 Three
years ago, my best friend and her then fiancé decided
to match-make me with a friend of theirs. I had met him
on a couple of occasions and thought he was really gorgeous,
but he was already with someone. So there we were in a
Chinese restaurant, just the four of us, with continuous
trips to the loo for the, "do you really think he fancies
me?" conversations. EIGHT hours later, once we'd moved
on to the Hippodrome and had consumed a few glasses of
Dutch courage, Alan and I finally got together.
So you can imagine my best friend's excitement when 16
months later, on Christmas morning, I told her we were
getting married. She's now seriously considering setting
up a dating agency!
The day before the wedding there were thunderstorms and
I was getting a little worried. My Dad now lives in Romania
so he arrived at lunchtime, with his wife and a few other
Romanians who were to be our witnesses. We all met up
at the pub so that everyone in the bridal party could
meet each other. It was really great to have everyone
in the room together - and all for us. I left them to
it at 4pm and went for my manicure. I then went home with
my bridesmaids and Mum and we sat up eating pizza and
watching Father of the Bride. I only had three hours sleep
that night, as I was so excited.
 I
woke up to brilliant sunshine. At 6.30am, I gave Alan
his early morning call because he had to pick up the Porsche
Boxster he was hiring from London and drive it back to
Maidenhead by 10am. What he didn't tell me was that he
didn't end up picking up the car until 10am.The car he
booked had broken down and they had to find a replacement.
He finally arrived back in Maidenhead at 11.30, an hour
before the ceremony! When he arrived at the hotel I asked
my chief bridesmaid's husband to give him my present of
a signed Liverpool football. It was all captured on video
and by the look on his face, he really liked it.
I had a very long and leisurely bath and then woke everyone
up with tea and croissants. Then it was down the hairdressers
for 9am. My chief bridesmaid was very proud of me as I
sat there in the hairdressers and had my hair backcombed,
gelled and hair sprayed - something I don't normally do.
I think the hairdresser thought she was torturing me at
one point! But it looked perfect and we were all soon
back home opening up the champagne and getting ready.
The flowers had arrived whilst we were away and the videographer
decided to surprise me with a few pre-wedding shots.
 By
11am my Dad was starting to panic as for the whole morning
I was as cool as a cucumber and just grinned the whole
time. I'm not known for my calmer moments, so my Dad was
thinking I was either in shock, sick, drunk or wanted
to call the whole thing off! He was amazed, as I was,
but I just started thinking, "just relax and enjoy it,
there's nothing you can do now," and it seemed to work.
Before I knew it, it was 11.45am and the car was waiting
to take us to the hotel. I gave the cat a final kiss and
we were off.We arrived at Ye Olde Bell 15 minutes early
and had to drive around the block a few times. I just
couldn't believe it - we thought the old cars would take
longer, but we were there in 10 minutes. So, I 'officially'
arrived at 12.15pm and went to meet the registrar. It
was obvious that Alan was nervous during his pre-marriage
interview, as when my Dad and I walked into the room we
could see that he had spilt water everywhere!
 Thanks
to one of the girls on the forum
I walked in to my favourite piece of music, an instrumental
version of the Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony. As soon
as I heard it, I knew my wedding was finally happening.
I grinned the whole way through the ceremony and didn't
cry once - a huge accomplishment for someone that cries
at Neighbours! Alan and I held hands all the way through
and I kept thinking, " This is the most perfect moment
of my life".
I did stumble over my words once as I was concentrating
so hard on not crying. But before I knew it we were pronounced
husband and wife.My CBM then made a moving reading of
The
Blessing of the Apaches and it was onto the photos.
I knew then how Jennifer and Brad and Posh and Becks must
have felt with all the flashes that were suddenly going
off! My Dad suddenly realised after his photos with us
that he had chocolate all over his teeth. He was keen
to bring some Romanian wedding traditions along with him
and one was that everyone enjoys champagne and alcohol-filled
chocolates after the ceremony.
It was really funny watching everyone as they checked
each other's teeth before their photos.
 The
reception was brilliant. It was great to finally see all
the jellybean favours, place names
and menus I had made from our chosen colour scheme - red,
yellow and orange. The speeches went really well… my Dad
gave us a stone that all the Romanians had signed which
symbolises the first foundation stone of the marriage
that can be built on in years to come. It is called 'Casa
du Piatra' (the 'House of Stone'), which was lovely. The
best man decided to read out the very personal card that
I had written Alan the night before the wedding, much
to my abject horror, but it made both of us cry so I suppose
he had the reaction he was after. We then had a fantastic
close-up magician, who entertained everyone whilst we
waited for the evening reception to start.
 We
chose not to have a first dance, as Alan doesn't 'do'
dancing, so we whisked everyone up for Zorba the Greek,
which went down a storm. The evening was in full swing
and before I knew it I was being kidnapped and dragged
down to the local pub and stripped of my left shoe! This
was the most surreal moment of the day, sitting in a pub
in full wedding attire whilst everyone looked at me as
if I'd walked out of a circus tent. Unfortunately, I was
being subjected to another Romanian tradition where friends
of the bride's father take the bride and the groom has
to pay a ransom to get her back.
Apparently I'm worth two bottles of vodka, a bottle of
whiskey and a bottle of Bacardi! Alan was then taken over
to the hotel bar where he drank no end of Tequila and
then came back in and decided to strip to Hot Stuff from
The Full Monty in front of all our family and friends.
I was standing next to his Mum at the time and she kept
saying, "Aren't you going to stop him?" I just couldn't
stop laughing. I'm still apologising now and all my female
friends just shake their heads in sympathy when I see
them. Unfortunately for him, it's all on video!
 After
breakfast the next day, I took my bouquet and one of the
bridesmaid's bouquets and put them on my Grandma's grave.
I wanted to thank her for making the sun shine all day
long. We then sped off in our Porsche which we had hired
for the weekend and enjoyed our first day as Mr and Mrs
Gullick. Our flight to La Source in Grenada didn't leave
until the Wednesday so we spent the rest of the weekend
relaxing and reliving the day. We really didn't want it
to end.
Do Differently: Only a very minor thing and that
is to give the DJ a play list, there were lots of songs
I wanted but didn't have a chance to ask for them. The
day was just as I've always dreamed it would be.
Comments: Thanks to WGUK for helping me make loads
of new friends that I'm sure will stay with me for many
years to come. You deserve to win an award every year!
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If
you would like to contact Sarah and Alan, you can e-mail
them.
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