***NurseBride2B's Wedding Report - 19th May 2012***

The week before:

I was working in the run up to the wedding, which didn’t give me much time to finish the last little bits. I didn’t have much to do, but that didn’t stop me having a panic. My final shift was on Wednesday morning, and when I got there, the Sister had put up banners. They did a little presentation of a balloon, ‘Mr and Mrs’ mugs and a horseshoe (while we ate cupcakes). My excitement really kicked in then as I could see everyone else getting excited, and knew I only had a few days to go. I couldn’t quite believe it though...

Wednesday afternoon:

I drove straight to Norfolk straight after work and got my nails done. Now, I’m not usually allowed to have false nails, so I was excited about this. Two hours later and I drove down the road to Mum’s house.

I spent the evening with Mum and Grandma just sorting the final bits and bobs. My stationary order from Prettywild had arrived there that day and I was literally bouncing around trying to open the boxes to show Mum. There’s only one word for Suzanne’s work – stunning.

Thursday:

I had a little list of things to do on Thursday, like collecting the cake stand and the roses, but the main item on the agenda was “get beautified”. Mum, Grandma and I had appointments for facials and eyebrow waxing. It was a lovely, chilled out morning, and after spending a fortune on cake and other party food (for Saturday morning) in Tescos on the way home, we had a few hours to have a natter over cake in the afternoon.

The wedding rehearsal was at 7pm, so we trundled over to the church. OH and his family weren’t there when we got there, but my brother and his wife were. Once everyone had arrived we had a run through and I struggled not to cry as I practiced my vows. After rehearsal, we went for dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant, said my goodbyes to OH and then sat up nattering until the early hours.

Friday – the day before the wedding:

Mum and I got up early and went to the venue to take everything there. The lovely venue coordinator said she wished everyone was as organised as me as I showed her various boxes and explained my plan. She wouldn’t let me see the room being set up, so we left and popped into town to pick up my dress. I hadn’t seen it since Jan/Feb time, but it was every bit as beautiful as I remembered. We took that home and then Mum, Grandma and I went for lunch. To those who say you lose weight in the last week – you’re lying!

We had a few hours to kill before my bestie arrived, so I went on Hitched, read my Good Luck thread while trying not to cry and chatted to my friend on fb. In the evening there was 11 of us for dinner at home – some family and friends – and it was a lovely relaxed evening of laughter. When everyone left, I had a bath and went to bed, text OH (who had been playing on his Xbox with his best man and another friend), and didn’t get to sleep until gone half one. Not much time for my beauty sleep!

MOREMOREMORE

What Mini said! Btw, I love your orders of service.

Saturday – The Wedding Day!

I woke up at 6ish to a quiet house. I mooched about playing on my phone for a while and then opened my card and present from OH – a CD to play while we’re getting ready and a beautiful pearl bracelet. I had a couple of cards, which I opened next (thank you Mooey and BB!), and then heard a bit of life. Transpires that both Mum and my brother were up, and he was doing work on his laptop. Mum brought me a cup of tea and said it was raining – but I think it had been drizzling and had stopped.

Getting Ready:

FIL2B came round to drop the bouquets off at about 8am, so I quickly pulled on a hoody and jeans (and bride to be sash!), and answered the door. The flowers were huge... but gorgeous! SIL2B had done a fabulous job. Mum and I put them all in the garage in water, and then hopped in her car to go to the church. The plan was to put my suitcase in Mum’s car before we all got dressed, take the car to the church, tie some wicker hearts to the gates and then walk home. Simple.

But no, we literally turned the corner and realised I hadn’t put the suitcase in Mum’s car! Oops! Had to turn round and start again. We also popped to the shops to get a condolence card for my SIL and her family as her Auntie had died the day before, bless her. Is no Hitcher’s wedding safe from a bit of sadness? Sadly her funeral was planned for the Monday in Hungary, so SIL’s Mum and Sister (who came here for the wedding) lost their money as they and my brother and SIL had to fly over there the day after the wedding.

Anyway, back to the happy bits...

Love it so far, I need more!!! Love your flowers, they're beautiful.

When we got back, my Grandma and SIL were awake too, so we just chatted, had a cup of tea then I went to have a shower. It was weird getting changed back into pyjamas! The hairdressers were all due at 9, and the first one arrived to do Mum and Grandma’s hair. At this point I was happily munching on a pastry. After chatting in the kitchen for a bit, I went back in the lounge tofind a missed call on my phone from the hairdresser. They’d got lost. Oh well! So at 20 past they arrived courtesy of OH’s BIL and set to work on my SIL and my hair. At some point my bestie/CBM (H) and her sister (N) arrived. I was still being curled so couldn’t get up to greet anyone. N was doing our make-up, so she set up on a table somewhere.

