After months of unexpected calm followed by 5 or 6 weeks of incapable stress, Saturday 31st May 2014 came around quickly and as a calm, serene morning.
After a lovely couple of days beforehand including being beauty Spa-ed all out, serenaded by my then husband to be (Bruno Mars - I think I want to marry you) with my Italian family over from Gubbio and Cuneo as witnesses, and a pre-wedding day soiree at my fantastic Aunty and Uncle's house who helped with so much of the planning and execution, I woke up early and refreshed on the Saturday morning. A trip to the hairdressers in Walton after a shower to have my hair blow dried straight (They didn't even realise it was my wedding day despite me wearing a Tiffany blue hoody with "Bride to Be" in crystals on the back!" followed by a quick stop in at the greengrocer florist to pick up my surprise fresh flower wrist corsages and buttonholes for my Mum, Dad and then fiance took me to the mid morning and in to all action stations manned! Visitors galore were over eating breakfast and prosecco and floating about, but it wasn't rushed or panicked!
The photographer arrived and created some lovely images during this time, including ones of me and my beloved pet agouti rabbit, Rosie who has sadly since passed away, providing me with cherished physical memories for years to come. (I highly recommend Holly from Belle and Beau Photography based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England... she travels all over too! http://belleandbeaublog.com/ )
The make-up lady from The Beauty Spa in Horbury, again I'd recommend them too, arrived and started to do my makeup whilst my bridesmaids and I got ready, drank pink bubbles and they did a "Mr and Mrs" style quiz on me and presented me with a fantastic book of girly memories of me, my buddies and my sisters. My wonderful sister also called Holly, styled my hair into the masterpiece it was with my fantastic tiara and veil (custom made from wedding veils direct, although Mum actually put the veil in later). All while my Dad was sending up dishes of beautifully home-cooked lasagne and salad to me and my "crew"! I was so pre occupied and tied up with all the work being done that I didn't get to eat this until just before putting on my dress and I only managed a few cold mouthfuls!
Downstairs, Italian family members were around for pieces of cake that Dad had made and bought and in the Garden, a small gazebo was up outside the French windows and everyone was buzzing around!
My dress was hung up in the immaculately decorated and furnished sitting room that Mum had been saving to this moment! She'd even put beautiful lillies (via means of my elder sister, Vivien!) in tall glass vases to decorate the room.
1200 came and Mum was dressed pretty much, and my bridesmaids were putting on their dresses, but then came the time for me to put mine on. I wasn't quite ready with my hair etc so had to tell Mum to relax and wait, but she was insistent! By now, the Rolls Royce Phantom II (in white!) had arrived and was parked up in the courtyard! It looked fantastic!
As soon as I was pretty much ready, I started to get dressed. Whilst this was happening, I opened the gift from my husband to be, a beautiful pair of Tiffany & Co. olive leaf earrings by Paloma Picasso... a pair that matched one of my silver rings from Tiffany & Co. and fell perfectly within my Tiffany blue colour theme!
Then came the big moment, putting on the dress. I moved downstairs to the afore mentioned fitting room. Here, my mum and bridesmaids helped me get in to my dress, spending what seemed like a life time pulling up the laces, tweaking and shivvying it around! The dress itself was called "Sardinia" by a designer brand called Nicola Anne based in Leicestershire, UK. I'd had a few dramas with the dress just before the wedding. I had got it from "Limelight Occasions" in Lepton, West Yorkshire. Up to the point of alterations, the service had been fantastic. I really liked Sue, one of the shop owners, but later had trouble with one of the seamstresses. Both my mother and I are not trained seamstresses, but we've done some dress making and sewing in our time and I was not initially convinced by her plan on first alterations. I was also a little annoyed that the designer had ordered a size 14 for me when the sample dress that fitted with wiggle room was a size 12 when she measured me. I felt this was a money making ploy to force me to have significant alterations in hindsight. We were pretty displeased, as even though we got a discount from the designer trunk day and a slight additional friend of a friend bonus (My Aunty, who recommended the place, has connections via the Masons with the owners), the dress did cost a significant amount, and we bought a lace jacket and a tiara from there which also were not cheap.
