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.

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