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We met 12 years ago on a night out in Bolton.
Darren had wanted to get married for a long time and when he had a health scare last year it made me realise how important it was to us both. We discussed it over dinner at home and decided we wanted a big family wedding, it took us 15 months to plan it.
I went to a Las Vegas Casino evening with family and friends from work we had a brilliant time, there was an Elvis tribute and lots of different Casino tables. I hadn't known what to expect but it was a fantastic night, highly recommended. Darren's stag night was a lot quieter, they went bowling and then for a curry afterwards.
He left most of it to me, he was involved in the major decisions and did come to a few wedding fayres but on the whole I did the majority of the planning.
I was and still am, obsessed with confetti. I spent hours on the message boards and got lots of advice from the girls on there. I also used the to do list and the table plan.
I started one but never finished it, too much time on the message boards!!
I bought quite a few things online including the favour boxes, table trivia, guest book and table confetti.
I wore a long dress with a fitted white bodice with silver and blue embroidery, the dress had a full skirt in midnight blue. I've had so many comments about the dress as it was different without being over the top, it was absolutely gorgeous and made me feel great.
I had my daughter and best friend who wore midnight blue dresses, my friend had hers made and my daughters was from Hillary Morgan. I also had our three nieces as flowergirls, they wore cream dresses with pink bolero jackets, they looked gorgeous.
He had his brother as Best Man and my three young nephews as Ushers. They all wore navy blue jackets with blue and grey pin stripe trousers, silver waistcoats and dark blue cravats. Our eight year old son was also in the same outfit, he gave me away.
We had a civil ceremony.
The Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Bolton.
That was also at the Ramada.
I didn't as I stayed at the Hotel the night before. Darren arrived in a blue Rolls Royce which his Mum organised as a surprise.
We had 68 during the day and a further 60 came during the evening.
The colours were midnight blue and silver with touches of pink to brighten it.
The favour boxes had silver hearts on and I tied them with pink ribbon for the ladies and blue ribbon for the men. We also had white and silver table crackers, pink flowers and pink and silver on the place cards. We gave each child a present and I wrapped the boys in silver and the girls in pink.
Yes, the ladies had five bath pearls in a box and the men five chocolate footballs in the same box. I also made silver and white table crackers for each person and filled them with a mini tube of love hearts, a love motto and a fortune fish. All the children had a bag from Molly Monkey which were brilliant.
The flowers were stunning, they were done by my best friend, Allison, who was also a bridesmaid and were commented on by everyone including the registrar. My bouquet was a traditional teardrop shape with pink and cream roses and lillies and lots of greenery, the two older bridesmaids had a smaller version and the flowegirls has small posies of pink roses tied with pink ribbon. The flowers on the ceremony and top table were different shades of pink and cream roses and lillies, they were absolutely stunning. We had bowls of floating candles and pink flowers on the tables.
Our venue handled the catering which was yummy, we had tossed prawns and smoked trout salad, Roast sirloin of beef coated with red wine and mushroom sauce with seasonal vegetables and potatoes, Creme Caramel with Chantilly Cream and fresh Fruits, Selection of cheese and biscuits finished off with tea, coffee and mints.
My sister had it made for us, it was vanilla and chocolate sponges, three layers stacked and decorated with silver hearts.
We had a close up magician to keep everyone entertained during the day and a disco in the evening.
We had two, with John Lewis and Argos.
We spent our first night at the Ramada and then went on Honeymoon to Disneyland Paris, not very romantic but we took our eight year old son with us and had a great time.
My best friend, daughter and myself drinking champagne together as we got into our dresses, seeing all the children dressed up and looking absolutely gorgeous, standing at the top of the aisle and seeing my husband, all the family being together, there were so many it's hard to pick out any one moment. The whole day was just so special.
I made all the invitations and only realised I had not put the date on the evening invitations once they had been sent out. My dress not fitting me until the week before the wedding. The worst thing was I didn't sleep at all the week before the wedding and was so tired on the day although adrenalin carried me through!
The only thing I would change is to have the whole day and night videoed, we had the ceremony and the speeches, but the day went by in such a blur that I wish I had more video footage to watch. I also forgot to put the guest book out which I'm, disappointed about, but other than those two things I wouldn't change anything. It sounds corny but the whole day was perfect.
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