The car pulled up to the church and there were a gaggle of girls eager to help my sister out of the car and sort out her dress etc. A very irate vicar was standing outside looking at his watch and I knew we were in trouble...
Papa ran inside to tell everyone to get ready, As he ran I grabbed him and hissed, 'Buttonhole - I need your buttonhole!" He is such a sweetie, he unpinned his flower (which had been practically stapled to him by my cousin) and pinned it to my jacket just as my sister arrived at my side - the page boys and flowers girl stood in front of us - as planned my two were at the very front where they could do the least harm - although to be honest, once they had seen how many people were in the church they were suddenly very quiet, "Just remember to walk slowly," I advised quietly before we left, 'You'll be fine."
I went to take my sister's arm as we had practised and she whispered, "I'll have to hold onto you, I'm terrified I'll fall over my dress but if I hang onto you then you can catch me if I topple over."I hooked my arm through hers as she held the dress up slightly with her left hand and we took our place at the church door.
My nephew and the flower girl were ready, my sister took a deep breath as the wedding march played and we began our walk towards the aisle. We walked towards the main aisle across from the church door and the children took the turning to the right to walk through the congregation. Unfortunately my nephew and flower girl turned left (they obviously thought they were on an aeroplane) and my sister and I rushed forwards to grab them and put them back on the right track - it was a lovely way to enter the church, the congregation laughed, my sister laughed, everyone just seemed to relax - I guess the 20minute wait for the bride had been quite stressful and this was a fantastic way to bring fun and laughter back into the church.
The walk itself was lovely, so many smiling faces, people congratulating my sister as she walked, the words 'beautiful' and 'stunning' were heard many times across the church (I was grateful for their comments but felt they should really have been looking at my sister) - she was positively beaming - It was then that I noticed that she hadn't pulled her veil over her face, but I don't think it really mattered, it was only when we stopped and I moved in next to Mum that it was noticed - mainly because the bridesmaid whose job it was to straight my sister's veil stepped forward and then realising she had nothing to do tried to make it look as though it was perfectly normal to step in front of the bride and re-adjusted her hair... which looked perfectly natural, so was a good save.
The children sat behind us and were joined by Papa - they were so pleased with themselves. We stood for the first hymn. I say stood I was kind of standing at a strange angle as my Mum's hat was so huge (I think she could have received signals from outer space using it) that it kept hitting me in the face every time she moved her head. I looked at my sister and felt yet another tear coming on - I can honestly say I have never seen her look so happy.
We sang the first hymn, I think it was 'Lord of all Hopefulness', I say think because (and I hope I wont get into trouble here), but the bridesmaid on my left really couldn't sing. She told me later that she didn't really know the tune either but (please don't hate me) it was so bad and so off key that I started to giggle and then I couldn't sing. I tried to turn it into a cough but it just got worse, so I opted for tears instead, which was ok as I was actually wiping tears from my eyes, just tears of laughter. She is such a lovely lady and what she lacked in talent she certainly made up for in enthusiasm and in the end I recomposed myself and the two of us belted out the tunes as loudly and as coherently as we could.
I don't know if it was just me but the rest of the wedding seemed to go by in a blur - it wasn't helped by the fact that the vicar (who is a family friend) was now rushing slightly and even skipped his sermon - which may have been a blessing, who knows.
The service over we went to the back of the church to witness the signing of the register and all lined up ready to process back. That was no mean feat as there were about 20 of us in this tiny space trying to arrange ourselves into some sort of order, all I could remember was that I was bringing up the rear and accompanying the groom's mother. We walked through the church to a huge round of applause - again, I was pleased to be there, they really didn't need to clap but if I could bring just a little sunshine to their day I was happy to do so. We went outside, I looked to see if I could see the vicar to thank him but I think he had nipped out the back and was speeding away in his Ford Mondeo to his next wedding.
The children and I met up again outside the church. "Can we get messy now?" TJ asked. "No, you cannot," I snapped, "We have all the photos to do - loads of photos." "Photo's are boring!" exclaimed TJ. "Well, get used to it," I replied, "Because from now on the whole rest of the day will be about photos!" The man behind me laughed and TJ looked glum. But then all the children were given confetti and soon cheered up. Although we did have to point out that they were only supposed to throw confetti over the bride and groom - not over each other and anyone else who happened to be standing near!
