Not only is the whole affair incredibly chic and stylish but Chanelle and Craig took some time to have some really creative fun with their shots and as a result have some super cool memories of their Big Day.

Oh and Chanelle wore one of my favourite bridal gowns EVER.

Enjoy the gorgeousness folks.

Honey To The Bee

OMG I was totally and utterly obsessed by Jenny Packham’s dresses as soon as I saw a very Boho styled advert of hers in a wedding magazine. I tried on quite few wedding dresses here in the UK and spent one Friday evening at Harrods (when they still stocked JP’s gowns) trying on loads of her creations – I had the whole place to myself and it was fabulous!

I wore little diamante pins in my hair with a comb that had some vintage inspired detailing – I chose a short Veil as I do like the look of a veil in photographs.

Over The Rainbow

I chose Rainbow Club shoes – 2 pairs! I really loved the high heeled lovelies called “Sandy” so I bought those along with a pair of pretty flat sandals called JEMS also from Rainbow Club both in Ivory.

The Chief of Hair

A local salon in Howick about 15 mins away from the venue did both the hair and make-up. I had a bit of a hick-up in the morning as the hairdresser got a bit carried away with the teasing and I had to wash my hair, condition it and start from scratch. My step-sister who was also my chief bridesmaid for the day had to stand there watching over the hairdresser second time around to ensure he didn’t do the same again! She even gave him a little slap on the hand when he started getting over zealous!

Chocolate And Orchids

Craig and I just love orchids and have always commented on green orchids in particular when we have come across them. Right from the start I knew that Chocolate brown with green orchids would be the colour scheme for our day.

Lynne has a background in interior design which is fantastic. She took care of EVERYTHING for me, from sourcing the flowers, vases, fairy lights and more. I had made up a scrapbook of ideas from wedding magazines like Cosmopolitan Bride, You & Your Wedding and Brides as well as finding things online. I took my mood boards in a book with me to SA when I visited 8 months before our wedding and Lynne was able to look at that and interpret everything I envisaged. She was a total God-send, especially since I was essentially organising a destination wedding from the UK.

A Surprise Groom

I didn’t even know what Craig was going to wear! It was all a surprise for me. Craig sourced a Vintage suite in Chocolate brown by John Collier to go with our colours for the day and he told the groomsmen to roughly go for browns in their outfits too.

The bridesmaids wore a two piece top and skirt combo from Monsoon. I thought it would be nice as they would probably be able to wear the skirts again.

I have to say as well as Chanelle’s bridal style perfection the groom is looking pretty darn fine too!!

And such pretty maids – loving the use of colour.

Come back for all of the lovely lovely details in part 2!

Big Chocolate Love

Charlotte xxx

Again, I always had quite set ideas about bridal jewellery, preferring something a bit more individual to the usual necklace, earring and bracelet ’sets’. My first idea was to go for a huge and unusual pair of chandelier style earrings which were much more my usual style; I wanted to look like me on the day not some kind of bride clone. As I mentioned before, I came across Kirsten Goss in a bridal magazine and instantly thought her designs were stunning and most definately for me. So off I went to the DWS to try some on. When I got there there were so many beautiful designs of earring and hair combs too but it was the necklaces that really caught my eye.

One of the things that really made me fall for my dress was the low back – quite unusual in a strapless dress but my back is one of my best features and I wanted to show it off. It wasn’t very low, but lower than a bra strap would sit and consequently my back was just crying out to be decorated… and Kirsten Goss had just the thing, 2 different necklaces made of crystals and pearls of varying sizes with a double strand of the same design hanging down the back. They were both absolutely gorgeous but sooooo expensive again. Damn my taste! I left the DWS obcessed with the design and planning to blow the budget completely.

But it was a lot of money. Throughout the planning I had always tried where I could to make anything that I thought I could save significantly on and I had in the past made the odd piece of chunky jewellery for occasions when I couldn’t find what I wanted. My mum also dabbles in jewellery making so we had all the equipment ready then a stroke of luck found us on Regent Street near Libertys on our weekend in london that November and we stumbled across the Swarovski Crystalized store. From my jewellery making past I knew I could source pearls on the net but had thought finding crystals would be prohibitively expensive or difficult but there they all were in every shape and size imaginable! I spent a very happy couple of hours choosing all my crystals of varying sizes with some statement chunks and realised I could probably do this myself.

