So where to start....
Monday:
Had a fairly manic start to the week when we noticed our DD had chicken pox Monday morning! She had a few spots on her tummy and I jokingly said to DH “that looks like chicken pox” when he turned pale and told me the crèche had a sign up saying there’d been an outbreak of them that week. To say I had a nervous breakdown would be the understatement of the year!!
I didn’t know what to do! Luckily my Mum was staying with us (she lives in Spain normally) so she took DD to the doctor so I could go to work. Doc confirmed chicken pox (I’d been keeping everything crossed that it was just an outbreak of hives) and my stomach sank.
Didn’t have too much time to worry about it though as I was finishing up work for 4 weeks so was busy trying to wrap things up. Didn’t leave the office till 11pm that night but the relief of knowing I’d managed everything was so worth it.
Tuesday:
Spent most of Tuesday morning ringing our suppliers and letting them know our little one had chicken pox. I knew our church singer was pregnant and our photographer’s wife was pregnant too, so really wanted to make sure they’d already had the chicken pox so it wouldn’t be dangerous for them. Luckily nobody cancelled on us.
Then spent an anxious 3h at the hairdressers as I got my highlights done. It was the first time I’d tried them as I’d only found out 2 weeks earlier that my own hairdressers had shut down! Was delighted with the result though.
Picked up my bridesmaid from the airport that afternoon and we headed to our friends 30th. Was lovely doing something non-wedding related as I’d been starting to feel the stress of it!
Wednesday:
Little one still miserable with the chicken pox so we baked muffins and had lots of cuddles that morning.
In the afternoon we went for the bridesmaids fitting and faced another bit of drama here. The dress was a size too small! My poor bridesmaid! She was beside herself with worry and so upset. Now girls, she’s a gorgeous size 12 with legs to rival any model’s! But due to her living abroad she’d taken her own measurements, so obviously that’s where it went wrong and we were left with a dress a size too small.
The seamstress was an absolute gem though and was very matter of fact about it and reassured us that she had it all under control. (She did and the dress looked fab on the day!!)
Thursday:
We had lots of guests coming from abroad so I spent most of the day doing airport runs. The house was buzzing with wedding talk and excitement was definitely building up at this stage!!
Friday:
Got our mani & pedicure done that morning, nothing beats a bit of pampering!
Then headed for the final fitting for the bridesmaids dress. Had a lovely lunch with my bridesmaid and we spent the afternoon giggling about all times. We had a pre-wedding party that night in the house for all our friends and family coming from abroad so everyone was busy preparing for that. It all kicked off and the house was mad busy with people coming and going. We snuck off for an hour in between for the rehearsal and I got very emotional during the vows. The priest was great, cracking jokes the whole time to take the pressure off and put me at ease.
Got back to the house and continued celebrating. Everyone figured I wanted an early night so we started winding down around 10pm. The last guests filtered out around 11pm and we finished up cleaning the house by midnight.
I have to say sitting in my PJs with a cup of tea chatting to my Mum is one of those memories I’ll treasure forever.
Eventually headed to bed and couldn’t sleep for ages. Was really restless. At 3am I got up and wrote a letter to DH. Once I’d done that I felt much better and slept till around 7am.
Saturday: Our Wedding!!
Woke up bright and early humming “Going to the Chapel....”.
DH had gone home to his parents but as a surprise had prepared a yummy fruit salad and champagne for my breakfast. I certainly started the day in style! He also wrote me a lovely letter and bought me the most beautiful watch, so I was spoilt rotten! 
The only hick-up that morning was that my MUA/Hair stylist arrived 45 mins late. She had arranged to come with my photographer and as he didn’t want to be too early they changed the arrival time slightly. They were still there at 9am but from the trials I knew she was painfully slow doing my hair so I knew she had to be there at a certain time for us to be in the church on time, so I was on edge all morning.
