Hannah’s Wedding Diary: My Wedding!
I’m back! Back to reality with a bump after our amazing day and honeymoon! As the tan begins to fade, I have so many happy memories I’d like to share with you; as clichéd as it sounds, it really was the best day ever, the Scottish weather was kind to us, all our friends made it to the wedding safely and we had a truly memorable wedding day spent with our friends.
The morning of the wedding went by in a flash, we had breakfast all together (a little untraditional I know!), I then said goodbye to my groom and he went off to put ribbon on the car and to finalise his speech (or start it I heard later!)
While I decorated the table and then went back to our suite to put my make-up on, our flowers turned up and I was truly thrilled with what the florist had done, my bouquet was beautiful and our table flowers looked lovely.
Then the exciting bit! Laura arrived to help me into my dress! I was excited, nervous and full of anticipation! This was it- the moment when I got to wear my dress for real! Not a rehearsal, not a fitting but the actual day (and it was all a bit surreal to be honest!) Of course, like every bride I was worried it wouldn’t fit. That last-minute panic, had I put on weight in the last 2 days? Should I have had that last G&T last night and that tiny square inch of Dairy Milk…..
Of course it was all fine. It fitted like a glove and I still loved it! I was ready!
As you now know, I wore ‘Etta’ from Charlotte Balbier, such a simple and elegant dress with the loveliest of lace jackets! I loved the fact I could dress it differently for the evening and it just felt like me! We teamed it with a grey/silver sash and I wore a fab mini birdcage veil with beautiful vintage style hair clip! My hair was loosely up (an amazing job by the lady at our hotel) and my beautiful bouquet was the perfect accessory!
Our wedding was watched by family and other friends at home via a web link so they also shared in our ceremony (the girls in the shop were hooked too!). I managed to make it up the aisle without tripping over, to be greeted by my new husband grinning like a Cheshire cat in his gorgeous James Bond tuxedo!
And then I got the reaction I wanted….. He whispered to me ‘ You look AMAZING!!!!’ And to be honest that was the best bit! I was happy and felt amazing! The months of dieting, hours of finding the perfect underwear, the agony of the tightest spanx ever (I never actually wore them in the end!) and the amazing journey finding the perfect dress, all paid off!
During the ceremony, two of my very good girlfriends did readings which nearly tipped me over the edge, but despite all their efforts I kept it together! We both made our vows to each other, exchanged rings and then had the traditional ‘Gretna Announcement’ made after a wedding, with the gavel on the anvil!
After a few pictures we made our way back to the hotel and I sloped off to change! Now for look number 2! I took the jacket off, and added a sparkly belt by Lily Bella, took my birdcage veil off (kept the gorgeous hairpiece in though!) and added my fabulous clutch bag (Glisten from Pink!). I also changed my jewellery, a new bracelet, earrings and added a necklace – voila!
After sitting down for dinner we kept our guests quiet by asking them to fill in our “wishes” cards instead of a guest book. Their sense of humour prevailed throughout and I enjoyed seeing their insights to married life together! The food was very good as was the wine, and everyone was too full for cake!
After dinner came our speeches! Lee’s was really great, very emotional and from the heart! My speech went down really well too, and I gave it to Lee as a present afterwards- he loved it!
It was a wonderful day and the best feeling; I got to wear my dress again for the family do locally!
On Bank Holiday Monday we held our family wedding party at The Bear in Hungerford. I got to put my dress back on again this time and wore my hair down, giving the dress a different look again, Lee was a little less formal with just a lounge suit on instead of his tuxedo. The sun shone brilliantly and we were able to make use of the gorgeous riverside setting outside in the garden, with many guests moaning about it being too warm!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people, firstly to Laura for helping me get in my dress and ready on my wedding day, and to Mr Jones for video-ing the whole affair for us. I would also like to thank everyone who made the journey to Scotland, you all know it meant a lot to us that you were all their to share our day. I also wish to Thank Karen at Allium Design for our stunning table pieces which she did for us at The Bear Hotel on the Monday, she is not only very talented but also naturally inventive with her floristry. And finally to you for reading my diary and following my wedding journey, I hope if your wedding is impending that you too have the most amazing day and you enjoy every second of it as it will go in a flash….
Sadly my amazing journey is now over but at least I get to help our brides have their journey too!
Hannah x
The Outfit!: Etta by Charlotte Balbier, Hair clip, Loren, by Lily Bella, Belt Rebecca by Lily Bella.
