 How
do you know when you’ve met the love of your life?
It’s hard enough ordinarily, but when you are 11
years of age, I think you can forgive me for not noticing!
10 years after first meeting at school, we finally realised
that the other existed thanks to a chance encounter in
a pub. 6½ years later, another momentous event
occurred - we got married!
I woke up with a huge grin on my face, realising that
my wedding day had finally arrived. Katharine, my best
friend and bridesmaid, and I sat around drinking tea and
wishing we’d indulged in a bit less champagne the
night before! In the knowledge that I was supposed to
look the best I ever had, we had left plenty of time for
transformation activities!
The pre-requisite bubble bath started the proceedings
and hysterical scenes ensued as I tried not to destroy
the French manicure which had been so painstakingly applied
the day before.
Katharine was in charge of hairstyling and I was doing
my own make-up. The whole thing quickly deteriorated into
one big giggle-fest as Katharine wielded the brushes and
I fired the hair dryer on her command! Don’t ask
me how but 20 minutes later my hair looked amazing! It
was definitely time for a tea break! The buzzer went and
we panicked as the intercom announced my parents - an
hour early! Luckily it turned out to be a mischievous
delivery boy with the most enormous bunch of flowers you’ve
ever seen. The orange Gerberas, which we had chosen as
our main theme, gave away the sender but just in case
I was in any doubt Rich’s card said simply “See
you at 3!”.
Mum and dad arrived on time with the bouquets, the make-up
went on perfectly, things were all going scarily to plan!
Sheldon, our driver, caused minor panic at this point
by driving past 45 minutes early. He was just checking
the route but, in my nervous excitement, I became convinced
that all the clocks in the house had mysteriously gone
backwards and that I would have to go in my dressing gown!
Luckily someone re-filled my champagne glass at this point
and I calmed down!
I asked mum to help me dress and suddenly there I was
- a fully veiled 100% grade 'A' bride! All I can say is
thank God for waterproof mascara! Sheldon turned up again,
I picked up my beautiful shower of Mango Calla Lillies,
pulled down my veil and shut the door for the last time
as a single woman.
However, the journey from the front door to the white
London cab we had hired to take us to the ceremony, was
somewhat more hazardous! It had been raining like mad
on the days prior to the wedding and the Victorian steps
up to the house were like a slide as a consequence. It
took about 10 minutes to go 20 feet as I staggered around
in unfamiliar high heels, trying not to fall over, keep
my dress dry, hold onto my veil and not drop my flowers
all at the same time! Instead of being elegantly chaperoned
to my “carriage” dad ended up carrying the back
of my dress, mum came back and took my bouquet and I got
such a fit of the giggles that I couldn’t walk –
it was sooooo funny!!
 We
all travelled together to Wandsworth Register Office where
I was to be married in the council chamber, an imposing
circular room with a glass domed ceiling. We went off
to hide in a side room so that Rich wouldn’t see
me before I made my entrance. After confirming all my
details to the recording registrar, and having another
fit of giggles because Rich had been too nervous to remember
his dad’s middle name, I found myself standing in
the marble hallway with dad at my side. It was time.
I heard the Arrival
of the Queen of Sheba start up in the room ahead and
began to walk forwards on legs that had suddenly lost
their ability to hold me up! That short walk into the
Council Chamber was monumental! It was at once the most
wonderful and terrifying thing I have ever done as I realised
that this was the start of my new life. Suddenly, there
was Rich, looking unbelievably handsome. My
legs started to behave themselves again and the grin that
stayed with me all day made its first appearance!
The ceremony was brilliant; funny, moving and full of
happiness. Our registrar was wonderful and really put
everyone, including us, at ease. My dad was invited to
give me away, just as if we had been in church. This was
a very special moment, and we added our own vows to the
legal declarations. We promised to love and trust, honour
and protect, comfort and support and be faithful to each
other till death us did part. We looked into each other’s
eyes as we made those promises and it was like the whole
world receded and Rich and I were the only people there.
 I
will never forget those moments. As we were pronounced
husband and wife, Rich leant over and kissed me without
waiting to be asked which made everyone laugh. The registrar
invited him to do it again and spontaneous applause broke
out all round the room!
We walked out to a medley of James Bond themes (don’t
ask!) which started off with We
Have All the Time in the World by Louis Armstrong
and culminated in Nobody
Does it Better by Carly Simon which signalled the
start of the festivities!
