Recaps/Details: Cake

I'm not sure why I look like I'm about to stab my husband in this photo.

Paparazzi moment number two. There was a bank of cameras trying to get a pic of us cutting the cake.


The cake was amazing, people are still raving about it. As previously posted the bottom layer was made my my Dad and O's Mum made the middle and top layers. We had cake served with the buffet in the evening, all of the (lemon drizzle) top layer was eaten and most of the middle (carrot) layer too. The bottom layer was a 12 inch square fruit cake - even having given away quite a lot we still have some left. Thankfully fruit cake lasts forever so we are slowly making our way through it. 

Recaps: The ceremony

Brother in law on the pipes followed by bridesmaids followed by my Dad and I. All I was focused on was O at the end. I remember the ceremony quite clearly. I remember listening to the registrar get through all the legal bits and pieces. I remember having a silent conversation with my very very soon to be husband.

The conversation went a little like

O - Soft smile = you look alright
Me - Massive grin = WE'RE GETTING MARRIED

O - Squeeze of the hand = I love you
Me - Squeeze of the hand = Quite like you too

O - Slightly raised eyebrow = so you’ve been behaving like a lunatic all morning what is that all about?
Me - Slightly raised eyebrow - Eff knows!

#2 did her reading

We said our vows, we’d gone with the standard vows provided by the registrar and changed them ever so slightly. The registrar read them really slowly rrreeaalllyy slowly. At some points we were going one word at a time! It meant there was no chance to get them wrong and we had a good laugh about it after. 

We’d changed the wording of the exchange of rings also. Most of them say “wear this ring always as a token of our love” as O doesn't wear his ring on a regular basis we altered it. At this point I wasn’t really concentrating on what the registrar was saying I was too nervous about getting the ring on. We’d practised (yes we are that sad) the exchange of rings and not once had I managed to get O’s ring on (suspect it is half a size too small). When the registrar asked me to take O’s ring and place it on his finger I gave it some welly and rammed it on then looked up at him with a grin of achievement. The registrar not understanding why I was so pleased with myself was slightly perturbed that I hadn’t waited to say the words etc while gently slipping the ring on to his finger.

Cee did her reading

O’s sister played her fiddle while we signed the register and had our first paparazzi moment of the day. Looking up to a bank of people with cameras is quite disconcerting. My signature on the register bares no resemblance to what it is (was) in real life. You have to use a fountain pen – not used one of those since high school and my hands were shaking quite badly.

We were married!

Recaps/Details: Order of Service

*opinion alert* I don’t really understand the need for Order of Services at civil ceremonies where there are no hymns, where there are songs to sing you need to know the words. But they’ve always struck me a little like a meeting agenda – are you going to pick the bits you want to turn up to? No you are going to sit there for the whole ceremony and listen, no one panics when they don’t know what is happening when surely? The registrar introduces the readers so you get to know who they are. I also feel that they give bored guests something to read or fiddle with during the ceremony when they should be concentrating (bossy control freak - moi?). Plus it was just another thing for us to do.


We had resolved not to have Orders of Service that was until we spoke with my parents who were horrified that we wouldn’t have them – every break with tradition seemed to upset my parents. I decided that I would appease them on this occasion and when we ordered the invitation card, we ordered some extra and some blue backing card. I only ordered 25 backing cards because the Order of Service usually gets left behind and I thought one between two was plenty (yes we had a tiny wedding).


Our Orders of Service were small, very simple and probably missed a lot of vital information but when you don’t really want something in the first place you kind of aren’t that fussed. We have this photo and a few Orders of Service to keep as a reminder (because people left them behind!).

Recaps: Cee reading

Cee read – A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton


The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage. Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur's cage with kind words and loving thoughts. I like this Dinosaur, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now. I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur, thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.
But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. He is also overly fond of Things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of Things? But her mind skips from here to there so quickly, thought the Dinosaur. She is also uncommonly keen on Shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?

I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for Things, thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. For they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual. I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping, thought the Dinosaur. For she fills our life with beautiful thought and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.

Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them. Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.

And that, my friends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together. For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place.

Recaps: #2 reading

#2 read – Union by Robert Fulghum

"You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”

Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.

For after today you shall say to the world – This is my husband. This is my wife"

There were a few shaky moments when #2 stood up to read. This was the first time that she had managed to read the passage without crying. 


She had practised in front of her partner and in despair wailed that she couldn’t stop crying his response was “man up and strap on a pair”! Love it!

