On 15 December 2001, I married my fiancée Michelle at Doncaster Register Office - where, as it happens, my mother and father were married (on 12 September 1970 to be precise)... Michelle and I now present some of the pictures from the wedding - hope you enjoy them! Click on the pictures to see larger versions.

Doncaster Register Office, where the ceremony was held. We had originally intended to have both the wedding and reception at the Danum Hotel, but we had to cut costs, and it proved much cheaper to have the ceremony done here.

Now, we weren't actually allowed to have pictures taken of the ceremony itself, which was a bit of a shame, but we were allowed to have photos taken of us signing the register.
 
I think Michelle was trying to figure out how the heck to get out of things - but it's too late!

Emerging from the register office as man and wife... Yes, it is possible for two people to look this happy!
 
On the day, I reckoned that this was perhaps the best-dressed that I've ever been - while Michelle found that although a flouncy wedding dress, complete with train, may look nice, it's a pain in the tushy to move around in! (Maybe that's why it's called a train, because it's so hard to shunt!)

Outside the register office, going through all the usual rigmarole of filling up the photo albums... You know, it's hard to keep smiling when it's a freezing-cold December morning...

The wedding group. From the left: Mum, Dad, Carl (Vicki's boyfriend), Vicki (my sister), John Croucher, me, Andrew (Michelle's friend), Michelle, Anne (Andrew's wife) and Allan (another of Michelle's friend). Taking the picture is Allan's wife Norma.

Believe this if you will, but a lot of the confetti thrown had gone down the front of Michelle's dress, and since I was newly married to her, I felt it was my duty to retrieve it. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it... Maybe I shouldn't have looked as if I was enjoying it quite so much...!

Two sets of Coopers. Is it just me, or do Mum and Dad look as if their teeth are a little too big for their mouths? :)
 
Unfortunately, none of Michelle's family were able to attend, which was a real pity. It was just as well, therefore, that some of Michelle's friends from the Internet were there - it's always nice to have to "familiar faces" with you.

Michelle with my best friend, John Croucher, who was the best man.
 
I've known John since we were both nine, and we've been firm friends ever since. John's been there for me in one way or another throughout all my relationships, and I've always known that if and when I got married, I'd want him to be my best man. I felt so honoured when he agreed.

The happy couple with Andrew and Anne, two of Michelle's friends. All four of us freezing our backsides off!

Another of the two Cooper couples, and while Mum still looks uncomfortable with her teeth, Dad seems to have got the hang of smiling again... Not quite sure why he's standing so far away from Michelle though...

Michelle with Eve and Bryan. Eve was the Matron of Honour, and was meant to be the second witness. Unfortunately, she and Bryan (both of whom are friends of Michelle), suffered lots of delays due to roadworks, and so didn't make it in time for the wedding itself. We were glad they made it, though.

Honestly, a woman can't even get into a car without being attacked by small pieces of coloured paper...! Still, it could have been worse - they could have been made from sticky paper...
 
Fortunately, Allan, who'd gone out of his way to decorate the car for us, as well as transport us to and from the wedding (very generous, considering the wedding day was the first time we met him and Norma in person!), didn't mind how much confetti got into the car... If the man was any more laid-back, he'd be horizontal! :)

The Danum Hotel, in Doncaster's High Street, where the reception was held.
 
This picture was actually taken two days after the event, when I went to take the suit back - I'd forgotten to take a pic on the day itself...

In the foyer of the Danum Hotel. We'd had no idea they were going to do that! I only noticed it by accident, and practically dragged Michelle across to show her... Of course, we had to take a photo :) (Michelle's pointed out that she actually insisted I took a picture, although she adds that I didn't take much in the way of arm-twisting...)
 
The Danum is a great hotel to have a reception in, and you'd be amazed just how tolerant Lorraine, the events organiser, was - considering the number of changes we ended up making to the proceedings! (A free case of Valium is on its way to you, Lorraine!)

