Grif & Lynn

Last night I spent an enjoyable evening editing my video of Grif and Lynn's wedding.  So much so that I have been a very bad mummy this morning and let Bea watch Barbie movies snuggled under a rug and play with a whole folder of stickers, while I have continued my entertainment hard work upstairs.  I have a horrible feeling that I may have been somewhat carried away with video effects and slowing down the footage, but it has made me giggle.  

Intently watching the film has allowed me several observations which I will share along with some photos of the Big Day.

Firstly, Lynn was remarkably comfortable as a bride.  She did not spend the whole day tugging at her dress and fixing herself.  She seemed to fit perfectly inside her own skin AND inside her dress.  The dress incidentally was beautiful.  Elegant and flattering with just the right amount of quirky to suit Lynn down to the ground.  She wore it well.  The shoes of course deserve another little mention here...

The next thing I noticed was how adorable the photographers were.  A newly married couple from navyblur who, unlike the majority of other photographers * were not threatened by guests taking photos.  They just seemed to love doing what they were doing and they also seem to like people (imagine!) Their photography methods were somewhat unstructured and unorthodox, rather than formal poses, they lined up the subjects and allowed them to strike whatever pose struck them (the more bizarre the better it seems)

Of course, there were unofficial photographers too.  As my hands were occupied with the video, I passed on my camera to my padowan learner

Photo by J Weston

She managed to capture her own perspectives on the wedding.

Despite choosing midsummer's day for their nuptials, the weather seemed horrid.  At the church so many of the guests stayed inside as the rain drummed down outside.  There were no huddles of guests outside the church tossing confetti over the newlyweds.  I spent some time bemoaning this to myself until I was struck by a strange realisation.  The weather managed to make this wedding more intimate and precious than cloud splitting sunshine could ever have done.  Gareth and Lynn sprinted out from the church and snuggled into the back of the camper van.  Only a few brave determined slightly crazy guests came to see them, but still they got showered with confetti, kissed and wished well, without ever having that bubble of "We're married!  Do you feel married?  I can't believe it!  Did we really do that?  You look amazing by the way" popped.  They had precious moments together, just being Mr & Mrs, before they once again became public property.

Another JW shot

By the time all guests had assembled at the hotel, the rain had lightened to a fair soft drizzle.  I found the bridal party sheltering under the enormous tree in the garden.  Again, the dappled light and the bridal party gathering together beneath spreading boughs added great intimacy to the proceedings.

Friends and family who braved the drizzle to pop out in small groups had the time and space to chat to the bride and groom embraced by the protective oak tent.

While inside all of the guests felt especially cosy and protected from the rain.  There was no pressure to follow the bridal party to take photographs.  The pressure was lifted and you had the perfect excuse to sit down, relax and chat.  Indeed, the weather offered the perfect starter conversation for the discourse you share with strangers at a wedding.  "It's such a shame about the rain isn't it?"  Every time I heard this I nodded and smiled while internally fist punching the air and saying "no...it's making it all perfect"

The conservatory was the perfect spot to pose for some photos, chat with friends and admire each others outfits.

My handsome husband and me

This photo reminds me of the last reception we were at in the Dunadry.  Shirley was about 9 months pregnant with Beth, Heather 8 weeks behind that with Josie and me 16 weeks behind with Bea.  We all lined up with the bumps in a row.  Then replicated the picture with two bumps ; one baby, two babies ; one bump until finally there were three babies, all girls.  Now Shirley is holding Miss Molly and who knows who is waiting to meet us from beneath Libby's bump!

* Shirley also reminded me of less accommodating photographers who, when she was bridesmaid, confiscated attempted to confiscate her camera.

My final observation was this.  Grif is totally smitten.  Yes I know he is now a married man and that's only to be expected, but still it is remarkably heartwarming.  When you watch the film intently, looking for nice little vignettes and moments, you notice how proudly he wears his wedding ring, how he can't stop looking at Lynn, how when told to strike a pose, he is so ecstatic that his feet voluntarily lift off the ground, how he will take any opportunity to kiss her and once the camera kiss is done he just keeps looking at her, willing there to be more.

I remember times long past, hearing Grif sing along to "Map of the Problematique" and when he got to the words "loneliness be over" I had to choke back the tears.  It was my every hope that someday, his loneliness would be over.  Today, again, I struggle to hold back the tears, because I know that finally, it is.  Lynn is the perfect partner to love him, comfort him, challenge him, tease him and, most importantly, keep him in good shoes till death do them part.

