Getting hitched and going green.

This feels very much like back to earth with a bump. Sorry about the extended delay, I was off getting married! I am now Mrs Hairy, and still not used to the idea of being “husband” and “wife” yet. I started a new job today and one of my coworkers told me I don’t seem like the sort of person to get married, especially not in a church. Apparently that’s my vibe.

So this will be a long post, with some of my favourite pictures from the wedding and our honeymoon thrown in for good measure.

The wedding itself was mixed – some of it was amazing, and some of it not so amazing. The weather was frankly shocking in the entire week running up to the big day, and even on the day itself it wasn’t great. No rain luckily, but it wasn’t as warm and sunny as we were hoping for. In fact we had planned to put up all four of the marquees the day before to save us time, but the wind was so strong that it ripped three of them in half. Crying over a marquee counts as one of the low points of the week, by the way.

I really enjoyed the week leading up – busy, a bit stressful but I had time off to spend with Hairy and my sister who had turned up early and was a massive help in all things including tasting some of the home brew 😀 It didn’t really feel like I spend that much time with Hairy because we were so busy getting involved in everything but at least neither of us had to work!

So, without further ado, here is the wedding porn.

My Hairy husband. I actually was having coffee in a little restaurant around the corner at this point because I’d turned up early and was super nervous. I didn’t get too nervous until I was just walking up to the registry, but couldn’t see Hairy anywhere.

Me, Pops and some last minute soothing hugs. After this point, I wasn’t nervous any more. We’d spent so much time convincing ourselves that this bit wasn’t the actual wedding, so I wasn’t scared then, and by the point I could have been scared in the afternoon I was already married. Brilliant cure for nerves, that.

Mothers appear to be communing in this picture. About what, I’m not entirely sure. We only had parents there for this bit in the morning, and it was lovely. It was calm, relaxed and we had a bit of a giggle as well. I still don’t view it as anything more than the legal bit, but it was a little oasis of calm in a very hectic day!

Parents have gone! Invisibility potions were not a part of the wedding package, although sometimes I wish they had been!

I got a bit choked up at the point of actually speaking my legal vows. It was odd, but it really hit home for about a millisecond and then ran away again. The scary bit was using our full and grown up names, and I think that’s what it was.

Signing the fake register! Hairy did his with rather more gravitas, but I enjoyed flailing around with an expensive pen and pretending that I was signing with a quill. You know, normal bride stuff.

These faces were slightly bewildered. If it look like a really quick ceremony, that’s because it was. The poor registrar had barely finished writing out the marriage certificate before we were done.

Obviously we had to go get pictures under the tree. There were a whole load of family photos but I thought I’d be kind to all concerned and just give you a cute one of Hairy and me.

Our rings, pretty obviously. Our photographer was pretty awesome because we were really scatty and lost the list of photos we wanted him to take; instead he went and took photos of Hairy getting ready which gave me time to get hair and face done.

And there’s the big reveal. Me, in my wedding dress, with my bouquet and DMs. Just after this, Pops took me for a pint in the pub where we were staying and we had a nice long chat over a beer. I was definitely the focus of anyone who came through!

I think this has to be one of my favourite photos from the entire day. Lots of things went wrong, so I was waiting outside the field to get the okay so I could do the whole big entrance thing. Here are some of my in-laws! I don’t know why I like it so much, but I do.

Aaaaaand more waiting. I like that the purple roses are the only things with colour in the picture.

 

 

And everything is a-okay! I don’t know what it was (common theme), but suddenly it’s all good.

This is currently my profile picture! It’s one of those standard you-really-can’t-go-wrong-with-this-pose pictures. Also, admire the amazing hair and make up done by my amazing sister. The sparkles stand out amazingly against the dark of my hair and match the floaty bits on the top of the dress. I loved it. I haven’t put up any photos of her because I know she won’t like it, but she looked absolutely stunning on the day.

