With no exaggeration, I felt 100 times more nervous on the morning of Sally and Ben's wedding than I ever did on the morning of my own. The morning of my own wedding saw me sitting in the kitchen drinking copious amounts of tea and laughing lots. Apparently, my whole family had been warned that they would have to calm me down and 'say reassuring things to stop me fretting'. Instead, I was the one saying reassuring things to everyone else as they all watched me with an astonished look on their face and kept asking whether I was OK, wondering who this strange person was who appeared calm! I really didn't understand what there was to be nervous about. I was marrying the person who I loved more than I could describe (and thankfully still do 5 years later), spending the day with everyone who I loved in the world and getting spoilt by everyone! However, this wasn't my wedding and I could control my actions! Anna was a different story.
Anna, as described in recent posts, does have the ability to be unpredictable if something upsets her or she has set her mind on something which I don't think is a great idea! Throwing a tantrum at Tesco is one thing but doing it in front of Sally's new in-laws and potentially upsetting Sally on the best day of her life was terrifying.
The day before the wedding was promising. Unfortunately, there were no dress rehearsals planned so James and I decided to have our very own dress rehearsal in the living room with complete outfit and holding a feather duster as a bouquet. Anna loved it and looked gorgeous. The only problem came when it was time to take the dress, shoes and shrug off. 'Stay A Princess' she pleaded amongst the sobs. I tried to explain that the special day would be tomorrow when it would be even better with her hair done beautifully and another little princess (Niamh) to play with. Anna was not impressed and she really thought that sleeping in the bridesmaid dress would be the best option. She didn't win!
Despite the success of the dress rehearsal, I still didn't sleep very much as the same old nightmares played and re-played in my head.
On Sunday 10th May, Anna woke up very excited. I reminded her that today was the special bridesmaid princess day but I'm not sure that I had to. Anna was so excited that she refused to eat breakfast (wh
ich is unheard of) and got even more excited when she saw her Daddy come down the stairs in his wedding suit. 'Look... Daddy in daddy princess clothes'.
(The photograph is James with the bride - his sister, Sally)
The rest of the morning was spent at Grandad Peter's house (Sally's dad/James' stepfather). Sally was having hair and make up done which Anna was mesmerised by! It also gave Anna a chance to spend some time with Niamh, the other bridesmaid. Poor Niamh did try to practise holding hands and walking in a straight line with Anna but Anna was having none of it. She was far too busy playing with Grandad Peter's phone and somehow managing to get the phone to beep all by itself. It did not help the father of the bride and his nerves but Peter was fantastic and didn't say a word (even if he wanted to).
By the time that Anna had got dressed in her complete outfit and had her hair done by the hairdresser, complete with real roses in her hair (which Anna adored!), she was rather excitable but we did manage to bundle her in the car for the short journey to Mottram Hall.
Unfortunately, by the time that we had got to Mottram Hall, Anna was a ball of excited energy and her very first meeting with Sally's Father-in-law saw Anna running around him in circles while singing 'Just Can't Get Enough'. I did try to get her to say Hello but Anna was having none of it. She literally ran round in circles. It didn't help that we were all now 20 minutes late and the registar was getting itchy feet. I don't think Ben's parents knew what to make of it as they watched Anna run up and down the reception area as though she had just been given a crate of E numbers!
Anna did stop for 2 seconds when we cast eyes on Sally for the first time as she arrived at the front doors to Mottram Hall. She simply looked amazing and Anna agreed. 'Sally pretty' said Anna.
After meeting the photographer, it was time to take a photograph of the bridesmaids with Sally. Anna was having none of that either! There was no way that she was going to stand still for longer than a milli-second. In fact, the entire day was the same story. At one point later in the day, the photographer (who was so lovely and deserved a medal!!) looked at me and said 'Does Anna ever stand still for longer than a second or ever get tired'. I said No! After several failed attempts, I persuaded Sally to have the photo taken with just her and Niamh. We would have been there all day otherwise!
