Welcome to the wedding posts! Aka a great excuse to share a load of photos and reflect back on our wedding day which was on Saturday 1 June 2019. All professional photos in these posts are taken by our bloomin’ lovely wedding photographer Hannah Mia. The rest are by friends and family.
Read about the morning of here, the ceremony here and the walk to the pub here.
Our reception was at our favourite pub in St Albans – and supposedly the oldest in Britain – the Ye Olde Fighting Cocks. Gary and I have spent many, many evenings/afternoons in that pub and it was also where we were when we first talked of getting married. We had the whole pub and we were thrilled that the weather meant we could make use of their crackin’ garden.
We love the pub as is but we added a few touches – we had a photo slideshow playing on a loop on the TV screen which included photos of Gary & I (including baby ones) and plenty of photos of all our guests. It was a great talking point and I love that it prompted members of both our families to tell family stories to each other. We also had a big canvas photo which we asked our guests to sign in lieu of a guestbook. We plan on hanging this up in our new house somewhere!
Everyone got a glass of bubbly at the door on arrival and then slowly filtered into the garden where there were piles and piles of flatbread, hummus & dips. The weather really played its part here. Who doesn’t love sitting in a sunny pub garden with drink and hummus?! The smoke from the BBQ wafted around in the sunshine and it felt like everyone was smiling and laughing.
We had the speeches about an hour after arriving at the pub. I know I’m incredibly biased but all our speeches were brilliant. We’ve all been to a wedding where one speech falls a bit flat and I know how nerve-wracking they can be for the people doing them – there’s so much pressure! But, honestly, they were spot on and I love the photos of guests properly laughing at them. I didn’t give a speech so much but I kicked things off by saying hello – followed by a lot of cheering because top guests – and a few thank yous before passing over to my mum. I knew my mum would give a good speech but even I was surprised at how magnificent it was (and a tad embarrassing of course). As was Dom’s – Gary’s best man – and Gary’s. Jordan filmed them all for us and I have watched them back so many times since. Many people have told me how good they thought they were and it makes me very proud. I specifically remember catching Lizzie absolutely killing herself laughing at one point. I wasn’t expecting to cry but there was a bit about my Grandad in my mum’s that just set me off and then I cried in both Dom’s and Gary’s.
We also had a little surprise from Nina – my new sister-in-law. She had secretly contacted as many of our guests as she could and asked them to send her their favourite recipes. So we now have a recipe book full of messages and food from our family and friends and yes okay, this made me cry again. It’s honestly one of the loveliest gifts I have ever received and it will be a prized possession for years to come. I can’t wait to make all the different meals and cakes in it!
There were a lot of group hugs after the speeches and it was all rather lovely.
Next up was food! We had an amazing BBQ with beautiful salads and I don’t think there were any leftovers because everyone kept going back for seconds. It was so good. I had so much adrenaline in me that I actually didn’t feel remotely hungry… of course, still managed to wolf down a steak and a load of halloumi because when have I ever turned down good food?!
The pub also put on a cheeseboard at our request. This stayed out for the entire evening and it was truly epic. Huge wheels of cheese, piles of fruit, plates of brownies and sausage rolls, big bowls of chutneys and lots and lots of crackers. I think a lot of our guests may have taken more photos of cheese then they did people!
Everyone being sat down eating (just on benches wherever they wanted – I was always adamant I didn’t want a seating plan) meant Gary and I could hop between different groups of people and it was great to have a proper chat with everyone. I still woke up the next morning feeling like I’d missed people but when there’s that many, I guess it is kind of inevitable.
Whilst everyone finished off their dinner, Gary and I nipped off to have a few couple photos (see below) which mostly involved us wandering around the park giggling, and then it was time to kick start the party!
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