Wedding Forum - WE DID IT! RECAP with Student Photographer...

Hope you're having a fabulous day Katya!! Xx

WE DID IT! When I have the chance, I will update.....

Congratulations katya hope the day went as planned xx

love it Katya :)

The Planning:
The first thing we did was set the date, we always knew we would want to get married on our Anniversary, so the date was set & we agreed on Wednesday 25th March 2015. We had a lot of comments regarding the day of the week we had chosen, however as we kept saying… It’s not the day of the week that matters, it’s the Date that is important to us & we will be married on our 8th Anniversary.

The Ceremony Venue
We had always agreed that we would never get married in a Church as we are not religious & would feel like hypocrites if we were to even enquire. We also could not afford the costs involved in marrying in a hotel which is licensed for civil ceremonies as these costs were in excess of £450. The Ceremony was therefore conducted at Huntingdon Registry Office. The Venue cost £70 for our notices (£35 each). The Ceremony itself including the room costs were £170 & we decided to have two copies of the Marriage Certificate costing £8 (£4 each). There was no aisle in the room & the entrance to the room was at the side of the room.

The Reception Venue
we originally enquired about our local Masonic Hall. This would have cost us £125 for the whole day including one bar steward, due to our amount of guests we would need a second bar tender costing another £35 on top. They did not have their own catering & so we would have to use an outside catering company.

The Venue that we finally settled on however, was just down the road in the next village. We didn’t know it existed until it was suggested to us by another hotel. It is a beautiful riverside pub. The Ferry Boat Inn, situated in the hamlet of Holywell is the oldest Inn in England. We decided to pay the Inn a visit for Valentines 2014. We had a lovely meal & decided that we would like to view in daylight. We booked an appointment & a few days later we booked our new venue. The function room cost £65 to hire for the day, the one course meal was £7.95 per adult or £4.25 per child/small adults portion (40 guests including children).

The venue has only 7 ensuite bedrooms which were provisionally blocked booked out to us. We used five of the rooms in total. Two weeks after we booked & paid the deposit, my grandparents told us that the Ferry Boat Inn is the very same place that my great aunt Rene took them to for a meal for her anniversary the year before she died… we found this to be a sign that we were supposed to have booked this particular venue. So glad we did!



Bridal Outfit
I already had my Dress; this was bought about 6 weeks before finding out that I was pregnant with our youngest son Superman. The Dress was part of Alfred Angelo’s Dream in Colour Selection of dresses & is absolutely stunning! I fell in love with my dress when I saw it in a magazine years before I met H2B. It was the first dress out of about 20 that I tried on, & I loved it so much that they let me try it on again. The lady in the shop then said "what would you do if I told you couldn't have this dress" well my eyes started welling up & I was speechless. Her & my mum then said "that’s The Dress". I was upset though as they wanted a 50% deposit but I didn’t have that kind of money lying around. The dress was "off the rack" but fit perfectly, no alterations needed, was as if it had been made to measure for me! I went home and promptly burst into tears. H2B asked why I was crying & I told him he will think I’m being stupid & blonde if I told him (I’m not a dress person). In the end he called them and asked if they would mind doing a payment plan for me. They did and a few weeks/months later I got to take the dress

I also bought myself an Alice Band to go with it along with my veil which I had custom made to match the exact colour of the back & train of my dress. This was bought from a wedding veil company in the uk for £28

My Shoes came next & I spent a good few weeks searching the internet trying to find something I liked… I finally found these at the £5 website

I actually forgot to put my garter on but this was bought for £1.67 on the Bay & I attached a Silver Sixpence to it. It was a 1947 sixpence which is the last year they were made with silver apparently.

I bought a cape from China on the Bay; this is black velvet with a red lining on the inside. It is really warm & cost £26.

Watch £1.98 brand new from the Bay.

Decoration
Cake Topper – I wanted something that was in no way traditional & was something that my Husband liked. He is very much into skulls, skeletons, very gothic items. I found this ornament from Nemesis now & fell in love with it… It’s a little of my husband incorporated into the wedding without going over the top.

Goblets – I found these goblets on the Bay & thought that it might be nice to have some special ones for us; once again this was something I wanted to use to incorporate my husband’s personality into our day.

Centre Pieces – I wanted something simplistic & small so decided on wine glass lampshades.

Card Box – I decided to copy a design I found on the internet, I made it using lots of poster paint, 3 different sized boxes from hobby shop & some split pins. I made it to match the cake.


Transport
Next comes the Transport. This is my Husbands domain & so I wanted something special for him. He is obsessed with Vauxhalls & is a member of an owners club & we all meet up a couple of times a year for days out, museum trips etc. Well we met a man called Nick on one of these meets & he owns an old Police Spec Cavalier. It took me a couple of days to try to find out how to contact him without letting my Husband know. Nick agreed to be our transport & only charged us £60 purely to cover the fuel he would use (he was coming from Kettering). I informed one of our witnesses, Charlie about the plan, who agreed to try convincing Dean that the real Police had turned up asking for him!