At that point, Niamh's mum looked at me and said' I think we should probably go to the ceremony room and leave them to it'. Ben's dad just looked at me with fear in his eyes and said 'I really think someone needs to stay with Anna' as we looked over and saw her standing on the top of the flight of stairs singing 'Islands in the stream' while spinning on the spot and jumping erratically! Sally looked worried too. 'Will she stand on my dress?'. My darling daughter was terrorising the entire wedding party with her over-excitement! Anna was refusing to hold my hand or stand still long enough to calm down. By now, Peter and Sally had already started to walk down to the ceremony room where the guests eagerly awaited Sally's arrival and poor Niamh was trying desperately to get Anna to hold her hand while looking at me and saying 'she can be a monkey can't she.' I was ready to admit defeat and just carry Anna off to a quiet room to calm her down while the wedding proceeded without us. 'Sally' I uttered, 'I don't want Anna to spoil anything for you. Maybe I should just...'. It was then that Peter looked round and said 'Louise... Look at her. Look at how beautiful she is. No matter what Anna does, she can't spoil anything. ever'. I shut up, mainly to swallow back the tears that had suddenly welled up!
7 year old Niamh and I then devised a plan of attack. 'Right... I am going to hold Anna's hand really firmly. I won't hurt her but I am going to hold her tight and lead her down the aisle' said a very determined Niamh. You couldn't help but be impressed with her optimism. I just wish that I had the same optimism! 'That is great Niamh... but if all else fails, don't worry about Anna. Just follow Sally and enjoy it.'.
As the doors opened to the ceremony room, we were greeted with a string quartet. It sounded so beautiful and was just perfect. Not only was it perfect for Sally's entrance but it was also perfect because it suddenly made Anna stop and listen, just long enough to catch her unaware! Before Anna knew it, Niamh had taken her hand and was leading her down the aisle as I watched from the doorway. Anna was 2 steps behind Niamh as she desperately tried to look at the string quartet behind her but Niamh was determined and kept firm hold. Anna went along with it. By the time that Sally reached Ben, Anna and Niamh were walking in synch behind the bride, both looking completely stunning and beautiful. At that moment, I was the proudest Mummy in the world and confess to having tears roll down my cheek.
(Photographic evidence that Anna did actually get down that aisle behind Sally!!)
It was only when the string quartet reached the final bar of music, just before the registar began to speak, that Anna dropped Niamh's hand and decided to dance back down the aisle!!
The whole ceremony was beautiful, especially the vows that Ben and Sally had created themselves which got the whole congreegation sobbing. Unfortunately, the unlucky peoeple who were sat next to myself and Anna had to listen to the thoughtful and heartfelt words through a constant 'crunch, crunch, crunch' as Anna chomped on biscuits. (Healthy eating was never on the agenda during that ceremony... biscuits were the only thing that was going to get Anna through that ceremony without running amok). Luckliy, the congregation near us were a
ll understanding and did see the funny side.
As soon as the wedding ceremony was over, Anna was out of the big patio doors and into the woodland and parkland grounds of Mottram Hall. After sitting semi-still for 20 minutes, Anna was on the loose. As everyone else drank champagne in the garden room overlooking the grounds, I was running at break neck speed towards the lake as Anna decided that she wanted to take a dip. Luckily I caught her... but missed the champagne! (A special thanks to Anna's Uncle John who took pity on me and decided to look out for Anna and run after her so I could have a rest!) Eventually everyone came outside and I had numerous people approach me to tell me how beautiful Anna looked walking down the aisle and running in the gardens. I, on the other hand, did not look so great after running after Anna for the past 2 hours. In fact, I looked like I had just completed the London Marathon.