My Maid of Honour and Bridesmaid arrived at 10am and headed over to the hairdresser across the road along with my Mum. If I could change one thing, I’d have got my hair done there too. Though I loved my hair on the day, the girls looked just as fab and it only took a fraction of the time! I loved our makeup and would have no hesitation recommending her for that. But would not have her do my hair again, as the stress I went through that morning really wasn’t worth it.
I’d pictured the morning of my wedding to be completely different. Relaxed and filled with excitement, having the craic with the girls and my Mum. Instead I was rooted to one spot for nearly 3h getting my hair and makeup done, panicking with each minute ticking by. Not good.
Anyway, once I was done and got my hands on another glass of bubbly I started relaxing a bit more. At around 1.20pm I finally got to put my dress on – Mum managed to break the metal hook on it and I had another little freak out – but that was it I was getting married!!
We had a lovely vintage car and I felt so proud sitting in the back of it with my little one all dressed up in our wedding gear! Even though she was still poorly and looking very “spotty”, poor pet really had a bad dose of it, she was still so excited. She kept saying “It’s the wedding day, it’s the wedding day!”.
As we drove out of the estate it really hit me that this was our wedding day and I was getting married and I just started welling up and couldn’t hold back the tears.Anyway, the ceremony was meant to start at 1.30pm and even though we only live 5 mins from the church there was no way I was getting there on time! I’m notorious for being late and everyone had taken bets as to how late I was going to be, so my one aim was to be on time and prove everyone wrong! Well, I proved everyone right and was 27 minutes late. I hated the fact that I was keeping everyone waiting on a very cold January day! The church was freezing apparently.
I didn’t notice on the day as I was glowing from inside! But did feel bad for my guests.Arrived at the church and all I remember is thinking, “Get me into that church, I don’t want to keep DH waiting a minute longer.” I was so emotional I kept bursting into tears. Freaked poor DH brother out completely and he quickly retreated back into the church to let our wedding singer know we were ready to start the music.
As the church doors opened and I saw how beautiful the church looked with the flowers and the candles I burst into tears again. And the tears kept flowing as the music started to “God Bless the Broken Roads”. Luckily it wasn’t just all tears as I burst out laughing when I nearly set my dress on fire with one of the lanterns (my dress was kinda big so hadn’t factored that in with the lanterns!)
The ceremony was so beautiful and the best bit for me was when our little one came up to light the unity candle with us. Made my day seeing her so excited to be up on the alter with us.
As it was a bitter cold day we didn’t spend too long taking pictures, which was great as we got more time to mingle with our guests. As a surprise my bridesmaid had arranged a balloon release for us. Seeing a hundred red heart balloons rise into the air was magical, especially against the backdrop of Trim Castle!
We had the speeches before dinner, which was great as I don’t think my poor mum would’ve enjoyed her dinner if we’d had them afterwards. She was so nervous about giving a speech but did an amazing job! Definitely got the tears flowing again! As did my hubby’s speech!
He’s not one for making sentimental speeches so really surprised me on the day. FIL and Best Man’s speeches had everyone in stitches!Dinner was amazing, just out of this world...or so I’ve been told! I didn’t have much of an appetite all day as I was too excited to eat! (Made up for it the next morning when I devoured the breakfast buffet!)
After dinner we mingled a bit and then the dancing kicked off, starting with our “slow-dance shuffle”, I want call it a first dance because there really wasn’t much dancing involved! We had Simon Casey as our band and he was fantastic!! The dance floor was packed all night.
Such a relief as I’d been having regular nightmares about the dancefloor staying empty all night. The dancing continued all night until the lights went on and we were kicked into the residence bar where the celebrations continued. I think we called it a night around 4.30am and it took poor hubby around half an hour to get me out of my dress!
Our wedding was everything I ever could have dreamed of and I loved every minute of it (except the getting ready bit!). I was really worried that after all the planning the day couldn’t live up to my expectations. But it was absolutely amazing!
Now if you’ve managed to read all this, you deserve to be rewarded with some photos! After all, we all know that wedding reports are all about having a nosey at the pics!
http://www.dawidzydorek.com/blog/
Also have some video links if you want to see them!
