So here's my wedding report along with some pics. On my honeymoon I picked up the chicken pox and have been feeling decidedly unwell so this isn't going to be great, but you'll get the idea I hope! I'll also be updating my blog over the next few days when I'm feeling better so there'll be more pics and stuff there.
Night before the wedding:
The day before the wedding we had our church rehearsal which both sets of parents, our bridal party and my siblings came too. More for a goo at the church than anything else! It was really lovely, our priest totally put us at ease and was very helpful, answering any queries we had and walking us though how everything would go. It was all very technical actually, much more than I had imagined! He said to my Dad that when we got to the top of the aisle he was to take my left hand and place it in my H2B's hand as a nice 'giving her away' gesture. My Dad got all flustered and the whole way up the aisle in the practice run he was hissing at me out of the side of his mouth 'Holy Mother of God, what hand do I have to give to him? Your left or right? LEFT OR RIGHT?' getting himself all worked up! I don't think it actually mattered, it was the gesture of the Dad putting the hand in the hand of the groom that the priest wanted but my Dad wanted it to be perfect. After the rehearsal we all went back to our house for tea and biscuits and H2B and I gave out our gifts that we had for our siblings and bridal party. We had quite a lot of gifts to give out and didn't want to do it during the speeches as we felt that would drag things out so we did it the day before. Everyone was really surprised to be honest to be getting gifts at all, so that made it even better. People started heading off then to do their tans and nails (and that was just the men! boom boom!) and it was then just me and H2B and my sister and our flowergirl who were staying with us the night before. Then H2B left to go to his folk's house for the night, where his best man was staying also and it was just me and my sister and the wee one, who was upstairs asleep. It was kinda emotional saying goodbye to H2B knowing the next time I'd see him we'd be at the top of the aisle but neither of us cried, I think it was more sheer excitement than a tears moment if you know what I mean, though naturally I made up for that the next day! We had a Chinese takeaway and chatted about the day gone by, and the day ahead, my sister and I and then she went up to bed. I sat up a while longer chewing my freshly done nails and worrying another hole in my stomach lining.
Our Wedding Day:
I surprised myself by actually sleeping for about five or six hours the night before the wedding, conking out about 1.30/2am and waking at about 7.30am. I had been fully prepared to lie wide-eyed staring at the ceiling so had a stack of magazines, a glass of Coke and a book ready beside the bed, but I didn't need them. I got up and had breakfast with my sister and flowergirl, two pancakes, which promptly turned to sawdust in my mouth. Jaysus, I thought, I'm actually nervous. And I was. The nerves kicked in big time at 7.30am, not least when I looked outside to see that it was a damp drizzly morning. I paced the house, paced it now. I think I did about 438 mini-marathons in about three hours the amount of walking around I did. I couldn't get my head around the fact that it was the morning of my wedding. After two and a half years of planning and saving and researching and worrying and hoping, it was finally here. At 9.15, right on the button, my hairdresser Christine Murphy arrived and got to work setting up. Christine is great, so calm and cool. Nothing fazes her and she just gets to work. She'll have a chat if you want one but if, like me, you prefer to sit in the chair rocking, whispering 'please let it go ok, please let it go ok' over and over she's fine with that too and will stay quiet and let you get on with it. Once Christine arrived, time speeded up and the preperations really started to happen. My MIL arrived to get her hair done and assured me H2B was a) still alive, b) in the whole of his health and c) still ready to get married. My folks arrived and my Dad busied himself making tea and smoking the 12 million John Player Blue he'd stashed to get himself through the morning. He had another 12 million secreted in the car for the rest of the day, you understand. "We're grand," they grinned at me, lying through their teeth. I could tell from their grey faces and the circles under their eyes that they hadn't slept a wink, nor managed a bite of breakfast. They were great though, talking to everyone, making endless tea and generally getting in the way. Well, that's what parents do isn't it? My sister, my maid of honour, was doing the make up and commandeered the box room as make-up central. As soon as the hair dryer turned off down in the sitting room she'd roar from the landing 'NEXT, we dont have all day' and the next person would have to go up to get 'done'. She did an amazing job. Make-up is only a hobby for her, something she enjoys and has done courses in but not something she has done professionally. But she did brilliantly. Everyone got a 'face' they were happy with, she had lots of lovely products to use and it all went so well.
Our photographers arrived then, three friends of ours gave us the gift of their services on the day, which we were blessed to have. The two girls came to me and the bloke went to H2B's house to get the 'before' shots! They just circulated snapping pics and I actually hardly noticed they were doing it. Then all of a sudden it was noon and time to get into The Dress.