Next I turned my attention to the rest of the beads, but they weren’t just beads, I wanted the real deal for my wedding, proper pearls. I tracked down a website supplying pearls from San Fancisco (althought I think they probably had close links to China) and bought 3 strands of small, medium and big fat lustrous white pearls to weave between the crystals.

Some months later mum and I spent a happy afternoon stringing the crystals and pearls onto the wire we bought for the job. It was no where near as easy as I thought, getting them to look random as they were all different sizes was tricky but I really enjoyed doing it with my mum and I couldn’t have done it without her to give me ideas on how to get it looking right. It also took far longer than I thought, on that afternoon we only did the front 2 strands, then I took it all home for a weekend closer to the wedding, did the back 2 and assembled the whole thing. We also managed to drop it a couple of times at the crucial moments and had a few fraught moments crawling round the floor to retrieve the beads and restring them, with more than the odd profanity! But the hard work was eventually worth it and the finished result attracted more than a few admiring comments on the day. It cost about a quarter of the Kirsten Goss necklace. Bargain again. I even had enough pearls and crystals left to make myself a double stranded bracelet and in the final week before the wedding I made some single large pearl drop earrings to finish the ensemble off.

(If you fancy having a go – you can try my DIY necklace tutorial here.)

When first envisaging myself on my wedding day I knew I would wear a veil, (more on this later) but I wasn’t so sure about what else to wear on my head. Despite the Big Dress I really wanted to keep it slightly more casual with my hair and my first plan was to wear a big flower in it, to the side or something. I also had a brief flirtation with the idea of a sparkly comb but then someone pointed something out to me… At a wedding, most guests will wear a hat/fascinator, and once the veil comes off or if there are any head shots and the veil can’t be seen, I would be the person looking least ‘finished’. So I decided I needed something, but a tiara was most definitely NOT for me. Then I happened upon the Million Design Company headpieces which I thought were absolutely fabulous but more than a little difficult to try on as I was up North and they were somewhere down South. So I decided to take myself off to the Designer Wedding Show in October where the MDC would have a stand. Mum and I went and made a day trip of it, we had so much fun – anyone who hasn’t been, it’s like falling into the pages of a wedding magazine, just so much beautiful stuff.

(Also showing there was Kirsten Goss, who I had seen on the internet and had visions of commissioning some fabulous dangly chandelier ear sparklers for the day so a lot of my accessories ideas could be addressed on the one day.)

When I got there and tried on the Million Design headbands I was so disappointed! They were absolutely beautiful but I just didn’t suit any of them. We tried putting my hair up or down and nothing helped. I had to give up the idea and move on. As we wandered around the stands we came across Andrew Prince, the most lovely man, with case upon case of tiaras sparkling like the queens jewels! And they were so real looking! I should add, when deciding that I didn’t like tiaras it was mainly the pointy-in-the-middle type, made of beads and wire, looking more suited to a 3 year olds fancy dress birthday party, – Think Jordan. These were something else all together.

I ended up trying several on and found a couple that were really not like tiaras at all, one in particular had 7 crystal encrusted butterflies on silver spirals with were designed to have the hair woven through, so they just appeared to be floating on your head. (Similar to the start tiara shown below.) It was so unusual but anyone who has checked Andrew’s creations out will know they are soooooo expensive and although enjoying the moment, I moved on. We ended up looking at Ivory and Co Tiaras and found a couple of densely packed crystal ones that were almost the same height all the way across and I suddenly realised they really suited me. Plus the dress, the church, our venue all lent themselves to quite a grand feel so I started to really consider a Tiara for the first time.

As the weeks went on I found myself increasingly browsing the pages of Andrew Princes website and eventually making a call to the man himself to make an appointment. At the end of November Mum, Francesca and I all went to London again for the weekend and we visited his shop in Grays Antique Market where I spent a wonderful 2 hours (at least) trying what felt like every tiara in the shop on. Andrew was absolutely wonderful at giving opinions and selecting tiaras to suit me and from what I described to him about the dress and wedding, and after moving on from the butterfly tiara quite early on we ended up with a couple of ‘Bandeau’ tiaras – the same height all the way across the head. It took ages but eventually I chose ‘The One’ and even managed to negotiate a discount with Andrew. I was so excited.

