 "Don't
panic!" Those were the words, "inscribed in
large friendly letters" that helped start all this.
If Douglas Adams hadn't written Hitchhikers Guide To The
Galaxy, we probably wouldn't have made it to the biggest
day in our lives. After all, not everybody's pet name
for their partner is Babelfish, a little fish you stick
in your ear that allows you to "instantly understand
anything said to you in any form of language"!
But panic was what we did. We'd planned to do the last
few jobs on the day before the wedding, but we hadn't
actually realised how many there would be! The evening
before the wedding was possibly the best example of me
panicking. The pub had a function on until 11pm, but the
landlord had said we could decorate the room after closing
time. Looking back, I'm so glad we took advantage of that!
At 1am I was about ready to tear all my hair out, but
the room looked great thanks to everyone who came to help
us out.
Simon and I went back home along with Jen and Colin, my
chief bridesmaid and her partner. I remember begging Simon
not to go back to his mum's. He said that if he stayed
I'd regret it in the morning as it would have made it
harder to leave and we really wanted it to be a surprise
when I arrived at the register office, so he left.
Once safely home, Jen tried putting Velcro rollers in
my hair, but to no avail. We gave up and Jen and Colin
went to bed. I eventually decided to go to bed at 4am,
after painting my nails and sending a message to Simon
reminding him to get the money to pay people.
 I hardly slept. It felt odd not having Simon
in the bed with me. I woke up at 6am and decided to get
up early and watch cartoons to calm my butterflies. It
didn't really work. I kept wondering what the day would
hold - and if it would stop raining.
It wasn't long before 8am came, and I greeted Jen and
Colin with a cuppa. We had everything timed out and planned.
We ate and then got started on my hair. Jen and I decided
to go for something unusual. She took the front section
of my hair and plaited it across my head from ear to ear,
threading gold ribbon through to match my tiara. Then
she curled the back.
This all took a bit longer than we had envisaged and by
10.45am I still didn't have any make-up on, neither Jen
nor I were dressed and the cars were due to arrive at
the house in the next 30 minutes!
When my car arrived, I was upstairs putting on my make-up
and not even wearing my dress or shoes. By now, I'd got
butterflies the size of house bricks! I was lucky my make-up
went on without a hitch. My Dad had arrived, and I could
hear him, but I couldn't see him. Jen and I raced down
the stairs so I could put my dress on in the lounge. The
idea of walking down the stairs in my dress with that
train petrified me.
Dad still hadn't appeared. He was hiding in the kitchen.
It turned out he'd hired a frock coat as a surprise. My
reaction to this surprise was a classic - instead of the
loving, "Dad you look great", it was, "where
the hell did you get that from?"! Jason, my friend
at the suit-fitters, had kept it a closely-guarded secret.
I panicked a bit more and then we were off.
The drive to the register office seemed so short. It was
almost as though all the traffic had stopped in order
to let me through. As the car approached the register
office, the first person I saw was my Mum. She looked
fabulous in a lilac suit. That was when the nerves really
started and it suddenly dawned on me that this was really
going to happen.
As we got out of the car I remember my dad giving my mum
my keys, my mobile (yes I took it!) and my tissues.
 The photos seemed to take forever. I just wanted
to get inside and meet Simon at the table.
We went into the registrar's office to finish all the
official stuff and then the door opened. As the music
started, I realised that my brother had got the wrong
track on the CD. It wasn't Handel!
The registrar tried to sort it out but only made it worse.
In the end, I walked down the aisle to the Air from The
Water Music instead of Ombra Mai Fu, but at least it was
by Handel, my favourite composer.
The walk seemed to be over before I knew it. I was so
nervous. I got to the table and Simon just smiled and
said I looked beautiful. He looked gorgeous in his navy
lounge suit. Before I knew it we were exchanging vows.
I remember Simon's smile as we said the vows we had written
ourselves.
We signed the register to I Would Be True from the CDs
I'd bought from the Wedding
Store. As Simon's family are part Irish it seemed
so apt and the lyrics are beautiful. We followed it with
The Power Of Love
by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Si had sung this song to
me when we first got together, so I guess you could say
it's "our song". We were marrying 26 months
to the day from when we got together so we thought it
was fitting.
After signing the register, Jen read "For Valentines
Day, I Finally Found The Words To Tell You Exactly How
I Feel" by Stephen Serafini. It was really touching
and you could tell she was nearly overcome with emotion
as she read it.
 At the end of the ceremony we walked back down
the aisle to Pavane
by Faure. We waited at the top of the aisle until everyone
else had left the room, then we were the last ones to
walk out into the sunshine. We took a few photographs
outside, everyone threw confetti, and then we got into
the car again to go to Witley Court, my dream come true.
