The ceremony - continued!

Welcome back dear reader! As you now know, James and I were married at this point. The deed has been done, everyone was crying and laughing and maximum drama and campiness quotient had been reached. We spent the next hour with our fabulous photographers and all of our friends. Steven and Josh don’t normally do formal shots at weddings anymore, but as we had asked they had graciously agreed to do so. I had created a shot list of 30, and Louise agreed to be crowd marshal, group organizer and in all round in charge person to help things on their way. The group shots went perfectly and I can’t wait to see them. Many thanks to Steven and Josh for doing them! After that was complete, the James and I headed off for the romantic photographs to be taken. We went to various locations around Winder Hall and had a great time! I suspect you will see many vomit inducing images of James and I gazing adoringly at each other. We rejoined our guests a short while later for a drink.

In the meantime the dining room at Winder Hall was being prepared. The fabulous team of Nick and Co transformed it into an amazing banquet hall for our guests. At 4.30pm on the dot, the call for dinner was made and all of our guests went and took their seats. Nick then called us into the room and everyone cheered. I cried…of course! Dinner was just amazing. You can find the menu on a previous blog post which details all 6 courses. The staff commented later that they had never served so many courses to so many people before, so I am pleased that we gave them a new experience too! The service and food was all beyond our wildest dreams! As course rolled into course, and everyone began to feel exceptionally stuffed, the champagne and speeches began. First toast was to our parents and their memories. As they are all now deceased it was a poignant moment that brought some more tears to many. Next up was my sister, Jane, who gave a great speech, telling many funny stories about me, and also reminding everyone of the fact that I am so much younger than her!

After that came Lisa and Ilona, the two “Best Men/Women”. They both gave really love speeches that made me blub even more and it was a very special moment to have them both with us. Sonia performed the role of “compere” and introduced all of the speeches with some of her comedic skills. James then read a letter that had been sent by my friend Simon and finally it was time for James and me to give our speeches and toasts to each other. A fab time was had by all! With the final course done it was time for a short break for everyone. We had listed this on the order of the day as “Powder Your Nose Hour”, so everyone disappeared off back to their respective rooms, hotels, corners of the world, and started to change for the evening. James and I took the opportunity to get out of our lovely suits and into blazers, khakis and some fun bright ties. I could be seen wearing an electric pink polka dot tie with a blue check shirt, while James sported an electric orange polka dot tie with a bright green striped shirt. No-one was going to lose us tonight!

The evening started at 8.30pm with the cutting of the cake. Steven and Josh had been busy doing portraits of everyone, and now with everyone ushered back into the hotel it was time to plunge the knife! The cake, made by the wonderful Lizzie, was a single tier fruit cake, adorned with blue ribbon, diamante, and sugar roses. I was a little nervous about the cutting part, but Nick assured us that all we had to do was to sink the knife in and they would do all the rest. Flash guns popped, everyone cheered, and the cake luckily stayed in one place neatly speared by the cake knife. It was all very dramatic and I felt like I had just harpooned Jaws or something with all the commotion that was going on around me. Almost immediately Nick called for the first dance and James and I took our positions on the dance floor. We had chosen “Tell Him” by Barbara Streisand and Celine Dion (of course!) and for the next few minutes we swayed and danced away with our guests staring to join us after the first chorus. Many years ago when James and I first met, we had sat listening to this song in the dark one night and it holds very special meaning to both us. Did I mention that I cried as well?

And with that, the evening was well and truly on its way. We danced, drank, ate more from the buffet and it seems that everyone had a great time. It was so nice to see all of our friends chatting, laughing and re-cementing old friendships that had been re-discovered. A magical night!

Morning came soon and before we knew what was going on it was time for “The Morning After”, a reception at the Winder Hall for everyone to re-convene and have tea, coffee, and cake. Some people had already departed as they had long drives ahead of them, but we still had around 20+ people come see us. There were a few bleary eyes from the previous night’s festivities but everyone was in great spirits! Emails were swapped, phone numbers exchanged, and gradually people started to make their way home or too the pub for lunch. We headed to the Wheatsheaf once more for lunch with those that were left and spent a leisurely afternoon just relaxing and chatting. The perfect end to the event!

Next event was on Sunday evening. We had reserved a table at The Kirkstile Inn, just about 10 minutes’ drive away for Lisa, Joel, Sonia, George, Jane, Mike, James and me. More food was just what the doctor ordered (not!) so we of course rose to the occasion and ate once more. We also sat down and worked out the new family tree! I now legally have two daughters (well in the UK at least – Sonia and Lisa), and I am also now legally a Grand Father too as Lisa has to fab kids, Jonathan and Julia. Grandpa at 43! My heavens! We also worked out that my sister is now Aunt to Lisa and Sonia, and that makes her a Great Aunt to. It was a lot of fun, and it is quite interesting to think how the family has now grown by quite a bit on both sides. I shall have to work on a new Christmas card list I can see!

And with that, the evening and the weekend drew to a close. I can’t even begin to recount how lovely it was and how special the whole event was. To think that James and I are now “legal” is amazing. Having our friends with us for the whole weekend was such a special treat, and I thank them all for coming and spending the time with us. I can’t wait to see the photographs which will help preserve the memories forever! There is one more day to blog about, the Monday, where we all had fun in London, and I’ll write about that soon. But until then,

Big Love to all!

D&J