Blog Birthday

(Image from here)

Oh my goodness! I can't believe I've kept this blog going for a whole year.

and people actually read it

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you

I really couldn't have done it without you all

I'm planning on sticking around but it might take me a moment or so to work out which direction to go next.

after I've finished with the recaps of course

Recaps/Details: Shoes

O's brogues and his best man's sgian dubh

My shoes - yes I caved and went for the traditional bridal shoes. They were immensely comfortable though. 


In the evening I ended up wearing my trusty, nearing the end of the their days, black ballet pumps instead of putting my sore swollen feet into yet another new pair of shoes. 

Lesson learned: Your dress* is altered to the height of your heels, be that a tiny 1.5 inch for me or higher for the braver girls. Therefore when you are in your heels your dress should be the perfect length, when you dress is bustled (if you dress bustles) it is completely off the floor and you are able to dance and burl like a fanny. When you take your heels off you shrink by that height and your dress becomes too long by that height. The dress then drags on the floor and you lurch around while standing on the dress like a fanny.
Or maybe that was just me. Should have put the bloody heels back on.


*if you are wearing a long dress

Wellies!!!!!!!!

Wellies and her boy are getting married today. I'm so excited for them!

(photo credits 1. Lillian and Leonard 2. Wellies and Vogue 3. Here via here 4. Here via here)

Recaps/Details: Hair

For those of you who didn't see the very hurried photo I slapped on to Twitter this is the back of my hair.

More importantly this is the hair slide that the very lovely Rebecca made for me. Trying to explain who Rebecca was and why when she is so lovely she still wasn't coming to the wedding (asked myself that question about a billion times) was quite tricky*.

*I may have told a couple of incy wincy white lies to my family

Recaps/Details: Flowers

I hope from my terribly cropped photos that you can see how wonderful my flowers were.

Photos by our photographer and family members

Recaps: Morning of

I woke to the shipping forecast – awesome! The radio had been on all night to try and help me sleep - actually leading to some pretty bizarre dreams. 

I’m going to be sick, I’m going to be sick, I’m freezing cold but sweating like a pig and I’m going to be sick. These were mainly the thoughts going through my head from 5:30 the morning of my wedding. 

I waited a reasonable amount of time before texting my Dad and asking for my Mum to come along to keep me company. She ran me a bath with the rose petal bath bomb that O’s Mum had given me the night before. I’d just sunk into the bath and started to warm up when the hairdresser arrived. I got up, locked the bathroom door and sunk back into the bath for another fifteen minutes or so. During which time plug sockets* were located, straighteners were switched on and my bridesmaids finally arrived. We were all staying at the venue apart from O who was staying at our flat.

probably on twitter

Soon I felt that I was missing the action, there were questions I needed to answer and really as an adult I couldn’t spend the morning of my wedding hiding in the bathroom trying not to be sick**. Breakfast finally arrived and I managed to eat some really not very pleasant grapes and a square of toast.

having my naturally curly hair curled

Hair was coiffed, make up was applied and panics were had. We had forgotten to arrange any music and the radio and TV music channels weren’t really cutting it so an emergency message was relayed to my Dad to bring his i-pod and speakers immediately. My Mum, sisters and I spent the rest of the morning singing (we know all of the words) to Graceland – Paul Simon and anything by Bruce Springsteen*** much to the bemusement of my niece, hairdresser and make up friend. 

The morning was interrupted by me bursting into tears several times for no apparent reason (frequently after I’d read a tweet/message for you lovely lot) and insisting that no one be nice to me the nastier the better to stop the tears.

being asked to look meaningfully at my dress was amusing for some reason

Our photographer finally arrived, he got lost trying to find O at our flat so we had a few photos taken. Time was marching on at this point so it got to be a bit of a rush. We finally managed to kick the photographer out of the room and I was put into my dress. It was TIME!!!!!

*if you are getting ready at your venue make sure there is enough plugs in the room for hair dryers etc. and a big mirror.

**if that is what morning sickness feels like it is going to take some time to persuade me that babies are a good idea unless O can carry them instead of me (medical miracle in the offing?)

***we were brought up on that music. 

The photos in this post are a mixture of family and professional photographer. As our photographer is a family friend and doesn't usually photograph weddings I'm not going to link to him. If anyone is desperate for his details please contact me.

Recaps: My biggest regret

My biggest regret is therefore my biggest piece of advice.

