Thursday, November 22, 2007
Welcome to the Diary of a Wedding in Edinburgh
On Saturday October 27th I married Stuart in the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh. In this diary, which I've kept for over a year you can read about my experiences of planning the wedding, including choosing and booking a wedding venue, finding the perfect wedding dress, arranging flowers, cake, a photographer and a band, plus my trials and tribulations along the way.
Photo by PhotoCom
Since this is a blog, you will find that all the posts are in reverse order. You can either browse the blog and scroll down to see my last few posts, or use the links below to navigate. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to use the comments facility to leave your feedback!
Our Wedding Day
Wedding Venues in Edinburgh
Wedding Planning
Wedding Ceremony
Wedding Music
Wedding Books
Wedding Photography & Videography
Wedding Dresses & Bridesmaid Dresses
Wedding Flowers
Wedding Cake
Wedding Stationery
Wedding Jewellery & Accessories
Hair and Beauty
Hen Weekend
Honeymoon
Misc Ramblings
Labels: Wedding Day
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Our Wedding - Saturday 27th October 2007
The half hour before the wedding ceremony was a bit blurry - after some photos of me with my bridesmaids and mum & dad in the room, the registrar came up to the room to speak to my sister Karen (one of the witnesses) & I, basically to let me know what would happen during the ceremony, where I had to sign and to check that I was in fact wanting to marry Stuart and hadn't previously been a man (!)
After that, it was down to the front door for some photos and then into the ceremony room with the Piper, my dad and the bridesmaids.
The ceremony was really nice and went really well. Kirsteen & Michelle did lovely readings and Stuart & I managed to happily get through to vows and ring exchange.
Here is a photo of Stuart & I with our witnesses Karen and Simon after the signing of the register.
Photo by PhotoCom
Photo by PhotoCom
After the ceremony we went to the room next door for some more photos and a much needed glass of champers while the guests went downstairs tot he Waverley Suite for some pre dinner drinks.
Photo by Robert Brown
There was about an hour or so of photography - after which I felt I had lost the ability to smile. Thankfully the champagne helped us to continue with the smiling and the posing.
Here are a couple of the photos.
Stuart and I with Jeff, Karen & Emma, Dad and Mum:
Photo by PhotoCom
Stuart and I:
Photo by PhotoCom
After the photographs we had a little while to mingle with the guests and drink a little champagne, then it was time for the lineup. Morris, the master of ceremonies must have got the point across to the guests about being quick as it was the quickest lineup ever -it took less than 5 minutes for around 60 guests to greet our parents and Stuart and I!
We had decided to have the speeches before the meal to allow everyone to relax. My Dad's speech was funny and nice and short, although I think he did embellish the truth a bit (i.e. Stuart and I meeting for the first time across a meeting room at work!). Stuart's speech was very nice and quite emotional. Simon's speech was quite hilarious and suitably embarrassing for Stuart :-)
Our meal was lentil and tomato soup, followed by chicken in red wine sauce with veg & potatoes then apple tart. It was quite disappointing as the food was nowhere near as good as it had been in our tasting and mine was pretty lukewarm as well, so I hope it wasn't like that for everyone.
After dinner there was a bit of a break and some drinks while they turned round the Holyrood suite ready for the evening reception.
The evening reception was great - our band Pulse was excellent, we managed to cut the cake ok and get through the first dance without tripping up.
Here's a cake cutting shot.
Overall it was a fantastic day and we had a great time. When we got back to our room after the evenng reception the Balmoral had left a bottle of Bollinger on ice and some chocolate dipped strawberries which was a nice touch and we "forced ourselves" to polish of the champagne, which was a lovely end to the day.
Labels: Edinburgh Wedding Venues, Wedding Day
Monday, November 19, 2007
Wedding Photos - Before the Ceremony
At 2pm we had a visit from our Photographer - Roman of
Photocom who took lots of photos of myself, the bridesmaids and my Mum and Dad.
Here are a few of the photos taken of us before the ceremony.
Me, feeling a little nervous by this point:
Photo by PhotoCom
Stuart outside the Balmoral Hotel before the ceremony:
Photo by PhotoCom
Stuart with his best man Simon and two ushers Chris and Tommy:
Photo by PhotoCom
Me with my Dad and three bridesmaids Karen, Jenny & Kirsteen before the ceremony.
Photo by PhotoCom
Labels: Wedding Photography
Getting Ready for the Wedding (Sat 27th Oct 2007)
This morning I sprung out of bed at around 7am - Kirsteen claims that this is the first time she has seen me spring out of bed. We had a shower and a nice breakfast in the Balmoral of smoked salmon, cereal, toast, cheeses and fruit juice. I decided to save the fat boy fry up until the day after the wedding.
My wee sister Karen came up to the hotel at around 8.45am and we wandered down to the hairdresser - John Malcolm on Forth Street where we met Jenny and had our hair put up while drinking a glass of bucks fizz - a nice start to the morning.
Here's a piccie of my hair at the back:
And Karen's hair at the back:
At 11am Jenny and Kirsteen went to Bobbie Brown at Jenners to have their makeup done and Carole came to the hotel to do my makeup.
at 12 my Mum and Karen went to Bobbi Brown for their makeup and Jenny, Kirsteen and I had a much needed glass of champers.
Kirsteen practises her posing for later...
I take the last opportunity to slouch in my dressing gown.
Jenny enjoys her first drink of many ;-)
The flowers arrived on time and were beautiful. Three bridesmaid's hand tied bouquets of black baccarat rose and Vandella Rose with a few Eringium Thistle and my bridal shower bouquet of Black baccarat rose, Vandella rose, White Cala Lily and Denrobium.
Since the ceremony was starting at 2.30pm I decided to get into my dress just after 1pm so that we wouldn't be in a rush trying to get our dresses on.
Labels: Wedding Beauty
The Night Before the Wedding
On Friday Kirsteen and I checked into the Balmoral Hotel. We had a lovely room on the 6th floor with big windows, a little turret and fantastic views over the bridges and Arthur's seat.
Here's the view from one of the windows in our room:
Shortly after checking in we took a mad half hour dash to Berketex, picked up my wedding dress, Kirsteen & Jenny's bridesmaid dresses and walked back along Princes Street with the huge heavy bags.
Here is the front and back of my wedding dress:
And Kirsteen & Jenny's bridesmaid dresses:
We both paid a little visit to the Balmoral's Spa for a french pedicure which was very nice and chilled out in their lovely relaxation room with candles, music and fruit juices - it's a shame I can't have that room the morning of the wedding!
In the evening we had a glass or two of Cava then wondered along to Le Sept for a quick bite to eat. I managed to restrain myself and didn't have my usual (French Onion Soup, Duck with Port and Berry Sauce followed by chocolate torte) - i settled instead for haddock crepes and a salad - better for the wedding dress tomorrow.
After dinner Michelle and Ailsa came round and we had a few more cavas (but not too many more for me as I didn't fancy being the hungover bride). Amazingly I wasn't feeling too nervous yet, but after my bedtime bath I found it a bit harder to get to sleep!
Labels: Bridesmaid Dresses, Edinburgh Wedding Venues, Wedding Dresses
Just Back from Honeymoon
I just got back from South Africa a few days ago. We had a great honeymoon and a fantastic wedding day. I will be posting some diary entries and more photos over the next few days so bear with me while I find all the photos, get them resized and try to remember what happened :-)
I will also be setting up a honeymoon blog all about my honeymoon in South Africa -
Diary of a Honeymoon in South AfricaLabels: Ramblings