Most of the official photographs were taken inside as
the weather was misbehaving but luckily the register office
is beautiful - all marble art deco which makes an excellent
backdrop.
We had also opted for an informal style of photography,
which meant that the line-ups were kept to a minimum and
so the weather really didn’t play a part. However,
the sun managed a brief appearance to allow about twenty
tons of confetti to be thrown all over us, most of it
by my younger brother who conspired to tip a whole box
down my back!
The London theme of the wedding continued as our guests
boarded the red London bus that we’d hired to take
everyone to the reception.
 Rich’s brothers, our unofficial ushers,
made brilliant mobile barmen, ensuring that the supply
of champagne we’d placed on board was liberally distributed!
The 30 minute journey across central London was one of
the highlights of the day as the party got under way.
Our reception was on board the TS Queen Mary, a 1930’s
steamship permanently moored on the Thames at Victoria
Embankment. The Admiral’s Suite has been restored
to its former glory and makes a really lovely venue. A
few arty shots with Big Ben as a backdrop were snatched
up on deck as the rain eased off for a second. In the
meantime, our guests had been seated and were awaiting
our arrival! What a reception we got! I felt like a filmstar
as everyone stood and clapped and cheered as we came into
the room. I realised that all the people we loved best
in the world were there and my happiness went off the
scale.
The food was wonderful although I was too excited to eat
most of it! I kept seeing people I really wanted to talk
to. I was hopping up and down between courses like a yoyo!
I have to give us a little pat on the back at this point
as we had both spent ages adding those finishing touches.
I had found some paper that matched the place cards and
made simple menu scrolls by tying the printed sheets up
with silver organza ribbon. Each guest had a fortune cookie
as a favour which we had had printed with a special message
and every place was decorated with a fruit tealight. As
the weather closed in and the evening drew on, these little
candles made the room so cosy and atmospheric.
 The speeches were funny and sincere. My dad’s
was short but lovely. Rich made the present giving and
thank yous highly entertaining and then proceeded to make
all the girls cry by being incredibly romantic. WeddingGuideUK.com
even made it into his speech! I made a short speech from
memory, as it was the one thing I had forgotten to grab
on the way out and James, the best man, had everyone in
stitches.
After the speeches we cut the cake. Like signing the register,
it felt like we had just saved the world! It took about
ten minutes to recover my eyesight, having been blinded
by the number of flashes!!
All too soon, it was 11.30 and time to leave to take the
short trip to County Hall where we would be staying. Saying
goodbye to everyone was a real wrench as we had to admit
that the day was nearly over. I had a throwing bouquet
made as my original one could possibly have been classed
as an offensive weapon if it had been airborne! My brother’s
fiancée caught it, which was very fitting! A group
of our oldest friends formed two queues by the door, one
of the boys, for me, and one of the girls, for Rich. We
weren’t allowed to leave until we had gone down the
line and kissed everyone! The boys got slightly over enthusiastic
and kept running to the end of the line to be kissed again
which sent everyone into hysterics!
Then we were in the taxi on the way to our hotel, where
I got excited that MTV was piped into the bathroom (sad!),
and we finally had time to enjoy being Mr & Mrs Sullivan!!
We met up with friends in the pub the next day for Sunday
lunch, still on the most massive high, and then I returned
to the flat, a married woman! I even got carried over
the threshold! After a couple of days to recover and open
the most amazing amount of presents we went off to Italy
for a wonderful, relaxing, romantic week in the mountains.
10 weeks later I still can’t quite believe what a
perfect time we had. Marrying Rich was the best thing
I ever did! My overwhelming memory is the sound of laughter.
It was the happiest time of my life so far!
Do Differently: Not worry so much! I was so happy
to be married that it would have been VERY hard to shake
me out of my good humour!
Groom's Comments: Rich had a fab day and can't
stop saying how much fun he had!
Comments: We both want to thank WeddingGuideUK.com
for all the advice, help, support and friendship that
we gained over the few short months in the run up to the
big day. Although things do turn out okay in the end it
never seems that way at the time and to know that so many
other people understand your thoughts and feelings is
SO comforting! Also there are so many great ideas on here
- I used loads, all of which our guests loved! Thanks
to Mike and the team for a wonderful service which kept
us sane and contributed to such a great day!
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If
you would like to contact Nicki and Richard, you can e-mail
them.
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