Saturday June 22nd 2024....... the day the reality of being a Mum hit home!
Sounds bizarre but being a Mum has never really made sense, like what is the purpose of being a Mum, what is the plan, the journey. To what end is it for, to be a Mum?
Let me tell you, the day your first born daughter gets married, then it all makes sense.
A lot of people say they see their life flash before them when they experience a near death experience, but for me, it was the day Emmi got married. In particular the moment it was when just Emmi, myself and the photographer were in the bedroom, waiting for the reveal to the bridesmaids.
Every special moment from, giving birth, the time we brought her home, the first Christmas, her christening, the time she cried when a boy smacked her in playgroup, the first cup of tea she had when we were watching her dad play football and it was freezing, wearing her pink and blue beanie hat. The first day at Primary school, school nativity plays, her first day at secondary school. The day she told me she was 'talking' to this lad called Harry, the time we went to the family planning clinic when she had the implant inserted, to the time we went to visit the wedding venue. It all flashed before my eyes.
I sobbed
ALOT.
Not a pretty sight on the video or the photography album! Make up ruined. The emotion was just too much.
Emmi looked stunning. She had been planning this day since she was 14, when her and Harry had gone past the 'talking' stage and were finally 'official'
Buying the dress.......
We had shared a number of wedding dress shopping trips, the day she found 'the one' she really wasn't optimistic. We had caught the train to Bristol and followed google maps to the wed2be shop. In the middle of an extremely dated shopping precinct in the middle of the city centre. We were met by this young girl, no make up and quite a plain Jane. She seemed friendly and polite enough. She took us through to the waiting area, where we witnessed 3 other brides to be find their one, so I was hopefully it would soon be us. The young girl came through and invited us to a booth with the platform and sparkly clean mirror. 'What have you tried on so far?' she asked, the list was endless, of varying styles, material, shape and patterns. So the young girl set about mounting up her arms with dresses from the rails, 3 to begin with, all of which received a 'eerrrmmmm, not sure' response. With that, the assistant was like, 'ok, I am going to throw in a wild card here, as nothing seems to be working'.
Emmi and I were open minded and agreed to try something different. With that, the sales assistant came back with 2 satin dresses, very plain in design, Emmi took one look and responded with ' not keen, but we will give it a go!' She tried the first one on..... her face gleamed, shining with radiance. 'I didnt want to like it, but I actually quite like it.' Her eyes sparkled and her smile widened. 'I really like it!' With that the sales assistant said, 'ok, try the other one on, just to see how you feel.' Within seconds of trying the other one one Emmi exclaimed 'I want to put the other one back on' With that 'the one' was quickly put back on, a veil added to complete the look and voila, my bank balance was significantly lower and my daughter rich with the love of the perfect wedding dress.
A fitting moment........
The dress needed altering and my amazing Godmothers daughter - Deb was on hand to assist. As fate would have it, the final fitting occurred when Deb was having work at her house done, so she suggested meeting at my Godmothers bungalow which was empty and waiting to be sold. Again a moment that built the emotion, i felt the presence of my Godmother watching over us, felt her touch us almost like a feather. I think we all felt something that day, just the three of us.
The Big Day......
The day itself was meticulously planned, Emmi had list after list, spreadsheet about spreadsheets. Every minute detail for the day was covered. Ice cream and prosecco. Photo booth to saxophonist. Garden games to a selfie mirror. Emmi (and Harry) had thought of it all. Of course the dream wedding venue of Clearwell Castle was the perfect setting. Their fantastic wedding coordinator Hannah could not do enough for us all, she truly was magnificent. Particularly her professionalism when dealing with the grooms brother who would not leave the disco room at 1am!
It really was the wedding of my dreams that I never had the money to do! I am in awe of how organised Emmi was, how she brought her vision to life is a true testament to the incredible young woman she has become.
For all of the ups and downs I have put her through I could not of been prouder than I was on that day.
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