I did escape for two seconds to give H her pressies. I’d got each girl a matching dressing gown, a personalised slipper and towel set, all their jewellery and some other little bits. But for H I’d also made a journal. I said she had to open the box before she got her make-up done. Good job, cause she cried, then called me a cow for it... Heehee I know I’m being super fluffy, but she has been amazing during my WPing. She really is the loveliest person I know. Plus, one of the most amazing things that I was actually officially allowed to tell people on the day is that she’d had her 12 week scan 2 days before and that her future baby was there at our wedding.

Ahem. Back to the story. A little while later, my SIL2B (C) arrived with her little girls. I was still being curled, so I got H to fetch their pressies and watched them open them. N started doing H’s make-up, while C had her hair done. There was a slight drama with my SIL’s hair, but never mind...

H had her hair done next and I was STILL being curled! My hairdresser was cursing the amount of hair I had! So in the time it took for my hair to be nearly done, her sister had sorted my grown up BMs. Oops! Meanwhile my Mum had been dutifully feeding and watering everyone, but I didn’t eat anything at all.

The TOG arrived while I was still being curled, said a quick hello and then took his colleague to the church. Shortly afterwards my final FG arrived, and the hairdressers set upon my little princesses. Both my FG’s Mum and the TOG said they couldn’t believe how calm it all was. We realised that it was half 11 and my make up hadn’t been done, so I was shoved in a chair and N worked her magic! I suddenly realised that I hadn’t painted my toenails, so I was very apologetic to my amazing BMs...

Pre make-up

More Nursey!!!

Then it suddenly went very quickly! The TOG had been back and had gone to church again, N had been picked up to get ready and my brother had left ages ago. It was 12 o’clock! But it was ok, because all we had to do was get dressed. Mum and the BMs got changed, and my gorgeous camper arrived.

Where was the other one?

Bit of background on the campervan saga. We have a 1983 VW camper who we knew would be our wedding car. My plan was to do three trips to get us all to the church, but Mum got a bit snotty a few months back about it all, so I’d arranged for my friend to drive 3 BMs in her camper while the other 3 went in mine, then he’d come back for Mum and me. My friend got lost getting to the church and was late! Oops! Easily done as they didn’t know the area well, but we didn’t know that. So we were waiting for the other camper to get there. Eventually we gave up and sent C with the 3 FGs.

Our camper was driven by OH’s crewmate, M. Apparently when the little ones got in Hans (our camper), he told them that Hans would only drive off when he knew they were ready. So they said “We’re ready!” M then told them that Hans didn’t quite hear them so after another “WE’RE READY!!!”, he drove off.

Loving it, MORE!!!

More!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile Mum, H and SIL helped me into my dress. Both campers turned up at the house and after a mini diva moment of me saying something like “I’m sure they can walk over the road, as long as my camper is close to the house, then it’s ok. I’m the one the matters, I’m the bride!” caused by my Mum (sorry BMs – I felt guilty as soon as the words fell from my mouth!) we bundled ourselves into the campers.

(Yes we do love our campervan and he features a lot in this wedding!)

this

Your report is so well written- its lovely to read.

Less than 5 minutes later we were at the church. It was 13:15hrs. Never mind! Mum helped me out the camper and I joined my girlies. Mum was carrying my train and as I went round to the door I felt a rip... The underskirt had come off my train! Luckily it was velcroed so Mum and SIL delved into my nether-regions and fixed it all! I said hello to the Vicar and he asked if I was nervous. “Nope!”

He said it would hit me as I went to the door. I stood in the doorway, saw a friend, waved, and heard the guitarist finish playing. But the Vicar was absolutely right. I heard the first few notes of Canon in D start at the organ and it hit me. We started walking in, but all I could do was concentrate on actually breathing. “Must. Not. Cry.” I then saw Mrs C as I turned the corner and *think* I smiled at her, but either way seeing a friendly face calmed me a bit and I focused on the altar.

Can I just say at this point that I am nearly in tears posting this all? It's so emotional!

You did... you almost did a little squee! ?

*is getting emotional again*

I reached OH and said a little “hello”. I can’t actually remember what he said to me. The whole service was amazing. It was held in the church that I had grown up in, the choir that had known me since I was about 9 were in front of me, and our closest friends and family were around us. Saying our vows and exchanging rings was truly magical. You hear it a million times on here but it felt like the Vicar, OH and me were the only ones there. Lots of people said afterwards how they could see how in love we are.

The first reading was read by C, and it made my Mum cry. She read it so beautifully. The poem we’d chosen was “my Mum and Dad’s poem”, called "How Do I Love Thee?" Luckily we were having a little chat so I was only half listening, otherwise I’d have been in tears too. My blokey bestie read a passage from the Bible, and then the Vicar said a lovely sermon. After the second hymn, we went to the altar for the Blessing, and then signed the register. We were running very late by this point, so only had time for the choir to sing two anthems, but the first one I’d chosen as it was one I’d sung for one of my chorister exams over 10 years ago (and yes, I was singing along as the others signed the register!)

The Vicar then told us where to stand, told us to “enjoy the moment”, the exit music started up (Handel’s Water Music) and we processed out, smiling from ear to ear. We were husband and wife!