At the first fitting the dress had just arrived so it was just trying it on. It was HUGE! I didn't lose masses of weight before the wedding as when I bought the dress I'd done the most part of my weight loss so it should have been a close fit! On the next fitting, the skirt had been hacked and the agreed course of action hadn't been stuck to, i.e. to lift the skirt from the waist, not cut it from the bottom. The result was a misaligned skirt with a raw hem edge and was curling up. It was very distressing as I don't work close to this dress shop and live 90 miles away. Getting time off within their working times was nigh on impossible and I ended up taking leave to do this. I didn't find them helping me fit this in which isn't great for a bride planning a wedding away from her family and whilst her husband was working in a foreign country for 75% of the engagement!
The dress had to be sent back to Nicola Anne to have the skirt remade. It came back and some alterations to the hips, waist and bust were done, but in all honesty, I was pretty upset as it still didn't fit quite right, my mum agreed, but by this point it was less than a week to the big day and I couldn't take any more stress. I think to other people, they wouldn't have noticed the misfit, but I could feel it and both my mum and I knew.
Anyway, moving back to the day... because on the day, I didn't care! I was getting to marry (excuse the cliche!) my best friend and true love!
The dress was tweaked on to me and my mum and bridesmaids helped me put on my jacket. I put on my Tiffany blue shoes (with I do in matching crystals on the soles, I know a lot of women do this but I do think it was a subtle secret!) and my mum finished the look by adding in my veil!
Once that was all done it was time for Dad, who'd been getting ready too as I was, to see me! His face in one of the photos says it all! It's quite an awkward and anxious moment I think for brides! And probably for fathers too!
Shortly after that, it was time for Mum and my bridesmaids to go. My Uncle had just got a brand spanking new black Mercedes 4x4 and was doing driving duties for some of the bridesmaids and for later on, Mum and my 2 sisters went in the Rolls, and my best friend and sister-in-law travelled in the Merc.
By now, my brothers were at the church, had delivered last minute stuff to various locations and people and were doing ushering duties.
Then it was just me and dad. In the kitchen, waiting! I had bought some cognac miniatures, I was worried about port stains and I don't really like sherry! So we had a little bit of that whilst we waited for the car to return. Dad parted some words of wisdom, but those are just between him and me. In all honesty, I didn't hear everything he said as I was anxious and excited, but there were a few gems I've held on to!
The car returned and I got in, it was bloody awkward! I didn't even have a huge dress but I still had my skirt up round my neck and my veil wrapped round my legs and neck somehow!
I wasn't nervous at all as we drove but the journey SEEMED to take forever!
Arriving at the church, I had a momentary heart flutter as I waited to get out of the car, but no-one would have known. My bridesmaids were waiting for me as I got out and mine and my husband's pals were forming a wonderful guard of honour in their smart officers' uniforms various, swords gleaming! Bridesmaids at the ready, they preened, fluffed and straightened everything. My husband's little brother was the page boy and was ushered by the bridesmaids in to an orderly fashion and given the ring pillow. He looked so smart in his miniature version of the ushers' tails! As I approached the church, I saw my best friend's mum there taking pics and an old school class mate's mum too (poaching ideas for her daughter's wedding presumably, after all we were the wedding of 2014 at St Austins!)
I literally couldn't stop grinning at this point, I passed under the guard of honour, grinning at my friends! Then it was time to walk down the aisle!
Refluffed and straightened Dad and I began to walk down the aisle, closely followed by my bridesmaids, to The Prince of Denmark's March better known as the trumpet voluntary, played on the organ and cornet by one of the girls at my mother's brass band! As I approached my soon to be husband, he gasped as he did a last minute turn around when I got closer.
The ceremony was a full Catholic wedding mass, including communion. The sermon, conducted by Fr. Tim Swinglehurst, was a bit fire and brimstone, but I think he realised this and clawed it back! We modified various bits of the mass, including the Psalm, "The Lord is my Shepherd" as one of the verses is pretty dark!