It is one thing I bought for the wedding that could truly become an heirloom piece for me to pass down and I’d love to lend it to a friend or my sister or daughter one day. It was called the Wide Greek Scroll Bandeau (shown above left) and was custom made to fit me and delivered to Manchester. Once again I cannot recommend Andrew enough to anyone looking for an exquisite piece of jewelry for the day, (he does necklaces, earrings etc too.)

My dress hunt began entirely by accident the same week we had off in early January, 16 months before the wedding, when we went venue hunting. As I was in my home town I made a couple of appointments in Bridal shops for a bit of fun really, not seriously knowing what I wanted or intending to make a purchase. That said, I did have a bit of an idea. I really liked the Pronovias dress’s, mermaid shapes, completely covered in lace and I definitely wanted straps/cap sleeves – I for one was sick of everyone having the same strapless dress’s… you might want to remember this girls so you can laugh at me later!

So I made an appointment at Rebecca Hatton in Southport (now called Southport Bridal Gallery) and tried some on. I have to say, I wish I had planned this better, I certainly wouldn’t advise anyone to go shopping with so little idea of what they want or without doing some proper research into styles they want. My advice now would be to find 2 or 3 designers whose dresses really make you think wow and find somewhere that stocks them so you can see if they suit, if not, start again similarly. Anyway, I digress, with each dress I tried on I found myself finding fault, they were all nice but just not amazing, and I managed to find something wrong with every one! All through this my mum was nagging me to try on a really big dress, ‘just to see’ and eventually I caved and let her pick one out which I duly tried on.

As I stepped out of the changing room, the skirt swished around me rustling and floating at the same time. It was white, huge and strapless, everything I didn’t want, and I LOVED it! But it was early days and this dress was more than I had even planned to pay (I budgeted around £1500 in my head but with little research…) so I took it off and put it to the back of my mind. But that was it, I knew it had to be a Big Dress.

We promptly made an appointment for a couple of days later to try on some ‘big dress’s’ and I went along full of hope. This time I went through the rails picking dress’s I really wouldn’t normally go for, and when I tried them on it showed. However, one of my random picks was an Augusta Jones dress called Gillian, and when I put it on it put all the others to shame. It was a buttery ivory colour with a strapless almost pleated duchess satin bodice with pearl embellishments. The skirt was duchess satin underneath too, but had five layers of tulle on top and then was gathered up in random places and fastened with a fabric rose. It was very dreamy and the back was particularly stunning, cascading with flowers and frothy tulle. And best of all it was cheap, much less than half price and also less than half my budget. It seemed like a great idea at the time, I don’t know if it was the price (I was always reluctant to spend a huge amount on a dress for one day) or the contrast between that and the other completely unsuitables but I decided that I would go back and put down a deposit – I was also encouraged by the sales girls there as they were having a clearance sale that weekend and were convinced it would go as it was so cheap and in such good condition because no-one else had tried on such a big dress. So I went back, put down my £100 deposit and it was taken off the floor and kept for me. Job done, or so I thought.

I don’t know when I began to have doubts… it was months before I even thought of the dress again, but all those pesky ad’s in magazines kept calling me and the dress started to niggle at the back of my mind. By April I had made some decisions. I knew I didn’t want to spend a vast amount on a dress for only one day (although I think this decision was tainted by the fact that I didn’t really LOVE this dress and hadn’t really felt like that about any, so it didn’t seem worth it.) I had also decided that I shouldn’t sell myself short and that the day would be nerve-wracking enough with everyone starting at me, without me disliking my own outfit. I think in my heart of hearts I knew, the dress wasn’t for me after all. I went to another shop that stocked it and tried it on again. It was beautiful but I still wasn’t sure. I started to wonder if I could just make the back a bit lower, have the neckline altered into a sweetheart line, etc etc and my doubts continued. I still wasn’t even sure about the ‘big‘ dress. Then we got a call from the dress shop asking when I was paying the balance and I knew I had to make a decision. So I went back with my most trusted bridesmaid, Jess and my mum, for one final day of dress shopping. As Jess hadn’t come the first time I made another appointment at Rebecca Hatton too which had by now changed hands, to show her some of the other styles. They also carried more high end big dress’s like Kate Sherford, Alan Hannah and Suzanne Neville which I hadn’t tried on initially so I thought I could give them a try.

