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Sorry ladies for not sharing with you sooner, it has been a tad manic since we got back from our honeymoon as life always is but here goes, and I’m sorry if there may be a few parts to this, too much to tell you in one go hehe.
My bridesmaid and best friend Serena came over with my mum to stay the night. I’d cooked some nibbles and Serena brought the bubbly. We spent most of the night chatting away and doing our nails it was the perfect girly night. I went to bed on a massive high, I just couldn’t wait.
We got up at 6 – yes very early start considering the ceremony didn’t start until 2pm but you know us women we do like to spend hours prepping. We had a quick breakfast of fresh fruit, bagels and croissants with of course more bubbly. I got washed and was ready when the hair dresser came at around 9.
This was the bit I was nervous about, I normally always do my hair myself because I have frizzy Afro hair that takes a lot of taming I don’t normally trust anyone other than my mum or me to do it. But the bride has to be pampered on her big day so hairdresser came and got right to work. Of course I had already washed, blow dried and straightened my hair for her so she only had to tong it and pin parts of it up.
It didn’t go according to plan, I’d had a trial before but for some reason the lady wasn’t using the same tools this time so the back came out looking massive and horrible. I was on verge of tears but my mum who is a trained hairdresser came to the rescue and got the lady to redo the back and use the correct tool for the front. I won’t lie I was stressed big time with threatening to spill and slowly starting to freak out. I think it’s all the excitement and then worry that something will go wrong but my mum was my shining star and so was Serena who kept my glass topped up with bubbly hehe.
In the midst of my hair crisis Jon the photographer turned up. We were running over schedule because of the hair crisis so bless him he had to wait for a while but this is why ladies you have to pick someone you genuinely get on with he was brilliant. He went off and took some pics of my dress and a few other bits. Once my hair was done I felt bit better but we had to hustle a bit as we were running behind time.
I opted to do my own make up, I am very fussy. I hate foundation so I’d practiced the night before with Serena and my mum helping me pick the best look. My hands were shaking so bad doing my eye liner but hey I pulled it off. By this time mum and Serena were all done looking absolutely stunning in their outfits.
Make up done I was about to jump in my dress but then someone knocked on the door and lo and behold it was the flower lady. She was carrying the most gorgeous bouquet which she handed to me and demanded I read the card. I was so excited I gave her a massive hug while Serena and my mum brought in the other bouquets.
I hadn’t spoken to Matt all night we’d agreed not to text or phone. It was really tough for me, I missed him.
So I’ve got my hair all done with my gorgeous Tiara in place, make up looking perfect and I open the card on the flowers and it said.
“See you at the altar beautiful” I started making this very loud puppy dog sound (hard to describe hehe) and mum and Serena came in fanning me so I wouldn’t cry. My mum read it and had to walk away as she had tears in her eyes and so did Serena.
So Matt had managed to make all 3 of us cry bless him but he also managed to take away some of the stress hanging over me.
The flowers were just gorgeous and they smelled incredible. To me it told me he was ready for our big day and that meant the world to me knowing he had thought of this.
Next point of call my bridal bouquet – well what can I say other than OMG WOW. I didn’t get a mock up of these because it would have been an extra cost I could do without so was bit of a gamble. But my gosh did the lady pull it out the bag. Me Serena and my mum just stood there staring at them in shock they were so pretty. Serena said they looked like something magical out of the film Avatar and I have to agree.
So dress time, the photographer dashed into the kitchen while my fab entourage got me in my dress. I was a tad smaller now since it had been fitted as I kept losing weight each week but my mum strapped me in there nice and tight. I don’t wear clothes without straps because I always worry my boobs will fall out so wanted the dress super tight as it was strapless.
I’d bought my underwear from Debenhams. It was gorgeous and had a tiny blue rose on each piece so something blue hehe.
About 20-30 mins later I was in the dress and having a wicked mini photoshoot with Jon. It was so much fun. I couldn’t go upstairs because the dress was big at the bottom so I didn’t get to see myself in a full length mirror which was a bit hard.
The car had arrived and off we went to the venue. The drive was great I was so excited and happy I couldn’t wait to get there.
My mum and Serena were hyper as well so we were nattering away in the car and before we knew it we were there.
The venue is breath-taking and it added to my already hyper excited state. They’d added purple bedding plants to the gardens which match my theme and I thought that was a lovely gesture. Sasha the wedding coordinator and Kate the owner met us at the door and whisked us into the bridal suite as Matt was on his way and we didn’t want him to see me.
When we were in the room I finally got to see myself in a full length mirror and I don’t know why but I started to panic I didn’t look how I wanted. I think it’s just all the emotions running through your body but I felt like I didn’t look slim, it may have been just one of those mirrors like changing room mirrors. The dress had managed to twist a bit in the car so I had my mum undo it and redo it. Now I am only admitting this to you ladies because I like to tell the truth even if it doesn’t make me look good. I haven’t been a bridezilla at all during the wedding planning but I was at this moment.
My poor mum and Serena had to undo the dress 4 times because I wasn’t happy. I was on verge of tears as was my mum who by the way is an absolute legend for the way she handled it. She didn’t shout at me and was really calm if a bit upset because I was saying I looked horrible. They both looked at me and said they didn’t understand how I could feel that way but in my eyes it was all wrong. I was meant to wear a shoulder shrug which attached to the dress but it now didn’t fit due to the weight loss so I couldn’t wear it. That set me off again. Throughout this my heart was pumping so fast I could hear my blood pumping in my ears. I felt a little dizzy as well and before I could burst into full on tears my mum held me by the shoulders and looked me right in the eye. She said
“Leonnie please don’t do this you look absolutely perfect don’t ruin your big day.” It was this comment and her strong voice that knocked me out of my downward spiral. It took a few mins to sink in but she was right. So I pulled it together and started to calm down.
In the meantime Matt had arrived. Serena dashed over to the window and shut the curtains so I couldn’t see them but I could hear his voice and it made me want to rush out there and hug him but I couldn’t. Was torture knowing he was here but not being able to see him but of course it was all worth it.
Mum left to get in position and Serena stayed with me. We headed down the stairs as I needed to have my interview with the registrar.
This was when I got to see my dad, his face was a picture, his mouth was wide open he just stared at me in shock hehehe.
The next installment will be the ceremony and you don’t want to miss that. I hope you like the pictures I’m sharing and although I freaked out a bit I wanted to be honest and try to explain all the emotions you go through.
