 I
have been lucky enough to fall in love twice. Once with
my gorgeous husband, Rob, but secondly with the most beautiful
hotel in England, Coombe Abbey.
Although most of our friends and family live in Hertfordshire,
we chose to get married a good couple of hours away in
Warwickshire.
So when I awoke on my wedding morning it was in a sumptuous
historical hotel room with my best friend and chief bridesmaid,
Alison.
Although we had been up giggling and chatting since 5.30am,
we went downstairs for breakfast about 8.30am to meet
my Mum and a few other friends who had chosen to stay
the night before.
I was very surprised to find I had the appetite to tuck
into a big full English breakfast, but I felt fine - just
very, very happy and excited. The morning passed in a
flurry of activity. My hairdresser is also a good friend
and I couldn't have chosen a lovelier person to help me
get ready. After a leisurely bath, she set my hair in
rollers and then made sure I was thoroughly pampered all
morning. She did my make-up, gave my bridesmaids a manicure,
set my Mum's hair - and then left herself about five minutes
to get ready!
My closest friends, Mum and future Mother-in-Law all popped
in to my room for a glass of champagne and to see how
I was doing. At one point the hotel room was packed full,
but there was such a lovely 'buzzy' atmosphere. One of
the most emotional moments of the morning was when one
of my oldest friends came in to see me and promptly burst
in to tears! "You look so beautiful," she and my Mum sobbed,
so then of course I started.
 Despite
all the activity, I was amazingly calm until about an
hour before the ceremony. The photographer was waiting
for me downstairs, but my flowers still hadn't arrived.
All of a sudden I felt very sick and paralysed with nerves.
My beautiful flowers soon arrived, but this horrible feeling
continued until it was time for me to walk down the aisle.
I will never forget the moment I first set eyes on my
husband, Rob. All my nerves disappeared in a second and
I just felt so utterly elated.
My two little nieces, Samantha and Rebecca, my cousin,
Lois, and friend Alison looked so beautiful in their gold
bridesmaids dresses as they floated down the aisle ahead
of me to 'You're
So Cool' by Hans Zimmer (from the "True Romance" soundtrack).
Then it was my turn. I clutched my Grandfather's arm tightly
and practically stood on tiptoes to catch a glimpse of
Rob over the heads of the standing congregation. A sob
caught in my throat as I saw how gorgeous he looked, but
I was beaming from ear to ear at the same time.
The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. It was set in a
candlelit, Medieval Room, home to Coombe Abbey's famous
medieval banquets. The words of the ceremony, too, were
perfect. We had already written our own vows together,
which were:
I invite you to share my life as I hope to share yours.
I promise to respect you and to support you, and encourage
you as you grow as an individual.
I promise to listen to you and try to understand your
needs, feelings and wishes.
I promise to love you faithfully with my heart, my body
and my mind, forever.
Then Rob's brother sang an acoustic version of You're
The Best Thing by The Style Council
 On
a very big high we made our triumphant exit to Barry White's
You're My
First, Last, Everything and came outside into the
daylight, only to be greeted by a panicking photographer.
"Quick! It's about to pour down with rain, and we need
to get the group photos done!" We all rushed over to the
beautiful Coombe Park gardens overlooking the lake - where
Rob and I had hoped our guests would be able to relax
and enjoy pre-dinner drinks whilst the photos were being
taken - but it was not to be. We managed to squeeze in
about two family photos before the heavens opened and
we had to run back to the hotel.
I hate rain at the best of times, but it did nothing to
dampen our spirits. In fact it all added to the medieval
atmosphere and we had some beautiful shots inside the
hotel. Soon it was time to return to our guests, and we
assembled our close family, bridesmaids and best man,
for the receiving line. I'm very glad we chose to do this
as it gave us a chance to speak to every single guest
individually, albeit for only a few moments.
As it had been very difficult to venture out of my room
that morning, I had to leave the table setting and decorating
to the hotel staff and florist, but I needn't have worried.
The room looked stunning. It was so nice to see my ideas
come to life, such as the golden orange and yellow colour
scheme, the heart shape wire photo holders for the table
names, and the medieval style menu cards. We hadn't bought
favours for our guests, but instead (knowing our friends
and family) we had organised a free bar for the hour and
half it took to take the photos. Judging by all the noise
and laughter, everyone had appreciated the gesture!
 As
the lovely meal progressed, my husband became increasingly
nervous about his speech. My 89-year old grandfather,
on the hand, appeared to be taking it all in his stride!
I had also asked my chief bridesmaid to say a few words,
a kind of 'best woman' speech.In the end, the speeches
were superb. The best man's was hilarious, my grandfather's
was very emotional, Alison wrote a poem instead of a speech,
much to my amazement - and it was hysterical!
My husband's: well - I will never forget the beautiful
things he said.
It was much later than we anticipated by the time we made
our way downstairs to the disco. The meal and the disco
were in two separate rooms, so it was great that there
was no big pause whilst the main reception room was re-organised.
Instead the disco was already in full swing and we were
being called over for our first dance to You're
Still The One, by Shania Twain. What made this really
special was our little bridesmaids dancing around us blowing
bubbles.
 As
well as the disco, my husband's brother played for us
with his band - and they were brilliant. The best man
also grabbed the microphone and had his moment of glory
singing an Oasis number whilst we all cheered and heckled
- what a star!
I didn't look at my watch once during the reception because
I didn't want to see how quickly time was moving. Everyone
says how quickly the day goes and it's true. When the
time came for us to say goodnight, we found we didn't
want the evening to end.
After kissing all our friends and family goodnight, we
aimed straight for the hotel bar with our closest friends
and stayed up drinking until very late!
We weren't going away on honeymoon immediately, but were
spending an extra night at Coombe Abbey, so we knew we
had the rest of the weekend all to ourselves.
Although a cliché, this was the happiest day of my life.
One of the guests kept joking that I would have to get
my smile surgically removed!
Do Differently: Absolutely Nothing!
Groom's Comments: What a fantastic day!
|
If you would like
to contact Lisa
and Rob, you can email them.
|