Again by JW

If you haven't seen enough, there are more wedding photos here 

Big Day; Little Details

It all starts with an invitation.  

Grif offers Lynn an invitation to be his wife and then together they send out invitations to their family and friends to join them on their "BIG DAY"

(For a preview of the Big Day, just click on any BIG DAY anywhere!)

It is difficult for me not to love these invites, especially as they feature gingham.

Thus begins a blog of Grif and Lynn's Big Day, featuring the little details (the big picture will follow) mainly because if you see the big picture first, you might miss out on the lovely little things that made this simply the most lovely wedding.

In the church, there were glass jars filled with the most gorgeous flowers on the pew ends.

Tucked amongst the flowers, to Beatrice's delight were sparkly purple butterflies.  

The bouquets were of course lovely too.  Hand tied poseys with strands of sparkling diamonds.  The photo above is of a bouquet.  There is no sparkly purple butterfly in this.  I just thought I would say now incase you've been staring at it searching for the butterfly and it turned into a magic eye picture.

In the conservatory, all the tables had little candle jars tied with purple ribbon.  Attention to detail, that's what I'm talking about.

While in the ballroom the table centres were just beautiful.

by day

by night

How did you find your seat for the meal?  The tables were named after Grif and Lynn's favourite restaurants.  I was at "Beatrice Kennedys".  Good choice.  The place cards were gingham....you have no idea the joy I felt, especially as I had earned "Deborah" rather than "Debbie".

Naturally, the meal was delicious and it was no surprise that there was cheesecake for desert, which I believe even met with the groom's approval.

The cheesecake king

Just for the bride and groom there was a special wedding cake.

And matching iced cookies for the rest of the top table.

This was not the "Wedding Cake". 

  THIS was the wedding cake....

OK, just another photo because it is so lovely.

But why, you may ask, did the Bride and Groom have a green camper van cake?

Well she arrived at the church as Miss Archer in a stretch limo.  She arrived at the reception as Mrs Fisher in Scooby the camper van.

There was bunting and lots of confetti in the camper.  When the bride and groom pulled down their sun visors (responding to a demand from me, rather than necessitated by the weather) they were showered with confetti and could read "Just married" inside.  From the outside, we saw "Mrs & Mr".  I know that's the wrong way round, but Scooby is left hand drive.  Just incase they were unsure, their places were labelled inside too.

Don't worry that Lynn was forced to escape in Scooby.  You can see from her footwear choice that she is a little quirky herself.  (Shoes have been an VERY important element of this love story)

Other little entertaining asides were the sweeties and the guest book in the foyer and....

...a photobooth to keep the guests entertained in the evening.....

...the fish and chips at the evening party.  Essential refuelling for the professional dancers.

There is a saying"the devil's in the details".  At this wedding, it was quite the opposite.  Every beautiful, thoughtful detail reflected the bride and groom's heart for each other, for their friends and their family.  If anything, God was in the detail, because He was welcomed into every part of this Big Day and this Big Love.

Taking Tea

Saturday morning snuggle

Saturday was a curious and quite wonderful day.

"Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage" 

- Catherine Douzel 

On Saturday afternoon I set sail, to Maryville House to partake in some afternoon tea.  

The reason?

One of the beautiful Lynn's many hen parties (I am so unbelievably delighted that I got invited to the one that involved china tea cups and dainty sweets)

" If you are cold, tea will warm you.  If you are too heated, it will cool you.  If you are depressed, it will cheer you.  If you are excited, it will calm you. " 

~Gladstone, 1865

How I love the juxtaposition of the bride to be burping the baby coupled with the eccentric head gear in a Victorian tea room.

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."  

~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady 

Very civilised and utterly fabulous, after all "A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards."

  ~A.A. Milne 

Then just to make the day a little bit more memorable, we headed off to the circus.

  

There were lions and tigers, alpacas, palomino stallions, little dogs, clowns, acrobats, jugglers, face painters a ballerina and a flying trapeze.

Beatrice loved it (and there were one or two "oooohs" from Mummy and Daddy too)

That is definitely a day I could do again.

Circus Faces

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."

