I realised recently that I never wrote a proper blog post about our wedding. I think it was the post wedding relaxation kicking in, with no more planning to do! I just needed a break from all things red & silver… I did write about our fantastic honeymoon in Mexico, but I neglected to write a recap of my wedding day. Our first year anniversary seemed like the perfect opportunity to bore my blog readers about our ‘big day’.

Our Wedding: A Recap

James & I were married at the Royal Court Hotel near Coventry, at 2pm on Friday 12th December. We defied tradition & spent the night before the wedding together in our bridal suite, much to the disgust of some of my friends! The evening before the wedding was spent going over the details quickly with our fabulous wedding coördinator at the hotel, Angie, and relaxing in the bar (where else!?) with the various family that came a day early.

In the Morning

From the very beginning of our planning, James & I always wanted to have a relaxed wedding day, surrounded by friends & family. I think we achieved it, right down to having a small lie in on our wedding day! It was not for us, the usual getting up at 6am to start getting primped! After joining our family for breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, we parted ways to start preparing for the wedding ceremony.

The first photo of my from our wedding day… typical!

The ‘girls’ headed to the hotel’s salon to get our hair & makeup started. Greeted with a glass of bubbles, the five of us settled in to be transformed into a beautiful bridal party. Becky & Carly, my two bridesmaids, and Jennie, my big sis, stole the sofa & pored over the hair looks book to pick out their hairstyles, while the brilliant hairdresser, Lisa, got started on my ridiculous amount of hair.

Once all our hair & makeup was finished, the 5 of us headed upstairs to get ready! The bridesmaids & I all headed to my room to climb into our dresses, whilst my Mum & sister dashed off to their rooms to get into their outfits. Mum & the girls helped me into my dress & shoes, and then Dad came in to wait for the knock to let us know to go downstairs. Dave, the photographer, came up to take a few shots of us getting ready, which was nice. After all that was done & we were ready, there were a few minutes before we had to go downstairs so there was some chatting, some laughing, and even a little bit of crying (my Daddy told me he was proud of me *sniff*). And of course…

• Something Old: A lucky silver sixpence slipped into my shoe
• Something New: My dress/tiara/jewellery!
• Something Borrowed: My Mother’s silver bracelet
• Something Blue: The ribbon on the garter my Dad bought for me!

Meanwhile elsewhere, there was a slight bit of drama with the lads! Victor (our Usher) managed to follow his sat nav a very weird way to the hotel, down a very muddy lane & into a ditch, oops! From what I was able to gather after the wedding, he arrived late & coated in mud, having convinced a friendly farmer to help him escape the ditch. He was sponged off & seemed presentable enough by the time I saw him, at least!

The Ceremony

When the time came to head down the Blenheim Suite for the ceremony, I started to get incredibly nervous! By the time I was standing outside the suite my legs were shaking & I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to make it down the aisle without falling over.. not that it wasn’t a concern right from the beginning of the wedding planning – I’ve never been good at walking in high heels! I managed to cling on to Dad’s arm and pose for a few photographs before following the two bridesmaids down the aisle without any trips or stumbles, thankfully. I do remember having to fight tears as Dad whispered something to me though – it was an inconvenient moment for him to me saying sentimental things to me if I was going to save my makeup from tear smudges!

The guests were all given programmes for the day – we tried to inject a bit of our personalities into it when we designed it, with a sense of fun.. as well as the order of the day information, it had a crossword about the two of us (with some Christmas questions thrown in as well), an ‘on this day in history’ page which featured James’s mum’s birth, our relationship history & a short bit of info about each of our attendants.

We had a simple ceremony with the traditional wording & no readings or songs. I walked down the aisle to the strains of Largo from Xerxes by Handel and less than 10 minutes later we were signing the register with our Mothers as witnesses & posing for photographs. During the ceremony I thought I was going to collapse my legs were shaking so hard, and you could see James’s hands visibly shaking! There was a slight hiccup involving me having trouble putting James’s ring on (his hands were hot & he has a big knuckle!), but it made people laugh and I felt considerably less nervous afterwards, although I hate being the centre of attention.

