ZOE And SArAh
Sarah was walked down the aisle by her dad who was over the moon to finally give her away . I was walked down by my mum and dad . My biological father died when I was very young and I had always said I would want my mum to walk me down the aisle , but when I was 20 my mum met and married the most wonderful man who has been the best dad I could hope for and I wanted them both to walk me down the aisle . My parents were also ecstatic to be giving me away .
We had a three-course meal in the function room of the hotel . We particularly enjoyed going for a tasting session to decide what to put on the menu and discussed over and over how most people prefer chicken . But then we decided the day was about us not ‘ most people ’ – so we had beef followed by chocolate cake . Between the starter and main course Sarah ’ s mum read a poem that she had written for us , which had the whole room laughing . Sarah ’ s brother gave his best man ’ s speech , followed by my mum and then Sarah ’ s dad . We ended with a speech we had written together to thank everyone who had made our wedding so special .
The wedding morning had been quite stressful for me as I ’ d stayed overnight at the hotel and there were lots of problems . As I was trying to sort things out , Sarah texted me to say she was having the most relaxing morning at her mum ’ s , enjoying a champagne breakfast and a luxurious bath , and couldn ’ t wait to marry me . I nearly called the wedding off . Once we were both dressed and at the hotel and meeting with the registrar before the ceremony , all of the stress and worry melted away . Anything that went wrong after that point was irrelevant because we were just so happy .
We were floating on clouds the whole day . Everything came together as we ’ d planned and it felt right . After the ceremony , we took advantage of the October sun and went outside for some stunning pictures . On our way back to the hotel I was walking behind my cousin ’ s children Kerr , aged nine and Beau , aged four , and heard the best line from the whole day . Kerr was explaining to Beau that in the evening there would be more guests arriving for the disco and that some of the men would be dressed as women and some of the women would be dressed as men . Beau ’ s response was that that would be awesome !
Our advice on planning your wedding would be to not try and please your families or your guests – just plan it how you want it . There will always be someone who complains they ’ d rather have had something else to eat or that the chairs were uncomfortable or that cousin Muriel had sky diving at her wedding and it was so much better , but those few opinions don ’ t matter . All that matters is that you enjoy your special day the way you want to do it .
Everything really does go quickly ; you ’ ll blink and it will be over . Why not ask someone to film the day – it doesn ’ t have to be a professional video , but it ’ s so nice to be able to look back at the ceremony and speeches . There ’ s so much that you miss on the day because it ’ s so busy .
Everybody told us they had a wonderful time – the whole day was filled with love and laughter . It really was the perfect start to our married life . www . maxcallenderphotography . co . uk
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