Clare proposed to me on the 29th of February 2008 as we lay in bed just after we woke up that morning. Yeh she basically beat me to it! That's taking the initiative for you, I've never been any good at it. :) That one question and answer was the start of an 18 month ordeal of decisions about venues, suits, dresses, food, transport, hotel accommodation, photographers, stationery and all the other things that you associate with weddings. We knew we didn't want a religious affair. It wouldn't be right as I'm not religious at all and Clare isn't particularly either so we weren't about to join a church congregation and pretend for 3 months just so we could get married there. It would've felt fake and I can't be bothered with all that. Besides there are hundreds of beautiful venues where folks can get wed these days without inviting God and his minions to the party. We also weren't bothered with all the standard stuffy wedding tradition and just wanted a gathering of family and friends to come celebrate with us and make it special. All the speeches, cutting the cake, official first dance and all that got chucked. We just wanted a really good time and some happy memories. Keep it simple!
With that in mind and after looking around at one or two places we chose Cannon Hall in Cawthorne. Most people know it as Cannon Hall Farm due to the tourist attraction side of it. They also have a really nice garden centre, the Maize Maze that is redesigned and regrown every year and obviously there's the stately home itself. The Maize Maze was our first day out together after we met so it seemed fitting that our wedding day should be there. Our wedding reception venue was another favourite hang-out of ours, The Rockingham Arms in Wentworth. It's a lovely country pub and the staff were so helpful with us. Things actually took a worrying turn with a couple of months to go as unknown to us the management changed hands. We were lucky to discover this in plenty of time and the new management pulled out all the stops to make sure that their first wedding party would want for nothing on their big day. I honestly can't recommend them enough, they were fantastic.
The Rockingham Arms Wentworth
The reception was held in the barn at the rear with access to their gardens and we also had full access to their 11 hotel rooms across the road which we fully booked for our guests for the night. More about that later. ;-)
The day itself had to be properly timed and planned as the two venues were a good 20-30 minute drive from each other. We booked 2 wedding cars which were an antique Rolls Royce and an open top Daimler and to ferry our guests from the meet-up at The Rockingham to Cannon Hall for the wedding and back to The Rockingham we hired an antique double decker bus! It was a right funny affair but it went like clockwork and we couldn't have asked for more. To follow tradition a little the night before the wedding I stayed the night at my parents to ponder my last night as a single man. No nerves, honest! No really, I wasn't nervous. Very strange I know.
Our bridesmaids were a mix of friends and family. Left to right are Megan (Clare's niece), Grace & Faith (next door neighbours) and Jaimie (my niece). They all looked beautiful although I think the open top Daimler caused a hair issue on the motorway. I was lucky enough to be immune as I'd had my own hair disaster a few months previous with a random bout of stress-induced alopecia so the only solution was to keep it shaved off. Thank Christ it recovered and grew back.
The running order went like this:
I make my way to The Rockingham alone all suited and booted to relax and wait for our guests to arrive.
Our 2 hired cars arrive at our house to collect Clare, Jake and the 4 bridesmaids.
Clare and Jake take a very leisurely drive through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside to Cannon Hall in the Rolls Royce.
The Daimler carrying the bridesmaids stops at The Rockingham to collect my best man Dave and myself and we all head off to Cannon Hall. The bus then arrives at The Rockingham to collect our guests who also begin their fun filled journey.
Yes that's the bus. The Special bus! Clare and a few of her mates nearly wet themselves laughing when they saw that on the front. Dingles on tour or what! Everyone had a right giggle on that journey and it really added to the atmosphere of the day. The guys who ran the bus company were lovely fellas too.
I had arrived at the pub a couple of hours early to just chill out a bit. I didnt feel particularly nervous but I knew that if I stayed at my parents too long then I might because Mum fusses a bit so I went for some me-time. While I waited at the pub on my own, just passing time with a bottle of cider, I got a few knowing looks from passers by, a few 'good lucks' and a couple of nice chats with one or two locals when I went to the post office to get some cash out and to the bar to get that much needed drink. It was a bloody hot day! Perfect weather really, I've no idea where it came from but I'll always be grateful for it.
