We didn’t have long after the meal until it was time to go to the castle cellar for our evening do. I don’t think anyone knew what a relief it was when I clicked the file on the laptop and the music began, after all the hassle I’d had! We had three first dances; the first was to ‘Shania Twain – You’re Still the One’ which is a song we used to listen to a lot when we first started going out together 12 years earlier. Next was a song that hardly anyone else had ever heard as it was by the winner of Australian Idol, ‘Damien Leith – Night of My Life’ and finally ‘Chuck Berry – You Never Can Tell’ from Pulp Fiction to lighten the mood.

The evening seemed to fly by in a fantastic whirl of music, dancing and talking - before we knew it, it was time for the last dances. Nearly everyone was on the dance floor dancing to ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’ from Dirty Dancing, it was such a great sight to see. Finally, Green Day finished off the evening with ‘Time of Your Life’, a special song to us both.

A perfect day which we will treasure forever.

The cake was just wonderful and exactly what we wanted; the bottom layer had Sydney Harbour Bridge (where we got engaged) and the Opera House with Andy and I in our wedding attire sat on the edge (she even replicated my dress!), the middle layer had Andy and I sunbathing on a beach (which we love to do) and the top layer had Andy in his Liverpool kit with his arm round me and Ben laying at the side with a football. The cake was also decorated with flags and animals and our initials were all around the edges.

The meal was absolutely gorgeous, I think everyone enjoyed it, and finally we were the bride and groom and got served first! Dad didn’t enjoy his as much I don’t think as he was terrified about his pending speech. He needn’t have worried though, he was great and I think he complimented me at some point J ! Andy was next and had spent ages working on his speech, he did a fantastic speech and then read a poem out that he had written which was funny and beautiful at the same time, I was so impressed. Our two best men competed for the comedy awards, both Gary and Andy’s speeches were excellent and so funny there are loads of photographs of me howling with laughter and being totally un-composed!

We elected to only have a few formal photographs and then sipped champagne and chatted to our guests outside in the sun. Andy and I went for a walk in the castle grounds with the photographer and he took some lovely shots by the lake. We then played a bit of croquet on the lawn which was fun!

Mum left to go downstairs to the ceremony room, and before long dad arrived to walk me down the stairs. Dad and I walked down the winding staircase, I was hanging on to him for dear life praying I wouldn’t tumble straight down and spend the day in hospital (which wouldn’t be surprising). I had to ask for a glass of water before we walked down the aisle as my mouth was so dry. We then stood in our positions outside the room as the string quartet started slowly playing Pachelbel’s Canon. The bridesmaids set off down the aisle. A lump in my throat started rising and I whispered to dad that I was going to cry, he told me I’d be alright, and off we went, this was it, the biggest moment of my life…

I had my make-up done last and then it was time to get into my beautiful dress, it was the second dress I ever tried on and I didn’t stop thinking about it afterwards until I bought it. I was so very happy with it and still now I absolutely love it. The zip went up thankfully and there I was, princess for the day surrounded by two beautiful bridesmaids and a stunning mother!

We were a bit late getting back to the castle so it was frantic trying to pack up the cottage and move stuff upstairs into the Bridal Suite in the castle. The men were moving into the cottage so we had to get out quickly before they arrived and my luck was ruined for the day! The photographer and make-up artist were waiting for us there in the Bridal Suite – so far so good.
The photographer took loads of informal shots while we were getting our make-up done and getting changed into our dresses. We had lots of nibbles that were left over from the night before and were scoffing mini scotch eggs and pork pies while we were getting ready – how completely Yorkshire of us! It was at this stage that I became a complete wreck, I was pacing the room and my heart was pounding, the make-up lady had to tell me to breathe! It was exciting though watching people arriving from our window and just all being together drinking champagne and getting made up.

Our hair appointments were in a village nearby, fortunately I had found a place on the internet and booked in there from Australia not having a clue what it was like (as for most of the other things I booked)! It was a great salon and I was so pleased with my hair, it was exactly what I was after. Caroline and Kate’s hair looked fantastic too with some fresh flowers we had ordered from a local florist. Mum had her hair done really differently and a fascinator put in - she looked great! I was anxiously looking out of the window at the weather as it was a bit cloudy when we set off. While I was sat waiting though, a ray of sun shone through the window, hurrah!

