The Big Day

A very important event occurred on Saturday 7th June.

My beloved, Seán (The Dionysian) and I, who have been together for 10 years or so, finally got round to getting married.

We had a legal ceremony at the local Registry Office, followed by a Pagan Handfasting in Burrs Country Park with a party afterwards at the Brown Cow.

We had a lovely day, starting off with me, my daughter and my best pal (and maid of honour) all going to House of Raja to put on our sarees. They'd offered to help us get ready as they wanted us to look our best in the sarees we'd bought from them, and we did indeed look fabulous. I'll be posting photos soon on Flickr, MySpace and Facebook, so keep an eye out.

The Civil Ceremony was elegant and simple, and didn't take long at all, the next couple were hovering outside having photos taken as we were being shooed out the door! I heard from the registrar that I was the third bride in a sari that day!

We then had a few hours to get something to eat before heading out again to Burrs to set up the gazebo as a chuppah/canopy for the Handfasting and sort out the room we'd booked at the Brown Cow.

We'd decided previously that our celebrant, my bridesmaids and I would wait at the canpoy, and Seán would lead the procession of guests from the carpark to the location we'd chosen for the ceremony - in a quiet spot near the river. We heard the approaching music - we had our friend Laurette playing fiddle to lead the guests in. It was lovely, a beautiful ceremony with vows we'd written and appropriate poems we'd chosen - and rings that I'd designed. See earlier post - I'm a Designer for details.

The party afterwards was brilliant, if a bit hot until a key had been found to open up the windows. The food everyone brought was great and the cake was just perfect.

I'd like to say a few special thank yous to various people

Firstly to Michelle (Screechowl) our celebrant and friend for conducting the ceremony
To Cath, for being my best friend, maid of honour and the one who started it all off by introducing me to Seán all those years ago
Next, to Morag Rose (The Mysterious LRM) with love and sparkles for a gorgeous pink and glittery cake
Then to Womble (Womble's Rants) for being our most excellent photographer
And to Daniel (The Astral Pilgrim) for being Seán's brilliant Best Man
And to Reena and the ladies of House of Raja (Fletcher Street, Bolton) for making sure we looked amazing
And to Trev, Cath's boyfriend, for driving us all to Bolton and back to the Registry Office. We got there before the groom!
And to Anne Rowson (RA Designer Jewellery in Manchester's Craft Village) for bringing my vision to life in the most perfect wedding rings
And Laurette for leading the procession so well with the Captain Pugwash theme tune!
And finally, to all our guests, family and friends who were there to share our special day, and those who weren't able to join us but sent us their best wishes.

Thank you all, you made our day!