![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Our Royal Wedding: The Day Itself
Dec. 21st, 2011 08:23 pmSurprisingly, getting to sleep was no problem, and as soon as my head hit the pillow (clips, du-rag and all) I was off! Our alarm chirped into life at 7am and we put some clothes on and headed downstairs for breakfast.
We sat in the room behind the bar and got ourselves some breakfast from the buffet. We didn't know when we'd be eating or whether we'd be able to, so we got a large plate each and sat under some armour on the wall to eat. A couple of coffees and some bacon later and we were ready to roll.
We couldn't start getting ready straight away, as I knew the photographer is supposed to be there for the 'getting ready' photos, and she wasn't due 'til 9, so we watched some TV coverage of the Royal Wedding build up and chatted to my parents, who's room wasn't ready yet and they couldn't get in.
Nurinder arrived, so I said hello to her, and the Hobgoblin and Dwarves, who had arrived early and already in makeup. Once Lisa, the photographer arrived, we started putting my makeup on, Lisa even helped me take down the hair, as I had no idea what I was doing at all! We knew we had a photo call at 10:30, so after toasting Catherine and William with some Jack Daniel's Single Barrel and watching her come out of her car, we popped downstairs to see that loads more family had arrived.
Starting the day as we meant to go on, we both grabbed a Beck's from the bar (ok it was non-alcoholic) and stood around nervously laughing and joking with the family and friends in the bar area. Eventually we went out to the stone archway, and took some photos with the Dwarves, Hobgoblin, Magician, Pagan priests and Fire-eater. We took a few photos, then someone had the 'great' idea to move the fire breather next to Richard and have him balance the fire stick on his head. Well of course the inevitable happened, and he wobbled, sending the fire stick crashing onto Richard's head and setting fire to his hair. Had that been me stood that side, I'd have been up in flames in no time due to the amount of hairspray on my head!
Photo call at the Pagan circle over, we were whisked away to the Marston's brewery in a rather nice car by a really nice guy. Talking to him it turned out that Tom who works for the brewery and I had several friends in common, as we both grew up in Lichfield! Very small world indeed!
At the brewery, we had an interview with Whitney.TV and Kerrang Radio with Alex Baker and we stood around outside shooting the shit while we waited for the Pagan's to set up a small ceremony in the brewery, above some barrels and over our very own barrel of Hobgoblin. Jacqui and Dreow were a lovely bunch, and made us feel at ease while they performed various rituals, adding earth to water and fire to air to make the elements come together and bless the beer. Dreow sang, there were many photographs and Kerrang recorded the whole thing on audio. At the end we had to drink some beer to seal the whole thing, so they handed us a bottle. I thought I'd be clever and try drinking a lot of it, but it was unrefridgerated, and so fizzed up and went everywhere! I'm only grateful that it didn't go on my dress.
We milled around the brewery for a while before hopping on the giant green wooden dray wagon which was to be our 'procession' from the brewery to the Old Mill for some photos. There was barely enough room on the back section for the two dwarves, never mind the rest of us, so we took turns getting on the back to wave at anyone and everyone we saw. Due to the Royal Wedding going on, there actually wasn't many people about to be honest, and the only people we really got to wave at were the brewery employees following behind in their cars!
Once we arrived, the lovely Hobgoblin did a little ditty about the most important thing arriving - the beer! The Dwarves (now re-named Hump and Grump) took the barrel in and we exited the wagon from the back. Everyone was there! All our family, the fire-breather (now you can understand why we look really nervous in his presence, and whenever he spat the fluid, we got splashed on our outfits) and the caricaturist. Apparently he'd been drawing people all morning while they waited for us and ate Hog Roast (we never got any, by the time we'd posed for photos it was being put away :( )
The Magician was performing tricks, the dwarves and hobgoblin were terrorising the two small children along with the adults and we got some beer and some Jager! Everyone looked absolutely spectacular and we all chilled outside while we waited for the first wedding ceremony.
We tried to take our tankards into the breakfast hall, which had now been transformed into an aisle(!) and they informed us that if we had drank alcohol we wouldn't be allowed to proceed. Whoops! After confirming our names and our parents' occupations for the register (including a very awkward conversation about Milf's dead deadbeat father) we popped outside and they started to arrange our guests into the room. I stood back with my bridesmaids Amy and Flick and bemoaned the fact that there was only one bouquet for those two and listened as the 'waiting' songs we'd chosen played through the sound system. Orchestral versions of "Final Countdown", "Run To The Hills" and one song I can't remember right now were playing as Richard and the guests waited for me.
Finally, everyone was seated and I came down the aisle to Apocalyptica's version of "Nothing Else Matters" - all played on cellos! The ceremony itself went without a hitch and was very painless. Photos, oh god tons of photos and that was that! We were married! While we signed the register, the version of "Don't Stop Believing" from The Wedding Singer was playing, along with a violin version of "Paparazzi" and as we walked back out of the room, the Star Wars March played, and everyone giggled which was so much better than any pompous song that's traditional!
