Drum roll please.......
I don’t know how well this will come across as I will be the first to admit my story telling skills are not the greatest, so I am hoping that the photo’s (all unedited) will make up for any boredom you may encounter in this report, and trust me this is a long one so be prepared!
Once upon a time in land far far away (hmmmm Kent!) a beautiful maiden (modest I know) prepares to marry her Prince Charming. The story below follows her days leading up to the nuptials, until the day she is whisked away to live happy ever after. Let us begin....
Wednesday 12th October (10 days to go)
My wedding planning it has to be said had been pretty plain sailing. With around 15 months to plan I took to the organising like water off a ducks back. I was reasonably calm and collective throughout the whole process, with only few mishaps along the way which were dealt with reasonably quickly and effectively (obviously after some moaning to Bridesmaids/colleagues/hairdresser etc.)
The day I went to try on my wedding dress though for the final time was anything but stress free! I had bought the dress 3 or 4 weeks after getting engaged on a complete impulse shopping trip. I live near Bluewater Shopping centre and they have a bridal shop where no appointments are needed and you can try dresses on as if you were browsing through a high street store. Perfect to find a style that suited me so that I could spend time looking for “The One” in a proper bridal store. Guess what? I found “The One” that day instead. I was apprehensive as had heard bad reviews about the place but caught up in the newly engaged high, I succumbed to my Mother’s cooing and allowed her to purchase the dress. Fast forward 14 months and there I was, standing in my dress after its alterations feeling deflated and wishing that I had listened to my instinct in the first place.
My only alteration was to have the dress shortened and it looked like it had been hacked at with a pair of garden shears. I didn’t know what to do. I will say that the assistant that was in that day was amazing. Calmed me down (while my Mum was having a major breakdown) and reassured me that it would be sorted and I would be taking the dress home that night. The seamstress looked at it with complete bewilderment to how it could’ve even have got in the state that it was, but told me to come back in an hour and it would all be rectified. One of the longest hours of my life was then spent idly walking around Bluewater wondering what I’d be coming back to!
Thankfully, I came back and it was rectified. No longer did I have bits of net hanging down and layers uneven. It looked wonderful. I argued for compensation obviously. While the shop assistant frantically tried to contact the manager there I was standing in the middle of a shop, in a busy shopping centre, slowly wilting under the neon light bulbs. I felt like I was cooking. All I could think of was that I better keep my arms up in case I got too sweaty and made the dress smell!
The shop assistant came back with first offer of compensation..... a handbag. I politely turned it down. The second offer (through conferring with the manager over the phone) was some jewellery. I’m not sure at what point she didn’t hear that I was getting married in 10days and would I not already be that organised? I was not budging. I wanted monetary compensation and that was final. It was at this point I will add I have now been standing in my dress for at least 30 minutes. So after insisting that she called the manager back so she could get me out of my dress to prevent first aid emergency on her hands, I sat and waited for offer number 3. I got £50. It was now 8.30pm. I had been there for 2 ½ hours and was slowly losing the will to live. £50 was better than nothing and in the grand scheme of things it didn’t matter. I had the dress. It fitted and I was getting married in 10 days.
Wednesday 19th October (3 days to go)
My last day at work had finally come round. I had been for the last 15months speaking about the wedding constantly. I was banned from discussing the wedding at some points. I had a countdown which I shared with everyone. I think they were secretly pleased it had finally come for me to leave!
I came into work to a wonderfully decorated desk and sprinkles in every possible place they could put them. I am still finding them randomly appearing on my desk, in shoes, handbags, you name it I bet I have a foil heart or champagne glass there!
Like wedding planning, work in the weeks leading up to the big day had been reasonably stress-free, until the last day. However my bosses were lovely and at 5pm I was told whatever was there could wait till tomorrow and someone else would sort it out! So with computers off, the champagne was out and I opened the 50ml bottle of Stoli vodka that I have had in my drawer for 3 years. Stressful days normally mean a threat from me to open the bottle to get me through the day, but it seemed a perfect time to toast my final day in the office as a Miss!
I had a lovely meal out with the girls from work where we went to a local Moroccan restaurant and even got up to join in with the belly dancing.
Thursday 20th October/Friday 21st October
So I had decided that on the Thursday I’d be up early and make a start on the housework so that I didn’t have to worry myself doing anything before/after honeymoon. I decided on sleeping in instead, as was nursing a small hangover from the prior evening’s celebrations.
I had a few more wedding related bits which were to visit the cake lady and inspect the cake (I cried when I saw it!), pick the suits up and then round to my Mum’s to make my favours.
We had decided on M&Ms in organza bags. We originally were looking into the personalised ones until OH told me that actually they were already personalised as M is the first letter of OH surname! Brilliant! I had purchased 24 treat bags of M&Ms and started on the task of filling 72 organza bags. Being a perfectionist (and an accountant), I decided that each bag should have an equal amount so I counted one bag and find 120 M&Ms. I then worked out that 40 M&Ms per favour worked perfectly. I think it took me 3 hours in the end to do everything and I also found out that not all bags have 120 M&Ms! Left over’s for Mum and I (who walked in while I was finishing the final bag!) to have as a treat with a cup of tea!
The rest of Thursday was pretty mundane and after my final zumba class I went home to spend my final night with OH.
I awoke Friday to take all the final bits over to the venue. We had a table plan, post box, favours, flip flop basket, order of services, table name cards, petals for tables, readings etc etc etc. It wasn’t until we were packing the car up that I realised how much stuff I had accumulated. I had been storing it all in Mum’s spare room and hadn't realised how much it had amassed to. OH was rather shocked at all the stuff and was convinced it wasn't all needed!
We ran through the final details with the venue co-ordinator then we had to quickly nip to OH’s office to drop his laptop off.
Off we go to the office (45minutes away) and as soon as he walks through the door people are asking questions and he decides to “quickly” check some bits on a job that he was running (OH is a project manager for Electrical Contractors). 30 minutes later I am dragging OH out of the office! I still haven’t eaten yet and I have my nail appointment at 2!
We drove back home and then had an argument as to what to eat. I wanted Nando’s, he wanted the cafe! We agreed on Nando’s and as we sat down to eat I think we both finally realised that tomorrow we were getting married. We sat looking at each other and giggling like we were on one of our first dates!
The time came for me to say goodbye to OH. It has to be said one of the weirdest goodbye’s I have ever had. We stood hugging in the middle of the car park. Neither one of us wanted to let go. The only way I could describe it at the time was as if we were breaking up after a brief affair. Or an awkward hug between a friend that you haven’t seen for ages. It was very strange. As soon as I saw him drive off though I had a lump in my throat, I wanted him back! I have stayed on my own many a time, been away for a fortnight without seeing him and have waved him off without a second glance as if it was the norm but it was then (and not that I haven’t known this before) but I was marrying the man of my dreams and I couldn’t be without him. It was a poignant moment for me and I told him after how I had felt and he had felt exactly the same.
So finishing off Friday, I went to have my nails done (mani & pedi-shellac) and then went to spend an hour with my bridesmaid (who lives near my Mum). Cup of tea and quick gossip my Mum picked me up (she lives around the corner) and off we went to hers.
The night was rather subdued. We had family staying with us from Spain so after I had a glass of wine, a chicken shish from the kebab and watched Idiot abroad with my Mum, I was off to bed at 10! My Mum however couldn't sleep. She was like a bag of nerves and said she was going to have another glass of wine and would probably fall asleep on the sofa!! I trotted off to bed, text OH to say good night and would see him tomorrow