My Son's Wedding - What a Wonderful Day!

Never have I cried so much, laughed so hard, danced so madly or felt so proud. So many emotions. So much love. So much fun. Such a wonderful day. Surrounded by most of my favourite people in the world.

My brave, amazing son defeated the odds to be on his feet at his wedding. His strength and determination allowing him to stand, to declare his love for his beautiful bride in front of family and friends,  just three weeks after major surgery to remove the cancer that had turned all of our lives upside down. Supported by a crutch and with support from his wife to be, Joe said his vows and married his soulmate, his rock and his first love Jade.

With my gorgeous grandson Ted stealing the show, and with my five beautiful children making me the proudest I have ever been, this wedding gave us all a chance to celebrate something joyous together. After so many months of uncertainty, we were able to simply focus on the positives. Something we all very much needed. 

Joe and Jade have become the new Mr and Mrs McDonald. I hope that they are going to enjoy the title and their married life as much as Ian and I have over the years. With all they have been through together already, I know their relationship is solid and their love for each other is strong.

The security, the companionship, the love, the support, the feeling of being a part of something greater than the sum of its parts - a good, strong, happy marriage is truly a blessing.  I wish my son and my new daughter-in-law a long, healthy and happy life together.

On my 18th Wedding Anniversary - 18 Things I Love About You

• I love you for giving me so many good things in my life. My wonderful children and a home filled with love, laughter, music and fun. And for the relationship we share.
• I love you for making me want to be the best version of myself that I can be. You really do make me a better person. I only found myself through looking through your eyes.
• I love you for the way you make me feel. You make me feel beautiful, valued and cherished. When I'm in your arms I feel young again. 
• I love that you know you don't have to buy me expensive gifts or lavish me with material things. You know that I value a homemade card more than a designer handbag, or a day spent together more than any amount of fancy jewellery.
• I love that we are a team, facing every challenge together with our family's best interests at heart. In that we are unswerving.
• I love that even after 18 years I still miss you when we are apart and treasure the time we spend together. We like the same things so spending time together is just so easy.
• I love that our relationship is built on solid foundations of friendship, similar values and absolute trust. You truly are my soul mate. We have no secrets. 
• I love that we have overcome obstacles and struggles, but have stuck together throughout everything, emerging stronger and more united. 
• I love you because you are a wonderful human being. You are a hands on dad who puts me and the kids first. You cook, you do housework, you do DIY. You are loving, giving, caring and affectionate. You are the kindest, most thoughtful person I know. You are literally the most amazing human being I have ever met.
• I love you because I know that life without you would only be half a life. You complete me.
• I love that you are an excellent role model for my sons, and an example to my daughters of how a man should be. Through you they know unconditional love, a calm, reasoned approach  and total respect.
• I love that I am still massively physically attracted to you. You tick all my boxes. And you indulge me when I tell you about my latest cougar crush on a Hemsworth brother. We can laugh together and cry together.
• I love you because you never give up on me. You hold your hands up when you have done something wrong, and never judge me for my mistakes. 
• I love the way your beard is turning grey and the fact that you have laughter lines around your eyes and that you need glasses for reading. The passing of time reminds me of how long you have been a part of my life and that we are indeed growing old together, which is something you always promised me.
• I love that I am proud to be your wife and to share your name. I am honoured to be a part of this marriage that we have shared for 18 years.
• I love you, because even though you have seen me at my very worst, your love has never wavered. I can't believe how lucky I am to have a man like you loving me in the way that you do. I would do anything you asked of me without question, as I know you would for me.
• I love you because you support everything I do, giving me the courage and the confidence to be myself.
• I love you because I know you...everything about you...and there is nothing I'd want to change. I can't imagine being with anyone else. I can't imagine what I would have become without you. Yet you think you are the lucky one.

A marriage carved in stone - Happy 59th anniversary Mum and Dad

My dad was the handsome Coldstream Guard who swept my beautiful mum off her feet when they met on a night out in Windsor.  Love blossomed  and 59 years ago on Christmas Eve 1955, they got married.

My parents have shared fifty nine years together as man and wife.  As with all marriages, there have been some bad times as well as some devastating experiences to contend with, but any heartache endured has only served to make them stronger as a couple.

Now, in their eighties, my parents are a shining example of the sanctity of marriage.  Their love for each other is just so obvious as they openly show their affection for each other. My dad said he would marry my mum again tomorrow and he genuinely means it.  They are the sweetest, most wonderful people and I am so proud to call them my parents.

The longevity of their marriage is the benchmark towards which I compare my own marriage, and I hope that in the future Ian and I still love each other as much my parents do.  They make me believe that relationships can and do work and that they are worth investing in.  Their example has made me see that love is the most wonderful and selfless gift that we can give to one another.  If everyone was as happy together as my mum and dad are, the world would be a much happier place!

Happy 59th Anniversary to my wonderful parents.  I love you so very much.

