 I
had left Arthur in the hotel bar the night before our
wedding with his two best men, Tim and his brother Adam,
and his ushers. His Dad, Alan, had bought them a large
bottle of whisky, so I had no idea what sort of state
Arthur would be in. While he was supping whisky, I stole
his car keys and took the car to an entirely different
hotel which I had booked us into for the wedding night
as a surprise. I just hoped he would have his mind on
other things and not realise that his car was no longer
parked next to Adam's.
I eventually went to spend the night at my parents' house
and finally got to bed at about 1.30am after putting my
dress in my room and wrapping Arthur's gift - a silver
pocket watch. I slept surprisingly well that night and
my Mum woke me at 7am. Several cards had arrived in the
post so I opened those while Dad and I listened to the
CD he had made for us for the line up later in the day.
At 8.30am, my hairdresser Lindy, arrived so she set to
work on Mum's hair while I jumped in the shower ready
to have mine dried and put in curlers. My sisters, Elaine
and Heather, were two of my attendants and arrived to
have their hair styled. Before long they all looked gorgeous.
Lindy started styling my hair and it looked absolutely
beautiful when she finished.
I just had time to have a quick coffee before going to
the beauty salon for my make-up. By the time I got back
my sister and brother-in-law had arrived at my parent's
house. Rory was an usher and was going to the hotel with
Tim, when he arrived to pick up the buttonholes. Things
seemed to be calm and nothing much really happened for
about half an hour. Then everything happened at once…
Tim arrived at the same time as the flowers, Elaine returned
with her two children, Bryony and Edward, Arthur's godson,
George, and my goddaughter Sabrina who were all attendants!
 The
videographer also arrived and wanted to know if I was
ready to be filmed, but I had just bashed my head, dented
my tiara and ruined my hair, so the tears started to flow
almost ruining my make up as well!
Luckily Lindy had just come back to check everything was
going all right and to make some last minute touches,
so she quickly re-did my hair for me.
All this and I wasn't even in my underwear yet! Then the
photographer arrived just as I was opening my present
from Arthur - a beautiful pearl cross that would go perfectly
with my dress.
My Mum and sisters were fantastic. They dressed the children
before sorting themselves out. I put on my dress and veil
and couldn't believe just how special I felt. I hoped
that Arthur appreciated the effort I had gone to. Then
I went downstairs for the first round of photographs.
Soon the photographer dashed off to take some pictures
of Arthur, who was hopefully at the church by now. As
he was leaving the cars arrived - two 1930s Rolls Royce
- one in powder blue and the other in cream and black.
They looked fantastic and the children got really excited.
The first car took the bridesmaids, pageboys and my Mum
to the church leaving just Dad and I. When we got into
the car and he said to me "Ready?" to which I replied
in a very certain voice "Definitely".
 As
we drove along I was really excited and people were waving
to me and honking their car horns. We pulled up to the
church doors where my Mum, my attendants, the vicar and
a couple of the ushers were waiting for me. There were
more photographs before my Mum gave me a kiss and went
to take her seat. Then I went to the church door and caught
a glimpse of Arthur taking his place at the front with
Tim. That was when the nerves hit me. Up until that moment
I had been the epitome of calm but seeing Arthur in his
suit made me realise that this was REALLY happening. I
began shaking so much my bouquet of arum lilies was vibrating
and the vicar asked me if I was all right. I nodded that
I was and the soloist began singing Ave
Maria by Schubert. This was it - we began walking
up the aisle and my grip on my Dad's arm began to tighten.
I caught Arthur turning round to look at me. Suddenly
I was there next to him and he turned to me and mouthed,
"You look beautiful". From that moment on I did not stop
smiling for the whole day.
Our first hymn was Love
Divine All Loves Excelling and then we seemed to race
through our vows - I cannot remember anything about them.
The one thing I do remember clearly though was the real
need to sneeze as we were making our way up to the altar
during I
Vow to Thee my Country! Soon we were into the third
hymn Praise
My Soul the King of Heaven and into the vestry to
sign the register.
My hands were still shaking so much that I found it difficult
to write my name! We left the church to Widor's
Toccata and on the way own the aisle there were so
many people trying to take photos neither of us knew which
way to look so, in the end, I opted to just look straight
ahead.
