After a good few weeks, I have returned to the UK having got married and enjoyed a fabulous and unforgettable honeymoon in South East Asia. There are so many things to talk about so I’ll cover the actual wedding itself today. I can then report on the honeymoon in due course (probably by the end of the week).

To start with, I would like to thank everyone for their lovely emails and comments (there has been the occasional negative remark but I’m hoping they were only attempting to be humorous, emphasis on attempting). The day wouldn’t have been the same had it not been for all the effort friends and family put in, as well as the great company we kept throughout the day. I had been slightly nervous towards some of the events of the day (the actual ceremony, my post-meal speech and the much anticipated First Dance) but it all went better than we expected and couldn’t ask for any more.

(Quick note: I won’t go into immense detail of what happened during the day but there are certain elements I feel I need to cover.)

The Friday night before I had asked a few friends around for a couple of pints and pizza. I knew I would struggle to sleep if I had not consumed a couple of alcoholic beverages so I played it safe and stuck to a 4-pack of lager. It was cool to have the lads around and to just relax after all the running about we had been going through on the build up to the day. A couple of episodes of Friends and The Life of Brian kept us entertained and we all hit the sack about 11pm.

The next morning, my Best Man Graham and I got up and popped over to Sutton Coldfield to get our hairs done. Anyone who knows me should also know how vain I am, especially when it comes to my hair. It felt only right to offload some of the work and get the professionals in to sculpt a masterpiece for my Big Day. Stage 1 complete! We then head back, picked up a couple of sarnies on the way and chilled out back at home for half hour. I was eager to get over to Blakelands and couldn’t stand the sitting around so I led the convoy of 3 cars through Wednesbury and Dudley 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Little did I know until later, Lizzy was actually running really late and her dad (Fred) decided to take one of those famous “Dad Shortcuts”.

Everything was going to plan on my side so I’ll skip through the detail to the actual ceremony. I was starting to get slightly nervous while we were waiting around for family to be seated. The room which was licensed for the civil ceremony could only seat 35 and with 80 odd people holding all-day passes, it was slightly difficult organizing the crowds - I just left all the hard work to Aunty Deb and my usher Darren. They seemed to have most of it under control so I sat and relaxed (as much as physically possible when you’re about to get married).

We were privileged enough to have Darren and Jen perform “More Than Words” perfectly as my bride-to-be entered the room but I was struggling to keep myself composed. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in trying to keep tears held back and control the goose-bumps tickling down my back. Lizzy looked beautiful! I couldn’t believe the day had come and I was marrying the woman I have loved for the last five years. There was a slight hold up in the door entrance and I couldn’t actually see what the problem was. It turned out our Pageboy and Flower Girl weren’t too sure where to go but I thought it was Lizzy’s dress was too big to get through.

The ceremony seemed to go really quickly but the readings from Lizzy’s aunt Denise and my granny Bobby added that special touch to make the ceremony more personal. We both made little mistakes in our vows but nothing as embarrassing as Ross in Friends. I added something extra to my promises and Lizzy just went blank for a moment. Apart from that, it all went perfectly! I couldn’t have asked for any more.

The only problem we encountered with the day was the weather. We had heard a prediction a few months back that the 13th August was meant to be the hottest day of the year and we were to expect a heatwave. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a miserable rainy day so this did cause a few minor setbacks. The majority of the wedding photography had to be moved indoors but this wasn’t a problem as the venue was set in beautiful 17th-century buildings so it was just a case of shifting the crowds around to fit. Luckily, there was a moment of sunlight as we gathered for the line-up so we savoured the moment and managed to grab a full crowd photo from above.

The meal was gorgeous and thanks to my mum, everyone was treated to massive and interesting table decorations and favours. Many people commented how good the gifts were - the men got lucky coins with a lottery ticket each, the women got scented candles and the kids got cuddly toys with the first letter of their name sewn on. After the meal, Fred was introduced to start the speeches and I must say, he did a great job. Lizzy got the brunt of most the jokes but he did manage to slip in a few comments about me with my over-enthusiastic taste for sausages.

It was then time for my speech. I must admit, I never properly practised my speech out loud although I had scripted a moderately short version which I had gone through in my head several times. It started off alright but I started to forget parts halfway through. I decided on going adlib at this point and thankfully, it seemed to make the whole process much easier. I recommend it to anyone who has got wedding speeches up! I wasn’t entirely sure how it went to the viewer but everyone told me how good all the speeches were, mine included. Whether they were just humouring me I will never know…

Graham was then to follow suit with his Best Man speech. Now, Gra does come across as a very witty and confident bloke. We’ve known Graham for nearly 6 years and he has always been quite funny when we have been out so I was looking forward to some good ol’ traditional putdowns. He was fantastic! There was a great passage where he compared getting married to football and he also made note of the night me and Lizzy met. If I can get hold of his original draft, I’ll upload it to the website. (I will be looking into adding videos and photos of the day to the website soon so you may be treated to all the speeches in movie-form soon! I will update as and when.)

We finally got to have a moment to ourselves after the meal and take it all in. We popped up up to the Bridal suite to try and catch a breath and do “the married thing”.

It wasn’t long until we realised it was time to go back over to the main room for the evening reception and meet the second waive of people. It was mostly friends that joined us at this point so the majority of them were quite happy with a bar to prop up. It took a while for the party to start but it all got under way and we had our First Dance to Holding Back The Years by Simply Red about 9pm. The drink kept flowing (although I kept misplacing half pints) and the music continued into the night.

I must say that it was the most important day of my life and I am happy to say, quite easily, it was the best day of my life too! I look forward to a long and fun future with the new Mrs Jobling and I’m sure we will both be happy until our dying days.