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!