We got married in October of 2013, it was a beautiful Autumn day. We didn't hire wedding cars, the groom arrived in the Mini he used to drive when he was a teenager, it was still in the family. I got ready at the venue with my mum and bridesmaids. I had a champagne and red dress, I didn't have any hair or make up people to help. I chose not to pay for hair and make up as I don't wear make up at all really, and wanted to be me on my photos, this is also why I wore my glasses, as it wouldn't be me without.
We had a harry potter themed sweetie table and table plan, our cake was made up of cupcakes that friends and family had made for us, each cake told you what flavour and who made it.
Both my mum and dad walked me down the aisle. It is an American tradition, and I (along with my parents) used to live there, so it seemed very fitting.
At the point of 'do you have the rings' a beautiful barn owl flew down the aisle, dive bombed me (the bride) and proceeded to fly to the rafters above our head, with our wedding rings. He sat here for what must have only been a few minutes, but felt like forever!
The Mother of the Bride read a brilliant reading 'the good wifes guide' (which I would recommend you find on youtube, a great performance!), and the cousin on the bride sang while the register was signed.
After the ceremony everyone had chance to hold the owls and have photos taken with them, which seemed to go down very well.
We had no speeches, which I don't think anyone really noticed. After the meal, fish and chips! we had a casino for all the guests, which was a lot of fun.
We did stick to one tradition, we did a bridal waltz. The groom used to go to dance lessons when it was a very small boy, so we did it for his mum.
I would highly recommend having a wedding that you and your other half want, you are who matters, and it is you who will remember the day forever.
Jennifer Edwards' Real Bride Story:
So we decided to get married last January - only we couldn't actually get
married back then so embarked on planning our civil partnership! We took to planning straight away and now, nearly a year and a half on we are very nearly there!
Last month it was announced that we could legally marry and despite the differences in civil partnerships and marriages are not overly obvious we were keen to change our plans to a marriage. This didn't involve much simply changing the paperwork and re submitting our notices to marry in the registry office.
I'd say the planning has been exactly the same as a heterosexual marriage really and we haven't experienced any negativity along the way although we did struggle to find a large free standing Mrs and Mrs sign - something a friend made for us in the end!
We also took a lot of time in planning our entrance as neither me or my fiancé wanted to wait at the front for the bride! 2 brides could mean either a joint entrance or 2 entrances we thought! So fingers crossed at the end of this month we are going to have one of the first amazing same sex marriages in the UK and we can't wait.
Photo credit to: Jeni Smith Photography http://www.jenismith.com/