It was then time to pose for the photographs. It was never going to happen with Anna. We tried all sorts of techniques. I tried standing behind the photographer pulling funny faces, which amused the rest of the wedding party but not Anna. We tried holding her but she just wriggled free and eventually we settled for letting her stand while we held her hands in the air. I am sure they are not the most flattering of poses for Anna. Unfortunately the red cube will probably appear on every single photo as well. At one point, the p
hotograher called for a group of family members for one particular photo and added 'Can we please hurry on this one as Anna is in it. We don't have any time to spare with Anna'!!
We also had to deal with the bouquet issue. Practising with a feather duster is one thing but the real thing is a different matter. From the start of the wedding ceremony onwards, Anna kept attempting to push her beautiful bouquet down her dress. At first, I thought she was playing Hide and Seek with it and was telling her that it was not a toy. She then pointed to my buttonhole and said 'flowers like you'. She was trying to use her bouquet as a buttonhole. Unfortunately, Anna hadn't realised that her bouquet was massive compared to my button hole and that shoving it down her dress probably didn't look the best! By the time it came to the photographs, the bouquet was looking very worst for wear after being manhandled by Anna and so had to be abandoned!
Later in the day I caught the photographer taking a 5 minute rest and told him that he deserved a medal if he managed to get any good photos of Anna while she was this excited. He laughed and said 'Are you setting me a challenge?'. I laughed and said it may be a challenge too far on this particular day. He replied, 'I can never resist a challenge. I am on a mission'. 10 minutes later, Anna was investigating some leaves. The next thing I knew, the photographer was talking to Anna about the leaf and showing her his camera, describing what it did. Anna was very impressed! He spent a very long time sat on the grass with her, just talking to her and Anna had found a new best friend. After that, Anna was putty in his hands and even sat there and posed for him, saying 'cheese' to the lens and smiling! That photograher really did deserve a medal. He was brilliant with her and I just hope he got the shot (even if it wasn't in the posed ones)
After sitting down, the speeches began. At this point, I had already got a plan. It was meant to have worked! I had bought Anna a brand new 'Thomas the Tank Engine' colouring book, complete with stickers, especially for this moment. For a few seconds, I did actually think it had worked but, as soon as the speeches began, Anna decided to tell everyone how great Thomas was. I was very willing to pick her up and carry her out but just as I was about to, Anna would go quiet and I thought all was well. She would then start discussing the merits of Thomas at key points in each speech. It didn't help that every time someone laughed at Ben's jokes or the best man, Anna thought that they were laughing at her. Anna, being the diva that she is, then thought that she should tell a few more of her own unique jokes if it was getting this kind of response!
Although the meal was gorgeous, Anna missed it after falling asleep throughout the entire meal!
Apart from being dressed in her gorgeous princess dress, Anna's favourite part of the day was the disco! She loved it. I have to say that Jim (Sally's nephew) and Finn (Niamh's little brother/Sally's other nephew) stole the show as they were a fantastic double act and danced in great style. Anna adored watching them. However, she was no stranger to the dance floor either and cut some shapes of her own. 'Poker Face' by Lady Gaga was her favourite tune of the night and she danced to every second of it. She even sang it to herself while falling asleep. I really do think that Anna would have still been there at 2am in the morning if we let her. Even when the dance floor was packed full of people, Anna was in the thick of it! However, it got to 11pm and the disco was getting louder. The room, although not small, was filled with loud sound and I started to worry about her delicate ear drums so we retired to bed. Apparently we missed Abba's 'Dancing Queen' and The Nolans but I haven't told Anna as she would never forgive me from taking her away from dancing to that! (Anna knows 90% of the words to Dancing Queen!)
At 11.30pm (we stayed at the hotel so it fortunately meant only a short walk to our bed!), Anna fell asleep whilst I was reading her bedtime Kipper story (which has never happened before)
So, overall, it was really a beautiful day. Sally was a stunning bride and really did have a warm glow surrounding her (I finally know what it means when they say about a glow that some pregnant woman have!) Anna looked gorgeous and beautiful and was her own unique self.
