The Big Day
After a year of planning and preparations the waiting was almost over...
The day was as perfect as we had both imagined. The sun shone, our friends and family were with us and the atmosphere was relaxed. The girls spent all morning pampering and getting themselves ready, while Paul took all the boys into the town for a steak (his so-called last meal as a free man!) Everyone was relaxed and there was no stess, even though the venue for the ceremony changed about 3 times due to the wind! The ceremony was due to start at 3 o'clock and Paul was still in the pool at 2:30-relaxed as ever... We were kept separate due to old traditions although this proved tricky in a relatively small villa. It all added to the anticipation though!! I was fashionably late (brides perogative!) although I found out later that the groom was almost as late as I was due to his buttonhole falling off at the last minute! I had butterflies in my stomach as I walked down the rose petal covered path on my dad's arm. It was an amzing feeling-one I'll never forget. The ceremony went without a hitch and even fewer dry eyes, it was very emotional. Afterwards came drinks on the lawn with chocolate covered strawberries and lots of photographs. Tim took us to vineyards, railway lines and hillsides to take more photographs to capture the amzing day.
The happy couple
Next was a journey to the medieval fort at Montalcino where we celebrated with Italian wine and had more photos on the ramparts followed by confetti throwing and a procession into town towards the restaurant. We had lots of smiles from locals probably thinking "mad English people!" We had a delicious meal at Il Grifo restaurant where the staff couldn't do enough for us. We enjoyed speeches from my dad and Paul and then it was on to the ice-cream parlour to finish off the night Yummmmm!! When we arrived back at the villa we had the best mans speech and had our first dance by candlelight. What a great way to end a fantastic day... It was better than I could have dreamed of and the memories will last forever. A huge thank you to our parents for making it all possible, especially my mum who played a massive part in helping to plan and organise and whose creative talents with flowers, cakes, dress, invitations, hair etc were greatly appreciated!