The Cake
We were originally going to have a 3 tier cake made from ingredients that our eldest son could have as he is allergic to milk protein so cannot have anything such as butter cream filling/icing etc…. we were quoted £100 for this. However, I then won a competition through a forum called UKBRIDE. The prize included a 5 tier wedding cake, 150 cupcakes & a Candy buffet for 120! The prize was worth £1225! As our wedding colours were black & red, the cake itself was black & we had red ribbon matching the colour of my dress around each tier, secured with brooches. The cake was not made so that our eldest son could eat it so one of our Bridesmaids, Lovely Leesa, baked the children a cake covered in white icing & had the red ribbon round it secured with a brooch. During the cutting of the cake, we cut our cake & the children cut the cake made especially so our eldest can enjoy the cake too.

We supplied the cupcake stands.

We supplied the jars, tongs & scoops for the candy buffet. My Husband even made the stand for the jars & accessories. For the stand we used shop display boxes from a shop that was closing down, we painted them white & my husband made a couple of shelves to put lollies on too.

Photography
We wanted to have some decent photos to remind us of our day, but didn’t see the point in paying loads of money for a “professional”. The way we see it is a student will actually work harder to get the pictures perfect as they need the references. After much consideration we decided to contact Cambridge Regional College. We offered the student £30 to take photos from set up through to the Bride & her uncle dance (I don’t know my father so my Uncle did this with me). We offered the student a meal. We requested a disc of all images to be used & printed as we like. We stated that the student will be able to use the photos to build their portfolio & to be used in their final piece if they wish. We stated that upon receipt of all discs & images, we would provide them with a further £20 & a written reference for any future jobs. A 3rd year Student called Katherine came forward to accept this opportunity, when we met her we felt very comfortable, she was very professional & we were happy to book her!

Videography
We wanted to have a video that we could send to family that were unable to make our wedding day & once again we did not see the point in spending a lot of money on this when a student would work harder than a “professional” due to needing the references. We once again chose to contact Cambridge Regional College offering a student £30 to film from set up through to brides dance with uncle. We offered to pay for a meal for them. We wanted the student to pay close attention to our unusual vows & our speeches. We stated we would like a short version, long version & the unedited copy. We stated that upon receipt of the finished film we would provide them with a further £30 & a written reference for any future jobs. A 3rd year Student called Sabrine came forward to accept this opportunity & when we met her, we were felt very comfortable with her & were glad to be booking her.

Flowers
My Bouquet – This was made to my specifications. I had lots of red roses & a single blue rose in the centre as a way to have my great aunt Rene who died when I was a child, incorporated into our day. She always used to say to me “always remember seven yellow roses” & I always replied “and one blue one”. The bouquet was round with a few brooches on. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Bridesmaids Bouquets – These were simple, six ivory roses with a single red rose in the centre of each. £16.90

Buttonholes – These were made by the same lady that made my bouquet. They were red roses. My husband had a double red rose.

Entertainment
We were originally going to use the venues in house DJ but they decided to ignore our emails & calls & so we chose to use a different DJ. The DJ played music in the background during the meal. He played a song specifically to kick start the speeches as required (Pink – Raise your glass) & did a fantastic job during the evening.
Our children also wanted a photo booth so we had fun creating masks, moustaches, lips, signs etc., & buying items such as hats & wigs, blow up microphones, air guitars etc.

The Rings
We searched about 4 counties looking for rings that my husband liked. In the end we had them made to my husband’s design. We had these made by a company similar to the kissing company but it wasnt the kissing company, they cost us £1036.98 but they are one off. Specifically made for us, they are 9ct white gold with 9ct yellow gold square with a diamond in the centre of the yellow gold square.

As soon as we got to the venue my new husband took my shoes off before I got out of the car. We had some photos with family & also some photos with Nick who dressed up as a police officer for the occasion. My husband & I took a trip up to the bridal suite to tighten my dress & get my converse on.

We all sat down ready for the meal where there was a reading given to start & during this time the deed poll was signed for my new husband to legally double barrel his name. The meal was ok, not as good as it was when we first tried it, but they didn’t skimp on the meat, but there was definitely less on the plate than there was during the tasting. Overall much as it wasn’t as good as before, no one had an issue with it. After the meal the DJ put the song on that we requested to kick start the speeches (pink – raise your glass). A family member of mine did the father of the bride speech as I don’t know my father…. This was lovely, it was all about how when I was little I asked why my friends weren’t allowed to splash in puddles & yet I was. At the time I was told that it’s because their parents didn’t know what towels were for. By the time I got older I never asked again, but if I had the answer would have been that splashing in puddles & dancing in puddles is the closest you can get to dancing with the stars due to the reflection in the puddle water… it ended with my husband being told to always find the biggest puddle & go splashing in them with me because I deserve to dance with the stars. The speech came along with a framed picture created by my children & lovely Leesa.

