~*~ Love On The Train Tracks 29th July 2012~*~ My Wedding Report! Some Flashes and Tips!

Ahh how sweet, looking forward to the rest of the report x

We both said as we had just come out of long term relationships we only wanted a casual thing and enjoy ourselves at first. At first this went well as we were living 3hrs apart, but after Christmas we started to get more feelings. We made a pact not to tell anyone who each other was yet and also to abstain from sex. We arranged to meet in Reading then travel down to London for Days out so no one we knew could see us. We arranged to go along on a works do to Belgium (Early Feb) but make a weekend of it by staying in London on the night we got back.

Spot the hubby.

From then we knew we were in deep and this wasn’t going to be a casual thing so we both went home and told our parents we were seeing someone. My birthday was the next 25th Feb. It was this day that he met my mum and nephew for the first time but not my sister. My sister works at the same company as us and knew my hubby already. My reaction to this was; ‘What! Why have you never introduced him to me before.’ Within a few months we made the big decision to move in with each other, but had to wait a year before his transfer for work was agreed.

More please!

More!

So sorry for not doing any updates. I had a accident at work and hurt my wrist so couldn't type, will try and do some more today.

This has the potential to be another classic report - keep it coming! (And you 2 look SO cute in that photo!)

ENGAGEMENT STORY COMING UP!!!!!!

We had talked about our future obviously as he was moving to Brum, but when it came to marriage he had always said he would never want to be engaged while living apart. I then joined hitched when I wasn’t officially engaged. I started dreaming of what my engagement ring would look like. No sooner had I been dreaming, Mark said he didn’t want to pick my engagement ring. He dreaded getting it wrong when I had to wear it for the rest of my life. So we started to look for rings together. I whittled it down to three, three totally different ones and left it with him to choose the one.

On Jan 29th 2010, he officially started living in Brum. However, the down side was I had to go to work for a few hours until lunch time. He said he would pick me up. Work is about a 10/15 min drive away so when he still wasn’t there 20mins later I wondered what had happened to him. Phoned him and he said he was about 5 mins away, I asked no more questions. When we got home he ran straight upstairs, I though; hmmmm maybe the bedroom is a mess. I followed up in about 5 minutes to get changed. I had just a rubbish morning at work I got my uniform off and collapsed onto the bed. Next thing I knew Mark called me; I turned round to find him down on one knee with the ring box opened. All I can remember is me keep saying; Oh my god. Oh my god. It wasn’t quite setting in that he was actually proposing. He was struggling to get my ring on with my hand shaking so I took the ring while nodding a yes and put it on. It was only then he said; I take it it’s a yes then. My reply; Oh yes. Yes yes yes yes! At that moment I couldn’t believe I was now engaged. He really had meant it when he said we wouldn’t be engaged until we were living together. And after I had come down from my high, it was only then I questioned him about why he was so late and discovered he was picking up engagement ring and here is my ring;

Oh yeah and he decided he wanted one to so off we went shopping few weeks later and this was his:

Excellent, was wondering when we would have some more of your report! Keep it coming lady! Gorgeous rings btw

The wedding planning begins, including some possible advice for brides to be.

As most brides do I went straight into wedding dress search mode. The first thing I brought for my outfit was not my dress but my garter on an impulse. As a couple we sat down and researched venues, we made a top 10 of possible venues which we felt would be realistically in our budget and what fitted out needs best. One of the best things we did was sit down and work out what was most important to us as a couple, i.e where the money would be best spent. As we had only attended a friend’s wedding a few months before we liked the kind of numbers she had, so we sat down and initially did a guest list of 60 to the day and 90 to the night.

We couldn’t get a day together to go an view all the venues , so on an impulse on 14th Feb 2010 (yes Valentine’s Day,) we drove round the majority of venues on our side of the city to view them and get brochures. It helped us lots as the venue that Mark originally fell for wasn’t right. A; it was by a farm so was a bit smelly and B; right by a motorway. The venue that I fell for was not right for 3 of our guests who are elderly and not good on their feet. Then we visited the only venue we mutually agreed on our side of the city, sadly they wanted 100 for a summer Saturday so we asked for a Sunday, but it would of meant 3 different rooms and I wasn’t prepared to do it. So the search continued……..

Can we have some more please ?

