Laura, from Castle Hedingham, sent in this great idea. Let’s take a look at it…
What did you do?
If you were supposed to be getting married this year and had to postpone your wedding, why not have a promise day instead.
Chose an outfit you feel fabulous in and plan your day for you and your partner in whatever way you want to.
We loved some traditions, for example my partner stayed in our summerhouse the night before so I wouldn’t see him until the time of the ceremony.
I really wanted to wear a dress but not my actual wedding dress, so instead I wore my mum’s 1975 vintage number. It ripped at the seams only days before. But luckily I found some friends who got it sorted for me, just in time.
I wore something old… that’s right, the dress. Something new- the belt on the dress is from my actual dress. Something borrowed – my best friend lent me a bracelet to wear, which also happened to be my something new.
I did not wear any shoes on the day, because I just wanted to feel grounded and connected to the earth, plus being in the garden, it was just so chilled!
My hair and make up was not anything particular. I was very tired after an emotional week, I also have Bell’s palsy, so photos are my enemy when I’m tired.
We wanted to include music and food we would have had on the actual wedding day. So we asked our caterers to do us a small selection of food to have (which was incredible), our friend made us a cake and dropped it over on the day. We also played the set lists of the bands that would have been playing.
Our neighbours watched from their gardens and we all had a great time! One of my neighbours is a florist and made my bouquet.
The arch we used I bought in Aldi last year and used it for our son’s naming day by a lake. We saved it to use for our day.
I walked up the isle with my children, my daughter as my flower girl and my son as my page boy. He had a heart which said “Daddy, I give you Mummy”
The drinks we had were from our local Suffolk distillery, we had ordered some bottles from them for the wedding day, so wanted to have the flavour of the wedding in all aspects! Hiccup!!
What worked… the weather! That was a big bonus, so you can always change your promise day time or day and base it around when the whether is best. Because let’s face it lockdown gives us a lot more flexibility at home most of the time.
Having a rehearsal really helped, especially because w wanted to live stream the event. Our rehearsal was hideous but it gave us so many things to consider differently on the day.
Being relaxed and enjoying the day. Because we only had my parents as guests, it was the perfect day to just spend with my family and just appreciate all we had. To share the love between us all.
What didn’t work so well..
Being rigid with plans and working with Toddlers who don’t want to throw confetti on a live stream!
Thanks to the rehearsal, we discovered that having children and trying to do a rigid script just added stress. So we made a brief structure for the day and that made everything so much better.
Do you have any other projects planned?
We are now on a countdown to next year. So each month I will do something to celebrate being that little bit closer. It could be a zoom meeting with my bridal party or maybe even a social meet up, if we are allowed.
Tell the Housebound With Kids community a bit about yourself…
I am Laura ‘Foggy’. Two children: Willow age 3 and Herbie age 20 months, we live in East Anglia, UK
How are you finding being housebound so far?
Well, my partner was redeployed to work on a covid ward during the restrictions. It was very stressful and I was trying to work as a dramatherapist to support young people, alongside single parenting of the two cubs (children).
Things have improved massively now my partner, Dale is not working on the wards anymore. We both work part time to try and cover each other’s working days. But my goodness it’s been tough…. for everyone!!!
Do you have any tips for other parents?
If you need to do a task, whether it is work or just something for yourself (yes, you are probably thinking ‘for myself!!!’ Don’t you mean clean up the mess the children made after I just cleared up for the 1000000 time).
Well if you have to get yourself some time and the kids are making it hard for you to do so, give the children 10 MINUTES of your undivided attention. Give them whatever they need (within reason) from you, emotionally and it gives them that time to connect with you. Once 10 minutes is up you should hopefully be able to get on with your task without feeling like your fighting your way through a war zone.
Has this website and community helped you?
I love how there is so much versatility for every need that someone may have!