Outside I finally got to meet Milf's relatives for the first time and we had a quick second drink to celebrate, before being whisked off to the little temple outside for the Pagan ceremony. Several guests asked if this was our choice and luckily my parents explained that I am completely Atheist and this was what Hobgoblin had organised. My Grandad's wife was apparently none-too-pleased.
The ceremony itself was certainly very different. We had to wait while they sanctified a circle and then repeat parts from a book they each had, and Milf managed to be so nervous at not calling me Mof that he called me "Eileen" by accident. Got to say, I do love the photos of my reaction! We had to feed each other cake and our hands were bound together and then it was over and time for tea! We were so lucky that the weather held off, it wasn't cold or rainy and we were able to mill about outside.
It then came time for the dinner. We hadn't had much say in the menu as it had been sent over about 3 days before the wedding and so I just said yes but I shouldn't have been too worried. The soup starter was fine, the lamb for the main was great, the only bad thing was the summer fruits pudding which hardly anyone ate. The only other unfortunate thing was that although we cut the cake, the staff at the hotel didn't cut it up and serve it, meaning that when we came down for breakfast the next day, it was still there!
The speeches were great, Gary, Milf and my dad each having one. Milf's brought a tear to most people's eyes, even mine and I'd already read it! Luckily there were no childhood photos or anecdotes, and once the magician Jack came back to do one last trick involving a goldfish, we all descended into the bar once again to party!
Jacqui and Dreow were doing rune readings for people and the Hobgoblin and Dwarves stayed around for a few beers, the Hobgoblin changing out of his outfit because he was about to die of heat exhaustion! The poor DJ didn't know what had hit him - I thought they would've hired someone appropriate as Kerrang were covering the wedding and we'd said absolutely no cheese, but he hadn't got half the stuff we asked for, not even the cheese! We had a few drinks and only ran the bar tab out at 10:30 which isn't too bad.
Dreow and Jacqui gave us a CD and as I'd remarked that I liked the smell of their incense, they gave me some essential oil which smelled similar. They also spent a long time discussing genitals!
I made most of my family do Jager shots! Granddad and his wife sipped theirs between them, my Auntie and Uncle drank it but were slightly puzzled as to why we were drinking alcoholic cough mixture and the guys from Kerrang actually managed to get a room and stayed over, so they partied with us until the wee hours too.
In-between all of this, while we were drunk we somehow managed to pick 10+ songs for Alex to play on his radio show the next day AND record segues for them all!
We retired to bed not long after the DJ had finished, as the bar was also closed and we hadn't brought anything else to continue with, so we passed out in the giant 4 poster bed and slept like mad.
We sat in the room behind the bar and got ourselves some breakfast from the buffet. We didn't know when we'd be eating or whether we'd be able to, so we got a large plate each and sat under some armour on the wall to eat. A couple of coffees and some bacon later and we were ready to roll.
We couldn't start getting ready straight away, as I knew the photographer is supposed to be there for the 'getting ready' photos, and she wasn't due 'til 9, so we watched some TV coverage of the Royal Wedding build up and chatted to my parents, who's room wasn't ready yet and they couldn't get in.
Nurinder arrived, so I said hello to her, and the Hobgoblin and Dwarves, who had arrived early and already in makeup. Once Lisa, the photographer arrived, we started putting my makeup on, Lisa even helped me take down the hair, as I had no idea what I was doing at all! We knew we had a photo call at 10:30, so after toasting Catherine and William with some Jack Daniel's Single Barrel and watching her come out of her car, we popped downstairs to see that loads more family had arrived.
Starting the day as we meant to go on, we both grabbed a Beck's from the bar (ok it was non-alcoholic) and stood around nervously laughing and joking with the family and friends in the bar area. Eventually we went out to the stone archway, and took some photos with the Dwarves, Hobgoblin, Magician, Pagan priests and Fire-eater. We took a few photos, then someone had the 'great' idea to move the fire breather next to Richard and have him balance the fire stick on his head. Well of course the inevitable happened, and he wobbled, sending the fire stick crashing onto Richard's head and setting fire to his hair. Had that been me stood that side, I'd have been up in flames in no time due to the amount of hairspray on my head!
Photo call at the Pagan circle over, we were whisked away to the Marston's brewery in a rather nice car by a really nice guy. Talking to him it turned out that Tom who works for the brewery and I had several friends in common, as we both grew up in Lichfield! Very small world indeed!
At the brewery, we had an interview with Whitney.TV and Kerrang Radio with Alex Baker and we stood around outside shooting the shit while we waited for the Pagan's to set up a small ceremony in the brewery, above some barrels and over our very own barrel of Hobgoblin. Jacqui and Dreow were a lovely bunch, and made us feel at ease while they performed various rituals, adding earth to water and fire to air to make the elements come together and bless the beer. Dreow sang, there were many photographs and Kerrang recorded the whole thing on audio. At the end we had to drink some beer to seal the whole thing, so they handed us a bottle. I thought I'd be clever and try drinking a lot of it, but it was unrefridgerated, and so fizzed up and went everywhere! I'm only grateful that it didn't go on my dress.
