#marriedmay

I have been taking part in #marriedmay, an Instagram photo challenge set up by Phoebe from So You're Getting Married, during the month of May. I love any excuse to show off some of the photos and details about our wedding and now that it's complete, I wanted to share them all here. I ended up with 32 posts instead of 31 as I couldn't resist sharing both my parents and grandparents wedding photos for day 12.

Day 1: The Proposal - NYC & the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building, 5th Sept 2008

Day 2: The Ring - My engagement ring, chosen by Graham, is a platinum princess cut diamond solitaire; my wedding ring, which I designed myself, is a platinum band with 6 princess cut diamonds.

Day 3: Bridesmaids - My 6 gorgeous bridesmaids were my sister Ashleigh, my sister-in-law Hazel, my three best friends from school, Lucy, Helen & Karen-Louise & my flowergirl Georgia who I used to babysit for. They were all fantastic on the day and threw me a fabulous hen weekend. I have also been lucky enough to be a bridesmaid for all five of the girls.

Day 4: Fave Celeb Couple - Kate & William, loved their wedding & how down to earth they are.

Day 5: Beauty Must Have - Getting the professionals in; hair by Sesh & make-up by EyeCandy.

Day 6: Spring - We got married on the 3rd of April in Scotland, hoping for a spring day; instead it actually snowed the few days before. The weather did clear up for the Saturday and although it was cold, the rain only started around 5pm, just as we were finishing the last photos outside.

Day 7: Favourite Flowers - My bouquet was made with purple vanda orchids, my favourite flowers. The bridesmaids had tulips, viburnum & bouvardia. Graham also had a purple vanda orchid while the other guys had smaller ivory ones. The table flowers were tulips, viburnum & Singapore orchids.

Day 8: DIY - I made all of the Save the Date Cards / Day & Evening Invitations / Order of Service / Table Plan / Painted Frames & Table Names / Menu's / Placecards / Favour Boxes / Painted Letters / Guest Book / Bridesmaids Cards / Thank You Cards

Day 9: The Dress - My dress was Hayley by Sassi Holford; it had a beaded & embroidered lace bodice, satin waistband & sash and a silk organza skirt and I loved it. I also wore the 3/4 length sleeve lace bolero & a cathedral length one tier veil. 

Day 10: The Shoes - My shoes were Lara by Rainbow Club; I didn't went to spend too much on ivory shoes that I would only wear once, would get really sorry & that you couldn't even see under my dress. I always meant to get them dyed afterwards but haven't yet! I also had to buy wellies the day before, as it was so damp at the venue after all the snow, which I wore when we got our photos taken in the grounds.

Day 11: The Venue - We got married in the West Church in Haddington, our hometown & where I was christened, then had our reception at Norton House Hotel, an old country house set in its own grounds near Edinburgh.

Day 12: Parents Wedding - My parents got married on the 31st July 1976 and will have been married 38 years this year. They met at school and got married when my mum was only 20 & my dad 23.

Day 12: Grandparents Wedding - I couldn't resist another post today. My grandparents got married on the 5th July 1952 and were married for over 40 years.

Day 13: Favourite Wedding Magazine - I loved looking though wedding magazines, especially at the beginning for dress ideas, and since there weren't really any wedding blogs at that time. I bought so many and swapped with friends but I've only kept the ones shown here; InStyle Weddings was the first magazine I bought in JFK airport on the way home after getting engaged and I was included in this issue of the Scottish Wedding Directory in a feature about Scottish wedding bloggers.

Day 14: Flavour of The Cake - Each tier was something different; the top & bottom were fruit cake and the middle two were chocolate then madeira sponge. A bit of each type was cut for the evening buffet and we kept the top tier. We totally forgot to get it out for Holden's christening so we still have it at my parents. We also had a Lego bride & groom on the cake!

Day 15: Photographer - Our wonderful photographers were Craig & Eva Sanders who we found at the SECC wedding fair. They were fantastic, very friendly, helped us feel at ease and get some fantastic images. We got hundreds of photos and a wonderful album. Having 2 photographers was the best decision we made as it helped us to capture everything. I loved seeing what the boys were doing in the morning and all of the guests arriving before we got there. It also meant we got many moments from different angles.

Day 16: Honeymoon Destination - We love discovering new countries so we spent a week on a tour round Sri Lanka then a week relaxing in the Maldives which were both amazing. However, we then got caught in the Icelandic ash cloud and got stuck in the Maldives for an extra 5 nights, a honeymoon we will never forget!

Day 17: Best Supplier - All of our suppliers were brilliant; as well as all of the ones we've already mentioned, we also had some fabulous classic cars and a fantastic live band. We hired a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, a Jaguar Mk IV and a Daimler Limo from Ecosse Classic Cars. For our reception we had an 8 piece band called Hip Operation. They were brilliant and had everyone up dancing all night, including 3 ceilidh dances. As well as our first dance song, they also learned Empire State of Mind Part II at our request and definitely did it justice.

