Saturday 7th of April was everything I ever wanted for my wedding day and more.
Although I'd planned it for 15 months, I had no real expectations of how the day would go as when there are a lot of people involved, anything can happen. I had high hopes, and still the day was a million times better than expected.
Getting ready here was madness. I got up at 7.30, had a shower, put my foundation on and painted my nails. Thank God I did that then. Rach (bridesmaid) arrived about 8.30 and my hair dresser and Emma (bridesmaid) arrived at 9am. The next hour and a half went by in a flash, and apart from sitting down for half an hour while I was primped and a series of tiaras was tried on my bonce to see which one would fit in with my hair do and veil I mostly spent my time answering 5,000 questions about what was happening with the minutiae of the day, but in the typical style of my family, by 3 people at once ;) I think there were about 12 people in the living room at one point! Needless to say by 11.30 it was no surprise I was in my underwear with no make up on other than my foundation, shoeless, sweating, and being hand fed food as I had no time to actually feed myself. 10 minutes later I'd been strapped into shoes, bathed in talc, and had my dress yanked over my head and onto my sweaty body by my lovely bridesmaids. Precisely 2 minutes after my shoes went on I was relieved from them, as I had agonising shooting pains going up my leg from my ankle. 10 minutes before I was due at the registry office, I was in the car, sweating like a priest at a primary school and hyperventilating, when someone asked where all the bouquets were. I looked down, and sure enough mine wasn't there and neither were the bridesmaids. Oops. How did that happen?!
A few people went back in to find them while I was confined in the car in my meringue, and they came back out with the bridesmaids bouquets and not mine. Eventually my bouquet was located on my bed under a pillow. God knows what I was doing, I must've been in autopilot! One minute before I was due at the venue, my bouquet was located and off we went, with Rach blowing cold air on my neck and reminding me to breathe.
I jumped out at the registry office in a massive panic (I hate to keep anyone waiting, let alone an entire wedding party) desperately trying to hide my leopard print plimsolls I'd hurriedly changed into (and also trying not to trip over in my dress!) I did my pre-wedding interview with the registrar then walked into the room with the flower girls in front of me looking adorable, and the gorgeous bridesmaids behind me carrying my train. Bear in mind I had precisely 30 seconds to swipe some eyeshadow on my face and put on some lipstick before I ran out of the door, so as far as I was concerned, I was a sea beast, sweaty and minging. Thankfully Rach had glued individual eyelash extensions on me, so I had the full and fluttery eyelashes of a Jersey cow to draw attention away from my rosy red cheeks. I walked in to see James's eyes were already full of tears, and as we sat down to begin the ceremony I saw many members of my family in tears. James looked so lovely in his suit and purple tie. He had his hair down (as I requested) and he looked PHWOAR! I need to get him into a good suit more often.
The ceremony went really quickly, but I kept looking at James and thinking how far we'd come, how much we've been through and how much I love him. Several times I was close to tears and I don't know how I held it together. After we were pronounced man and wife we kissed for the cameras, and were told 'Hold it, hold it, hooooooold it' until I burst out laughing, still kissing James. Needless to say there were a lot of cameras pointed in our direction so we had to kiss a lot until they all had their shot!
After that we went into the terrace outside and took loads of photos with our friends and families there, before heading off to the venue for lunch. One of our flower girls had a basket of confetti and she threw some at us giddily, but she was a bit too short to get it over our heads so I suggested she climb up on the bench behind us and throw it from there. When Tegan had finished throwing confetti with great joy and excitement my aunts and I think James's mum came at us with the confetti and it was a giddy, giggly moment. It was lovely. I'll have to wait for the photos from the photographer to see who everyone was who threw the confetti as it was all a bit of a whirl. My bra was full of confetti later ;) It was just such a joyous moment, everyone looking so happy for us.
The first stop for me was the loo, where I learned how hard it is to pee wearing a wedding dress with inbuilt nets and a semi-cathedral train AND a hooped petticoat. Ha! :)