THE BIG DAY

It’s such a weird feeling when it’s your actual wedding day because you have been planning, thinking and talking about that day for so long that it has almost become a fantasy date that will never arrive. When it did arrive I started thinking and worrying about the most ridiculous things, like getting a scratch on my arm, a rash or waking up with a spot (I felt my face the instant I woke up to check!), even the bath I had on my wedding day felt really important because I would get married after being cleaned by it!!

In the morning I looked out of our window at the Keeper’s Cottage on the castle grounds and saw the fresh vegetable delivery waiting outside the back doors of the castle. It was strange looking at that knowing it was for my wedding!

WEDDING NIGHTMARES

The general stresses of getting married are bad enough to deal with anyway, but I had some additional ‘challenges’ (it has taken me 6 months of therapy to call them that!) to deal with in the few days leading up to the wedding:

1. Death of a Laptop

On the Monday evening before our wedding that Thursday, I decided to add a couple of photos from my Hen Do in Paris to a photograph presentation I had been working on to show at the wedding during the evening. I had scanned loads of old photographs from mum and dad’s wedding, Andy and my childhood and then images from the last 12 years that we had been going out together. I tried to include everyone who was at the wedding as well as people who couldn’t be present.
I switched the laptop on and didn’t bother plugging it in as I knew I’d only be 15 minutes or so. I added the photos to the end of the presentation and then messed about for about 10 minutes trying to put years on when the low battery warning popped up. I scrambled for the power lead and then it happened… I didn’t realise it at that exact moment, but the next two days were going to be a nightmare. The screen went blue and from that moment the laptop never regained consciousness. I even laughed and said to mum, “Ha, the laptop has just died on me, how bad would that be if it had broken?!”. All the wedding evening do music was on there which I had painstakingly mixed for days using some special mixing software, as well as the photographs I had spent so long preparing – aside of course from the fact that the laptop had every photograph I had ever taken in the digital era and every mp3 I owned was there too. Yes, I should have had it backed up, but that’s one of those things that you never desperately need until it’s too late, I’ve learnt my lesson! I convinced myself that the battery had just gone totally flat and it would be fine later. That night it tried to switch on but gave up halfway – still I remained optimistic and told myself I hadn’t charged it for long enough.
The next morning when I stared at a black screen and some almost flickering lights the realisation of the tragedy struck me. I was due in Hull on the Tuesday morning for a ‘relaxing facial’ and between fits of hysteria managed to phone an IT company and arrange to bring it in for them to look at that day. I think I lay at the beauty place in a complete daze, and then raced to the IT place to see what my fate was. At first they thought the hard drive was corrupted, which caused me to nearly explode. Eventually they managed to retrieve the hard drive and put it in a little box with a USB connection. The little box, an empty useless shell of a laptop and a stressed bride-to-be travelled back home.
To cut a very long and very traumatic story short…Caroline and Ricky very kindly lent us their laptops and by 10pm the night before the wedding (oh yes) I had got them both working correctly ready for the next day.

Grandma, Sarah, Julia, Christine,Kate, Mum and a very stressed bride-to-be after just resolving laptop 'issues'

2. And the Bride’s father wore PINK

My dad commented about the yellow colouring of the waistcoats and cravats being a bit ‘feminine’, but he isn’t overly adventurous with colours so we just laughed and said he would look fine.
Mum, Kate, Caroline and I were travelling down to Gloucestershire (3 hours) the day before as we had to pick the cake up and had appointments on the Wednesday afternoon. Dad was to pick up his suit from the hire shop and travel later that day.
By the most amazingly fortunate stroke of luck, just as we were leaving my grandmas house to drive down my dad pulled in there. I jumped out of the car to say goodbye and he said that he couldn’t believe he was wearing pink to the wedding. Thinking he was still meaning that the colour was feminine, I laughed and said it’s not pink, it’s yellow and it’ll look fine. He pulled the waistcoat out of the suit bag and said, “It’s pink”, and indeed it was. If it wasn’t for us seeing him then I would have been walking down the aisle with dad wearing a suit intended for a man half his size and double his weight and a pink waistcoat and cravat.

3. My advice to any bride-to-be: Don’t pluck your eyebrows the night before the wedding after a stressful day and three champagnes

End result = half an eyebrow, an even more distressed bride-to-be and a make-up artist drawing me an eyebrow extension on the biggest day of my life.

Aaaaaarrghhhhhhhhhh!!!

