Wedding of the year

Last weekend two of my oldest friends got married. We were in the same class at school from the age of 11 and would grow to be best friends still now.

I am not one to usually cry at weddings, but the night before writing our class name on the card sparked an inner pang of emotion. The wedding has also been a long time coming, the happy couple having got engaged in the spring of 2009, and they first got together in the summer of 2002!

The venue was three places over the day, registry, restaurant and hotel for party. The registry is in a great old building in a town not too far from where we grew up (a bus was laid on to take guests from a local venue, a surprise for me was that the groom was on the bus!) Here I am arriving;

Once the bride arrived she looked amazing, as all brides do! But there was such a feeling of pride that it had all come together and such a long time of preparation was about to pay off.

Once we were all congregated and she'd walked down the aisle and started saying vows, I'm not sure at which point I started crying - but I did! It then came thick and fast and by the time 'stand by me' came on for the signing of the registry I was a goner! My best friend standing court as a bridesmaid also looked over at me and laughed - also looking a bit teary, which made me even worse!

Once I got over this it was off to the wedding breakfast venue for pre-cocktails. Much needed as it was such a hot day and I needed to shake the emotion! Once we went into the breakfast the table settings were great we each had a chocolate with the bride and grooms name on, scratchcard and donation to breast cancer for the girls, and cancer research UK for the boys. More and more people are doing this and it's a really nice touch.

The food was amazing, duck pate followed by roast chicken with all the trimmings and vanilla cheesecake. I had another tear during the speeches - all three were excellent. The best man in particular (another great friend from the same class of 1997!) was working the room confidently and provided humour accessible by all. Very well done on what I'm sure is a very tricky task.

The bus back to the hotel for the reception was a sleepy affair! full of food, champagne and cocktails we definitely needed a second wind. As my parents live near the venue I was not staying in the hotel - a shame as I really fancied a quick power nap! It was a lovely evening so when we arriving there around 7 we could sit in the grounds - here I am with the beautiful bride!

Alex (housemate) Beautiful Bride and Myself

The room was decorated fab for the party, and something I think more people should do there was a guestbook on the way in which a whole page per guest. My writing took a bit of ribbing by a certain guest who then proceeded to spell both the bride and grooms name wrong. Whoops.

For the rest of the evening I danced like a nutter. There is nothing better than a good wedding! Oh and to finish, here is a close up of the back of the dress. Makes me want to get married asap...just need a taker now!

Congrats to my gorgeous friends! xx