******I'm MARRIED and back with my report!******FLASHES p4******

Such a lovely way to start your report!! I can't wait to read more!!!!! ?

Wow what a lovely report so far - more please..........

This is a great idea and useful for other couples to read about some of the thought processes that can go into planning a wedding.

Already brilliant - more!!! & flashes of BM shoes!!!!

Love this so far, cant wait for more xx

More more more, type quicker ?

Thanks for the positive comments! Part 2 coming up in just a sec...

Two Weeks Before Flying:

With everything in place (other than the food – we were still umming and arrhing abut the BBQ and this wouldn’t be resolved until we were actually in Barbados!) I received a text on the Bank Holiday Monday from someone who had originally regretfully declined our wedding invitation...announcing that they had just booked their flight! Although thrilled that they were now able to attend, I was thrown into a bit of a tailspin trying to change the numbers for everything. Thankfully everything was do-able and Brenda from Rainbow Florists stepped in to make me a last minute corsage so that our new guest wouldn’t be the only one without one.

That week I had Thursday off work, as I needed to take my cat to the vet for an on-going problem with his eye. I had taken my cat to several vets over the last year that had all said that there wasn’t a problem. The news from this vet, who was a specialist, wasn’t great but the problem at least was now recognised and manageable. Nevertheless I was in a furious mood with the previous vets who had all but branded me a hypochondriac for insisting that there was a problem. All I wanted to do was go home and spend the afternoon spoiling my cat but I had to go into work, on my day off, for a meeting that apparently couldn’t wait. I was in such a bad mood! It was chucking it down with rain and by the time I arrived at work at 4pm, soaking wet, for a meeting that was supposed to last three hours (THREE HOURS!!) I was ready to punch someone.

We went upstairs for the meeting but no-one could find the right meeting room and the boss was missing. I was still soaking wet and stomping behind everyone else with a right face on me when my manager appeared and said that the meeting was in the big hall. The hall is freezing all year round, so in my wet angry state this was the last thing that I wanted to hear! I stomped into the dark hall behind my team to suddenly hear lots of cheering and the wedding march!! The young people that I work with had only thrown me a surprise party! The hall was decorated with streamers and pull out paper bells, there was a huge table filled with food, tables covered with confetti, and all of my colleagues sitting clapping and cheering! I have NEVER been so surprised in all my life. I was given a crown, a wand and a big bunch of flowers. The young people had prepared a presentation for me based around Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (I love that programme!) and then all made very heartfelt speeches about how much they appreciate me! There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Then there was so much food (including a cake and a giant cookie made by their parents) and then lots of comedy dancing and party games such as musical statues and limbo dancing. It was such great fun and a fantastic surprise. Bless them!

By this point I was also getting slightly nervous about the whereabouts of my wedding cake topper – a life-like model of Mr J and me with our cats from an artist in China. The artist left it right until the last minute to finish and send, but it was finally on the way and I was mildly obsessed with checking it’s whereabouts on the Parcel Force website. I had a second brilliant model from Skyrocket which I would use as my cake topper if all else failed, but I really wanted to use Skyrocket's models as unique decorations on my drinks table immediately following the wedding service. Humph! Hurry up Parcel Force!

Type quicker. PLEASE! Loving it so far!

One week before flying:

The topper was stuck in Customs, where it remained for most of that week. I veered dangerously between total despair, general acceptance and complete rage towards the artist for leaving it so long to post. To try to take my mind off things I busied myself by making personalised jute bags for all of our guests, and filling them with travel essentials such as adapter plugs, battery-operated fans, magazines and guidebooks.

Two days before flying down to London and my last day at work I walked into my office to another surprise party! There was bucks fizz and food and pictures all over the walls of my head photoshopped onto various brides from BFGW – brilliant! I was given lots of cards and a lovely big wodge of cash from my generous colleagues who weren’t sure what vouchers to get me so opted for cash instead. I had no idea at the time how glad I would be for this cash the next day!

That Friday was also the day that my topper was finally released from customs. I spent the whole day manically refreshing the Parcel Force website and finally, at 11pm that night, it arrived at my local sorting office! Knowing that my topper was so close but still out of reach lead to a rather sleepless night.