Needless to say, none of us were looking our best later that morning when we met in the hotel foyer. Mum and Janice had had the bonus of a strange man walking into their room through the adjoining door during the night – fortunately mum and Janice sitting up in bed scared him back out mumbling apologies!
I can’t remember much of the journey back home, but I’m sure there were a few more queues involved. We had definitely used up every ounce of energy during the weekend, I had a fantastic time and it was certainly a Hen Do to remember. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the following dwarves for organising and sharing my Parisian Disney Hen Weekend with me and making it as special as it was:- Happy (Mum), Sleepy (Janice), Grumpy (Sarah), Bashful (Kate), Dopey (Caroline) and Sneezy (Anna-Marie).

After about an hour of waiting, we ate at Planet Hollywood in the Disney Village. We had lots of great food, wine and conversation and stayed in there until quite late. We moved on to a bar and witnessed the oddest spectacle I have ever seen in a bar – the whole dance area was filled with line-dancers moving in unison! After a couple of wines of course a few of us joined in, I think they thought I was a professional I was that good. After attempting to converse with the locals, “Je suis getting married on Jeudi” it was time to move on to the nightclub. It was a busy club but we managed to find some seats for mum and Janice to keep base while the rest of us kept alternating between them, the dance floor and the bar. We had one of the best nights ever, such a laugh! The club began to quieten a little a bit later on and we drank and danced more… oblivious to the fact that the club was emptying around us. Eventually the lights came on and the cleaner came onto the dance floor (OK not the last bit), and we had to make a move. We staggered to the bus stop and only then did we realise it was actually 5am!!

We returned to the hotel in good time and decided that we would head off for food and drinks as soon as we could to make sure the evening was one to remember. I jumped in the shower after laying my outfit for the night on the bed. I returned from the bathroom to find that my outfit had been replaced with a complete Minnie Mouse outfit!! It was fantastic, Caroline had got hold of a nose, white gloves, a red and white polka dot mini-skirt and pumps - me innocently purchasing the mouse ears that day completed the outfit perfectly!

I was so nervous walking out of our bedroom with Caroline; I scarpered into the lift to go down to the reception area of the hotel. The lift doors opened and there were people everywhere, including the rest of the hens (complete with pink mouse ears) laughing at me as I walked towards them! It was so funny, everyone was looking at me trying to work out what was going on and the little girls were pointing at me - very envious that I was Minnie Mouse!

It wouldn’t have been right if we didn’t have to queue to get into Disney, however there are limits to everyone’s patience, even us English who love a good queue. An hour and a half later I was gutted as we were so late getting into the park, it just didn’t seem fair! On the plus side, we managed to have some good chats while we waited.

We had a stroke of luck the moment we got into the park – Sully from Monster’s Inc. came lumbering out of a doorway where we were stood! He whisked Kate off and danced with her and then we all got to hug him! Things were looking up at last.

I bought myself some Minnie Mouse ears to get into the party mood and off we went looking for rides with an expected wait time of less than 27 hours… It was so busy that only one ride we went on that day had a wait time of less than an hour. You don’t have to be a maths expert to work out that we were not going to go on many rides that day. I can’t lie that I was really disappointed, more for everyone else as I felt we had come all this way for no reward.

Lack of rides aside though, it was a really good day, the atmosphere at Disney parks is just magical and you can’t help but get swept away with it all and be as excited as the children about spotting Minnie and singing along to the Disney tunes!

We all had a good laugh and the rides we went on were good fun. We even got Janice on a ride that set off at G-Force, I had to keep checking she was alright!

Anna-Marie was so tired that Sarah had to feed her pizza

It was a challenging journey to our hotel, a few long train rides and then, at last, Mickey Mouse ears appeared and the lights and fantasy world of Disney Land Paris (I still remember when it was ‘EuroDisney’) emerged. Our hotel was an absolute bargain, it wasn’t luxury but it was everything you needed for a weekend at Disney at a very good price. I must admit I struggled to get ready for our evening meal as I was shattered! It was a very poor hen night performance from me and the hens that night as we were all exhausted and we knew we had an early start for Disney the next day… but we vowed to make up for it the next night (and we didn’t let ourselves down)!

From the Moulin Rouge we had a steep climb up to the beautiful Sacre Couer and were rewarded by some amazing views across Paris.

Next stop was the Eiffel Tower as I thought it would be pretty cool to do this on my hen do – and it was quite literally cool, to be honest it was freezing, and very busy. Sarah didn’t fancy the height and curled up on a park bench and watched us disappear into the tower. Queue is all we did on this weekend, and the Eiffel Tower was no exception. We queued about an hour to get into the tower, about an hour to get up to the top and another hour to get back down – aarrghh!

