This week, in anticipation of the Royal Wedding, we have been asking you about your favourite wedding moments. We really enjoyed reading them! Surprises, supporting each other and meaningful speeches definitely make happy wedding memories!
Surprises
Many of your favourite wedding memories involved something unexpected.
'The best thing about a wedding I’ve been to was a dance performance the bride and groom put together with a playlist of their favourite songs. It was so cute!’ posted @naturebynadi
Hannah 'went to a wedding a couple of years ago, in a beautiful castle ruin in Tenby. What we didn't know was that he and his partner had actually secretly eloped in Hawaii the year before, kept it a complete secret from everyone, even their parents!! After the ceremony, we were taken to a room in the castle for champagne and canapes, and they had canvases hung up on the walls of their secret beach wedding.'
And what about when a celebrity photo-bombs your wedding?
Tom Hanks took a pause from his run to take a selfie with this bride and groom in Central Park recently, much to their astonishment!
Kaz’s bridesmaid suffers from ME and was in a wheelchair. But unbeknownst to Kaz, she 'spent lots of time resting before my wedding so she could walk with us up the aisle just in front of me as a complete surprise!! She was amazing and everyone was crying before the wedding even started!’
Food:
Let’s be honest, mass-catered food can be a bit hit and miss, however @nhwed0419 has a best wedding memory about food. ‘Each wedding I have been to has had something unique that made it really stand out, in particular the food during cocktail hour at one wedding was INSANE! I have never seen such a more exquisite buffet with so many options IN MY LIFE!’
In my own experience, nobody does a wedding feast quite like the French and the Italians. The weddings of my aunt in France and my friend in Italy hold many wonderful memories for me - which certainly include the food! Exquisite canapes, groaning buffet tables and six courses dinners are the closest I will ever get to feasting like royalty!
Being there for each other and with each other
Playing a part in someone’s big day is a memory treasured for life - and being a bridesmaid, a flower girl or a pageboy was a best wedding memory for several of you.
@jooliet78 loved being involved in wedding preparations: ‘my favourite wedding was a week long event on the beautiful Welsh coast, staying with the bride and groom and being immersed in the preparations and celebrations #happymemories’
A wedding that’s stretched out over a longer period gives friends and family a precious opportunity to relax and spend time together. For her favourite wedding moment, @lovelettersbyanalisa picked ‘the day after our wedding! We had a mini concert in which any of our guests who could sing or play an instrument took part, whilst topping up the alcohol levels and eating pizza in the Tuscan sunshine’.
Beth says, 'My favourite memory is laughing: at my friend Ellie's wedding one of our friends was showing off and busting some moves on the dancefloor and he ripped his trousers all the way down the buttocks seam. We had to patch him up with hair pins’. That is friendship for you!
And Juliet’s best wedding memory was of her whole family - and especially her dad - being there for her sister: 'After a boiling hot week-long adventure in a camper van with baby Joshua in tow, we arrived at the beautiful Tuscan villa in time to nip into my bridesmaid dress and watch my Dad (who had flown directly from Africa and after a battle with severe mental health issues) lead my sister proudly if a bit slowly down the aisle’.
The intimacy
@lasarahspeaks, planning her wedding, says a feeling of intimacy is what she is most looking forward to. And it was finding a very public moment unexpectedly intimate that really stood out for Nicola M: 'The best part of my wedding was the first dance. I was dreading it. My husband hates dancing, we've never really had a song so agonised over what to play, I do not like people looking at me and being the centre of attention but then when the moment arrived it was lovely. We hadn't had 2 second to ourselves all day without feeling like we were on show and then when we were dancing no-one wanted to speak to us or hug us or anything. It was just so relaxing’.
Speeches
There’s nothing like a heartfelt wedding speech to stir emotions. Becky says: 'my cousin got married a good few years ago in London. I remember the speech my uncle gave - he got very emotional and started to cry and at the end he had a very emotional group hug with his 2 sons. I was crying by the end. I love wedding speeches - they always make me well up.’
Many of my own favourite wedding speeches are those made by the bride. I love it when a bride stands up and speaks for herself on her wedding day, which is apparently what Meghan Markle is planning to do on Saturday!
At our own wedding, we decided to do away with traditional speeches. We wanted to give anyone to the chance to say something and after sitting through too many weddings where guests had taken bets on the length of speeches, we gave every table two minutes to say whatever they liked. There was an air of anticipation and a little uncertainty, as no one quite knew what to expect. As the very first table took their turn, my friend’s husband stood up and started telling a risqué joke. My majestic Great Aunty Beryl was seated next to him and I had no idea how this was going to go. Just as he reached the moment to deliver his punch-line, the gong sounded - his two minutes was up. Everyone roared with laughter, we gave him a time-extension and luckily his hilarious joke was enjoyed as much by Aunty Beryl as everyone else. The room completely relaxed, as it was clear anything would go. We heard from my dad, my mum, my father in law, my aunt, my husband’s uncle, brother and sister, our cousins and our very dear friends. We were sung to, mimed to and Great Aunty Betty, well into her nineties and only recently widowed, stood up to share the secrets of a long and happy marriage, advising us never to let the sun go down on an argument. There was so much love and laughter in the room and it felt like we were all in it together. That was definitely one of my own wedding best bits!
Families coming together
Finally, we picked a random winner from everyone who shared their favourite wedding memories - and the winner was @sammielynne who is about to be married. ‘My favourite part so far has been seeing both my Fiancé’s as well as my family become one large family!!! Such an amazing feeling!’
Congratulations @sammielynne - the Georgiana earrings are on their way to you. And we hope you and your growing families have a wonderful, memory-filled wedding day!
