Mark and I said our goodbyes the morning before the wedding. Mark had ended up with the best deal and was planning on spending the day playing golf with his friends before going onto Hever Hotel. I had come up with the bright idea that a night on my own in our flat, enjoying a glass of wine, some reflective thought and an early night, would be a fantastic idea. However it didn't go quite to plan. By the time I had shopped, had my nails done and dropped cake, menus and place cards off at Hever Golf Club, it was 9pm. My friend Vicki, who had been my rock all day, had just left and I was now on my own in the flat. I was just about to get my glass of wine when the phone rang, and rang, and rang, and it didn't stop until 10.30pm. I felt extremely dazed by how fast the day had flown by and so instead of running my bath because it was getting late, I decided to sit there and watch 'Big Brother'. It dawned on me at 11pm that I still hadn't had a bath, washed my hair, done my bikini line, plucked my eyebrows or shaved my legs! So much for my quality time! I eventually fell into bed at 12am plucked, shaved and ready to fall into a deep, much deserved sleep

Unfortunately, instead of taking that route, my mind decided to work overtime and my belly took up gymnastics. I wasn't worried about marrying Mark but I just felt really nervous about the whole day ahead. I must have passed out at about 1.30am because I awoke with a jolt at 4am.

Although it was still dark outside, I knew that I may as well get up because my mind and tummy had already taken up their previous positions from a few hours earlier. I have no idea what I did up until 7am but I have vague memories of eating toast, visiting the loo every five minutes and calling my nan and my dad for some human interaction. Vicki was meant to be coming over at 8.15am to have a cuppa before we went to the hairdressers, however, she had said the day before that if I got up earlier I should call her and she would come over. I thought 4am was a little too early but at 7am I knew I was in serious need of some human contact so I called her. Bless her heart she was round my flat 15 minutes later still in her pyjamas. We got ourselves ready and headed off.

I don't know how she did it but my hairdresser managed to create a hairstyle I had only ever dreamt of and despite the intense pain I received when she put the hair slides in, I was already feeling a million dollars.

At 11am we went round to my mums where my matron of honour, Carrie was already there. It seemed like we had hours to get ready so we had a cup of tea and a buffet lunch, courtesy of mum, with some of my family. The rain started to pelt down about this time and I knew that my wedding would be held inside and not in the lovely gardens at Hever. To be honest, I had accepted this fact as soon as I saw the rainfall, so I wasn't really disappointed. My mother-in-law to be and sister-in-law to be (third bridesmaid) arrived in a panic and we suddenly realised that we actually only had 40 minutes to get ready.....So much for me giving my parents and bridesmaids their gifts before the wedding! Between getting my underwear, dress and jewellery on, I had to make up my own face as well as Vicki's. I have no idea how 4 girls managed to get ready in 40 minutes all in the same room but we did it. Just before we left I had a major hair crisis when my curl dropped on one side of my face, but my aunty Sheila miraculously discovered some curling tongs in her car and saved me!

Our mums left first and I had to fight back the tears when my mum said she loved me. Everyone was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs when I came down and that nearly started me off again. We handed round the flowers, which were stunning and organised the bridesmaids in their car. My dad produced this teeny umbrella for me to hide under whilst I dashed to my aunt's car. I made it without any further hair disasters.

I spent the whole car journey holding my dad's hand. When we arrived at the venue I made a mad dash to the golf club (no mean feat when your dress weighs a ton) and got whisked away to an office for a chat with the Registrar. For some reason my nerves disappeared and I suddenly felt really excited and just wanted the photographer to hurry up so I could walk up that aisle and see Mark. The string quartet played the bridal party in with the Wedding March. I just remember speeding down the aisle, clinging to my dad and forgetting to look at Mark. When we got to the front I remained clinging to dad, cutting his blood supply off but managed to turn to Mark, who looked so handsome. He smiled at me and told me I looked beautiful. That put a smile on my lips that didn't go away all day. The ceremony was the best bit of the day for me. The whole experience was wonderful. When we kissed I bit his lip, which we both thought was very amusing.

As we were signing the register there were cameras going off left, right and center. It definitely felt like we were having our 15 minutes of fame. We had requested that the string quartet play the 'Star Wars' theme tune at this point to lighten the mood and to our delight our guests laughed their heads off. We led everyone into the bar area and spent the next hour kissing and talking to everyone. It was intense. The temperature in the venue was unbelievably hot and we were all sweating like mad after about ten minutes. The photos all had to be taken inside which was a shame because the gardens were really very beautiful. We did manage to get some pictures of Mark and I outside once the rain had stopped which was nice, although the ducks kept making us laugh and the photographer put me under a dripping tree which was rather unpleasant. The toastmaster then led us into dinner. The wedding breakfast was lovely but the room was really humid. My dad's speech was perfect and nearly made me cry with pride. Mark's speech was great and he said all the right things. His two best men, after weeks of stressing, gave a fantastic 'this is your life' style speech and had us all in stitches with some very undesirable photos of Mark whilst he was a bit the worse for wear.

All of a sudden dinner was over and we were being led back into the bar where I found some of my evening guests already waiting (we were running a bit late). The rain had stopped and guests were taking the opportunity to get some fresh air. At 8.30pm we all went back into the main room where the tables had been cleared to uncover a dance floor. Mark and I took the floor for our first dance 'From this Moment' by Shania Twain and it was so nice to be able to spend some time with my husband before we were whisked away again. The DJ was fantastic and dressed in the Men in Black outfit (I'd forgotten I had requested it) and everyone in the room danced all night. I managed to have a really good boogey with my friends and tried my best to talk to everyone but it's almost impossible to stay with one group for longer than 2 minutes before someone else grabs you. We did make time to go and get our bags from mum's car to put into the bridal suite and it felt great to step out and catch up with the day's events. We started to say goodbye at 11.15pm because we were both feeling knackered but the DJ decided to make the men and women line up on the dance floor in two lines. I had to go down the men's line kissing them and Mark had to go down the ladies' line kissing them goodbye. By the time we got away it was 12.15am but Mark still managed to find the energy to carry me over the hotel threshold. I was stone cold sober when I got to bed but felt drunk on the emotion and the excitement of the day, at least you don't get a hangover from that!

Do Differently: I would choose a different photographer because he antagonised Mark and I and his pictures weren't very good. Some air conditioning wouldn't have gone amiss. I would like to recommend you all get a toastmaster if you can because they truly are a godsend and the best value for money. I can honestly say that my day was perfect even with all the little things that went wrong. They didn't matter. I felt very proud of our family and I got to marry my best friend.
Groom's Comments: He said he felt stunned when he saw me and thanked me for the best day of his life!
Comments: Whoever invented the Wedding Forum was a genius and I'm glad I've still got the Newly Weds' Forum then the House and Home, then the Baby, then the Parenting….…. Thank you!