Hi guys! Thanks so much for all your lovely comments! I had such a fun night, it really was fantastic.
I knew pretty early on that a traditional dress wasn't for me and was SO happy with this one. It was a bridesmaid dress which I had originally wanted in an emerald green based on a photo, but when the fabric swatches arrived it was shamrock green, and so not what I wanted, so I 'had' to go with my backup choice of the red. Obviously once the dress was made and I tried it on I was
smitten!
The day went to schedule about 5%, but that's ok. A couple of hiccups meant that we were 1.5 hours late finishing hair and makeup, leaving 20 minutes for the 1 hour photo session that we'd planned prior to the ceremony. And then it rained. and
rained. and
rained. so the time we did have to take photos was spent huddled under an umbrella outside the hotel, and some in a couple of what we hope were spots with cool backgrounds within the lobby. With about 30 other hotel guests looking on. We'll see how they turn out but considering out photographer was P1's sister-in-law, it won't be an issue to dress up again and do some supplementary ones in the area at some stage.
As expected, I cried the whole way down the aisle, for the first few minutes of the ceremony, and for about five minutes afterwards. I was quite surprised I didn't cry through the vows, though I did waver a bit!
The reception was just like I expected, full of great food I could barely eat (I developed some pretty serious anxiety the week prior mostly related to work but obviously partly wedding, so had been barely able to eat all week. I think on the night I had about 4 'pieces' of food where it was planned for everyone to be able to have at least 8 ) and yummy drinks I just didn't have the time to drink, a million conversations that I couldn't really invest much energy into before moving onto the next one, and a great playlist of music that I can remember hearing about 4 of the songs of (ping
samadhi - Be My Baby

), and it was 100% one of the most fun nights of my life
Kenickie - as samadhi said, my ring is a sapphire - I knew I didn't want a diamond and like others have mentioned, the guy who designed my ring basically told me for a ring you wear every day you're best to go for a diamond, sapphire or ruby, as these are the hardest that are least likely to be scratched, fracture etc.
seriously, if you don't want a diamond, don't get one (or let it be known you don't want one, if your proposal is likely to be a surprise) - if there is one thing i learned doing my wedding the way I did it's to take whatever bits of tradition you give a shit about, and throw the rest. I didn't want the white dress, never understood the point of flowers, wanted to spend the night before/morning of with my boy, and while (many) people raised their eyebrows at these things, doing it my way made me (us) happy, and isn't that the point?
GEG, I hope you had the best time last night, hope we get to see some piccies soon!