 The first thing we
did on our wedding day, after waking up, was to give one
another a little surprise gift. It really got the day
off to a good start.
Ben gave me a beautiful gold watch and I gave him a solid
silver key ring with the date engraved on it. It gave
us something to do until my mum turned up to take me to
my parents' house where I was to get ready. It was at
this point that I started to feel really nervous and I
still had seven hours until the ceremony started!
We had chosen very special venues for our ceremony and
reception. The ceremony was in The Council Chamber at
Hertford, the town I had lived in for most of my life.
Our reception venue was just four miles from Hertford,
in a fourteenth century building a few hundred yards from
our home. As we were going to be Mr. & Mrs. Prior,
it was a happy coincidence that the building was called
The Priory.
We then waited for our best man and bridesmaid to arrive.
Gary and Natalie are an engaged couple and our best friends.
Natalie arrived at my parents' house and we went straight
to the hairdressers. Meanwhile, Gary arrived at our flat
to meet Ben and they went straight to the pub! This was
to get some inspiration for Gary's Best Man's speech which,
at this time, consisted of a piece of notepaper with "Best
Man's Speech" at the top and nothing else!
 After
lunch, which I couldn't eat because of nerves, the time
seemed to fly by as four women (my mum, Nan, Natalie and
I) all tried to put our make-up and outfits on in one
bedroom. I couldn't get my veil to stick on my head, and
I almost gave up on it but my mum came to the rescue.
I remember saying "I'm not going to be happy until
I can feel the hairpins jammed into my head".
About 20 minutes before I was to leave the house I realised
that I hadn't eaten a thing all day and I started to worry
about fainting! To avoid chocolate stains on my dress
my mum was stuffing Maltesers into my mouth to give me
some energy.
In the meantime, Gary had spent three hours in the sun
on the hottest day of the year - but had managed to construct
a speech. Then Jill's Brother, Phil, who was our usher,
took Ben and Gary their buttonholes. They had to have
a skill-swapping session as Phil, a typical student, had
no idea how to put a tie on, and neither Gary nor Ben
could get their buttonholes to look right. Phil skewered
the pins in place rather violently and they were perfect!
Next, Phil took Ben and Gary off to the ceremony in his
brand new car. While they waited in The Council Chamber
for me to arrive, a three-year-old guest, Angus asked
his mum "Does the other prince have a sword?"
Ben certainly looked like a prince! As the harpist started
up Pachelbal's Canon, and I heard the Registrar say "Will
you all please stand for your bride", I felt completely
different, all my nerves went and I was ten foot tall
and bullet proof. I think that fathers are supposed to
be a tower of strength at such times, but as we made our
entrance mine said to me "Are we supposed to be looking
at people, or what?". This made me think, he may
be dressed up, but that's still my dad!
We had designed our ceremony from beginning to end, writing
an introduction and our own vows around the contractual
words. The Registrar, Corinne Edwards, was brilliant,
she was prepared to do whatever we wanted. She opened
the ceremony with:
"On behalf of Ben and Jill, welcome to Hertford Council
Chamber. This ceremony today gives Ben and Jill's families
and friends the opportunity to meet together and share
their happiness. You may have thought that you were here
because of them, in truth they are here because of you,
they want and need you to share this with them. You are
not here as an audience. Your presence is an intimate
part of this ceremony. Ben and Jill have decided to travel
the rest of the way together and you will hear their promise
of commitment to each other."
We also arranged for a member from each of the two families
to do a reading. Ben's uncle read The
Apache Wedding Prayer. My cousin, Martin, read a lovely
poem called, Wherever You Go, and his voice caught with
emotion. It was a special moment I will never forget.
He then went on to read a short Ogden Nash poem, To
Keep Your Marriage Brimming, which had everyone laughing.
 At the end
of the ceremony, everyone went outside, while the Registrars
made us wait indoors. They had organised a wonderful greeting
party for us. The sun was so strong that we felt we went
out into a tunnel of light with our families and friends
surrounding us in the sunshine, throwing confetti like
mad. It was truly magical.
By the time we reached the reception venue we were feeling
relaxed. We'd arranged for drinks and canapés to
be served straight away. This meant that our guests had
something to do while our photographs were being taken.
We also had wedding
bubbles handed round and everyone enjoyed these so
much that they were still being blown during the meal,
and not just by the children!
 The
photographs went really quickly and before we knew it,
it was time for the speeches. We'd also decided to have
the speeches first which meant speechmakers could relax
and enjoy the food and drink without having to worry about
slurring their speech at the end of the meal! My dad started
with a brilliant speech and after he made the toast to
us both, he sat down and said "that was the best
drink I've ever had!"
Everything worked really well. The flowers were stunning
the meal was yummy. The cake, which was bright blue, was
just incredible and the guests mingled together to create
an atmosphere of fun and happiness.
After the meal finished, people made their way through
to the disco. Because it was such a hot day and the grounds
at The Priory were lovely, people could mingle outside
and dance the night away at their leisure.
Because we had a free bar all night, we felt it was important
to arrange taxis at the end of the evening so that no-one
had problems with transport. We're sure this meant everyone
was so relaxed that they could really enjoy themselves.
At the end of the evening, some guests just didn't want
to go home - it was a great tribute to how successful
our wedding had been. We went home to a bedroom full of
balloons and streamers and a bed full of confetti, which
is what happens when you give someone your house keys
when they say that they want to get changed!
To top it all, we spent ten days staying at the Four Seasons
Resort on the tropical paradise island of Bali, in Indonesia.
It was so romantic, we had our own villa and pool and
the Balinese people were so friendly they made us feel
like royalty.
Do Differently: Since the wedding, a number of
people have said to us that they really wanted to clap
at certain moments in the ceremony, but didn't know if
they should. We just didn't think about it before. It's
a lovely idea and perhaps we should have mentioned to
a few people that if they wanted to clap they could.
Groom's Comments: I must admit that I was nervous
about my speech but it went so smoothly. Gary's speech
turned out to be fantastic and had everyone in stitches
with lots of embarrassing stories about me! Jill also
made a great speech and read some lines from a 1950s home
economics book preparing young girls for marriage, I was
very proud of her. |
If
you would like to contact Jill and Ben, you can e-mail
them.
|
