The Ceremony

We married in my family church, deep in the Northern Irish countryside, which is also where my mum and dad married in 1977. It has close links to family who have attended there for several generations and I couldn’t have imagined getting married anywhere else. Our minister is a very liberal and modern Presbyterian (who knew there was such a thing!) and he made the service very special and relaxed for us.

We asked a neighbour, a very talented pianist, to play at our wedding. Choosing the music was a real labour of love and in the end we chose Canon in D Major by Pachelbel to be played during my entrance and Mendelssohn's Wedding March on our exit. During the service we sang As The Deer Pants For the Water and Love Divine, All Loves Excelling and the piano was beautiful for both these hymns. While we were off signing the wedding licence and church's register the congregation enjoyed Le Onde by Ludovico Einaudi, Loves Lifts Us Up Where We Belong and Moon River.

Mr M's two sisters read during the service which meant that every member of our two families was involved directly in the wedding in some way. One read Psalm 100 and the other a poem, The Meaning of Love (unknown).

I was absolutely delighted when our guests burst into spontaneous applause when we were pronounced husband and wife and had our first kiss as a married couple. I was so happy and turned around to look at the congregation and give a cheeky smile of thanks and the photographer caught the moment afterwards when everyone was laughing and smiling and these are some of my favourite photos of the day.

I didn't want to stop looking at Mr M and I wanted to soak up every moment of that ceremony, to try to imprint it on my mind so I would never forget how lovely it was to stand there with Mr M and promise to love each other forever.

The ceremony was my favourite part of the day and I felt so relaxed, happy and confident. I’d love to do that part all over again.

(photos courtesy of Angel Photography)