This was the most amazing day in my life.

The Build Up

Before the actual wedding day, I’d not felt nervous at all, but come 2 hours before the ceremony, the nerves kicked in, and I became a bag of nerves. I think that it was the thought of giving my speech that was worrying me the most.

Thankfully I had the support of my best man Sam, and my Mum and Dad. I also had the company of our daughter Ellie, who was getting ready at my parents’ house.

As I had lots to do to get myself ready, my Mum got Ellie ready, she looked so cute and gorgeous. Here she is in her dress:

Sam and I left for the hotel along with Sam’s fiancée, Bronwen, and got there about 1pm where we met up with my ushers Nick and Ian.

I was felling so nervous, so Sam recommended having a beer to calm the nerves. This did the job a little. The nerves then started to build again as all of the guests began to arrive, and they all wanted to have a little chat. This was nice of them, but ideally I wanted to have some quiet time before everything kicked off.

About 1.30pm, our photographer, Chris Nottingham turned up. He took a few photos of Sam and me before the ceremony before he went to see Gemma and her bridesmaids and take some photos in her room.

After a bit of milling about, Sam and I had to go and meet the Registrar, to go through all the formalities before the ceremony, to check if it was in fact me that was getting married. The Registrar was great, making a few jokes and chatting, trying to make me feel a little more at ease.

The Ceremony

It seemed like an eternity standing at the front of the aisle waiting for Gemma to walk down. All of our family and friends were sitting down waiting for the big moment when Gemma would appear.

Then that moment arrived, as the whole room went quiet, and the music began. This sent a shiver up my spine, causing the hairs on my neck to stand on end.

After a few moments I looked around to see Gemma. She looked absolutely stunning. Words cannot describe how beautiful she looked. Walking in front of Gemma, were Ellie and Dafydd. They looked so cute in their outfits. Although it wasn’t long before Dafydd decided that he didn’t want to walk at the front, and did a quick U-turn and nearly tripped Gemma up.

That was the only hiccup, as Gemma came and stood next to me. She looked even more stunning close up. I was one lucky bast**d .

The Registrar began with a little speech before we said our vows. She was really good, making everything quite relaxed and not too formal. As we started to say our vows I started to get really nervous, in the back of my mind was the thought that I’d forget what the Registrar was going to say to me.

And guess what. That’s exactly what happened!

On the third section that she read to me, I had a mental block. In what seemed like an absolute age to me I couldn’t remember what I had just been told. I was just about to ask the Registrar to repeat her words when it all came back to me. I don’t think many people noticed, thankfully .

Everything else went smoothly, and we were now Husband and Wife.

Speeches

After having all of our photos taken, which took a while to complete, it was time for the speeches. We’d decided to do the speeches before the wedding breakfast, mainly because it meant that Sam, Steve (Gemma’s Dad) and me could enjoy our meals without having to think about the speeches and getting even more stressed.

As is customary, Steve went first. He was so nervous, bless him. His speech was really good, getting a few laughs and saying how much Gemma means to himself and Mandy.

It was my turn next. I was pretty nervous as I stood up, took a quick sip of champagne and began. The speech went really well, and I got more comfortable as it went on, and actually quite enjoyed it. And as a bonus, everyone laughed in all the right places.

I’ve uploaded the speech for everyone to see here.

Next, was Sam’s turn. It was his job to cause me some degree of embarrassment. And he didn’t disappoint. I think that he was a little nervous, but he delivered a really good speech. Thanks Sam, at least it wasn’t too embarrassing.

The Wedding Breakfast

The food and service were absolutely fantastic.

We’d given everyone a choice for each of the three courses, here is a scan of the menu.

I think everyone enjoyed the food, as you can’t always cater for everyone’s taste.

The Evening Do…

The evening do kicked off at about 8.30pm, once the room has been rearranged and the DJ had set up all of his equipment.

As is customary, Gemma and I had our “First Dance”, which was Daniel Bedingfield’s “Never Gonna Leave Your Side“. After a couple of verses we got the DJ’s to get everyone else up on to the dance floor to join us. This was more to get people up off the seats and get the dancing going.

We had booked Dave Lee to do the disco, click here to link to his website. The DJ’s were fantastic, and at one point, one of them was up dancing with us, as two of my cousins dragged him up on the dance floor . Gemma had a really fantastic time dancing, I don’t think she stopped too often.

Gemma and I mingled with our guests all evening, who all said what a good time they were having. It was great catching up with people that we’d not seen for a good while.

Even Ellie was having a great time, she managed to stay awake for ages before she finally gave up and went to bed at about 10.30pm. She was so tired, bless her.

Thank You

Gemma and I would like to thank everyone who cam to the wedding, we hope that you all had a wonderful time, just as much as we did. It was so great seeing everyone.

Thanks to everyone for all the kind gifts, they are very much appreciated.

A big thank you must go to Rossett Hall Hotel near Wrexham. Everything was organised well, and all the staff made it a special day

Thanks to Chris Nottingham, our photographer, and his wife Nikki for being so relaxed and making the photos so enjoyable. Can’t wait to see them!

Thanks to Dave Lee Media for the fantastic disco.

A last, very big, thank you from me, goes to my new wife Gemma. Thank you for all the organisation that you put it. You made it such a fantastic day. I love you so much x x x

You can see more photos here.