Tag: #wedding

The Event

Copyright ©️ vchapman

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed an absence of blog on Friday. This was due to a rather special event that took place requiring final preparations on Thursday, meaning I had no opportunity to consider what to write. My focus was fully on preparing and spending quality time with R when she arrived him.

The event on Friday was the long overdue and rescheduled wedding celebrations for my brother and his new wife. They actually married in July but had to postpone the celebrations until we could all get together safely.

So Friday started with an early rise to give the three of us sufficient time to get through showers and final packing. Load up the car, with the all important cake, and head off.

R had been asked to be one of the Ushers and was needed at the venue by 12 noon to help with final set up and last minute things.

Having arrived, checked in and dumped things in our rooms, we left R to her duties and C and I did a bit of exploring around the venue and had something to eat.

At about 1.30pm I started to set up the cake. Thankfully the weather had cooled off a bit over the last few days making creating and assembling much easier without risk of icing melting in sweltering heat. I had put so much time and energy in to this that I didn’t want it to fall at the last hurdle.

Having all got dressed up, family members and other guests started to arrive and R, with her fellow Ushers went about their alloted duties.

The ceremony was lovely with some poignant moments in. They had a sand ceremony which I’d never heard of before. Because this was the coming together of two established families, the bride and groom, and their respective children, all emptied small glasses of different coloured sand into a larger container. The idea being that whilst each person has their own identity (colour of sand), by mixing them into one they come together and create a beautiful new sandscape with all of them mixing together. I really liked that idea.

There was a strong identity with bubbles, brother and wife having chosen to bubble together during lockdown to get to know each other. There were the blowing kind, the drinking kind and even aero bubble chocolates on the tables.

After Pimms and canapés, photos inside and outside due to the will-it-won’t-it rain kept the Ushers on their toes trying to figure out who was who.

Speeches after the wedding feast from the groom and then the bride demonstrated their clear support for each other and their families, and their gratitude to the wider family. Then the best man, a childhood friend, reminded us of times when our brother had aspirations for his own synth band.

Then the party started. More friends arrived, more fizz and then cake cutting. There was a moment of concern when one rather drunken woman was quite close to the cake flailing her arms about. My sisters and I moved in to stand guard.

I spoke to the DJ and put in a special request for a particular song to be played for the bride, groom, their children and siblings and niece (R) to dance to, to symbolically acknowledge the new family. “We are family” by Sister Sledge. And thus, the latest additions to our family were cemented.

I didn’t quite stay until the end, had quite a bit to drink and had been standing in heels far too long, so slipped off about 11.30, way passed my normal bedtime.

A thoroughly fab day full of love and laughter. Every detail carefully thought through.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was a more muted affair, some not managing at all due to the previous night’s over indulgence. For those of us that did make it, large quantities of coffee were consumed and cooked breakfast to help settle the stomach again. A final chance to speak to people before we had to depart.

Although there had been a light shower of rain on the Friday, it was nothing compared to the downpours we had to drive through on ghe way home Saturday. Spare a thought for the wedding taking place at our venue later in the day.

All arrived home safely and napped to catch up after and exhausting day and restless night thecday before. A good kind of exhausted though.

So, the deed is done. The event over. Just the rest of their lives to get to know each other more deeply. Do all the dating things they couldn’t do dur to lockdown, and have fun as a new family.

I wish my brother and his wife much love and happiness. 💖

Planning Ahead

Spent today planning lots of things that aren’t happening yet.

Been asked to make a wedding cake for July and because of the rest it’s all been a bit of a rush and things still aren’t really confirmed, as it all depends on how restrictions are lifted, they have no idea what kind of cake they want.  I need to get some idea soon.  Fruit or sponge?  How many for?  Buttercream or fondant?  How many tiers?  What colour scheme?  What sort of decorations?  Any many more questions spring to mind. The trouble is, they can’t really answer them yet as so much still hangs in the balance.  But I need to get my thinking head on and design it, order whatever I need to order, maybe practice some elements of it, and give myself plenty of time not to panic over it.

After that, I started thinking about a meeting that I had later that evening.  Who was due to attend?  What do we need to think about?  There are several things that are coming up in the #bellringing world that will require some PR work, and it would be good to have a team working on it, rather than just one person.  It helps spread the coverage wider, and also helps different parts of the country and world chip in on how it affects (or not in some cases) them.

I’ve written several lists of things that we need to and could ring for, but it all depends on what restrictions are still in place at the time.  Some have a much longer lead in time, and others are in the next few months, but need to have a co-ordinated plan. 

Then, kicking off next week is the elongated Essex Ringing Course. I have arranged 2 talks and a Bellringers Question Time and opened them out to anyone to register to attend, not just Essex ringers.  I need to contact the speakers again and check everything is ok.  I need to make sure that everything is set up and ready.  I am also helping in one of the groups and the practices are spread out over the coming 2 weeks, so I’ve got to get my brain in gear for ringing lots of Stedman and possibly some Cloisters. 

Then at some point in the next day or so I need to make my breakfasts and lunches for work.  Albeit only a 3 day working week, as Monday is Bank Holiday and being an office role at the hospital, I don’t need to work Bank Holidays, and of course, I don’t work Fridays as I cram it all in to a 4 day week normally.

And I need to get some housework done. Ah well, that can wait.