During the exchange of rings, my other half presented the wrong hand and almost confused me! We sung "Guide me Oh Thou Great Redeemer", "Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace" During communion and " Jerusalem" just before walking out! Ave Maria was sung by a male tenor during the signing of the register which was stunning, I always preferred hearing it sung by a male voice than a female! Much less whiney!
We had "Allow us to love together to a happy old age. A reading from the book of Tobit 8:4b-8" as our first reading and"If I do not have love, I gain nothing. A reading from the book of Corinthians 12:31-13:8a", both read by the daughters of my God Parents who are my cousins! My God Parents took roles as witness and gift bearer. "John 2:1-11" was our Gospel reading.
As confetti wasn't permitted due to Wakefield Council, when we left, we had provided bubbles to be blown so the air was filled with bubbles as we left the church and stepped in to the car, whilst I was unwittingly being adorned with charms by aunty and NOW husband's relatives!
As the reception venue didn't have lots of stunning grounds, (sorry Blenheim House!) we decided to have our close family and couple-y photos done at Wilton Park, better know to locals as Batley Park. This is also the same place where my own mum and dad had heir wedding photos, so it served dual purpose! Whereas the sun wasn't shining brightly at this point, it was dry and we had some gorgeous photos taken by the lake and by the flower bushes. My poor photographer almost fell in the lake though trying to get a really big group shot of us though!
Once the family bits were done, they headed up to Blenheim house ahead of me and my husband and we had a couple more shots. These ended up being some of my favourite shots of the day (coupled with the ones of Rosie rabbit who has since tragically passed away).
We then headed up to Blenheim house, a lovely old building which has just had some extensive and much needed renovations to it's main function hall. It does look lovely, fresh and airy now and anyone wishing to book a wedding reception here who isn't overly fussed about extensive grounds or accommodation, would do well to save a few bob and book here. The staff are pretty happy to co-operate and it's neutral decor in most of the main areas mean it really can be made your own place. Plus the bar stocks good drink and very reasonable prices so your guests won't have a sour taste at the cost of drink if you are not having a free bar.
My guests were welcomed by a selection of canapes served by the excellent catering company "Food 4 Thought" who have just revamped their company, which was too my advantage as I had old prices with the new service which was stunning. These were served with an arrivals drink of a glass of prosecco charged with a wild hibiscus flower and syrup. They looked spectacular!
Unfortunately, a technical glitch meant the music wasn't playing but this wasn't a problem or really noticed at this point.
Soon after we all made our way in to the main hall after a receiving line. And our guests were presented to a Tiffany and navy blue wonderland of gems and crystals, pearls and shimmer!
With table centre pieces created by me (kilner jars with glass pebbles and pearl garland led lights, trimmed with lace and diamante crystals on large mirrored plates, with scatter crystals and heart shaped vanilla tealights. The cake was on a table in the bay window, lovingly made over the preceding months by my wonderful aunty. (She and my uncle did so much to help!) I made the cake toppers out of Fimo clay in the build up to the wedding, it incorporated my two pet rabbits at the time, Miffy and Rosie, and the brooches on the cake were identical to the one on my dress and on my shoes as well as the ring cushion (careful eBay sourcing!).
The flowers on the top table were country style stems and the ones on the cake were artificial flowers from Country Baskets in Leeds.
We were served a delicious meal to reflect my heritage and things I like. So I had chosen a mixed Italian/Med style antipasti starter with houmous, olives, charcuterie, breads, oils, sunblush tomatoes, salad and buffalo mozarella...it was very filling! The idea behind it was more of a social one... to get people talking on the table, make it feel like a family, passing and sharing the boards around. It also gave people a chance to pick and choose what they wanted so at least they'd hopefully like something on it!
The main meal was a pre-negotiated choice of "Risotto verde", "Pan fried sea bass on Mediterranean veg with crushed new potatoes" or "Slow cooked lamb on a potato rosti". I had the sea bass and it was amazing! Totally delicious! This was chosen to have a British element (lamb), Italian and also to reflect my husband's coastal background (the fish).
