The Wedding Diaries: Dawn of the Wedding Day

As a photographer one of my favourite parts of a wedding day is the Getting Ready. When all the Bridesmaids and the groomsmen separately prepare for the day it’s always an interesting time for photographs. The nervous bride, the camaraderie between the groomsmen, the multiple inevitably failed attempts at pinning on a buttonhole… It’s a really interesting dynamic to observe. The bridal prep is always the bigger job and brides often start incredibly early in the day yet always seem to run late. After observing the pitfalls so many times however I could be certain that wouldn’t be me!

In fact I was in a particularly good position as, having had our first look the day before, I had already put the dress on and got myself dolled up within the previous 24 hours. So when I woke up (early more from excitement than the rush to be ready) I wasn’t in the least bit worried. I was well rested and raring to go!

The morning of the wedding I awoke feeling pretty nervous. Not so much about the actual getting married part but more the fact that I felt woefully underprepared for the day. I had gotten to bed incredibly late (again!) having been in the restaurant until the early hours with several of our friends setting up for the reception. The knock-on effect had also been that although my speech was basically written I hadn’t actually rehearsed and learnt it… at all! As public speaking is something I have always feared this weighed somewhat heavily on my mind. This wasn’t the only thing I hadn’t been able to finish however…

I had wanted to give Dom a wedding present she would remember. I’d decided I would mix something deeply personal with something a little bit more fun for her and had it all planned out months before the wedding. I was going to make her a special video message to see on the morning of the wedding which I would present to her on an iPad which I knew she wanted. Things had not exactly gone to plan. Not only had Apple announced a new shinier version of the iPad the day I had gone In to buy one (leading me to have to delay the purchase and meaning I didn’t physically have a gift to give her) but I had also run short of time and also hadn’t had access to the video equipment when I needed it in La  Palma, so hadn’t. Been able to make the professional all singing all dancing video I had planned. What I did have however was a piece of music and two iPhone videos I had made for her the day before… And no time to cut it together… I was feeling a little desperate!

It was massively exciting when my girls arrived to help me get ready. There was, to be honest, lots of hugging and talking and very little activity for quite some time. It was all quite relaxed really, we chilled and had a nice time, a little cereal and slowly started preparing. Recently (and I blame my friend Helen Guy for this) I have been getting a lot more into my makeup so I did spend quite a while getting that sorted but everything was still on track.

As our photographer wandered around looking for some activity to photograph i was still rooted firmly to my computer, praying that my editing suite would speed along faster than it usually did and get the video exported!! My attention was only drawn away occasionally by the rather more frantically active father of the bride who had now arrived and was busying himself with some nice last minute panicking. He was, alarmingly though, rather more dressed than I was!

With my makeup perfected I sent my brother Liam over to the guy’s apartment with a little pressie for Matt! Not before making sure Ed, our photographer was fully briefed though… I didn’t want to miss seeing the expression on Matt’s face!

Having finally managed to transfer the finished video onto my own iPad (with a built in apology as to why it wasn’t HER iPad) I’d finally managed to jump in the shower just before the boys arrived. We’d told our groomsmen that all they needed was a white shirt and light tan trousers and that we’d provide the rest… They were surprisingly pleased when I presented them with their brightly coloured shoes and matching bow ties and braces! They were looking awesome though which was a huge relief: we really hadn’t been sure whether it would work! Little tip though: if you’d going to specify “light tan” then do make sure they all interpret that as the same colour!!

Before we could get too far though Liam interrupted carrying my wedding present from Dom… A box that looked suspiciously familiar. Upon opening it my suspicions were confirmed, she’d bought me something I had ALWAYS wanted and I loved it instantly!

So things were all going to plan and right on schedule. That is until Liam returned from the guys apartment. He brought good news: the Slide Trumpet (aka a miniature but fully playable Trombone) that I had bought Matt had gone down extremely well! I was especially pleased as it had been an absolute nightmare to track down for my brass instrument loving husband-to-be (we met playing in a jazz band), and an even bigger pain to have inscribed for him! After telling me about it though Liam presented me with a box from Matt, a box that frankly played havoc with my schedule!

The video he’d made me was just lovely. He’d recorded his thoughts right before the first look as he stood there waiting for me, as well as what he was thinking about the night before. The contents of the video shall remain between myself, Matt and (as Matt was later embarrassed to find out) the MANY people in the room, but suffice to say there were a few tears and a little cursing as I rapidly had to re-apply my mascara!

After playing a little trombone (and realising just how out of practice I was!) I handed all the guys out a little gift from us: cufflinks we’d selected to reflect a memory we jointly shared with each of the recipients. We were ready to go and after a few pictures we boarded the bus ready to head off to the church. 

Matt’s video had put me well behind, and with three of the girls having been helping me into my dress I was only just going to make it! I started waiting anxiously for the car to arrive…

For a long time I’d been wondering about the bus. The roads up to the church were, from memory, incredibly windy and rather narrow and I couldn’t imagine how it was going to get up there, despite multiple assurances from the bus company. As I nervously waited for the bus to depart it seems the driver had the same realisation. We were promptly told we were going to have to go to the depot and change for a smaller bus… just what you want to hear when you’re already running slightly late!

The most special moment of the morning for me was when my dad saw me for the first time in my wedding dress. You don’t often see your dad get emotional but it was a wonderful moment to share. It’s funny in this day and age that the connotation of getting married is that responsibility for the bride is being handed from father to son-in-law, but in some ways it does still feel like a handover, like you’re no longer “daddy’s little girl” even though actually nothing has changed. It’s bizarre but beautiful at the same time! But there was no more time to enjoy moments like these, it was time to go see my very own groom…

If he ever and the guests ever made it to the church that is…