 Mark
and I met on a building site, not the most romantic venues,
but it was where we both worked. He was a quantity surveyor
six years my senior and I was a site administrator. It
took him three weeks to ask me out and since that day
five and a half years ago we have never looked back!
My wedding day began with a bit if a hangover, a very
sore throat and a lot of mess! My bridesmaids Paula and
Gemma, my sister and my mother came up to my adopted home
of Birmingham the night before and we all sat in the garden
with our neighbours drinking wine until well after midnight!
At 10am, with the sun beaming away in a cloudless sky,
everything started to become alive and we all went off
to the hairdressers in my little red Saxo. We got back
and the rest of my family (dad, two brothers, brother's
girlfriend, my sister, her husband and my nephew) arrived,
our two-bedroom house was overflowing with people getting
ready.
I was very calm and spent most of the morning making sure
everyone else was okay. At 1pm I started to panic and
started getting ready, which took no time at all really
once my make-up was done. It all went smoothly until the
limousine driver taking my parents and I to the ceremony
looked the keys in the car, with the help of my dad and
a wire coat hanger, we finally arrived at Berrow Court
20 minutes late.
 The next thing I remember
was walking down the aisle to The Minstrel Girl by The
Corrs and seeing Mark beaming away at me, I just could
not stop smiling! Our first reading, A Blessing For A
Marriage, was read by Paul Fountain, one of Mark's oldest
friends. He read it was such feeling, I could already
feel the tears welling up.
We said our vows and I was amazed at how clearly we both
spoke and how everyone in the room just seem to disappear,
I don't think I have ever looked so deeply into Mark's
eyes. Before we were officially pronounced husband and
wife, Paula bridesmaid read an adaptation of the Traditional
Irish Blessing and as if by magic I was Mrs. Jay.
We then signed the register to Spend A Lifetime by Jamiroquai.
Finally the Registrar finished off with the Apache
Blessing which we had never heard before - a touching
end to the ceremony. The ceremony lasted for about 40
minutes, which pleased us as we were unsure how long a
civil ceremony would last.
 We
walked out to Erin Shores, again by the Corrs and down
the large Victorian staircase at Berrow Court onto the
lawn. We were immediately bombarded by everyone's good
wishes, rose
petal confetti and kisses. The photos seem to take
no time at all, as we had only 60 guests and they we mainly
our friends we got some brilliant shots (no stuffy line-ups)
and everyone got involved.
The reception meal was beautiful and everyone was so relaxed,
our guests had fun with the disposable
cameras we brought and love the crackers we had on
the tables as bridal favours. When the speeches came around
nobody was nervous, my dad gave a wonderful speech, followed
by Mark who opened to a rapturous applause when he started
with "My wife and I..." Tim, Mark's brother
and best man, followed with a rather animated story about
the little row Mark and I had had the night before!
 I hadn't planned to do a speech
but after calls from my friends I got up, I thanked everyone
for coming so far and joked that it's usually me travelling
up and down the country, I also thanked all the girlies
who came on my hen weekend to Dublin.
I finished off by saying "I don't think a word exists
that truly describes the extent of my happiness on such
a perfect day, nothing in the world can ever prepare you
for such a feeling".
I am glad I hadn't prepared a speech because there would
have been no way I would have said what I did, and with
such feeling and meaning.
 Everyone then mingled around
the grounds during coffee and DJ set up, we had our first
dance to All My Life by KC and Jojo, which was not our
original choice but fitted our feelings perfectly.
We danced the night away, at 10pm we both got changed
into our going away outfits, and we dragged into the middle
of the guests singing You'll Never Walk Alone.
We then had a final dance to Nothing At All by Ronan Keating,
a song which had both been in our heads and on our car
stereos in the final frantic weeks built up to the big
day.
Before we left in our limo, I threw my bouquet. One of
my closest friends, who came all the way over from Ireland,
caught it, which was very fitting considering she is getting
married on 22nd July next year!
We stayed overnight in the luxury of Coombe Abbey and
then flew out for the honeymoon in South East Asia we
dreamt about, we stayed in the New World Hotel in Kuala
Lumpur, then went to the Melia Bali which is honeymooners
paradise in Nusa Dua, Bali and finally ended up a the
Golden Sands Resort in Penang, Malaysia. Nothing could
have been better we enjoyed every precious moment of it
together.
We are still getting comments about it being the best
wedding people had been to. The most touching comment
was from Sharon, the girl who caught the bouquet. She
rang me the day after and said that if her wedding next
year was only half a good as ours she'd be the happiest
girl in the world and that her and her finance has the
best weekend ever at our wedding!
Do Differently: We wouldn't have changed a minute
of our special day, everything was perfect and a true
reflection of our love for one another.
Comments: A tip for those getting married is to
focus on what you want to do. We came under a lot of pressure
to do things differently but we stuck to our plans and
we so glad we did. After all, you only get one special
day and the memories stay with you forever! |
If
you would like to contact Lisa and Mark, you can e-mail
them.
|
