The Big Day
After 9 months of planning, including plenty of stress along the way, the big day had dawned. It's true to say I was nervous beforehand but on the day itself I woke up feeling remarkably calm. Even while the hairdresser was putting my hair tightly in its place with hairgrips whilst I was gritting my teeth because it hurt, and when I found out that the florist had put the flowers in the wrong part of Trani’s cathedral, I still managed to say “oh well, it will sort itself out”.
Once I was dressed and ready, the front door of Felice and my apartment was opened to allow neighbours and friends in to see me in my glory and nibble a biscuit or two. I had photographs taken with my mother in law and my parents and then I was ready. I walked down the two flights of stairs to the front door of the apartment block but apparently I hadn't done it right. I was supposed to be with my father only I was slightly in front of him so had to go back, stand next to him and exit alongside him so that it would look right for the video!
I cut the ribbon outside our apartment block as per tradition and threw the scissors on the floor before stamping on them, and was then taken to the cathedral with my dad in a stylish convertible Mercedes. I had to laugh when the driver asked if I would prefer the top down. Of course I did, it was such a beautiful sunny day!
On arrival at the cathedral I was met by many smiling faces and as planned Felice and I said our vows in both Italian and English, to perfection on both our parts I might add! We then had confetti and rice thrown at us as we left the cathedral. After that it was on to the reception venue, Lo Smeraldo in Canosa that from the outside, with its winding staircase could almost be mistaken for a mini palace.
We had a light buffet by the swimming pool before being shown into the main sala, the reception hall that we had booked. It was then that the partying really began. We were entertained by the groom and his friend dancing latin American style whilst another friend played his saxophone.
The English guests seemed particularly amazed at how grand an Italian wedding is particularly by the amount of food on offer and the Italian guests were pleased to have shared a wedding with English guests, which isn't something that often happens in southern Italy.
It had been a wonderful day, more so than either Felice or I could have imagined and is a day that will be remembered by a lot of people for a long time to come, in more ways than one!