Then the thousands of photos started... Well, I’d asked for minimal photos to be done at the church, but it felt like thousands. I remember at one point the TOG asked us to walk to the front of the church to do the shot of everyone. I started walking, turned around and OH was nowhere to be seen! So I did the comedy “I seem to have lost my Husband!” moment. Cue our guests taking loads of photos of me by myself and with Mum, while OH was nattering to his friends. Our TOG came to find us and we walked round the front.

Note to B2Bs: If anyone questions your decision to provide confetti, don’t listen. Mum questioned my rationale, I ignored her and it was the most amazing experience. Walking through a tunnel of about 60 people throwing confetti is amazing!

While the guests went to the venue for their Pimms/fruit punch, we snuck off to a nearby castle for a little photoshoot. I think of all the “little” amounts of money, this was the best £30 entrance fee I spent for the day. We had time to catch up, unwind and spend some time having fun before being pulled about by everyone at the reception. I would recommend something like this to all B2Bs.

We got to the venue just in time to have a drink and a quick natter with a few people before we had a sneak peek at the room. It was perfect! The cake made by our very own Flowmojo was fabulous and my centrepieces were just how I’d imagined. The only thing was that we’d asked for a round top table and it was set up traditionally, but hey, I couldn’t change it and it looked great. We went back into the bar area and did a bit of mingling before the guests were called into the reception room. We waited until everyone was seated (took ages!) and then were announced as the new Mr and Mrs D... and the bass notes of the F1 theme started...

We’d told no-one that we were going to walk in to that music and it went down so well! Everyone who knows us knows that we’re both mad about Formula One, and it was reflected in our cake topper and table names, but this was a complete surprise for them.

I am loving this!

*wipes away tear*

The meal was lovely and was over with a bit too quickly. We then cut the cake so the venue could prepare it while the speeches were happening. We had 3 speeches – my brother went first, then OH and finally our Best Man – and they were amazing. I was in hysterics.

We then went to the bar area for cake and yet more photos. This was the only part of the day that I didn’t enjoy. I was being asked to find things by suppliers, finding people for photos, saying goodbye to people and saying hello to some early evening guests. I felt like I was pulled in a million directions and that I was being rude to everyone. In the end, I gave up and just messed around with my adorable niece...

What a fab report xx

Thank you!

Finally the disco started and it was time for our first dance, Carly Simon’s ‘Spy Who Loved Me.’ Mum and I had tried to bustle my dress but it came straight down again, so I had to shove the massive train under my arm and try and dance. Our second dance was meant to be “Madness – It Must Be Love”, but couldn’t help but giggling when “Baggy Trousers” started up instead! Luckily it got swapped to the correct song!

After a bit more dancing with my little nieces and the BBQ that I couldn’t even think about trying as I was so full, we had a live band start playing... It was OH’s band! He kept the playlist secret from me, so it was totally amazing for me as well as the guests. For some of the time I just sat at a table near the dancefloor with my niece and her friend on my lap watching our friends boogie and chant OH’s name (well, my new name too!). Epic. Then my niece wanted to boogie so we decided rock out to a bit of Queen, which then turned into the F1 theme! I was not expecting that and was so excited! It was so funny!

After the 30-40 minute set, we had more disco. By this point I was baking, and my train was annoying me, so I snuck off to Mum’s room and changed into my party dress. So glad I’d bought that! Finally after hours and hours of dancing, it was about one o’clock and time for the final song. We’d decided on ‘All You Need Is Love’, and it really finished the evening off with everyone on the dancefloor singing and dancing together.

We sat chatting to our closest friends for a while, before finally turning in for the night. Good times.

Fab report, congratulations xx

What a beautiful report! You looked absolutely amazing, congratulations to you both

Fantastic, tears in my eyes. You look stunning. Congratulations x

N+Ps:

Louloubelle Designs for my beautiful tiara

Folbar Beads for mine and my bridesmaids' bracelets, plus the fantastic bag charms they made for my hen party

Prettywild for all my amazing stationary, who understood exactly what was in my mind

Patrick Watson for the photography. I have had so many compliments about him and his colleague and that was before people had seen these photos! https://patrickwatsonphotography.co.uk/

Whoever it was from here that sold me my lucky brollies and kept the rain away!

I would also like to say thank you for all your support the past 18 or so months, and for your kind words on my Good Luck thread. Special thanks to Mini, Flow, Mrs C, Bea, Mooey, Vickster and BB ❤️, plus all the girls on the 2012 FB Group (I "know" a few a bit better than others).

Lots of love and fluff,

Mrs Nursey x

ETA to add the photographer's details

Love. it.

Your attention to detail was amazing, it certainly didn't go unnoticed!

Congratulations Mrs Nursey!!! x

Really lovely report.

Sounds like you had a fab day and you looked beautiful.

Great report, bought tears to my eyes! Congratulations! And thanks for sharing xx