 The
night before our wedding was perhaps the only time I stuck
to tradition by sleeping at my parents' house and Stuart
staying at ours. The last time I saw him before walking
into the Armoury, where we were married, was on the Friday
morning.
It was so busy on that last day, flowers to check, presents
to wrap, fingernails to paint! It was so wonderful too
as everyone made me feel so special.
After unexpectedly sleeping like a log I was woken by
dad pottering about just five minutes before my alarm
went off. We had such a tight time schedule to keep as
we were getting married so early and the venue was over
an hour away that I had little time to worry. I didn’t
have time for breakfast before I left for the hairdressers
so I scoffed my bacon sandwich whilst driving the 10 minutes
to Barnstaple. Karen, my hairdresser, was ready and waiting
for me at 6.50am! I got off to a great start by almost
burning my tiara, putting it on top of the nicely heated
hair tongs, but just over an hour later I was leaving
the shop with a huge grin on my face and feeling like
a princess (only one wearing a looney tunes shirt, jeans
and walking boots!).
My bridesmaids had already started to arrive at home and
so had other members of the main party. My friend who
was doing my make-up had arrived and as usual I was dashing
about worrying about everyone else and had to be told
to sit still for the work to begin. It was lovely to sit
outside having my make-up done, as it was such a wonderfully
bright morning. I did panic at one stage as one of my
bridesmaids was almost half an hour late, but after getting
changed and several trips to the car to retrieve jewellery
from my overnight bag I finally got to the ‘ready’
stage.
There were almost two hiccups before we left – firstly,
just by chance dad mentioned the reading he was going
to do and I realised I hadn’t typed it out for him,
shock, horror. So the last ten minutes before I left the
house were spent typing. Finally, as I was about to leave
the house I noticed all our bouquets on the patio wall
in boxes, which someone had forgotten to put in the car.
Still we were only on the road 20 minutes late, what damage
could that do?...
 ...The damage was actually
the tractor we got stuck behind for the first 25 minutes
of the journey. After much panicking on my behalf and
dad putting his foot down (my three bridesmaids and me
went in dad’s Shogun which looked lovely all decorated)
we managed to be only 20 minutes late. It was at this
point that I realised I was totally calm and my thoughts
went to Stuart who was probably a bag of nerves standing
just the other side of the wall we had parked next to.
After a quick talk with the registrar and forming a very
un-rehearsed bridal line the music started and off we
went.
To put a smile on everyone’s faces and reduce the
nerves, we’d chosen Misirilou (the theme tune to
Pulp Fiction). Dad and I came to a quick halt next to
Stuart and apparently Bev, my chief bridesmaid, almost
carried on walking right into me as she hadn’t realised
how small the room was. Bev then took my bouquet and the
ceremony began. I could see Stuart was nervous so I just
kept hold of his hand and gave it a good squeeze. The
vows were a sort of amalgamation of the ones our registrar
gave us and some we’d found on the Internet, which
suited us completely. The only problem we had was putting
the rings on each others fingers as I have chubby ones
and Stuart has big knuckles, still it got everyone chuckling.
Near the end dad did his reading, The
Blessing Of The Apaches, which meant a lot to us as
dad suffers with Parkinson’s Disease as well as Diabetes
and Mesothelioma (cancer). As everyone left the Armoury
we played Simon and Garfunkel’s The 59th Street Bridge
Song (Feelin’ Groovy), which we’d only chosen
on the Thursday night as a snap decision.
 Having the
photos taken was wonderful. We both have such lovely memories
from just that short period of time, just the things people
were saying around us and the kids running about. We only
had a small group of guests at the actual ceremony so
it was very personal to us. The grounds of the castle
made for some unusual and eye-catching photography and
we really enjoyed posing.
Everyone left for the reception venue ages before us as
we had lots more photographs taken. It wasn’t until
we were on the road that we realised we were late again
but it was lovely to be in the shogun with just mum and
dad so we could talk. Mum had put some cards on the back
seat for us so it was lovely to open those first few as
husband and wife.
As
we arrived back in Bideford we got stuck in the usual
Saturday traffic and coming the other way were a line
of American trucks. Stuart loves these so it was very
special for us, they all honked their horns when they
saw us and one even congratulated us over his loudspeaker.
We were only a few minutes away from the venue now so
I got myself prepared, mainly by pulling my underwear
from where it shouldn’t be as it wouldn’t have
looked very nice for all our guests if the first thing
I’d done upon leaving the car was to fiddle with
my bum! We just couldn’t believe the sight when we
got to the Beaconside Country Hotel. When we got out of
the car we felt like celebrities as everyone just crowded
around us and wanted photos. We finally managed to make
our way to the reception and grab a drink to toast ourselves
before the next batch of photographs were taken.
