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Our Royal Wedding: How it all started
Jun. 28th, 2011 11:28 pmMilf and I have been engaged since September 13th 2007. He proposed while I was in the bath in Hiroshima, Japan. We planned to get married in 5 years, before I was 30 and he was 40. Summer 2012 was banded about, it was nice and far away and there was a weekend perfectly in-between our birthdays so that we could take one long holiday off and be done with the lot of it. We started making plans:- guest lists, looking at holidays, venues, we even booked the Albert Hall in Leeds.
Milf has never been a big believer in marriage, his parents split when he was 6 and his mother never married the guy he called 'Dad' and they got along just fine, whereas my parents have been together 30 years and have always been a kind of model of stability for me. We've had maybe 7 arguments in our 7 years together, we have the same ideals about evenings, weekends, holidays, life, kids, retirement and television programmes and if we don't, we don't try force them on each other, we go do it with someone else (television and weekends, not kids!) It's always been the perfect balance and we know it, everyone tells us and our best man and one of our bridesmaids kept on at us to get married earlier.
One day my Mum forwarded me an email she'd got from the Wychwood brewery. It had a competition where you could win the alternative wedding of the year, going up against Will and Kate for a wedding on the 29th of April. I giggled, mentioned it and closed the email. We'd never have a chance of winning something like that...
A couple of days later, I came in after a night out with work, and asked Milf if we should fill it in. Despite the fact that the first thing to be affected with me after a couple of drinks is my typing, we filled out the form with as many puns as we could think of:
and sent it off.
I did spend a couple of weeks joking about it at work, and everyone kept saying that they couldn't imagine anything more 'me'. I was a bit put-out to start with, as I'd been planning a 1950s Glamour wedding, and Milf's always been the person into medieval things and LARP. However, the more I thought about it the more perfect it was; we'd never be able to afford something like that on our wages, and it's exactly what our families would expect from us!
One Thursday, the last day of the competition, I was on my way home on the bus and there was an email from Justin, the guy at the brewery, asking if I could contact him as barring any other amazing entries by midnight, we would be in the final 3! I called him back and he confirmed this, telling me we'd know by Friday what the score was.
You can imagine what the next 24 hours were like - absolute insanity. Every time my phone flashed I was on edge and I couldn't concentrate much at work (co-incidentally, I had a great selling day, maybe I should be stressed more often!). At around 3 as we hadn't heard I called Justin and he told us that he'd had trouble contacting the third couple, but yes, we'd made it through.
That night went by in a blur. I remember sitting up with Milf in bed and asking him if we should throw the vote - not tell anyone and not have the pressure. He looked me dead in the eyes and told me that he wanted to marry me, and we didn't have to wait until next year, let's just do this properly. I think I barely slept, we weren't busy that Saturday and most of it was spent fantasising over outfits and strategising a video plea and internet campaign.
Sunday, we were meeting up with our best mates for a pub lunch, so we met up with Gary and Amy and my friend, Lee and had Sunday lunch in Brown's. We had a marvellous time with great company and followed it up with a trip to Mr Foley's for a beer. We attempted to film a plea video there, but the sound levels and lighting was wrong, so we took a quick trip to another pub nearby (who don't let you film inside, so shall remain nameless) and had a few pints of Buttcombe and filmed a video of us begging for votes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQDJ_HWc_cI
It only took two takes, it didn't sound anything like me and I had some sort of nervous tic/smile on my face, but we got it done and the lovely Gary bought us a bottle of Prosecco. After waving goodbye to Lee, we went back to our place for a quick nightcap and submitted our revised application.
Milf has never been a big believer in marriage, his parents split when he was 6 and his mother never married the guy he called 'Dad' and they got along just fine, whereas my parents have been together 30 years and have always been a kind of model of stability for me. We've had maybe 7 arguments in our 7 years together, we have the same ideals about evenings, weekends, holidays, life, kids, retirement and television programmes and if we don't, we don't try force them on each other, we go do it with someone else (television and weekends, not kids!) It's always been the perfect balance and we know it, everyone tells us and our best man and one of our bridesmaids kept on at us to get married earlier.
