Our wedding || The Morning

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write, for oh, nearly 4 months now (I can’t believe it’s been that long since we got hitched!), but now finally feels like the right time to do so.

I’ve gone through all of the photos, and there are literally a gazillion, so I’m going to break our wedding down into several posts, kicking off with the morning of our big day, Friday 26th June 2015.

Our photographer was the absolutely AMAZING Stu Beesley, a friend of one of my best friends, who she met whilst travelling in Thailand. He was fantastic throughout the day, moving among us almost unnoticed as times, and I feel he really captured the laid back look we wanted. He only does 10 weddings a year, on top of his usual photography work, so felt very privileged that he had agreed to shoot our wedding!

Adam and I had been so excited about our big day, after all we had spent the past 19 months planning it, but I think there’s perhaps something about having children before you say “I do”, that makes you feel slightly more laid back about the whole thing. As a result, and to be honest, mainly for practicality reasons re Freddie and Sasha, we had decided that I would remain at home with S overnight (girls together, right?!), and that Adam would stay with Freddie at his parent’s house. 

I actually hadn’t felt nervous at all in the week leading up to the wedding, and happily sat down in front of the telly the night before, with a Chinese takeaway and a glass of wine feeling surprisingly calm- it was only the next morning when I woke up and was giving Sasha her breakfast that butterflies started going in my tummy (I could tell as I didn’t want anything to eat, very unlike me!). 

Whilst my little lady was munching, I awaited the arrival of my brilliant make up artist, Nikki, and my 7 adult bridesmaids (I KNOW that’s a lot, don’t judge 😉 ), who I’ve known from uni and from living in Leeds for several years when I was younger. 

Nikki soon arrived at put me at ease. She’s a brilliant make up artist (does loads of film and telly, as well as weddings), and was recommended by my friend Sam, whose make up I massively coveted at her own wedding (cheers Sam!).

I opted for a base with a peachy blush, but with perhaps smokier eyes than a bride might usually choose. This is because I really wanted the make up to ‘pop’ in the photos, and because I’m on the fair-side, there is a danger of looking a tad washed out if you don’t wear enough! In my hair I wore a vintage-style tiara (this comes from someone who vowed never to wear one), with loose curls in a half-up/half down style. I’m sure there’s a proper word for this but I’m clueless when it comes to hair!

My bridesmaids are some of the coolest, loveliest, nuttiest people I know, and I’ve had the pleasure (or not 😉 ) of living with each and every one of them at some point. They were on excellent form, and kept me calm by providing me with gin and tonics, and making me eat a bagels so I didn’t get too pissed on said gin and tonics before the ceremony! They are also all godmothers to either Freddie or Sasha, and so were on hand to entertain madam whilst I was finishing off getting ready. Being at home meant that Sasha still had lots to keep her amused, although it’s definitely a down-side of having kids pre-marriage and then having the ceremony local to where you live- you can’t really justify a fancy hotel room for just getting ready in (see chaos in the kitchen, below!).

My Dad arrived half way through me getting ready, looking tres-dapper, and cracking a few jokes (as standard!).

Once I was ready, and before the cars came to collect us, Stu took us girls into the garden for a few shots of us all together. It’s actually turned out well having these slightly more formal shots. Adam and I specifically didn’t want too many, especially after the church, as we didn’t want to keep people waiting around too long, and we wanted a relaxed, natural feel to all of our snaps, but having a group shot to keep (and to frame) is rather lovely.

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Prior to coming to see us, Stu had whizzed round to my in-laws house, to take a few shots of Adam, Freddie, and his best men and Dad getting ready. Whilst obviously I wasn’t there to say exactly what went on, I think Stu’s set the scene well, and there’s some fantastic snaps here:

I think this photo is a particularly lovely one- 3 generations of Freeman men! 

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So back to our house, and the ladies all ready to set off. People might think I’m weird, but I actually love how Stu captures the reality of his setting, loft-conversion scaffolding and all! But it’s how we wanted to remember our wedding, what was going on at that time, and how everything was, and how we can talk about all of that in the future. I love how he keeps everything real.

Once my girls had gone, and it was just Dad, myself and Sasha, I then felt nervous again, and my dress felt so tight I could hardly breathe! It was time to take a few deep breaths (well, as deep as the dress would allow, that Chinese the night before was probably not a good idea!), give my little girl a cuddle and tell her how beautiful she looked, and wait for Adam’s cousin to come and pick us up….

Coming up next, The Ceremony!