Over the next 2 hours people gradually started arriving, I got occasional phone calls from Jake telling me things were going ok at his end and that all was going to plan and on time. Clare's pal Tracey arrived at the pub with flowers for the ladies and gents button holes which were distributed amongst the chosen few and drinks started flowing as is the norm in the Flanagan family, and quite rightly so. Time suddenly seemed to speed up a little as the crowd grew and before I knew it the bus and car had arrived and it was time to go. I signalled to Dave and off we all went. It seemed like everyone had a good laugh on the bus, quite the day out from the sound of it. We all arrived on time and were ushered into the hall where Clare and I were to be wed. We had picked out about 5 of our favourite songs to be played at various times during the ceremony. A mix of Sinatra and Mariah Carey but after sitting at the front chatting for a few minutes I realised there was no music playing. I've never been one for delegating so instead of asking someone to sort it I walked hurriedly back up the aisle out to the front to find someone who was meant to be turning the music on. It was only a while afterwards that I realised it must've looked like I was doing a runner! :-)
The time came and everyone stood while Clare, Jake and her bridesmaids entered the room and made their way down the aisle. Both Clare's parents had passed on so it was decided that young Jakey would give his mum away. He did a great job and made a lovely speech in the middle of the proceedings that he'd written himself. Good lad. :)
The ceremony continued without incident, no crazy exes jumping in to stop proceedings and Clare and I were married in front of about 80 smiling friends and family. Our registrar Pearl and helpful assistant Sharon were lovely ladies and led everything perfectly.
After saying our vows, rings exchanged and Pearl telling me I could now kiss my bride everyone stood up clapping and cheering. There were tears and smiles all around and friends and family started leaving their seats to take photos. After a short break and the signing of the register we all went out for photos and most importantly more booze in the beautiful sunny Cannon Hall gardens.
After a couple of boxes of champagne had disappeared it was time for everyone to climb back into their respective transporters and be driven back to the pub for the proper party to start. When we originally organised the food we were given an option to put on some light appetisers for the wedding guests after they arrived back from Cannon Hall. Just something to keep them ticking over for an hour or two before the extra evening guests arrived and the proper buffet was served. Well, the guy offered the standard canapés and wedding stuff and then went on to mention that some folks have had other options in the past. As soon as he mentioned 'chip butties' that was it. What a legend! So in true Sheffield style when our wedding guests arrived off the bus they were greeted to a huge offering of chips and buttered bread rolls to feed themselves with. Needless to say it went down very well.
After the chip butties the drinks continued, more funny and lovely folks arrived, more food was laid out, the pub fired up the BBQ and the karaoke started. Tracey performed an interesting rendition of Valerie but changed the words to suit the occasion. "Why don't ya come on over Paul Neweeeeeey!" Cheers Tracey, you nut case! The atmosphere of the entire occasion was friendly, jokey and just lovely. My dad's cousin Pam commented that it was the nicest wedding she'd ever been to and that was a great compliment for the day everyone helped to put together.
The night was over for some but not all as many evening guests got taxis and a select gathering of friends and family wandered over the road drunk but with still a few miles on the clock. Clare and I went to our honeymoon suite, de-robed and lay on our bed opening our various cards and presents while listening and laughing at the random bumps, rumbles and drunken singing from above. Helium balloons from the party had been smuggled across and the drunken Sheffield United fans among the group could be heard singing a drunken rendition of the chip butty song while on helium. Daft set of muppets! Good job it was only us in that hotel overnight, we'd have been chucked out for excessive noise anywhere else. :-)
The following morning we all went back over to the pub for our breakfast, some nursing hangovers but nothing too serious and the happy mood was still with us. Tracey told us a story of how her hubby Andrew had heard a noise outside in the night, had wandered down in just his underwear to check what it was and got himself locked out! Crazy lot but so funny. Never a dull moment with that crowd. After breakfast we went back over to the hotel to gather our stuff together and had a sit out in the morning sun while Robyn (Clare's niece) and Shaun (Clare's brother) proceeded to try on Clare's wedding dress. Still pissed or just mad, you choose. We couldn't!
The whole experience turned out wonderful and we couldn't have asked for anything better. I'll never forget it and the people who helped make it happen and it will forever stay in my memory as the most fun day of my life. Clare and I drove home happy and when we got back we found our lovely neighbours (the good ones) had left this for us.
Thanks for reading if you've got this far. Here's a few more photos from the day.
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