A DAY TO REMEMBER FOR MR AND MRS DAY!

Friday 19th February found the families and friends of solo horn player Carrie Dobson and kit player Sebastian Day converging on Rhinefield House Hotel in the heart of the New Forest to prepare for the couple’s wedding the following day. They awoke on the bright, sunny Saturday morning to a fairytale frosting on the forest as temperatures dipped to minus 5 degrees. It was up at 6 am and an early start for bride and bridesmaids as hair and make-up preparations got underway, leaving the dining room clear for the groom, best man and ushers to enjoy a hearty full English breakfast! A vintage routemaster bus ferried guests to Highcliffe Castle for the wedding ceremony with the bride and her father travelling in a ribbon-bedecked vintage white Jaguar.

The Orangery at Highcliffe Castle was bathed in bright winter sunshine as Michelmersh Silver Band entertained the waiting guests with a programme of music selected by Seb and Carrie. The groom’s nerves were holding up well with the support of his best man Ed Bradbury and ushers David Bowles, Adam Smith and Simon Locke as the whispering in the gathering told him his bride had arrived. Roland Wright raised the baton and as the band struck up with Peter Graham’s A Prelude on Tallis the bridesmaids, beautiful in teal green silk gowns, preceded the bride who made her entry on the arm of proud Dad, John Dobson as the music came to a flourishing climax.

Looking stunning in an embroidered ivory gown and bolero jacket embellished with pearls and crystals, and a crystal tiara, Carrie took her place next to Sebastian to make their vows. Perhaps a little too eager to become Mrs Day, the bride jumped the gun when asked her full name by the Registrar prior to the ceremony, answering Carrie Ann DAY much to the amusement of everyone. Any nerves or tension there might have been were dispelled in the laughter that followed and the ceremony continued with the reading ‘On Your Wedding Day’ by Richard and Valerie Hickox. After the very emotional promises and exchange of rings, the Registrar introduced a ‘reading’ by the bridesmaids Jo Bowles, Claire Eldridge, Katie Topp and Bryony Day who, much to the surprise of the assembled guests, produced instruments and proceeded to play Leroy Anderson’s Bugler’s Holiday accompanied by the band. A non-brass player, Bryony, in honour of her percussionist brother, accompanied her fellow bridesmaids on the triangle! Having signed the Register and posed for photographs, Mr and Mrs Day led the procession out in to the sunshine to the strains of ‘Pop Looks Bach’ (the Ski Sunday theme) by Sam Fonteyn, chosen to reflect Seb’s mountain-top proposal to Carrie on a skiing holiday.

After champagne and photos at Highcliffe Castle, it was all aboard the bus and back to Rhinefield House for the Wedding Breakfast and dancing the night away.