It's all over!

Wow- it's been a month since my last blog and so much has happened.  I'm now a married woman! :-)


The day went perfectly.  All our plans came together and we had the best time. The only wobble on the day was the venue (surprise, surprise)....


I was ensconced upstairs all afternoon being "beautified" so wasn't aware of anything happening downstairs not even meeting the caterer until after the ceremony.  I was suffering a bit from cabin fever from being up there all afternoon and not being able to "control" anything but my Mum and my Matron of Honour did a great job carrying out "my orders" ;-)
So I was all ready and my flower girl and I were sat quietly having a glass of water (whilst being careful not to spill it) waiting for the registrar to arrive.  The ceremony was due at 4.30pm and I knew the registrar should have been with me around 30mins before and it was now past 4pm and still no sign. 
Finally she arrived and there was some problem. :-(
Apparently each premises is required to display their licence in a prominent position and to advertise the fact that a wedding is happening in a public place.  Our venue had neither of these as the registrar explained.
So 30mins before we were due to be married I was thinking that we may have to have the ceremony and then do the legal stuff weeks later.  Remarkably I was pretty calm about it all. In fact a number of people commented on how calm I was all day and I must admit I kept expecting the nerves to kick in and they didn't.  I think because it was such an intimate venue with such few people that it wasn't very daunting at all.
So now, we were trying to track down the house manager to clear this up.  I obviously wasn't able to leave the room so others were doing the running around.  Apparently everyone, including the groom, was searching the entire 20 acre site for this magic sign to no avail.  Finally around 4.20pm the venue manager appeared.  All the guests were sat ready for the ceremony and Tall Lad asked her to speak to the registrar.  She was apparently reluctant until he "told" her to go upstairs and sort this out.
Thankfully the conversation between the manager and the registrar was taken outside but my Dad spied that the manager was getting a complete telling off and "this is not the first time we have told you this".


My hair and makeup lady was from the village so she had the inside gossip on the venue.  She told us earlier that they were probably not going to renew their marriage licence as it was "too much hassle".  I guess this makes sense.  They were only making an extra £500 from us and were now getting a telling off from Devon County Council.  Hiring the house for a house party was much less hassle.


Luckily the Registrar was happy for the ceremony to continue and so everyone got into place.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned before but we got married on a staircase so everyone was gathered on chairs in the hall.  My Mum headed on down the stairs to take her seat. In hindsight we should have asked our best man to accompany her down as I think she felt a little strange about it.  My Dad and I gathered our thoughts and my Matron of Honour and Flowergirl started their descent.  Dad bent down to arrange my train and "rip" his trousers split at that moment!!!  So those guests who thought I had a happy, cheery, smile due to seeing Tall Lad were only half right.  I was also smirking at the thought of Dad helping me down the stairs with his pants showing!  Thankfully the suits we ordered were Prince Edward style and therefore long so nothing showed.  As it turned out though the trousers weren't split completely just a seem was popped.  Also, I should clarify, that Dad's trousers fit very well.  They were not tight in the slightest and Dad had not had too much porridge that morning. Still, I guess, it lightened the moment. :-)


The ceremony went as planned and by 5pm we were Mr and Mrs and all enjoying champagne cocktails outside in the sunshine.