Mike and Lyn's Recollections of the wedding
(Mike writing in blue and Lyn writing in black)
The day for me started the night before, because, in my excitement, I probably got about forty minutes sleep! My family rose and we started getting ready – Mum very kindly offering to iron all of the shirts and waistcoats for the groomsmen and Tom, Dad and I heading off to have a wet shave in Sudbury. It was a very interesting, relaxing experience which gave me ample opportunity to chat with Tom and Dad, but I’ll admit to starting to panic about the time, as my shave took nearly an hour to finish. Not to worry though, because we got home with time to spare and got changed into our wedding suits quickly enough. It was then that big shock of the morning happened – the groom went to pieces! Thankfully, not me, but the marzipan me who sat on top of our wedding cake (no legs, heads or head – representing, I suspect, that soon I’d no longer be able to think or do things for myself and definitely couldn’t run away)! With no time at all to repair it, my parents got out the superglue and repaired the little chap.
Tom and I were dropped off at the castle at about 1pm and met up with the groomsmen who hadn’t got their suits yet (Paul, Pete, Joe and Dave), whereupon they sped off to get changed. Tom and I headed down to the pub for a beer (my last as a free man!) and some cashews. We headed back to the castle, met up with the ushers and MC and started the meet and greet.
Before I knew what was happening, I was called up to the castle and was standing in the keep, waiting to be married. Waiting is definitely the right word. Although Lyn assures me that she definitely didn’t mean to be fifteen minutes late to the altar, it was a very, very long wait! Just before Lyn finally arrived, my stalwart brother and best man suggested that perhaps Lyn wasn’t going to turn up today. Cheers for that!
Eventually Lyn turned up, looking absolutely stunning in her wedding dress. I can’t tell you how beautiful she was as she walked up the aisle (most of you were there so you know!). We even had a few laughs during the ceremony – when the adjutant got Tom and I mixed up and when I couldn’t get the ring over Lyn’s knuckle properly! I was concentrating so hard on not mispronouncing any of the vows that I barely noticed that they were over and it was time for the new Mr and Mrs Chapman to leave and get their photographs taken!
I think I got a few hours sleep the night before, thus ruining all my careful preparations to have a lovely clear complexion and no bags under my eyes :S At 6 am, I got to work on the list of things to do that Rachel had got me to make the night before to calm me down. Avril and Jodie arrived as I was making the CD for the dinner music (I’m nothing if not last minute) – Avril had brought a flashing Bride to be sash (lovely) and her beautiful veil. I entrusted Jodie with the rings, and we set off to the castle.
The bouquets of sunflowers and gerberas were already there – they were really bright and cheerful. Mum did my hair, we had lunch and I had my make-up done. Jodie sellotaped a silver sixpence in my shoe. I started to panic about everything! My hands were shaking so much I couldn’t tie the rings on the pillow and I had to ask Avril to do it. I couldn’t even get my shoes on so Jodie put them on for me! I was panicking about my mascara, my jewellery, my dress... Jodie calmed me down thankfully with talking about books. Mum managed to get my dress on me and pop the veil and sparkly thing in my hair before we went downstairs to meet up with Dad and Sam for some more photos before we walked over to the castle. I didn’t know I was late – everyone had assured me we had loads of time and wedding dresses generally don’t come with watches – that’s my excuse anyhow…
I still hadn’t got the hang of picking up my dress so I’m sure I looked very inelegant! At the entrance to the keep, I heard the piano playing the song we had chosen – ‘You are the Sunshine of my Life’ – and then I think I sprinted up the aisle. I was so happy to see Mike – he looked so handsome standing there waiting for me. I could only see him.
The ceremony was really lovely. There was a quick intro, then the registrar invited Peter to do our first reading – Birthday by Christina Rosetti, which he read beautifully. Then the registrar said the wedding vows that we’d chosen, for us to repeat. I’ll need to remember to get a copy of them to remember what I promised I’d do! I know I said I’d be faithful and love and protect Mike forever - and I will. I tried my best not to stumble over the words! Though Mike’s two middle names were concerning me – I think I got them the right way round…
There were so many moments of laughter in our ceremony – that’s what I’ll remember most of all from the day - how much fun we had. I think Mike did a silent ‘yes’ fist clench once we were pronounced man and wife! After the ceremony, my brother read Coleridge’s ‘Fragment from a Notebook,’ which he did wonderfully – not even stumbling over ‘soliloquy.’ We had Debussy playing during the signing of the registrar – Claire de lune and Arabesque – which was just lovely. I’ll have to learn them when I get home. My dad and Tom signed the registrar as our witnesses. We had to sign the proper registrar then pose with a pen while people took our pictures. I think I was pulling a bit of a strange face though cos some of the photos of me look a bit wonky at this point! We stood up to go and as, strangely, the registrar never said ‘you can now kiss the bride’ so we did it anyway before we left! We walked out to ‘Fly me to the Moon’ which I thought was just great. Marrying Mike was the best moment of the whole day for me – and the best moment of my life so far – I was so happy, and still am. I hope to make him happy for all of our days together.
