 Craig
and I have been together for three and a half years and
living together for two years! We always knew right from
the beginning that we would end up getting married.
Craig proposed to me in January and we planned to have
our wedding in November. But much to my mother's distress
(she was worried about the weather), she persuaded us
to get married in August. However, because this was only
eight months away, we were unable to get a Saturday, so
we decided to have a Friday wedding.
After much dispute, we decided to get married in Edinburgh
where we are both from, although I was tempted on many
an occasion to elope.
I work at a university so we decided to get married in
the university chapel. The building where I work has a
lot of history as it used to be a war hospital and a nunnery
and the chapel is stunning. We then decided on the Braidhills
Hotel as the reception venue as it is only five minutes
away.
The evening before the wedding I was still running about,
dropping things at the hotel, getting my nails done, picking
up dresses, (I was one hour late for the rehearsal which
didn’t go down too well) and then I went back to
my mum’s for a relaxing evening. Then I realised
that I hadn’t dyed my hair yet so I was up at 1am
with the plastic gloves on. I was so knackered, I slept
all night and slept in!
My friend Lynn took my bridesmaid Tracy and me to the
hairdressers in the morning, along with a bottle of champagne!
Then the nightmare happened when we got back to the house
and my nephew Christopher (pageboy) decided that he did
not want to wear his kilt (all the male bridal party were
in highland dress) and threw a tantrum and was sick everywhere!
Agggghhhh! We eventually took him to his grandmother's
house and I tried to remain calm with the fact that I
was now only having one pageboy (Craig’s nephew Jo).
I was ready on time, when the photographer and the flowers
(bianca roses, Singapore orchids with red tongues and
greenery) arrived at 1.30pm. The ceremony was due to start
at 3pm! I was desperate to get there but the driver of
my wedding car kept on telling me I was too early. However,
we managed to persuade him to drive around a bit before
we went to the chapel. By this time I was so excited and
not the least bit nervous, although my dad was a wreck!
 When I arrived at the chapel I was greeted
by a mass of work colleagues, which was really nice, and
also by Christopher who, once away from all the commotion
at my mum's house had decided that he did want to be a
pageboy (everytime he goes past a church now, he says
that's were you go to get married, like Auntie Lee)
The wedding ceremony was lovely, I went up the aisle to
the Marriage
of Figaro and we went down to the Prince
of Denmark's March, then we came out to be greeted
by Wedding
Bubbles!
When we came out of the chapel, it started to rain, I
had wanted my photographs taken on the Spiritual Lawn.
We decided to make our way to the reception and by the
time we arrived the sun had come out, so we got our photos
taken in the gardens of the hotel! At one point the sun
was too bright!
 We had our wedding speeches
before the meal, as everyone was a little nervous. My
dad didn’t really say much, but then he either goes
from one extreme to the other. What he did say was very
special to both of us. Craig and Grant's speeches were
great (Grant was Craig's best man) and then I presented
the two mothers with flowers and also my Auntie Joyce
who had travelled from Australia for the wedding and had
celebrated her birthday.
We had miniature whiskeys on the table for the men and
scrolls for the ladies. The ladies at the evening reception
also received terracotta pots with scented roses. The
meal was lovely, the menu was Scotch Broth or Haggis Neeps
and Tatties; Chicken wrapped in Bacon or Roast Lamb and
Minted Pears followed by Cranachan or Apple Pie with Orange
Cream. My wedding cake was made by dad’s partner
Beth and was three tiers with hand-made icing flowers
that matched my bouquet.
 Everything went
really well, the band were brilliant. They played a mixture
of 60s to 90s music, a ceilidh section and then a disco.
We had our first dance to More Than Words by Extreme which
went down really well and my father-in-law, Stuart, got
up and sang two songs and our usher Mikey sang Sitting
On The Dock of the Bay.
The wedding reception was brilliant, we had over 170 guests
and it was great! I had the best day and night of my life!
Once the reception finished at 1am, about 15 of us moved
into the bar and carried on till 3am in the morning! We
were staying in the honeymoon suite of the hotel that
night! The following day we travelled to Manchester and
had another honeymoon night in another hotel and then
on Sunday we flew to Cuba, where we had two weeks of wedded
bliss.
Do Differently: Absolutely nothing!
Groom's Comments: I'm glad that had a family friend
video the event, so we can look back at it forever!
General Comments: I'm glad that had a family friend
video the event, so we can look back at it forever! |
If
you would like to contact Lee and Craig, you can e-mail
them.
|
