Last time you joined me as I was attempting to sleep the night before Jade got married. Safe to say with the excitement of the next day in our minds, it was a pretty poor night’s sleep! After a couple of hours of us all tossing and turning and pretending to be asleep, Jade finally said at about 5 am- “Is everyone else struggling to sleep as much as I am?”.
So we were all up! I’d warned them the night before about how I don’t cope well with mornings, so the bridesmaids were pretty cautious of me! But by this point I’d been awake for a couple of hours, so I was quite chirpy! I was just desperate for a cuppa! The one thing that we hadn’t considered was enough cups for the morning cuppa, so Kirsty bless her went downstairs on a mission for extra cups while I stuck the kettle on! We had to ration milk but hey!
Despite nobody actually wanting to eat, we headed down to breakfast as we knew it would be a while before we could eat again. It was a pretty poor effort but at least we attempted it! After we got back to the room, it was a flurry of hair, make up and prosecco as we all prepared ourselves for the day!
We all had a little trip down to see how amazing the room looked!
What really hit me was how quickly the day went, one minute we were leisurely getting ready, the next thing the photographer was there, we were posing, we were dressing, and then it was time! From then on the day was a blur!
As the honorary bridesmaid, I was tasked with the responsibility of looking after the bridesmaid’s bags so they could walk down the aisle with their bouquets. I headed down to the pavilion before them, as I would be sat with the other guests when they walked down the aisle. Its probably worth mentioning that I left it until the last possible moment to go to the pavilion, so I could join in with the excitement of seeing Jade in her dress! This may have been an error, as it meant everyone else was all ready in the pavilion, waiting for Jade to come down the aisle. Instead what they saw was me, feeling rather nervous as I was alone, attempting to control five handbags, at the same time as managing the cobble stones in heels, and fighting to make sure my fascinator and dress stayed in place despite all the wind! Not quite the entrance I was going for…. I would have preferred to just sneak in with everyone else. From that point on I was known (I hope affectionately) as bag lady!
From then on, the room was filled with emotion as we all turned to see Jade, what I can only describe as gliding down the aisle, sheer happiness on her face, looking like a real life princess! Plus I did the sneaky thing of looking at the groom for his reaction!
Such a lovely couple and getting to share this day with them was really something special. They even asked me to do a reading! I’d gone all out and learnt the reading by heart, but when the moment came, I was so emotional at the occasion, and nervous at what I was about to do, that I had to look at the card to give me something to focus on. At one point I got brave enough to look up, but then looked up and saw Jade and got a little frog in my throat.
I should perhaps also mention that, the bags I told you about earlier, had chain linked handles, and my dress had a lace overlay. As my reading was approaching, I realised my mistake in putting the bags over my shoulder! I was stuck…. The person next to me did their best to free me, but it was no use! So as I stood up and walked to the front to do my reading, the tangle of all the bags had to come with me as well! I was pleased I was able to do the speech in such a dignified manner…..
Following the ceremony, it was time for some bubbles to celebrate as we all headed to take some pictures! I can’t wait to see what the official photographs look like because Nyssa did an amazing job!
Following the photographs it was time to head inside for the wedding breakfast and the speeches. Join me next time to find out the highlights of the rest of the day…
Get a Life 