Once the ceremony was over & we walked back down the aisle we had some ‘welcome drinks’ and headed outside for some photographs. This bit (as it always does) took a while, but our guests were able to retreat back inside to the bar in groups & escape the cold when they weren’t needed! There were a lot of complaints about the weather but I think we were very lucky as it absolutely chucked it down the next day – our wedding day was freezing cold, but dry at least! We even had some photos with Homily, which amused a lot of the guests.

The Reception

Next on the agenda was the sit down meal. It was very yummy, starting off with prawn cocktail, moving on to leg of lamb with rosemary, and finishing with a great winter warmer, deep dish apple pie. It went down a storm with our hungry guests!

Again, we tried to convey our personalities into the proceedings, with a cracker at each place setting, along with bubbles, confetti, wedding trivia and sweeties. Each cracker contained a joke, a silver hat, a Green & Blacks chocolate, a message from us & some sort of toy or gift – some of them were labelled & had personalised gifts in. The tables were decorated with red themed posies and red and white balloons.

Instead of a traditional guestbook, which I am not a fan of, we decided to have a memory board for people to sign using one of the photos from our engagement shoot, and also provided each table with a special envelope. Inside this envelope were 10 questionnaires (one each) and a set of Crayola fine tip felt pens. The guests were encouraged to open their envelopes by my Dad at the start of the meal, so that they could have some fun whilst waiting for each course to be served. I’m really glad we did this because some of the answers we had were absolutely brilliant! I really must scan some in & put them up on our wedding website sometime. In particular, the answers to the question “Did we miss out on anything today?” make me appreciate them, because there are some very funny stories among them!

After the food was gobbled up the speeches began. Dad’s was hilarious & very touching (he made me cry!) – and he had props! These included mementos of my past (a set of Eden candles made by Green Glass – both places I have worked – and a fire extinguisher because there was once a slight incident involving me, candles, and soot all over the freshly tiled bathroom!) & a bonsai tree because they gave Jennie & Andrew a tree when they were married, but since we are still renting we needed a portable version! James was very nervous but did a good job, despite my Dad heckling him with the advice “drink some champagne, that will help”! Steve, the best man, was very amusing as he told tales of James’s school days. James’s Uncle Tim even read out a poem he had written for the occasion!

Next up, the cake cutting. Again, we had a slightly unusual touch here – our cake had a vase between the layers! It’s actually a lovely memento of the day, as well as the sugar flowers that were on the cake. We toasted each other with the two piece love goblet my Dad bought for us, posed for the last few official photographs, and then retreated to the bar while the room was prepared for the evening reception.

After an hour of socialising with our guests in the bar, we headed back into the Windsor Suite for the evening disco, starting with the terrifying first dance! We proceeded to do the ‘couple shuffle’ to Beauty & the Beast, as sung by Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson – our song choice got a few giggles! I still maintain that I’m the beast in this relationship.

The disco afterwards was great fun, with all the cheesy wedding disco classics, with some of our favourites thrown in as well! The cake was cut up, served, and utterly demolished – I only got half a slice it was so popular! The buffet was just as yummy, and just as popular, despite most of the guests eating a three course meal a few hours earlier!

We finally stumbled up to bed sometime after midnight, where James managed to deconstruct my hair before we succumbed to sleep! All in all, it was a fantastic day that went really well, and was well worth all the time & effort planning it!

Take a look at a selection of family taken photos, my favourites of the official photos, or our honeymoon snaps!

“Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the journey worthwhile.”

- Franklin P Jones

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Our photographers at Studio Cru have done a fantastic job! It’s completely our fault that it has taken 10 months to get our hands on this thing – we took forever getting around to choosing images and then spent a while agonising over the layout. What can I say, we’ve had other stresses on our minds this year. It’s so nice to finally have this final memento of our wedding day at last though, and I can’t wait to show it off to everyone!