More photos were taken and then everyone got into their cars to follow the bride and groom to the venue for the afternoon reception....
And it was then that the fun started....
Papa ran inside to tell everyone to get ready, As he ran I grabbed him and hissed, 'Buttonhole - I need your buttonhole!" He is such a sweetie, he unpinned his flower (which had been practically stapled to him by my cousin) and pinned it to my jacket just as my sister arrived at my side - the page boys and flowers girl stood in front of us - as planned my two were at the very front where they could do the least harm - although to be honest, once they had seen how many people were in the church they were suddenly very quiet, "Just remember to walk slowly," I advised quietly before we left, 'You'll be fine."
I went to take my sister's arm as we had practised and she whispered, "I'll have to hold onto you, I'm terrified I'll fall over my dress but if I hang onto you then you can catch me if I topple over."I hooked my arm through hers as she held the dress up slightly with her left hand and we took our place at the church door.
My nephew and the flower girl were ready, my sister took a deep breath as the wedding march played and we began our walk towards the aisle. We walked towards the main aisle across from the church door and the children took the turning to the right to walk through the congregation. Unfortunately my nephew and flower girl turned left (they obviously thought they were on an aeroplane) and my sister and I rushed forwards to grab them and put them back on the right track - it was a lovely way to enter the church, the congregation laughed, my sister laughed, everyone just seemed to relax - I guess the 20minute wait for the bride had been quite stressful and this was a fantastic way to bring fun and laughter back into the church.
The walk itself was lovely, so many smiling faces, people congratulating my sister as she walked, the words 'beautiful' and 'stunning' were heard many times across the church (I was grateful for their comments but felt they should really have been looking at my sister) - she was positively beaming - It was then that I noticed that she hadn't pulled her veil over her face, but I don't think it really mattered, it was only when we stopped and I moved in next to Mum that it was noticed - mainly because the bridesmaid whose job it was to straight my sister's veil stepped forward and then realising she had nothing to do tried to make it look as though it was perfectly normal to step in front of the bride and re-adjusted her hair... which looked perfectly natural, so was a good save.
The children sat behind us and were joined by Papa - they were so pleased with themselves. We stood for the first hymn. I say stood I was kind of standing at a strange angle as my Mum's hat was so huge (I think she could have received signals from outer space using it) that it kept hitting me in the face every time she moved her head. I looked at my sister and felt yet another tear coming on - I can honestly say I have never seen her look so happy.
We sang the first hymn, I think it was 'Lord of all Hopefulness', I say think because (and I hope I wont get into trouble here), but the bridesmaid on my left really couldn't sing. She told me later that she didn't really know the tune either but (please don't hate me) it was so bad and so off key that I started to giggle and then I couldn't sing. I tried to turn it into a cough but it just got worse, so I opted for tears instead, which was ok as I was actually wiping tears from my eyes, just tears of laughter. She is such a lovely lady and what she lacked in talent she certainly made up for in enthusiasm and in the end I recomposed myself and the two of us belted out the tunes as loudly and as coherently as we could.
I don't know if it was just me but the rest of the wedding seemed to go by in a blur - it wasn't helped by the fact that the vicar (who is a family friend) was now rushing slightly and even skipped his sermon - which may have been a blessing, who knows.
The service over we went to the back of the church to witness the signing of the register and all lined up ready to process back. That was no mean feat as there were about 20 of us in this tiny space trying to arrange ourselves into some sort of order, all I could remember was that I was bringing up the rear and accompanying the groom's mother. We walked through the church to a huge round of applause - again, I was pleased to be there, they really didn't need to clap but if I could bring just a little sunshine to their day I was happy to do so. We went outside, I looked to see if I could see the vicar to thank him but I think he had nipped out the back and was speeding away in his Ford Mondeo to his next wedding.
The children and I met up again outside the church. "Can we get messy now?" TJ asked. "No, you cannot," I snapped, "We have all the photos to do - loads of photos." "Photo's are boring!" exclaimed TJ. "Well, get used to it," I replied, "Because from now on the whole rest of the day will be about photos!" The man behind me laughed and TJ looked glum. But then all the children were given confetti and soon cheered up. Although we did have to point out that they were only supposed to throw confetti over the bride and groom - not over each other and anyone else who happened to be standing near!
More photos were taken and then everyone got into their cars to follow the bride and groom to the venue for the afternoon reception....
And it was then that the fun started....
grt
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