The register office wasn't exactly picturesque so we'd
been looking for somewhere really elegant to take most
of the photos. Witley Court fitted the bill. It's the
most spectacular house ruin I've ever seen. It was once
owned by one of the most prosperous industrialists of
the time, but was destroyed by a fire in 1937. As it's
under the guardianship of English Heritage we had to pay
for the privilege to be there, but the looks on people's
faces as they saw it was worth every penny!
Simon and I looked like Lord and Lady of the Manor, with
Simon in his lounge suit and me in a dress I had designed
that was based on the period dresses of Witley Court's
magnificent past (1900-1930). It was so cold up at Witley,
but we took some of the most beautiful pictures and they
look like the middle of summer. We tried to take all the
photos with our guests first, and then they went on to
the reception while we stayed to take some romantic shots.
One unromantic moment came when I realised my suspender
belt and stockings had fallen down! The photographer's
wife and I ended up in the corner of the entrance hall
of the house, where I tried to discreetly remove them
without being spotted. Thank goodness I had a large train.
We took the last photos, including one of us dancing in
the ballroom, my favourite room, and made our way to the
reception. On the way, I called my brother to let him
know we were on en route (that's why I took my mobile!).
We had decided to do something a little different when
we arrived at the reception. Instead of a receiving line,
everyone was given two party poppers and lined up in two
lines facing each other, on opposite sides of the door.
As we walked through the door, everyone let off the party
poppers, rather like a ticker tape parade. The photos
of it were great!
The photographer took the rest of the photos including
us cutting the cake and then we tucked into the buffet.
The table was overflowing with food. I thought this was
to last all day, but when the barmaid told me that the
caterers were coming to refresh the table again later
I was pleasantly shocked. It looked like there was enough
food for 180, not the 80 people who were there - and all
for £4.50 per head! The variety was fabulous. As
10 of our guests were vegetarian we asked for more vegetarian
food than meat, and it all tasted delicious.
 After everyone had finished eating it was time
for the speeches. I was sort of dreading what my Dad would
say, but luckily his speech was short and very sweet.
He even referred to us meeting in the local video shop
where I worked at the time. Simon's speech was sweet too.
We'd arranged the wedding ourselves, with our parents
paying for the reception and my mum paying for everyone
to go to Witley Court.
Simon thanked and proposed a toast to them. He went on
to thank me for organising most of the day, as work commitments
had forced him not to help as much as he'd liked. Then
he proposed a toast to me! I really wasn't expecting it,
or the cheer that went up as he did it!
I was dreading Rob's speech because he and Simon have
known each other for about 15 years. They met at college
and did some very silly things and I wasn't sure which
particular silly thing Rob would pick. Luckily it wasn't
a rude silly thing (what he did choose was far to complicated
for me to explain) and he made everyone laugh! He then
went on to give us some lessons for a successful marriage.
Everyone really complimented him on his speech, it was
wonderful.
The disco arrived and everyone started to get into party
mood. I had arranged for three songs to be played for
us: Flying Without Wings by Westlife, Perfect Moment by
Martine McCutcheon and Everyday I Love You by Boyzone.
As we danced together, we looked deep into each other's
eyes. It wouldn't have mattered if no one else was there,
that moment was so special. We had a good selection of
music, including lots of Jamiroquai, my favourite band.
Everyone seemed to have a great time.
I didn't want to leave the reception because I was having
such a good time but the way we arrived at our first night
hotel was a picture. There we were in our wedding clothes,
me holding my bouquet in one hand with a rucksack on my
back and a carrier bag with my trainers! The hotel had
been organised for us the day before by Rob, so we hadn't
really thought about going away clothes. We just raced
home and packed the rucksack in 10 minutes flat!
On the way home from the hotel I remembered that I'd left
my keys with my Mum. It wasn't until we got home that
I realised that Mum had secretly kept them on purpose.
She'd asked my brothers and their girlfriends to fill
our bedroom with the balloons from the reception. The
room was so full that we had to pop them all to allow
us to get into bed! Rob had also thrown a box of confetti
through the letterbox, which managed to migrate around
the house. We're still finding confetti where we least
expect it!
Do Differently: If our nephew hadn't have been
going to Australia for a year in April, we would have
waited until August 12th 2000. Also, if we hadn't have
been on such a tight budget, we'd have had the reception
at a hotel or larger venue.
I also wish I'd have found wedding forum sooner. With
so many brides to be exchanging ideas, it's a fabulous
springboard.
Groom's Comments: I really enjoyed the day, although
I would have preferred the temperature to be a little
bit higher (freezing my proverbials off!!). The most wonderful
moment was when Chrissie arrived next to me and I saw
her in her dress for the first time, she looked beautiful!
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If
you would like to contact Chrissie and Simon, you can e-mail
them.
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