perhaps more appropriately a belle and a beau...
the day dawned early for me, as i woke up at 5.30am. i snuggled up to a fast-asleep booyaa for a while then got up and played with tinker, who'd just come in with mum from an early walk. she's a crazy dog but playing and being silly with her is very calming. distracting, i suppose.
i had a shower, made tea and woke mark up. dad stirred soon and the full complement was now busy getting ready for the first job of the day. i went to the hairdresser with mum. dad and mark went to collect the flowers. i was cooed over and congratulated before i left, with a head full of golden curls and a trio of crimson ranunculus in my hair. mum seemed pleased with her blowdry, too.
next, breakfast en famille. though i wasn't hungry it was reassuring and grounding to warm croissants and make toast for the others.
all of a sudden there were only 45 minutes and just one decent mirror for us all to get ready. the cars arrived and although i had my make up on i was not dressed nor did i know where i'd squirrelled away all the bits i needed with me... but really there were no major panics and five minutes after the scheduled time we were all in the cars and being driven off to the venue. the cars were not quite as nice as i'd been promised and the drivers went too fast, despite being told they'd slow down or go round the block if needs be. i'll be phoning the car company when i get back and having a bit of a whinge about that.
we arrived at the venue and anna, jaime and their two tearaways were already there. i hardly recognised anna with short, highlighted hair. and looking fabulous in a lovely velvet dress. her two little ones were terribly smart, and shy for about 90 seconds before we were all best friends again :)
then alison, steve and charlie turned up and suddenly all plans of mark and i 'hiding' while the guests arrived seemed to be slipping away from us. we went in to the house, had a quick chat with frances, our organiser, and legged it to the lovely bedroom which would be our hidey-hole before the ceremony.
anna came up and took some photos... and steve popped in to check up on his duties, as he was being co-ordinator of people and music for the day - thanks steve! - but otherwise we were on our own, waiting for the registrars. they called us in to do the last minute paperwork. they were lovely, down-to-earth and generally nice, safe hands to be in. we ran through a few bits of protocol and were ready to do it all in public.
mark went downstairs and a few moments later i did too. mark was waiting in the ceremony room while i stood outside with my dad. the ceremony room was beautiful. so fabulously decorated by our amazing florist. the music started at the nod of the registrar and i told dad we were staying put for a whole minute before walking up or people would miss the words... we'd timed the music to complete a full verse by the time i got to mark's side. it worked, despite, at the important moment, forgetting everything i'd practised to get the timing right. as i walked in there were four cameras and lots of faces turned towards me, which was a bit overwhelming, but me and dad sailed up the petal-strewn aisle to where mark was waiting for me. i even remembered to say thanks to dad. mark and i then held hands and didn't let go until we had to, to exchange rings.
the ceremony was very nice, with meaningful words and genuine promises - to comfort and support each other, for instance. the registrar was lovely and everything went very well. charlie helped us by carrying the rings, on their little cushion, and standing there while we untied them and exchanged them. what a star. cute little thing that he is. and all of a sudden we were husband and wife and it was kissing time. hurray!
we signed the register and called our witnesses to sign their bits and it was photo opportunity with fake register and fake pen... and time to walk back down the aisle towards the easier part of the day...
hugs, handshakes, kisses, tears were shared and then the organic rose champagne we'd chosen was served, and i know to us two it was extremely welcome. canapes appeared, as if by magic, and people who'd never met - like the bride's parents and the groom's parents - got to know each other a little bit and the roaring fire helped to break the remaining ice.
i was a little overawed at this point. all that planning, the build-up, massive amounts of decision making and phone calls and time, effort, money and the point of the day was over in the blink of an eye. but now came the celebration and i just needed to stay still enough to get in the moment and enjoy it.
i do think overall i was fabulously centred on what was happening. not nearly so stressed or panicky or distant from the events as i'd feared. mark was, in his words, pretty laid back, with a slight hint of nerves during the ceremony itself. i think he was worried he'd fluff his lines, as it were. but it was great to be aware of what was going on and for it not to be a total whirlwind that i couldn't remember later, which was really my worst case scenario.
lots of amazing, funny and beautiful things happened, and i couldn't choose my favourite moment. well, yes, actually, i could. it was the moment i said 'i do' with a big smile for the wonderful person standing next to me. but apart from that rather obvious bit, random highlights included the confetti, which were real, fresh rose petals that mum asked the florist to arrange as a surprise. the kids playing, running, bouncing about. seeing mark with his parents and all of them smiling - first time i've seen them all look happy, which is extremely sad but true. the flowers, they were just beautiful. anna being there and taking loads of photos - despite really not wanting the pressure of being the official photographer. mark looked gorgeous in his super slick suit and i enjoyed wearing my frock and finally *knew* i'd made the right choice! though on seeing the photos later i was devastated to see the straps were all scrunched up :( and of course the weather being fabulously dry and sunny and not too cold for a november day.
at around 5pm, as the sun was setting, we got in the cab to go off to our wedding night hotel, where we were stung £4 for a bottle of mineral water (!) but had a very lovely room with a big round bay window and a carved four poster bed. so we slipped into something more comfortable, called each other 'husband' and 'wife' a lot and were fast asleep by 9pm...
an edited selection of photos are on flickr
entry backdated to the day of the wedding