Congratulations to Ben and Sally and congratulations to Anna too, who made her Mummy and Daddy so very proud!
(Thank you so much to 7 year old Niamh, who looked so beautiful, for getting Anna down the aisle and being so patient with her. I wonder if Niamh would be available to help me in July when Anna has her solo bridesmaid performance. The nightmares are due to start next week!)
Anna, as described in recent posts, does have the ability to be unpredictable if something upsets her or she has set her mind on something which I don't think is a great idea! Throwing a tantrum at Tesco is one thing but doing it in front of Sally's new in-laws and potentially upsetting Sally on the best day of her life was terrifying.
The day before the wedding was promising. Unfortunately, there were no dress rehearsals planned so James and I decided to have our very own dress rehearsal in the living room with complete outfit and holding a feather duster as a bouquet. Anna loved it and looked gorgeous. The only problem came when it was time to take the dress, shoes and shrug off. 'Stay A Princess' she pleaded amongst the sobs. I tried to explain that the special day would be tomorrow when it would be even better with her hair done beautifully and another little princess (Niamh) to play with. Anna was not impressed and she really thought that sleeping in the bridesmaid dress would be the best option. She didn't win!
Despite the success of the dress rehearsal, I still didn't sleep very much as the same old nightmares played and re-played in my head.
On Sunday 10th May, Anna woke up very excited. I reminded her that today was the special bridesmaid princess day but I'm not sure that I had to. Anna was so excited that she refused to eat breakfast (wh
ich is unheard of) and got even more excited when she saw her Daddy come down the stairs in his wedding suit. 'Look... Daddy in daddy princess clothes'.(The photograph is James with the bride - his sister, Sally)
The rest of the morning was spent at Grandad Peter's house (Sally's dad/James' stepfather). Sally was having hair and make up done which Anna was mesmerised by! It also gave Anna a chance to spend some time with Niamh, the other bridesmaid. Poor Niamh did try to practise holding hands and walking in a straight line with Anna but Anna was having none of it. She was far too busy playing with Grandad Peter's phone and somehow managing to get the phone to beep all by itself. It did not help the father of the bride and his nerves but Peter was fantastic and didn't say a word (even if he wanted to).
By the time that Anna had got dressed in her complete outfit and had her hair done by the hairdresser, complete with real roses in her hair (which Anna adored!), she was rather excitable but we did manage to bundle her in the car for the short journey to Mottram Hall.
Unfortunately, by the time that we had got to Mottram Hall, Anna was a ball of excited energy and her very first meeting with Sally's Father-in-law saw Anna running around him in circles while singing 'Just Can't Get Enough'. I did try to get her to say Hello but Anna was having none of it. She literally ran round in circles. It didn't help that we were all now 20 minutes late and the registar was getting itchy feet. I don't think Ben's parents knew what to make of it as they watched Anna run up and down the reception area as though she had just been given a crate of E numbers!
Anna did stop for 2 seconds when we cast eyes on Sally for the first time as she arrived at the front doors to Mottram Hall. She simply looked amazing and Anna agreed. 'Sally pretty' said Anna.
After meeting the photographer, it was time to take a photograph of the bridesmaids with Sally. Anna was having none of that either! There was no way that she was going to stand still for longer than a milli-second. In fact, the entire day was the same story. At one point later in the day, the photographer (who was so lovely and deserved a medal!!) looked at me and said 'Does Anna ever stand still for longer than a second or ever get tired'. I said No! After several failed attempts, I persuaded Sally to have the photo taken with just her and Niamh. We would have been there all day otherwise!
