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Featured
Weddings |
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The
day started bright and early at 5:30am when I was jolted
awake with a crashing sound. Once I'd established that
it was merely my hairbrush falling off the window sill
I fully intended going back to sleep. But that was it,
it was my wedding day, I could see the sun was shining,
my beautiful dress was hanging at the end of the bed and
I was far too excited to sleep!
 I crept around
trying not to wake two of my bridesmaids, Andy's sisters
Susan and Helen, but by 7am we were all in the lounge
having tea and cereals (and, as I remember, discussing
our underwear for the day!).
We were remarkably perky for that time of the morning
considering that we had been up with my chief bridesmaid,Helen,
until about midnight the night before to tackle the mammoth
task of ironing the train on my dress.
This is not as easy as it sounds when you need two people
to hold the top of the dress to stop it creasing, one
to swivel it around the ironing board and the other (most
responsible person) to actually iron.
After the early breakfast, we began the task of making
ourselves beautiful for my wedding.
We had already sorted out a strict rota for the bathroom,
essential when there are three women all needing to get
to the hairdressers at 9am! Whilst I was in the shower
the delivery of our wedding presents arrived and I came
downstairs to find the table heaving with beautiful packages.
Then my Mum and Dad arrived and the rest of the bridesmaids
and we disappeared to the hairdressers.
We were suitably pampered and preened at the hair salon
and returned to the house to find that the flowers had
arrived and were absolutely stunning. Mum and Dad had
also changed into their outfits and everything suddenly
started to feel very real. Peace reigned for a while whilst
we concentrated on finding available mirror space to apply
our make-up. I had a total shock when I looked out of
my window and saw the wedding car arrive - I thought my
clock was wrong and that all the wedding nightmares I'd
had about going up the aisle in jeans would be coming
true - but luckily the car was just very early!
 The
ushers (my brother and my cousin) arrived to pick up the
flowers and they both looked wonderful. I had made waistcoats
and cravats for all the men in the bridal party, which
I hadn't seen on, so to see them all dolled-up in their
outfits was such a great feeling.
At this point my hair and make-up was finished and my
brother had the cheek to ask if I'd only just got out
of bed!
Without further ado it was time to get dressed. As soon
as I put my dress on I started smiling and I don't think
I stopped the whole day. I put on my grandmother's pearls,
something 'old'
and 'borrowed'to
go with the 'new'
outfit and the 'blue'polish
on my toenails. With the help of my bridesmaids we carefully
positioned my tiara and veil and suddenly we were all
ready and busy complimenting each other on how fabulous
we looked.
By now it was 12pm so the bridesmaids and my Mum had to
get going. I went to the door to wave them off in the
car and then it was all quiet. I couldn't sit down (for
fear of creasing my dress) or have a drink (in case I
smudged my lipstick) so Dad invited the chauffeur into
the kitchen where we stood and discussed football and
breathing techniques to stop nerves!
I should explain that earlier in the morning the limousine
company called and, as you can imagine, my heart leapt
into my mouth as I feared the worst. However, they were
simply asking whether it would be OK if a trainee chauffeur
came along for my wedding. It was he who drove my mum
and bridesmaids, hence the spare chauffeur in my kitchen!
After what seemed like no time at all the car returned
for us. I walked out into glorious sunshine and made my
way to the car. At this point I began to realise how difficult
it was to do anything normal whilst wearing a big train,
a cathedral length veil and holding a bouquet. A few of
the neighbours watched as my two helpers, Dad and the
chauffeur, helped me into the car and that was it - I
was on the way to my wedding.
 We arrived
at church, had some photos taken and then we took our
places at the church door. Luckily the vicar was on hand
to spot my deliberate error - my veil was still up behind
my head. I had forgotten to put it down on the journey
to church, so he played chief bridesmaid for a second
and arranged my veil over my face. I took a deep breath
as I heard the processional music, 'Te
Deum' by Charpentier, begin.
As we walked into the church I can't describe how wonderful
I felt. As I grinned from beneath my veil there were all
our family and friends grinning back at me.
Dad and I glided up the aisle and arrived to see Andy
looking gorgeous at the altar, with his two best men just
behind. Andy grinned at me and whispered 'very nice' and
we launched into the first hymn 'Dear
Lord and Father of Mankind'. At this point we were
both shaking a little, but the hymn gave us a chance to
take a few deep breaths.
We said our vows without any errors and I was surprised
that I didn't feel like I was going to cry or giggle.
Once the vows were over we relaxed and listened to the
rest of the service. We sang 'O
Jesus I Have Promised' and 'Tell Out My Soul'
, and had a reading from Colossians 3:12-17, then we filed
into the vestry to sign the register.
