After being together for around 20 years at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve we decided to get married. Marriage is not something you rush into so we felt that 20 years was a decent enough time to be sure. Arrangements went brilliantly until the evening before the big day when Cheryl had one of those ‘oh shit’ moments which almost sent her into a complete breakdown.
She had the trousers for her wedding outfit which had somehow got marks on them. We had shopped a lot in Australia and bought two tops, one of which matched perfectly. She decided to wash the trousers to remove the marks only to find the night before the wedding that they had gone several shades whiter and the top didn’t match anymore……bugger! At 7pm we were hurtling around the local out of town shopping mall to buy another pair of trousers which, amazingly, matched perfectly…..how lucky was that?
We chose to have our wedding at The Guildhall in Bath and as we were to be only 8 people we chose The Russell Room which has a maximum of 14 places. The guests were to be our 3 children and their partners and we booked 4 rooms at the very swanky Gainsborough Bath Spa. It is the only hotel in the UK which has its own natural springs which we were able to bathe in and use all the other facilities like sauna and steam room.
We had a fabulous time with the children and the rooms came with complimentary mini bar and a bottle of champagne. We held a pre-wedding party in our room before the ceremony where we drank 2 bottles of champagne. Off we went to ‘do the deed’ and then on the way back to the hotel we stopped for Neil to get his pint of ale in The Crystal Palace which ended up being 2 pints. Then it was back to the hotel for 2 more bottles of bubbly before our 6 course taster menu and wine flight in the hotel restaurant. It was a great evening.
Next morning we spent time wallowing in the spa before breakfast and our departure to Gatwick Airport to go on honeymoon. This was a truly fabulous day, one that we will never, ever, forget. More pictures will follow from our 2 photographers – Alex and Paul.