At that point, Niamh's mum looked at me and said' I think we should probably go to the ceremony room and leave them to it'. Ben's dad just looked at me with fear in his eyes and said 'I really think someone needs to stay with Anna' as we looked over and saw her standing on the top of the flight of stairs singing 'Islands in the stream' while spinning on the spot and jumping erratically! Sally looked worried too. 'Will she stand on my dress?'. My darling daughter was terrorising the entire wedding party with her over-excitement! Anna was refusing to hold my hand or stand still long enough to calm down. By now, Peter and Sally had already started to walk down to the ceremony room where the guests eagerly awaited Sally's arrival and poor Niamh was trying desperately to get Anna to hold her hand while looking at me and saying 'she can be a monkey can't she.' I was ready to admit defeat and just carry Anna off to a quiet room to calm her down while the wedding proceeded without us. 'Sally' I uttered, 'I don't want Anna to spoil anything for you. Maybe I should just...'. It was then that Peter looked round and said 'Louise... Look at her. Look at how beautiful she is. No matter what Anna does, she can't spoil anything. ever'. I shut up, mainly to swallow back the tears that had suddenly welled up!
7 year old Niamh and I then devised a plan of attack. 'Right... I am going to hold Anna's hand really firmly. I won't hurt her but I am going to hold her tight and lead her down the aisle' said a very determined Niamh. You couldn't help but be impressed with her optimism. I just wish that I had the same optimism! 'That is great Niamh... but if all else fails, don't worry about Anna. Just follow Sally and enjoy it.'.
As the doors opened to the ceremony room, we were greeted with a string quartet. It sounded so beautiful and was just perfect. Not only was it perfect for Sally's entrance but it was also perfect because it suddenly made Anna stop and listen, just long enough to catch her unaware! Before Anna knew it, Niamh had taken her hand and was leading her down the aisle as I watched from the doorway. Anna was 2 steps behind Niamh as she desperately tried to look at the string quartet behind her but Niamh was determined and kept firm hold. Anna went along with it. By the time that Sally reached Ben, Anna and Niamh were walking in synch behind the bride, both looking completely stunning and beautiful. At that moment, I was the proudest Mummy in the world and confess to having tears roll down my cheek.
(Photographic evidence that Anna did actually get down that aisle behind Sally!!)
It was only when the string quartet reached the final bar of music, just before the registar began to speak, that Anna dropped Niamh's hand and decided to dance back down the aisle!!
The whole ceremony was beautiful, especially the vows that Ben and Sally had created themselves which got the whole congreegation sobbing. Unfortunately, the unlucky peoeple who were sat next to myself and Anna had to listen to the thoughtful and heartfelt words through a constant 'crunch, crunch, crunch' as Anna chomped on biscuits. (Healthy eating was never on the agenda during that ceremony... biscuits were the only thing that was going to get Anna through that ceremony without running amok). Luckliy, the congregation near us were a
ll understanding and did see the funny side.As soon as the wedding ceremony was over, Anna was out of the big patio doors and into the woodland and parkland grounds of Mottram Hall. After sitting semi-still for 20 minutes, Anna was on the loose. As everyone else drank champagne in the garden room overlooking the grounds, I was running at break neck speed towards the lake as Anna decided that she wanted to take a dip. Luckily I caught her... but missed the champagne! (A special thanks to Anna's Uncle John who took pity on me and decided to look out for Anna and run after her so I could have a rest!) Eventually everyone came outside and I had numerous people approach me to tell me how beautiful Anna looked walking down the aisle and running in the gardens. I, on the other hand, did not look so great after running after Anna for the past 2 hours. In fact, I looked like I had just completed the London Marathon.
