Well the day started bright and early at about 7am. My chief bridesmaid, a mate from church, had stayed overnight at my house to make sure I didn't do a runner or anything! We had breakfast, well she had breakfast, I made an attempt at eating even though I didn't really want anything. We both took it easy for the first hour or so knowing that we had plenty of time before we were to be descended upon by other people. At first we were both fairly calm but excited nevertheless, then by 8.30am, knowing the others were due to arrive at 9am we were getting distinctly excited!

At 9am my sister arrived who was in charge of doing my makeup. Shortly after, the two hairdressers arrived along with two other bridesmaids. I knew that if I was surrounded by too many people for too long I would get jittery pretty quickly so I designated different rooms of the house to different people and activities. The two grown up bridesmaids were downstairs having their hair done by one hairdresser, whilst my chief bridesmaid and I were upstairs having our hair done by the second hairdresser.

At various points during the morning, things got rather more hectic as other people turned up. First my brother in law with my little six year old niece (my sister's daughter), then my youngest brother who was being a chauffeur and eventually my oldest brother (I have three altogether) who was giving me away.

By about 11.30am the bridesmaids were off to the church, looking very pretty.

Eventually it was time for me to get into my dress, shoes and veil. Having been relatively cool, calm and collected all morning I suddenly felt the full weight of what was going on and my heart began to pound hard. From that moment on I let myself be fully dependant on others to make sure that I did the right thing as my head was spinning out of control!! Not literally, just in the sense that I was rendered virtually unable to think for myself!!

The photographer arrived, another calm head thankfully, and we all made our way outside into the glorious sunshine, for all the neighbours to see. Then we got into the car. And we were off….

My eldest brother was giving me away as sadly my father was too ill to be present at our big day. He offered his hand as reassurance once we'd got in the car and I gladly took it and held on tightly throughout the whole journey - it was curiously comforting. My brother is 14 years older than me, so we may not have done that since I was a very small child as I'm sure as a 19 year old in the 70's he wouldn't have been seen holding a 5 year old's hand!!

Finally we arrived and from that moment on all eyes were on me - hugely scary!! I'd kept everyone waiting as I was nearly 10 minutes late! There were lots of people outside the church, family, friends and two photographers. So there I sat in the car being told to smile - I was shaking now and my face was nearly shaking visibly, so smiling naturally was really difficult but in trying to do so it made me laugh so they got their pictures anyway!!!

When I got inside the church we went into a little side room where my bridesmaids were waiting for me. I put my separate hooped petticoat on and that was it, ready to face the eager crowds. There was a big hush as we opened the doors, I could see alll the people craning their necks to see us and then the music started.

Slowly and majestically we walked up the long aisle - I took the length and slowness of the walk as an opportunity to look around at the sea of faces beaming at us…it was awesome!

At last we reached the front and I let go of my brother's arm. I suddenly felt alone, almost vulnerable, all I wanted to do was grab hold of my future husband's hand, but I guess that's symbolic of the departing from the care of one's family into the care of your husband.

Finally, once we finished the vows, we were allowed to sit down which was a huge relief by then as my legs had been like jelly all through the service, to the point where I'd had to put my heels and knees tight together to stop them giving way beneath me!! We listened in a dream like state to the church elder giving a little talk, which was partly directed at us and then at the congregation.

Having finally signed the register we then walked back down the aisle with all the various family members following on behind.

I soon discovered that my Dad had been called on a mobile phone and and remained connected all the way through the service so that he heard the whole thing live - big phew, it made such a difference to his and my day! I felt as though he was so much more a part of my day. I'd originally had this brainwave a couple of days before the wedding and had been hoping and praying hard that it could be pulled off effectively and thankfully it had!!

I spoke to my Dad briefly as we walked back to the church to form a receiving line. - what a weight off my shoulders - I then felt able to properly relax!

I was really enjoyed the receiving line as it gave me a chance to introduce a few people to my new husband who hadn't met him before and it gave us a chance to say hello to everyone who was there as we'd have never done it otherwise!

The meal went by far too quickly! A flash of speeches, eat a bit, cut the cake, eat a bit more, say hello to lots of people and then it was time to go.

We went back to our house for a quick breather and the chance to spend at least five minutes alone together on our wedding day and then it was time to be picked up by my brother and swept off to the evening do.

By the time the evening do started, we had really relaxed and could enjoy this part of the day in quite a different way to the rest of the day. Thankfully it didn't rush past quite so quickly, so we had more of a chance to sit down with friends and relations who were driving home that night. There was plenty of dancing, chatting and drinking. It looked like everyone was having a good time.

The reception went on until about midnight, by which time we were almost asleep on our feet!! Finally we crashed into bed at about 1am with our minds spinning from all the mind blowing events of the day.

The next day we were picked up from our house at lunch time to be whisked off to the airport to catch a plane to take us to Malta for two weeks….bliss!!!

Do differently: If I could do it all over again I wouldn't change anything that I had control over myself, so the only thing obviously would be to have my Dad there…
Groom's comments: My husband agrees with everything I've already said! A very happy man!!