The search continues

One day while visiting my brother we decided to drive to the venues on the opposite side of the city and further afield. We’re so glad we did as we fell in love with a venue called Grafton Manor. As soon as we drove up to it, we both went; wow! And it’s lovely! We knew then that we had found our venue. Sadly we couldn’t have a tour round but they gave us a brochure and contact details for the wedding co-ordinator himself. Within a few days we back at Grafton Manor to discuss having it as our venue. Stephen happens to be the Lord and Lady of Grafton’s son, so if anyone knew Grafton it was him. He made us feel like we were the only bride and groom ever to get married there. Nothing was to much for him. We provisionally booked our wedding date for 29th July 2012. Yes 2yrs ahead but the best venues get booked up. The planning was in full swing now. I got wedding dress over kill though and started to get stressed that I would not find my dress. I kept finding bits of dresses I liked but not everything in one. So off we went on holiday in June to Tenerife, our first foreign holiday together. No wedding talk. It was perfect.

Wow you certainly win first prize for the longest ever length of time to post a report! ha

Will come back to read when its finished!

Once we came back from our hols we knew the wedding planning had to begin in earnest with 2yrs to go. I gave up dress shopping and decided to focus on the actual decorating and save the dates. I always said I would like pink as my bridesmaid theme. Mark is a trained pilot so he naturally wanted planes involved, so the theme went to a Summer’s day, with the element of Air (butterflies and airplanes.) When it came to pick the exact shade, oh boy was there trouble. So my pink dream went out the window. My bridesmaid’s decided on purple (no offence to anyone) but I’d had purple wedding overkill recently with friends and family, so the colour search continued……..

I didn’t back down on one thing though, my summer’s day theme. I love all things shabby chic/country garden/Cath Kidston so we settled on a vintage green. I never thought of green but it fitted in with my theme perfectly and I was determined still to have an element of pink.

The planning began in earnest.

The next priority for us was to focus on a photographer and videographer. We decided to buy ourselves a top of the range HD camcorder and microphone. So it was quickly decided to that we would spend that little bit extra on our Photographer and ask out BIL to film the day for us. We phoned round a few photography companies but no one came as friendly as Brookfield Photography. After coming off the phone to them without even seeing them in person, I knew we had to have them.

Next was the cake, my mum being a cake maker herself offered to make it as one of our presents. So we quickly decided on the basics of it. 3 tiers stacked with flowers, 1 fruit and 2 sponge layers. Now it was left for mum to do the rest.

I quickly decided on my shoes as well. I always said I wanted some that I could wear again or get dyed. I quickly decided on these beauties. However as you will read on the big day, they didn’t last long. My shoes were soon joined by my flower girl’s and her tiara, both proving to be my big bargains of the wedding.

More,more, more please!!!!

More please ! This is like watching a soap and waiting for the nest episode,lol x

It seemed like the wedding was approaching fast, the 1 year deadline came and went, as well did the 1st of Jan for me to say ‘I’m getting married this year.’ But I still had no dress. It was getting to the point I thought I would just wear any old thing. I had been for another dress search the end of 2011 thought I found my dress but it just didn’t feel right. It was what I originally had in mind for the design so I was disappointed but hey ho.

So off I went in the new year, (yes this year, 7mths before,) to try and search for ‘the one.’ I soon found out though that one of the designers I had set my heart on was out of the question as it wouldn’t be delivered in time. I found two dresses that I really liked but never ended up trying them on because I found my dress , the 1st one I tried on of this design.

I always said I wanted; Minimal detail, A-line, strapless, Sweetheart neckline, Ivory and rouching. ( Similar to this dress I thought was the one.)

I ended up with: strapless, straight neckline, pure crystal bodice, white and with 7 layers of skirt. ( My ‘ONE’ dress.)

It turned out to be a good day as well as my bridesmaid colour was defiantly chosen as I ordered my hubby's cavet and handkerchief in the same colour.

I sent my hubby to sort his suits out as soon as possible as I was worried about the time scale. We decided on Debenhams as it was the ideal shop with locations over the UK for our family to get to. When the Feb half term was on, my SIL, nephew and niece all came up for a few days. GREAT, I thought, get my SIL to the dress shop asap. So on the same day within an hour of her walking through the front door I had her and my flower girl/niece in the shop. Not wasting any time here. My sister came along soon who was the other bridesmaid to finally choose a style of dress. Which didn’t actually take very long. Well done girls. Who took more convincing to take the dresses of was my flowergirl. I’m sorry but buying a 6yr old/soon to be 7yr old her dress 5mths before was pushing it. Anyway, I had decided I wasn’t going to pay the prices from a bridal shop and has decided on either Debenhams or Monsoon. I was glad we had all agreed on that because my flower girl while I was distracted looking at tiara’s, asked to try a bridesmaid dress which I can only say wouldn’t of looked out of place on My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, bright pink and big. No no no!