Dessert was a trio of lemon tart with raspberry coulis, "Rhubarb and Custard" creme brulee and sticky toffee pudding. This was to reflect my heritage and again, allow people to hopefully like one of them... the Rhubarb was to reflect my Yorkshire, Rhubarb Triangle home town. We struggled to eat dessert (ours were served on beautiful heart shaped slates!) as we were so busy walking around everyone, talking to them and socialising!
This was followed by tea, coffee and chocolates which we had ordered ourselves which were more of memento as it had our names and the date, the theme matched our colours!
Speeches followed with a delicious prosecco charged in our glasses. Dad's speech was brilliant, I really wouldn't want to write and describe it, as again, it's a cherished memory. The same for the subsequent speeches. All of them were eloquent and thoughtful and funny too! Dad's in particular really struck a nerve with many people and there were a few tears!
After that, we cut the cake and then all went outside to have a group photo before the evening celebrations commenced!
The cake was stunning. My Aunty had made it months in advance and had a friend ice it. I made the cake toppers and we filled the gaps with fairy flower lights and artificial flowers from Country Baskets. It was 4 tiers tall and even had gaps in between so it stood very high... I was very impressed!
The evening consisted of a variety of things. Firstly, we didn't have additional evening guests really (there were about 3 for various reasons) so we shivvied everyone out of the main hall in to the bar and outside whilst the room was turned around. The military lads changed in to their mess kit "No. 5 Uniform" and I had a few modifications to my dress, bustled up etc.
We had booked "The Briefcase Blues Brothers" for the evening based on good reviews. Unfortunately, we found the set up to be a pain in the bum. They had asked for UPTO 45 minutes... they took an hour and a half, by which time the photographer had to leave (galling really) and the sound hadn't been checked right. I wouldn't use them again. Especially when they weren't cheap.
Our first dance was by Pharrell Williams... it was "Happy"! No-one really expected it. We didn't tell many people at all and we didn't tell them we'd come up with a bit of a routine!
Link to the video here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5nW4XqSEI
We started off like we were going to do something slow and soppy... then it kicked in! We love each other so much, and as we're both quite energetic and vivacious, this suited us to a tee! And, well, we were and continue to be Happy!
A relaxed and fun filled evening ensued... we smoked cigars outside, caught up with friends and family and ate some lovely bits of food. My Dad probably gave himself a little hyperglycemia with all the sweets he consumed from the little sweet table we had!!!
We didn't have a guest book so to speak, we instead had a tree where our guests could write luggage tag messages for us. I've yet to archive this in to a book!
When the time came, we left in a wonderful Audi exec car. (Sorry Hubby, I can't remember what model it was!) and travelled to the Doubletree Hilton at Leeds. When we got there, we threw our bags in to the hotel room and didn't realise we'd been given some free Champagne in the suite!
We decided to go up to the Sky Bar for a drink and dance on our own away from the wedding scenario... when we got up on the lift, we were complimented left right and centre by drunk, but very lovely, people. When we went up to the bar, we patiently waited, it looked like we were being ignored, but instead, the champagne that was being poured by the bar tender was handed to us, with a "Congratulations!". Lovely!
The following day, Hubby had been very organised and had parked his car at the hotel earlier in the day so that we could drive back to my parents the following day. Realising my bridesmaids had taken out my jeans from my luggage in a last minute panic trying to find something of theirs, I fortunately had packed a pair of long shorts in my bag and wore those with my tacky, but fun, "Mrs Klejnow-Penneck" diamante t-shirt!
Back at home, we had loads of family and some friends round for a big brunch. The sun was shining so we all ate outside... it was wonderful!
My siblings presented me with the amazing gift of a Kenwood Mixer (Chef Premier.... AMAZING!) and Hubby's uncle had sent us a gift of an amazing painting of a Moroccan market scene which now proudly resides above our fireplace!
A few issuings of cake and goodbyes later, Hubby and I set off to Manchester airport pre our early flight the following morning to my surprise destination honeymoon... But that's for another day!
Pictures below by Holly at Belle and Beau Photography, Halifax.
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