While we were there Mum suggested I show Jess the dress that had changed my mind completely, towards bigger dress’s and as I stepped out of the changing rooms I think I knew. Huge grin again, swishing skirts again, it was perfect. You see, whilst I had been constructing wedding themes and plans in my head I had always had a dream dress which I kind of forgot about as other things took over. It was near the beginning of the Instyle Weddings book and showed a bride from the back with a very simple but beautifully cut strapless duchess satin gown on. It had a slightly dropped back and waist, the hugest skirt without looking like Cinderellas and this dress was so similar. Mum and Jess were wowed and I knew the other one was never going to compare. But it was still too expensive. So we made our way to the other shop to try Gillian on again. When I stepped out of that changing room my face told the whole story. I could barely force a smile at the thought that I had to get out of this awful situation with the sales woman there AND that I was about to turn down a dress almost a third of the price of the other that was beautiful, but not The One. So we had a very uncomfortable conversation where the shop owner basically told me the dress was mine and I was obligated to buy it now… that I could do what I liked but I owed her the rest of the money. Of course we knew she couldn’t make us pay, and when I payed the deposit it was always to give me time to decide. She had initially said if I didn’t like it I would lose the deposit and that would be it, which I expected. We ended up saying we would come back again and lying through our teeth to get out of there, implying I was still happy with it and knowing that I never would be.

So that was it. I’d lost 100 quid and decided I needed a dress 3 times the price but to hell with it, it was fabulous! Southport Bridal Gallery were closing that weekend to refurb after the take over so there was no rush to put a deposit down and I decided I needed to find it cheaper so I rang every stockist of Dizzy Lizzie in the North West, and further afield and managed to find somewhere that would do it for £250 less. Then one day my mum noticed they were holding a clearence sale and went in to find out if my dress was in it. Sadly it wasn’t but Mum haggled a bit and they eventually agreed to put MY dress into the sale at half price!!! Amazing! We went back as soon as I could get an appointment, paid for it outright and the next thing I knew I was on Lord Street clutching the masses of silk and netting, with just under 12 months to go to the big day. ‘Cristal’ lived in my bedroom at home until my fittings then at Laura’s house for the last 2 weeks before the day and was finally transferred to Eleven Didsbury where she hung awaiting her big moment…

The table held amongst other things, all the wedding photos that I had been able to lay my hands on from both sides of our family and so, in the end it was rather in keeping that it should have something crafted with so much love for us alongside these things. I know Petes Mum was so pleased that we loved it enough to display there.

The BBQ was a huge success, the food was fantastic and everyone enjoyed it I think, Petes Dad brought his birthday present from us, a lawn game and the boys played enthusiastically while us girls generally coo-ed around baby E.

I ended up ‘retiring’ quite early on. I just wanted to relax with my girls, and it was getting chilly so we retreated into my suite. I felt quite subdued at this point, kind of wondering what was to come. I think deep down I had know I would feel like this as I had often said that I wouldn’t be at the BBQ late… We ended up sitting around in Pj’s chatting, I can’t even remember about what now and painting each others toes with the new ‘Gorgeous’ nail varnish. Caroline popped in for a chat and Rachel too at some point and finally Pete put his head in to say goodbye.

It’s funny I felt really sad saying goodbye to him, which is unusual for me as I usually relish a night with the girls but it almost felt odd that we would be apart on the night before the biggest day of our lives, one that centered around our relationship. I couldn’t imagine not waking up next to him and laughing together about the day to come or talking the events of that night over. However this was one tradition that I was definitely not missing out on and I reluctantly waved him off with a ‘last single girl kiss’!!!

When I finally went upstairs I spent a while laying out the room and tidying, knowing it would be the scene for photos in the morning. My dress was hanging in the doorway, train arranged and topped by my veil, lovingly made by my mum with my help, both waiting in the shadows for their big moment. Looking at it, I could hardly believe that I would be wearing it the very next day. It was so surreal. I turned my attention to my accessories, laying out my necklace in its box next to my tiara, earrings and bracelet. In the low light of the bedroom they both sparkled enticingly, also waiting to make their debut. I took both pairs of shoes out of the box and lined them up and arranged my Jo Malone bits and pieces by the roll top bath. My beauty case was full and ready with everything from scissors to safety pins to makeup brushes and kit. Everything was in its place and I felt an anticipatory flutter of excitement surveying it all. This was really it! I ended up in bed with my sister and the lights out before 12 I think and sleep was initially elusive but it wasn’t long before I slipped into a dreamless slumber.

