I have now
been married for precisely twenty three days and it feels fantastic. Well, if
I’m really honest it doesn’t really feel any different to when we
weren’t married apart from that I no longer have wedding planning
to stress about and I’m not having dreams where we’re getting
married in a massive gospel church in America’s Deep South and all
Barry’s family turn up late. But I would count both those things as
big improvements!
We had an
absolutely amazing day on the big day itself. All my stress and
planning paid off and everything went exactly how I had hoped it
would. From arriving at the hotel on the Friday afternoon and handing
over 8 boxes of jars filled with mini-eggs, 90 cupcakes, a table
plan, a handmade personalised post box and various bits of decoration
and bunting that I spent the last 6 months making to portioning up
leftover cheese for our friends and family on Sunday morning there
really wasn’t anything I would have done differently.
We had a
lovely meal in the real ale pub attached to the hotel on Friday night
with the rest of the wedding party and then after a quick
introduction to Barry’s relatives (who, apart from his mum and dad
I had never met before) I kissed my fiancé goodnight and headed off
the to twin room I was sharing with my bridesmaid Claire to try and
get some sleep. I think I probably managed about 5 hours over the
night and after lying awake for an hour we decided at 7am to head
down to breakfast (in our pyjamas) as Barry was under strict
instructions not to leave his room until he had the all clear.
The hours
from 7:30am to the wedding at 2:30pm were some of the longest and
most nerve-wracking I have ever experienced. I’m not a girl who
takes hours to get ready so even on my wedding day I wasn’t going
to need 7 hours! So we watched a bit of TV, I read a bit of my book,
at some point my mum appeared and I did her make up. We managed to go
and sneak a look at the reception room and I got a chance to make a
few last minute tweaks then finally at about half past twelve the
‘bridal suite’ was ready – we moved all our things and it was
time to get ready. Having short hair meant I didn’t really need my
hair ‘done’ and we did our own make up. I don’t wear make up
very often although I do enjoy putting it on for a night out and I
was a bit worried I would look over done if I got someone else to do
it. I’d spent the last month or so (and quite a lot of money!)
trying to make my skin look the best it could and despite a scare
caused by a nasty allergic reaction to some Clinque stuff two weeks
before I was really pleased with what I’d achieved and how it
turned out on the day.
After the
make up it was into the wedding underwear – stockings and
suspenders no less (Well, when else was I going to get a chance to
wear them) and it was finally time for The Dress. I knew very early
on that I didn’t want a traditional, strapless, the same as a
hundred other brides wedding dress, and this was confirmed when I
first went to try on dresses with my mum and Claire in Blackpool last
June. Going into a run of the mill bridal shop and asking for
something that isn’t strapless is like asking for a vegetarian
option in McDonalds. I think I managed to find two dresses that I
sort of liked but I knew they still weren’t really what I was
looking for. As my wedding plans were taking shape I knew we were
heading for a more ‘vintage’ feel to the day than a sort of
formal, matchy matchy kind of wedding. So my dress search lead me to
Google where I discovered Dragonfly Dress Design in Glasgow.
The
wonderful, friendly, helpful and just all-round awesome Lisa makes
bespoke wedding dresses but also supplies (and alters vintage
dresses). So in July last year Claire and I headed to the Hidden Lane
off Glasgow’s Argyle Street and found the tiny studio Lisa was
working from. As an added bonus we also found the Hidden Lane Tea
Room and had some lovely cakes too! Anyway, I must have tried on 15
or so dresses. Some weren’t over my head long enough for me to
catch a glimpse in the mirror before Lisa had whipped them back off
assuring me that I really didn’t want to see what a dress that
wasn’t right for me looked like. And then we got to the last dress
of the day. It was just what I was after – 1950s, full length,
beautiful broderie anglais detailing but nothing sparkly, not
strapless. There was only one slight problem – I am not the shape
of someone from the 1950s, especially in the boob area, and the
detail on the top wasn’t quite the right shape. “Not to worry”
said Lisa, “we can just take the top half off, make a new one that
fits and gives you more support, use the material from the original
to put the detail back and add a coloured sash!”. Perfect. And
that’s exactly what she did. I bought the dress in July and didn’t
see it again until February. When I went back to see Lisa in March
there was no dress, just a skirt and a half made top. But with a few
more fittings I ended up with a perfect dress. And a dress that had
its own history, but had also never been worn before. It was like
having a bespoke dress made but at half the price. I loved it. It had
a pale pink sash with a bow at the back and I wore it with a full
length veil that I found for £15 in a coffee shop where I live that
also sells a bit of vintage clothing on the side. Apart from Lisa and
Claire no-one had seen the dress until the big day, but seeing me in
it made my mum and dad both cry and most importantly my husband
thought I looked beautiful. I had lots of compliments through out the
day. I felt fantastic, and mostly comfortable. The only slight issue
I had is that dresses from the ‘50s use a lot of man-made fibres
and after some energetic dancing (more of that later) I was just a
teensy bit hot and sweaty.
