13 Sept 2019

Wedding | The Party!

Read about the morning of here, the ceremony here, the walk to the pub here and the reception here.

Also Hannah wrote her own blog post about the day here which includes more photos!

Our gorgeous cake was made by my bridesmaid Claire, and her wife Becca. We were so touched when Claire offered to do this for us and they did an absolutely amazing job. The bottom tier was chocolate orange, the middle was lemon drizzle and the top was traditional fruit cake. I picked out the topper and ribbons; keeping it relatively simple and rustic – like the pub!

Everyone crammed into the small area to watch us slice through the cake – the bottom layer was huge so it actually took quite a lot of effort – and feed each other a mouthful.

Cake was dessert for everyone so Gary chopped as much as possible into slices and then everyone tucked in. I think Gary and I had about half a slice each and then when we went back for more later, the whole thing was gone! So clearly it went down a treat! Luckily, I’d tried the chocolate orange which was the one I was looking forward to the most.

And then it was time for the party! Our incredible band was Katie Plus Juan – check them out here. The pub landlord recommended them to us and by the time our wedding came around, we’d seen them live several times and loved – thanks Christo! These guys put on such a good party and I would highly recommend them.

Our first dance was Eight Days A Week by The Beatles – yes we were all about upbeat Beatles songs in the place of the traditional on our wedding day. We spent a lot of time trying to resist having a first dance before realising that it was going to be virtually impossible to avoid. So by time we’d accepted we were going to do one, no thought had gone into it. Which was probably for the best. Neither of us are ‘dancers’ so it was just upbeat and silly and basically how we dance around the kitchen when we’re tipsy and alone. The bridesmaids didn’t leave us on our own for too long and I did feel a warm rush when they all suddenly appeared with their partners.

At some point, I remember realising that I hadn’t been for a wee since getting into my dress that morning and Liz and Claire chaperoning me to the bathroom. It literally required the two of them to hold my dress so I could wee and this called for a lot of giggling. I remember Claire shouting that she could ‘see the light’ when they finally got through all the layers of the dress, as well as ‘the bride’s just having her first piss of the day’ whenever someone came in because as if we could get the cubicle door closed.

We kept dancing. When the band took a break, Katie said that they would be back for the party set soon and Becca called out ‘this isn’t the party set?!” To which Katie responded ‘girl, you ain’t seen nothing yet’.

My only memory of leaving the dancefloor was at this point, and we went and sat outside. It had got dark and the garden was lit by multi-coloured lights. The kids – all girls – were playing a hand-clapping came and it was a proper balmy summer’s night – just as we’d hoped.

Otherwise, we were on the dancefloor. I think Gary was a lot better at saying goodbye to people when they were drifting off – thanks Gary – but he was pulling out his ~~worst~~ best moves along with the rest of us. There was a lot of epic moves, drunken love and laughter. I remember at one point feeling over hot – the sweat was real guys – and a bunch of my friends grabbing my dress and using it as a giant fan. Even my dad got up to dance and managed to perfectly time it with the grease medley coming on which I will not be letting him forget! Shoes were kicked off, kids were running around and – later on – ties were round heads. It felt like a proper party, a proper wedding. Everything got kind of blurry and omg it was so hot, but so much fun.

All good things have to come to an end I suppose – to be fair, we were knackered – and we were there right until the end. We had no intention of leaving early and we were the last to leave the pub, along with my parents and bridesmaids. We had the canvas, card box, gifts and, quite frankly, a hilarious amount of cheese to be taken back so everyone grabbed something and we started walking up the hill and through the cathedral grounds to our flat. I’ll never forget the slightly ghostly image of the bridesmaids walking through the graveyard with their dresses hitched up and shoes dangling from their wrists. Nor that of Ele and a huge wheel of cheese under her arm.

Once we’d made it back to the flat to drop everything off, we then realised we had to get back down the spiral staircase. Gary was attempting to hold the dress train whilst I came down the stairs and the photos of him trying not to fall over make me chuckle every time.

After we’d said goodbye to everyone, we then walked through town to get back to our Airbnb. We accidentally timed this around pub kick-out time and we got a lot of very drunk people shouting out ‘congratulations’ to us plus two different cars winding down their windows to cheer as they drove past. What better way to end a night eh?

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4 Sept 2019

Wedding | Reception & Couple Photos

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!