The weather was just perfect, really sunny but not overpoweringly
hot so it was lovely to just stand about in it. These
photographs seemed to take longer than the others as so
many people had to be rounded up and as I suffer with
a back injury I was quite relived (in more ways than one
as I hadn’t been to the loo in 4½ hours!)
when we finally got the time to go to our room.
 Next it
was the receiving line which I just loved doing.
I was overwhelmed at just how many people we had celebrating
with us. We decided to have all the bridesmaids in the
line as they all looked gorgeous and had helped so much.
Once all the handshaking and kissing was over I started
to get nervous for the first time that day. Shane, Stuart's
best man, got everyone settled then announced us. We then
had to walk into the room with everyone standing and cheering.
Once
we got sat down we both started to loosen up a bit again,
especially after a glass of wine. We’d decided on
a buffet meal as it would suit our varied guests. There
were two serving points for our guests but the top table
already had food set out at it which was served to us
by the waitresses. It was lovely not to have to get up
again. We both enjoyed just looking around at our guests
and seeing them enjoy themselves, it meant a lot to us.
Finally the desserts were served and the Champagne glasses
were bought out – time to get nervous again!
Dad started us off with a wonderful speech that got me
all emotional and even had Stuart choked up. He started
by saying that the day I was born was the worst day of
his life! What he went on to say was that the midwife
hadn’t woken him as she’d promised and he’d
missed the birth. He said some lovely things about me
and he welcomed Stuart to the family – it was just
lovely. It was then Stuart’s turn and he also did
a wonderful speech, I was very proud of him as he’s
not at all used to big crowds of people looking at him
let alone talking to them all. Shane then entered into
his witty ditty and had everyone laughing and Stuart and
me blushing. Finally it was my turn and I’d been
dreading it all day as I’d not prepared for it until
the night before. All I did was thank some people who’d
helped a lot, introduced my bridesmaids, thanked my parents
lots and gave my bouquet to my Gran. It was then time
to drink and be merry - and we certainly did!
 There
was a nice gap of about 1½ hours before the disco
was due to start so we had a chance to talk with people
we hadn’t seen for ages and some Stuart had never
met. There was a piano in one of the rooms so a good old
sing-song got going in there. Before we knew it we were
being summoned for our first dance. We’d chosen Beverly
Knight’s Greatest Day as we don’t like slow
songs.
The dance music soon started and we were raving to all
the latest songs. Then everyone was jiving to 60s and
70s music - it was great. Just before the buffet was served
Stuart and I cut the cake.We did this in the evening,
as it was nice to save something for all our evening guests
to witness. We
did the deed with my dad’s ceremonial katana, which
is a Japanese Samurai sword. Dad has a large martial arts
school, The Shudokan Institute of Aikido International,
which plays a big part in our lives so it seemed fitting
and everyone thought it was great.
Unfortunately
I hadn’t had enough to drink so when I was dragged
up to sing Dancing Queen by Abba with all the bridesmaids,
ushers, best man and Stuart, I did feel more than a little
silly! Still, it got the party back on track after all
the food and everyone looked to be having a brilliant
time. Stuart and I could hardly keep our eyes open by
about 11.30pm so after saying our goodnights to several
guests we made our escape and were upstairs 10 minutes
later. Unfortunately I had rather a lot of grips in my
hair and by the time we’d removed all 86 of them
our guests were just leaving downstairs too!
The day after the wedding was spent transporting all the
lovely presents back home, and relaxing with friends and
family at my parents' house, where the food and drink
didn’t stop all day. In the evening we went to a
local pub with just a few friends and family who were
still staying with us – it turned out to be such
a fun evening and a brilliant end to the best ever weekend.
We still had the Monday to sort out last minute things
and pack before jetting off to Jamaica the following day
so nothing was a last minute rush.
The whole experience was just wonderful and I want to
do it all over again!
Do Differently: I've just sat here for 10 minutes
thinking and I really can't come up with anything. The
whole day was wonderful. If we could have afforded it
though, I'd have liked fireworks to end the evening off.
Groom's Comments: Stuart says he felt like a goldfish
with everyone looking at him but it was the best day ever.
Comments: I'm so pleased I found WeddingGuideUK.com
as it (and the loyal forum users) has helped me so much.
Stuart and I have made some wonderful friends from forum
gatherings, who also got married this year, and we are
all looking forward to celebrating each other's anniversaries
over the years to come. |
If
you would like to contact Emma and Stuart, you can e-mail
them.
|
