On Saturday the 27th May 2017, Helen and I tied the knot!
The night before, we met up with some close friends and family for a meal at The Vicarage, where Helen was already checked in to the bridal suite. An odd suite where the bathroom was massive, maybe even slightly larger than the master bedroom itself. After dinner we said our goodbyes, I went home to sleep and Helen stayed in the hotel, the next time I’d see her she’d be walking down the aisle.
Saturday morning started like any other, the ceremony wasn’t until 4pm, so I had plenty of time to get in touch with everyone and do some final checks, speaking to the venue, the florist, the baker, the band and more, just to make sure everything would go smoothly. Another run through of my speech, a quick trip to-and-from the venue, and playing taxi for a stranded guest, and I started getting ready with my best man Tom.
We got to our venue, The Swettenham Arms, shortly after 3pm, spoke to the owners, checked out the flowers provided by Charlotte Rose Florists and other decorations, then met with the photographers SMH Photography and started posing for pictures. We were then ushered inside around 3:45pm, to start getting ready for the arrival of the Bride.
Helen arrived on time, and giggled so loudly just outside the entrance that a third of the guests heard her before they saw her. The music started playing, the wrong song first (thanks Tom, you had one job), then Helen was walked down the aisle by Josh, our Honorary Father of the Bride and preceded by Claire the Bridesmaid. Helen looked like a Princess in every way except that she couldn’t stop laughing as she walked down the aisle.
Helen walked down the aisle to Savage Garden – Truly Madly Deeply.
The ceremony was short and sweet, no-one objected, Helen said yes, then struggled to get the ring on my finger, announcing to the guests that I had a “massive knuckle” that was “too big”. But once all that was done, we signed the registry, and were officially Husband and Wife.
We walked out to Tonight Alive – Safe and Sound.
After this, everyone had a quick drink of bucks fizz, then we gathered back up for some group photos and to play with confetti. Then the photographers took us off in to the woods for some vanity shots while everyone else made themselves comfortable in the bar. When we returned, it was time to sit down for dinner.
For starter there was a confit of chicken & duck terrine (fruit salad for the vegetarians), then for main a saddle of lamb with stuffing, sauté potatoes and broccoli (mushroom risotto for the vegetarians), and finally a meringue nest with chantilly cream and seasonal berry compote for dessert. The real dessert was the selection of wedding cakes however, a chocolate cake, a victoria sponge, and a lemon drizzle, which we cut and served everyone a slice of each. These were served after the speeches once everyone had a chance to let the main meal settle. The food was amazing and the portions were massive, everyone was sufficiently stuffed, and the venue did a fantastic job of making sure our special eaters (2 vegetarians, 1 vegan, 1 coeliac, and 1 basil allergy) were taken care of so well that some people on the main meals expressed jealousy when the other meals came out!
After dinner it was time for the speeches, thanks to Josh, Claire and Tom for giving great entertaining speeches. All the speeches are available for guests to download from this page (this is a protected page for guests only).
Once all the speeches were done, everyone got acquainted with the bar once again, chatting away while the room was turned round, some people that still had space after dinner had a few cookies from the wedding favours desk (we had 4 different flavours of cookies and a stack of paper bags as wedding favours for everyone to take a couple home). Then once the room was turned around, no wedding would be without the evening disco. OKTC, our band, did a great job of getting everyone on the dance floor, and by the end of the night, everyone was full of food, merry from drink, tired from dancing, and happy from the great company!
Our first dance was to Queens of the Stone Age – Make It Wit Chu.
All of the photos taken at the wedding are available for guests to download from this page (this is a protected page for guests only). Note that all images on this page are very high resolution (for personal print purposes), so can take some time to download (they range from 6MB to 10MB).
Thanks again to everyone who shared the day with us, we’ll never forget it!
