As soon as my tiara was fixed in place and my hair sorted I was out of my seat again, unable to keep still, Amanda touched up my make-up and left me with a lipstick and liner for the day then said her goodbyes. Mums make-up looked great too so we were all smiles. On by one the girls also took their places in front of Josh to have their hair ‘styled’.

He had allowed his assistants to do all the prep work on them but did all the finishing himself for all of us and it was like watching a master at work. We had struggled with deciding on headgear for the girls as I wanted them to all be comfortable and be in keeping with the whole feel of their outfits which I wanted to be youthful and modern. No badly dressed bridesmaids please! Aside from their dress’s I was keen for them to keep their accessories different and choose them themselves in keeping with their own personal style so that went for jewellery too.

*My sister, Francesca.

My sister already had a crystal hair comb she loved so hers was easy to decide on. Laura wanted a simple head band and found a plaited silver one in accessorize which looked beautiful. Jess was more difficult but eventually I encouraged her to have a stunning beaded and crystalized creation, also from accessorize on a ribbon band. It sat off to the side of the head and looked absolutely fabulous as her curls were formed around it, very sassy! Josh teased and fluffed, sprayed and fixed each one of them into the most enormous fabulous volumous styles, accessories in place and we all stared on transfixed by his work.

*Laura, left and Jess, right.

I was still bouncing around at this point and had noticed (it was now coming up for 12 o’clock, T-2!!!!) that some of our family were in the garden in their finery having pictures. I remember them all seeing me though the windows, peeping naughtily like they knew they couldn’t see the Bride until she was ready and I decided to go break tradition and go outside to say hi to them all. They were all so surprised and it was really nice to be able to include them in this bit. Although my hair was done I didn’t mind them seeing, and I think it made them all the more excited. We chatted briefly as they asked me when I had woken up and if I was nervous, everyone was so surprised I had slept ‘till 7.30 and was so calm! Pretty soon I headed inside as Kenny and Helen had arrived, our photographers, who proceeded to snap away at everyone and everything after I had made a few introductions.

I spent about 45 minutes upstairs with Amanda having my face put on and it was a really lovely relaxing time. It was so chaotic down stairs with hairdryers blowing and people shouting above them, and I sat on my mezzanine floor by the balcony listening to the goings on downstairs but slightly removed from it all. I watched our families who by now were sunning themselves in the perfect weather in the garden, the Dads with papers, Rachel and James were taking pictures of Eleanor all cute in the garden. My mum had disappeared to her room to get ready and then arrived to survey my make-up and decided to ask Amanda to do hers too – I don’t know how many times I asked her if she wanted hers done or her hair doing in the run up and she had decided she would rather do her own of both, but no sooner had her make-up been done and she was asking Josh to quickly go over her hair too! Mothers of the Bride eh?! I was just glad she was happy and confident as she had really worried about her outfit for the day, not wanting anything too traditional or ‘MOB-ish’ and we had eventually found a very nice dress in Jaeger which worked really well with the bridesmaids outfits.

As soon as my face was done I went back down stairs. The girls were by now all running round excited in various stages of hairdressing – curls pinned to their heads and looking round for their accessories. I sat back down in front of Josh, this time to have my hair pinned up and my tiara fixed in place. About half way through Becky Hay arrived with the bouquets and I almost hit the ceiling with excitement!

She had promised to deliver them herself and I’m so glad she did – it was lovely to see her on the day and I wanted her to see how pleased I was with them. The huge box came before her through the door and i was already out of my chair, much to Josh’s inconvenience; As soon as I had seen the box I had clocked the bright pinks peeping over the top and I couldn’t wait to see the rest. The Bridesmaids bouquets had been a relatively last minute decision as initially I had wanted to keep all our flowers white – to contrast with their dress’s but then I saw a fabulous online wedding (US again) with the bridesmaids in similar colours as mine and they had bouquets of mixed toning colours.

