We tied the knot!

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(This delayed entry comes after a hectic few weeks of tying up loose ends and setting off on our travels!)

So we tied the knot at Colchester registry office on Friday 7 September 2007!...

It was a lovely day - just a few friends and family joined us at the registry office for the brief ceremony. We went from there for a lovely meal at The Bakehouse in Wivenhoe followed by a 'Back to Bob's' where we were joined by some more friendly faces from Wivenhoe. Then we headed for Brightlingsea to stay in the yurt and make final preparations on Saturday morning for the main event - The Wedding Celebration party!...

Saturday 8 September was all we had hoped for and more...

The day took place at Colin Kirby Green's field in Brightlingsea which looks down over the estuary. We hired a marquee and put up the yurt which were adorned with metres of fantastic bunting made by Sue, decorations bought in Cologne from carnival decor shops and gorgeous locally grown flowers. Jon and Chris were on site to lug stuff about - particularly all the amazing geraniums that were grown by our firiends, and Harriet did what seemed like hours and hours of grass raking to make the field look beautiful. Richard was marvellous as he co-ordinated the day leaving us free to not worry about a thing!

Wivenhoe friends provided delicious canapes for the arrival of our family and friends; the Pimms and fruit punch flowed and African drum sounds were provided by the fantastic Drumzkool. Our ceremony under the trees conducted by the marvellous Matt was beautifully romantic, the readings by Sally and Hannah were really heartfelt, tears were shed and laughter was heard!

Cool jazz sounds provided by Chris Allard and friends were the perfect companion as Lisa's bar opened, people hung out, kids played, bounced on the bouncy castle, had their faces painted by Jane and Sonia and watched Hannah and Charlotte stilt walking. The speeches followed which included my Dad getting everyone in the marquee to sing! More tears and laughter during both of our speeches and an awesome best mans speech from Sarah Dean delivered on camera - filmed by Gelardi and Toby and with a cast of the best of Wivenhoe and even Tara and Ben in NZ!

Next was dinner - succulent pork provided by a local butcher, tasty salads, bread then fruit salad; this was accompanied by open mic which included John Chamberlain, CJ, Elle, Jenny, blues from Jay, a poem from Hannah, the ballard of Bob and Sarah by Rob and the best of Wivenhoe singing 'Ladeee in Red!' Drumzkool returned and this time I got to join in! We also played outside as an accompaniment to Charlottes fire poi show which went down a storm!

Back in the marquee the decks were on fire, the dancefloor hardly ever seemed empty, hats, boas, maracas and bells added to the entertainment and a good time was had by all! Toby even managed to create a human pyramid on the dancefloor! The evening buffet was a cheese stack which was stunningly decorated by Kay for display during the day then served with biscuits and pickles for evening snacking. The fireworks by Matt at 11pm were a brilliant end to a fabulous day and after this people slowly started to make their way home or to the Brightlingsea camp site where the party continued down on the beach!

We were over the moon with how our celebrations went, the time and effort made by our family and friends was a massive part of what made our day so very special and we realised just how lucky we are to have such incredible people in our lives, we will miss everyone heaps whilst we are travelling on our extended honeymoon but the memories of 8 September will always bring a smile!

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