Sarah and Carl's Wedding Day Story

One Saturday in July, the sun shone (by some miracle, seeing as it poured down in the days before and after) on a very happy girl, for this Saturday was the 18th July and the day that this girl became a bride and married her soul mate.

Carl, my new husband, and I met over five years ago and I was thrilled when he proposed two years after meeting with a gorgeous platinum pear shaped ring. After a year of searching for our perfect venue, it was by chance that we called into the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli and instantly knew that it was everything we were looking for so the date was set for two years later. Waking up at 5.15am on the morning of our wedding, after very little sleep, I couldn't quite believe how quickly the time had passed or how I would have got through the stresses of planning without my fabulous bridesmaids, mum and Jo Roberts, our simply wonderful wedding co coordinator at Stradey

The morning flew in a blur of hairdressers, beauticians and photographers; special thanks to the girls at Manolo in Pontlliw who were fantastic, even at 7.30 in the morning; Nicola in Gowerton who came to the rescue when my beautician cancelled on me at last minute; and to Keith and Vanessa at Always and Forever Photography who I can't compliment enough. Highlights of the morning were one of my bridesmaids making personalised vests to wear as we got ready, gifts from my husband, including a diamond bracelet to wear on the day, arriving at various points of the morning and sitting in the garden with my family and bridal party having our photos taken wondering how I'd got so lucky with the weather (my mum reckons it was deserved as she'd spent the night before with other members of the family on their hands and knees cleaning the church).

For the attire of my older bridesmaids, I chose pale pink Alfred Angelo strapless gowns that started at the knee and gradually draped down to the floor with silver shoes and a mixture of fuchsia pink gerberas and roses for their flowers. The little ones had matching flowers but ivory dresses with vintage beading and pink shoes; a bad choice for one of them who arrived at my parents' house and immediately fell over in a pile of mud as soon as she got outside to have her photo taken, all the time refusing to let go of the butterfly wand I'd given her to carry! My dress was a strapless ivory gown with vintage beading over the bodice and down the train bought from Pleser in Pontarddulais and my grandparents bought me the necklace and earrings to match. My veil had a scattering of crystals over it, which complimented my fabulous tiara. As for the shoes, I had 6 pairs! Ranging from pink Next shoes, to specially made intricate designer shoes, to my shocking pink Christian Louboutins; they are definitely a feature in my photos.

Our ceremony took place at St. David's church in Penllergaer and I was keen to include a welsh theme so our welcome and part of our vows were in Welsh. I walked, very nervously, down the ailse on the arm of my very proud step dad to a bridal march taken from A Midsummer's night's dream and hymns included Bread of Heaven and Let there be Peace on Earth. Readings were the traditional Corinthians, read by my mum, and an extract from Captain Corelli's Mandolin, read by a fellow teacher from my school. Other personal touches included a poem that I had written and extracts from 'Love Letters of Great Men' that were included on the order of service. After the service, my husband presented me with a Tiffany charm to add to a bracelet he had bought me and the photos capture my surprise fantastically. I was also touched to see other teachers, who were evening guests, had made the effort to travel from Swindon to see the ceremony.

From the church we ventured to Park Howard in Llanelli; considering what how bad the weather had been in the previous days, i never thought we'd get here, and from there we arrived at Stradey Park to be greeted with some much need pink champagne. The room had been closed to our guests and we were the first ones to see it- I was pleased with the pink chair covers, however was disappointed with the other services Balloon Occasion in Manselton promised but failed to provide.
The tables were in keeping my the English teacher in me and were named after female characters from Shakespeare. Guests names were on butterflies that perched on wine glasses, and wine charms adorned the bottom of them. They were also treated to home made chocolates and cookies.

Of all the decorations in the room, it was our cakes that everyone was impressed with. Reluctant to part with my big 5 tier feathery pink twinkly cake (yes it had lights on!) we agreed that we would have a slab of chocolate cake and a slab of fruit cake that would go straight in the kitchen. We had this, however, I was also greeted with a three tier chocolate cake decorated with maltesers. My step dad's niece had made the cakes and gave us a little something extra and it was simply awesome!

As my husband and I are big dance fans, we were honoured when the legendary trance DJ Big Al played the first hour and a half of our evening reception as our wedding gift. Our first dance was the unusual trance track Let the Light Shine in by Darren Tate and as the vocal kicked in, our first dance balloon exploded over us and as our photographer was there to capture it, we now have some great photos. Well aware that trance is not to everyone's taste, we also enlisted the help of Royale Casino to enetertain our guests with two casino tables that went down a storm. The evening progressed with lots of champagne and silly dancing, including the bridal party learning to do the how down from the little bridesmaids.

We truly had a magical fairytale day that exceeded all of my expectations, and now that we have returned from our honeymoon in Sri Lanka and Dubai, we remain in our bubble sitting amongst the many wedding cards trying to put away all of the presents!