Becky had triumphed, the bouquets were a perfectly formed mix of pink roses, lisianthus, guelder rose and she had even incorporated some pink hydrangea florets to tie in with the invites and reception flowers. They were absolutely perfect. Next I turned my attention to my own bouquet, again the subject of much discussion as although I had always been certain of the colour – I wanted white to keep my own look very classic, I had time and time again changed my mind between an all peony bouquet or a mixed country garden feel of various white flowers. Now I absolutely love that look but I knew in the back of my mind it wasn’t going to be perfect for my wedding, being city and quite modern in style. I must have discussed it with Becky so many times and she told me that she had once done a white peony bouquet (actually featured in Paula Prykes Wedding Flowers book, from when she worked for Paula,) and as she finished it she thought it was the most perfect bouquet she had ever created. As I stared at the perfectly fat and bursting peony buds and more open frilly flower heads all tightly packed together, I couldn’t agree more. I had asked for a mixture of closed, half open flower heads and they looked perfect. the stems were half bound, my favourite way, my grandmothers brooch was pinned in and the silver shoe my Mum had given me dangled below it. And Oh My, the smell was just delicious! I realised I had made the best decision as every May peonies would always be a reminder of my Wedding Day.

I couldn’t thank Becky enough, I didn’t have a single doubt that the reception flowers would be amazing after seeing the church yesterday and I told her how thrilled I was. She gave me a card from the girls at Blossom and I have her a huge hug before she left again and I returned to my seat in front of Josh. I couldn’t keep still having to look at the flowers every few minutes again in wonder at how perfectly gorgeous they were. Now I was REALLY Excited!

Hair was easy too. Right from the off I knew I wanted my hair up, as my hair would otherwise never stay the same all day and I was conscious there would be cameras on me until the moment I left. However I didn’t want any stuffy french pleats or old fashioned styles, something sexy and glamorous but youthful and a little ‘undone’. I ended up browsing the style of celebrities on the red carpet and took along to my trial (which I did pay for humph!) a picture of Jessica Alba. To keep it youthful we incorporated 2 plaits along my front hairline which would sit in front of my tiara, minimal height on the crown with wavy texture, and a low messy bundle of hair at the nape of the neck.

My usual Hairdresser at Heaven in Didsbury didn’t do ‘hair up’ so I turned to the owner and creative director, Josh. I had a meeting with him as I had never had him cut my hair before and was very impressed with his professionalism and experience. He had done loads of weddings before, but most importantly had worked with loads of Brides and seemed to have experience of every type of bride and every bridal disaster which reassured me a lot! My trial was a great success and Josh created a gorgeous low messy bundle at the nape of my neck. I toyed with the idea of having it on the side but wondered if it would go out of fashion or look weird from some angles and decided to keep it classic.

The Bridesmaids were also booked in and Josh arranged to come at 9.15 on the day – I was gobsmacked – how long could it possibly take to get ready I thought? Josh reassured me and said that if I had to sit and drink champagne with my favourite girls for half an hour because we were early, would it really be such a bad thing? He was so right I realised and relaxed totally in his hands.

I think it would be fair to say I didn’t really put the greatest amount of effort into planning my personal appearance on the day, as I was pretty confident about what I wanted from the beginning, (unusually for me!)

Unfortunately this did backfire somewhat in that I didn’t really get round to sorting out a make-up artist until about 4 weeks before hand. This was in part due to the fact that I was adamant for a long time that I would do my own make-up. I’ve always been really into make-up and try to stay away from make-up counters in general as much as possible, as I’m a sucker for the special edition stuff! So for months that was the plan, then shortly before my hen do I started to have a real crisis of confidence, which isn’t really me at all. I saw some photos of myself taken that spring, I’m not sure when exactly, and just thought ‘Oh my god I look so pale and pasty and unhealthy! How am I going to make sure I don’t look like that on the day?’ I started to worry that even with lots of effort put in the make-up wouldn’t last and became really self conscious that everyone would be scrutinizing my outfit and hair/make-up etc etc. So I decided to look for a make-up artist. Cue complete despondency from me as I looked through web page after web page of ‘barely-there’ make-up and fresh faced (read boring) bridal looks. I look more made up at work than most of these brides did!

Eventually I decided to approach a couple of make-up artists at counters and immediately thought of Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier, both Queens of the flawless base. I had had significant trouble with my skin over recent years and had started using Eve Lom Cleanser (which I LOVE and wholly recommend) and had eventually consulted my GP and started on some Isotretinoin Gel which had both worked wonders. Despite this I wasn’t that confident about my skin and wanted it nothing less than luminescent. No foundation mask though please!

So my first appointment with Bobbi Brown was, well, disappointing. Bobbi seems to have a standard ‘face’ and very pre-set style, nude lips, eye liner with natural shadows and prominent blush, which I liked, but it wasn’t what I wanted. You see, I am all about the eyes.

