Queenie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2005
- Messages
- 3,144
Yeah yeah I know it's been a long time coming, so sue me!!! 
Now I'm pregnant and not allowed to work by DH I have too much time on my hands so here it finally is!! We begin the day after the wedding on the run down to the airport.
~~~~~
We woke up very early the morning after our wedding and I think it took a while for us to click exactly where we were and what was going on after such a stressful few days. Our suite looked like a tornado had ripped through a wedding shop and dropped it all in the room, everywhere there were balloons, confetti (thanks to some bridesmaids who persuaded the hotel management to allow them into the room when we were busy elsewhere and proceeded to cover it in stuff) and flowers, not to mention my frivolously expensive dress now slung over the back of a chair.
At some point we dragged ourselves out of bed and went downstairs to breakfast. Our wedding coordinator is also the restaurant manager of the hotel so he rushed over to greet us and seated us with a number of Scotts family who were dining out in the conservatory. As I ate, I noticed random members of our party arriving and leaving the buffet, it was like a whos who of all the people Id ever met. The buffet was pretty good, just the standard hotel breakfast fare but enough to satisfy.
Back in the room after breakfast, my phone rang. Right up until the last minute (literally the wedding morning) Id been desperately trying to organise having my bouquet freeze dried but couldnt get hold of any companies who would do it at a reasonable cost. Finally, the most reasonably priced company was calling, apologising all the way that the email had gone down and she couldnt get hold of me by phone. I talked with her and discovered the studio was not much of a diversion from our route to the airport that afternoon. We agreed that Id drop off my bouquet later on that day. Now the long process of packing the cars and getting everyone to their respective destinations occurred. A number of the cars were parked at Scotts parents house on the other side of Lincoln and due to the car crash the night before the wedding, one car was now unusable. It took almost an hour to get everything together (cake, flowers, presents, balloons, clothes and far more) not to mention Scott having to remove a number of the stuff which had been thoughtfully attached all over our car by the best man and ushers and now posed a health and safety risk!
With some very careful packing of people and things (think a very hard level of Tetris!), the cars set off on the 20 minute trip up the bypass although a few people chose to set off earlier as they had long drives.
At Linda and Grahams everyone enjoyed a few lazy hours relaxing and saying their goodbyes. We also used the time to check in online and got ourselves some great seats on the plane. Linda had prepared a small spread of sandwiches and snacks in advance which was appreciated by everyone. It was lovely to see everyone relaxing together and children from both our families playing together in the back garden.
Gradually through the afternoon, all our guests headed off home across the country, most taking with them huge chunks of wedding cake to distribute locally and also the pumpkin centrepieces which needed homes for the time they would last. Of course the kids were more than happy to take home the balloons. Eventually Scott and I were the only ones left. We helped clear our wedding presents and other bits into the spare room where theyd remain for the duration of our honeymoon and Graham checked he had all the suits to return them to the hire shop the following day. They then handed us our wedding present, a stunning bauble theyd bought at WDW the previous year and carefully stored for almost 12 months.
We carefully packaged it and they put it with the rest of our gifts to take home after the honeymoon. Finally we packed the car with our suitcases, took a large slice of wedding cake to eat before we flew, carefully placed my bouquet on the back seat and set off, not before a tearful goodbye to Scotts parents who were now very emotional.
We drove uneventfully down to Stanstead airport except for one bathroom break where I was reduced to tears by wedding gift wrap in the service station shop this would be a theme for a couple of days as the wedding blues set in. Stanstead was the location of our flower preservation studio and we arrived pretty much on time and took the bouquet in. The lady spent time showing me the different options I had in regards to the preservation including glass domes and deep set frames. Luckily the preservation process was the same for them all and would take several weeks so I had time to decide, I took the brochure on honeymoon with me and eventually chose a large glass dome with a mahogany base and cream silk.
*Not part of the trip but I guess people might be interested, here's before and after shots of my bouquet*
Once the flowers had been safely delivered, we set off on the final leg to our hotel at Crawley near Gatwick. Wed chosen the Aurora as wed stayed there the previous year and loved it, plus it was very cheap!
We checked in and almost immediately left to find the local TGI Fridays. Id already been sent my birthday vouchers so we used one to get some free cocktails. Our waiter asked us if we were celebrating anything special that night, we told him wed got married the day before and were setting off on honeymoon the next day. A few minutes later he reappeared with a bunch of balloons to decorate our table.
