Celebrating Marriage - Magically Imperfect by Nicky Wells

I've invited some authors to share the memories (and photos!) of their special days with us. 

Today it's Nicky Wells and her magically imperfect wedding day....

Nicky and Jon: A Magical Imperfect Wedding Day

I got married to Jon on April 12, 2003. My wedding day was the most magical, wonderful and blessed event of my life. Picture this. The sun was shining. There was blossom on the trees and the churchyard was covered with daffodils. I wore a wonderful gown made of silk and organza. I had a long veil set with tiny fake diamonds. The church was beautifully decorated with flowers and garlands. All our friends and family were assembled. My husband-to-be-looked resplendent in his morning suit and top hat.

The service went beautifully and without a hitch. A vintage car took us to the reception venue, and we were sipping champagne in the back and waving royally at pedestrians during the short, slow drive. The wedding breakfast was perfectly prepared, the speeches were terrific, and the evening entertainment had everyone dancing.

Sounds too good to be true? Sounds just a tad too sickeningly perfect? Well, fear not, for beneath all this magic was a string of tiny hiccups that flowed by us without making a ripple but that, in retrospect, could have been catastrophic each. The reason I’m telling you this? Well, for one, some of these hiccups were hilariously funny. And for another, I want you to know that no wedding is perfect. So here goes.

Disaster #1—Wednesday before W-Day (T-4 Days)

In order to gain beautifully smooth underarms and legs, I decided to use a hair removal cream. I cheerfully applied lashings of the cream according to the manufacturer’s instructions. However, I hadn’t even made it to the second leg when my arms were on fire. I rinsed the stuff off immediately but it was too late—I developed a massive reaction. Great. Just great.

I spent an hour lying in a cold bath with vinegar to take the edge of the reaction. Over the next three days, I applied every ointment known to woman to restore my skin to a semblance of normal. To make matters worse, the hair removal cream hadn’t worked before I reacted, so I had stubble to contend with as well. Awesome.

Lo and behold, by Saturday morning, I was just about okay. The only problem was that there was no way I could apply deodorant or perfume, and I didn’t want to be a smelly bride. So, my bridesmaid sprang to the rescue, and we did the whole historic (and hysterical) woman-walking-through-clouds-of perfume-without-actually-spraying-it-on-skin routine. Yes, we used nearly a whole bottle of the stuff but it worked. I didn’t react, and I smelled just fine.

Disaster #2—Friday night (T-12 hours)

My older brother arrived from Germany late on Friday evening; he was in charge of giving me away. In the preceding weeks, we had been going back and forth, telephonically, to get his shirt and trouser measurements so we could order him a morning suit and top hat. Now, my brother is really tall. He’s just over 2 metres in height (that’s about 6.6 feet). The lady in the dress hire shop had been incredulous at his measurements. When my brother tried on his suit that Friday night, the trousers were only just long enough—but wide enough around the waist to house two of him. Ha! It appeared that the shop assumed that people with really long legs also had really wide waists.

Needless to say, the shirt and jacket didn’t fare much better, and my brother was distraught. Enter the males of the Wells family! After all, there were three other men in morning suits of varying lengths and sizes. My soon-to-be-husband orchestrated a massive swap round of shirts, trousers and coats. In the end, nobody wore the items that had been ordered for him, but everybody had a suit that fit. And we took in the waistband and equipped my brother with braces to hold the trousers in place. Nobody ever knew what had gone in behind the scenes.

Disaster #3—Saturday Morning (T-6 hours)

At 7am, I received a call that the American contingent of my wedding guests was stuck at the airport in Dallas (or possibly Chicago). A connection had been missed, and there was no way they would be able to arrive in time. Tears all round, telegrams were sent, and things moved along as they had to, minus a few guests.

Disaster #4—Saturday Lunch Time (T-1 hour)

Whilst we were getting ready for church, the cake collapsed at the reception venue. We had a three tier chocolate cake, neither of us being a fan of the more traditional fruitcake, and the middle layer gave, releasing the supports for the top layer and sending the top rolling off the table and onto the floor. Or so we were told, later. Apparently, our toast master had all sorts of fits but managed to restore the cake to its former glory and, if he hadn’t told us, amidst much wringing of hands, we’d never have known. Did it matter? No. We were very lucky, though—the cake could have easily been wrecked.

Disaster #5—Sunday morning (T+19 hours)

Obviously we partied hard. Obviously we went to bed late. And when we arose in the bridal suite and got ready for breakfast, it transpired that the hotel didn’t make allowances for newlyweds. We had missed breakfast altogether. Blow!

So my loving husband checked us out and took me to the nearest café. As it happened, they served the most amazing cooked breakfasts and we met up with most of the wedding party there who also happened to have slept through breakfast. So we colonised the place and had a little impromptu after-party.

So there it is. Nothing is a disaster, really, as long as you get to say “I Will.” And here are some of the highlights that made the event truly magical despite the occasional small mishap.

~Saying “I will” to the man of my dreams in front of all my family and friends

~Having my friend Uli sing Schubert’s “Ave Maria” in the church during the signing of the register. I had neglected to tell people that Uli was a trained opera singer, and the church fell absolutely silent in stunned awe when she began to sing. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house!

~Wonderful food at the reception (although I didn’t manage to eat much)

~Having a fabulous if little known rock band act as our wedding band and entertainment—if you know how much I love rock music, you know how much that’ll have meant to me, plus both my husband and I happened to know the singer and drummer. I’m proud to report, without wanting to appear smug, that I have yet to attend a wedding with a better band!

~Being abducted by said band and reclaimed by my husband. A ‘bridal abduction’ is a tradition in Germany, and it is also tradition for the husband to go off and retrieve his bride, sometimes for a ransom. Well, we skipped the ransom part, but I had great fun ‘eloping’ from the venue and hunkering down in a nearby pub, waiting for my new husband to turn up and claim me as his own all over again.

~Glorious sunshine all the way through

~Flowers and balloons and lots of smiley, happy faces

And there you have it. A magical imperfect wedding, and I wouldn’t change a single thing!

About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!

Hi! I’m Nicky Wells, your ultimate rock chick author. Signed to US Publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing, I write Romance That Rocks Your World, featuring the rock star and the girl next door.

My books offer glitzy, glamorous contemporary romance with a rock theme ~ imagine Bridget Jones ROCKS Notting Hill! If you’ve ever had a crush on any kind of celebrity ~ rock, pop, movie or other ~ you’ll connect with my heroes and my leading ladies!

Like my first leading lady, Sophie, I love listening to rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters. When I’m not writing, I’m a wife, mother, occasional knitter, and regular contributor to The Midweek Drive show on Lincoln’s Siren 107.3 FM. Rock on!

My books: Sophie’s Turn | Sophie’s Run | Sophie’s Encore | Spirits of Christmas

Join me: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Romantic Novelists’ Association | Sapphire Star Publishing | Amazon | Goodreads | Pinterest

Did you know? There’s a single out now by ‘my’ rock band Tuscq come to life! “Love Me Better” is available for download from Amazon, iTunes and many other places.