My Dutch Wedding

We did it !!!

MY DUTCH WEDDING

 Getting married has never been on my radar, being a fiercely independent single mom, bringing two children up alone, nothing was further from my mind than finding the one.

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So when I met Andrew New Years Eve 2014/15 (age 43), it came as a bolt out of the blue, especially when he proposed a year later whilst celebrating New Year with friends in Bergen Op Zoom in the Netherlands.

Some may say this is a whirlwind romance but let me assure you with my fair share of "FROGS"  over the years, I am not one for being impulsive, let's face it, it took me 11 years to launch Rew.

THE WEDDING VENUE

Choosing our wedding venue was a no brainer, we spent such an amazing time at the "Villa Heidetuin", last year, with it holding such fabulous memories of our "Engagement" it had to be here, and in the tepee.

Don & Ingrid are the most amazing hosts and totally make you feel at home so much that I consider Villa Heidetuin as my second home ..... Oh and the food is amazing.

My amazing Bridesmaid making POM-POM'S to decorate the tepee.

A selection of the food served on our wedding day. 

THE RING 

We have fallen in love with the "Netherlands", so each time we visit we do a little more exploring, the road network system beats the UK's hands down for navigating around easily.

On our last visit to arrange the venue, we explored "Delft" a beautiful chocolate box city in the Netherlands famous for its pottery.

It's here I met the lovely Lies De Vooght Edelsmid who makes the most delicate gold jewellery, she designed a very thin wedding band for me so that it would fit neatly under my beautiful engagement ring, which Andy had made by Jinks McGrath.

Lies even laser cut the date of our Engagement into the inside of the ring, and unbeknown to me upon Andy's request she made me a delicate gold bangle as a wedding gift from my lovely "Hubby". I knew he was a keeper !!!!

 THE WEDDING DRESS 

It was obvious I would be making my own, not one but two!!!!

The reason for this is because we had so much arranged for the day and evening one dress was just not enough !!!!

As some of you may know due to me being unable to contain my excitement, I only started making my wedding dress 4 weeks before were due to travel. This I do not recommend, anyone who is thinking of making their own dress, start it at least 3 months ahead of schedule, although the stress of it aided the weight loss!!

I chose a beautiful silk/raffia fabric in cream and always knew it would be a two piece, I just love a big skirt with pockets. Having trained as a milliner many moons ago I also needed a hat too!!!!

I won't bore you with the trials and tribulations of the making of the dress but I will show you some pictures so you can see my start and end point.

THE BOUQUET 

Now this bouquet. I love it as it's for keeps. Due to the traveling times before our wedding I needed a bouquet that would still be alive 6 days later. With the help of "Lisa Polkington" from "The lovely flower studio" we decided upon using air-plants, we also made a mini version for my Bridesmaid.

Lisa also created the lovely button holes for the men which matched our winter themed wedding perfectly.

THE CEREMONY

Myself and Andy have dyslexia so firstly the writing of our vows and ceremony was no mean feat, a little like this blog I am writing now, so if you spot a mistake or two please forgive me.

The villa, has just five bedrooms we knew we wanted a personal and intimate wedding and this was perfect as it limited our guest list.

We chose to have our "FRAMILY" (friends you'd chose as family).

So Andy chose his two best friends and their partners and I chose mine.

Now we needed to find an independent marriage registrar, this was actually very easy, we found "Jacomien" via a Dutch call out from the local marriage registrar to "Bergen Op Zoom", as she did not speak English.

Jacomien, speaks 5 languages so with us having a few German guests this was perfect.

We visited Jacomien in her home in Renesse, so she could learn more about me and Andy.

Renesse is amazing, if you would like to explore some beautiful beaches in the Netherlands this is a must. When we are in Renesse we always take a walk along the beach and pop into the most amazing sea food restaurant "OUR SEASIDE".

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The ceremony was everything and more we could have wished for, Jacomien told our wedding guests, our story in our words. Everyone was introduced via a personal message written by all of us (this was homework we had to do before the ceremony).

Again a few tears shed. 

Once we had all been introduced it was time for our vows !!! This is the part where we both cried like little kids, but it was fine, we were amongst our "FRAMILY". Besides I don't think there was a dry eye in the tepee.

 

Me and the hubby.

My brother who gave me away signing the register 

 My brother and my bestie friend "The bridesmaid" Mrs Pastoors.

We partied the rest of the night away in the town itself.

Traditionally on New years eve café Het Zwijnshoofd have always entertained with a local Dixie band which was formed back in 1973.

So with our wedding guests in tow, we entered the rather busy café Het Zwijnshoofd we was met with such warmth from all the local people that we felt like mini celebrities.

The dixie band soon ushered myself and Andy into the centre of the room and then by default we had our first dance to "TRUE LOVE -Bing Crosby". This could not have been more perfect having loved the film "High Society" Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly.

 My bridesmaid Claire  quoted to myself and Andy from F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 "They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered".

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 "and I truly believe they never will"

THE END 

If you hover over and underlined text this will give you the links to the various people that helped make our wedding super special.

We do not have our official images as of yet so these are just a few candid shots .

 Mannequin challenge.

How to contact Jackomien.