After 7.5 years together and 15 months of planning, Gerard and I are now married! The day itself was amaaaazing; I'd been a bit nervous beforehand because I felt like there was a lot of pressure (both social and self-inflicted) for it to be the most special day of my life but I needn't have worried because it genuinely was the best day ever. I had thought a lot about what the day would be like in the weeks running up to it but weirdly one thing I hadn't considered was that I'd know everyone that was there. A bit naïve perhaps since I'd spent a lot of time with the guest list but the instant overwhelming emotion as I walked into the church was down to the smiling faces of all our friends and family and a few tears had already snuck out before I even clocked Gerard! He tipped me over the edge of course and I was very glad I wasn't required to speak right away… So grateful to everyone for making such an effort to come out to the middle of nowhere to celebrate with us!

The day preceding the wedding on the other hand was definitely not my favourite… Hours before the Pieterses and the Hardings were introduced for the first time ever (in itself a pretty big deal and worthy of a bit of stress), and for that matter mere hours before our actual wedding, we had a call from our DJ to tell us that he'd been offered a chance to be a contestant on Catchphrase the next day and that he was sure we understood that this was far more important than us having music at our wedding. Thankfully our venue came to the rescue and found us a new (and, in our opinion, infinitely better) DJ and the dancefloor was packed all night long - he even managed to dig out a few of our Dutch requests And at least the Catchphrase story will make for a decent ice-breaker in the future - much more amusing than illness or traffic.

Aside from that, it was a very smooth ride. We made it to the church on time, we ate, we drank, we were merry. And someone somewhere must have been smiling on us because we had a 24-hour respite from the pouring rain that had been falling in the days running up to the wedding (and resumed the day after) which meant we were able to get some STUNNING photos in the forest. For those who are interested, you can find the preview photos from our photographers here: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.570842446307967.1073741834.122413311150885&type=1

(If anyone else has any photos of the wedding we'd be very grateful if you'd share them with us - via Dropbox, email, Facebook…whatever's easiest. Thanks!)

I could go on all day (and I am most days at the moment with poor Gerard forced into the role of captive audience), it was such an incredible day - I wouldn't have changed a thing except for it to have lasted longer. So grateful to the ma's and pa's on both sides and the bridesmaids, best man and groomsmen for making everything so enjoyable for us. Big love!

[Photo: One of the preview pics from our photographers - can't wait to see the rest!]