Our wedding, the ceremony.

T H E   M I L L H O U S E    S K I D B Y    T W O   P M

Get ready for the second instalment of our wedding day! If you need to catch up on part 1, click here. This post is going to be even more mammoth than the last and I still feel like I've left things out!! I've written a post before about the process of finding our wedding venue, I'll link that here so I'm not repeating myself! Now the day has been and gone I really feel like I can stand by my views that it was our perfect venue. 

I loved seeing these pictures of our guests mingling (and Sam sipping pints bought by his uncles!) as we were driving around in our camper van. We had set off a little early in the end so we drove around the surrounding villages, chatting, laughing and dancing (again!). 

This was our ceremony room at the Millhouse, we both wanted something super simple, I'm not a fan of chair covers and since our venue had lovely chairs anyway I feel like they weren't missed. The S & J were a not on the high street find that moved into the wedding breakfast room and have now come to rest on our living room bookshelf!

A R R I V A L

Arriving at the venue was another of my favourite memories (who am I kidding, they're all my favourite) as I imagined all the guests and Sam stood inside knowing we were arriving, and the sense of anticipation I've had when I've been a wedding guest. It's a feeling like no other knowing that in such a short time youre going to be married to your best friend. 

The pictures above of me and my brother will always hold a funny memory for me as we were taking pictures holding hands then realised it may look like we were the ones getting married! I don't know who would think that since anyone seeing these pictures would know otherwise but maybe the nerves had caused us to be a bit hysterical and we snatched our hands away and couldn't stop laughing. 

I had to be comfy on my wedding day, I love my silver sparkly converse! 

 Sam and his brother Colin who was also his best man.

I love the candid shots Henry got of the crowd as even a few days after the wedding on our honeymoon Sam and I couldn't for the life of us remember where people were sat, and Sam had even been chatting to most people as they were awaiting my arrival! 

H E R E   C O M E S   T H E   B R I D E 

 This is the moment the song I walked down the aisle to began to play, the first time all morning I felt I was going to cry, I don't think I did but i certainly welled up. My bridesmaids preceded me to give me a bit of a chance to breathe and then it was our turn.

I could cry all over again looking at these pictures now. Everyone was shocked that my brother cried all the way down the aisle, although as I mentioned in my previous post, it became a theme for the day! My brother gave me away and despite not having a dad and knowing i wouldn't have a father of the bride to give me away its a tradition I wanted to uphold. Not because I think I'm property, I knew it was a memory I wanted to share with my brother and I also knew i'd need someone to hold me up! 

I can't remember exactly but I think the first thing Sam said to me as we got to the top of the aisle was something to do with how perfect my dress was, and I gave myself a slight pat on the back. 

R E A D I N G

 Sam's sister, Laura did a reading for us and it was so special to have her doing it. She read 'Blessing for a marriage' by James Dillet Freeman. It was a reading that really spoke to us as it talks of equality and being there for each other, although not from need.

The first picture of my very attractive 'you what?' face was when Sam pretended not to know which hand the ring went on. We had a few laughs throughout the ceremony which set the tone for the day how we wanted it. Relaxed and fun. I am still getting made fun of for my 'today, tomorrow and... always?!' blunder as I couldn't remember what the registrar had just said. Lot's of 'weren't you sure about the always part Jacq??' 

O F F I C I A L L Y    M A R R I E D ! 

The first footprint Sam managed to get on my dress and realised, wow, I really don't care because OMG WE'RE MARRIED!!!

O U T   W E   G O

We did actually do some confetti at this point although it was a slight fail as the staff only handed about half out, it was rectified later when we had another go after the wedding breakfast so I don't dwell on it! It was the one thing that went a teeny bit wrong on the day so I think we did well for that!  We had a few moments of mingling and hugging and me feeling like I was going to cry with every new person I spoke to before heading off for the family pictures while everyone got their drinks and mingled. 

We didn't want a whole heap of posed pictures so tried to stick to just family and bridal party, I kind of hate the whole idea of shepherding the whole wedding into place for pictures of everyone together where you can barely see peoples faces. I'm really pleased with these photos that we got as they're perfect for us and our families to keep and treasure. 

After this we went off for a few pictures alone and then it's on to the reception, and another post! Phew, I'm sure you're saying. This was quite a read!

 Just like our engagement shoot, Sam kept me laughing all the way through out pictures, I love this about him as obviously, not being a Kardashian, I'm not used to being photographed throughout my day!