One day my Mum forwarded me an email she'd got from the Wychwood brewery. It had a competition where you could win the alternative wedding of the year, going up against Will and Kate for a wedding on the 29th of April. I giggled, mentioned it and closed the email. We'd never have a chance of winning something like that...
A couple of days later, I came in after a night out with work, and asked Milf if we should fill it in. Despite the fact that the first thing to be affected with me after a couple of drinks is my typing, we filled out the form with as many puns as we could think of:
What makes you the perfect couple to win the wychwood themed alternative wedding of the year?:
We met through a love of the Dark, and as we've grown, our love for beer and the alternative has grown with us. We've been engaged for 4 years and together for 7 with a date of next year, but when Wychwood say we can do it this year with the Hobgoblin at the helm, who are we to argue? With our friends and plenty good beer, it's sure to be a combination to remember. We wouldn't want it any other way!
How did you meet?:
I wanted some extensions putting in my hair so a friend agreed. He heard my voice and came to investigate and I was captivated by the handsome man before me. He had Cthulhu slippers - I was sold.
Do you have any unique vows to be included in the ceremony?:
For Richer or Pourer, for Bitter or worse (alcopops), for Pale Ale, for Real Ale, I'll stand Be-Cider throughout our lives. Our relationship will never go flat.
What would you both plan to wear to the ceremony?:
Something dark and swarthy for him, like her favourite pint. Something light and bubbly for her, just likehe likes it.
What track should be played for your first dance?:
The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys. I knew he'd had slightly too much the first time he serenaded me with this. Wonderful :)
What role does Hobgoblin play in your life?:
We both love real beer and we both love seeing the Halloween shirts, and occasionally getting a King Goblin to have on a special occasion. Nothing better than a night snuggled up together with nice ale. I've dated lagerboys before, no thanks!
and sent it off.
I did spend a couple of weeks joking about it at work, and everyone kept saying that they couldn't imagine anything more 'me'. I was a bit put-out to start with, as I'd been planning a 1950s Glamour wedding, and Milf's always been the person into medieval things and LARP. However, the more I thought about it the more perfect it was; we'd never be able to afford something like that on our wages, and it's exactly what our families would expect from us!
One Thursday, the last day of the competition, I was on my way home on the bus and there was an email from Justin, the guy at the brewery, asking if I could contact him as barring any other amazing entries by midnight, we would be in the final 3! I called him back and he confirmed this, telling me we'd know by Friday what the score was.
You can imagine what the next 24 hours were like - absolute insanity. Every time my phone flashed I was on edge and I couldn't concentrate much at work (co-incidentally, I had a great selling day, maybe I should be stressed more often!). At around 3 as we hadn't heard I called Justin and he told us that he'd had trouble contacting the third couple, but yes, we'd made it through.
That night went by in a blur. I remember sitting up with Milf in bed and asking him if we should throw the vote - not tell anyone and not have the pressure. He looked me dead in the eyes and told me that he wanted to marry me, and we didn't have to wait until next year, let's just do this properly. I think I barely slept, we weren't busy that Saturday and most of it was spent fantasising over outfits and strategising a video plea and internet campaign.
Sunday, we were meeting up with our best mates for a pub lunch, so we met up with Gary and Amy and my friend, Lee and had Sunday lunch in Brown's. We had a marvellous time with great company and followed it up with a trip to Mr Foley's for a beer. We attempted to film a plea video there, but the sound levels and lighting was wrong, so we took a quick trip to another pub nearby (who don't let you film inside, so shall remain nameless) and had a few pints of Buttcombe and filmed a video of us begging for votes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQDJ_HWc_cI
It only took two takes, it didn't sound anything like me and I had some sort of nervous tic/smile on my face, but we got it done and the lovely Gary bought us a bottle of Prosecco. After waving goodbye to Lee, we went back to our place for a quick nightcap and submitted our revised application.