Outside we had some photos with our families. Avril tried to get Finley to give me a really lovely horseshoe but he wasn’t keen on having his picture taken! We also had a magic photo on the bridge with confetti and such – all the rose petals were on the train of my gown which everyone took pics of.
After the photos were finished, we went over to the castle for our drinks reception, which was absolutely lovely. I don’t think we could’ve asked for better weather. We circulated around everyone, drinking Bucks Fizz and Pimms (which seemed to cause a degree of confusion amongst some of the Shetland contingent!), whilst people began to play with the giant garden games. Unfortunately we didn’t get too long to spend with everyone because we were whisked off for more photos in the beautiful grounds of the castle (and a duckling tried to eat Lyn’s bouquet whenever she set it down!).
Lauren came to find us to line us all up for the receiving line. It gave us a chance to see absolutely everyone. We headed into the marquee where Dave announced our entry – the new Mr and Mrs Chapman! And we got a round of applause too – I was very embarrassed. The marquee was set up beautifully with our favours (planes and bubbles and sunflower seeds) and decorations – the sunflowers and gerberas made it look so bright and cheerful.
The dinner that we had was gorgeous – really well cooked and handed out really quickly. The poor waitresses had to contend with planes whizzing around everywhere and people not throwing planes blowing bubbles! Planes were landing in food and in a waitresses’ eye, but everyone seemed to have a really nice time (although I was very nervous because I knew that my speech was coming up very soon!) Tom, being the trooper that he is, started turning down wine because he wanted to do a good speech (which he did).
After the food, David announced our speeches. My dad was first – his speech was really excellent – he said some lovely things about me and Mike as well. It was funny and lovely. Next up was Mike – his speech was excellent and made everyone laugh a lot – he was so confident and just brilliant – and really lovely about me – though he did make me out to be a bit of an alcoholic on the night we met! After that came Tom’s speech which he’d been so nervous about. He did really well, basing it around Mike’s love of films with many jokes. Finally, I toasted the bridesmaids and said a few words about our parents and family and then tried to say what I’d spent all year thinking about Mike – some of it, I hope, came across. I was so nervous I sat down straight away.
Later on, we cut the cake – It had sunflowers down the side and a castle on top and everything. It was three tiers of lemon and chocolate cake. I’m pretty sure Paul shouted out about how it should’ve been a Zombie cake… ours was lovely though – even had a mini me and Mike, although Mike was legless by the time we cut it! How amusing. He still had one leg left though. We weren’t quite sure how to cut it so we had a good old chop and then did it again! Thankfully my sister had told me earlier that we needed to have Mike’s hands over mine for luck so we did that properly at least. J
The first dance was very amusing. The band launched into a lovely rendition of Beyond the Sea and Lyn and I took to the dance floor. Although I tried to slip in a few swing dance moves here and there, I kept standing on Lyn’s train so I toned it down some. Whilst we were having a bit of a smooth of the dance floor, we got heckled by our friends, shouting “Get a room!” at us. Before too long we were joined by Tom and Avril (Tom shouting at Avril – “Let me lead! Let me lead!” and the rest of our families. I think everyone was entertained by the next song too – Crazy Little thing called love –pretty fast tempo stuff!
Sam came over during the evening and gave Mike and me his love heart sweets – very sweet of him! The Casino tables were set up so everyone headed over that way – and the marquee was open so we could walk out into the garden and everyone could play the garden games that had been brought across. I got beat by Sam at Connect Four J It was such a lovely evening. I spent it trying to circulate and see most people – I think I spoke to loads of people but not everyone. I remember talking to my aunts and uncles (even got a photo) and they thanked me for mentioning Don and Marion and Gran and Granda in my speech. I phoned Granny and Granda on the night and it was lovely to talk to them. At the end of the evening, I even remembered to have a photo with just me and Av and Marvyn – everyone seemed to want a photo of us all dressed up. I didn’t throw my bouquet though – was frightened it would do someone an injury it was so heavy!
With the news that our taxi had arrived, Lyn and I went to the dance floor to say goodbye to our friends and family to the tune of “New York, New York” and we were encouraged to dance in the middle of a big ring of people, who repeatedly kicked me in the arse, much to their amusement! Tom had got everyone on the dance floor. I said our final goodbyes to the crowd and we headed off to the taxi, where the ever-thoughtful Lyn had instructed the wedding staff to fill up the car with cards and wedding presents. A perfect end to a perfect day!