If at all possible spend the night before your wedding with your husband to be. 

Do not spend it in a massive hotel room in a strange bed. 

O and I frequently spend time apart, he is away for his stupid sport or I go away with work or to spend time down south with my family. We’re used to being apart and quite frequently sleep better when we’ve got more room in the bed. 

All week I’d been questioning why we were spending the night apart but it is traditional, we’d paid for the hotel room that night, it is expected, etc. etc. 

Bollocks to them all. I couldn’t sleep for shit. Felt absolutely appalling all morning before the ceremony. Sickly sweet and soppy whatever you wish to call it but I was nauseous and on the brink of tears until I saw O at the other end of the aisle. Then I started to enjoy our day. 

Would I have felt better if it weren’t a strange bed, would I have felt the same if O and I had stayed together? There really isn’t anyway of knowing but if I were to have my time over I’d be snuggling up to my man whispering, "we’re getting married in the morning, sweet dreams". 

Recaps: The day before

Friday started as a relaxed day. Mum and I had appointments with make-up friend to get our nails done. Mum had a manicure, I had a manicure and pedicure, and my eyebrows tidied. After her treatment Mum, left me too it and headed into town to return something and headed back to our flat. O came into town and met me for lunch we sat chatting about random stuff slightly in a daze that we were getting married the next day. We picked up a couple of thank you cards and then headed to the station to welcome Mum2 off the train. My parents took Mum2 to her hotel to get her settled in and O and I went home. Where in general we just lazed about our best man came over to show us his slightly sunburnt face! We made up a few of “reserved” signs for our usher (nephew) to put on seats in the ceremony and printed the readings in big type for our readers. My parents came and took the dresses up to the venue. We received text messages that #1 and her family were delayed – thanks sleazy jet. Apparently, there was a shortage of air traffic controllers for Scottish skies that day which affected all flights coming north. Quite late in the afternoon we realised that we still had to pack and transport all the rest of the “stuff” to the venue. After a little frenzied activity, we chucked everything in the car and dashed up to the venue. Chucked everything into the bridal suite and went to see the function room all set up. Handed over the place names, table plan, table names etc. to the venue staff and went to find our guests. The staff at the venue did a great job with the tables.

After much chatting and numerous/repeated introductions of the different sides of the family we sat down for dinner. We hadn’t thought to make up a seating plan for the meal so there was a bit of an awkward moment and the families split into their respective groups but hey what could we do. #1, her husband, #2’s partner, niece, and nephew finally arrived and managed to grab some dinner.

During the meal I remembered all the essential things I’d managed to leave at our flat* so O and I did another dash back to the flat and back to the venue where I was spending the night. By this time, I was shattered and went straight upstairs. Then I remembered that the hairdresser had asked that I wash my hair the night before so I jumped in the shower and finally fell into bed with wet hair. Ping! I was wide-awake. I read the tweets I’d missed from the evening and read some blog posts via my phone. Then just tossed and turned thinking about everything and anything. I had a serious cry over the fact that I hadn’t remembered to get a card for O to tell him how I felt and how excited I was to be his wife (#fiancéfail). I also had some hairy ‘I wish I had chosen a different dress moments’. I turned on the radio and tried to fall asleep. I listened to the shipping forecast and then the national anthem, which they played before switching to World Service (very odd). I finally fell into a fitful sleep.

*make a list of things to pack for the day of and remember the next day I forgot a jumper for the next day and O had to wear his brogues under his jeans as he'd forgotten shoes. Oh and remember to look at the list while you pack instead of assuming you will remember everything.

Recaps: Start at the beginning

I need to start somewhere, the problem is that I’m not sure where to begin. But I suppose to begin at the beginning makes sense. 

Can I please ask that you don’t get your hopes up over pictures? 

When I asked, my then fiancé, what photos I’d be allowed to put on the blog he stated that I could put as many pictures of me on as I wanted but he didn’t want to appear. When we got the photos (yes we have them) I suggested that I would pick a few photos for his approval to be put online. He has even suggested that I put celebrity heads over his face so please do not be mistaken into thinking that I married Leonardo DiCaprio or Orlando Bloom. My husband is much better looking but very shy. I’m also very shy and still have anonymity worries.

I’m going to make my way through events in order. My brain works better like that although there will probably be some random details thrown in all over the place.

A year ago

A year ago today my boy wrote magical words in the sand

Today we have been married for eight days

*image by me