Trailer:
http://vimeo.com/36428402
Highlights:
http://vimeo.com/37487532
Dancing
http://vimeo.com/37540296
Supplier summary:
Dress & Bridesmaids Dresses – The Bridal Studio, Drogheda Laura in the Bridal Studio is such a gem! Absolutely loved my dress, even though it was nothing like I’d pictured! Laura gave me the courage to go for it and I didn’t regret it one bit. Felt like a princess on the day. And the girls looked fab in their dresses!!
Photographer – Dawid Zydorek http://www.dawidzydorek.com Really, really happy with our photos!! Love his style as it’s so natural and not staged looking. Very good value as well for the package we got. Would have no hesitation in recommending him!
Make up & hair – Beata Augustyniak (http://www.bastudio.pl) Would recommend her 100% for make-up. She’s an absolute pro when it comes to doing make-up. And I loved my hair, it just took ages! However, if you’re not under time pressure she won’t disappoint.
Bridesmaids & MOB hair – Ben Garry (Trim) Fantastic service and their hairstyles lasted all night!
Car – AKP Chauffeur Drive (http://www.kpcd.ie/) So glad we got the car! Felt like a proper bride in it.
Flowers –My MIL did an absolutely amazing job!! The flowers were so beautiful. I wish I had more photos of them!
Cake – Creative Cakes (http://www.creativecakes.ie/) Yum, yum, yum!! Gorgeous tasting and gorgeous looking cake!
Cake Topper – eBay I love a bit of bling so couldn’t resist this Swarovski monogram!
Flowergirl dress – TK Maxx, fantastic value!
Candles - http://www.kellietdesigns.ie/ Beautiful candles and great value!
Band – Simon Casey Band (http://www.simoncasey.ie/weddings.html) What can I say, it’s Simon Casey! The novelty factor alone meant I had a huge grin on my face when he started singing! At the interval Simon came over to talk to me and all I could see was my Maid of Honour jumping up and down in the background mouthing “You’re talking to Simon Casey!!!” So funny! Apart from that of course he’s an excellent entertainer. A true professional. He can read the crowd instantly and knows what to play to keep the dance floor full all night. You won’t be disappointed if you book him!
Church Music – Claire Sheerin with Tom Sheerin on violin (http://www.clairesheerin.com/) Claire has such a beautiful voice. She was a pleasure to deal with from the beginning and helped us choose some beautiful pieces for our wedding music. She also learnt 3 new songs for us and together with Tom playing the violin really made the music magical!
Videographer – Make My Day Productions (http://www.makemydayproductions.com/) Absolutely fantastic. It was a pleasure working with Brendan from start to finish. LOVE our DVD! DH wasn’t sold on booking a videographer for the wedding initially as he felt it was a waste of money but he has changed his mind completely after seeing the DVD! Definitely worth it!!
Alterations – Oksana Mustuk (Drogheda) – Amazing seamstress and very good value!!
Men’s Suits – Pat O’Byrne (Trim) – Great service.
Rings – Voltaire Diamonds (http://voltairediamonds.ie/) Great value and we were able to create our own design for the rings.
Church – St. Patrick’s Church, Trim, County Meath
Venue – Trim Castle Hotel (http://www.trimcastlehotel.com/) They really do have weddings down to a T! Absolutely 100% professional in what they do. Really, really happy we picked Trim Castle as our venue!
Invitations – Stupid Sexy Flanders! What can I say, she’s brilliant! Had so many compliments on the invitations!
Video Booth – Best Wishes (http://www.bestwishes.ie/) My Maid of Honour organised this for our wedding present! We got the DVD in the post the other day and were in hysterics watching it. Sooooo funny!
Kids Entertainment – We had organised 2 girls who worked in DD crèche to look after the kids at the wedding. We had 7 babies and toddlers at the wedding and the girls from crèche did a brilliant job looking after them. We didn’t have to worry about DD for one second!
h2b isnt mad on the idea of a video but we have enough in the budget to do it!! 
