When you were my bride, you were the person I couldn't stop staring at all day long.
Hi
C: Hello
Welcome to our very special wedding video.
I'm too excited, I can't make words.
Words are hard right now. C:Seems like ages ago.
C: I was like, well it's over six weeks ago. Life is back to normal now
Well, it was so different.
People are like 'how's married life?' 'what's it like being married?' The same. C I've only been asked that twice.
'How's married life', I was expecting to be asked that all the time.
How's married life? What's it like being married?
The same!
Well, apparently it's quite hectic, because we also have another family member So it's quite a bit of a madhouse really.
So, wedding, if you're getting married, maybe get married in the city in which you live C Yes, definitely.
C I don't want to go back to Bristol anytime soon.
So, I was brought up in Bristol. The places there have a lot of sentimental meaning for me,
and I really wanted to get married there.
C: Yeah we got married in a really beautiful venue
Which also was significant to you, it wasn't just like a nice country house.
You lived on the grounds of this country house when you were younger.
And also, what was nice was that this country house was like, derelict with squatters in it when you were little.
and yet you you were like 'I want to get married in that
We actually got married in a quaker meeting house
So we had a quaker wedding.
The friendship Quaker meeting house, which is absolutely beautiful, wood panelled and gorgeous.
And you're not allowed to take photographs, when a Quaker meeting is in progress
So we don't actually have any photos of it in progress
C We have a lovely drawing which was done from life.
Which is allowed, because apparently drawing doesn't take you out of the meeting, it just involves you further, apparently.
Whereas, taking a photo, because you're through a lens, you're like distancing yourself.
And it also means that people can look at that photograph afterwards, and then that kind of brings them into the meeting, even though they weren't there.
whereas, a drawing, you're only ever seeing someone else's representation.
Yeah, it's just like an impression of it.
Catherine Faulkner, who is an amazing artist, you should all go and look at her work. Check out her website, it's in the biog
and her Instagram which is amazing.
C Yeah, it was a really nice day, and and everyone stood up and said things which were really touching.
I didn't think I would cry, well actually I did think I would cry I didn't cry like, waah
I was just like silent, that's how I cry, like silent tears. You were silent crying as well actually, at the wedding.
You weren't going 'wwahhh' like you normally do. J: Not my normal.
No not your normal like distort your face into some hideous like crying ogre.
I still love you
Her little chin goes...
J: I cry like a child
But, I was really annoyed and upset that it wasn't sunny, because every day up until the wedding had been
sunshine and low twenties, then on the day of the wedding it just chucked it down literally all day.
We didn't even get to have a single photo were we were not undercover.
We have some lovely photos, like under the walkway, hiding in a doorway.
They do say though, that if it rains on your wedding day, it's good luck.
Now, when there's a rainy day, I'll be like, 'ahhh it's like our wedding day'
And then we had bunting, and tea and cake and people had made like J and C cupcakes
although we never actually saw them because we were signing our many many registers
which apparently had to be handwritten from scratch
So we missed quite a lot of our wedding
They always say that at your own wedding, you miss quite a lot of it.
We completely missed..
Which is why you have to have a photographer, to capture the things you don't ever see.
Thank goodness. We actually had two photographers, to make sure that we didn't miss anything.
They were excellent. I wish we could like, go to our wedding again, but as a guest.
You know, not in that narcissistic way, that I just want to watch myself get married, but I kinda do.
J: I kinda do.
I want to see me in my dress
And all those things that you put so much time and effort into, all the beautiful decorations, you just don't see them.
Well, you do, but you kind of, oh good it's like how I planned it, rather than like 'oh wow
It was bloody beautiful
It was.
Jessica and I planned what we wanted, but we did have help from lovely Elizabeth Wong.
Yeah, she doesn't plan your wedding, she's like the wedding aesthetics.
Get help from Liz Wong who makes weddings look beautiful. There we go.
Yeah, it was really helpful, especially because we don't actually live in Bristol.
So, she sourced a lot of the things we needed. And you know, we didn't have to go in the day before and set it all up.
And also, on the morning, when we were getting ready, I was busy with all my bridesmaids.
We had the photographer to take photos of that part, and then when Jessica made an album for our wedding
We got to, well it wasn't until page twenty eight of like a ninety page book that I appeared.
Well, to be fair, there aren't photos of you in the morning because you didn't want a photographer.
No, because I was just like, I don't want to look at pictures of myself
doing my hair, putting my dress on
it's not particularly interesting.
Then we went to Kings Weston House
I changed my dress
Yes, unnecessarily so
No, two dresses
Well, it think the first one was really nice anyway.
Thank you
I don't think you needed the second one.
I didn't change my dress. I just took the time to drink some Champagne
while she changed
And then we made our grand entrance, coming down this beautiful floating staircase with all our bridesmaids.
Because not everyone at the wedding had been at the ceremony.
So we wanted to sort of do a kind of like 'tadaa, here we are'
Then we mingled
And it was really nice, and we had our photos taken
And just spoke to all these people, but it... At a wedding, you only speak to people for ten seconds
I don't know, I think I spoke to everyone for a decent amount of time that was polite.
