I am a Mrs!

After the years of plotting, planning and Googling, I am now officially married.

Everyone had warned us how quickly time would fly by on the day and it was so true! The morning preparations went by in a blur. It was an absolute hive of activity. There was a make up artist, photographer, florist, neighbours, bridesmaids, family and friends fluttering around the place!

The night before, I (along with one of the other bridesmaids) slept a grand total of three hours. I was so excited and wondering how the day would unveil. I ended up getting up at 5am and pottering about til the rest of the house woke up. My Dad had organised for hot breakfast food to be brought to the house whilst we were at the hairdressers getting our 'dos done.

In the middle of all the madness, I even made time to vote! On the way back from the hairdressers with my veil fastened to my head, I trotted to the local voting centre with my Chief Bridesmaid in tow to help keep my veil off the ground. Got a few strange looks, but it was my constitutional duty, wedding day or no!

Before I knew it, we were all heading to the venue which was an hours drive away. It was only then the nerves started to hit! We chose a Chrysler 300c from Blue Ribbon, which was one of the most comfortable cars I've ever traveled in (even better when there's a Champagne accompaniment, but more about that later!)

The lovely wedding car

The running joke for most weddings is how late the Bride is going to be. I was ready to get wed at 1pm, on schedule. By the time we got pics taken and the Piper (Yes! There was a Piper, and he was awesome! It was a huge surprise and made the day even more special. I'm half Scottish, so it was very important for me to have my heritage play a part on the day) had played a few tunes to signal my impending arrival, we were ready and waiting to go into the ceremony room.

The Piper playing us into the Reception

I was a little weepy when I saw our Page boy decked out in his kilt, but I kept it together. (Surprisingly!) Here's a little secret about me. I am a softie. An out and out softie. I cry at Disney movies, soppy TV ads, a moving song, and weddings. I bawl at them all! So there was a lot of  people waiting in the room for my waterworks moment.

And it didn't happen!

I didn't cry during the ceremony at all. Little misty eyed yes, but no tears!

Instead it was my lovely new husband that got emotional. And I'm dying to see all the photos!

The Sylvanian Family wedding on the ceremony table

Our Zombie wedding couple, also on the ceremony table!

The Bridal party walked into Hoppípola, one of our favourite songs. It was only when I heard the opening bars of the song that it really hit that this was real and happening right now! We had opted for a Spiritualist ceremony and everyone came up to us afterwards and said it was absolutely beautiful. Our solemniser, Miriam did such a beautiful job in creating the ceremony and letting our personalities shine through, including a spontaneous high 5, a reading about dinosaurs and Sylvanian families and Lego decor.

Spontaneous High 5 FTW!

Little snap of our ring cushion

 After meeting up and chatting with our guests, we headed to the Japanese Gardens to get our photos taken with the Wedding party. We also had a fingerprint tree, a Lego wall, mulled cider and lots of mini scones and biscuits for our guests to enjoy whilst we were out gallivanting.Thankfully the weather seemed to work in our favour for the most part, so we made the most of it! On the way back, my new husband and I were ferried back to the hotel with champagne in the car before getting showered with confetti by our excited family and friends!

Confetti! All over the place!

The Lego Wall.. No naughty words on these ones!

By then, we were famished and ready to eat! We were escorted into the room by the Piper and after some kickass speeches from our Best Man Lady, both Dads, Mr. Ree and myself, the manging commenced! The food went down really well and there was lots of empty plates heading back to the kitchen, which is the best compliment in my book!

Wedding cake noms!

My talented sister-in-law made our cake for us, which was an array of champagne and strawberry cupcakes with a beautiful sponge cake on top. She had also created our wedding favours which were origami cranes, each holding a card with a poem she had written about the day and forget me not seeds for our guests to bring home and plant. It was such a lovely touch, and something which we hope everyone enjoyed.

One of the beautiful cranes

After all the dining and chatting, we all gathered in the lobby and bar, grabbing our inflatable Batman who had dutifully waited at the Reception desk for his big moment. After all the meeting and greeting, it was only fair that he should partake in some of the fun!

Batman on the dancefloor. He lost his head 5 times but still kept going! The trooper.

Mr. Ree's sisters (My new sisters-in-law) ushered us into the room where we had a surprise waiting for us! They had secretly put together a sweet table and even more nerdy cupcakes! The table was heaving with jars filled with fizzy saucers, jellies, marshmallows and so many more yummy treats! It went down a storm with the kids, and big kids alike! Later on we had lots of tea and coffee served with traditional Scottish shortbread. Needless to say, our guests were on a total sugar high!

Two big kids attacking the sweet table!

Just two of the wedding cupcakes on the sweet table - More pics as we get them!

A last minute purchase was some inflatable musical instruments. I found a company on eBay which were wonderful to deal with so we ordered some guitars, saxophones, banjos and microphones. Everybody had so much fun with them, which was great to see! There was a mix of kids with saxophones, grown men hopping around with guitars and karaoke fans warbling into the microphones. A must have for parties and weddings alike methinks.

The one element of the day that everyone was absolutely blown away by, was the band, Full Moon Boogie Band. They. Were. AWESOME! From the moment they started playing to their encore, the dance floor was never empty! When Batman was airborne and being danced with, they even broke out this tune, much to everyone's amusement. How can you not "Na-na-na-naaah!" along with it?

There was dancing til the wee hours, before whoever was still standing headed to the resident's bar for a traditional sing-song. By that point, shoes had been kicked off, cupcakes had been stashed in handbags and jackets had been discarded. By that point, I'd almost been awake for 24 hours, so it wasn't long before I could hear bed calling me!

A blurry pic of some musical instruments enthusiasts

All in all, we had an absolute ball! You hear Brides and Grooms look back on their wedding day and say it was the best day of their lives. So I won't say that. But it was definitely the best day of our lives so far! Mere days after our wonderful wedding day, we went Honeymooning with Mickey Mouse. But more on that next time!

I've planned a wedding, alongside my new husband. Will I stop looking at wedding things online and sniffling over wedding TV shows? Probably not. Watch this space!