Wedding IV

So, after the quickest supper ever with my parents, grandparents, sisters and boyfriends, I dragged everyone back out to the marquee. Despite having a splitting headache I knew we needed to get as much of the setting up done as possible the night before. There would be a lot of laying up to do in the morning and so I wanted to at least have the main set up done.

We arranged tables and chairs, discovering at that point that the marquee company had not cleaned the chairs as they said they would {leading to a frantic call for chair cleaning volunteers the next morning} and set out glasses {learning the hard way that if you hire glasses from Sainsbury's they may be dirty and may leave dark rings on your white tableclothes}. We set out all the soft drinks and beer that we had bought, leaving out icebuckets for the ushers to fill the next morning.

Bunting was hung, peacock feathers were put out and candles placed on all the tables. Napkins were set out at each place with name tags attached. The whole family were wonderful and everyone pulled together, working effortlessly to get the task done. Eventually, after a team photo, we decided we had done all that we could and so headed back inside to celebrate my Grannie's birthday with a cake and more tea and opening some cards and presents.

I then turned my hand to the 100 peonies which were siting in buckets of water by an open window, to try and keep them from opening properly until the morning. Having only had one practice, and not with peonies, I wasn't sure what they would turn out like, but in the end, with my Mum and Dad's help, I made one large bouquet for myself and three smaller ones for the bridesmaids. And they looked exactly like I had hoped. Bizarely, I realised I had perched on an arm of an armchair for over an hour wrapping the stalks in tape whilst my Mum knelt on the floor stripping the leaves and my Dad held bunches together to be wrapped in more tape. Again, an effortless team and I realised when we finished that Mum and I had not had one stressed or cross word with each other all day.

With another cup of tea it was off to bed. A single bed in a shared room with my little sister. I am usually a good sleeper but that night, I struggled. It wasn't so much that I was nervous, it was that I never felt truly relaxed. I woke at 4am with hot sweats and shivers and felt like I had flu. Absolutely bloody terrible. I got water and paracetamol {thank goodness for those bridal survival kits and the leftovers} and tried to sleep again until Mum came into our room with breakfast at 7.30am. The wedding day...

{All images by Alex, my sister's boyfriend and Dad except the top left bouquet photo by Katie Thompson photography}