Then it was my turn, I thanked everyone for coming, I gave out gifts to the wedding party & I informed all of our guests regarding the hard times we went through a couple of years previously, about how we had something happen in my family that tore us apart, how my husband saved the lives of two of my family members & how not being allowed to talk about it put a lot of pressure on us & we realised that fighting to keep our family safe was not enough. How we were forced by the few friends that knew about the hard times we were going through to take time for ourselves, to make sure there was a relationship left to fight for & how having gone through all of that we have come to realise that you should never underestimate the power of a relationship break down & how we have come through it all much stronger than we were before. I finished my speech by presenting a wedding card to my new husband from his idol, Mr John Cleland. This made my husband cry! He loves it so much that he has now framed it & hung it on our living room wall! He kept asking how I managed to contact Mr Cleland!

Then came the turn of my husband, he thanked everyone again for coming & raised a toast to lost friends and family. He talked about how our best person has a secret obsession on a night out, involving inspecting drains with her face at very close quarters. He told me how beautiful I was & how I had made him the happiest man alive.

Then it was the turn of our best person Steph. She made a few jokes about them growing up & getting drunk, the usual sort of stuff.

Whilst Steph was doing her speech, our youngest son, 5 years old, decided he too wanted to make a speech; he stood up on his chair & spoke straight into the microphone stating that he likes weddings because he likes them & thanked everyone! It was so cute & so unexpected! He then handed the microphone back to Steph who asked everyone to make their way through to the main bar area so that the room can be turned around for the evening reception.

My only regret of the day was waiting for our “best Person” to arrive; this is not because of anything negative against her, simply because waiting for her put us two hours behind schedule meaning that we didn’t have the time we needed to get ready. My husband agrees that we should have just gone to breakfast without her & her wife & have them meet us there. This too was his one regret; he wanted to polish the car but simply didn’t have time after breakfast.

The part of the day that my husband most enjoyed was the end of the night when we were looking through the guestbook & cards, as this then led to consummating the marriage! Much as I very much enjoyed this part too…. I loved the moments when I gave my husband his first married gift from me, his card from John Cleland, this is the point where he cried, he thanked me for everything I had done, thanked me for remembering who his idol was & finding a way to contact him & manage to get hold of something so unique & personal that there will never be another one like it, just the expression on his face… he didn’t have the words… I not only made him cry but I made him speechless…. He is so very proud of this gift that he has framed it & placed it on our wall for all to see!

It is now Wednesday 1st April 2015, exactly one week after we got married! We still have loads of cake, more than a tray left of cupcakes, I have frozen two tiers of wedding cake, sent family home with a 3rd tier, have sliced one tier & still have another uncut! We have LOADS of sweets left over from the Candy Buffet, some still in sealed packets! We have been out for our first married date night, have had movie nights in eating the candy buffet. We are already planning our next date night to go to watch Furious 7. We have been giving plenty of cake away. We took 70 bags of sweets to our children’s school for them to hand out to their class mates; each bag had one of each sweet in it. We have changed our names at the bank, child benefit office, car insurance, truck insurance, a few bills, and a few other insurances. We have had a house inspection & bribed them with cake to say that the house is in a reasonable state considering we just got married & all wedding items were just dumped in our living spaces. Our washing machine broke so we can’t do any washing until it’s fixed. We also received our first post in our married names today! We have also put my ring in to be resized & it should be ready on the 16th April!

I can’t wait to see our professional photos & wedding video…. We have been sent a short version of the video already but I really can’t wait to see the full version!

Enjoyed reading this :) your day sounds fabulous. Big congratulations.. enjoy married life!! x

thank you flossie! all in all it was much better than we expected, the amount of people that said to us its the first wedding they had been to where there wasnt a punch up, the first family gathering on my husbands side where we were not ignored the entire time.. it could have gone so much worse than it did, i got so many compliments regarding my planning & how i did an amazing job! it truely was amazing.... although my husband has stated "now just watch how quickly my brother gets married" meaning his brother, my brother in law... they are not even engaged yet but always do seem to try to upstage us somehow.... although... i really wont be bothered too much as there is no way they will be able to out do our amazing day... it was simply perfect for us.... it doesnt matter if our guests didnt like bits of it... it was simply perfect for us & thats what matters!

Sounds like you had a fantastic day :)

and you are right, your day is about you and it sounds like your guests enjoyed it, so if there were little bits that weren't quite them it doesn't matter as it wasn't their day anyway it was yours. If his brother does rush to get married it won't change what an amazing day you had.

Wow sounds like you had an amazing day. Congratulations x

It sounds like you had an amazing day! Congratulations! :) x

Big congrats Katya, you made it!

oh wow! this was so lovely to read, you have captured every moment and described it perfectly :) thankyou for sharing it with us, sounds like you had the best day ever :) xx

Really enjoyed reading this Katya, congratulations to your and your hubby! Hope me and my OH enjoy our day as much as you enjoyed yours xxxx

Lovely read, congratulations again x

Thank you hun. Congratulations to you too!

thank you hun, it was lovely!

3 wks tomoro! I know its crazy.... absolutely NOTHING has changed..... Hmmm.... LOL

I am signing in to see if I stated when the photo album for parents arrived... so i know how long it is likely to take my wedding photo album will take to get here. In the meantime I have discovered a way to get stills from the video so here is a couple of photos of my husband when I gave him his card from John Cleland...