Congratulations. May you enjoy many years of bliss together.
So what music did you end up using. (Didn’t you start a wedding music thread?)
Congrats! (Any more details on what went wrong? 
)
Damnit! This means there’s one less available Irish girl in the world. 
Ah well…felicitations and go n-éirí an bóthar leat!
Stranger
Marriage is maddening, scary, exhilarating, crazy, annoying, and amazing - sometimes all at once. It’s the best thing in the world.
Best wishes and a lifetime of happy memories to you both. Your pictures are beautiful!
E.
Congratulations and all the best to you and your husband!
CJ
irishgirl, I’m so happy for you! You were a beautiful bride on a beautiful day.
…And they lived happily ever after…
Thanks again!
Ok…
Zebra, you’re right about the tans…the maid of honour has spent the last 7 months travelling around Thailand, Australia and South America, the younger one got some St Tropez so she wouldn’t feel so white standing beside her!
Music
We had Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba as the processional because it’s what my mum had, and also because I’m not fond of the traditional bridal marches.
The hymns were Great is Thy Faithfulness and Be Thou My Vision, the music played during the signing of the register was Schubert’s Ave Maria and the recessional was Handel’s *La Rejouissance *.
Stuff that went wrong…
I’d had a miserable tonsillitis/cough thing since the Tuesday, and lost my voice on Thursday, at the rehearsal (actually at the big family dinnerafter the rehearsal, since my family is pretty loud and much shouting up and down tables was necessary), but by that time I was actually feeling fine, but no voice.
So I spent all Friday morning whispering and sucking throat sweets in the hope that I’d manage to get the vows out. I did, and apparently everyone just thought I was overcome with emotion, until they tried to talk to me later and realised I couldn’t speak!
Next thing, Dad and Brad (MOH’s boyfriend) had gone to the hotel to leave stuff up there, and it took them 30mins to leave the carpark because of traffic. The traffic was people leaving work at lunchtime because they had heard a rumour that all major roads would be barricaded by Loyalists, in a protest.
So of course, I start to panic that dad and all the guests will be late, that irishfella will give up and go home, or that if we do get married, we won’t be able to get to the reception. My sister makes White Russians and my uncle teaches me to square numbers ending in 5, and one of these calms me down enough so that I’m able to get dressed. Dad and Brad arrive at the house with 15 mins to spare, so it’s all OK.
My 89 year old grandmother had refused to buy a new outfit, or even try on any outfit that she had…we reckon she has lost 2 inches in height and several kilos in the last 20 years, but she was convinced all her clothes from the 70s would fit fine. She ended up in the smart brown trouser suit she wears to church every week, a brown astrakhan coat and a white hat made of feathers, so the “ohmigod granny’s going to turn up in a housecoat crisis” was averted.
So we got to the church on time…and had to wait 5 mins for the flowergirls (irishfella’s neices) to arrive. By this time, I at least knew that irishfella was in the church and as the photographer was there, and so we used those minutes for a few shots of me and dad in the car and in front of the church.
Everything with the ceremony went very well, and it was over incredibly quickly. Irishfella just held my hand after the vows and we grinned at each other every few seconds. PinkMarabou he has told me that even in his wildest dreams he didn’t think I’d look as beautiful as I did walking up the aisle, which is very sweet.
Once we were in the car on the way to the reception, we were a little perturbed to see FIVE armoured police cars (in Northern Ireland, they look like tanks) full of armed police driving in convoy in the direction we were going, and thoughts of those barricades began to re-emerge. Thankfully I have no idea where the police went, because the area we drove through was quiet and perfectly calm.
Just as the best man proposed his toast to us, one of the large tables collapsed…thankfully everyone at it was standing with their glasses in their hand, so very little damage was done, no-one was hurt and everyone just thought it was funny. If a table had to collapse, it chose the perfect moment! The speeches were all excellent, the best men even managed to put across some of irishfella’s more bizarre exploits in a subtle and classy manner, and of course I cried at my dad’s and irishfella’s.
Other stuff that might have upset bridezillas didn’t upset me at all…like one guest who happened to be wearing a kilt (because it was all the local hire shop had left after irishfella and his friends had been there the day before) prove to everyone’s satisfaction that he was wearing it in the traditional manner…and why his nickname “Smalls” is ironic.
I don’t mind that the flowergirls have biscuits in the big family shots, I don’t mind that my sister forgot to bring my “something borrowed” to the church, I don’t mind that irishfella ended up drinking most of the shots that were bought for me, I don’t mind that some of our guests got intimately acquainted with each other in the bushes outside the dining room.
I had a fabulous day, with everyone I care about most there, and the best party.
All the little details we had wanted were there, and everything that happened was out of our control, and really just made things more memorable. It was the most incredible day, and I’m so glad we did it the way we did.
Sounds like a wonderful day!
I didn’t mind the small things that didn’t work out so much either. We forgot our toasting glasses, luckily my sister and her husband lived only minutes from the place so they went and grabbed theirs. You could barely hear the music during the processional, we didn’t do half the dances I had arranged (everyone was having a good time, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to me), and my FIL’s girlfriend on the side crashed our wedding (unknowingly). But I was just so glad the day had finally arrived that those things just didn’t matter.
My sister’s husband is part Irish and they had a wedding with a strong Irish theme. They got married on St. Patrick’s Day, had a bagpipe during the recessional, for the rehearsal dinner his mom made authentic Irish food (although I can’t remember what exactly, some cabbage, stew and some other goodies - YUMMY!). Then they did some cheesier theme-wedding stuff that was cute, they decorated in green and gold, they had pots of gold candies on the tables, and all the bridesmaids wore hunter green dresses (they were ugly of course).
We tried to do some Victorian theme to our wedding, but it just ended up an elegent evening garden wedding. I was going to do all deep red dresses, but when I walked into the dress store these beauties caught my eye and I just HAD to have them. We did simple decorations, a small candle on each four-top, the place was so detailed and beautiful we didn’t want to take away from it. Since the place we picked out is historical (it was part of the Underground Railroad), we had hired a costumed tour-guide to show people around during the reception. The money to rent it went to keeping it restored, so I didn’t feel guilty about spending a whole bunch of money on a revenue. We got married in the garden and went straight to dinner and drinks afterward. It was loads of fun.
But the wedding is nothing compared to being married. We had a lot of problems before, but now we get along perfectly. We used to be that couple where everyone would say “I give it X-years until they divorce”, now we’re the couple that everyone looks to as a strong foundation. There’s something about marriage that made our relationship flourish and become so strong. We’re now the best of friends and we can’t imagine spending our lives with anyone else.
Congratulations again. You and your family are just beautiful and you look very happy. Here’s to many wonderful years and lots of little babies!
I hope one day to be one of these grandma’s.