We paid extra to have a ‘storybook album’, and we’re very pleased we did – this is going to last us a lifetime, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get bored of looking through it. Some of the pictures are so funny, and it’s so ‘us’ – there is even a photo of James sticking his tongue out at the camera!

Here is a sneak peek of some of my favourite pages:

What do you think?

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This year really is ‘the year of weddings’ for myself & James. Last year, the only wedding I went to was my own… this year we were invited to SIX weddings, though we were only able to accept five invitations (two weddings were on the same day!).

And so it was on Saturday, we dutifully got up early, ironed our wedding outfits (ok, so I ironed them whilst giving James instructions such as ‘go find my black heels’), and jumped in the car to drive to Trimley St Martin for the fourth wedding of the year.

Sarah (James’s Cousin) & Davis had a beautiful church wedding, with blazing sunshine & a very pretty pink daisies theme. The bridesmaids wore hot pink strapless dresses, and had white daisy bouqeuts, whilst Sarah was gorgeous in a white wedding dress with pink daisies.

Photo by Anthony Corkhill

The ceremony was lovely – even if the vicar was a tad bit batty! James & I were pleased when we spotted ‘All things bright & beautiful’ as one of the hymns – one where we knew the words & tune! The readings were nice, Ecclesiastes 4 9:12 & Carol Ann Duffy’s Valentine. The only problem was that I studied ‘Valentine’ to death during my GCSEs and so couldn’t help cringing a little as the hours of deconstruction came flooding back! Carol Ann Duffy studied at my high school (in one of it’s previous incarnations), so the English teachers felt the need to pick that poem every year from the selection in the GCSE English Anthology and then torture us by giving it extra attention!

The reception was inspired – a quintessentially British tea party with an assortment of cakes, cream tea, pots of tea & glasses of pimms. There were even Dolly Mixture favours instead of the traditional almonds, and a cake holder full of sweets in the middle of each table. The crockery was an eclectic mix of beautiful old style china tea cups & saucers, with milk jugs & tea pots in all shapes and sizes. After everyone had stuff their faces full of scrumptious treats & the speeches were done, Sarah & Davis cut the cake & had their first dance.

Photo by Anthony Corkhill

With the British portion of the day over, Davis’s family jumped into action and started carrying mysterious trays of food around, setting up a tradition Ugandan buffet, which included all sorts of vegetables and various goat dishes.

Oh yes. I ate goat. It was surprisingly yummy, but I found the aftertaste was too strong for me, rather like roast duck.

I actually liked the buffet more than I expected to, I’m a little bit kit & miss with foreign foods; I love chinese/cantonese and italian, but hate mexican & indian. Needless to say I was slightly worried about having to go hungry, but that wasn’t a problem!

While everyone was relaxing (having stuffed their faces for a second time), Sarah snuck off and came back resplendent in a beautiful traditional Ugandan dress to do another first dance – a traditional hunting dance where she had to dance around the room hunting for her husband!

Photo by Anthony Corkhill

We left not long after the dancing, because my stupid headaches has struck again & we wanted to catch a lift with James’s dad (we were staying in the same b&b).

Sunday was spent having a quick look around Felixstowe, driving back to Birmingham, walking Homily & a pregnant Bru, and then collapsing in bed with the headaches escalating to migraine level. I drugged myself to sleep!

Roll on bank holiday weekend and wedding number five!