*Images by Roger Ford

The sun was out and the garden looked gorgeous. Each one of the tables had a recycled glass vase, bottle or jam jar on it with 2 blown pink peonies in it, very SMP I hope you’ll all agree! My Mums friend had given them to me and I wanted to make use of them which was perfect as I had (in the days when I thought I would be more organised!) planned to order flowers for the BBQ.

Near the house long tables were laid with salads and side dishes for the BBQ and I could see the chefs taking the first meat plates off the BBQ destined for the tables too. Everyone was milling around Pimms in hand, looking very relaxed. I had designed this to be my nearest and dearest, all the people who had had a hand in the wedding for one reason or another. The Bridesmaids were there with their other halves and proudly sporting their ‘Bridesmaid’ badges! Pete’s best man Tom and his wife Caroline, who had been going to be my Bridesmaid but was now 30 weeks pregnant, and our respective families. We had also invited some family who had flown in from the US for the wedding who we wanted to thank for making the trip.

*Images by Roger Ford

The night went without a hitch and I cannot recommend the staff at Eleven Didsbury highly enough. Anyone contemplating an event locally should definitely check them out.

I think the thinking behind it on my part came from the fact that I wouldn’t be getting ready from home as Manchester is not where I’m from. If we had planned the wedding in my hometown I would obviously have got ready and left from home and we would have had a gathering of some sort the night before and our house here simply wouldn’t accommodate the number of people I imagined for this either. Therefore I needed somewhere to not only get ready but to hold a dinner. I also really wanted to make the wedding enjoyable for all the people involved with it and to say a massive thank you to our nearest and dearest for all their input into the wedding.

So the plan was, something uber casual and relaxed, with our best friends (basically the bridal party + partners) and family, that didn’t cost too much but was really nice.

For about 15 people.

Nothing like a challenge eh?!

Oh, and ideally, it had to be outside.
More on this later.

I knew almost immediately that I wanted to stay at Eleven Didsbury the night before the wedding as it’s one of those places you’d love to stay, but can’t really justify because it’s within half an hour of your house! Actually 10 minutes in my case. I can’t remember where I came across it initially but it is absolutely gorgeous and everything I aspire to in terms of a future home and the interior design. Think Victorian Villa and eclectic modern meets vintage design. Straight out of the pages of Living etc. Completely lush and reminiscent of the victorian houses I had grown up in so I felt instantly at home there. It was perfect on all counts, massive suite for me, the girls and all manner of hairdressers/make-up artists etc, 22 rooms so our families could all stay there with me, beautiful garden and no hotel vibe, it was just like home. So that just left the rehearsal dinner to sort out.

I think my most repeated word for the dinner was ‘relaxed’ but the next most important had to be ‘cheap’. We footed the bill for this ourselves as it was meant to be part of the thank you for the guests for supporting us, be that financially like our parents, through to emotionally as our friends had, listening to us through out the planning. So although I knew Eleven Didsbury did catering the first look I took at the catering menu prices ruled it out. On that basis we spent a wet afternoon in March tramping round Didsbury village looking for a restaurant that fitted the bill. Fellicinis were great, but did we want Italian the night before the wedding featuring more Italian food? La Tasca worked too but the private area upstairs was gloomy (and can you imagine a dodgy garlic prawn the night before the wedding?) GBK would have been fun too but got discounted for some reason.

*Taken by Roger, our very good friend, who happens to be handy with a Canon 40D.

Eventually I realised I really really wanted it at Eleven Didsbury so off we trotted back there. Pete very sensibly suggested that we just tell them our budget and how many people we needed to feed and see what they could come up with. We immediately agreed a BBQ menu for £20 a head and left happy, the Man’s a genius at times! Much later on in the planning, in the days before in fact, I decided we needed a welcome drink (we had previously been working on the basis that if were being good enough to feed everyone they wouldn’t mind buying their own drinks) and ordered Pimms on arrival which went down a treat in the summer sunshine.

Reigning Queen Photographer

Emily Quinton photographed our wedding. We met Emily at the Wedding Show, NEC Birmingham. Her work is amazing – she photographed our best friends wedding and we fell in love with her photographs straight away and knew we had to go with her no matter what.

