opened, to stop myself from crying, seeing loads of faces turning to get the first look, and then El turning to get the nod from me when was the right time for her to start her walk down the aisle, I gave her the nod and off she went, nervous as she was the first, with our 10 month old Border Collie by her side, then AJ and my niece set off closely followed by H’s daughter, I let them have a minute of glory when all eyes were on them to get to the front of the church, and then it was mine and my dad’s turn, I remember a sea of faces, and smiling like an idiot, I remember seeing the Best man looking up the aisle, and turning to whisper to H, but H didn’t turn round, and when I levelled with him, he looked down at me, smiled and said you look beautiful, but his bottom lip was wobbling as he struggled not to cry, but by the time we said our vows he was crying, I squeezed his hands and tried not to cry myself, which turned into a fit of giggles instead!!
All to quickly we had signed the register had the blessing and our exit music started up, we had chosen The Liberty Bell March (theme tune from Monty Python), we choose it as it was a fun way to walk out of church, H and I looked at each other burst out laughing as did most of our guests who recognised it, as we walked out of church laughing with our guests as they clapped along with the music!!
The Photographer was brilliant, and got through the shoots as quickly as possible, before whisking us off to a Corn Field behind the church for a few photos on our own, and then the confetti shot, finally getting into the car and heading off to the Reception, the first part of the day over in a flash.
Me and my Dad. Seeing Hubby for first time and Signing Register
All over, off to start married life together, with our Dog!
The all important Confetti Shot!!
The Reception
Now for me the Reception was the worrying bit, as having worked in Catering Industry and run vast number of other peoples Wedding handing mine over to someone else was difficult, however as soon as I stepped out of the Car, and the boss of the company was there to greet us with drinks, I could see our guests getting the same treatment with lots of staff milling around with trays of drinks, I relaxed!! The Hall looked better than I could have hoped for, finished off by the Chair Covers and the Flowers, and all in my mind was perfect!!
The meal went by without a hitch, was very relaxed and not rushed at all, half way through the meal H and I did a tour of the room, each going in a different direction, making sure everyone was ok, and had everything they wanted and had plenty of drink on the table!!
Next to the speeches, my dad was first, brief and over in seconds, the Best man wanted to go next and was excellent, it could have gone either way as he has a drink problem, but as promised he didn’t touch a drop until the speeches were over, it was a great speech and came from the heart. H was last, and after days of changing it and getting me to reprint it he had forgotten to put it in his pocket, so also had to make it up!!
The caterer announced that they needed to clear and move certain tables to make room for dancing, with the help of willing guests the room was set and ready for the disco to start half an hour early. Our evening guests arrived from 7.30pm and at 8pm we had the Cake Cutting and then went straight into our first dance, which was Inner Smile by Texas, a favourite of both mine and H, with perfect words, for us anyway.! The Disco was great the DJ kept the dance floor full all night; he played our entire play list along with requests from our guests.
The laughing, Dancing, Drinking and Eating continued all evening, but all to quickly the Last Dance was announced, we hadn’t requested anything so the DJ got all our guests in a circle with us in the middle and played New York, New York, a fun way to end the evening, by the end of the song I was in tears, the tears I had been holding back all day, but what a great day we had had.
The done side of a Village Hall is the clearing up, however within ½ an hour of the disco finishing, the hall had been stripped back done and back to its original state, thanks to many of our guests, and we were on our way home.
H fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow; I didn’t sleep all night as was still on a high, and ended up getting up and going downstairs to tidy the house!!
On our way yo Reception and Cake Cutting!
Our 1st Dance, Man, Woman and Collie!!!
Favourite Bits
I couldn’t begin to choose a favourite part of the day, there are far too many, from seeing my Bridesmaid all dressed and looking gorgeous, seeing H standing at the front of the church while I walked done the aisle, and feeling like I would burst with happiness, watching all our guests laughing as we walked out of church, knowing our guests were having a great time, the list goes on, but what sticks out in my mind the most is H saying to me the next day “ That was the best day of my life, and I can now understand what all your hard work was about beforehand, Thank you” but also hearing him say this to everyone he talks to about the Wedding, not only that, he said he wants a big Party to celebrate our 1St Wedding Anniversary, in the same Hall, Caterer, Disco etc., etc………. yippee I can start planning again!!!!
My Favourite Photo
Advice
Don’t stress about the little things, no one notice’s, It doesn’t matter if the colours don’t match exactly, or if you haven’t laid on wall to wall entertainment, or even if it rains, it’s the reason you are there that matters, and nothing else!!
Hubby's Favourite Photo!
The End....