We emerged from the vestry to the very uplifting Toccata
by Widor. As we faced the congregation there was this
sea of smiling faces and I was grinning so much that I
thought I would burst. We took our time going down the
aisle listening to the wonderful organist and just enjoying
the moment. We went out into the sunshine and then the
paparazzi of friends and family appeared - everywhere
we looked there were cameras so I now know how the Beckhams
must feel!
After a few photos, including one with confetti
that seemed to get everywhere (I'm sure someone has a
picture of me fishing confetti out of my cleavage!), we
climbed into the car and as we pulled off we turned round
to see the church wall lined with people waving. It took
20 minutes or so to get to the reception and all the way
people were hooting and waving!
 We arrived
at Quarry Bank Mill and drove down the sweeping drive
into the courtyard. The Mill is a National Trust property
so there were quite a lot of members of the public visiting
it who were intrigued to see us arriving, and we had many
more congratulations and good wishes from them. We went
into the mill meadow where a jazz band was playing.
As our guests drank Bucks Fizz in the sunshine and listened
to the music we had loads of photos taken all around the
meadow. I'm usually very camera-shy but I was so happy
that it wasn't difficult to smile.
The reception room looked stunning, largely thanks to
the creative flair of the previous afternoon's decorating
team. It's lucky that we have artistic family and friends.
We sat down to a gorgeous meal with the jazz band adding
to the relaxed feel.
We could see all our guests enjoying the disposable
cameras on the tables and thinking about what to write
in our Guest Book. Then it was time for the men to do
their bit.... the speeches.
My Dad went first and made everyone laugh. He recalled
how different members of my family and friends had helped
through my life, made a few comments to warn Andy about
how untidy I am and then finished off by referring to
Andy's footballing skills and saying that he wasn't "losing
a daughter, but gaining a goalkeeper!". Then it was
Andy's turn - he said how happy he was, how beautiful
I looked (aaahh) and thanked many people for their help.
Because we had two best men they decided to do something
a bit different. Mark went first and embarrassed us by
producing enlarged pictures of us when we were small and
posting them in front of us, then we played a game of
'Who wants to be a Turkish millionaire' with all the questions
being wedding-related and the prize being 1,000,000 Turkish
Lire (one pound and six pence). Gareth followed with a
more traditional speech with just a few embarrassing stories
about Andy, which had everyone laughing.
 At this
point we cut our fantastic cake with yet more cameras
pointing at us, and then it was time to drift into the
courtyard to a lovely May evening.
The room was changed around for the disco and it was the
first chance we had to speak to our guests properly.
Even once the room was ready, our guests were happy to
wander around outside in the summer-like evening so I
managed to chat to almost everyone. It was fantastic because
every conversation started with 'you look beautiful' -
I kept reminding myself to bottle those comments and remember
them when I next had a bad hair day!
We started off the disco with our 'first dance' (or really
the first shuffle) to 'When
I Fall in Love' by Nat King Cole. Luckily, the rest
of the bridal party joined in fairly swiftly so the embarrassment
didn't last too long. The rest of the evening was filled
with chatting, dancing and eating, along with several
goodbyes for people who had to leave early. At 11:30pm
we were really tired so Gareth announced our departure.
So much planning had gone into the day but we hadn't really
thought about how we would leave! However, as soon as
it was announced that we were going, the guests spontaneously
made a huge long arch with their hands for us to walk
through. Then we headed off to the car where Andy's sisters
were waiting to drive us away.
Andy had kept the wedding night hotel a secret so I was
duly surprised when we arrived at beautiful Shrigley Hall
to stay in a lovely room complete with four-poster bed.
We went for a walk around the grounds the next day before
coming back to our own house to open a few of the presents
and pack for our honeymoon. We also read the Guest Book
in which people had written fantastic messages - some
amusing, some touching, some in rhyme - but every single
one was a wonderful reminder of the day. Then we headed
off for a mega-honeymoon in Australia as Mr and Mrs Barrett
and returned home to find that our friends had booby-trapped
our entire house with confetti! It was, all in all, the
most wonderful day and a brilliant start to married life.
Do Differently: Nothing!!
Groom's Comments: It's May, it's Manchester and
it's sunny. What more could go right on the day of the
wedding? Well, in fact, all of it. No problems at all.
None. What a great day, a great venue, a great reception
- happiest day of my life. I surely never stopped smiling
all day - and that wasn't just for the photographs!
Not being a nervous person, I don't think I felt at all
worried until left on my own in the front pew (but that
wasn't for long). The major nervousness came before the
Groom's speech - I wish I'd planned it a bit better but
everyone seemed to think it was okay! It was really great
to have so many friends and relations in one place - it
made all the preparation worthwhile.
Comments: Just to say that I used this site loads
in the planning and it gave me so many ideas that really
helped us have such a great day! |
If
you would like to contact Paula and Chris, you can e-mail them.
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