Occasion Smurfs from Schleich

Ever since the release of the Smurfs movie, the little blue fellas have proved quite a hit with my kids.  The prospect of the second movie this year will only add to their love of all things Smurf.  So when I received a collection of Smurf figures from Schleich, the children were very happy!

The collection includes: Valentine's Day Smurf; Sorry Smurf; Happy Birthday Smurf; Bride & Groom Smurf; Baby Smurf; Thank You Smurf; Get Well Soon Smurf and Party Smurfette.

Each cute little character is posed with an accessory befitting the occasion they represent.  The fun Party Smurfette comes in her own cocktail glass, Valentine's Day Smurf is holding a big love heart shaped box of chocolates behind his back and Happy Birthday Cake has a cupcake with a candle and a party hat.  The attention to detail, from the expressions on their face to their posture is perfect to convey their special messages.

These Smurfs would make a great alternative to a card for a special occasion, or could be used as a cake topper.  The Bride and Groom Smurf would look very smart sat on top of a cake celebrating the wedding of two Smurf fans!  Baby Smurf in his nappy and with a dummy in his mouth is a lovely memento to celebrate a baby being born and makes a cute little keepsake.

As with all Schleich's ranges, the Smurfs are well made, hand painted with exceptional detail and are well designed, bringing each character to life.  They would make a great collection for Smurf fans or will stand alone as a small gift for a special occasion.

The Smurfs are available from Amazon with prices starting from £3.39

Fifteen Years Ago Today

I've Been Married For 15 Years!

Fifteen years ago today I married my best friend, my soul mate and the love of my life.  We had a registrar's office ceremony followed by a reception in a lovely local hotel. 

 We did it all our way.  I wore DMs.  Our decor was burgundy, black and cream.  The children shared the top table with us.  Megan was just six and had a broken arm in a cast.  She held up a drawing of us that she had done (thankfully completed before breaking her arm!).  My niece sang "Beauty and the Beast".  Our son Joe, at age 9, was Ian's best man and delivered a moving best man's speech.  Ella was just a year old and a very cute little bridesmaid.  She shared the bridal suite four poster bed with us on our wedding night.   Attachment parenting trumps romance in our household!  We even went on honeymoon to the Alton Towers Hotel ...with the kids in tow!!

Newly Wed

When We Were Still A Family Of Five

Fifteen years on, I love Ian more than ever and we've added two more gorgeous children to our family. Whatever life throws at us, we always have each other.  I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Next month we will be having a second honeymoon at the Gilpin Hotel in the Lake District which I won in a competition.  The prize includes all the five star luxuries that we could never afford for ourselves...five course meal with matched wines, spa access, afternoon tea and Full English breakfast.  We're staying in an amazing suite overlooking a lake.  It will be our first kid-free break in years...I'm so nervous, but very excited!

 Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!

Our Song

I love a good romantic story and think that the power of a song to bring back wonderful memories is simply magical. Just listening to the opening notes of a special song evokes those feelings and emotions that have shaped our lives.

Ian and I have been married for fifteen years this May.  I have written about our love story and even now, all these years and five children later, I still adore the man who is my best friend and soul mate.  I am so blessed.

The song that we call Our Song is the song that was played as our first wedding dance, Alanis Morissette's "Head Over Feet."  

The lyrics of 'Head Over Feet' are just perfect and describe our relationship perfectly.  Ian waited for years for the time to be right for our friendship to turn to romance.  He never lost faith in the fact that we would  eventually be together forever:  He waited for me...for us.

"You are the bearer of unconditional things

You held your breath and the door for me

Thanks for your patience.

You're the best listener that I've ever met

You're my best friend

Best friend with benefits

What took me so long?"

Our First Dance

I still love this song and I love that I did eventually fall 'Head Over Feet' for my childhood sweetheart Ian.

It's Never Too Late

I have spent the last 15 years complaining that my husband has never proposed to me.  Our decision to get married came from me suggesting that we probably should do it as we had just added our daughter Ella to our family and I wanted us all to have the same surname.  Not a very romantic way to start married life!

Ian is a truly wonderful man, but no matter how many hints and nudges I gave him, he never really understood the disappointment that had seeded deep inside me and ate away at me over the years.  Anniversary after anniversary came and went and my desire to have my husband before me on bended knee presenting me with a ring got stronger and stronger.  My lack of proposal became a 'thing' between us!  The more I wanted it, the more scared Ian became of doing it.  The elephant in the room taunted me as my ring finger felt more and more naked with each passing year.

Before I was with Ian, I had been engaged three times.  I was a serial fiancee, but not with the man I really, truly loved.  My only memories of engagements were tainted by the fact they involved the wrong man.  I needed to put this right to complete my love story.  Everytime an engagement was portrayed on TV, I felt like I had missed out on the most magical moment of a girl's life.  Poor Ian really got numerous ear bashings as I'd say "Do you remember when you asked me to marry you?  Oh no, of course you don't, because you never even asked me!!!"  When the kids asked about the story of me and Ian getting together there was a big part missing...where was the romance???

