July 2013 Brides and Grooms

wendz86

Can't wait to see the pic of the table plan Laura.

I am the same about the weather. One of the best men has already said he is wearing shorts and t shirt if its too hot. I am also having curly hair so a bit worrying. Ah well we will see!

lisajane8482

Hi Everyone,

First day back at work today, only in for one day though since I don’t work weekends so it’s not too bad. Plus there was a bottle of Champagne and a pair of Champagne flutes waiting for me on my desk from the guys I’m working for at the moment which was lovely.

Hope Pinzy and Anna grant have a fabulous day today and that everyone else is close to prepared and not feeling too stressed.

I finished work a week and a half before the wedding as we had family arriving from America some of which I haven’t seen for between 3-10 years and others I had never met before so I wanted to spend some quality time with them before the wedding.

My hen night was amazing and I had so much fun. We just cruised up the river tees getting drunk and being rowdy and then made it back in time for a couple at my local pub, where my Dad and Uncle were in a worse state than us and then a few of us went back to my mum and dad’s for a few more drinks before one of my friends and I wandered home around 3am.

I had a couple of days out with my family the week before the wedding and didn’t finish packing up all the stuff for the reception until the Wednesday evening (it had to be there on the Thursday). Some of DH family told us on the Wednesday they had no intentions of going to the ceremony only to the reception afterwards for “free food” so we told them they either came all day or not at all. It was a complete nightmare but in the end we decided that if they came then great if not it didn’t really matter.

On the Thursday DH took all the reception stuff, gifts and wine to the reception venue on the whilst I went to Beamish for the day. He then had his stag night and I was supposed to have a quiet night in with my cousins, their friend and my daughter.... however, that didn’t happen.

My daughter ended up with sun stroke so spent the evening being sick and DH was brought home around 9:45 by one of his ushers and my uncle as he was absolutely hammered. Not only that but he had slipped over and caught his head which they then superglued back together. Luckily it was a flesh wound and on the back of his head, unfortunately they managed to superglue a load of his hair to his head and he threw up all over the top of the stairs.... I will never eat spaghetti Bolognese again.

Even though he was completely legless on the Thursday he was absolutely fine on the Friday (minus the sore head where he was glued back together) and spent the day tidying up before he left to stay at his friends house for the night. I spent the day steaming my dress and the bridesmaids dresses before spending my last evening as a single woman with the girlies. We got our nails done, had a takeaway and played Pictionary whilst having a couple of drinks and went to bed around midnight.

I woke up at 6:27 half an hour before my alarm so had a nice bath, some breakfast and a cup of coffee before anyone else was up. I couldn’t believe how calm I was it was really strange although I had been calm about the wedding from the Thursday but did think I would wake up an anxious mess on the morning. I got a new watch off DH and he was over the moon with his watch, guitar plec and hip flask.

We all walked around my mum’s for 8 and the hair dresser was already there waiting for us. We didn’t rush getting ready or anything it was so relaxed even though there were so many of us. We were ready about 30 minutes before the photographer arrived and it was nice to be able to just stand around talking rather than spending the time rushing around harassed. I’m so glad I did my own make up and had so many complements during the day as everyone thought I had had it done by a professional.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the temperature reached 25 degrees, DH couldn’t have picked a better day. The ceremony was lovely and seemed to be over so quick. The photographer was brilliant and the reception venue was absolutely gorgeous. Our wedding coordinator really did an amazing job and the food was gorgeous. We had a finger buffet for the daytime and table platters served from the carvery for the evening. Most of the guests commented on how nice it was to have wine on the table as they weren’t expecting it and meant that the people who didn’t have much money could still have a drink.

Everyone we spoke to said they had had a lovely day and we’ve had nothing but good feedback passed on by others. The nicest comment I had was off my uncle who said it was “hands down the best wedding he had ever been too” and he loved the little details that I had put a lot of thought into. He told me I had “dotted the I’s, crossed the T’s then double checked it” and that I should be proud of myself for organising an amazing day and that my granddad would be proud.

I really can’t believe how quickly the day went but it was absolutely amazing and I loved every bit of it and as far as I can remember it all went to plan and if it didn’t hubby and I never noticed.

I have a USB stick with over 400 photos that my Auntie and Uncle took so I’ll be going through that this weekend and will post some pics on a separate thread. Our photographer thinks we should have our photos in a week or two so I will post some official ones too once they arrive.

I hope the rest of you have a fabulous day and that the sun shines and don’t forget to pop back to tell us all how it went and to show us some photos.

Pinzy

Hi all, had a wonderful day (hope anna did too!), it was hot but thankfully not as hot as today! Everything went smoothly (well, apart from nearly being run over by the minibus when he reversed as I was walking behind!), we managed to pack in all the pics we wanted, and today are both knackered and will be having cheese and cake for dinner! Couple of little pics from Facebook, we'll get the rest when we come back from honeymoon!

Confetti


The dress

wendz86

You look gorgeous Pinzy! Glad you had a great day.

Lisajane - sounds like a brilliant day and that all the hardwork paid off. looking forward to seeing some more pictures.

wendz86

Hope everyone had a brilliant wedding.

Mine was perfect and although i was quite stressed out on the morning, it all worked out so well.

Here are a couple of pics:

lisajane8482

Glad you had a lovely day Wendz. You pictures are lovely and congratulations

Pinzy

Thanks wend, looks like a gorgeous venue! Glad it went well!

laura_hoggle

Lovely pics Wend and Pinzy!! Hope all the July brides (and grooms!) had fantastic days.

It's taken a while for me to be able to sit down and write about my own wedding, the week before was pretty hectic, so glad I took the whole week off! and since the wedding and honeymoon, we've been trying to settle back into a normal routine, which we seem to have done finally!