Enjoying a drink in the bar of the Danum Hotel before the reception gets under way. Actually, it's not quite true - Michelle gave the whole glass to me - suffice it to say that I ended up more than a little woozy!
 
At least I wasn't alone in being "under the influence"... Mum, Dad, Vicki and Norma were also more than a little merry - so I was in good company! :)

As you can see, the foyer wasn't the only place where we were "publicised"... Funny how silly little things like this can make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside...
 
Now, I decided to take a photograph - I hadn't even thought of keeping the paper afterwards... Fortunately, one of the guests had more sense, and took it down for us! :)

John Croucher, the best man, preparing to embarrass the hell out of me for the sake of tradition...

John in full flow. You wouldn't think that only an hour before, he was struggling to come up with something to say, would you?
 
For the record, he'd said that while we were at school, I'd come to school one day in rapture about Erica Roe, a woman who went streaking at Twickenham... I still think he made it all up, you know... :)

The beautiful wedding cake, shortly before it was massacred for the feeding frenzy which followed :)
 
A small plug, here: The wedding cake was made for us by Cooplands, a popular chain of bakeries in Yorkshire. I think they did a great job!
 
Eve tried to get us to save half the cake for a year, so that we could eat it on our anniversary... Neither of us had planned for this, and as Norma later pointed out, you can't really do that with a sponge cake!

Yes, you're not imagining it - there really are three people cutting that cake! Actually, Bryan was just trying to help us get things right - and with Eve joining in as well, it got more than a little confusing at times!
 
Just above the cake in the shot is one of the three beautiful bouquets that Michelle bought - but we didn't actually use any of them in the ceremony - we simply forgot to do so!

Once Bryan got us lined up and heading in the right direction (down), we were ready to follow hundreds of years of tradition and make the first incision in the cake...
 
Now, according to Eve, the mother-in-law (i.e. my mum) was supposed to complete the cutting to get the first slice. After Mum got over the initial shock of the realisation she was a mother-in-law, she got to work on the cake... Unfortunately, nervousness combined with more than a little booze led to her making a right royal hash of it! Ah well... I know only too well I'd have made even more of a mess of it :)

Feeding time at the zoo! Thanks to Eve, wedding historian extraordinaire, it turned out we had to feed each other some of the cake before anyone else could have any - and that darling wife of mine tried to bite my finger!

Opening the presents. Allan and Norma gave us a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes, and Andrew and Anne gave us a set of pans (very useful, since I'd ruined all mine!). John Croucher was probably a bit stuck for something to get, so he gave us £20 (not that we minded a bit!).
 
Prior to the big day, Mum and Dad bought us a microwave, while Vicki and Carl got a 95-piece dinner service... Russell Sinker loaned us the money for the wedding, so we said he didn't have to get us anything (because it would have been unfair on him).

While Mum looks the other way, I make a grab for the prezzies... I don't think anyone noticed... :)

Michelle seems to think there's a nasty smell... but why does she think I've dropped one? OK, so I know there was egg mayonnaise sandwiches, but everyone had them!

Sorry, Mum, what did you say? No, I haven't farted... Look, I'll see if the Danum staff have got some air freshener, OK?

A nice little tableau with John the best man, and Eve the Matron of Honour. To the left of the picture, Mark Laycock's arm is just creeping in...

Michelle with Norma, who so kindly stepped in as second witness at the last minute. Heck, Allan and Norma really went above and beyond the call of duty, considering they'd never met us before!

Michelle and Eve, with Mum unwittingly lurking in the background.

Two days after the wedding, I had to take the suit back to Cliff's in Doncaster. It's a great shop, with very helpful staff (plug plug), and this shot proves just how helpful they were... Michelle had wanted to see me in a top hat, but I was too nervous to do it.
 
However, on the Monday, I thought I'd ask the nice lady at the counter to take a shot of me wearing one, and she kindly obliged, despite the fact that I was only messing about! As you should be able to judge for yourself, it would not have been a good idea for me to wear one at the wedding! :)