I ran upstairs to get into my deeply unsexy, yet utterly needed, sucky in knickers and strapless bra and then my sister and two photographer friends lifted the dress over my head and I was in. A few hooshes of underskirt and some, frankly, unneccessary feeling of my arse later (thanks S for that!) the dress was sitting as it should. All that remained was the lacing up of the corset. Not really as easy as it sounds! After three minutes my sister was begging for the windows to be opened and after ten minutes she was roaring for a priest. The poor thing was BATHED in sweat but between her and the photographers they got me laced up and sucked in. I just stood looking at myself in the mirror delighted with myself. I was so pleased with it. I felt so comfortable and it looked really good. There are a few pics that the photographers got of me admiring myself in the mirror and it is to my eternal shame that I must admit that they weren't posed at all. They were all just me, staring at myself, admiringly, going 'God amn't I gorgeous?'. The SHAME! Ah, if you can't be a vain Bitch on your wedding day, when can you be, answer me that?
It was then time to go downstairs and get the veil in, before leaving for the church. Christine had to stand on a chair to get it in right but then finally it was done and I was all ready. A few of the neighbours had come in to wish me luck and have a goo at the dress which was lovely and a few other family members had turned up to have a look too before racing off to the church. Our car arrived then, from Instyle in Naas and the driver, who's name I have totally forgotten with nerves, put on the ribbon in quick smart time. The car was gorgeous and there were lots of oohs and ahhs from the neighbours!
Then, with one final glance in the mirror it was time to leave. The car driver helped me into the car, hooshing my dress up professionally, like he had done it a million times, which he probably had, so that it wouldn't get caught in the door and we were off. I remember nothing about the car journey or anything that was said to me. I was too busy with my own internal mantra of 'don't be sick, don't be sick'.
We arrived at the church and were met by Derek Wheeler of D_Digital, our videographer, who gave me a big hug and then faded into the background. Through the doors of the church I could see all our guests in their seats ready to go and before I knew it, the music had started and my wee bridesmaid and flowergirl, who looked so incredibly adorable, had begun their slow march up the aisle. "Right, it's us now," my Dad said, taking my arm and looking dead ahead. It was at that point that my breathing speeded up and I knew the tears were coming. I allowed myself one HUGE gasp and hiccup and got myself under control. I can't cry prettily. No pink eyes and adorable tears running down satiny smooth cheeks for me. No, it's a full on snot, pus and mucus fest when I cry and I was determined not to ruin my sister's good make-up work so I fought the tears. And I'm so glad I did, because I was able to walk with my head up making eye contact with all my guests on that incredibly short walk up the aisle instead of spending it snotting into a tissue. After all my hard work picking the perfect march to walk up the aisle to, I don't remember a single second of the music, all I remember is finally seeing H2B at the top of the aisle. He looked great and gave me an enormous smile and I knew everything was going to be ok.
Our service was beautiful. I know every bride says that, but for me ours was truly beautiful. We had spent time picking our readings, we had our mothers light our unity candles for us to symbolise them passing the wisdom from their happy marriages on to us, we wrote our own prayers of the faithful, we thought long and hard about the music and every single part of the Mass and ceremony was gorgeous. Our priest, Father Paul Taylor, was wonderful. At ease, comfortable, genuine, he seemed truly to be happy to be welcoming us to the church that day and that made us feel really special. It was also the shortest Mass I've ever been to! No sooner was the Gospel over than we were saying our vows, exchanging our rings and then it was Communion and then, after signing the register, that magical walk back down the aisle. Oh it was really magical. I remember every second of THAT piece of music, hearing the organ ring out and everyone clapping and feeling my new husband's hand really squeezing mine. It was really a few moments of pure happiness and totally worth any stress or worry that had gone before.
Outside the church then we greeted all our guests with the same 'Oh thank you, thanks for COMING' over and over again. I swore blind I wasn't going to do that, I swore blind I'd say something personal to every single guest but on the day the treacherous 'thanks for coming' slipped out over and over again. Well, what ARE you supposed to say? I threw in a few 'you look gorgeous' and 'look at you!' for good measure but generally it was 'thanks for coming' on a loop. Nobody seemed to mind though and everyone seemed to be in fine form.
A few more photographs and we were in the car on the way to Trim Castle, where we were going to have our photos before going to the hotel. It's about a 40 minute car journey and I was really looking forward to having that time with my new husband to talk and laugh and be all rosemantic but we actually spent it almost in silence, grinning like loons at each other and admiring our new rings! I'm sure the car driver thought we'd had a row but we were just so full of happiness, words seemed unimportant.
We got our photos taken at Trim Castle then, at the bridge and it was gorgoeus. The day had totally brightened up and there was sunshine and blue skies, which was fabulous. Our photographers did a fantastic job, really amazing and we were done and all in about an hour. Our guests couldn't believe we actually got in to our drinks reception as usually the bride and groom are off doing pics right up until the dinner, but we got a good hour of our drinks reception and were able to mingle with people and have a chat, which was fab.