I set my alarm for 7.30am on the Saturday morning and rang the sorting office the second that they were open to plead my case to them. I asked if I could pay the custom charges over the phone and then come down to the office to collect it, explaining that it was for my wedding and that we were leaving the next day. The girl on the phone at first sounded like she wasn’t going to help, saying that if I paid over the phone the payment wouldn’t clear until the Monday and they couldn’t release the parcel until the payment was cleared. I was just inhaling a deep breath to scream and shout and burst into tears when she suddenly said “if you come down with the money we can sort everything out for you straight away. We’re open today until 12”. I was straight out the door, only pausing to grab the envelope full of cash from my generous colleagues on the way! Twenty minutes later I burst into the Parcel Force office and whilst I paid the customs charge a nice man shuffled off to find my topper.

As soon as I got home I ripped open the box and carefully took out the topper – it was perfect! As were the models of our cats to go with it. Well worth the wait!

That day Mr J got his hair cut and we bought last minute things such as shampoo and suntan lotion. Mr J also bought me a brand new bright yellow suitcase, with matching hand luggage to carry my dress in!

That evening I did a last load of washing, ready for packing in the morning before our flight down to London in the afternoon. Worryingly, Mr J took himself off to bed early complaining of feeling a bit under the weather – he has recurring problems with his ear so wanted to try to head off anything nasty with an early night...

To be continued...

More please !! ?

Sunday:

On Sunday morning Mr J woke up with the start of tonsillitis. He went to our local walk-in centre while I stayed at home to check-in online and to pack. He had the misfortune of seeing the local hippy nurse who advised him on lots of holistic alternatives to drugs and refused to treat him, despite knowing that he was leaving for his wedding the next day. Helpful! When Mr J threatened to make a complaint she gave him the details of a local emergency GP service, but still refused to treat him. So with our flight just 2 and half hours away Mr J was desperately trying to make an appointment with the out of hours GP. Luckily the GP was much more receptive and the correct drugs were administered and Mr J was able to ward off a serious onset of the virus.

Because of the carry on at the walk-in centre we were running late and panicking slightly, and just about to ring for a taxi to take us to the airport. Mr J picked up his suitcase to take it to the front door when the zip gave way and all of his clothes went spilling all over the floor! We both just looked at the empty suitcase in his hand and went into meltdown. Mr J shouted one or two choice words whilst I resigned myself to missing the flight. We grabbed my old suitcase (that I wasn’t using because Mr J had bought me the nice new yellow one) and started to repack as quickly as possible. With it being an internal flight we had *just* enough time to still get down there before check-in closed half an hour before the flight. We called for a cab and he put his foot down the whole way to the airport. We got to check-in with literally one minute to spare, and then had to be rushed through the airport by a lady in a high-visibility jacket and impossibly high heels (just like you see on that Easy Jet programme) to make it through security and down to our gate in time for departure.

We made it down to Gatwick and checked into our hotel for the night. We were the first people to arrive from our group so I busied myself with making up the travel bags for our guests.

My parents were the next people to arrive, and they LOVED their bags! My mum was shrieking over hers in the bar where we met them. Then everyone else arrived together and again the bags went down really well, especially with the children in the group. Most people used their bags for the whole holiday.

That evening we all shared a drink in the hotel and then it was time for bed. With a 10am flight the next day we all met in the lobby at 7am and went straight to check-in...

Barbados!

On the flight we all had seats together and Mr J bought a bottle of Moet for us all to share. The flight dragged...but when we finally started to descend over the crystal clear bright blue waters I was so excited that I could hardly breathe! We were finally here!

