We got married last month!
Our wedding was small and simple, and the best one I've ever been to!
Venue.
Our venue was so lovely! We got married at the Guildhall in Newport, Telford. They took care of all the decoration and put out the red carpet! Also, it was super pretty. We hired the little ante chamber off to the side of the ceremony room for an hour afterwards, so we could do a toast with some fizzy wine and so my little nieces could wriggle about after sitting still during the ceremony.
Outfits.
I wish I could say my dress was second hand or eco-friendly, but it wasn't, it was from Hell Bunny and cost £40, so at least it was thrifty. I did my own hair and didn't wear any make up, I wanted to look like my normal self on my wedding day! The girl's rainbow fairy tutu bridesmaid dresses were from Etsy, and Joe had a new shirt, tie and cufflinks, but already had the rest of his outfit. I meant to get married barefoot, but forgot to take my £4 Primark flipflops off!
Music.
We chose our own music for the wedding, because the music offered by the venue was super cheesy. I walked in to 'I want you to want me' by Letters to Cleo and we walked out to 'Here comes the sun' by the Beatles. We chose background music together too, which included,
'It must be love' by Madness
'Kiss me' by Sixpence none the richer
'Take me on' by Reel big fish
'Happy together' by Simple Plan
'Crazy little thing called love' by Queen
'Mr blue sky' by ELO
'I think I love you' by Less than Jake
'You and me song' by the Wannadies
Here Comes The Sun, The Beatles.
Here comes the sun, here
comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Little darling, it's been a long
cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been
here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it
seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes
the sun
And I say it's all right Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun,
sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it
comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Little darling, I feel that ice is
slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Here
comes the sun, here comes the sun
It's all right, it's all right
Readings.
My mum and Joe's Dad both did lovely readings, which we chose for them. Mum read an excerpt from Brambly Hedge (a children's story about mice), when I learned to read it was the first book mum bought for me. Joe's dad read Union by Robert Fulghum, which I found after lots of googling and perfectly sums up what marriage means to us.
Excerpt from Brambly Hedge, Summer Story by Jill Barklem.
The wedding was to take place at midday, and Dusty and Conker arrived just in time. The guests were all in their finest clothes. Three young mice, dressed in smart blue suits, had been chosen as pages, and were busily directing everyone to their places. Mrs Apple discreetly tried to dust down the groom and best man, but to no avail.
At last old Mrs Eyebright, Poppy's grandmother, spotted the bride and her little bridesmaids coming through the grass. The pages squeaked with excitement, and got into place. Every head turned to watch the bride as she made her way through the buttercups and stepped onto the decorated raft.
The Old Vole, who had been asked to perform the ceremony, stood up, and said in a kindly voice: "Poppy Eyebright, do you love Dusty Dogwood, and will you love him and care for him for ever and ever?" Poppy vowed that she would. "Dusty Dogwood, do you love Poppy, and will you love her and look after her for ever and ever?". "I will," said Dusty. Mrs Apple blew her nose.
"Then in the name of the flowers and the fields, the stars in the sky, and the streams that flow down to the sea, and the mystery that breathes wonder into all these things, I pronounce you mouse and wife."
All the mice cheered as Dusty kissed his bride, and the bridesmaids threw baskets of petals over the happy couple. Mrs Apple wiped a tear from her eye, and the dancing and feasting began. First they danced, for no one could keep still, jigs, reels and quadrilles. Mr Apple proposed a toast. "To the bride and groom! May their tails grow long, and their eyes be bright, and all their squeaks be little ones."
The wedding was to take place at midday, and Dusty and Conker arrived just in time. The guests were all in their finest clothes. Three young mice, dressed in smart blue suits, had been chosen as pages, and were busily directing everyone to their places. Mrs Apple discreetly tried to dust down the groom and best man, but to no avail.
At last old Mrs Eyebright, Poppy's grandmother, spotted the bride and her little bridesmaids coming through the grass. The pages squeaked with excitement, and got into place. Every head turned to watch the bride as she made her way through the buttercups and stepped onto the decorated raft.
