Our Wedding Day…

On the 4th June 2018, I married the love of my life, my very best friend, the person who knows me better than I know myself at times and the man I’m proud to call my husband.

My goodness, what a journey it’s been…

Graeme and I met on ‘Plenty Of Fish‘ – Yes, the dating site(!) Our first date wasn’t a huge success, he thought I was high maintenance and I thought he as a bit weird, turns out that we were both very right. We continued dating and after a few months I found myself falling in love with him, but something was different, I wanted a future with this man, he made me want to become a better person.

Just over a year later, I left my rented home in the countryside and moved in with him, our objective was that I’d save up a deposit and we’d buy a home together. Several years, a few house moves, a renovation project and a cat adoption later, the day before my 32nd birthday Graeme proposed and rather than saying yes I asked if he was joking, and started crying.

Fast forward just over a year and it was the morning of our wedding, I’d hardly slept, I was also nursing a mild hangover and my anxiety was through the roof. I kept whizzing downstairs in the venue, checking every nook and cranny, struggling to relax and just enjoy the getting ready process. I hired Natalie Wood to do my hair and makeup and the makeup for the girls, she’s an absolute delight to deal with and completely understood the look I wanted to achieve, it sounds corny but I’d never felt so beautiful.

As a bride, I felt a huge amount of pressure, although our Wedding was intimate and only family and close friends were invited. At the same time, I wanted Graeme to be impressed, I wanted to look back and feel completely satisfied with my appearance, yet remaining true to me.

Once the girls had helped me into my dress, I started to panic, I’d never been so sure about something in my life but the prospect of walking down the aisle felt like something I just couldn’t do. I wanted to marry Graeme more than anything, but I was so overwhelmed with fear and anxiety that I had a mild panic attack.

Then, it was time for me to make my entrance, I could hear ‘Stolen’ by Dashboard Confessional start to play and the only thing I could focus on was reaching my future husband, so I practically ran towards him. I grabbed his hand, held as tightly as I could and beamed at him whilst shaking like a leaf.

“I watch you spin around in the highest heels You are the best one, of the best ones We all look like we feel”

Stolen -Dashboard Confessional

The ceremony went by in a flash, we were slightly over eager and both said I do far too promptly, I couldn’t get Graeme’s ring on and in a fit of nerves, I then announced to everyone that I was having quite a bit of difficulty. I remember grabbing and hugging Graeme, overwhelmed with love, emotion and the sound of happy laughter. The whole situation was absolutely surreal, I couldn’t wait to kiss him and hearing that we were now ‘Mr and Mrs B’ felt like an impossibly wonderful daydream.

Once we’d signed the register and posed for pictures, Escape – The Pina Colada Song (Our song!) started and we had a few moments to ourselves to take it all in. As I’d previously mentioned, I pretty much ran down the aisle and finally, after all the build-up, planning and waiting, we were finally married.

Those few minutes spent alone together after the ceremony were so important, I twirled so Graeme could take in my dress, grabbed his hands and we kissed, completely caught up in a little bubble of our own.

After enjoying a drink, I finally started to relax and it was time for the speeches and wedding breakfast. Of course, I made an impact by knocking over my champagne as I went to sit down, attention seeking is clearly my forte. The speeches were emotional, we laughed at childhood pictures of G, I smiled at memories my Dad shared and cried when Graeme referred to me as his wife.

I always knew there were going to be moments of our Wedding day that were going to be tough, Graeme’s Dad passed away in 2017 and he was always going to be a missing part of the day. I smiled to myself when I thought about how proud of Graeme he would have been, then I looked across the room and saw the look of joy on our Parents faces and the feeling of love overwhelmed me.

Many other couples told us that we’d hardly eat on the day, I considered this something of a fallacy, until I could hardly eat! I do remember enjoying the most tender beef and rich chocolate pudding, we had so many compliments on the food which was a really important element for me.

After we’d eaten, I took the time to work my way around our guests and spend a bit of time with each couple talking and thanking them for joining us, that was a huge benefit of only inviting 19 people.

Before I knew it, the evening guests had arrived, I remembered smiles, laughter, well wishes, catching up with people we hadn’t seen in ages, eating cake, ignoring the BBQ and desperately wanting a cold diet coke.

I’m so thankful for the fact we stuck to a plan that was true to ‘us‘, I loved the fact we’d created all the little elements of decoration, I’m still amused by our somewhat ‘varied‘ soundtrack and our very personal ceremony music choices. I felt that my husband looked so handsome in his unconventional jeans, I’d spent such a long time agonizing about all the little details of our Wedding day when the time came nothing mattered but the fact we became husband and wife.

Whilst I’ll go into more detail of all my DIY and ‘little extra’s’ in another post, would I change anything? Maybe I’d have walked down the aisle slower and served canopies, apart from that? Nailed it!

Thanks for joining me on this crazy journey, love Katie B

xo

Photography – By Rebecca Walters