We were collected at the airport in a large 10-seater taxi and driven to the villas. The garden was as stunning as it looked in the photographs and the villas were perfect. We unpacked, freshened up and headed out for a welcome meal...only by this point it was dark and we were unsure of the area and we couldn’t find anywhere open! The restaurant at the end of our street, Mullins, was supposed to be open according to the sign outside but it was in total darkness. A wooden building literally on the beach, the restaurant had no doors or shutters, so we were able to walk straight into the dark and empty restaurant. The views were breath taking from the open wooden windows, but as no-one was around we left and continued looking for somewhere to eat. We eventually took a taxi to a local Italian restaurant, and had our first experience of the local reggae pirate buses – ‘illegal’ yellow buses driven by locals who have zero regard for road safety, roaring down the road without a care in the world for their passengers, blasting out reggae music, tooting the horn and leaning out of the open door to entice passengers on board. The passengers all sit on the bus like it’s completely normal, calmly texting on their phones or looking out of the window...when we were on it we were all clinging on for dear life and laughing at each other like it was the funniest thing in the world!

That evening, tired from the long flight (9 hours) and the time difference (5 hours behind) Mr J and I had a small argument about the food for the wedding, which still wasn’t sorted. The BBQ caterers were trying to charge an astronomical amount for the food, which we were both unhappy about, but which I couldn’t see an alternative to at such short notice. Mr J was trying to blame me for not negotiating hard enough, whereas I was blaming him for not being interested in the planning and leaving it all to me to sort out. Mr J apologised and agreed he had been rubbish, and said that we would just have to pay what the caterer was asking. I made a throwaway comment about how nice the restaurant at the end of the road would have been as a venue and that was it – a fire had been lit under Mr J. He agreed very enthusiastically and announced “Leave it to me! I’ll pull my weight” before we went to bed.

The next day was Tuesday and we were meeting the planner that afternoon to go over last minute plans and to apply for our marriage license. That morning Mr J and I went back down to restaurant on the beach. Before we had even tasted the food (which did look good!) Mr J had summoned the manager to our table. An hour later, after several phone calls to the boss, the manager and Mr J were shaking hands and we had exclusive access to the restaurant for our wedding meal that Friday! All drinks were included in the price, as well as serving staff, chefs and just about everything else we could think of. The manager of the restaurant knew someone who could play the steel pan for us to arrive to, cocktails would be served on the decking as everyone arrived, and the restaurant could be decorated and arranged however I wanted. We left clutching a handful of menus slightly nervous about what the planner would say...

We needn’t have worried! The planner thought it was a great idea, told us not to worry about the other caterer, and agreed to source some battery candles for the tables (the ceiling fans in the restaurant would blow out normal candles) and vases for my flowers. On the spur of the moment Mr J, clearly relishing his new found talent for wedding planning, asked Jean if she could source us a pirate bus to transport everyone from the house to the restaurant! The restaurant was literally 5/10 minutes down the road from the villa, but with people in heels Mr J wanted to lay on transportation. The planner laughed and found the idea hilarious, but said that it wouldn’t be a problem, and to her credit she rang us the next day to say that the bus was all sorted, much to Mr J’s delight!

Jean drove us to get our wedding license, where we had to place our hand on the bible and swear that we were telling the truth as we read aloud from a prompt sheet. Mr J got quite emotional and his voice cracked as he was reading. The magistrate overseeing our application said that not everyone read the declaration with such conviction, and that it was a good sign! We left with the license there and then, which the planner then took to Reverend while we enjoyed the next few days of our holiday.

To be continued!

Loving this ......can't wait for flashes ?

Keep it coming!

Mooooore! And pictures!!! LOTS of pictures! PLEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!

Aw more more more!

Awww no I can't wait for the rest of this - I LOVE it MORE..........

Loving reading this! I remember replying to your post about changing it round! Waiting to see if it paid off x

People normally mention goosebumps while reading reports but I never get them :-( I have this time though! Loving Mr J stepping up and throwing his wedding planning weight around! More please!

Love that I've managed to give someone goosebumps with my wedding report!

Mega flashes to follow at the end - promise!

Without giving too much away, I'm SO glad that we did it the way we did! Will try to finish the report this evening/tomorrow

Im loving reading this. So very different from our wedding. You were so brave and as a result it sounds fantastic.

PICTURES PLEASE!

This is wonderful! Keep it coming

We definitely better get a pic of the infamous cake topper after this!!

Really enjoying reading this, keep it coming!!

1st wedding report ive read, I never knew what they were really before. I am loving it x

I think this is my favourite wedding report ever. looking forward to flashes!

Wow, high praise! Thanks!