Pure Purple

We both wanted something a little different than just a fruit cake so we opted for a three tiered cake from the Funky Cake Co local to our venue – chocolate, carrot and fruit – it went down well with everyone. It was iced in pure white with purple ribbon and a beautiful brooch – very elegant!

Dancing and Decor…

The staff at Dodmoor House were brilliant in everyway. They helped make the venue look stunning. It didn’t exactly need much help though as the place is just lovely on it’s own but with the flowers and the beautiful weather everything looked beautiful.

Words of Wisdom

We both had in own minds what we wanted everything to look like but our advice would be to put your trust in those people who are helping to make your day so special. They are the professionals and they know what they’re doing. We were very lucky to have such lovely people who all made our day so perfect.

Thank you so much to Ben and Claire for letting us share their wedding day here on Rock my Wedding and also to Emily Quinton for providing us with all of the very pretty images.

Yours Truly,

Rebecca
xoxo

Mum wasn’t very pleased about this as I think she was harboring ideas of giving me away herself but I didn’t want her to walk me down the aisle either. I really wanted my mum to have that Mother of the Bride experience of seeing me walk down the aisle herself, as it should be if everything was normal. Once I had explained that to her she was fine with the idea, but she did receive mixed opinions from her friends about it. (Why do people always feel they can comment on such personal decisions when it comes to a wedding?!) As the day got nearer I did start to get quite apprehensive about it, (I’m pretty sure the ‘Dad walking you down the aisle’ thing was designed to stop wobbly knee-ed Brides from collapsing on the way up,) but on the day I didn’t give it a second thought. I guess I always knew deep down that I would do it this way.

So that left me with a ‘soundtrack’ to find! Now call me very silly indeed but I have always loved the Lion King movie, not just because of the gorgeous lions in it (I am a cat lover!) but because the story had always pulled at my heart strings as Simba’s dad dies in the movie. On our first family holiday without Dad we went to Disney Land in an effort to keep our mind off his absence and it was just after the Lion King came out. The parade was all about the Lion King and the Circle of Life was at the time very apt (aside from being a very poor distraction!) so the film/story has remained special to my family ever since. Consequently when the musical came to London we went to see it and I fell in love with the soundtrack, particularly a musical interlude related to the ‘Can you feel the Love tonight’ song. I know it sounds cheesy but it was really just a classical piece and before I even got engaged I used to think it would make a great piece for walking down the aisle to, it had this fantastic crescendo in the middle.

I held on to this idea for months of planning but at the back of my mind I was terrified people would laugh and we had a massive problem in that it was a big orchestral piece. I was fortunate to be marrying into a very musical family with several very talented musicians but we still couldn’t achieve anything on this scale. Pete was adamant that it couldn’t be anything but live music and eventually, The Lion King piece had to be shelved. So I spent months having nothing to walk down the aisle to. And I do mean months. You see, aside from my thoughts on the Lion King piece I just always imagined something from a film rather than the usual churchy classical pieces. I did try and get into ‘Queen of Sheba’ etc but it really just wasn’t me. I sat down several times with various CD’s trying to find something suitable and gave up each and every time, becoming more and more despondent. I was simply not prepared to compromise on this, I had to love it.

Then one day it came to me. (One day only 3 weeks before the wedding!) One of my absolute favourite films of all time, ‘Love, Actually’ had a couple classical pieces on the soundtrack. The first one is called ‘PM’s Love theme’ and was perfect. I had my soundtrack!

Petes very talented Uncle was to play it on the piano with Ben his cousin, a Violinist, accompanying him. Fortunately it wasn’t so hard to choose our exit music, Mendelssohn’s Wedding March was my bit of fairytale romance to the day. Other music for the ceremony included The John Rutter pieces ‘All things Bright and Beautiful’ which was to be sung by the churches very talented choir just prior to my entrance, and ‘For the beauty of the Earth’ which they would sing during the signing of the register. Ben also kindly agreed to entertain our guests with some more music, which we left for him to choose to fill the remaining time while we were in the vestry. In the end he chose Pachabels Canon in D and another piece which I’m ashamed to say I don’t know the name of, which sounded outstanding.