The Old Vole, who had been asked to perform the ceremony, stood up, and said in a kindly voice: "Poppy Eyebright, do you love Dusty Dogwood, and will you love him and care for him for ever and ever?" Poppy vowed that she would. "Dusty Dogwood, do you love Poppy, and will you love her and look after her for ever and ever?". "I will," said Dusty. Mrs Apple blew her nose.
"Then in the name of the flowers and the fields, the stars in the sky, and the streams that flow down to the sea, and the mystery that breathes wonder into all these things, I pronounce you mouse and wife."
All the mice cheered as Dusty kissed his bride, and the bridesmaids threw baskets of petals over the happy couple. Mrs Apple wiped a tear from her eye, and the dancing and feasting began. First they danced, for no one could keep still, jigs, reels and quadrilles. Mr Apple proposed a toast. "To the bride and groom! May their tails grow long, and their eyes be bright, and all their squeaks be little ones."
Union by Robert Fulghum.
You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry.
From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.
The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”
Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.
For after today you shall say to the world –
This is my husband. This is my wife.
You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry.
From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way. All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.
The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”
Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years. Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.
For after today you shall say to the world –
This is my husband. This is my wife.
Food.
We had cupcakes, crisps and sweets to go with our fizzy wine right after the wedding ceremony (to soak up the alcohol? I was hungry anyway, and was glad to be eating cake!). Then we went for a curry and ate more cake. The vegan cake was a lovely and delicious wedding present from my sister in law, check out her website if you like cake!
Traditions.
I had bridesmaids and Joe had a best man, I wore my great grandmother's necklace, which was old and borrowed, and my dress was new and blue. Apart from that we were tradition free. We had 14 guests, our parents, siblings, their partners and kids, and a close friend each. I sent e-vites, Joe helped me choose my dress,we saw each other on the morning of the wedding and his dad gave us a lift together to the venue, I didn't carry or throw a bouquet, I didn't wear a garter, and we had bubbles instead of confetti.
Changing my name.
It took me so long to decide what to do with my name! In my heart, I don't think people should be obliged to change their name when they get married. However, I never liked my last name and it's quite unusual, a pain to keep spelling to people and it made me pretty identifiable (google says I was the only Susie W..... in existence!). If I became Mrs W.... I would think I was my mum, I like the idea of Ms but not how it sounds, and I didn't want to double barrel. So I've become Mrs Evans, I'm happy with it, but unhappy with the amount of time it's taking to change my name on everything!
My honest thoughts about weddings and marriage so far.
- I stressed a lot more than was necessary. Way too much stress!
- People expect your personality to change, because 'wedding'. I repeated a lot that I only wanted a small, simple ceremony, and that no, I wasn't getting my hair and make up done!
- You can choose the bits of traditional wedding-ness you want, and leave out the others, and it will be fine. Promise.
- I had a happy day, the sun was shining, everyone I love was there, but I'm not sure it was the best day of my life. It would definitely make the top 5 though.
- Neither me or Joe can remember what our wedding vows were! It passed in a blur. I keep telling him he definitely vowed to do the washing up more regularly! I'm so glad our parents did readings, because those are the bits I remember.
- I think all wedding dresses should have pockets. (mine did!)
- I don't feel any different now I'm married. (everyone married person I've asked says they didn't feel any different too!)
- I enjoy calling Joe my husband though.
- Changing my name is a massive and expensive hassle (£75 to update my 2 year old passport!!!).
- We're going to have a big party for all our friends and family, as a sort of wedding reception, probably for our 1st anniversary. I'm really looking forward to it, but at the same time I'm so glad we didn't do it on the same day as our wedding! I would have been so stressed!
- I can't recommend enough going on honeymoon the same day as your wedding, especially if like me you're an introvert who gets all peopled out after a couple of hours. We were married by 12pm, had finished eating by 3pm, on the train by 5pm and at our holiday cottage by 7.30pm. Perfect.
Phew! I think that's the longest blog post I've ever written!
I'm going to post some of our honeymoon photos on Instagram over the next couple of days, so check them out if you'd like to see our week in (surprisingly!) sunny Wales!
Some of these photos were taken by our lovely wedding photographer, Nikki, from Royal Touch Photography.
Thanks for reading!
Love Mrs Susie Evans xxx
Love Mrs Susie Evans xxx
