I am quite the unconcise writer - so get a cuppa and prepare yourself for a feast of an elopement report, with probably several side helpings of tangential drivel...
Our story starts in 2005, when we met for the first time on a University pub crawl! Here's the proof:
It's me in the middle and OH on the far right (do you like my DIY tie-dye efforts?!)
Friends of ours started dating and we kept bumping into each other at the same pubs/clubs, 3 months later and we were official!
So 9 wonderful, bickering, "oh but I do love you" years later... we decided we wanted to get married. It wasn't really on the cards before. I felt uncomfortable about doing a big wedding thing, and "what's the points anymore - really?!" (we moved in together after a year). OH wasn't keen either. Then we were talking about our future and one of us (can't even remember who now!!!) mentioned eloping. There was a curious stillness in the air when it was suggested, like we were both trying to work out what the other one was thinking, there was definitely smiling, and somehow it became apparent we were both into it! We decided to do a sort of weekly pub/cafe/coffee shop chat about the eloping idea - checking out how it would work, what we wanted etc etc. We decided not to tell anyone, and as time went on we felt confident it was the right thing for us and didn't want to get talked out of it (or feel guilty about it) so we never told a sole, not one person!
In the week leading up it was so hard holding it all in. I wanted to scream "I'm getting married!!!" and could barely concentrate on anything else. We had a whole bank holiday weekend for final preparations which we sooo needed, and it definitely helped me manage the last-minute nerves.
On the Monday we got the train down to London with our honeymoon cases, suit bag, and (giant) dress bag. We felt it was all going smoothly and checked into our Chelsea hotel at 2pm. That's when OH had a sudden major panic - he couldn't remember locking the front door!!! Anyway, long story short he sent a mate round to check and it WAS locked all along, phew!
I had planned a little treat for us that afternoon, to go to Jo Malone (it was just round the corner) for a complimentary hand and arm massage. Not normally OH's thing but he agreed to give it a go for me more than anything (oh the romance!). We turned up a little early for our 3pm appointment and were invited to take a seat at the "bar". Cue 1 whole hour of awesome indulgence!! They gave us glasses of bubbly, chocolates, boxes of sugared almonds to take away, and literally spent as long as it took for us to try every conceivable combination of body and fragrance options to find the perfect products to use for our hand massage - I had never been treated so royally! We bought a little (but fairly pricey!) bottle of cologne at the end, and were given about 10 miniature complimentary bits and bobs to take away as well!
After our Jo Malone pampering, we wandered down Kings Road to buy some hair clips I had been meaning to sort but not got round to, and as it started to rain we scuttled to a little Vietnamese and Malaysian shack of a restaurant that we had earmarked for a tasty and well-priced dinner. We sat under clear plastic tarpaulins in the pouring rain eating the most DELICIOUS prawn laksa and duck pho. Heaven.
(My t-shirt says "follow your ❤️" over a picture of the Eiffel tower - very fitting for us!)
Breaking with tradition, we returned to our hotel room together and fell asleep almost instantly (must have been exhausted by the all the emotional nerves!).
The morning of the wedding
The alarm went off at 6am and we shared a "we're getting married today!" kiss. Then as is usually the case in the morning, OH rolled over and went back to sleep! I pottered across our room junior suite! to the bathroom for a shower. When I got out OH had woken up and decided to get himself ready so he could pick up breakfast for us. We had a cuppa and I had just about managed to dry my hair when the MUA arrived at 7am. She set to work as OH went and found a Sainsbury's local, and brought back croissants and a pot of fresh fruit "I'll have the fruit" (well I picked out the strawberries and apple and left the rest - although OH made sure not to waste the kiwi!).
The TOG arrived at 8am and he mostly watched tv with OH while my MUA helped me into my dress in the bathroom - there was a programme on about mid-90s premier league football (with appropriate background music!) that was obviously very captivating to them!! I wondered if even the sight of me in my dress for the first time would tear OH away....
It did...
