Wow, I can hardly believe that I've been married now for nearly 3 months ? It was absolutely the best day of my life and I was desperate to share with you all soon after the wedding so I wrote this report ages ago but was waiting for the pro photos. Then when they arrived, I'd gone back to work and got busy... well, you know how it goes. Anyway, enough waffling, without further ado... my report!
The Dress Disaster!
Having ordered my bespoke dress 9 months ago, I’d been having suspicions about the shop and designer and felt I was being fobbed off when I pushed for info. Finally, 8 days before the wedding, I got ‘the’ phone call – but not the one I was hoping for. They told me the dress definitely wouldn’t be in, and would I please go into the shop for my refund. To say I was rather horrified would be an understatement, but the stress had been going on for so long I had rather fallen out of love with the whole idea of my dress anyway so I wasn’t too upset – just panicked about finding one in time!
I quickly phoned Vivien of Holloway and asked them to put 2 ivory satin circle dresses to the side in what I thought was my size and the one above, and the following day – Saturday 14th July – I made the 4 hour road trip (each way!) to London with one of my bridesmaids. We had a BALL – time to gossip, laugh, eat haribo – what more could you want? I arrived at the shop to see another bride trying on a lace-covered dress and immediately said, “I want THAT one!” I was then measured up to find I was a size smaller than I thought (VoH having vintage sizes and I’d over-estimated my conversion) so I was feeling anxious again – what if my size wasn’t in? What if the lace dress wasn’t available? What if NOTHING looked right? Well, I’ve always heard people ‘just knew’ when they put the right dress on, and mine was PERFECT. Fell hopelessly in love with it, bought another dress for the evening for good measure, and set off home finally with my own wedding dress!
The general run up.
I had an accident in July 2011 and badly damaged my ankle, so when I had to have it reconstructed in October and had 12 weeks off work, it was the perfect opportunity to plan the wedding! I’m a bit of an organisation freak anyway (lists lists lists!) so everything was well under control in the run up. Apart from the gilding – I have discovered an inner-craftiness when planning this wedding, but even I was cursing my then-fiancé when, shortly before the wedding, he suggested creating beautiful leaf patterns on our home-made wish tree luggage tags, using a stencil, PVA glue and gilding flakes. All I can say to any brides still planning – DON’T DO IT!!! It looks exquisite, but it is SO not worth it – nobody cares what the tags look like (except you, and you won’t care – or notice – on the day!) Mind you, I haven’t had chance to look at them since they have been written on, so maybe I’ll appreciate it when I’m creating our wish album. Apart from finishing those off in the final week, we packed different things into different boxes and I created spreadsheets and timetables for everyone (sure they loved me – but I did at least stop short on the laminated ‘to do’ lists that I had previously threatened!) OH had finished work on the Tuesday, so he spent most of the week setting up the venue with the acres and acres of bunting. On Wednesday night I had eyelash extensions (OUCH – look amazing, but kind of fall into the gilding category for me!), Thursday night it was the rehearsal, bridesmaids arrived, and we had pedicures done. The boys were decorating the venue until gone midnight, and me and a BM were gluing ribbon on candle holders ready for the table decorations. A late night was had by all, but we were nearly ready!
Last day as a spinster!
On Friday we all got up bright an early and went straight to the village hall. One bridesmaid cooked us all bacon, sausage and egg butties for breakfast and we set all of the tables and chairs up. OH and his best man set up the sound and lighting – they faffed with it for AGES but it did look incredible. Our little village hall was transformed into a stunning wedding venue! My sister finished the wedding cake off (except for the fruit topping) and then the four of us (me and three BMs) went to the beauty salon in the village for facials, massages and manicures all afternoon. It was perfect – the wine and chocolate flowed, and we didn’t stop talking and laughing. We went straight to the village pub for dinner and my mum met us there too. Then we all went to my parents’ house and watched ‘Bridesmaids’ whilst finishing tweaking the BM dresses (cutting off bits of netting!) It was NEARLY a stress-free early night... until I found out OH’s sister in law was interfering AGAIN and had invited herself to our house (ie where the boys were getting ready) on the morning of the wedding. I had a huge strop and threw a giant hissyfit until she backed off... my one and only bridezilla moment! Finally it was betime – a few chapters of Mr Grey and then reading my hitched ‘Good Luck’ thread on my phone in bed – everyone else was asleep and I couldn’t believe I was getting married the next day! I felt excited and not at all nervous, just desperately wanted it to be Saturday!
(Wedding day and thousands of pics to follow!)
