This
week has been pretty surreal. Alongside the wedding nightmares of my wedding
venue being held inside a shopping centre with sick staff and my mum wearing a
neon orange 80’s taffeta dress and my Australian nightmares of being trapped
inside a house which flooded with jumping crocodiles and super quick sea
snakes, we are also preparing to depart in 2 days, back home.
It’s
been a strange year. I think every year that passes is getting quicker, and
stranger. Maybe as you get older, your capacity to deal and cope with things
becomes better. I have definitely mellowed out in this year – which is the complete
opposite of most brides.
And of
course, we are heading back to get married. That’s quite a big one I guess. The
planning and preparation definitely feels big – as we discussed with friends
over coffee at the weekend, it feels like we have been talking about the
wedding for ages. It has been just over a year and a half and around 1 ¾ years
from engagement to wedding. Which I think should be fairly average these days –
give you a chance for it to sink in, do your research, figure out what you want
and then save for it. And in our case, a big factor was allowing the Australian
side time to plan their own trip to come over.
And on
this note, I am extremely humbled. We have had an excellent response from the Aussies
to come over, with only a few people unfortunately unable to attend. It was
always a huge ask and we are grateful to everyone who put the time and effort
into considering it as an option. Plus we will have a big Aussie party to
celebrate – bring on the chocolate mud cake!
I was
chatting with my Dad on Skype at the weekend too and telling him just this.
Even though our overall guest list is small (just under 70), we have both been
blown away by the excitement, love and generosity that everyone has shown us
already (and we are not even there yet!). From the engagement parties last
year, to the amazing messages, cards and thoughts before we have left – the wonderful
conversations, support and advice – the complete support from all of our family
and bridal party – the cost, the time, the effort that everyone has gone to
ensure that they can be there on a Thursday (sorry teachers!), in the UK and be
there to see us tie the knot.
I know
I probably won’t comprehend this until the wedding is over (in the blink of an
eye I am told!). But as I have mentioned on here before – I am most looking forward
to seeing both of our worlds collide. In the best way possible, I already feel
married as we have both made the commitment and sacrifices required to ‘prove’
that to each other – the wedding is an amazing opportunity to get everyone
together, to celebrate how lucky we are, and to make it official.
For
me, the strength of our love is really reflected in the love that we have
around us.
And
this is what I am most looking forward to:
Walking down the steps during the ceremony
with my beloved bridesmaids – best friends and sisters- being given away by my
Dad (the best man I have ever met with the groom being the only exception!) –
looking down at my husband-to-be to see him smile as he sees me for the first
time – and then looking across the room to see the sea of faces from many
lives, lifestyles, countries and see all the love that we are emanating come
back straight at us – for us.
This
is the moment that I am most looking forward to in our 9 week trip. Closely
followed by the moment that we wake up together as Mr & Mrs, share a kiss
and start looking at the photos from the day before – overlooking the sea in my
hometown, with an Earl Grey Tea and a full English Breakfast. Then the rest of
our lives can begin.