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We were lucky enough to be invited to Carly’s ceremony and it was absolutely beautiful! Carly likes to do things her own way, and it started with the dress. She has ALWAYS wanted a red dress – and she looked gorgeous in it! Here is a shot of her just after she arrived at the registry office, being her typical self! The tiara she is wearing might seem familiar to my family & friends – she wore it as her ‘something borrowed’.. I got it for our wedding last year & asked if she would like to wear it for hers (and I was so honoured that she did!). She completely stole all my wedding research as well, the dress & flowers were both from the same suppliers I found for ours! Ok, so I willingly handed over a list of names and websites

James & I scrubbed up ok for the occasion, I even had my hair cut & blow dried in the morning in honour of the day! The dress is a Monsoon one I was lucky enough to be given by my sister, I love it! I haven’t worn these shoes for a few years though, and I had a nightmare remembering how to do them up properly. We were in the car on the way, with Gayle in the back, and me utterly perplexed as to how they were done up differently! James had buckled one for me & I had done the other.. and they were somehow different! It got fixed in the end though, thankfully.

It was lovely to see the girls, James managed to steal this shot of us with Carly, while the official photographer was shooting the boys. We zipped home between the ceremony in the morning & the reception in the evening, and printed this photo, put it in an oak frame we had bought for the purpose, and wrapped it up to present to the bride in the evening – she loved it! I hope it will be a nice memory of the day for her in the years to come. It’s so comical though, I’m a whole head taller than the other girls – I need to stop wearing heels at functions with them, I look like some sort of giant!

Of all the photos we managed to take on the day, this one is my favourite. Carly & Daniel, looking at each other, just looking so much in love & so happy.. Yay!

And for my final photo highlight, I leave you with this (not so) stunning one of myself & Mia boogying on the dance floor at the reception in the evening. It’s a little blurry, but it’s an action shot so it’s ok, right? That girl loves to twirl! The strange pink and grey thing on the floor between us is Sarah. I’m not sure what animal she is supposed to be (if any).. but she is a prized possession, and so was also involved in the dancing!

All in all, it was a lovely day. It made me think of our own wedding in December, and I got all gooey and soppy at one point! I almost cried during the ceremony when the registrar read an excerpt from a native american ceremony Carly had requested. It was fantastic.. I will have to ask Carly for the quote! The only bad thing to marr the day was a headache that came on in the afternoon, and niggled until the evening, when it got worse & we had to leave early at 10. Boo Hiss at my head!

To view the rest of my photos, please view my set on flickr.

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I am trying to console myself with the fact that this 3 weeks of manic activity is going to be followed by 10 days of honeymoon bliss followed by a lifetime of actually honest to god finally being married to James!

It’s just.. yea.. lots of things to do. A list will help, honest! I’ll at least feel more organised if it’s in a nice, tidy list.

I still have to finish sorting out my hen do (in two weeks), which hardly anyone has bothered saying they’ll come to. At least my closest girlfriends will be there, which always makes for a great night! One person has actually ‘downgraded’ their facebook RSVP from a definate Yes to a Maybe – and this is after telling me that she was looking forward to it! – without a word to me why she might not bother/be able to make it! That’s politeness for you

At the moment, being at work just seems like a momentus waste of time, lol! It’s not so busy at this time of year, and so I sit at work for 8 hours and work at a normal rate.. and then go home and feel manic! It’s supposed to be the otherway round, lol!

Anyway.. I’m off to make that list!

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25 days untill I become Mrs Zoe Corkhill, instead of Miss Zoe Smith. I have less than 600 hours of the identity I’ve had for the past 23 years… I will be waking up with my fiancee, meeting up with my girlfriends and having a girly morning of hairstyles and makeup, and then my mother will help me into my wedding dress. I will be walking down an aisle and promising myself to him. There will be food, and drinks, and dancing.

And it’s only 25 days away. Woah.

(and there is still a lot to do!! If you want to know more about our wedding, check out the website)

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After forsaking every other birthday present and pledging my payrise (got one yesterday, yay) to pay the contract, James is buying me an iphone for my birthday next month

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Maybe this evening will be nicer. I was hoping to walk Homily after work but the way the sky has behaved today, it’s looking doubtful. She doesn’t like to get her fur wet and makes a big deal about going outside in the rain. And that’s just the dog – I refuse to go paddling in our local park in the rain. Besides, my favourite trainers leak, and my new ones aren’t broken in yet!

