Val’s Wedding Diary Countdown

We have set the date now and the pressure is on. Just don’t panic ok. Planning a wedding is an exciting and daunting first but lots of people have done it and survived. The difference for me is that although I have never planned a wedding before I have been married. The old saying that every daughter has the wedding her mother dreamed of could have been true for me.

Actually it turned out to be a really fun day. Mum did well working to a tight deadline and even tighter budget. Looking back maybe some of the ‘fun’ was due to the bottle of sherry I had for breakfast – well I didn’t want to eat anything and be all bloated in my wedding dress did I? I think Mum supplied it to numb the pain of cheap plastic shoes bought in the sale on the last minute that really pinched (I still have the scars). To be fair perhaps she wasn’t expecting me to drink all of it.

Unfortunately the sherry was also very effective at numbing the nagging doubts I had about the man I was about to marry. As we slowed down at the bend in the road before the church an old man leaning on his gate shouted: “Don’t do it!” - talk about a ‘sign’! I still think of him every time I pass by there.

Still, if I don’t count those details, along with the suspicion that my then fiancé mistook the words “forsaking all others” for “chasing all others” and the years of misery that followed, it was a good day. The sun was shining and I loved my dress. The best part was seeing all my family and friends gathered together.

Since then I’ve learned that I don’t need a wedding to dress up and I can actually have a family party for no reason if I want to. I’m learning that ‘wedding preparation’ means more than successful shoe shopping and sherry slurping and I’m determined it will be different this time . . .