I'm going to forget all the lovely things that Trim Castle Hotel did for us I'm sure and I don't want that to happen so I'm going to stop now and say this: I can't say enough about Trim Castle Hotel. I can't get over how wonderful they were. How professional. How smoothly everything ran. How much of a team they all are. How they work together. How NOTHING was too much of a problem. How they smiled genuinely at us and asked us about our day so far. How they seemed really interested in us. How they treated us like royalty. How they handled EVERYTHING from the cake to the band to the DJ, we didn't have to answer a single query or question all night, they handled every single thing. I can't say enough about the food, the atmosphere, the room decorations, the sheer gorgeousness of the place, I really can't. They did themselves proud, every single member of staff. I'm so happy we picked there to have our wedding, they exceeded all of our expectations and I would recommend them wholeheartedly to future brides and grooms.
We had the speeches before the meal (32 minutes in case you had any bets!) and they went really well. Both Dads did a great job and H2B's speech was excellent. He didn't seem nervous at all and he said some lovely things about yours truly. Of course though, I let the side down by blubbing when it was time for my speech. I had controlled myself in the church, but at the speeches I wasn't strong enough and I bawled like a child. I was thanking our photographers, my friends, for agreeing to be behind the lens for us on our special day and it really got to me. Cos it really DID mean so much to have them there. That added to the fact that as I started to speak my brain went 'hang on, you're about to read your WEDDING SPEECH' meant that I broke down about two sentences in. However, after a little tear and a hug from my Mam, I managed to go on and got a nice round of applause.
The dinner was perfect, really tasty and the wine flowed freely. Everywhere we looked there were people eating and drinking and there was a great buzz in the air. So hats off to the chef. Of course nobody is going to say to a bride on her wedding day 'God that dinner was rotten' but judging by the empty plates going back, it wasn't too bad anyway!
After that, it was party time. I'm nearly finished now, by the way, honest to God. Ok, go on. Get a cup of tea to get you through the last bit. I'll wait.
Are you right?
Ok, on we go. The party. We had booked Goodfellas after crashing another wedding to see them (with permission!) and we were not disappointed. They were incredible. We've had so many compliments about the music, right from the first song people were on the dance floor, giving it socks and the music was brilliant. We danced the feet off ourselves and over and over people were coming up to us saying 'where did you FIND these guys?'. Our guests were blown away. We're so so happy we picked these guys, they went above and beyond for us (even getting me to do a guitar solo on my knees!) and entertained everyone for the whole night. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude. When they finished just after midnight, Gregg from Pro Dj's came on to keep the party started and also kept the dance floor full. He was excellent. No silly banter or stupid games, just excellent music and a full dance floor. That's all you need really isn't it? Our entertainment gets full marks from us, we had a ball.
All too soon though, the night was over and guests were leaving to go home or go to bed. I couldn't believe how fast the whole day went, it was like a blur. We had a few sambos and drinks in the residents bar but by then, about 4.30am, I was starting to droop and also feel a bit naseous from tiredness so had to go to bed. Getting out of the dress was a relief, as it was starting to pinch a bit and then hubby and I sat up for about half an hour chatting about the day. We fell asleep about 5am with no
whatsoever. I couldn't have even if someone had paid me a million euro, I was shattered, but sure we've the next few decades ahead of us to make up for that!All in all it was truly the best day of my life so far. The happiest day. The funnest day. The sweetest day. I've never laughed, danced, partied or smiled so much in my entire life and I'm delighted with myself with how well it all went. All the planning and worry was worth it, it really was. And best of all, I got a brand new shiny husband out of it. Whom I love more than life itself.
Not too shabby eh?
So here's a list of my suppliers:
Dress: Ruben Bridal, Calverstown County Kildare. Excellent service, wonderful women, highly recommend them.
Suits: Black Tie, Terenure. Not a single problem, suits were lovely, excellent service.
Rings: Martin Gear Jewellers Dorset Streeet Dublin. Incredibly talented jeweller, a gentleman, true professional.
Flowers: Absolutely Fabulous Flowers Celbridge. Beautiful flowers, excellent prices, lovely gentleman.
Bridesmaid/Flowergirl outfits: Off the peg in Debenham's Henry Street. Great selection, great prices.
Hair: Christine Murphy from Snips and Lips. Wonderful, brilliant, top of her game. She was just fantastic.
Church: St Patrick's Church Celbridge. Everyone there was so nice and helpful, with everything.
Church singers/organist: Joan and Evelyn from St Patrick's Church. Music was WONDERFUL and they're lovely ladies.
Car: Insyle Wedding Cards Naas. Lovely car, prompt service, highly recommend.
Videographer: Derek Wheeler D-Digital. Faded into the background, polite, helpful, did a great job. Haven't seen the DVD yet but will report back further when I see it.
Hotel: Trim Castle Hotel. Ten out of ten. Top notch. Truly remarkable service. We were blown away.
Band: Goodfellas. Just incredible. True musicians. You need to book this band, seriously, whatever price you're quoted, pay it. It'll be worth it.
DJ: Pro DJs. Fantastic. Great service. Highly recommend.
Ok, that's it, I'm finished now, if you've got this far you deserve a bloody medal! Here's a few pics anyway, just so you can have a goo!
great hotel too.... have been there for a few weddings, the room is great, food is fab too... Great pics, congrats on a fab day 
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