  ~C.S. Lewis

International Bread Festival

For our tenth wedding anniversary we spent a couple of days in Enniskillen and one of the places we visited was the National Trust property, Florence Court.  At the risk of slight understatement, I loved it. Then about nine months later we spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon at Rowallen Gardens.  The seeds of a stately home and garden addiction were planted.

Thus, I thought that it would be a lovely idea to visit Castle Ward on the Monday Bank Holiday.  Thus the adventure began.

A line of slow moving traffic?....It must be a National Trust property!

It was a beautiful day.  The journey through Down was quite exciting and then we encountered the line of slow moving cars which indicated we had arrived!  To be fair, there was a large neon signpost outside Downpatrick that warned of long delays but I didn't quite believe it.

Beatrice finds car journeys most soporiphic 

However, despite our worst fears, the line actually moved steadily and before too long Florence was efficiently shepherded into a large field by neon tabarded men.  

As we disembarked we realised that the field was not the usual car park but had, until very recently been the home to a herd of cattle.  Beatrice was quite excited about the cow plops.  We walked toward the house and noticed a large stage in front of it....we also noticed that we had not been charged any entrance money....welcome to the "International Bread Festival"

It was, by then, lunchtime, so as we browsed the "Asia" stalls we didn't spot any bread, but were able to buy a mixture of currys and a couple of cups of coffee which we ate in the sun at the back of the house, looking over Strangford Lough and making daisy chains.

We then met up with Jonathan's parents and a surprise special guest and we set off to discover the breads of "these isles".  We did find the crumbs of the gingerbread man competition in the old laundry and taught two little maids a few practical skills, should they ever go into service in the 1890s.

Hard at work

Cinderella

We also found a playroom with dressing up clothes and Victorian toys.  The stable yard was filled with exhibitors, selling pizza, crepes, pulled beef burgers, cider and bread.  

We bought a couple of maps for two little girls to help them find Hansel and Gretel in the woods.  After one false start, that took us down the hill, back up the hill and to the toilets in the stable yard and past the hot food vendors again, we began the breadcrumb trail, searching the trees along the path for letters to solve our puzzle.

Only missing out on one letter, we were able to work out that "The _ingerbread house" was infact the Gingerbread House (which was a table with a picture - slight sniff of disappointment) where we collected our trophies (a pink stuffed pig for Bea).  Josie didn't want hers so Granny Gina took a lamb for Phoebe.  Our trail allowed us to visit the farmyard and witness two geese honking horridly at each other and and hen an a cockerel getting on rather well.  Then it was time to line up for ice cream.  The lengthy wait was reduced by a fantastic bluegrass band playing in the barn yard and a strange cowboy on stilts blowing bubbles (no joke)

Meanwhile, there was some free style dancing going on.

She's got the moves!

There was also a little bit of pioneer cookin" going on.  Obviously we were by now in the "Americas" and his griddle scones we a nod to the "International Bread Festival"

Two little girls were eagerly able to skip up the hill back toward the house with the promise of the park, which was duly investigated and then after a quick stop in the stable yard for refreshment, we walked back to the car park.  Some folk headed home and the rest of us took out our picnic and headed back to the lawn in front of the main house.

(At this point, Mummy headed back to the stable yard because someone's little pink pig had mysteriously disappeared.  It was eventually discovered hiding in the similar toys for sale bucket in the shop.  The shop assistant agreed that it was probably Bea's and I could take it with no charge as it didn't have a price tag on it and it was FILTHY)

Once joyously reunited with piggie, we were able to enjoy a fine cup of tea, some scones (with cream and jam), pecan pie and the jubilee buns left over from Saturday.  The music from the live jazz band morphed into swing music and I was in my element.  At the other end of the lawn they were showing Wallace and Grommit's "a matter of LOAF and death"

Then at eight o'clock we packed up and headed to the back of the house where we watched the Wild Goose sky diving team parachute out from their plane against a backdrop of clear blue skies and land perfectly in the field in front of us.

Many people stayed to listen to more live music and light a jubilee beacon at ten.  But we headed home, tired, happy and a little more in love with the National Trust and each other.

Footnote:

It was a fabulous day.  Lots of stalls, exhibitors, fun activities and great atmosphere...so for future reference, don't be put off by the "International Bread Festival" label...because really I haven't got a clue what it was all about save that we had free entry and there were about 5 bread themed stalls.