Rawr

Happy Anniversary my Dinosaur

If you want to relive it all check out my recaps

(image)

Time flies...

...when you are having fun.

I can't quite believe it has been 6 months already.

(recaps)

Details: Thank you Gifts

Thank you gifts were tough to decide on and I spent a long time trawling the internet. 

My Mum: We didn't give my Mum a gift the weekend of the wedding instead we promised to make her a photo album once we gathered the photos together. We have kept that promise and sent her a photobook made by BobBooks - which she seems to love.

My Dad: We got him a bottle of Macallan whisky - it is his favourite whisky and we hope he will enjoy it.

O's Mum and Dad: We bought them a bottle of brandy - sourced by my brother-in-law handy having a wine merchant in the family.

O's sister: For playing the fiddle while we signed the register and as a New House gift we bought her and her husband a Le Creuset pan.

O#s brother: For being our piper and for his New Home gift we bought him and his girlfriend a Le Creuset pan too.

Debenhams had a sale on Le Creuset at the time.

#1 and #2: We bought them jewellery from here

Niece: We bought her an initial necklace from here and a clothes hanger from here (please note that Anna warns that it takes 8 weeks and it really does.)

Nephew: We bought his scrabble cuff links in his initials - as he informed us he doesn't have any shirt that requires cuff links but hopefully once he is older he'll need them.

Cee: As a thank you for reading during our ceremony we bought her a notebook for her blog ideas (need to do a post on this soon).

Recaps: Married Day 1

After getting a few hours sleep – funny how it was completely different to the few hours sleep I had the night before – we woke and dressed for breakfast. I’d forgotten a sweater and O had forgotten his shoes (remember to pack for the next day too). Was quite tempted to put my dress back on but don’t think it’d have gone with the dragged back hair and clean face. We went down to the dining room for breakfast taking with us the thank-you gifts that we’d bought. We sat there for quite a while chatting with different family members drifting in and out as they came for breakfast or left to finish packing.

#1 and her family had to leave early to catch their flight and so the goodbyes began. After a while when everyone had at least started their breakfast we went back upstairs to start our own packing. The venue staff had gathered together a lot of the bits and pieces, table slates, table plan, left over order of services so that made things easier. All the vases of flowers had been placed in a back room so we invited guests to take as many of the flowers as they wanted and after taking plenty for ourselves left the rest at the venue for them to decorate their tables with during the week. If you are having flowers it is worth thinking about what to do with them afterwards – we didn’t.

Everyone was finally packed and putting bags into their cars so we said our final goodbyes and headed back to our flat. We’d let friends stay in our flat so caught up with them for a while. Finally it was just the two of us and we sat slightly dazed still surrounded by wedding stuff.

Details: Table Names

We named our tables after Scottish islands that we'd visited. 


The top table was named after the island where O proposed.


We were worried that we were going to have to name a table Mull. Our holiday to Mull was not the greatest. The moment we got off the ferry there was an almighty hail storm and things did not get much better after that. 


Luckily we remembered another island that we'd been to.


Our table names we displayed on roof slates with the names written on in chalk pen. 


Are you planning on naming your tables? (We came very close to just numbering them - because really it is just another bit of DIY to do.)
What did you name your tables after? 

Details: Jewellery

Jewellery was a real struggle for me. The wedding magazines seem to have a clear view of what 'wedding' jewellery is supposed to look like. Pearls and diamanté are just not me. They are also very expensive. I wasn't prepared to spend a large amount of money on a necklace that I knew I was only going to wear once. 

I finally decided to narrow it down to two options. The necklace that Rebecca kindly let me borrow and a necklace that my Mum lent me that I eventually, 2 days before the wedding, decided to wear. 

My something borrowed was this marcasite necklace that my Mum got for £5 from a car boot sale. I'm not sure if I've broken the 'something borrowed' rules but my Mum has now given me the necklace to keep (yay). I was bought a marcasite watch for my 16th birthday so I wore that too. Unfortunately I noticed too late that the battery had died - so I have no idea if I actually got to the ceremony on time. I hate not knowing what time it is so after the meal I changed to a working watch. 

Details: Internet friends are amazing

Not only did Rebecca from Daydreams in Lace make me this amazing hair slide

She also gave me a hanky embroidered with my name

and allowed me to keep hold of her beautiful pearl necklace while I hummed and hawed for MONTHS about what jewellery to wear and then I didn't even wear it!

(photo by Rebecca I presume

hope you don't mind me posting it)

Rebecca has less than a month to go until her wedding. I'm so excited for her and James and seeing all their details come together. I just wish I was able to repay her kindness.


scheduled post

Recaps: Almost done

So I think I might be almost done with the recaps*.


There are still a few details that I've to tell you about but on Tuesday we head off on holiday to Gozo - not sure why I'm not comfortable with calling it our honeymoon. Perhaps because we're planning on having more than one and we're not going for a single trip of a lifetime but several amazing trips. Technically it is just our first holiday as husband and wife. 


I cannot wait to laze by the pool, run sand through my fingers, read lots of good books, go snorkelling and eat a lot of food. 