The food was ok, nothing spectacular and we soon headed back to the hotel to try and relax ready for a long day on the Monday.
Now I'm pregnant and not allowed to work by DH I have too much time on my hands so here it finally is!! We begin the day after the wedding on the run down to the airport.~~~~~
We woke up very early the morning after our wedding and I think it took a while for us to click exactly where we were and what was going on after such a stressful few days. Our suite looked like a tornado had ripped through a wedding shop and dropped it all in the room, everywhere there were balloons, confetti (thanks to some bridesmaids who persuaded the hotel management to allow them into the room when we were busy elsewhere and proceeded to cover it in stuff) and flowers, not to mention my frivolously expensive dress now slung over the back of a chair.
At some point we dragged ourselves out of bed and went downstairs to breakfast. Our wedding coordinator is also the restaurant manager of the hotel so he rushed over to greet us and seated us with a number of Scotts family who were dining out in the conservatory. As I ate, I noticed random members of our party arriving and leaving the buffet, it was like a whos who of all the people Id ever met. The buffet was pretty good, just the standard hotel breakfast fare but enough to satisfy.
Back in the room after breakfast, my phone rang. Right up until the last minute (literally the wedding morning) Id been desperately trying to organise having my bouquet freeze dried but couldnt get hold of any companies who would do it at a reasonable cost. Finally, the most reasonably priced company was calling, apologising all the way that the email had gone down and she couldnt get hold of me by phone. I talked with her and discovered the studio was not much of a diversion from our route to the airport that afternoon. We agreed that Id drop off my bouquet later on that day. Now the long process of packing the cars and getting everyone to their respective destinations occurred. A number of the cars were parked at Scotts parents house on the other side of Lincoln and due to the car crash the night before the wedding, one car was now unusable. It took almost an hour to get everything together (cake, flowers, presents, balloons, clothes and far more) not to mention Scott having to remove a number of the stuff which had been thoughtfully attached all over our car by the best man and ushers and now posed a health and safety risk!
With some very careful packing of people and things (think a very hard level of Tetris!), the cars set off on the 20 minute trip up the bypass although a few people chose to set off earlier as they had long drives.
At Linda and Grahams everyone enjoyed a few lazy hours relaxing and saying their goodbyes. We also used the time to check in online and got ourselves some great seats on the plane. Linda had prepared a small spread of sandwiches and snacks in advance which was appreciated by everyone. It was lovely to see everyone relaxing together and children from both our families playing together in the back garden.
Gradually through the afternoon, all our guests headed off home across the country, most taking with them huge chunks of wedding cake to distribute locally and also the pumpkin centrepieces which needed homes for the time they would last. Of course the kids were more than happy to take home the balloons. Eventually Scott and I were the only ones left. We helped clear our wedding presents and other bits into the spare room where theyd remain for the duration of our honeymoon and Graham checked he had all the suits to return them to the hire shop the following day. They then handed us our wedding present, a stunning bauble theyd bought at WDW the previous year and carefully stored for almost 12 months.
We carefully packaged it and they put it with the rest of our gifts to take home after the honeymoon. Finally we packed the car with our suitcases, took a large slice of wedding cake to eat before we flew, carefully placed my bouquet on the back seat and set off, not before a tearful goodbye to Scotts parents who were now very emotional.
We drove uneventfully down to Stanstead airport except for one bathroom break where I was reduced to tears by wedding gift wrap in the service station shop this would be a theme for a couple of days as the wedding blues set in. Stanstead was the location of our flower preservation studio and we arrived pretty much on time and took the bouquet in. The lady spent time showing me the different options I had in regards to the preservation including glass domes and deep set frames. Luckily the preservation process was the same for them all and would take several weeks so I had time to decide, I took the brochure on honeymoon with me and eventually chose a large glass dome with a mahogany base and cream silk.
*Not part of the trip but I guess people might be interested, here's before and after shots of my bouquet*
Once the flowers had been safely delivered, we set off on the final leg to our hotel at Crawley near Gatwick. Wed chosen the Aurora as wed stayed there the previous year and loved it, plus it was very cheap!
We checked in and almost immediately left to find the local TGI Fridays. Id already been sent my birthday vouchers so we used one to get some free cocktails. Our waiter asked us if we were celebrating anything special that night, we told him wed got married the day before and were setting off on honeymoon the next day. A few minutes later he reappeared with a bunch of balloons to decorate our table.
The food was ok, nothing spectacular and we soon headed back to the hotel to try and relax ready for a long day on the Monday.
