There wasn’t exactly a big choice of hotels in the vicinity of where we were going to get married. Three hotels qualified in theory with two of them quickly disqualifying (one for their terribly unfriendly owner, one for looking a bit out-of-date). So we ended up booking a room in a business hotel. At least they told me there was going to be food for me at breakfast.
Turned out, the hotel was great!
At breakfast they brought out a separate (huge!) plate of cut-up veggies, two types of spread, vegan cheese and cold cuts and a bread basket. Both the day of and the day after I ate until I could not more.
Also, the rooms were sparingly furnished but felt cosy nonetheless – and ours even had a big balcony looking towards the forest. Even the colours matched our wedding’s colour scheme!
On the morning of we woke up before the 7:40 am alarm. We showered and headed off to breakfast in a perfectly relaxed mood. When my maid of honour joined us, Mr A excused himself to go over his vows once more. He had been nervous all week (which I found immensely sweet) and it wasn’t to get better for another few hours.
At 10 I headed back upstairs – and ran into both my stylist and the photographers.
Great timing!
While Lela worked her magic on me, Barbara and Sophie unpacked and started taking photos – moving between the room where I was and two doors down where Mr A was getting ready.
Soon Mum and my maid of honour joined us – Mum had even picked up my favourite green smoothie (which I drank before putting on the dress).
Soon my hair and face were done (how beautiful I looked!) and it was time to get dressed. Mum helped me close the zip, the photographers left with Mr A and the three of us had some time to spare before Mum drove me up to the hill where our first look photos were going to take place.
It was such a great idea to do that!
I had soon decided that I didn’t want to share the moment when Mr A and I first saw each other all made up with a crowd of expecting-looking people. Mr A immediately agreed and we’ve never looked back.
Seeing each other for the first time was such an intimate and special moment and we were glad we had those precious minutes with just each other (and the photographers but we didn’t really notice them).
Walking down the aisle was definitely something – with our octogenarian grandmothers as flower girls in front – strewing the path with leaves from all the roses Mr A had ever given to me – and everyone looking all dressed-up and smiling.
The wedding itself was beautiful in every sense.
The sun was shining, the ceremoniant found very apt words to describe us, and the music and songs performed by talented friends made our spines tingle.
Afterwards, family photos were taken while the other guests drove to the location to feast on crusty bread and cloudy apple juice. We soon joined them for congratulations and catching up with everyone and soon it was 6pm and time to open the doors and get everyone inside for dinner.
There was dinner, there was cake, there was dancing.
We enjoyed ourselves tremendously and when looking around us it seemed that everyone was having a good time.
At 2 am the DJ turned off the music and started packing and my best friend and her husband drove us to the hotel – where we quickly showered and then fell into a deep, restful sleep.
Holding hands, like we always do.
*** All photos by the uber-talented and lovely Barbara P. Photography ***