Wedding Day!

As we had been living together for the best part of 5 years I didn’t see the point of following tradition and sleeping in separate beds on the eve of our wedding, despite Mr J offering to comply if it was important to me. I woke up at 6am that morning feeling surprisingly calm. Mr J was stirring so I presented him with the photo album that I had made of our lives together over the past 5 years. I included photographs of the bar where we went for our first date, photos of our first house, our pets, holidays etc – he loved it. Then I left Mr J to sleep and went outside to sit on the decking. It was such a beautiful morning and everything was so calm and peaceful. The birds were cheeping in the trees and the sun was already shining down onto the swimming pool. It was beautiful and a really relaxing, peaceful moment for me to just sit and collect my thoughts and think about the day ahead.

My mum joined me a short while later and together we started to thread crystal beads and cymbidium orchids onto invisible thread to hang from the trees. Soon my best friend of 11 years (Maid of Honour) and her son and daughter (page boy and bridesmaid) arrived to help too. It was a regular little sweatshop!

Meanwhile my Dad took the favour boxes that I had made the night before down to the restaurant, along with the place stones and table plan.

I left my kind helpers threading flowers to wake up Mr J, as we had to go to the neighbouring town to get some cash to pay the restaurant. It was a nice little trip away from everyone else just to be together before our wedding, and soon we were back at the house to start getting ready for the wedding.

When we arrived back at the villas the trees were magically decorated with strings of flowers and crystals, just as I had imagined. My dad had hung them as my mum and MOH had made them. They looked really great! Then time started to move VERY quickly!

I was rushing around washing my hair before the hairdressers arrived when my mum and dad asked to see me as they had a present for me. They gave me a little gift bag and inside was a white gold necklace with a sapphire stone – my something blue. It was a complete surprise as they had already given us a lot towards the wedding and a very generous gift on top of that. I later found out that they had also given Mr J, who doesn’t speak to his parents, a set of cufflinks. My Dad had also tied his mum’s wedding ring (who died when he was 14) to my bouquet with white ribbon as my something old and my something borrowed. With my dress as my something new I was all set to go.

The hairdressers arrived so my MOH, BM and I all settled into my bedroom to start getting ready. As the hairdressers started to work on MOH and BM first, I busied myself with laying out the flowers, making a playlist on my iphone for the planner to play during the champagne reception, and taking lots of photographs! I also popped into the kitchen to get some wine and spotted the huppah being built in the garden – eek!! I wasn’t nervous, just very excited and couldn’t really believe that it was all finally happening!

After the hairdressers had finished doing MOH and BM's hair it was my turn. My wonderful MOH and BM went off to distribute button holes and corsages while the hairdresser expertly curled my hair with straighteners and pinned it half up and half down just as I had wanted. She carefully added my hairpiece (a hairband with a sparkly side embellishment) and then pinned my veil to the back of my head. I looked like a bride!! I was really getting married!

MOH went to check that her son was getting ready and came back into the bedroom crying. The huppah was finished and everything was just about set up, and it had reduced her to tears! This made my BM laugh lots and made me even more excited! I resisted the urge to run to the kitchen to look out of the window and focused instead on doing my make-up. I’m not normally a big make-up wearer and don’t really know what I’m doing, so a month or so ago I went to a Mac counter and had my make-up done by one of the artists. So, armed with a bag full of brand new make-up I tried to recreate the look that the make-up artist had done as best I could. In my opinion the end result didn’t look too bad!

As my MOH, BM and PB practiced walking down the aisle by walking from one end of the room to the other (PB was nervous about doing it right!) I was just sitting down to paint my nails when the planner came back into the bedroom – the playlist that I had created with all of our songs on, including entrance, register and exit music, had disappeared from my iphone! The planner told me not to panic, confirmed my choices for entrance, register and exit, told me she would sort it, and disappeared again. Normally I would panic over something like that but it honestly left my head almost as soon as the planner left the room again. In the grand scheme of things it just wasn’t all that important.

To be continued!

Amazing report so far, can't wait to read more ?

Wow what a rollercoaster, can't wait to read some more and see some flashes!

I'm loving this report....flashes please?