COWSHED

Monday 14 September 2009

things which went wrong at our wedding

It was three months yesterday since our wedding. I am not sure I am going to finish the actual recaps but I will get round to sharing some of the details. With this is mind, I thought I'd share this: at every party or event or wedding things will go wrong. Most of which the guests will not notice, some of which the bride will not notice. As with everything in life, it is what you make of it that counts.

Things which went wrong at our wedding:

* The marquee boys who refused to come and do a site visit discovered (after getting their van stuck because they couldn't follow instructions) that the marquee they brought wouldn't fit on the lawn, despite us sending site measurements. Then we discovered that the chairs were all filthy and the generator may not have had enough diesel in it. We made them cups of tea and told them to do the best they could. We also told them to clean the chairs. They didn't. After the wedding we complained that several family members had to spend the morning of the wedding cleaning chairs. They eventually agreed to send a refund. Yesterday they sent an e-mail asking for photos showing their marquees at events over the summer to showcase their excellent feedback from events. We are going to send them the photos of the chairs being cleaned...

* The friend of ours who was going to video the wedding for us didn't turn up to the wedding until after the service had started, despite him telling me he was a professional when 3 days beforehand I reminded him to turn up in good time. He hasn't mentioned the wedding since, nor whether he got any footage. Thankfully another family friend happened to film some of the entrance and exits and sent us a beautiful DVD of what she had shot the other day. On the day itself I didn't even notice the lack of camera but afterwards I was sad that we didn't have the footage. Moral of that story: if something means a lot to you, pay someone to do it. They are less likely to not do it.

* My period arrived on the way to the church, 2 days early. Well, it explained the fact I felt like utter crap when I woke up on the morning, and thankfully I made it to the loo in time to not ruin my dress. I did feel a bit trance like for parts of the service due to strong pain killers (but that could just have been the day!) and the vintage champagne in the car went straight to my head. Other than that the only real impact it had was in the hotel that evening ...

* The vicar went on for so long (and called people by the wrong names) that we had to cut short all the photos and our photoshoot together that we had planned. I was disappointed for about 2 seconds before I realised that it was about the party not the specific photos and we would still have plenty. More disappointing was the vicar telling the photographer she wasn't welcome in the church again as she accidentally took a photo during the part she wasn't supposed to photo. (We didn't tell him that his 20 minute sermon -instead of 5 mins- cost my Mother a lot in delayed taxi costs).

* The candles on the top table hadn't had their wicks cut off so burnt onto the tablecloth. We had bought the cloths ex-rental and my Dad sorted it out and I barely noticed let alone minded.

* The power went half way through the band as something overheated. It was quickly sorted out by my Dad with assistance from A3 and Husband. It added to the homemade atmosphere and was sorted so quickly it made no real difference.

* The DJ lined up our first dance song and then went to get a drink. Another friend tried to start some music as she didn't realise the pause was to gather people for our first dance. The song started before anyone was ready and had to be started again when we were ready. Again, hardly anyone noticed and Husband and I certainly didn't mind that the song was no longer a surprise.

* When we cleared up the next day we discovered that ALL of the peacock feathers we had used as table decorations had been taken by the guests. Leaving none for the vase I had planned in our house (!) and none for my Grannie as I had promised. Again, I was disappointed for about half a second before being pleased that people had liked the decorations enough to remove them all from the reception.

Perhaps other things did go wrong, I don't remember, or I didn't notice. I was too busy having a good time dancing with my new Husband and enjoying the band and DJ:

wedding dancing

The band 1

The band 2

{All photos by KT Thompson}

3 comments:

cara said...

You look so gorgeous, I love your cardigan.

I had to laugh at you sending the marquee people photos of you cleaning the chairs. When our venue asked us for a recommendation to put on their site I very nearly sent them a link to the blog posts I'd written about them.

little luxury list said...

Hi, your photos are just lovely and I would love to have seen the peacock feathers! We had a few mishaps too like my husband entering to the wrong music (and 2 of 4 bridesmaids following). But things don't matter at the end and it was a lovely party.

I've just moved to London and love finding more English blogs - thanks!

Rachel said...

@Peonies - thank you. I think you should have done. I might post the photos of the chair cleaning one day. Or maybe just e-mail them to the vendor.

@Chicncheap - :). I will be posting ones of the peacock feathers and tables soon. I think things go wrong at all events and most of the time the guests don't even notice.

Welcome to London btw, how long are you here for?