Welcome back to another instalment of #bloggybrides on A Beautiful Ride. While you’re here check out the last post from Chloe about her pre-wedding shoot. This time I’ll be giving you a walkthrough of what happened on my wedding day! Prepare for lots of pictures..
The Morning
I was a bag of nerves on the morning of my wedding day. I had been fretting all week and the evening before that it was going to rain and I was praying the weather would hold out. Me and my sister got up at about 7am. We then headed over to the hotel reception venue so we could start getting our bits together. Luckily enough there was no sign of rain, the sky was a bit overcast but that was fine by me!
Once we were at the hotel my hair and makeup artists arrived and started getting everyone ready. The room was a hive of activity. My mum arrived and we cracked open the Prosecco. The hotel also provided us with some sandwiches and crisps to nibble on. I was still feeling quite nervous so I barely managed to eat. But once I started seeing everything come together I kind of had to pinch myself. I had planned this day for so long, and of course there were bumps along the way, but that morning everyone was laughing and smiling and I genuinely couldn’t believe we had made it and were actually getting married!
A Special Gift
James is never really one for soppy gestures, but on the morning of the wedding he sent one of my bridesmaids over with these beautiful Tiffany earrings for me to wear with my dress. He even wrote me a little note which we both laughed over afterwards as he was embarrassed that the photographer had taken it out and snapped loads of photos of it. It was supposed to be for my eyes only – he’s a softie at heart.
My Nan and Grandpa joined us in our suite as the morning progressed. There were lots of women in the room and bags and items literally everywhere, so my Grandpa decided to hang out in the bedroom area as it was a little quieter. Our photographer got the cutest shot of him checking out my shoes. I absolutely adore my grandparents and I’m so happy and thankful that I got to enjoy the day with them.
As we got closer and closer to our 2pm church service we all started getting into our dresses and pulling together the final touches. My dress was from Pronovias. Although there were a few dramas after we had bought it (the shop measured me up wrong at first!), I was so happy with how it looked in the end! My family all got in taxis. Then my bridesmaids left in the white cab we had hired to go to church. Which left me and my dad nervously pacing the room waiting for our time to go! By this point the sun had come out quite a lot. I was standing in front of a fan trying to cool myself down in my dress!
The Ceremony
We held our ceremony in a church local to us. We had attended previously to hear our wedding banns read out. James was very happy as the vicar who married us was also the club chaplain for his favourite football team, West Ham.
Me and Dad got stuck in a bit of traffic on our way there, which meant that we were actually 10minutes late! James joked with me afterwards that people were saying I’d done a runner!
Before we knew it we were married and signing the register. As we walked out of the church we were greeted by confetti throwing guests. But I didn’t need to worry as my girls picked all of it out of my hair afterwards!
We had all of our group shots and me and James went off to have a couple taken of just the two of us. The next thing we knew we were back in the cab and on the way to our reception.
The Reception
I had organised a lot of the flowers and made the table additions by hand. But I hadn’t seen how everything had been seen up at our venue until we arrived. I was blown away by how pretty and elegant everything looked. It was all I had hoped for and more.
Our guests were led through to the garden for a drinks reception where people started chatting and enjoying some sunshine. Both of us were busy laughing, drinking and catching up with our guests whilst the venue started preparing for our meal.
Once everyone was seated we had a 3 course meal followed by speeches. There was so much laughter and a few tears were shed but no one can deny my dad, James and the best men all did fantastic jobs.
After the meal the venue had to turn the tables round in preparation for our music to set up and for our evening guests to arrive. Me and James went back out into the garden for a couple more pictures. Shortly after that our evening guests started arriving and the party kicked off!
My mum put together an amazing sweet table for all of the guests to enjoy. My grandparents even made this Ferrero Rocher tree! (It had concrete in the pot so it didn’t fall over – believe it or not!)
The Party
We had our first dance to “can’t take my eyes off you”. From then on we pretty much danced the night away! The evening was a happy blur of laughs with friends and family, silly pictures taken in the photo booth and some questionable shapes thrown on the dance floor.
Our musicians last set ended at 12 midnight and we bid farewell to our guests. I was overwhelmed by everyones kindness and good wishes. James proceeded to pick the 100 odd bobby pins I had in my hair out one by one and we reminisced on what had truly been the best day ever.
While you’re here why not follow Bloggy Brides on twitter? Or check the girls blogging about all things wedding – Clara, Catriona and Rebecca.
