This is a little overdue, but we only got back from honeymoon last week, and have now gone back to work, which is rubbish! I'm hoping that writing about the wedding will lift my spirits again!

Thurs 14th June
Spent the morning visiting a spa with my mum and cbm. Had a lovele massage, and spent some time chilling out by the pool, was nice after a hectic week. Had left h2b and bm to deliver the last minute bits to the venue. After the spa, I went to get my nails done, then headed back home with mum in tow. Got there, h2b and his parents are waiting for us to open our presents from them. They got us some lovely bride and grrom champagne flutes, and other little bits. We also opened pressies from my mum, she'd got us a Jasper Conran dinner set that we chose together, and some spending money for our honeymoon in Florida. After this, best friend/cbm rejoined us, I said final goodbyes to h2b, and headed off to the hotel where we were staying that night. We popped out for a cheeky nando's with the other bridesmaids, then headed back to the hotel for a couple of drinks.

Friday 15th June (The Big Day!)
Woke up feeling a bit sick, but i'm pretty sure that was more to do with the 3 large glasses of wine that I didn't mean to have the night before than nerves! Coudn't stomach very much at breakfast, managed to get down a dry piece of toast. I didn't feel in the slightest bit nervous, which was nice. We chilled out in the room for a bit, the other bridesmaids and then the hairdresser arrived. She laughed at me, saying it was the first time she'd ever walked into a room on the morning of the wedding, to see the bride sat down, calm as anything, reading a book! It was such a nice time of the day, we were just sat around talking, having a drink, chatting about the day ahead without getting stressed about it. The photographer arrived, then the flowers, and all of a sudden, my hair was done and it was time to get in my dress. It was a little difficult to try and get in the dress without messing up my hair or make up, but between 4 of us, we managed it! My car (little white morris minor) pulled up, and after a couple of pictures with it, me and mum hopped in and started the 20 minute journey to the venue. I somehow still wasn't nervous, partly because my mum was excessively so, and i'd already spent all morning trying to calm her down!
We got there, I was ushered into the bar (my venue was a restaurant) where all my bridemsaids were waiting. We were originally supposed to get married in the garden, but it unfortunately had rained in the morning, so my h2b had taken the decision to move it inside (the inside restaurant is lovely, all exposed brickwork and a wall of fairy lights, very intimate and romantic, so it wasn't really a problem). The bridesmaids all walked into the room, I heard the music (Vitamin String Quartet - Your Song) and me and mum started our fairly short walk down the aisle. I didn't look at any of our guests, I just wanted to see h2b's face. I turned the corner, he mouthed 'wow' at me, and that was it, I started crying and couldn't stop! Got to the front, focused and managed to stop crying. The registrar (who happens to be a close family friend, we requested her specifically) started the ceremony. All was fine until one of my bridesmaids got up to do her reading. She's one of my closest friends, and has just broken up with her bf of 7+ years. Halfway through the reading, her voice broke, the tears started,a nd that started my tears again! But she got herself back on track, got through it and did a beautiful job. We got to the end of the ceremony and we were man and wife!
As we left the room, an impromtu receiving line formed, which was lovely as I hadn't planned one and it meant I actually got to speak to all of our guests at least once. Then we were off outside (the sun had come out now) for the photos. It felt like we were having photos for ages, I was glad to get back inside and sit down (wedding dresses are heavy!). Everyone took their seats in the restaurant, and we were announced into the room. It was great to actually look at everyone's faces this time! We sat down, and were called up to the buffet table by table. It was a hot knife and fork buffet, loads of amazing looking food, but I wasn't able to eat anything except a bit of ham and some salad! The speeches were brilliant, especially the best man who had everyone in stitches!
Sfter we ate, they cleared the room ready for the evening. Our evening guests started to arrive, our singer also arrived and set up. He started with our first dance (That's All - Michael Buble) which he sang brilliantly. He then carried on with his first set (all michael buble, swing type songs, he was incredible and got so many people up dancing). Before his other set started, we officially opened our chocolate fountain and sweetie table. I have never seen so many grown men and women so excited about something as they all were about the sweets!
We spent the rest of the night mingling, doing a lot of dancing and just being with all of our guests. It was the most perfect day, nothing major went wrong, and the only little bits that did were things that no-one else would've noticed anyway. I was definitely glad to get back to the hotel and out of my dress though!
I've attached a couple of pictures, one of my bridesmaid's dads is a photographer and was one of our guests, which was quite handy, as we aren't getting our professional pictures for another 4 weeks!

_________________