Now I am writing this early, mainly because at this point we will have a very small newborn in the house and I don’t think I will do it justice if I tried to write it any later, so I am actually writing this in March.
But anyway, you are reading this now, and this day, 2 years ago, I married my best friend.
In those 2 years we have managed to do the following:
- Emigrate to Dubai
- Have a wonderful honeymoon in Singapore and Bali
- Add to our country count by travelling to Bahrain, Cyprus, Oman, Sri Lanka, Jordan
- Travel back to the UK a few times
- The husband has done a few half marathons and a full marathon, I managed a 10k….
- The husband got promoted
- I got a job….then had to not take it because…..
- We added to our family with our second babyface
With everything we have done, and the big changes another baby brings, I wanted to look back in the lead up to our big day and to publicly thank everybody that we worked with to make it so special. Especially as we worked with a lot of local independent businesses in Derby and none of them blinked with every curve ball we threw them.
Not one batted an eyelid working with us, even though we lived in London, a 3 hour (at best) car journey from Derby.
There was only congratulations when we told them we were expecting the toddler before the wedding.
There was a slight panic from Lorraine at Lori G Bridal Shop when she found out I had a c-section with regards to my dress.
There was a look of surprise from Lavinia at Blackbrook House when we informed her we were emigrating a month before the wedding.
And there was panic stations from our wonderful photographer Karina Cipikoff when we needed to try and schedule a pre-wedding shoot around us emigrating and her own maternity leave.
But overcome these obstacles we did and we had a pretty spectacular day.
The Dress
As you can see the dress fits perfectly, and this is despite the fact that I bought the dress when I was 5 months pregnant so had to guess at the size I’d need. Going one size bigger as it is always easier to take a dress in than to let a dress out. The reason why Lorraine panicked when my mum popped into let her know the baby had arrived and it was a c-section is that it often takes longer to recover and regain your pre-baby shape from a c-section. However, I walked, and walked, and walked. And we had the opposite problem. Every time I went in for a fitting the dress needed to come in a little more even though I wasn’t intentionally losing weight. Then of course I left the country for a month before the wedding landing back on the Sunday and getting married on the Saturday, oops. But those fabulous people at the Lori G Bridal Shop opened on their day off to get my dress fitted in time. And even sewed in “chicken fillet” holders. Not to hold chicken fillets but to hold breast pads as I was still breastfeeding and didn’t want to leak everywhere. The other thing I loved about buying my dress from Lori G Bridal Shop is that they sew a blue ribbon into each dress to count towards your something blue.
The Venue
The Day
Lav and the team at Blackbrook really pulled out all the stoppers, they found suitcases
to match our travel theme, they made bunting, they made a beautiful hanky board just in case anyone cried, they served drinks that weren’t just your average bucks fizz but a gorgeous choice including a non-alcoholic cocktail for anyone who didn’t drink so they didn’t get left out.
The canapes were to die for, mini Thai spiced fishcakes, mini croque monsieur, chicken satay skewers delicious and being the bride it meant I got special treatment throughout the day with my own mini platter (shared with the husband of course) following on from this, the wedding breakfast was literally the best food I have ever eaten at a wedding, duck confit, rack of lamb and a trio of chocolate desserts….and I am not just saying that because it was our
choice, it truly was delicious and not one person had anything bad to say. The dessert even made it into one of my friends Facebook albums as “the best dessert ever” which I think says it all:
photograph
On the day, no task was too small, nothing was too big for either myself or the husband and being able to relax and not worry about anything really made our day all the better as we were able to focus on each other and our friends and family instead of wondering if anything would go wrong.
It meant that when my bridesmaid got up and read the wedding poem I was able to listen
intently to the emotion in her word.
It meant that as I walked down the aisle to the Husband I was able to just lose myself
in the moment.
It meant that during the speeches, where the Husband announced to me where we were
headed for honeymoon the next day, I was able to do this:
And in case you are wondering it was Singapore and Bali we were off too!
It meant that when the baby cried we weren’t too worried as someone was on hand to help
make him laugh and no one tutted!
It meant that we didn’t need to think about what was coming next as the day passed
seamlessly and far too fast.
It meant that our first dance though cringeworthy, was only cringeworthy because of our
lack of coordination.
It also meant our glasses were never empty which was delicious but definitely hangover
worthy the next day!
Becoming a family aka Team PC
And here is the photo for me that sums up what the day meant for us
We became a family with the same name, Mummy joined the ranks and the same last name as
Daddy and the toddler.
We are Team PC.
And I loved it.
And Ivstill do two years later.
Happy anniversary to the husband, though we will both be sleep deprived at the moment at least this time we know what we are getting ourselves in for with the baby years. And I’ll definitely raise a glass of champagne with you to another year as Team PC with the addition of our newest member.
Love you
x