Can anyone who uses netflix tell me what they think of the service? I’m thinking of subscribing for longer than my free trial, but I’m interested in the game rental as well as the films. It intruiges me! Reviews, suggestions, comments, anyone?

I have my driving test this Friday, but I don’t feel too nervous about it – I think it’s because if I let myself get jumpy then I know I’ll screw up, so it’s a ‘what’s the point’ attitude to getting nervous. I think I drive well enough to pass, as long as I have no weird & wonderful moments in the car during my test. My manouvers are spot on, it’s just junctions and roundabouts I don’t like!

Ooooh, just got this email from my wedding dress people: “Your measurement form is received. Your dress is in process now and will be delivered to you around 25 working days.” YAY. In other wedding news, I’m not wearing my engagement ring because it’s off being polished and replated – we dropped it off at the jewellers whilst choosing our wedding rings :D. We’re going to order them when we pick them up (though I’m currently deliberating between 18ct and 9ct white gold, as my engagement ring is 18ct – but I’m fairly sure that I’ll wear my engagement ring on my right hand after the wedding, cos I don’t think I’ll like wearing two rings on one finger). It is very weird not to be wearing my ring though, my finger has a groove in it and I keep going to fiddle with my ring to find it missing. Also, we’re off to the registry office on Friday to declare our notice of marriage – basically to declare that we want to get married.

More and more plans are being made to make my life busier and busier. I’m off to the Royal Cornwall Show on Saturday, while I’m at my parents. Becky & Seb, and James & I are off to Drayton Manor on the 21st and they will be staying at the flat for the weekend. Also, and very exciting for me, James was a sweetie and we’re off to see the Britain’s Got Talent Live Tour in a fortnight :D. Woo. AND Becky has invited us to go see Dylan Moran in October. Busy busy busy bee.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on enough. Bye

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From the 14th – 18th July, I will be on the Isle of White, Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park! Woo, looks really nice. Staying in chalets, with no extra service charge, wheeee. Just got to pay the (discounted) ferry trip, fuel & food. All the f’s then! Not bad for £60 for four people. Lol, it’s supposed to be £600/week in July. Can’t wait – will be great to have a break. Going with Becky & Tom (unless he finds emplloyment before then) so that will be cool.

So yup, excitement = the month of July. Obviously not quite as exciting as December, what with my wedding, hehe, but fun nonetheless! It’s nice to have this huge event this year with the wedding – but it’s brilliant to have a fun & varied life with James. After all, the whole deal is less about the wedding and more about the marriage! I’m not saying that I don’t want a lovely wedding though, cos I do! Just want what comes after that more, the life with James.

Anyway, I’ll stop being soppy now. I’ve got a lot to look forward to now though, with going down to Cornwall next month, O2 festival, Isle of White, my birthday & Joseph, Lee Evans, and the wedding – and Mexico! Whee, busy year for Zoe!

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Hopefully I’ll be all better by tomorrow, I don’t really wanna miss work again – I’ll have too much to do! Gah, I need to stop having problems with my tummy.

Other than being ill, the past few days have been ok – Steven, James’s best man, came over with his girlfriend for the day on Sunday which was nice. Other than that, it was a fairly quiet weekend. We spent Saturday working on our wedding website. It’s still a bit dodgy in parts, but go over and take a look and tell me what you think!

We’d like to ask for a favour for this: we wanted to put a bit about each other & us as a couple so that family members, friends etc, can read a little about us before they come to the wedding. So – we’d like to ask our friends to come up with something to say about us that we can add to the website – if you can think of anything please email me with it – ideally we want a few snippets about me, a few about james, and some of us as a couple. It’s just to personalise the site a bit. Thanks!

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