We left it similarly late to choose our readings and again I didn’t want too much in the way of tradition. Not being religious myself I wasn’t keen on most of the usual bible readings and looked through loads, including plenty that were less common. The only one I really identified with was Corinthians but I was loath to choose it as nearly every church wedding I have been to had it as a reading. I mentioned this to our Vicar and he quite rightly pointed out that maybe there was a reason everyone had it for a reading. He said that no matter how many times he heard it, the words never failed to resonate and capture the point of the day perfectly. He was right and we decided to have it.

The second of our readings was suggested to us by Andrew, Petes Uncle and Godfather, who is also a Vicar. I sent a few emails to him in the planning stages as initially we thought he might have some part in the ceremony but he eventually decided to take a back seat to enjoy the day rather than be ‘working’ and in one such email I asked him about a reading he might know. This was a biblical reading I had heard at a wedding some years before and the gist was that marriage was not about the wedding or the big day or even the lust and romance at the beginning of a relationship, but the long haul, the everyday effort and sticking by each other through thick and thin, supporting each other and working through difficult times, no matter what. He came back to me with a poem by Wilferd A. Peterson called ‘The Art of Marriage’ and it was exactly perfect. We asked Pete’s Mum, Jan, to read Corinthians and my Mums best friend Angela, who I had grown up with and was like an Aunt to me kindly read the poem. I should add we had asked 2 people previous to Jan, who each declined due to nerves, but I was in the end really glad to be able to include Pete’s Mum a bit more in the day so it all worked out beautifully.

The big moment of the rehearsal was the Bridesmaids and I practicing our walk down the aisle. They were going ahead of me and it was quite a long piece of music so I wanted them to space out to use the time. I also wanted to enter at a specific moment, as the music reached it’s crescendo and once the bridesmaids were at the top of the aisle. Call me a drama queen but I wanted my moment, my once in a life time entrance, yet I was reluctant to make that obvious during the rehearsal. The girls were nervous and anxious to get it right, and we practiced several times. Pete’s Dad was playing the music in lieu of his Brother and Ben who would be playing it the next day and could only arrive in time for the ceremony, and he kept playing in various tempos to try and suit our walking speed, so I was acutely aware it still wasn’t the most accurate rehearsal! My sister was leading the bridesmaids and kept missing her entry cue so there was a lot of hilarity over whether she would miss it on the day or have to be pushed forward into the room! Each time we walked the timing was out, someone went to early or too late and I was always at the top of the aisle too soon! Added to this the verger kept insisting there should be no gap between myself and the girls or it would look wrong and my mum was getting quite protective over my entrance too and insisting it should be at the crescendo, in quite an embarrassing mum-like way! All in all it wasn’t a great success but I guess deep down I knew on the day no-one would make me go before I was ready, and I knew exactly when that should be; As long as Francesca went on cue, which she eventually nailed, it would be ‘alright on the night’. I was relaxed, finally. Come what may I was getting married tomorrow and all I had to do now was get myself there!

My heart leapt, – the flowers!! Becky Hay, our florist at Blossom had hinted that she might be setting up the church displays while we were having the rehearsal and I was desperate to see if they would be all we had hoped. I rushed into the church and was gobsmacked by the gorgeous displays before me. In my head I had always imagined saying our vows framed by massive white flower arrangements and there they were. Such an imposing church had little need of lots of flowers so we had opted for 2 large pedestals only but I wanted a modern feel in keeping with the city wedding. I found a picture of some arrangements in urns and Becky had sought big glossy white urns and matching contemporary pedestals out, to hold the arrangements we designed. The urns had a collar of white hydrangea heads and trailing green amaranthus interspersed.

Above the hydrangeas were white stocks for fragrance and in the centre, giving the arrangement the height it deserved, masses of tall white delphinium spikes. They were stunning, even better than I had imagined they would be, lush arrangements yet simple and they complemented the church perfectly. It was all becoming very real! Everyone was very amused by my excitement and after greeting Tom and Dan (our best man and usher) the rehearsal got underway.

We practiced our vows without stumbling and cracked a few jokes, I was worried Nigel would think we weren’t taking things seriously but by now I was totally relaxed and just looking forward to what was to come. It was over so quickly but there are a few things I remember, one being Nigel explaining that I must take the wedding ring from him in my right hand and I must not battle with him when he refuses to give it if I try and take it with my left. He also explained how we must take the right hand of our partner in our own left hand whilst saying the vows. I remember these things clearly because I messed every single one of them up on the day, just not concentrating!