We soon got all our final bits and pieces together and it was time for our final meetings with our venue and photographer with a 2 weeks to go. Stephen made us feel like we had it all under control and had nothing to worry about, as did Kay one of our wedding photographers. Little did they know the stuff we still had to do.

We had picked our name place holders from CraftHobby but our local store had ran out of them by 20, so we had to wait for them to come into stock. Table plan wasn’t well, even planned. Mirrors for centre pieces needed a clean, favours needed bagging up, place cards needed to be written, cards and presents needed to be sorted. Well the list goes on. One thing I did think was sorted was my order of service for our blessing.

A couple of the nicer things I still had to do was to have my fitting and the trials for my make-up and hair. My flowergirl retried on her shoes, as when I had previously brought them they were about 2 sizes to big. They fit! RESULT! My nephews tried on their outfits I’d ordered from Monsoon and very nice they looked to. A bonus was that as I spent a certain amount I got a free bag. RESULT! :-D

Tuesday 24th July

My last proper day at work, I was so looking forward to it as I knew I didn’t really have much to do.

Wednesday 25th July

Was a day of finalising the table plan and the order of service. But nothing runs smoothly, tried to staple the material for the table plan onto the canvas but gun wasn’t working. Take 2, try my material glue, NOPE, not used it for ages so it’s gone all hard. I gave up in the end as it was coming up to 9 o’clock and needed to distress before bed.

Thursday 26th July

Today I had to go and pick up my fresh petal order from near my venue for my flowergirl and table decorations. We had our final meeting with our photographer, to discuss which picture we wanted and people’s names. We met up with a chair cover women as well to pick a colour, OMG that was hard getting one to match. Back home to get ready for Mickey’s Magic Show, no not me and hubby, but me and my nephew. Thought it would be a good idea when I booked it as a relaxing few hours but could of done with those few hours to do wedding stuff.

Friday 27th July

Had to take a trip to the Bridal shop so my sister could learn how to lace my dress up. Felt weird standing there knowing the next time I’d have it on would be on my wedding day. I still hadn’t done the table plan but was running out of time before work. Eating had to be on my to-do list somewhere. I had to write a list of things I want my venue to do and write how and when we wanted things done. The good thing though was the table plan was finally finished. Going to work for a few hours was a welcome break.

Saturday 28th July

I was woken up to my hubby bringing me a cup of tea in bed and toast, saying who’s getting married in the morning. I knew I was marrying him for a reason. Our lie in was quickly over though with him, yes not me, exclaiming we’ve got lots to do. Little did he know things were already packed away in 3 boxes to take over, but I had to pre pack the kids activity bags and my OH insisted we write a list as to what was going to be left at Grafton, well I wrote it. Soon we were on our way to Grafton. We dropped everything off and left instructions as to how we wanted things.

Soon it was time to say our goodbye’s. My OH was staying in a Holiday Inn near to Grafton Manor tonight with his Dad, Best Man and Nephew, with our car being hidden away and left overnight. My sister drove over to pick me up. My FIL drove up from Bournemouth with my flowergirl and other bridesmaid so we did a quick swap of people and cars and said ta ra! I was getting married tomorrow. Argghhhhh!!!!

The plan was to get home, relax, order a Chinese and have a couple of drinks. Ummm nope! Not according to my OH. He had forgotten to print off the Order Of Services so my night was spent doing this until it came to 8 o’clock. INK LOW! WHAT! So as my Chinese came through the door, me and my sister drove to Tesco and had to buy more ink cartridges to finish off the Order Of Service while my OH was happily eating in a Harvester and playing pool. They soon got done and it became bedtime.

I was still wide awake at midnight and in and out of sleep all night.

THE BIG DAY!!!!!

I soon got woke by my sister and flowergirl singing who’s getting married in the morning. 8 o’clock and yet I had to be at the hairdressers for half past. Argghh!! First panic. Throw some clothes on, drink tea and go. My sister claims I was hard to wake. That might be because I only had about 2 hours decent sleep when you got up at 6 as I got the duvet.

Soon we were all styled. My sister was still trying to force feed me toast. I just couldn’t eat. I didn’t think I was nervous but obviously was. We were soon packing the car up with our dresses and driving over to Grafton. My sister put her Iphone on and she had love and marriage playing. I soon put We are family on.

When we got to Grafton, the flowers had already been dropped off and the chair covers done. My make-up artist bless him was already there. His one my best friends and luckily a trained make up artist and he kept my nerves low thank god. I wasn’t allowed to look in the Marquee though or at the cake (cake had been made secretly by my mum.) One of the first things I did do though was put the Olympics on. Priorities, come on GB!