 We
were showered in confetti, most of which seemed to go
down the front of my dress. The photographer said he had
never seen so much confetti at a wedding before - there
certainly seemed to be a lot when it was being thrown
over us. I still had it all in my hair when I got into
bed that night!
Then it was off to the reception and people were honking
their horns and waving at us. Yet more photographs and
then we moved inside for the receiving line, which seemed
to pass me by in a blur. Everyone complimented us on our
choice of music for the service and said how beautiful
my dress was. That was when Arthur turned to me and said
that he hadn't really looked at my dress. He quickly dug
himself out of the hole with the follow up line that he
was too busy looking at his beautiful wife. He's so cheesy!
The meal was lovely although I found I could hardly eat
a thing. During the meal we had adopted a European tradition,
which means that if the guests tap their glasses with
their knife, then the bride and groom have to kiss until
the clinking stops. Unfortunately we have a lot of friends
and family who always throw themselves into anything and
so we found ourselves having to kiss all the time. What
a price to pay!
Arthur and Tim were really nervous about their respective
speeches and as the time came nearer you could see them
get more uncomfortable. We cut the cake and then it was
time for my Dad to start the speeches. He said some lovely
things about me and presented us with a gift from my Mum
and him. It was two silver half heart key rings with a
message attached saying, "Wherever one half goes the other
will always follow".
Then Arthur was on his feet. His speech was lovely - he
actually made a few people cry with the things he said
about me. He was also very nice about Tim and Adam, who
were both giving speeches after him. He felt that he had
to say nice things so they would have to be nice back.
Tim started off a little shakily but once he got into
it he gave one of the greatest Best Man speeches I have
ever heard. Everyone has since said how much they enjoyed
it and how good it was. He even recounted several amusing
anecdotes about Arthur and managed to embarrass him.
 Soon
it was time for our first dance to She by Elvis Costello
and fairly soon nearly everyone joined us on the dance
floor. The band was excellent and managed to keep the
dance floor packed for most of the evening. When the evening
buffet was brought out I couldn't face the thought of
food and neither could Arthur, so while everyone was tucking
in we went and sat in the bar. It was the first time we
had really been alone with each other all day and I thoroughly
enjoyed spending that half an hour with my new husband.
We chatted about the day and he said how beautiful I looked
and I returned the compliment by saying how much he looked
like someone out of Charles Dickens.
Before we knew it, it was nearly 11pm, the time I had
booked for the car to take us to our secret hotel for
the night.Only my Mum and Dad knew that I had booked this
hotel and Arthur himself believed that the car was picking
us up, taking us for a little drive and then taking us
round the back of the hotel to our room so that everyone
would think we had gone somewhere else.
I threw my bouquet and found out the next day that the
girl who caught it put her back out doing it! Then we
jumped into the car and drove off. I managed to keep Arthur
talking about the day for what seemed like ages before
he suddenly said "I haven't a clue where we are." Luckily
we had just pulled up to the driveway of the hotel. He
said, "Where are we? " and then as it dawned on him, "We're
not staying at Park Farm are we?" It was a classic reaction
and I felt (quite rightly) pleased with myself for having
kept it from him for 10 months. All in all it was a wonderful
day and we have a lot of memories to look back on.
Do Differently: I wouldn't change a thing about
the day, as it was perfect in every way. I would change
what little of a honeymoon we had, though. Arthur got
appendicitis the day we arrived in Dublin and so spent
the entire time of our honeymoon in hospital. Although
we were both very disappointed at the time, at least he
is all right and at least we managed to get married first!
Groom's Comments: I just feel so guilty that the honeymoon
was ruined even if it is true that no one can control
when or where they will need an operation. We were both
just so grateful to be in an English speaking country,
which has a similar NHS. It was just so disappointing
to be missing out on the four-poster in the five-star
hotel because I only used it to writhe around on in agony!
I feel so sorry for Sam as it is the only time that we
would have been truly alone as newlyweds. I plan many
decades of marriage to Sam, however, so at least for the
first five years we can be considered as newlywed, and
I promise as many honeymoons as we can possibly fit in
both to Dublin and elsewhere. The day itself was just
so wonderful and my new wife looked absolutely amazing
- a few more honeymoons are the very least she deserves!
|
If
you would like to contact Samantha and Arthur, you can e-mail
them.
|
