{Part 2} Forever and a Day

But where was the groom during all this, you ask? Well, after the Great Waistcoat Debacle of 2015, James, his brother, Robert and our wedding witness and friend, Richard all went to the hotel bar for a quick drink and then outside for some fresh air before they left for the registry office.

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Once they arrived at the Manchester Registry Office, they were led to the Pankurtst Suite where they met up with James’ mother, her partner, Geoffrey, James’ brother’s girlfriend, Eve and James’ lovely grandmother. James was then asked a few last minute questions and was asked to check all of the details that would go on our marriage certificate and in their records.

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In the meantime, I prepared to leave the hotel. Me being a rather fuss-free bride (and knowing just how short the distance from the hotel to the venue was), opted to not have a fancy car drive me to the venue. Instead, my mum, my friend Nicola and I hailed a cab ourselves outside our hotel. It must have been quite a sight – watching a girl squeeze herself wearing a massive, sparkly wedding dress into a cab on the busy streets of Manchester! Our cab driver couldn’t stop smiling!

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The drive didn’t last very long, and within five minutes, we were at the Registry Office. A lady who worked at the registry office was waiting for me outside, smiling from ear to ear. My poor mom, however, was struggling with her handbag and my spare clutch and flats for later, all while trying to make sure my dress didn’t get dirty.

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An Indian security guard at the registry office was watching and recognized her plight. He emptied out the plastic bag he kept his lunch in and offered it to her to put my clutch and shoes in! It was the kindest gesture ever, even if the bag did smell like thepla.

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We were then led to a room resembling a backstage green room behind the Pankshurt Suite (where James and his family were waiting), since the bride and groom aren’t meant to see each other before the ceremony, even though ours was a completely non-religious one.

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She asked me the same routine questions she asked James and had me check the same details, and told me that I could choose to go in whenever I was ready. A dozen or so selfies later, I gave her the thumbs up. I was ready to be married to my prince!

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And just like that, they started to play ‘Here Comes The Bride’ as my mom walked me down the isle and everyone turned to look, including the smiling, happy face of my husband-to-be. The registrar then began his introduction to the ceremony while James whispered “You look really nice!” to me and I winked at him.

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He then announced that Catherine, James’ mother had prepared a reading for us. The reading was absolutely beautiful, had everyone in tears and hit just the right note as it touched upon bits about long phone conversations and us dreaming and making plans, which is pretty much how we made it through the whole year of long distance before this day.

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Shorty after, we were asked to repeat after the registrar our vows to one another, and then James’ brother, Robert presented us with our rings. With shaky hands from all the emotion of his mum’s reading and our vows, we slipped our rings on each other’s fingers and waited for the words everyone wanted to hear – “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride!”

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And just like that Mr. and Mrs. Moore shared their first beautiful, magical, legitimate kiss of many! We then signed the necessary documents and then our witnesses and close friends, Richard and Nicola were invited up to sign as well. Once all the paperwork was tended to, we thanked the registry office staff and I complimented the registrar on his floral tie (like one does), we left the Pankhurst Suite hand in hand, to be showered in confetti by our friends and family outside.

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It was surreal. The moment we had been hoping and dreaming of since our first few dates was finally here. All those hours on Skype were worth it, all those Pinterest boards planning our life together were finally coming to life. We couldn’t be happier or luckier.

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After taking a moment to let it all sink in, I suddenly realized that I really needed to pee! I squeezed myself into the disabled toilet and insisted in lifting the dress myself, without any help from Nicola, Eve or my mum. It may have taken a lot longer than I anticipated but I managed to get away unscathed (ahem) or without toilet paper stuck to my heel. (I checked).

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Once I made my way outside to where everyone was waiting, I changed into my flats as we prepared for the five minute walk to St. Anne’s Square where we planned to have our photo shoot with friends and family outside the Manchester Town Hall.

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We were very fortunate that the weather had decided to be kind to us that day as well, since Manchester is known for being rainy, windy and cold. Luckily, it was warmer and sunnier than it had been in months, and I managed to get away with wearing only a light faux fur jacket outdoors. (PS James was not pleased about the jacket because it shed fur all over his suit and, well, pretty much everything else around me!)

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But we were absolutely giddy with excitement and incredibly loved up (hence all the mushy kissing photos!) and once we finished pictures with our friends and family, they left us while James and I walked the streets of Manchester with our lovely photographer, Lucy, looking for the perfect spots for spontaneous shots.

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It was definitely the most fun photo shoot I have ever been on (and I’ve been a part of a fair share) we got really goofy at one point and posed in phone booths. We even posed outside a beautiful old church, but had to run away when we heard the words ‘rest in peace’ and ‘funeral’ coming from inside! Thank goodness I was in flats!

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We walked all around Deansgate and Spinningfields and were denied permission to shoot in the John Ryland’s library (boo!). We also shot outside the Manchester Courts (much to James’ confusion – he couldn’t imagine why I wanted to shoot outside where the criminals came out of court on the news).

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When we thought we had about enough shots and were gearing up to finish, we sat down for a bit of a break, while Lucy snapped away anyway. At this point, we were stopped by a security guard outside the mall we were near because he thought we were shooting an ad campaign for commercial purposes as the dress looked couture! (I’m also going to pretend he said that we looked like models!)

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After assuring him it was a real wedding, we wrapped up our shoot and walked to the next venue to join our friends and family for the next part of our big day. If you’re excited to know what it is, you should be! I can guarantee it is one of the most exciting, unusual things to happen at a wedding ever, so stay tuned for the third part in my wedding series, coming next week!