Tracy and Chris
16th September 2000
How did you meet?
We’ve known each other for five years, in fact we met on an internet chat line.
Where did you decide to get married?
We decided to get married at Land’s End Hotel in Cornwall even though we both lived in Kingston; it made the organising ‘interesting’. The Wednesday before the wedding we drove down to Cornwall conserving as much petrol as possible (we were in the throes of the Petrol Crisis). We were getting about 10 calls a day people asking us ‘what were we going to do about the petrol’ – eventually we started to answer the phone, ‘Amec Crisis Centre’. As luck would have it, everyone but around four couples managed to make it somehow.
Tell us about your wedding day.
I awoke really early (about 5am), opened the card from the future in-laws wishing me a lovely day, jumped in the bath and had a nice long soak. Ithen went downstairs for an early breakfast; after all, I had to be at the hairdressers for 8am. The chief bridesmaid and I spent a lovely couple of hours at the hairdressers being pampered and having our hair sorted out. Got back to my hotel about 9:30 and had a quick drink of bubbly before starting to do my make-up. There was a knock at the door and huge bouquet of flowers arrived from my h2b, they were beautiful. My chief bridesmaid put on my make-up; I think she did a stunning job. Once the make-up was on I could relax for half an hour and open my wedding present from my h2b, they were gorgeous, a pair of diamond earrings and the most stunning emerald and diamond necklace, I was nearly in tears.
Then pandemonium broke out. All together, my parents turned up, and my other two bridesmaids and a friend who was going to be taking the video. It was time to get dressed, I felt so very very special. Both my parents burst into tears; it was a very emotional moment. At this moment, h2b was probably arriving at the hotel on the Steam engine (ideal with the petrol crisis, although arranged long before we knew about the petrol). The car arrived and I sent my bridesmaids and the mothers on their way. My father and I had a few special moments together before we set off to Land’s End. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, very hot in fact. I arrived at the hotel and had a few photos taken, before the strains of the wedding march could be heard.
I walked up the aisle concentrating on the man standing at the end waiting for
me, this was the one and only time I felt unsure of myself, I was very overwhelmed and nearly burst into tears with joy. The ceremony was beautiful, the readings excellent and both carried off very well. No sooner had we entered than we were man and wife. A dream for both of us. It was time for the photos; a better backdrop and weather forecast could not have been asked for. Blue skies, green seas, and happy smiling people everywhere.
Photos didn’t take long and then there was a three-course meal of soup/prawn cocktail, roast beef/stuffed chicken, and orange champagne mousse/hot chocolate torte. The food was beautiful….but it was oh so hot. We were eating in a conservatory, the weather felt like the Caribbean. However, it was wonderful.
We had a break during the afternoon, all our guests just mingled or went back to their hotels for a freshen up (all guests had travelled at least 250 miles). The evening was due to start at 7.30pm. I had a nice cold bath, I was so so hot. The evening reception was great, the food lovely, and the music great.
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and most people ended up on the dance floor at some point. We finally managed to get to bed about 2am, only to find that 21 clocks had been hidden in our room to go off every 30 mins. We found them all but one… ‘arrgggh’!
The day was spectacular, the photo’s have turned out wonderfully and I would definitely suggest the hotel as a place for a wedding.