Poor Ian.  If only he'd whipped out an H.Samuel's box 15 years ago our life would have been perfect.  Ian is my soul mate, the man I will spend every day of the rest of my life with.  He has completed me and given me everything I've ever wanted.  Except for this one thing.  And he has simply not been able to rectify it.  It made me so frustrated!!!!

Then, this year, Christmas Day 2011, my husband made it all right.

Ian started to play his guitar.  I recognised the opening bars of the song he had written for me some years ago when I complained that there wasn't any love songs ever written with my name in it.  "Hey Wendy!" totally fixed that and gave me my very own song.  Suddenly my three daughters jumped up in front of the Christmas tree.  As Ian played and sang my song, my girls did a brilliant synchronised dance routine that had me laughing and crying in equal amounts.  Suddenly, Ian leapt up and got down in front of me on one knee, doing the one thing I'd been waiting for since 1996!  Inside a gold ring box was a beautiful white gold engagement ring with a cluster of seven diamonds...one for each member of our family.  It looked great with my eternity ring and the sentiment was just perfect.  I couldn't have picked a nicer ring for myself...he knows me so well.

This was the best present ever!  The missing piece of the puzzle of our life together.  I am now Ian's Fiancee Wife!  Who says you have to do things in order...we throw convention to the wind!  It was a beautiful moment witnessed by all my family including my parents who loved every moment of it.  They knew how much it meant to me and were as overjoyed as if it had happened when we first got together all those years ago.

What an amazing Christmas I have had this year!  I hope everyone else have had their dreams come true too.

Listography...5 Things I'd Change About My Wedding

This week, with the upcoming Royal nuptials imminent, Kate has got us thinking back to our own weddings.  We have been challenged to come up with five things we would like to change about our own "perfect day"!

Casting my mind back 14 years to May 16th 1997, I recall my wedding day with a mixture of emotions!  I was finally tying the knot with my Mr.Right.  Our 9 year old son Joe was best man and 6 year old Megan was the maid of honour.  Ella was a year old and was my cute, little bridesmaid alongside my nieces.

It sounds idyllic, but unfortunately Megan had broken her arm the week before in a flower picking related injury (don't ask!), and Ella had the onset of chicken pox and slept throughout the service instead of displaying her new found walking skills by toddling in with me clutching the bride teddy bear we had bought her for the occasion!   However, we were not to be perturbed.  Our ceremony was in a register's office followed by a reception at a local hotel.  We had flouted all the official advice given to us by the Master of Ceremonies and had a relaxed and informal reception with a top table full of kids who all gave speeches, held up artwork, sang or delivered a prayer.  We had a black, burgundy and cream colour scheme.  It was very "us" and was brilliant!

But there are things I would love to change!

1: My Outfit

I chose my outfit to reflect me and my personality. The see through black lace skirt and high heeled DM's were really cool, but in hindsight I wish I'd had an amazing dress and girl shoes.  You only have one wedding (hopefully!) and it's an excuse to go all out with something extravagant and exquisite...I missed my opportunity.

2: My Alcohol Consumption

In my pre-tee-total days, I could knock back the booze!  Red wine at lunch, Budweiser by the bucketful and copious dark rum and diet cokes took their toll.  I was completely as drunk as a skunk which resulted in various consequences:

• I thought that filling my handbag up with Dim Sun from the evening buffet was a sensible idea.  I was saving it for later...but a load of squashed chinese dumplings mixed in with my make-up, house keys, purse and camera was not my best plan!
• I snogged by best friend's boyfriend ( another inappropriate alcohol related snogging incident that my husband had to remove me from.  Seriously, the man is a saint for putting up with my drunken misadventures!)  In my defence he was a bit of a man tart.
• I was virtually paralytic by the end of the evening and so dehydrated that I was crawling around the floor and trying to drink a bottle of mouthwash in the hotel honeymoon suite.
• I was way too ill to even contemplate the complimentary breakfast the next morning.
• The alcohol poisoning made me ill for the first week of my marriage.

3: My Photo Venue

We had some photos taken in a park behind the register's office.  It looked OK but there was a bunch of drunkards with cans of Special Brew heckling us and an assortment of used condoms littered about the stone wall.  Classy!! 

4: Ian's Hair Do

I adore Ian but in hindsight, a pony tail and ear-ring combo is not the best look for a man in a suit.  I loved his long hair at the time, but I have to say, I think he looks much better now he wears it short!

5: My Guest List

You try and do the right thing by everyone at a wedding and I invited a bunch of people who I didn't really want there and who obviously did not really care about my wedding.  I ended up having to change table settings because certain people were not happy about where they were put, and they refused to socialise with anybody else.  When I think of how much money was spent per head on guests who didn't enter into the spirit of my day, I could spit nails!  Due to the costs and restriction on numbers at the Register's Office, I had to not invite some good friends to the service in favour of others who didn't even speak to me during the day.  

I would be less bitter if any of them had reciprocated my generosity and invited me to their subsequent weddings!  If I could do it all again I would not be a slave to wedding politics and would instead have invited people that I wanted to surround myself with, who would have enriched my day.