Magical Winter

“I guess I better get this part over and done with. I woke up one morning to an email from my dad and as soon as I saw the words “I’m sorry”, I knew what it was going to say. Unfortunately, even with his best efforts my dad isn’t going to make it to the wedding. The recovery time after the operation takes him right up to the wedding date and it’s just not enough time. I was pretty gutted and I spent an entire day feeling completely sorry for myself. I have been trying my best to just chin up and get on with things because I know I’ll be fine, I know I’ll feel happier and I’ll make my peace with it before the wedding but right now I still haven’t got a hold on my emotions and I can feel myself welling up even as I’m writing this. One week I felt upset, the next I was angry with the world – I wish there was a fast forward switch so I could get through the motions faster!

I asked dad if he had something I could keep on or near me during the day and he’s sending over a wee something with my mum. I have a few ideas but I’ll let you know my plans for it once I get my creativity going! Dad said he would like it if my mum walked me down the aisle, but I’m not sure if I want anyone to do it if it isn’t going to be him.

As hard as it is right now, I am thankful my dad is still here and I know we can celebrate when we visit Australia next year. Australian reception party planning already underway!

I’m pretty sure dad had his speech half finished before we’d even won the competition and his plan now is to record it onto a dvd so we can play it at the wedding. (I better wear extra waterproof mascara and have tissues everywhere!). We’re also going to hook up an iPad in the stables, so he can watch the ceremony through Skype. It’s going to be tough but I’m so glad he’ll still be able to be included thanks to the wonders of technology!

After a few quietish weeks, this week has been full of WFIL Wedding tasks….

When I finished working the dreaded 12.5hour all day shift on Wednesday, I noticed I had a missed call and a voicemail from Rachel Scott! She’d phoned to say MY DRESS HAD ARRIVED!!!! (the perfect pick me up after such a long day!) I was thinking OH EM GEE, I’m going to be in Edinburgh all day tomorrow, will I get to see my own actual dress for the first time!! But the next day was already planned to perfection and I wasn’t sure if I would have time to squeeze another wee appointment in…

So Thursday last week was ACTION PACKED! 6AM rise, which was better than the usual alarm at 0430 I guess! Chris’ folks, Pauline and Jim were accompanying us on today’s wedding mission and they came to pick us up and we headed back over to Edinburgh. En route though we had to make one minor detour into Livingston, the registrars office to be exact! Original documents in hand, into the office we went. We’d already sent over copies of everything so this meeting was just a formality so they could witness original documents and make sure we were real people! We went over a few details so we’d know what to expect on the day and checked over the marriage form we’ll be signing. Have you ever heard of ‘posting the banns’? I hadn’t either. Basically its when people intend to marry, the church or council post it for all to see. Nowadays its just posted up inside the registrars office, but it was kinda cool and exciting to see our names up there!

First job done, the next stop was brekkie before heading into Edinburgh to meet Steve and Yvonne from Cherry Tree Films. We had a chat about the WFIL wedding experience so far and went over a few ideas for the day. Then somehow we got into the Rugby World Cup chat and Steve was telling us he was feeling a bit sore after the Aussies knocked the English out of their own world cup – I’m saying nothing! (lol)

They were telling us how they’ve been known to crawl through muddy puddles just to get the best shot and Steve was toying with the idea of tartan patches or skate pads for his suit – I reckon they could pull off a waterproof suit with skate pads attached!

Cherry Tree did the wedding film for previous WFIL winners and they showed us their film at Drumtochty Castle. It is such a beautiful location and was somewhere I had checked out as a potential venue. The film was so beautifully made (Chris kept looking at me, waiting for the kleenex moment – yes I cry at everything!). I was feeling a bit emotional watching it and my thoughts wandered to my dad but I managed to keep it together until the end of the film but when I tried to speak I just got a bit overwhelmed and that was me – waterworks again! We’re all going to be miked up for the ceremony and Yvonne and Steve are going to look into something to boost the audio so it’s clearer over Skype. We need to look up a few slow, medium and fast tracks to use for the film too.

Yvonne and Steve know Jay and Christina from Elemental quite well and the plan is to team up tag team style for the day! Jay and Steve will pop over to the G & V around 1030 to get Chris and Nicol getting it together (hopefully), whilst Christina and Yvonne will do the same with myself, Megs and YT at the Dakota. Steve and Yvonne are so nice and have completely put us at ease, we are both looking forward to having them there on our day!

Two jobs done and the final stop was over to Hopetoun House to meet Kirsten from Heritage Portfolio for the almighty food and wine tasting MMMM, but I’ll tell you all about that next week!

30 DAYS TO GO! Eeek!