We milled around the brewery for a while before hopping on the giant green wooden dray wagon which was to be our 'procession' from the brewery to the Old Mill for some photos. There was barely enough room on the back section for the two dwarves, never mind the rest of us, so we took turns getting on the back to wave at anyone and everyone we saw. Due to the Royal Wedding going on, there actually wasn't many people about to be honest, and the only people we really got to wave at were the brewery employees following behind in their cars!
Once we arrived, the lovely Hobgoblin did a little ditty about the most important thing arriving - the beer! The Dwarves (now re-named Hump and Grump) took the barrel in and we exited the wagon from the back. Everyone was there! All our family, the fire-breather (now you can understand why we look really nervous in his presence, and whenever he spat the fluid, we got splashed on our outfits) and the caricaturist. Apparently he'd been drawing people all morning while they waited for us and ate Hog Roast (we never got any, by the time we'd posed for photos it was being put away :( )
The Magician was performing tricks, the dwarves and hobgoblin were terrorising the two small children along with the adults and we got some beer and some Jager! Everyone looked absolutely spectacular and we all chilled outside while we waited for the first wedding ceremony.
We tried to take our tankards into the breakfast hall, which had now been transformed into an aisle(!) and they informed us that if we had drank alcohol we wouldn't be allowed to proceed. Whoops! After confirming our names and our parents' occupations for the register (including a very awkward conversation about Milf's dead deadbeat father) we popped outside and they started to arrange our guests into the room. I stood back with my bridesmaids Amy and Flick and bemoaned the fact that there was only one bouquet for those two and listened as the 'waiting' songs we'd chosen played through the sound system. Orchestral versions of "Final Countdown", "Run To The Hills" and one song I can't remember right now were playing as Richard and the guests waited for me.
Finally, everyone was seated and I came down the aisle to Apocalyptica's version of "Nothing Else Matters" - all played on cellos! The ceremony itself went without a hitch and was very painless. Photos, oh god tons of photos and that was that! We were married! While we signed the register, the version of "Don't Stop Believing" from The Wedding Singer was playing, along with a violin version of "Paparazzi" and as we walked back out of the room, the Star Wars March played, and everyone giggled which was so much better than any pompous song that's traditional!
Outside I finally got to meet Milf's relatives for the first time and we had a quick second drink to celebrate, before being whisked off to the little temple outside for the Pagan ceremony. Several guests asked if this was our choice and luckily my parents explained that I am completely Atheist and this was what Hobgoblin had organised. My Grandad's wife was apparently none-too-pleased.
The ceremony itself was certainly very different. We had to wait while they sanctified a circle and then repeat parts from a book they each had, and Milf managed to be so nervous at not calling me Mof that he called me "Eileen" by accident. Got to say, I do love the photos of my reaction! We had to feed each other cake and our hands were bound together and then it was over and time for tea! We were so lucky that the weather held off, it wasn't cold or rainy and we were able to mill about outside.
It then came time for the dinner. We hadn't had much say in the menu as it had been sent over about 3 days before the wedding and so I just said yes but I shouldn't have been too worried. The soup starter was fine, the lamb for the main was great, the only bad thing was the summer fruits pudding which hardly anyone ate. The only other unfortunate thing was that although we cut the cake, the staff at the hotel didn't cut it up and serve it, meaning that when we came down for breakfast the next day, it was still there!
The speeches were great, Gary, Milf and my dad each having one. Milf's brought a tear to most people's eyes, even mine and I'd already read it! Luckily there were no childhood photos or anecdotes, and once the magician Jack came back to do one last trick involving a goldfish, we all descended into the bar once again to party!
Jacqui and Dreow were doing rune readings for people and the Hobgoblin and Dwarves stayed around for a few beers, the Hobgoblin changing out of his outfit because he was about to die of heat exhaustion! The poor DJ didn't know what had hit him - I thought they would've hired someone appropriate as Kerrang were covering the wedding and we'd said absolutely no cheese, but he hadn't got half the stuff we asked for, not even the cheese! We had a few drinks and only ran the bar tab out at 10:30 which isn't too bad.
Dreow and Jacqui gave us a CD and as I'd remarked that I liked the smell of their incense, they gave me some essential oil which smelled similar. They also spent a long time discussing genitals!
I made most of my family do Jager shots! Granddad and his wife sipped theirs between them, my Auntie and Uncle drank it but were slightly puzzled as to why we were drinking alcoholic cough mixture and the guys from Kerrang actually managed to get a room and stayed over, so they partied with us until the wee hours too.
In-between all of this, while we were drunk we somehow managed to pick 10+ songs for Alex to play on his radio show the next day AND record segues for them all!
We retired to bed not long after the DJ had finished, as the bar was also closed and we hadn't brought anything else to continue with, so we passed out in the giant 4 poster bed and slept like mad.
