 On
the morning of our wedding I woke up at about 7am and
immediately rushed over to the window to see what the
weather was doing - it was overcast but not raining so
I heaved a sigh of relief.
My bridesmaid Kirsty arrived at about 8.30am and shortly
afterwards we headed off to the hairdresser with my chief
bridesmaid (and sister) Caroline where we stayed for the
rest of the morning.
To relax us, one of the girls at the hairdresser went
out for cocktails to the Long Island Iced Tea Shop next
door. We drank them while looking like Hilda Ogden under
the hairdryers, and made sure we took lots of photos!
Kirsty had bought me a wedding survival kit and I opened
it there - it contained lipsalve, a condom, a miniature
of vodka, tissues, hand cream and a device for making
mashed potato (for my new role as a housewife)!
We got back to mum and dad's just after midday. The flowers
had arrived and were gorgeous. We all had small round
bouquets of irises, cream roses, eucalyptus and lisianthus.
After smoked salmon sandwiches for lunch it was time to
go and get dressed! I had thought I would be nervous,
but in the end I was so totally sure about what I was
doing that I just wanted to get to the church and see
Paul. I was ready before everyone else, watching out for
the cars arriving.
 When the wedding cars came
they were beautiful - 1929 black Fords with running boards,
with lilac ribbons to match the bridesmaids' dresses.
We drove (very slowly!) to the church, and all I could
think about was that in an hour's time I would be Mrs
Paul Hammett. When we arrived at the church there was
a crowd of people waiting to see us which was lovely.
The photographer was really funny and he took some photos
of dad and me before we went into the church. The minister
came out to greet me and dad, then waved at the organist,
Bobby, to say that we were ready, and we started off down
the aisle to Charpentier's Prelude to the Te Deum, which
is a gorgeous tum te tum tune.
All I can remember walking down the aisle is seeing everyone
smiling at me, but I had a sudden attack of nerves and
was concentrating on not bursting into tears! I could
also feel my knees shaking under my dress.
When I walked up the few steps to the chancel and saw
Paul, he looked wonderful in his black morning suit and
grey waistcoat, and he looked absolutely stunned - I had
told him that I was going to wear a very plain cocktail-type
wedding dress and I didn't like veils, but I arrived in
an ivory dress with a beaded lace bodice, a six foot train
and a cathedral length veil on a diamante tiara! He told
me how beautiful I looked and we grinned at each other.
 The church service seemed to
go really quickly. My family and I have known the minister,
Mike Mair, for 18 years and he conducted a wonderful,
personal and very moving service, which included a candle
ceremony - one candle was lit for my family and one for
Paul's family, and from those candles we lit a larger
candle to symbolise the joining of our lives. His address
used the acronym Hammett (Paul's surname) with each letter
standing for one aspect of our relationship: harmony,
argument, magic, merriment, effort, tenderness and trust.
It was lovely and lots of guests said afterwards what
a personal and moving service it had been.
When we came to take our vows we looked into each other's
eyes and repeated the words after the minister. Everyone
else in the church seemed to recede until only Paul and
I were left. Our hymns were O God of Love, To Thee We
Bow and Bind
Us Together, Lord. We left the church to Purcell's
Trumpet Tune.
Outside the church the chauffeur had a glass of champagne
for Paul and me and we had lots of photos taken and confetti
thrown over us until we retreated to the car for a bit
of peace and to have a quiet moment before we reached
our reception venue.
When we arrived at Elphinstone Hall, we could hear the
piper playing Flower of Scotland and the haunting sound
of the pipes lingered on the air. All the guests went
inside for Bucks Fizz while we had more photographs taken
(interrupted by our minister standing beside the photographer
and shouting 'sex' at us every few minutes to make us
laugh!) When we were finished, a waitress was waiting
with Bucks Fizz for us both which we drank before we went
through to cut our cake.
 After
the cake cutting came the reception line which was great
fun and the only chance I had all day to speak to a lot
of people! Our videographer was near at hand catching
it all on film and he was really unobtrusive - I didn't
notice him all day. When guests had passed through the
reception line, they signed our guest book and then went
to find their tables.
When everyone was seated, Paul and I were piped in by
our piper playing Brown-haired Maiden. He then toasted
me and Paul in Gaelic and he and Paul drank a toast from
a quaich (Paul's first experience of a quaich, being a
Sassenach). The meal was wonderful but it all went too
quickly - then it was time for the speeches! Paul had
been dreading his, since the minister and my dad are both
good public speakers but when it came down to it he was
great. I didn't want the speeches to go on for too long,
but luckily everyone seemed to enjoy them and when I stood
up for my speech (Paul and I shared his speech) some of
my friends started heckling - gee, thanks guys. I thanked
Paul for being so wonderful and for looking so gorgeous
on the day and told him how much I loved him! He was choked,
as he hadn't been expecting that - I had kept that part
of my speech a secret!
 After
the speeches were over - and my godfather had got up to
make a short impromptu speech which we were really touched
by - it was time for the dancing to begin! The lights
had been dimmed and candles lit in silver candlebras in
the middle of every table and the room looked magical.
We had disposable
cameras on the tables and we could see people snapping
away during the meal (especially my mum!).
Our first dance was Bryan Adams' Everything I Do (we were
originally going to have a Grand March but I had reconsidered
and chickened out at the hairdressers in the morning and
had rung the band to tell them there had been a change
of plan! After a couple of minutes everyone else joined
in and the band swung into a Gay Gordons. They alternated
between rock/pop and Scottish music all night depending
on what people were dancing to. Elphinstone Hall has a
huge dance floor which was ideal for Scottish country
dancing which needs a lot of space, and the dance floor
was full all night! To think I had been worried about
nobody getting up to dance!
In the band's break we had a surprise for the guests (which
was Paul's wedding present to me) - a fireworks display.
It was wonderful - everyone loved it and it was the perfect
end to a perfect day! At the end of the evening the band
played For They Are Jolly Good Fellows and then Auld Lang
Syne. Paul and I danced in the midst of our guests who
had formed a circle round us. We ran off just after this
to our car (which my sister had hired as a present for
us) and left for our wedding night hotel!
Do Differently: I would worry less about things
going wrong, because on the day I didn't care what happened
so long as Paul and I were married! All the little things
I had been stressed about didn't seem important.
Groom's Comments: Jane looked like a princess,
and the whole day was perfect. |
If
you would like to contact Jane and Paul, you can e-mail
them.
|
