Part one of my wedding blog series looked at the lead-up to our big day, including the pandemic, postponement and rebooking. Part two covered the first half of the day itself, including getting ready, the first look and the wedding ceremony itself.
In this third and final part, I’m sharing memories and photos from the post-ceremony photos and wedding reception.
Confetti on the steps
We said a quick goodbye to our Zoom guests, as the time on the recording was quickly running out…
One of the weird things was that, due to the social distancing, we weren’t immediately surrounded by people giving us hugs and congratulating us. Everyone had to stay back a little.
And next up was our formal photos, starting with the confetti toss…
…and then some mask photos to really lean into the pandemic wedding vibe.
Part way through, I realised that my lipstick had gotten hopelessly smeared!
But my top-up was in my Dad’s car, and I didn’t even know where he’d parked! I asked if anyone else had red lipstick on them, and my mum did, so that’s how I ended up getting my “something borrowed”.
(The rest were: old, a necklace made by my mum incorporating some beads from my prom necklace; new, my dress; blue, a TARDIS charm on my bouquet, which until then had been functioning as something borrowed as well – the Doctor did always mean to return it, honest!).
My mum handed me the lippy and I applied it hastily, and then looked around to see everyone staring at me. Katherine had rushed to grab my mirror (which was in my handbag), but I hadn’t seen the need to wait for it. Apparently everyone was stunned, and even more so when it turned out I’d done it perfectly and didn’t even need that mirror!
Then follow lots and lots of photos…
Couple photos
After we’d done every combination of family that we wanted to, it was time for Tim and I to sneak off with our photographers for a couple shoot. We headed to nearby Millennium Square.
Cars going past were honking so much that I legit thought there had been an accident, until Tim told me it was because I was in a wedding dress!
We bid our photographers farewell. Jaye and Matt were fantastic from start to finish. As documentary photographers, they excelled in getting the candid photos from when we were laughing and talking, and they also did us a great job with the more formal posed shots. And they also created a video of our day, which you can watch here:
Then we headed back to meet best man Rob, who had waited to transport us to the reception venue. He greeted us in style, with glasses of champagne for us to enjoy in the back seat as he chauffeured us out to Otley.
The reception
The journey whizzed by, and we arrived at Otley Golf Club perfectly on time. Our guests made it there before us (with one addition, Rob’s wife Natasha), and we arrived to see four tables set out for our socially distanced reception.
It was kind of like having a wedding with just top table. Although we were spaced out, we were close enough to have conversations between tables, but it was also really nice just being able to speak to Tim throughout the afternoon tea.
And what an afternoon tea! We’d met with the caterer one week prior, and decided to stick with the afternoon tea idea that we’d decided on when we thought we were doing it at Tim’s parents. There were mounts of sandwiches, two generous scones apiece, and a selection of mini (though not that mini) desserts on top.
Plus, of course, freely flowing prosecco.
Gifts, dancing and speeches
Tim and I both took the opportunity to say a few words, and honestly I cannot remember a word of what either of us said.
We opened a few gifts from friends and family. We mostly asked for contributions to the honeymoon (pencilled in for next September) but it was lovely to have a few mementos from the day itself. There were lots of tasty things and bottles of champagne – we’ve still got some champagne left, but the tasty treats are long gone!
And although dancing isn’t strictly allowed at weddings at the moment, we did take a quick moment to show off some of the moves we had been practicing for our first dance. We’d been taking lessons in preparation for our big do, and hopefully we’ll be able to pick some of that back up nearer the time!
The shoe game
After the meal, we decided to play a game that we saw at a wedding tasting evening we went to. The bride and groom sit back-to-back, each holding one of their own shoes and one of their partners. The guests shout out questions for the couple, e.g. “who is tidier?”, and the couple lift the shoe representing their answer.
It was hilarious.
There were obvious answers like “who is the most competitive?” (me) and “who eats the most chocolate?” (Tim).
There were ones that elicited an awwwh when we both chose the other, like “who is the most romantic?”. And the one that we’re still fighting about: “who’s better at megagaming?”.
And of course, the most tense question of the afternoon: “who has the craziest family?” – to which we both held up our own shoe. Probably the most diplomatic option answer.
But probably the funniest one was Tim’s dad asking “who most wanted to have the wedding at the golf club?” to which I shot back “I don’t have one of your shoes, Ian!”. Just making a good impression on my in-laws…
Coming to a close
As the sun set, we headed outside to get a few more photos.
And with that, our magical day drew to a close. Everyone took away a Brown & Blond brownie (another nod to our original plans, as we were planning on having them rather than a traditional cake).
And Rob chauffeured us back into Leeds city centre for our wedding night at Malmaison Leeds in the Surrealism suite. It was really fun walking into the hotel in a wedding dress and knowing that everyone around us knew we’d just gotten married!
Even Riptide chimed in with an Instagram message of a bunch of carnations and “your happiness is our primary concern” – we’d chosen carnations for a key part of my bouquet because I have such fond memories of them from their immersive game The Lucky Ones.
And the next morning was the first day of the rest of our lives as husband and wife – and we played an escape room, of course!