However, the views were amazing, we got some great photographs and it was such a good feeling to be stood at the top of the tower. At one stage we feared we may not get down before dark so we were all relieved when we finally got down and stepped onto solid ground. Sarah had been thrown 37 Euros in spare change whilst waiting on her bench.

After an uneventful flight (as you like them to be) we arrived at the mayhem and madness of Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport. There must be people wondering around that place whose flight landed years ago - the signage is that bad. We combined all our strengths to fathom where to get the train into Paris from, but once we got there things turned from bad to worse. The place was full of people queuing for tickets at machines and booths, we had to queue to find out which queue we needed to be in! We were all trying to stay positive, but it was beginning to look like we’d never get out of the airport. Finally we got on a train only to realise we had boarded the slowest train in Europe. Just as we were all going to bite each other’s heads off, we got to Montemarte home of the Moulin Rouge. We all stood and had our photograph taken in front of the famous red windmill with our Hen t-shirts on – the weekend had finally commenced!

On Friday 11 May at ridiculous-o’clock in the morning the Disney Bus full of me and my Hens hurtled (quite literally) in the rain to East Midlands Airport.
After the obligatory laugh at each other’s passport photos, we loaded our tightly packed cases onto the conveyor (noting whose bag was the heaviest) and queued up at security. As is becoming the norm nowadays it was a full jackets and shoes off and clear plastic bag carrying liquids check. At this point my sister Kate (who was at the front of us all) started to look very nervous and whispered something to my mum… I began to think my hen do was going to end right there with my younger sister getting convicted in a major drugs and weapons bust. I waited for the alarms to go off as she walked through the detectors in her pink t-shirt with ‘Bashful’ on the back. Relieved that security seemed satisfied, I went through myself and collected my bag, I smiled at Caroline who walked through with her pink t-shirt on. Mum then came through smiling with her … pink t-shirt on… wait a bloomin’ minute – I double-checked Caroline’s top and saw ‘Helen’s Hens, Paris 2007’ on the front!! Everyone duly unveiled their tops, they each had the name of a dwarf on the back (apart from Doc as no-one wanted that!) they weren’t going to show me until later but the security check had put a stop to that plan – I then got presented with ‘Snow White’, so I put it on in the toilets to fit in with the dwarves!

We met up with Andy, Amy, Lidia and Milly (and the ducks) that evening and had a beautiful meal courtesy of Restaurant Strelczenie. It was great to meet Milly for the first time, she was a big bump last time we saw her!

Amanda, Andrew and baby Adam

Uncle Barry, Aunty Anne, Great Aunty Ethel, Aunty Doreen, Uncle Bob, Denise and Cousin Steven

On Bank Holiday Monday we went to Wetherby with mum, Stuart, Kate and Matthew to see our relatives there. Aunty Anne and Uncle Barry had prepared a buffet fit for a king with all the things we’d been missing in Australia: pork pies, sausage rolls, scotch eggs, quiche and loads of other tempting things! We got to see cousin Andrew and Amanda’s brand new baby boy Adam who is very adorable. It was lovely to see everyone again, and we do think that we actually all see each other more now we live in Australia!

That evening all our family went to an Indian restaurant in York and had a five-course meal there – mmm!

At this stage I began to seriously worry whether my wedding dress would actually fasten in a week’s time…

The moment I touched down from Liverpool it was a quick change and then straight to a Hounds football final in York where Andy was playing his third football match since we had got back! It was a big change from watching the sun-drenched ‘soccer’ matches back in Oz whilst sat in my fold-out chair with sun cream on…I was dithering in my big puffy jacket and scarf! At first I found it incredible that every man and his dog bring their chairs along with them to every game, standing at the side of a pitch is unheard of! The pitches were also a bit worse for wear compared to over here, they won’t even play here if there’s a cloud in the sky so there’s no sliding about on a muddy pitch. Unfortunately the Hounds didn’t win, but it was good to see everyone (who I used to spend every weekend with for the last 10 years) again.
After the game Andy, my brother Stuart and I met up with his girlfriend Michelle for drinks and food in York It was great to go to Oscars – the kick start of many a good night out. We then worked our way down from Varsity, Bar 38 which isn’t Bar 38 anymore, Casa which isn’t Casa anymore and then to Yates – which has always been Yates! Later on Andy and I got the fun bus back to Selby to meet the football boys out in t’Londsborough. It was a really good laugh and weird seeing everyone there just as though we’d never left.

