Current location: Oxfordshire
11.11am, In Potts' room, putting our dresses on. Today, Sar (aka Potts) is getting married!!!
EEEeeeeeeeekkkk so excited!!! As well as me, my beautiful friend Catdog (one of my BFFs) is a bridesmaid, and it's awesome to be sharing this experience with her.
This morning, we ordered Potts to call us as soon as she woke up, and so we went down to her room at about 7am. She was grinning, relaxed and looking forward to the day, and it was contagious. Soon we were all smiling, laughing and joking as we got our hair done and had coffee and a yummy porridge brekkie. An emergency pop to the shops for a couple of last-minute bits had me chuckling as I saw the brother of the bride also out on an emergency mission to buy a shirt as all his buttons had come off! I didn't ask...
The sun was out in full force, with no signs of cloud or showers. I'd seen the groom and the best men already, and they looked absolutely handsome and all very chilled and lovely. It was going to be a good day!
Potts looked absolutely stunning as she got her hair and make-up done, and as she got into her dress, it should all been a bit overwhelming but instead was just awesome. Today rocks!
On the journey to Friars Court, where the wedding and reception were, we started to get a bit more serious, and then when Catdog and I were waiting inside with Potts and her dad, it seemed to strike her: she was actually getting married, after all the waiting and all the planning! We were spying on everyone arriving and, I've got to say, our friends don't half scrub up well!
As we walked around the grounds to where everyone, including Will and the three best men, were waiting, we started to glimpse everyone through the trees. Then it was time for the ceremony. No detail had been forgotten, and it was a beautiful family affair, with readings from the parents and Sar's brother. Sar and Will couldn't stop grinning, it was fab!
The next hour or so put the skills of Cat, Andy, Ben and Mark (the three best men) and me to the test, as we organised people for photos, moved everyone to the front of the house for confetti-throwing, moved everyone to the back of the house for afternoon tea, made sure everyone had a drink and was having a good time, got them to pose in silly costumes, got them playing games, plus managed to squeeze in some chats with our friends and the families.
Quite early on, Catdog and I got big-headed and decided we were going to nail the bridesmaid role, but the best men were absolutely the best men. They helped us with everything, kept everyone laughing, kept thinking of sweet little touches, did all the heavy-lifting, cracked the jokes and charmed the pants off everyone. We managed to grab a drink and were having the best time, plus the sun was still shining!
After a couple of hours, we all moved into the barn for speeches, dinner and what would be one of the best nights of dancing and jolly times of my life. The speeches were ridiculous; Richard, Sar's dad, started and had everyone in tears in minutes. It was beautiful and heartfelt and so meaningful... Luckily, Will can also evidently deliver a beautiful speech and, again, had everyone in tears, but with a bit more laughing and a few 'aaahhhh's from people as he spoke so beautifully about Sarah. These two have had to overcome more than most people ever have to, in the past couple of years, and I am so proud of them and for them. They deserve each other, in the best possible way.
I think the best men were pretty nervous that they had to follow his awesome speech but they didn't need to be. They absolutely pulled it out the bag, with a touching, funny, silly speech, which would totally have been awesome on its own... But then they followed it up with a video they'd made with all the Watford football players wishing Sarah and Will well. To say Will is a Watford supporter is a massive understatement, so you can imagine his surprise, shock and all-round flabbergastedness (flabbergastion?! flabbergastination?). Bloody aced it, best men.
Dinner was a delish pork roast with all the home-cooked trimmings, and lots of wine, and by this point, the bridesmaids and best men had 'fulfilled' all our duties, so it was time to let our hair down. Not literally, as there was far too much hairspray in it.
Quite early on in the day, when we realised how much we all loved each other, and how much fun it was being a bridesmaid/best man with other like-minded, ace people, we renamed ourselves 'Dream Team'. Modest, yes. Anyway, the Dream Team continued to stay by each other's sides for a lot of the night, unable to do anything on our own, and drank, danced, posed for photos and basically had the best fun ever. We relented and let Sar and Will into our gang too, but did kick them out at one point when we wanted a photo just of us. Soz, newly married couple!
We also danced our
At about 11.30pm, the bridal party went back to the hotel but, reluctant to end the party, decided to stay up and play drinking games. How wise. Sar and Will kindly donated a bottle of bubbly to the cause, so at about midnight, we were all stood around in our fancy dresses, swigging fancy champagne out of the bottle, in the courtyard. Stay classy, Dream Team.
A few hours, or more, after we retired to our room (and with only one noise complaint phone call), we all bid a happy, drunken goodnight, with a promise to meet in the morning for breakfast, and be BFFs from here on in. It seems an easy promise to keep, with such top people.
I could not have been more excited for this wedding, considering I would get to see my closest friends and watch someone I love marrying someone she loves. In theory, it should never have matched up the ridiculous ideal I had imagined but, in reality, it far surpassed it. Totally, completely worth the two-day, thousands-of-dollars, 17,000km journey from Down Under. Love you Sarah and Will, and, bloody hell, you throw a good party! (And yes, Dream Team, love you too.)
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