I woke at 6.30am, to feel my stomach churning - I can't believe I slept through the night!! I feel I have had the worst lead up to my wedding ever, it is supposed to be full of excitement and anticipation. Firstly my nana died unexpectedly on the Monday… and then terrorists hit America on the Tuesday.

The last thing our families felt like doing was celebrating, and I felt anything but happy. However I knew how much my nana was looking forward to the big day, and she wouldn't have wanted us all to be miserable. I certainly didn't have time to stop and worry about silly little things so from then on we decided we were going to have the best day ever! Then suddenly, after nine months of planning, my big day had arrived.

I stayed at my mums, only to be woken by a Jack Russell licking my face and bright sunshine gleaming through the window. Mum made me eat a bit of toast and I took some calming tablets, as I felt very sick inside! Paul was staying round his mum and dad's, and I knew he wouldn't be worried at all; in fact he had a full English breakfast!

My first worry of the day was the hairdresser. She had rung yesterday to say she had a sick bug! I just kept my fingers crossed that she wouldn't let me down. The phone rang, mum answered and she sounded disappointed and I was petrified - it was the hairdresser. In actual fact it was problem number two. The vicar had rung to tell us that our harpist and soloist for the church had had an accident last night and was in hospital with a broken pelvis. At this point I felt like my whole day was ruined, what else could go wrong this week? However, my family were great, they reminded me why I was getting married today and that nothing could spoil that, so even the order of service being wrong didn't matter anymore.

Everything after that seemed to fit into place, the hairdresser had arrived along with one of my five bridesmaids. Our vicar had pulled out all the stops, and had managed to get hold of a professional trumpeter and concert pianist for the church with just five hours notice! By the time I had my bath, the florist had been. The flowers were beautiful, just what I had envisaged and the colour matched the bridesmaid's dresses perfectly and I was tearfully happy. I then had my hair set and the make up lady arrived. My mum's lounge looked like a production line with hair and make up for 5 bridesmaids and myself!

It was 1.30pm when the photographer arrived and I was still not dressed! Panic set in, I think and I found myself snapping at everybody. Finally dressed and with photos taken, I decided to stay inside, as it was a little breezy outside. The wait until 2.30pm seemed like forever, why had I worried about getting ready in time? Finally dad and I got into the car I felt like royalty when the neighbours waved us off. When we got to the church I just remember the photographer saying "Quick it's going to rain in a minute" and sure enough it did. I ran down the path to the church, hitching my dress up and leaving my poor dad behind! (Very embarrassing on the video!)

As we entered the church the trumpet started to play, the lights were off and the candles flickered, it was very romantic and moving. The church flowers looked beautiful. I just remember seeing Paul looking gorgeous and winking at me, which put me at ease. The service was beautiful, we both said our vows clearly and most of our families sung to the hymns 'Give me joy in my heart', (very difficult when the organist is two notes behind everyone else,) and 'Lord of the dance.'

Looking back I would probably have chosen some slower hymns, as they were a little upbeat for the church organ! The trumpet did a beautiful rendition of 'Amazing Grace' in memory of both our grandparents, while we signed the register. Our vicar was brilliant and made the service very entertaining, which helped people stay awake in the pews! And all the children were very well behaved. (The ushers had asked all the families with babies to sit at the back of the church, as my worst nightmare was screaming babies when we were saying our vows!) I knew we had a lot of children attending, as I am a Nursery nurse and know a lot of children! It was an amazing feeling turning to walk down the aisle as a married couple. When we left the church to the wonderful trumpet sounds, the sun was shining and the bells rang - definitely the best bit of the whole day!

We had lots of photos taken, luckily our photographer was a friend of the family, was very quick and didn't keep people hanging around. Half way through it started to spit with rain, so we went back into the church for more photos. I am glad it did rain as some of our best photos were taken in the church! Once the shower had passed it was time to get covered in confetti, and then on to the reception for a long awaited drink!

The reception was held at a golf course so we had a number of photos taken by the lake. We then had our receiving line as we went into dinner. The reception looked fantastic, everything was just right. I am so glad we went to that extra effort, because everyone commented on the little things like the table confetti, cameras, favours and bubbles (all from WGUK). The flowers, crawling ivy and candles again gave the room atmosphere. The food and drink was wonderful. We had purchased the wine and champagne from France to help save on costs. Most importantly everybody was having a great time even my little 2-month-old niece! I chose an equine theme throughout the reception, and had a beautiful 3-tier horseshoe cake. The speeches were touching and funny and luckily with no awkward gaps, we went straight from eating into the disco. I refreshed myself and took my very long veil off. We then had our first dance as husband and wife to 'Angel of mine' by Eternal. While the children were blowing bubbles at us - very surreal! The song seemed to last forever with everybody watching us.
Everyone had a great time; it was lovely to see so many friends and family there for us. 11pm came round too soon, the archway was made, my bouquet was thrown and our car was ready to whisk us off. We were both exhausted, yet on a high as today had been the best day of our lives. All that planning and expense really was worth it.

There's nothing we would have done differently. All the sadness around the wedding made everyone stronger on the day. I want to do it all again and worry less!!!