I was straight into make-up after my mum. My mum surprised me with a little spread of crisps, sandwiches and sweets for us to grab as we got ready. It started feeling more real when my brother and his fiancé turned up. There was one problem though. I still hadn’t done my nails. I was going to do them last night but with the panic of the OOS, I had forgot them. Luckily a family friend had turned up and she helped me. I was still doing them when the photographer came.Then it started to feel more real. I asked her if that meant my OH was here to and she said yes. OMG!!!!!!

At this point it was about quarter past one and apart from my mum and flowergirl, none of the bridal party were in their outfits. Oh dear. Dress time but not before my garter and underskirt. At this point, I don't know why but I just burst into tears. Think I was just a bit over whelmed and seeing family made it real. My bridesmaid help me to get step into my dress and pull the 7 layers down. Once completed my sister started the pulling and yanking, and I started the breathing in.

Before I knew it someone had come to say it was time. OMG! Where had the time gone. It was weird walking over to the library as at one point I was walking over the room in which I was getting married in. It was time! We got in line and just as the music started I remembered I hadn't pulled my veil over. With a quick sort, we were off. Time to get married!

The civil ceremony seemed to go so quickly. The children were brilliant apart from out youngest nephew who's two kept saying MARK (OH name.) However when it came to the part where the registrar asked for anyone to declare, as we looked at him, he looked round as if to say, What you all looking at. Lol! When it was time to exchange rings, Mark lifted up my veil and the registrar said is it the right one. OH laughed but I said; Well he wanted Frankie from The Saturdays but she wasn't available, to which I then said I wanted Take That but none of them were available. All I can say is it was nerves. We were soon announced husband and wife. Off to the chapel we went for our marriage blesssing. This meant a lot to me. We had as near to a full wedding ceremony as we could. It was soon time for photos and welcome drinks.

TO BE CONTINUED.......

....CONTINUED

We had some really nice posed for shots but also lots of fun and natural ones, which is what I had wanted. It was soon time to be led off around the ground for photos of just myself and my husband. We left the guests to enjoy the drink and outdoor games. The photograph’s were soon over and we were led to our bridal suite so the guests could enter the marquee. It was lovely just to have 10 mins to ourselves and how did we spend it. Me changing my shoes (2nd pair and OH going to the toilet.) Very romantic. Lol! We were soon ushered back out to make our entrance and start our wedding breakfast. The shoes I had only just put on were already hurting me so they came off while I was sat down.

It was soon speeches time, my brother started and had nothing planned. He has been so nervous about doing a speech he had been to the doctors as it had been making him ill, between them they had agreed my mum would say something, but as no one had told myself or my OH that he had been so scared, the toastmaster announced him as the first speech. I know I’m bias but he did a great job, and what was so lovely, it was straight from the heart. Next up was my new Husband, he had wrote prompt cards but he went completely off them and instead said things of the top of his head. The best man came last, he had been so nervous all day but he had nothing to worry about. He had done a slide show of various pictures of my OH through the years and did stories. It all went very well.

Let the party Begin! While the Dj was getting settled my guests were off in all corners. However I must admit, I did wonder where a large chunk of my guests had gone along with my bridesmaid, but I decided to just go for a little walk. As soon as I left the marquee I noticed my bridesmaid stood at the top of a little hill kicking off their shoes. Oh no! I shouted at them to stop and ‘Don’t you dare,’ but they didn’t listen. They were off, rolling down the hill. I walked over to confront them and yep half of my guests were even at the top or bottom of the hill rolling down. Well it would be rude not to so I did, not once, not twice, but three times. A good time had by all.

Soon it was time for our first dance and it was nice to be joined halfway through by our guests. The reception was now in full swing. All you can think that could happen, happened, well apart from a fight. Drunk guests, lots of dancing, lots of drinking, lots of eating, lots of laughing and another change of shoes by me (I eventually danced barefoot.) Oh yeah and a dance off Boys VS Girls. It ended on a high by our DJ singing us a special song for us.

I smiled, laughed, cried with happiness and laughter and above all truly did have the best day and time of my life. I get emotional thinking about my wedding day, it was not only the day I married by soul mate and best friend but the day that all my best friends and family came together, which may never happen again.

Brides to be if I could give any advice it would be to take 5 minutes to be with your husband to take it all in. The day goes so fast and don’t get wrapped up in the little bits, the day will flow, just enjoy it.!

Aww I enjoyed that! Off now for a look at the photos. Congrats x

Thanks huni.

x

Here is the link to my wedding photographs.

https://www.hitched.co.uk/chat/forums/t/341122.aspx

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