We are married! Part 4 - The Ceremony

And so it was time to get into the car and travel to the church. The villa that we had rented was about 20 minutes from the church so there was enough time for the nerves to kick in on the way.  My Dad did a good job at keeping me calm, although I did panic as we only arrived and the church dead on 4 pm and all I could think of was that Lisa our wedding planner had always said we couldn't be late at all, I took this literally to mean I couldn't even be a minute late!

Once we arrived and got out of the car we waited in the plaza outside of the church while the bridesmaids queued up to enter the church before me.  As we were waiting lots of people gathered in the plaza to watch and lots of cameras were going of, what a weird feeling!

The music struck up and the flower girls and bridesmaid made their way in.

The it was my turn, with one reassuring squeeze from my dad off we set up the aisle.  I can't tell you if the music that I had spent hours choosing sounded good or not as I was just focusing on calming myself and getting to the top of the aisle.

I was doing everything to try and not look at my soon to be husband too soon as I had been told that he had been crying already and I knew I wouldn't cope if I looked too soon.  As we were nearing the top of the aisle I looked up and his top lip was going, that's all it took for me to well up.

People have told me that my dad who never cries had a tear in his eye as he passed my hand to my soon to be husbands.  I can't wait to see the video!

At this point we were both so nervous but so happy, its a kind of nerves that I have never felt before, this felt so right and I couldn't believe that we were finally standing there in front of all the people that we love and were just about to commit ourselves to each other for live, I suppose its nervous excitement that hits you once you finally get to hold each others hands.

Our readers did an amazing job despite some nerves and the full service went really well, I had some worries about the service as the priest was obviously going to be foreign but he followed the mass booklet that we (rephrase that I!!) had spent hours preparing and making sure that we made the ceremony as much about us as what we could do and I really feel that we managed to achieve that.  We had lots of non catholics at the wedding who came up to us after and told us how much they enjoyed the ceremony so we must have gotten it right.

We had a few wobbles in our voices when saying our vows and a few tears in our eyes, it was so emotional to finally be standing in front of each other declaring our undying love for each other and becoming husband and wife

And finally we emerged as the new Mr & Mrs and what an utterly amazing day we both had!!

All photos by Kris:

Our amazing photographer:

We are married - Part 3 - Getting Ready

Once the makeup artist and our amazing wedding planner arrived at our rental villa the place was buzzing, we got the champagne out and had a toast to the day.

Our photographer arrived soon after and quickly got to work.  We had chosen him for the style he shoots in which is reportage, I really didn't want anything that I felt was in your face or too posed so his style was perfect.  He took lots of shots of the build up to the day and I think that I will let them tell the story.

Soon it was time to get into my dress, as everyone else was very busy getting ready at this point and my chief bridesmaid was running around sorting out all the little girls I slipped upstairs to get into it myself, thankfully my guardian angel in the form of my wedding planner Lisa appeared to help zip me into it and give me the biggest best hug I could have wanted :-)

I was getting a little nervous but hugely excited at this point so the hug was just what I wanted and needed before putting the final touches to my make up and getting that elusive first glimpse of myself in the mirror.

That's when the tears started to come, I just couldn't believe that it was me that was staring back, seeing everything coming together, all the months of planning, all the ideas that you have about your hair, your dress and your jewellery and suddenly you are looking at it all in the mirror and it was such an amazing, overwhelming and exciting range of emotions, I will never forget how it felt and am so pleased that our photographer managed to capture that moment.

Once I had gotten over the shock of the moment, I was excited to come down the stairs to see everyone else and for them to see me for the first time.  I knew my Mum and Dad were waiting for me at the bottom and I was so excited to see their reaction when they seen me!  My poor Mum was trying so hard to hold back the tears, it was the best feeling ever, knowing that I had made them so proud and they were finally seeing their daughter getting married.

And so it was time to head to the church to finally see my soon to be husband.

All photos by Kris McGuirk:

Our Amazing Photographer 

Coming soon: Part 4 - The ceremony.

We are married! Part 2 - The morning of the wedding

I had been worrying all week that `I wouldn't sleep well the night before the wedding, what with being in a strange bed and not having my soon to be husband there, however I need not have worried, I slept like a baby!
When I did wake up the house was still quiet, I opened the curtains to check the weather (yes even having your wedding in Spain does not make you immune to this!) the sun was just starting to come up and with a spring in my step I got into a gorgeous bubble bath.  I brought my iPod in with me and played some of the music that we had chosen for the day and I just lay there singing and smiling, I really could not have been calmer and happier, finally I was marrying the man I love more than anything, the sun was out and everyone I loved where there to share it with us.

When I finally got out of the bath - the joy of not having the wedding until 4pm meant we were not overly rushed in the morning - my Chief Bridesmaid was just about to knock on the door as she thought that I hadn't got up yet!  I had made the girls all T-shirts to wear on the morning of the wedding and everyone loved them.

 Me and my flowergirls posing in our Tshirts

Can you guess who these two lovely ladies may be?

Our plan was to just relax in the morning whilst waiting on my hairdresser and makeup artist to arrive, I had made a playlist up on my iPod to listen to so we plugged that in and generally just relaxed.  My hair and make up artist where due to arrive around 11.30ish so we had plenty of time to just chill and chat with each other, I really valued that time with my Mum and my sister.  My poor Chief Bridesmaid though had agreed to curl all the little girls hairs so she was stuck up stairs for a good bit of the morning with chatting going on between the two floors with her. lol  (By the way she did an amazing job!)

We had planned to have a little glass of cava or two whilst getting ready, sure it would be rude not too :-) I had mentioned this to my lovely wedding planner Lisa during the week and that we were looking to try and get some pretend cava for the little girls to make them feel included and she told me you can get kids champagne in Spain.......cool!  Lisa being Lisa, off she went and got us a bottle and I can tell you she made the little girls morning!

 Alcohol free champagne

 Our oldest flowergirl popping the cork!

 Cheers! 

Soon it was time for the house to become busier, my dad arrived then the hair and makeup artist closely followed by the lovely Lisa and it was time to get ready!!