Onto the reception, and some golden hour photographs of Sam and I that I think I'll cry over until I'm old and grey! See you in the next one! 

Our wedding, the morning. 26/04/2017.

We only went and did it! We got married on Wednesday the 26th April, all that planning and build up and now we're over a month past it! One month as a married couple. I'm going to do a few blog posts to share some of our pictures from our talented photographer Henry Lowther. 

G E T T I N G   R E A D Y

I woke up on the morning of the wedding at about 5am, in a lovely little cottage about 10 minutes from our venue, knowing what a long day we had ahead of us I was terrified that I wouldn't get back to sleep but I actually did! My mum kept commenting about just how calm I was all morning. I felt totally chilled and kept being able to step back and look at what was happening around me.
I was having random flutters of excitement as Unity, our hairdresser arrived and began work on my mum and my bridesmaids. Then Henry arrived and it was my turn to get curled and braided and pinned.
    My Doctor Who garter was the one subtle hint as to Sam and I's meeting story, through a love of the show, we didn't want to do a theme as I feel like so much can get lost, this was my little secret.

 E L E V E N   T H I R T Y

My brother arrived around this time and this was when I was getting my hair done so I could really look around and survey what was going on, I think it was around this time that Sophie, my chief bridesmaid shoved some crumpets into my hands (on a plate) lathered in biscoff spread demanding I eat something. I'd completely forgotten! It was also then that I realised we hadn't offered drinks to the hairdresser or Henry, oops!

After Henry had taken pictures of us getting ready, chatting and dancing he went off to get some pictures of my dress, after some frantic searching for the wooden hanger i'd remembered just the evening before to borrow from my grandparents!

D R E S S 

I knew this was the dress for me when I didn't want to take it off in the shop, despite it being clamped onto me as bridal sample sizing is so strange. 

M A K E   U P

I had chosen quite last minute to get my make up done professionally having always insisted I would do it myself. The more I thought about it the more worried I was that id be too nervous to do a good job of it on the day. As it turns out nerves weren't an issue but it did feel special getting my make up done for the day. Ellie, my make up artist was wonderful and really listened when I said I wanted to look like myself.
I did my Mum's make up on the day which was so lovely as i'd done the same on my hen, joking that it was her trial.

We need to discuss how bloody cool my sister in law Harri looks in that top photo there. I am obsessed with her hair and style and the way it looked with the flower crowns I bought from Etsy was just amazing, people kept talking to me about how great the bridesmaids looked and I couldn't agree more! There will be more pictures coming later of their full attire. The picture of me in my amazing ASOS pyjamas is as the florist arrived with our bouquets. I was SO excited to see them. 

F L O W E R S 

I was instantly in love with the flowers as soon as I saw them and I knew Sarah our florist would have done an amazing job with the venue as well. 

T R A N S P O R T 

Before we knew it the transport to get us to the venue arrived! Where we were staying could be quite difficult to find so id asked them to come a little early but I was still in my pjs. Obviously its not like a taxi on a meter so I wasn't too concerned about this. I love this camper van, Flossy, so much and she was perfect for us all to pile in together to get to the venue. I really wanted to travel all together so we could calm each others nerves and VW camper vans have always been a huge part of our lives with my Mum having owned a few of her own in her time. Sam travelled in a Rolls Royce ghost but sent it away before we could get any pictures! 

T R A N S F O R M A T I O N    C O M P L E T E

Time to complete my transformation into a bride! That final picture is my look of disbelief as I saw myself as a bride for the first time. I had seen myself in my hair and make up after the trial and in my dress I don't know how many times as it was altered etc but seeing everything together is definitely surreal. I really wanted the calmness of my Mum helping me into my dress. She is the person, other than Sam, who I can rely on in my most panicked moments. The excitement still outweighed the nerves through the whole morning however at this stage it was definitely wow, its all happening that was floating around my head. 

Only my mum had seen my dress so this definitely felt like my walking through the fog, tonight Matthew I'm going to be a bride moment. My brothers emotions really surprised me but, as you'll see in the next few posts, it was definitely a theme for the day! 

After this, it was on to the ceremony, and finally some pictures of Sam! Sam and his brother/ best man stayed about 40 minutes from us so unfortunately there aren't any pictures of him getting ready, although he assures me all they did was eat a very large hotel breakfast, lounge around for a while, and then shower. He had it so easy! 

See you again soon for the ceremony!