I wasn’t planning on doing a wedding report as I was/am more of a lunch time lurker than a fully fledged member of the Hitched community but I posted a flash shortly after we got married and a few Hitchers asked me to do a report so here it is! As I have been writing this it seems to have gotten really quite long somehow so good luck reading it!
We got married on the 10th April At East Riddlesden Hall. The weather was lovely, it snowed the week before (my car got stuck on the moors!) but we struck lucky and the week of the wedding was that one freak warm week we had in April. I hadn’t bought myself a wrap or jacket to wear with my dress, what was I thinking!?
The proposal:
We got engaged in August 2013 having met at university in freshers week in 2008, we've been together since we were 19.
F 
Turns out he had the ring for NINE MONTHS in his laptop bag (the only thing i dont dare touch..!) trying to plan the perfect thing. I'm really glad it was somewhere private and just us. It really was very romantic and well thought out and is a lovely proposal story to tell when asked.
The Planning:
We only looked at one other venue before booking ERH so that was quite easy for us! I work in events myself and am naturally organised, nothing was left to the last minute which as the date got closer i was glad about as we made a lot of the things ourselves! My OH is away alot and so i didn't have any hands on help from him. I had been determined not to be a bridezilla from the start and if things didn’t quite work to plan I just took a deep breath and moved on if there was nothing I could do about it. That was actually really helpful when some family politics got a bit much for those around me, I think they were more stressed than I was!
The Décor:
A lot of our wedding was
DIY, with lots of help from my friends and family, but did it in little bits as
we went along so that it didn’t feel over whelming.
Bunting was made by mum & sister made the bunting from the
duvet sets my sister and I had on our bunk beds when we were little. Thankfully
these were all in a similar colour scheme (well done mum!) and were pale pinks
and greens which sort of became our colour scheme
Save the dates, invites and menus were designed by a friend and I
got them printed at VistaPrint, i carried on the same font and theme from save the dates through to menus and signs at the wedding.
Glue gunned fabric (duvet fabric again!) into an old suitcase my
mother-in-law gave me for a card box
Favours were mini jars of jam my sister and I made as she loves
to make jam, we labelled them ‘Trina’s spiced plum jam’
Flowers were done by mother-in-law, with help from my mum and
sister and the confetti was dried petals from flowers from my mums garden,
flowers from the lovely ladies at work if they had any of them at home and any
flowers that were in the reduced section at Morrisons! I have dried all the
flowers from my boquet and from any of the roses we didn’t give away to give as
confetti to our best man as he is getting married next August. My husband will
be best man for him too!
We had a cake table rather than just one cake - fruit cake was
from a colleague at work, the gluten free carrot cake was made by my sister and
the others came from Waitrose entertaining. I iced the fruitcake and made the
cake bunting to go on top of the cakes which was easy peasy and I would
recommend anyone trying to save some £££.
We also had some paper lanterns hanging, wooden crates stacked up with flowers in/on them, light up letters and other bits and bobs I got on ebay.
Bridesmaids:
I had two, my sister and my best friend. Luckily, they are both a similar shape and agreed on a similar style of dress early on. They only tried on one before picking one from BHS so the whole process was painless! I bought petticoats and ivory fur wraps on ebay and then my mum took them in so they fit better. It turned out we didn’t need the fur wraps due to the weather! Thye both wore little pearl flower earrings I gave them as a thank you gift but they didn’t have to be matching. My main concern for them was to be comfortable and in an outfit that they liked. Thankfully they both picked a lovely dress, lots of people complimented the bridesmaid dresses which I was surprised at as they aren’t typically ‘bridesmaidy’.
The Dress:
I had only been to one wedding boutique to try dresses on previously, found one I liked (but couldn’t afford) and when I looked on eBay found a sample of the dress, in the size I needed, unworn and I bought it for £150. I loved it but as time went on I felt uneasy about as it was very fitted and was loose on my boobs and tummy and tight on my legs and I couldn’t sit down. I was worried I wouldn’t be comfortable on the day and conscious of the dress being tight across my widest point.
I had never ever dreamed or lusted over wedding dresses like some of my friends have and so I was very much taken by surprised when I went to a wedding warehouse type place and found my second dress. I tried it on and was like…OH! My OH was a little shocked as I had gone in with a friend to look for her and came out with one for me! The original one went back on eBay and sold for £100 more than I bought it for!
My veil came from eBay, my bracelet was Swarovski and my earrings came from Debenhams. Because of my big dress I didn’t want too much jewellery or to look OTT.
The build up:
My sister had been away for the best part of 18 months, she came back mid-february in time for hen do things, crafty bits and a hair trial. She was instrumental in getting bits done as if I remembered anything I could text her and she would finish things off (like the bunting).
