Wedding Day - Part 1 (from the Groom)

I wake up at 6:15am. That wasn't in the plan ... breakfast doesn't start until 9am and I was hoping to avoid as much anxious pottering as possible.

I guessed this would happen and am actually surprised that I'd managed to sleep much at all. Usually before something big I'd have lain awake all night with my mind racing, but the night before had been so exhausting that I actually slept very well.

Frances is already awake and grinning at me like a Cheshire cat.

Rather than being stressful, this actually ends up being one of my favourite times of the day. It is too early for us to do anything, and there is gorgeous sunshine streaming in through the window; so we use the opportunity to make ourselves a cup of tea and sit eating Hobnobs in bed, waiting for the madness to begin. Two team-mates preparing for the big game.

The sun did come out - look!

Breakfast, when we do descend, smells wonderful. I am definitely in the category of people who, when presented with a buffet for breakfast, suddenly loses all sense of proportion and embarks on a multi-course feast that would shame a medieval banquet. But indulging can wait for tomorrow - the nerves are starting to kick in now. Especially as people start arriving I feel that I need to keep myself occupied with tasks.

Fanhams Hall have provided us with a room for me to get changed in, which is where I escape to - stopping only to quickly set up all of the candles and lanterns that we have brought that somewhere along the way had skipped my mind. We're far too organised otherwise, so I've really got a lot of time to kill - which I do by getting dressed early and then doing a crossword with Colin and my ushers that my parents thought to provide (excellent idea!). The first two answers I got were "fools rush in" and "runaway" ... I kid you not!

When we run out of things to distract me with, we head to the hotel reception to await the florist who arrives to deliver buttonhole flowers. As we get there the phone rings - it's the photographer. My heart sinks ... he should have been here half-an-hour ago. He must be calling me to say he is stuck in traffic - or maybe something bigger has gone wrong. Panic! "Hello?" "Hi, it's Ross here. We're taking some great shots of the bridesmaids up here. We were thinking of heading down and taking a few of the ushers - is now good?". Phew.

Groom, Best Man and two of the ushers

Groom and Best Man

The photographer brings tidings of a calm and happy room upstairs from the bridal suite; and the DJ wanders over from where he is unloading his van to wish me luck. It's time to head to the church already - where did the time go?! As we start to drive off I see the car that we have arranged to take Frances to the church turn up exactly on cue. The last piece of the puzzle has just fallen into place. For the first time since we started all of this I know that everything is going to work; so I sit back and enjoy the ride.

The Bride's chariot awaits