As I said, the week before was pretty busy. It didn't feel like there was a lot left to do, but there was! The hardest part I think was packing to go to my parents from our house, and also packing for honeymoon at the same time; and then re-packing once we got back to my parents, for all the stuff to go to the different venues!

The two days before were particularly stressful; on Thursday evening OH went to deliver a suit to an usher with my brother who was also an usher (OH and my brother are good friends, they work together and is how we met). I took the time to start getting stuff together to take to the venue, and when OH text me to ask if I fancied going to the pub, I said I was busy sorting things out, hoping he would say he'd have a quick drink and come back and help. The response I got was 'does your dad want to come'. Not quite what I was hoping for, and when I replied 'Dad's helping me sort stuff out at the moment', I didn't get a reply. Dad ended up going to meet them, and I sat with my mum, watching TV and being annoyed. Dad came home around midnight, and said OH was just finishing his pint and would be back.

At 2.30am OH stumbled into our room, extremely drunk, waking me up blaming his state on my brother (as he always does!), fell around the room and into bed, falling asleep and promptly snoring his head off. Great, that was my nice night sleep out the window! I think I managed about 3 hours sleep that night, in between his drunken snoring, elbowing me in the back etc. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy bunny in the morning! However, my dad also had reason to be annoyed, as when OH got home, he went into their bedroom first and started getting undressed - he woke dad up by stumbling over the laundry basket, and dad had to shout at him to get out!!! It gave dad a bit more ammunition for his speech on the day though!

OH and dad were feeling pretty rough the next day (day before the wedding), but my mood must have made them feel worse! I can honestly say I went full scale bridezilla on that last day, not made easier by the fact we had to wait until dad was fit to drive (his car is bigger) to the venue. Once everything had been handed over to the venue, I felt much better and calmed down, as it was out of my hands and there wasn't much else I could do.

The bridesmaids all came round on the Friday afternoon for manicures, which was nice as it meant I got to spend a bit of time with them - they are all spread out around the country/globe so I don't get to see them often! It was also nice and relaxing, and a good way to destress somewhat!! OH left at about 4, and I was speaking to him by that time!!

The night before one of my bridesmaids stayed over, so it was me, her, and my parents. We got a takeaway and tried to have an early night.

On the morning, I got up about 6 and my parents were already up. What people say about not being able to eat on the morning of the wedding totally did not apply to me - i couldn't stop eating!! The photographer turned up about 9, and started taking shots of details, and my cousin turned up a little after to start hair and make up. It seemed to take a lot longer than planned, as we were chatting a lot! The bridesmaids turned up at about 11.30, and I was still undergoing transformation. Everyone kept saying how calm I was, and the photographer commented that normally it's a madhouse on the morning of a wedding. I didn't start stressing until 45minutes before the cars were due to turn up, as I still had to get into my dress!! We hadn't practised doing it up (lace up corset) but luckily my 19 year old goddaughter who was a bridesmaid is a bit of a perfectionist and took charge. The cars turned up early which stressed me a little, but in reality there was plenty of time and we ended up at the venue early!

As we were having photos taken outside the venue (hotel in centre of Oxford) there were a lot of tourists gathered outside the museum opposite, who started paying attention to us, taking photos, and all of a sudden everybody started cheering and clapping. I think that was one of the highlights of the day!

The venue were very slick and organised, and when it was time to go into the room, I heard the string quartet play, the bridesmaids started walking, and the guy from the venue who had been organising us turned to me and said 'Laura, you look stunning', to which my dad said 'yeh, you really do'. That, and seeing the faces turned to watch me walk in, set me off and as I walked down the aisle I was struggling so hard not to burst into tears!! Luckily I had stuffed some tissue down my dress at the last minute, as I really needed it!!!

The ceremony went so quickly, the readings were great, and before I knew it we were married and walking back out! We stayed at the venue for a few more photos, got in the car, had a glass of fizz, and a drive round Oxford, to more tourists clapping and cheering when they saw the wedding car!

As we were nearing the reception venue, we saw the bridesmaids car pulled over on the side of the road - it turned out the driver of the car had no idea where he was going, and none of the bridesmaids were local so they couldn't direct him! Luckily they could follow us in.

We got to the venue, had a big group photo, then we led to the guests round to the garden for drinks, and LOADS of canapes. We had no idea quite how much food they were laying on for us!! It was all very well received, although by the time we had our meal, everyone was stuffed!

The speeches went brilliantly, then we went out with the photographer to get a few shots on the road outside the venue - cue more tourists following us round taking photos of us, I felt like someone famous!!

The evening guests arrived, there was LOADS more food, a bit of dancing (it turned out our room was quite warm, luckily there was quite a bit of outside space and quite a few doors, so people were coming in and out as they liked), one friend broke her foot dancing to Gangnam Style! All in all, an AMAZING day.

At the end, my new husband and I walked from the reception venue back to the hotel where we had our ceremony (10 minute walk) which was nice, as it gave us chance to chat about the day.I had changed into another dress by this time, so wasn't walking through the streets of Oxford in my wedding dress!

We went to Mexico for our honeymoon, which was fab and relaxing, until the last few days when I came down with food poisoning, which lasted a week, and I had to call in sick on what was meant to be my first day back at work! We still had an amazing time though!

Well I've rambled on enough now, here is a link to our photographers Facebook page, which has a few 'sneak peaks' of our wedding pics on it!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151620425208043.1073741825.187720138042&type=1

lisajane8482

What lovely pictures Laura, I love your dress. It sounds like you had a lovely day.

I can't believe it's all over and we're all married.

We've been married over a month now. We've started planning a belated honeymoon/first anniversary trip to Italy next July/August time. My daughter is off to America for 3 weeks then so we decided it would be the perfect oppertunity for the two of us to go away for a week.