Day 18: Fave Blogs - There weren't many wedding blogs when I started planning, although later on I did follow Rock My Wedding, Love My Dress & A Practical Wedding amongst others, but when I started my own blog, I made some wonderful friendships with these girls A Dizzy Girl, Conversation Pieces, My Spare Thoughts, Daydreams in Lace & This Girl Is...; we are still friends today, meet up regularly and have supported each other for the last 4 years including the arrival of 3 B6 babies!

Day 19: Wedding Theme/Colours - Everything was dark purple, one of my favourite colours, with a little grey thrown in on the stationery. We didn't have a theme but we named the tables after buildings in NYC, since we got engaged there. The top table was the Empire State while the bridesmaids & ushers sat at the Chrysler.

Day 20: Husband - My husband & best friend Graham. We were at school together, he was the first boy I kissed, then we were friends for years before getting together on Graham's 22nd birthday in June 2003, when I was 21. We were engaged after 5 years (Sept 2008) and married a year and a half after that (April 2010). Now he is daddy to 2 year old Holden. His best man was his cousin Andrew and his ushers were his brother-in-law Jake & my cousin Murray.

Day 21: Wedding Perfume - I didn't see the point in buying a new perfume for the wedding so I wore Dior J'adore, one of my favourites. I already had the eau de parfum so I bought the perfumed body lotion to wear along with it.

Day 22: Stationery Design - I designed and made all of our stationery myself (with some help from my parents) including the save the date cards, invitations, order of service, menu's, table plan, table names & placecards with the same theme. I used purple & grey card, purple pocketfolds, purple gatefolds, sparkly paper, vellum, translucent envelopes, flower stamps, purple & grey satin ribbon, white organza ribbon, a corner paper punch & a cityscape paper punch. It took ages but I loved making it all.

Day 23: Fave Part of Planning - My favourite part was dress shopping, I loved it and definitely made the most of it. 45 dresses later I ordered my dress which I had found in the 2nd shop on the 1st day, although I got it from the 10th shop I visited! Out of all the dresses there were only 5 I liked; 2 were far too expensive, 2 were a bit plain which left the one I chose, the one I had been comparing every other dress to. I also loved writing about it all on my blog as never would have remembered everything now without it!

Day 24: Most Stressful Part - I got made redundant a month before the wedding which was definitely the most stressful part. However, it wasn't all bad, as I didn't work my notice which meant I had 4 full weeks before the wedding to get everything finished. Everything worked out well in the end as I got another job a week before the wedding, which I started after our extended honeymoon, a few days later than planned!

Day 25: Nail Colour - I had a manicure & pedicure the day before the wedding with my mum & sister and chose a classic French manicure. The pedicure wasn't necessary as I wore closed toe shoes but I wanted it before our honeymoon. I opted for purple for my toenails.

Day 26: Best Money Saving Tip - I have to admit that we just chose then booked exactly what we wanted for the wedding. The only place we did save money was on the church flowers. We have known the ladies who provide the normal Sunday service flowers for years and they offered to do them all for us. They provided all the arrangements shown as well as more tulips on the entrance stairs and down the sides of the church for just £66. We were in the church for such a short time that we didn't want to spend as much as we had on the reception flowers.

Day 27: Most Excited About - Apart from marrying Graham, I was most excited about seeing the day we had planned for 18 months come together and sharing it with all of our family and friends. Of course I also couldn't wait to go on our honeymoon.

Day 28: First Dance Song - We don't have 'a song' so we didn't really have a clue what to have for our first dance! After a while of going back and forward we decided on one of my favourite songs; When You Say Nothing At All by Ronan Keating, from the film Notting Hill. We danced on our own for a very short time before my sister and the best man were called on to the floor, followed by the rest of the bridal party and our parents. We also considered Empire State of Mind Part II by Alicia Keyes, which fitted with our New York table names and where we got engaged, but we felt it wasn't that suitable as a first dance song. The band played it twice for us later on.

Day 29: Fave Rom-Com - Notting Hill and Love Actually are my favourite rom-coms. Our first dance came from Notting Hill and I first saw Love Actually on Boxing Day 2003 in Australia.

Day 30: Tip to those planning - 1. One of the best decisions we made was having two photographers.

2. Leaving for our honeymoon on the Monday after our Saturday wedding was also perfect as we didn't have to leave early and could get organised the day in-between.

3. Our guests all loved receiving thank you cards with some of our wedding photos on them.

4. I'm so glad I started my blog while planning and wrote lots of recap posts as otherwise I would have forgotten things. I've recently got all my recap posts made into a photobook which I love as it's the story of our wedding / honeymoon.

Lastly just enjoy it all as the day goes so fast!

Day 31: How Many Days - We got married on 3rd April 2010; 4 years, 1 month & 28 days (1519 days) ago. We celebrated our 1st anniversary in Vienna; our 2nd in an Italian restaurant with 2 month old Holden, our 3rd with a quiet night in with a takeaway & our 4th in Copenhagen with Holden. We love to travel so look forward to all the places we can take Holden in the future.

(All wedding images by Craig & Eva Sanders)