We've had our proper wedding photos back for a little while now, but rather than sticking them all on Facebook or bombarding you with a huge blog post containing all 200 of the favourites, I thought it made more sense if I introduced the day to you in sections.
So, today, it's the morning of the wedding. The wonderful photographs are by the very talented Matt Heath.
But just before the morning of the wedding, came the day before. And the night before. And I must say, it was one of the most stressful days of my life. Delivering decorations to the venue would have been a simple task, if all the homemade decorations were finished when packing them up. So I'll let you in on a little secret here, imightnothavefinishedthem. That's right, I said it quickly and now you know.
Cue the wonderful team-badger sitting eating lunch in the sunshiney courtyard of our venue constructing, crafting & creating. Yes, we were all at it, sitting in the sunshine, batting away the wasps and trying to finish the decorations. That's tip #1 for any brides making their own decorations: it will take about a month longer than you think, especially if you're a fussy little fart like me.
This also was the moment I nearly had my first bridal-breakdown. Well, 11 months and 30 days until the first one was pretty good going. And then, there was the night before. There was the packing up all of my wedding / bridal / night before stuff that I'd been hiding around the house for the last 11 months and had to remember where I'd put, there was decorating the Church with all the bouquets and blossoms that I'd made myself, (which actually turned into team-badger very kindly sorting out for me while I was still running around trying to pack my bags at home and say goodbye to P for the night - when I finally arrived it was like the unveiling of a renovation, my amazing family had decorated everything just as I would have done, and made the Church feel just like the perfect place for us to get married), there was trying to eat some dinner (cheese & biscuits), writing an email to the venue about where to put the decorations (frantic typing and re-reading and I still got some of it wrong - luckily the venue somehow knew what I was trying to tell them!) and lastly having a shower and climbing into bed around 2am in my fab 'bride-to-be' nightie from my beautiful maid of honour.
Now, the reason I'm telling you this is because what happened the next morning was most certainly not what I expected. After such a crazy, crazy 24 hours the day before, I knew come the wedding morning I would be a total mess running around panicking about when my hair was being done and if my makeup was ok, stressing myself out about little things and no doubt finding that I'd left something vital at home.
But I didn't.
Everything was calm.
Everything was quiet.
And I was very, very relaxed.
After cups of tea and showers all round, hairdressers, and family members, and make up artists began to arrive.
And still, it was calm.
My make up artist and I spent a lot of time by ourselves while she put my face on for the day, drinking tea, laughing and talking about plans for her own wedding day.
And then, feeling totally elated when Mum came in, turned on Radio 2 and stood listening to Steve Wright wish the happiest wedding day to Katy and Paul getting married today. And feeling my heart skip when he played Paul Weller's You Do Something to Me, dedicated entirely to us.
I remember breezing around the house in a kind of trance, so happy and so excited. There was a point where everyone else was busy and I had nothing to do, so I wandered around, beaming at the sight of everyone enjoying having their hair and makeup done, and peeping in every mirror I walked past not quite believing that it was me in those reflections.
The flowers were delivered, the hair dos were set, the faces were put on and the breakfast nibbles and tea were continually distributed around the entire house.
I was constantly smiling, every time I walked into a new room I saw another member of my family looking absolutely gorgeous and everyone was getting closer and closer to being ready.
And then someone said, 'I think it's time to get you in your dress.'
And in, I was.
The dress was on, the bow was tied and the veil was carefully placed atop my head.
And then, I was a bride.
A bride with a gorgeous sister that kept me focussed, calm and excited throughout the whole planning process.
And the most wonderful parents that helped and supported me every step of the way.
A bride that already had a brilliant, kind and loving family, and was about to gain another.
And with that, it was time...
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