I took the week of the wedding off work, OH was on leave (hooray!) and we had a house full of guests all week which was overwhelming. On the Monday the groomsmen came over to check suits all ok (one had erm..’grown’ significantly since the fitting at Christmas so back to the shop to swap it we went), on Tuesday my mother-in-law and her partner came to stay as they didn’t have access to the farm they hired until weds and then they left to be replaced by the best man. It was overwhelming for me as I don’t see my OH much and our house was full and constantly needing cleaning/tidying/more milk but it was lovely at the same time. The best man is one of the best people I’ve ever met and I’m so glad my OH has a friend like him so I can’t complain at all really. He kept commenting on how calm I was and offering to help with things which was great!
On the Wednesday I spent a blissful morning having a pedicure, a manicure and my eyelash extensions put in. In the evening I went to my usual exercise classes, in fact I kept them up all week, with my sister and best friend and they were very giddy which was lovely!
On Thursday i met with my bridesmaid late morning and collected cakes, bought a few more flowers and made sure we had boxed everything up and that the instructions for décor would make sense to the venue. I checked everything out of the dining room and into the living room with a list before checking it from the living room and into my dads car. Told you I was organised! My sister stayed at home and made a gluten free cake for our cake table before helping my mum and mother-in-law with the flowers. I practiced my speech, kissed my OH goodbye and went for a walk over the moors before It got dark with my friends last thing at night which was lovely.
Friday – wedding day! I spent the night at my parents and shared my sisters bed as we always used to do this on Christmas eve, birthdays etc. I woke up early and felt very surreal, almost as if it the wedding wasn’t really happening. You spend so long planning, thinking, worrying, crafting etc. that when you get to the wedding day I found it feeling a little odd and not real!
Once everyone was up and my other bridesmaid had arrived we headed off to the hairdressers together. My mum nipped to M&S for pastries, fruit and juices but I could only manage a couple strawberries and some tea as I was so so nervous!
Hair done, we came home for make up which was done by a friend, I bought some new make up (as did my bridesmaids, it was a nice excuse to do some shopping together!) and we had a couple of trials beforehand. She also did my mums make up and my bridesmaids make up. It was lovely to have a close friend there in the morning to giggle with before she rushed off to the venue to be a guest at our wedding! Meanwhile, My dad took the car load of wedding décor over the venue, unloaded it all and hung up the bunting for us (he had visited the week before with a clipboard and made himself a plan) with the help of my uncle and a couple of my friends.
The photographer appeared and had to give me some Rescue Remedy as I was so nervous! I don’t know what was wrong with me, I had shaky hands and was just really nervous about walking down the aisle!
The best man came to collect the button holes my mum and sister made and told me that he, my H2B and the men from my husband’s family had gone out for my breakfast together that morning including his granddad.
My aunt arrived with my grandma, everyone got dressed and then it was time to go!
My aunt drove the bridesmaids, my mum and my grandma. My uncle drove us in his car, he has a Mercedes and I wasn’t that fussed about having a formal wedding car but my aunt decorated it was ribbons for me. We listened to Andrea Bocelli and I sang made up words as I don’t know any Italian. I held hands with my dad and chatted about silly things and told him how nervous I was! When I got there and hopped out the car my dad promptly stood on the middle of the back of my dress so hard I nearly fell over! Thankfully nothing was ripped and you couldn’t see a mark but I guess that’s just what happens when you have size 13 feet haha!
The boys were already at the venue catching up with people.
We had a drinks reception in the gardens and Yorkshire themed canapés (Yorkshire puddings with fillet beef, mini pies etc.) before heading back to the barn for the speeches follow by a BBQ with pimms followed by ice cream for dessert.
The speeches were wonderful, my dad did a great job of setting the scene and taking the mick (gently) out of my new husband (he also told everyone that when my mum was pregnant with my sister that I was really indignant because I wanted a duck and not a baby!) before my husband got up, said a few lines and introduced me by saying ‘Before I carry on, my wife, as you will all know is the opposite of me as she loves to have a say about most things and so would like to say a few words…’which was met with a lot of laughter as everyone knows what a big mouth I have. I spoke very briefly on how hard it can be to be apart but that waiting for him was worth it and then told everyone there how much they meant to us before asking people to raise a glass to ‘love, in all forms and in all shapes’ as I was toasting everyone there and all our various relationships with each other. My husband is known for not being very expressive or emotional but his speech was well delivered (I was so shocked by how confident and clear he was), funny and touching. He spoke about how easy life is when we are together and about how being home with me is so important to him etc. He even got a little choked up and had to take a moment to compose himself which is virtually unheard of! The best man was great, absolutely hilarious. Someone was telling me how funny her was just this week actually.
And then it was time to eat! And then dance! And then hog roast and dance some more! And then home to our little house over the hill.
The next day we had an open house and had lots of visits, tea and biscuits. We gave some of our flowers away, ate any leftover cake and then headed to Robin Hoods Bay for a week on the Monday.
And that my friends, was that!
