Mimi Goes To Another Wedding

This is really the summer of weddings for us! This wedding was that of Carl's cousin, and was the first civil ceremony that I have been to (as in not a church wedding, not as in a civil partnership). We drove through a lot of twisty turny country lanes, and surprised ourselves by not getting lost, and arriving here http://www.gaynespark.co.uk/

The ceremony itself took place in the Orangery, and was over a little sooner than I thought it would be, and there was no singing. The bride (Carl's cousin) is really petite and tiny and looked great in her dress. While we were waiting for the bride to arrive, a lot of Carl's relatives turned round to us and asked if it brought back memories for us! It was a gloriously hot day, and we all spilled out onto the lawn for glasses of Pimms and photos.

When we went in to find our places for the meal, we found that all the tables were named after different superheroes, and the favours were cones of penny sweets! I really like it when couples bring a lot of their personalities to their wedding. We had a field mushroom stuffed with smaller mushrooms to start...oh how I hate mushrooms! But being a good young lady, I ate it, and just held my breath as I swallowed! Then we had some really amazing steak, and dessert was a chocolate roulade that looked a lot heavier than it tasted. All through the dinner, there was a man singing swing tunes! It was such a lovely touch, and he sang all my favourites, including 'Ain't That a Kick in the Head'.

After dinner and the speeches (which included a video of the poor groom dancing to 'I'm Too Sexy' as a teenager!) we mingled and chatted with Carl's family. There was a table set up so you could help yourself to tea and coffee, so after a while Carl and I wandered outside with tea and sat to reflect upon the day. Dusk had fallen, and the barn doors were open, so it was almost like being at the theatre! Then Carl's Uncle and Aunt joined us with tea, and we sat and chatted for ages.

When it got to about 10:00 we decided we would go inside, make our goodbyes and leave for home. But just as we got back inside, the swing singer from earlier came back out...dressed as Elvis! He was so infectiously enthusiastic that we ended up stopping and dancing for several hours more...until we finally left to go home, where we sat in bed drinking tea and eating wedding cake. The perfect end to the day...