Well ladies and gent(s) it's wedding report time. I'm going to attempt to give you all the details you need without going into too much depth otherwise I could be here all day writing this and you could be here for half a day reading it! lol
Sunday 17th July (day before the wedding) - what an emotional day that was! I had been on my second hen night on the Saturday and had stayed at a friend’s in Southend for the night. As arranged, 'H2B' came to pick me up around 10:30 as I had to be back home to pack our overnight wedding bags before my son came back from his dads just after lunch time.
We had planned to take my son to see a show that was on at the local theatre - Roary the Racing Car - and the tickets had been bought and hidden some 4 months previously. After the show we were going for dinner before my 'H2B' took my son back to his mums for the night and I went on to get my nails done at a friend’s. Sounds like a well made plan right?!
Well as with most things in my life, it wasn't quite that simple......When my son got back from his dads we told him about our tickets to go see the show and he was very excited! But when we turned up for the show the man came out from behind the counter with an envelope with my name on. Yup you guessed it, the show was cancelled and in the envelope was my refund. Apparently they had been trying to contact me to see if we would like to attend the morning showing instead but I had moved house since booking the tickets so they didn't have the correct contact details ☹️
All the built up wedding stress came out and I burst into tears. I was devastated that my plans were already starting to fall apart and that I had let my son down. Anyway we ended up taking him to an indoor soft play area instead which he loved but I sat there staring out of the window watching the rain pour down wondering if things were going to get any better.....
Monday 18th July (our wedding day) - woke up around 6:30 with a very surreal feeling. It didn't seem like today was finally my day and that I was going to see the results of all my hard work before the day was done. Weather forecast wasn't fab and we were expecting rain which I was trying to not let ruin my spirit. After showering and adding the last few bits to my overnight bag, I made my way to my parents to pick up my dress and my mum and I made our way to the venue as we were setting up the center pieces.....(is it about time for a flash? lol)
Then it was time for me to go for hair and make-up. I never thought about how strange it would feel sitting there being pampered on the morning of your wedding. With no friends or family about (mum had gone back home to get ready) it was left up to 4 ‘strangers’ (2 hair and make-up girls plus 2 TOGs) to put me at ease. 2 hours later and I was ready.....
Next came the bit I had dreaded.....picture time! I hate having my picture taken, especially when I am the sole subject. But I am so pleased with the amazing pics my TOG managed to get (Chris Gilbert Photography) clearly showing the detail to my dress and my gorgeous accessories from Lynsey Designs and managed to make me look fairly decent in the process! Lol
Whilst all this had been going on, my son had arrived with my ‘in-laws’ as had my parents and were all ready to have their pics taken with me before my appointment with the registrar....
After all this commotion, I was left alone. All I had to do now was wait for the bridal party to come back over from having their pics done with the groom and then we would be all ready to go (note the grey clouds in the top left corner.....what I hadn’t realised is that it had been raining the whole time I was getting ready!)
OK so it’s that time. The time when you start to feel a little bit sick as you walk over to the ceremony room with your bridal party, knowing that there is a room full of people waiting to watch you as you walk down the aisle and you have that stomach churning fear that you are going to trip and land flat on your face. I think this picture pretty much sums up how I was feeling lol
Luckily, trip and land on my face I did not and the ceremony went without a hitch even the children were little angels throughout!
Now if you have made it to this point, well done you! As a reward I will stop talking for a bit and let you have a look at a selection of our favourite pics......
Next was the part I had been looking forward to all day.......FOOD!!! And I have to say that everything was perfect. The room looked amazing, the food was faultless and we had excellent service. We even had wishing well from Lilyponds and mini-me place cards from our very own Crafty Em!
The evening truly was everything we wanted and more. Huge N& P for Piano DJ who not only managed to incorporate all our requests into the playlist but also kept the dance floor full all night without playing any cheese - which is quite an achievement for a Monday night!
On the night I was a little disappointed with our photobooth. It had worked out exactly as I had wanted but didn’t see many people using it. In fact, I was sure the only people that had been in there were the people that I had dragged in! So imagine my surprise when I watched our wedding DVD and found that our videographer had been able to put a slide show together of all the people that had been in there! When I have worked out how to put this online I will post a link of it for you all the watch because it is hilarious, but in the meantime here are a few shots from it....
Well I think that’s about all folks. The only thing left for me to do is to thank you for putting up with my (rather epic) short report lol and thanks to everyone who has been here to help me along on my wedding planning journey. Hope to see some of you over on BT!
ETA: One last thing....our final surprise for our guests were our customised t-shirts that we wore to breakfast the following morning!