Remember how I said lots of things went wrong? This is one of the bits that was wrong but ended up better. Hairy and one of his nieces made us a maypole to get married in front of since the arch we were going to use didn’t have enough screws – I think it was nicer because of the love that went into it.

I bought Pops a tie. We definitely did all the shades of purple, and while Pops did have a lovely red one on I’m glad I gave him something that he could remember the day by.

Much father-daughter love. This is the man that I fought with more than anything as a teenager, but has always been a rock for me. Yes, I’m horrendously soppy, and no I’m not apologising. Mops is sat behind Pops, looking resplendent in her amazing pink cardigan and again, is one of the cornerstones of my life. I couldn’t be who I am without knowing that my family (Sister included!) will always be there for me.

The view, my maypole and my husband crying as he spoke his vows.

I DIDN’T HAVE CHIPPED NAIL POLISH. It’s a miracle.

And another one of my favourite pictures. I don’t think I could have been any happier than when I was just then.

Our confetti had to be bio-degradable since cows, so Mops and I sat and made 72 origami boxes that later we filled with dried petals: delphiniums, lavender and rose. We ended up with about a kilogram of leftover lavender though!

I have the sass. Hairy and I didn’t manage much time together, or many photos either but I’m glad I managed to crash at least a few of his pictures!

I swoon, I sigh. Hairy is an undying romantic at heart and simply loves to dip me.

You know what? We were actually talking about breakfast as we walked – serious stuff here! Hairy was too nervous to eat, and I had to eat mine super speedily because we had places to be!

First dance is a serious affair, right? Ours was Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, and it was at the same time both excruciatingly awkward and absolutely hilarious.

Bride at the bottom of the pile of friends! Sadly most of these lovely people don’t live in Nottingham any more, and the chap in the middle was definitely blotto after a few too many of the homebrew 🙂 He doesn’t remember this picture being taken at all…

Hay bales! All arranged for free, and rather spiffing to sit upon in the end. We had a daft number of them, and a lot of hay did end up all over the field but they were easily transported when we moved focus later in the evening.

I hated those cake pops by the end of it. It took me about three hours to roll the little buggers, and then my cousin spent another *insert stupid amount of time here* dipping them in chocolate and sprinkles. Down in one!

 

 

The photographer loved the sky, so off we toddled to take some more pictures in another field up the road.

One of the most amazing things about my dress was its sheer flipability. I swear, I’ve never spun as much in my entire life as I did on that day.

For that reason, have multiple spinning pictures.

I was a ballerina in my big boots.

And thus begins the honeymoon.

 

So, we went camping to a little eco-campsite called Cerenety. It was a long and arduous journey involving three trains, a two hour bus ride and then a mile and a half hike carrying our body weight in stuff. Not so cool.

The site itself had beautiful views and was pretty well maintained for a place run entirely by volunteers. I do have to admit the novelty of compost loos and solar showers wore off pretty quickly and it was just a bit of a faff by the end! I did enjoy that the whole thing was about as low carbon as we could have made it without staying at home and doing nothing.

The very first day we had on honeymoon was amazing – a volunteer told us about a quiet beach that was only ten minutes walk away; yes it was rocky rather than sandy, but having a beach to ourselves for the entire day was definitely worth it.

 

Hairy got his swim shorts out, but nothing can dissuade him from that darned pipe. Pipe in the ocean is such a bad mix!

 

 

I’m not going to say I’m twenty feet above beach level, but…

 

 

I definitely Gollum-ed up that cliff. And the hat was mine. Not Hairy’s at all, honest!

Hairy really enjoyed the geology; our photo album of this point is pretty much “face, rock, face, rock, face, rock, rock, rock, foot…”

For now, that shall be all. I have more pictures but I’ve been trying to get them to upload for at least a day now and it’s beginning to drive me insane.

Other small announcements – I sprained a ligament in my ankle while surfing, but I have a new job. I am officially finished at the book shop so I don’t have to work weekends any more! Hairy and I are painfully broke in the wake of the wedding, but it’s a problem we know how to fix. All will be well in the new Spry household 🙂