I like to think they are my best feature and as such I wanted them to stand out. Plus for my glam city wedding I wanted to look Glamorous! So next was Amanda, one of the make-up artists at Laura Mercier in Harvey Nics. She was so friendly and fun and we had a great time talking though what I wanted so I booked in a trial for free! You see I always had a problem with paying for trials. How can it really be a trial when you have to invest so much in it? And unless you are prepared to spend a lot you can’t just try out a couple of people. I appreciate the artists have stock which gets used etc but it seems a bit off. I loved my hour and a half spent having what felt like a magic wand cast over me. Even the couple of things I asked her to change she was fantastic about and at giving expert advice without forcing me to do anything I didn’t want to. So I got what I wanted. Smokin’ eyes still suitable for the day, and flawless skin. I came out looking like me but airbrushed and was thrilled with the result. So Amanda was booked.

So we sat in the breakfast room, with it all to ourselves and it really felt quite surreal. We were all quite calm, Laura had been waking up early all week with excitement (we’re talking 5am here) so she was a little sleepy; We took some photos and I can honestly say there was a huge improvement later in the day for all of us

I don’t remember worrying about eating, true to my usual self I had planned lunch for before we left so I wasn’t worried it would be the last meal we would eat before leaving, but I also wasn’t sick with nerves and unable to eat. In truth when I look back I think I had just got so used to eating less. I lost just under a stone in the run up to the wedding, partly through terror of my dress’s bodice and mostly just stress. I didn’t know it would happen, in fact I distinctly remember mum telling me that ‘all brides lose weight,’ and my answer was ‘not me mum,’ – I’m a comfort eater! Stress, boredom = food!

I can distinctly remember looking at the console table in the hallway of the hotel and seeing the little photoframe they replaced daily… it read:

Sunday 24th May 2009

‘Good Morning!’

And finally…
‘The entire sum of existence is the magic of being needed by just one other person.’

Ahhh! I made my sister photograph it for prosperity!

With that I headed back to my room to get in the bath. I had read loads of stuff on ‘the big day’ in as varied sources as ‘The Wedding Bible Planner’ to all the magazines and they all included a luxurious soak in the bath to de-stress before the chaos ensued… I was determined I would get mine and have some peaceful reflection time. I’d even bought my Jo Malone bath oil damn it! So there I was soaking in the bath and I found myself wanting everyone to come back, to have a chaotic morning-of-my-wedding atmosphere, and goodness me what were they all doing? My sister was pottering around the suite at that point being nicely quiet and the girls had left breakfast to go shower ready for the hairdresser arriving… It was about 9.15 by now and I had hardly had time to think this thought when chaos did indeed break forth.

Jess came running in to tell me Josh had arrived and ask me where to send him – in to my suite of course, that was the whole purpose of having such a flipping big room and boy was I glad, in he came with 2 assistants and several bags of kit and they set about transforming the room. I meanwhile lay in the bath now sad the peace was over and silently bemoaning the lack of time to get ready. I shouted down that I would be ready soon, threw myself into the shower (to wash my hair) and headed down into the action.

The room was transformed. The dining table chairs had been lined up along the far wall in a row just like a hair salon and the 3 stylists stood behind them, hairdryers and kit in hand waiting for their first subjects. I dutifully sat down in front of Josh and he set to work…

Let the beautification commence! It is around this point that the day seems to start to pass in a blur in my memory… I can remember fretting slightly that there were no bridesmaids present at this point and then finally someone appeared and took their seat, Francesca I think. All three of them wanted ‘big sexy hair’, fat curls, very Cheryl Cole-esque. For Laura that wasn’t far from her naturally gorgeous thick hair and my sisters is similar to mine, long, reasonable amounts of it and wavy, so also not a big job. Jess however has quite fine hair in a past-the-chin-bob which is as straight as they come. She has tried many times in the past to curl it, even by stylists at her brothers wedding but the curls refuse to stay. Today however she was placing faith in Josh to pull off the ‘big sexy hair’ and she headed out of the door to the shower clutching his volumising shampoo. If I hadn’t been pre-occupied I think I certainly would have worried about the possible impending disaster a little bit more! While we waited for Jess, Petes mum joined us, also for a blow dry and all 4 of us were lined up in the makeshift salon!