It was then time to pose for the photographs. It was never going to happen with Anna. We tried all sorts of techniques. I tried standing behind the photographer pulling funny faces, which amused the rest of the wedding party but not Anna. We tried holding her but she just wriggled free and eventually we settled for letting her stand while we held her hands in the air. I am sure they are not the most flattering of poses for Anna. Unfortunately the red cube will probably appear on every single photo as well. At one point, the p
hotograher called for a group of family members for one particular photo and added 'Can we please hurry on this one as Anna is in it. We don't have any time to spare with Anna'!!We also had to deal with the bouquet issue. Practising with a feather duster is one thing but the real thing is a different matter. From the start of the wedding ceremony onwards, Anna kept attempting to push her beautiful bouquet down her dress. At first, I thought she was playing Hide and Seek with it and was telling her that it was not a toy. She then pointed to my buttonhole and said 'flowers like you'. She was trying to use her bouquet as a buttonhole. Unfortunately, Anna hadn't realised that her bouquet was massive compared to my button hole and that shoving it down her dress probably didn't look the best! By the time it came to the photographs, the bouquet was looking very worst for wear after being manhandled by Anna and so had to be abandoned!
Later in the day I caught the photographer taking a 5 minute rest and told him that he deserved a medal if he managed to get any good photos of Anna while she was this excited. He laughed and said 'Are you setting me a challenge?'. I laughed and said it may be a challenge too far on this particular day. He replied, 'I can never resist a challenge. I am on a mission'. 10 minutes later, Anna was investigating some leaves. The next thing I knew, the photographer was talking to Anna about the leaf and showing her his camera, describing what it did. Anna was very impressed! He spent a very long time sat on the grass with her, just talking to her and Anna had found a new best friend. After that, Anna was putty in his hands and even sat there and posed for him, saying 'cheese' to the lens and smiling! That photograher really did deserve a medal. He was brilliant with her and I just hope he got the shot (even if it wasn't in the posed ones)
After sitting down, the speeches began. At this point, I had already got a plan. It was meant to have worked! I had bought Anna a brand new 'Thomas the Tank Engine' colouring book, complete with stickers, especially for this moment. For a few seconds, I did actually think it had worked but, as soon as the speeches began, Anna decided to tell everyone how great Thomas was. I was very willing to pick her up and carry her out but just as I was about to, Anna would go quiet and I thought all was well. She would then start discussing the merits of Thomas at key points in each speech. It didn't help that every time someone laughed at Ben's jokes or the best man, Anna thought that they were laughing at her. Anna, being the diva that she is, then thought that she should tell a few more of her own unique jokes if it was getting this kind of response!
Although the meal was gorgeous, Anna missed it after falling asleep throughout the entire meal!
Apart from being dressed in her gorgeous princess dress, Anna's favourite part of the day was the disco! She loved it. I have to say that Jim (Sally's nephew) and Finn (Niamh's little brother/Sally's other nephew) stole the show as they were a fantastic double act and danced in great style. Anna adored watching them. However, she was no stranger to the dance floor either and cut some shapes of her own. 'Poker Face' by Lady Gaga was her favourite tune of the night and she danced to every second of it. She even sang it to herself while falling asleep. I really do think that Anna would have still been there at 2am in the morning if we let her. Even when the dance floor was packed full of people, Anna was in the thick of it! However, it got to 11pm and the disco was getting louder. The room, although not small, was filled with loud sound and I started to worry about her delicate ear drums so we retired to bed. Apparently we missed Abba's 'Dancing Queen' and The Nolans but I haven't told Anna as she would never forgive me from taking her away from dancing to that! (Anna knows 90% of the words to Dancing Queen!)
At 11.30pm (we stayed at the hotel so it fortunately meant only a short walk to our bed!), Anna fell asleep whilst I was reading her bedtime Kipper story (which has never happened before)
So, overall, it was really a beautiful day. Sally was a stunning bride and really did have a warm glow surrounding her (I finally know what it means when they say about a glow that some pregnant woman have!) Anna looked gorgeous and beautiful and was her own unique self.
Congratulations to Ben and Sally and congratulations to Anna too, who made her Mummy and Daddy so very proud!
(Thank you so much to 7 year old Niamh, who looked so beautiful, for getting Anna down the aisle and being so patient with her. I wonder if Niamh would be available to help me in July when Anna has her solo bridesmaid performance. The nightmares are due to start next week!)
