Ass Monkey and I took our sweet time getting married.

We were friends for 10 years before we finally twigged that we might actually fancy each other and then spent another 10 years figuring out how too live together romantically.

He and I are both very independent and headstrong people and really, our relationship shouldn’t have worked. Technically we should have blown it with all the bull-like head-to-heads we’ve had over the years.

But like stubborn bulls that we are, we kept demanding that the relationship work and I’m so, so glad that we did.

For out of our scrappy early days has come this deep, deep love and respect for one another which lead to our fab wedding day on December 8th.

We had such a ball getting married but really, Jacob and Eva were the stars of the show (even though I could, at times in the weeks leading up to the wedding day be heard complaining, ‘Why the F*CK didn’t we do this before we had kids?!‘)

The logistics of planning a wedding when you have two small kids were pretty bonkers and stressful at times to deal with but ultimately, the universe conspired to give us the journey that was intended for us and we really wouldn’t have had it any other way.

5 Cons To Getting Married With Kids In Tow:

1. Visits to the family GP will increase tenfold – every time you want to do something important, like register for your wedding certificate or buy your wedding rings, a child will get sick (we still don’t have our official rings, fact!)
2. Free time is scarce – all of your organising has to be done at 10pm when the kids are finally asleep or during that hour or two peace you get when they are in school. This will result in your house falling into CODE RED disarray, the one where even the dog is judging you because of the state of your jacks.
3. Everything is last minute – you can’t buy them any clothes until the last minute because they won’t stop bloody growing! So you’ll dash to Debenhams a week before the wedding and PRAY that they have some decent stock left (and then you’ll hit Next, Dunnes, TK Maxx, H&M.. they’re not easy to suit shop for!)
4. Keeping kids happy at weddings costs money – we forked out for goodie bags, activity packs, childminders (AKA The Department of Children’s Happiness), hot chocolate, kid-friendly sandwiches while the adults were having canapés, a Photo Booth.. and we could have kept going. But it really worked out because I have it on good advice that the 13 or so kids we had with us on the day enjoyed themselves maybe even more than the adults!
5. The day-after is pretty grim – I may have had ‘a couple’ (thousand) glasses of Prosecco at our wedding and I was in a world of pain the next day. Cue all my regret about buying tickets for the kids to see Santa at Tayto Park that afternoon. Thankfully, the elves took over my parenting responsibilities for a couple of hours.

5 Pros To Getting Married With Kids In Tow:

1. They keep you grounded – there is no time for being a Bridezilla when you have two kids who take priority over everything else in your life. If you have to cancel your hair trial because your two-year-old is getting her back teeth and has been up all night then so be it!
2. They remind you to relax – most of my focus in organising the wedding was to keep the kids involved and happy. Adults will complain until the cows come home about anything and everything but kids will just be so happy to be together with their friends and cousins that they simply get on with enjoying themselves. We could all do with taking a leaf out of their book.
3. They are just so excited – in the lead-up to the wedding Jacob was constantly asking questions, counting us down to the big day, checking the mail box for RSVPs and planning his very important job of bringing the rings up to his dad. We thought Eva didn’t really get the whole thing until I put a long hooded coat on one day to go out into the rain and she told me, “I like your wedding, mammy”. She got it on some level.
4. They are so proud – I was keeping the emotions at bay on the morning of the wedding until I walked downstairs in my wedding dress to meet my dad.. and Jacob started off an unprompted round of applause in my honour. Where would you get him?!
5. Kids truly make a wedding – there is most definitely a cut-off point where they don’t need to see Uncle Harold having a row with the bartender who is refusing to serve him triple vodkas at 1am but.. the morning of, the ceremony, the DANCING – they are a priceless addition to any wedding day.

**Thanks for all your well-wishes for our wedding day, it was the greatest of our lives. There are plenty more stories to come!**

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