Wedding memories and preserving ‘the best day of my life’

01 June 2016

By the LifetimesMAG Scribbler...

It was the best day of my life. It’s a cliché that I found myself using over and over on the day following my wedding. At one point, I called my friend, who had recently been married and used that very phrase, to tell him he was right. I dialled the wrong number, but still managed to get my catchphrase of the day into conversation to the bewildered voice on the other end. 

If you were to ask me on the morning after my wedding why it had been the “the best day of my life”, I guess I would have had a million things to say.

The passage of time has eroded some of the memories, unfortunately, and it’s strange what does remain. I remember little touches, like the priest leaning over to my wife to tell her that she looked “beautiful” and how I lifted the bottom of her dress to prevent it from getting muddy as we were having photos taken. I remember us feeling like rock stars as we were greeted by well-wishers in the lobby of our hotel at the end of the night, many of whom had been to a Donny Osmond gig next door. We got blocked in by the crooner’s limo the following morning, too. 

Wedding speech

I remember my speech going down well, feeling incredible as we walked down the aisle hand-in-hand as husband and wife, and pure elation as we sat in the vintage car heading off for the reception.

However, I have to say that I don’t recall our first dance, can’t remember my best man handing over the rings – or whether he pretended to have lost them - and wouldn’t have a clue what was on the menu.

Time plays tricks, too. I’m sure I remember watching my beautiful bride walk all the way down the aisle, but the video of the day suggests that wasn’t the case. I was also sure that we set off on our honeymoon the following morning – having asked Donny’s chauffeur nicely to move - but when the subject came up recently my wife reminded me that we spent much of that day writing dozens of thank you cards before departing a full 48 hours later.

Wedding photographs

Photographs and videos are great at preserving the day, but I guess they take away from the purities of the memory. I could tell you a load of things that my wife got up to on the morning of the wedding as it was all recorded for posterity, but there’s no footage or even photographs of me playing golf with my dad and my brother as we prepared for the big day.

It is a case of living in the moment, but I wish I could remember every last detail. Ultimately I will always have a feeling that it was the best day of my life.