Once my blow dry with-masses-of-volume was done Josh started to curl my hair. While he did that Amanda arrived, my fabulous make-up artist. She set herself up in the window for the balcony upstairs and as soon as the last curl was fixed I headed up to be beautified.

I woke up when Francesca got up to go to the toilet. With daylight creeping though the edges of the blinds in the room and almost certain it would be super early, I was adamant I would force myself back to sleep if it was early, to avoid being tired all day. I cautiously checked the time – Half past seven!!! Unable to contain myself any longer I jumped out of bed and hopped about excited, running to check on the weather. I couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, the air felt warm and the sun was peeping through the trees.

I have read many reports that started with rain and turned out like this but I never imagined that it would happen to me! I was thrilled and opened all the curtains running round like a little girl as my sister watched me and laughed! We had all agreed the night before that as we had an appointment packed morning we should attempt some breakfast around 8 so I didn’t think I had long to wait before the girls would be running in. I couldn’t wait though and was texting them to come round ASAP! There was another reason I wanted them to come round… my PRESENT!!!!

As wedding presents I had bought/made 3 things for Pete. I had wanted him to have something to keep and wear on special occasions so the obvious choice was a pair of cufflinks (this had caused quite a problem in the run up resulting in him buying 3 different wedding day shirts as the first 2 were a bit modern and snazzy and consequently didn’t have double cuffs!) I think I used my general wedding detail obcession to persuade him that simply wasn’t formal enough and encouraged him finding a double cuff affair from Marc Wallace with a subtle Rose damask weave. Very slick

The second present was more romantic, I used Bobbooks.co.uk to make a book of all our years together, just photos of he and I, from the first nights out at Uni, through our travels, when we got our wee kittens (now 3 years old), when we bought our house, right through to our engagement party and last holiday. I had a poem in the front of it which I gave to him when we first met,

W.B. Yeats, ‘The Cloths of Heaven’.
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

…and I wrote a little note to him about how lucky I felt and how much I loved him, all printed into this book. The last present was altogether more personal, my boudoir shoot album!

So as for what he was getting me… I had no idea, or at least that what I told him. I would say in our relationship, presents have been roughly half of the ‘asked for’ and half the ‘suprise’ variety. To be fair to him he does well either way and I wanted this present to be something he had chosen for me so I left him to it… I won’t pretend that it hadn’t given me a couple of episodes of cold sweats over the weeks before the wedding. We even had a conversation where I tried to sniff out if he would be expecting me to wear the unmentionable item on w-day. He was pretty smug in his choice and said that it would be lovely if I did but if not then no problem. As you all know, I had taken great care over my jewellery choices and was a little nervous it might not go, but felt quite relaxed after we discussed it. I knew what I wanted, earrings, preferably diamonds! That said, I’m not really a classic solitaire kind of girl and worried that he might get a pair to match my emerald cut engagement ring, which although I love, wouldn’t have been as sparkly in my ears as it was on my finger. What I really really wanted was a pair that were formal and beautiful enough for W-day but that I could just wear any day I wanted, with jeans or to work, whatever, so I didn’t need an occasion to get them out, I don’t believe in jewellery thats not for wearing! My normal style of earrings would be long chandelier-like dangly beauties but there was no way these would go on the day so I really had no idea what he would come up with.

I needn’t have worried. When we were all assembled on the bed Francesca retrieved a box from her bag. As I unwrapped it there was a gorgeous wooden box inside, and inside that, my earrings. 2 perfect little butterflies sparkling up at me. Each butterfly was made of four diamonds, 2 marquise for the top parts of the wing and 2 round underneath those. They were perfect, and even better there was a story behind them. On our second Christmas together, which was really our first as the first one had been only weeks after we got together, he had asked me if there were any little things I wanted. I had seen these gorgeous little earrings in M&S – the platinum plated type they make as costume jewelry that were sparkly butterflies. I think they cost about £7! When he gave them to me along with my other Christmas presents I had jokingly said to him, ‘I want these for real some day!’ and there they were. I welled up and put them straight on to twist and turn and have them admired by the girls, they sparkled beautifully and I reached for my phone to text Pete and thank him.

Noooooo! The Bridesmaids leapt into action and kept me and my phone apart, there was to be no communication they told me, not today. I resolved to sneak to my phone later and with that we headed down to breakfast, a little late already.