I woke up early. Not too early, thankfully – although I had woken up a few hours before at 3am and was terrified that I wouldn’t get back to sleep. I'd popped some earplugs in and counted sheep to clear my mind, and thankfully it worked. The next time I woke, I could hear the house beginning to stir, but I took my time getting up, enjoying being by myself for a few extra minutes. I cleaned my teeth, had a quick shower, popped on the comfortable, soft and silky satin bridal kimono the lovely folk at Hunkemoller had sent me to review especially for the day and wrote out some cards.
Then it began. We discovered that if you leave frozen pain au chocolat out overnight they swell and become impossible to do anything with. We couldn’t turn the radiators off so opened all the windows and doors to avoid melting. Everyone got lost finding the cute country cottage we were staying in. We made enormous portions of mashed avocado, halloumi and scrambled eggs. The morning was a blur of hair and makeup, prosecco, gifts and hugs, photos and words and a fair few moments of looking at the time and muttering ‘I’m a bit worried about the time...’
I felt like I spent hours floating around, my hair in curlers, actually with not too much to do until the last hour or so, so I busied myself with constantly reapplying my overpriced Jo Malone peony perfume - which I loved, but realised I'd been totally suckered in by the whole 'Have a special scent for your wedding day!' crowd. Oh, and I fretted about having enough time. (Spoiler: we had enough time) The bridesmaids ironed their dresses and took turns to get their hair and makeup done, and refused to let me do anything resembling a job.
People came and went. Our lovely hair and makeup people from Kitty Boo. Our amazing photographer Sassy. I went outside in my dressing gown to meet our best woman, who'd come to get her hair and makeup done. She had King George from Hamilton playing on her car stereo and armed with a present from Matt. I promptly forgot to give her my present to take back in return. I fielded messages from her and the groomsmen about the best way to lay out the flowers and where I wanted the cheese cake to go, and realised that I didn't really mind - maybe the whole relaxation thing had actually settled in.
The parents arrived. The Mums got their hair done while the Dads tried to stay out of the way. My Dad looked totally uncomfortable until I pointed out the bookcases in the house, and then he was fine. Definitely mine, that one. I had an emotional moment with my new mother-in law, while my Mum kept telling me to smile for photos until I explained what reportage photography was.
Matt's present involved brownies from the Pudding Stop, the site of our first date, which I'm still gutted that I didn't get round to eating. Plus a wine, cheese and love themed necklace that I didn't wear on the day, but have worn lots since. I got him a pocket watch along with a set of Royal Wedding mugs. We were sharing our wedding day with them, after all (we booked it first).
I sent my gift to Matt back with his Mum, and we shared one of many emotional moments. I managed to hold off full-on sobbing, but I was close to tears for pretty much the whole morning. And I gave my bridesmaids their gifts, which included an amazing-smelling rhubarb candle from M&S and some cute personalised horseshoe necklaces from Not On The Highstreet.
Time moves strangely on your wedding day though, and it wasn't long before I was having my makeup done and stepping into my dress. Oooh, now it felt real. I frantically threw things into my big Longchamp holdall, which barely contained them all. I'd bought the bag especially for the wedding day, because I was going to buy a little clutch bag and then realised it was totally impractical. Then I was going to buy a cute 'bride' tote and realised I'd never use it again. And that's how I justified buying myself a Longchamp bag instead (which, to be fair, I've used a whole lot since).
Oh, and I learned that putting on shoes is really difficult when your dress is as big as mine (navigating the skirts of my dress was definitely a theme of the day).
Kate, my hairstylist, finished brushing out my curls pretty much exactly sixty seconds before the taxis arrived, and we were ready to go. I bundled my big dress into a huge taxi with my parents, instantly regretting not grabbing a bottle of water as my mouth was so dry. I asked the taxi driver if I could have some of his chewing gum, then spent the rest of the drive hoping I'd have somewhere to get rid of it.
We sped down the country lanes as the sun streamed into the car and in no time were turning into the drive of the Tithe Barn. I scooped up my skirts and stepped out as my bridesmaids' taxi arrived behind us, and was instantly ushered through a door covered in wisteria to meet with the registrars. And then it was time to do this thing.
But that's another story for another time.
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Ohh this was such a lovely post and I felt oddly emotional reading it! So thrilled for you that you got your happy ending! Excited to read the next post! Oh and the photos are fab :)
ReplyDeleteRuth x
Such a lovely post - and your dress was/is absolutely gorgeous. Looking forward to reading more wedding posts!
ReplyDeleteLIFE & LOVES: A Foodie Blog
Eeee! I love reading about weddings. More, more please x
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