The next day was proclaimed a day of pure indulgent shopping in Liverpool. We managed to shop until our feet hurt and we were drained of energy (even after me trying a shot of wheat grass – bleurgh)! We managed to find some great outfits (with that night in mind) and got a taxi back to the hotel. At this point whilst merrily taking my new top out of the carrier bag ready for the evening, I noticed to my dismay that they had left the security tag on… how totally annoying. I phoned the shop to find out that I had half an hour to get there before they closed, otherwise I was going out looking like I’d nicked the top I was wearing! The shop assistant helpfully suggested that a strong magnet may do the trick, but alas, I had forgotten to pack one of those. Two taxi fares later and the situation was eventually resolved – quite worrying for the shop in question why not one security alarm went off though…
We dined at Baby Cream that evening, yet another divine culinary treat as we watched the glamorous elite of Liverpool socialise below us. We thought it would be rude not to try every bar at Albert Dock, and then went back to an old favourite of ours – The Living Room in the city centre. Unfortunately we just couldn’t locate the place where everyone disappeared to at midnight and ended up in a nightclub where we walked in and doubled the numbers. In hindsight this was probably a good thing when considering the next morning’s hangover. It was such a great weekend and we shopped, ate, drank and chatted to excess.

We stayed at the Travel Inn at the Albert Dock in Liverpool – right next to the Beatles museum. Albert Dock is a very modern and happening place with tourist attractions along with trendy bars and nightclubs. We had booked to see Chicago at 5pm that evening followed by a meal at Japanese restaurant extraordinaire Sapporo Teppanyaki. It nearly all began in tears as we assumed that a taxi would be easy to get at the taxi rank next to the hotel. As we all know assumption is very dangerous and we ended up running to the main road and flagging one down, we got to the theatre and arrived as the band struck up the introduction, had to be shown to our seats by torchlight and sat catching our breath while the show began. It was the third time I had seen the show and it is just as fantastic every time - although the ladies with their 24-pack of walkers sat behind us rustling their way through every flavour throughout the show did upset me.
Clutching my map of Liverpool we made our way to where we thought there may be some bars. We found a few and had a couple of drinks before heading off to the Teppanyaki restaurant. If you are reading this and are ever going to Liverpool then you just have to book in for a meal here, it is an eating experience! When you arrive for your sitting (they only have so many sittings per night and everyone arrives at that time) you get put on a large table with a heap of strangers (unless you have 11 friends with you). This may make some people nervous but you really don’t have to socialise if you don’t want as you are all sat around the cooking area. The orders are all taken and then almost everything is prepared in front of you by an entertainer of a chef, cue fire blazing, pots flying, knives brandished and food being tossed around the grills. The food was wonderful and it was a really fun evening at the restaurant. I can see that you may get fed up of the entertainment if you ate there regularly but for special occasions it is ideal.

On Thursday 3rd May it was time to get my hair cut at last… after an entire year of neglect! I went to a hair salon in Cottingham which was fabulous and they did a great head massage! Feeling like a million dollars I got a free taxi (thanks Mike!) to Hessle where I met up with my SITS partner in crime Caroline. It was almost 2 years since I had left and the employee turnover has been immense, to the point where I hardly knew anyone! I managed to catch up with some old-timers though and it was great to see everyone again in the purple palace.
That evening Caroline and I dined at the most amazing Chinese restaurant ever in Hull called Yinjibar. We had one of the best meals I had had for a long time, including the best sushi and seaweed. We went for drinks afterwards and then I stayed at Caroline’s house in preparation for our mini-hen weekend in Liverpool.

On the morning of the 1st May Andy and I set off down to Gloucestershire to go and view the place where we were to be married in 2.5 weeks – Clearwell Castle, and hope it wasn’t in ruins! It was breathtaking as we drove through the portcullis into the castle grounds and saw it there with our own eyes. No matter how many pictures of it I had stared at, to see it there was just amazing, and I truly could not believe that in a few weeks it would be ours for the day! We had a chat there with our wedding planner, Sharon who was really helpful and finalised a few details. We then got to look around the whole place on our own and take pictures. It was so exciting, we went in every single one of the 15 bedrooms, walked down the huge aisle in the room where we would get married, had a look in the cellars where our night do would take place and then wandered around the immaculately kept grounds. We felt really happy after seeing the castle and our impending marriage finally felt very close!

From the castle to the cake we travelled, Magda the cake lady lives in Malvern so we drove up to see her to discuss the final design for the wedding cake. Magda made Andy and Amy’s wedding cake which inspired us so we already knew how good she was. She was really creative and between us we came up with a great design for the cake which would be very personal and special to us.