Although, then you get the occasional people who are like 'when is the food being served?'
It's like 'Oh God...'
Yeah, it's like amazing day, amazing day, amazing day, amazing day to well, I don't know
We ran fifteen minutes late with the service of the food because they forgot to get bread. They were so accomodating
I think they like literally went for a quick dash to Aldi down the road
To get these ciabatta rolls that we had requested.
I can't do a Bristolian accent but they came up and were like
OMG, don't ask me, no
Ooh I can't ... no that's not it.
You haven't got any bread my lover
No No No
No, shame
To your credit, you are deaf
Thank you. I don't get enough credit for that, to be honest
It's quite hard to work out an accent just from lip reading isn't it?
It bloody is
I could actually hear as a child, so..
C: Oh yes
But, yeah pfft deafness makes it hard.
Then we sat down, we had the wonderful meal
Ah, it was so good, everyone commented on it
C: I specifically wanted a hog roast because that's what i want and I made it clear that I wanted not just pork loins in the oven for crackling
I wanted a whole pig on a spit
Although I never actually saw this hog because it was chucking it down with rain.
It was outside
I saw it through the window C: I never saw it, why didn't you show it to me?
Then we had loads of different sides so people could have a traditional roast
with gravy and roast potatoes
Or they could have like Jerk pork
Yeah with spicy various things
bits of salad
Or they could have slightly more Greek with Tzaziki
I think we were doing quite well on planning the wedding because we divided up what do you actually care about
And I was like, the thing about what makes a good wedding to me is good food and lots of booze
so I was like fine, food and booze your area.
Yeah, what was yours?
The important things to me were obviously coming together before God and having massive bloody party
and having two dresses
Yeah. And two dresses
I loved your dress by the way.
Thank you.
It was so funny because we thought, we kind of like OMG what kind of a dress would Claudia wear?
And the two of us talked about this a lot. C: Yeah all of my friends were like I can't imagine your wedding dress
What kind of a wedding dress are you going to wear
And I went to White Leaf Bridal in Brighton
It's really good there, she designs her own dresses, she takes you straight to the dressing room and just starts putting things on you
and like pinning things and changing it and you're like errr I don't reall like sleeves like that
Oh okay, and then she'll like change them. So that was quite the best way for me to get a dress because I didn't have to choose it myself
And the great thing is you never have to imagine it, it's never like oh can take this top of this dress and the bottom of this dress and put them together
I didn't have the best shopping experience when I bought my first dress
my second dress was actually quite a last minute addition
But it was just because I wanted a dress that was fancier
I bought the first dress with my mother
It's really kind of classic and elegant and modest but I wanted something that was also a bit more ... pow party
Yeah and then after the food we had all the speeches
Yeah, during which my father was quite drunk
Everyone was like Derek never prepares a speech
He's a really great public speaker - that's what all your cousins were saying,
He's a really good public speaker, he just does it off the cuff, oh yeah, then my dad did a speech, which was basically my cv
But I had a few laughs, which was good
Your sister did your kind of Best Man speech, which was beautiful C: yeah, that was good
and everyone cried at the end
Then Jonas and Emily did their speech, which was basically Jessica is determined, don't get in her way.
Anyway, they had these amazing pavlovas for desert, which I really wish I had appreciated more but I was quite drunk by that point
People were coming up and they were like 'this is happening now'
Yeah, I was halfway through my pavlova then I got an announcement from Emily at the door saying the brides are now cutting their cake
I was like, am I?
I was like wait, I am a bride
And then we had to do our first dance
Had to, it was such a chore
how terrible
Yeah, they're called the Scarletons which is maybe why she had decided to wear a red sort of lke catsuit
It was cool
They were also from Cardiff and I don't think they are really known for being the most fashionable people
Not that i know anyone from
Cardiff
Well, I don't think that Welsh people are really known for their fashion
OMG Shut up.
Sorry, so rude. I thought they just live in the valleys and
Do your welsh accent Hoffeecoffee
Cardiff Cardiff
You look like you could be welsh.
Because I have ginger hair?
I'm very pale and have ginger hair. Clearly Welsh
So that's your Welsh accent? Cardiff
No argh, it's ruined now
And then we had a party after the dance. And everyone got their grooves on
And then we went to Avon Gorge Hotel C:though that was quite a comical night
because it wasn't really so much the like romantic first night wedding night together
It was like 'get my dress off me'
I can't you have to wiggle you have to wiggle Claudia.
And then it was like halfway up her waist and she was wiggling her bum.
And I was like no no the top half, the top half, wiggle the top half.
And she's on the floor like 'get it off'
Yeah, I'm just gonna sleep in my dress
Hello darling Hello C: you just woken up
And this is of course the best wedding present ever. Thank you Auntie Lily.
Walter and her are snuggling now
Yes, they've moved up to snuggling. Playing together
So, how is married life, Claudia?
Oh, your the first person to ask me that
I think it's lovely
Me too
I think it's the best thing I've ever done.
Say bye bye Tilly