When I get back** I've still to tell you about my jewellery, our table names and the mini moon. 


But what have I forgotten? Is there anything that you want to know about? Ask me questions.


*really I'm looking forward to write about something other than the wedding but I promised myself I'd get the recaps out of the way first. 
**unless I get chance to schedule some posts before we leave in which case you can read all about it while we are away. 

Recaps: Why does it have to end?

The rest of the evening went past in a blur of dancing and chatting. I completely lost track of time at one point I looked at my watch and wondered where the buffet was and why had we not been fed yet (all I could eat was cake). Only to realise that there was still an hour to go before the buffet was due to be served. Then after the buffet had been served the band seemed to immediately announce the last dance and I couldn’t believe that time had passed so quickly.

We have a great photo of the two of us, looking hideously sweaty and dishevelled (no I’m not going to post it!) – I love this photo because it highlights what I wanted the wedding to be all about, dancing and laughing and everyone having a good time.

Then it was last orders at the bar and people started drifting into taxis or up the stairs to their rooms. Finally, we decided, while O’s uncles were trying to persuade the barman to reopen the bar that it was time for us to retire. It was bliss to unlace the dress, unpin my hair and stand under the shower letting the emotions of the day wash over me.

I finally crawled into bed with my husband! Unfortunately the bar staff decided to have their own wee party and we could hear them chatting well into the small hours. We’d thought it was our guests until we realised that we couldn’t recognise any of the voices. However in reality we couldn’t sleep, we just kept saying “we’re married”, “did you speak to so and so?”, “did you dance with so and so”, “so and so said this”, “what a great day”, “do you think everyone enjoyed themselves”, “we’re married”, “we’re married”.

Recaps: Our first dance

One day, after having not been engaged for very long I randomly suggested this as our first dance song. O agreed and so the decision was made. It had been one of the songs that was on the mix CD that O made for me when we first got together. I did question it a couple of times (the reference to brothers and sisters especially) but seeing as I couldn’t come up with anything better I stopped trying. We decided that we’d dance for about 60 seconds (a verse and a chorus) on our own and then have the rest of the bridal party come and join us. Those 60 seconds were the longest of all time!

Get off my toes!

John Martyn - May you never

Recaps/Details: Favours/Place names

For favours we had lots of ideas that surrounded plants or flowers (O is a gardener). 


Remember this post?


Well Rebecca left a very interesting comment on that post about seed paper and combining the favour with the place names! 


So that is what we did.


We bought seed paper and twine from here
We printed names on one side and planting instructions on the other side
We cut them out into a luggage tag shape, punched a hole in them and tied some twine through them to make them look more like luggage tags (we also folded the paper in half so it was twice as thick).

(can't get this photo to turn round)

Simples!

I think people liked them, although O's Mum has complained that she hasn't had any flowers. I'd love to blame her gardening skills but seeing as most of the food we eat when we visit they have grown themselves I don't think there is anything wrong with her gardening skills.

Recaps/Details: Table Plan

Our table plan was an A3 piece of card and smaller pieces of card in the same colours as our invitations.


(all from here)


Top tip: If you are still to make up your table plan I'd like to give you a piece of advice. Unfortunately I can't tell you who to sit next to drunk Aunty Mavis or crude Uncle Fred - although my suggestion would be to sit them together. No my advice would be on not doing and redoing the table plan. Get a large piece of paper and draw your table layout on it. Then write each of your guests' names onto small post-it notes and stick your guests to their tables. It makes it much easier to move people about and the repeated "Oh crap we can't sit Fred next to Blanche they hate each other" moments. 


We did a first attempt and then left it taped to the back of a door after three or four reshuffles we settled on the final option. The buzz of conversation seemed to indicate that it worked ok. 

Recaps: The rest of the day

We were piped out of our ceremony and handed a glass of champagne. We stepped outside* and then the congratulations began. The third or fourth person to congratulate me managed to spill a glass of orange juice down the back of the dress. I couldn’t have cared less and continued greeting our guests. I believe at some point that some one did try and dab it off but I wasn’t concentrating I was enjoying the hugging and kisses too much. My dress was basically filthy** the moment I stepped outside thankfully you can’t see the dirt or the orange juice in any of the photos. After all the congratulating we had photos taken. 

When it was time for the meal O and I were shown into the lounge to have some alone time while everyone was seated. We sat and chatted and looked at our wedding rings and grinned. I was completely relaxed and enjoying myself, it was at this point that O reminded me he still needed to give his speech so he wasn’t relaxed at all (oops bad wife).

We cut the cake and were piped to the table for the speeches to begin. The speeches were brilliant. I hadn’t been expecting much from O, he had warned me not to expect much other than a list of thank yous, but it was much more than that and it was wonderful.

The food was apparently fantastic. I didn’t feel at all hungry so only ate a few bites of each course. My husband had no such issues and managed to finish off parts of my meal. After the meal we moved through to the bar area so the function room could be cleared for the dancing.

Then it was time for our first dance…………..

*the weather was cloudy but warm.

**need to find someone to clean the dress now though!

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!

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

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