I don’t
wear high heels very often and I had a very specific style in mind.
Something with a low heel, round toes and a buckle. Preferably in
pink to match the sash on my dress. After quite a bit of trawling the
internet I couldn’t find anything even close when I was reading the
Love My Dress blog (which I looked at several times a day throughout
the planning process for inspiration and ideas) and I came across
Shoes of Prey. Shoes of Prey are based in Australia but they will
ship any where in the world. You use their online tool to design your
shoes choosing every detail yourself. I will admit my shoes were a
bit pricey but they are comfortable, they’re stylish and they look
great with jeans so I’ll definitely be wearing them again!
Once we
were all dressed – Claire had a sort of raspberry pink knee-length
dress, the best thing about which was that it had pockets. How
awesome (and useful) is that? – there was just time for a few more
photos before the ceremony. All the photos of the day were taken by
my brilliant sister-in-law Becca who is a photographer by trade but
not usually the wedding variety, ably assisted by my brother Mark.
The ceremony was for me (as it should be) the best, and most
nerve-wracking bit of the day. I wasn’t nervous about the actual
getting married but more that, unlike with a church service, you
don’t get a rehearsal with a civil ceremony so I didn’t really
know exactly how it was going to go. In the end I needn’t have
worried because the ceremony was just how we wanted it to be. I think
it reflected our personalities, it was honest and romantic without
being overly serious and we got to say what we wanted to say, in
front of all our family and friends. I walked down the aisle with my
dad to Nina Simone singing ‘Feelin’ good’ and I couldn’t stop
grinning the whole time. My brother did a brilliant job of reading ‘I
like you’ by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, we made our promises to each
other, did the legal bit and exchanged rings, Barry’s school friend
Matthew did another reading then we signed the register while the
ukulele version of ‘Over the Rainbow’ and ‘What a Wonderful
World’ by Israel
Kamakawiwo’ole
played. We did a proper Hollywood ‘kiss the bride’ moment too and
then finally danced our way back down the aisle to ‘All I Want Is
You’ by Barry Louis Polisar – from the Juno soundtrack.
After
the ceremony we headed outside for some photographs. Although the
weather wasn’t great it was dry and warm enough for a few outside
photos, just about. After the photos were done we headed back inside
for a bit of mingling before taking our seats for the wedding
breakfast. I know it’s called that because it’s the first meal
you have as a married couple but it still sounds weird to me. Anyway,
the food was lovely and the waiting staff very polite and
professional. The hotel staff were great throughout the whole thing
actually – especially on the day checking on the details and making
sure everything was how we wanted.
After
we had cut a cupcake – we were meant to cut the top cake but the
cake stand was really wobbly and we daren’t actually put any
pressure on it – it was time for the speeches. My dad was very
sweet and managed to be just the right balance of entertaining and
embarrassing. Then it was Barry’s turn who despite being pretty
nervous managed to get plenty of laughs and while still being very
lovely about me. After that, I had my say. I’m too much of a show
off to let an opportunity to make 70 people listen to what I have to
say pass me by. I didn’t say too much though – I just didn’t
think it was right that I didn’t get to say my thank yous too.
Although, I did forget to mention Barry at all – oops! After me it
was the Best Man Ben’s turn and thankfully his speech passed
without incident or embarrassing revelation.
Ater the
(delicious) meal and (funny and heart warming) speeches were over,
Barry and I escaped for 15 minutes up to our room where, despite
spending a small fortune on my shoes, I changed into my custom
designed red Converse hi-tops, which have the date of the wedding
embroidered on the side, and Barry changed into his brand new shiny
white Adidas shell-toes. And we were ready for the dancing!
We had
hired a three piece Harlem Swing band called 52 Skidoo to entertain
us and our guests and they were awesome. Not that we are particular
fans of Harlem Swing but we really wanted live music, but not a
typical covers band. 52 Skidoo (Henry on piano, Howard on drums and
clarinet and Tommy on vocals and guitar) play songs from the 20s and
30s – prohibition jazz and speakeasy classics. Not many songs
you’ve heard before but absolutely brilliant to dance to. We did
our first dance to ‘It had to be you’ which has been recorded by
hundreds of times but I love the version from the ‘When Harry Met
Sally’ soundtrack. The 52 Skidoo boys did a great job and hopefully
we managed to avoid the ‘awkward slow shuffle round the dance
floor’ first dance.
People were
on the dance floor all night and there were a few star turns – most
notably from my Iranian step-grandad Houshi (I know, don’t ask)
who, with his wig and yellow tinted aviators, became the legend of
the evening! There was a mid-evening rest stop for sausage butties,
cheese and cupcakes and then the dancing just carried on until it was
time to call it a night. We had a last drink in the hotel bar with a
few stragglers – and we were pretty proud to be the last ones to go
to bed, we wanted to enjoy every possible last second of our day.
Oh that was a lovely write up and you looked gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on being married!
Kxx
Lovely, lovely, lovely. Congratulations. xx
ReplyDelete