Mimi Goes To A Wedding

Looking at the pictures of me taken at the wedding of our lovely friends Jo and John, I have noticed that I have a Very Bad Habit. Because Carl is shorter than me (and I was wearing heels) I have a habit of bending my head towards his whenever someone points a camera in our direction. Which is fine for one picture, or maybe even two...but it is all of them! I look like I have something wrong with my neck, or perhaps my ear is glued to the top of his head! My hair was much, much bigger than this at the start of the day...but by this point it had been blown about quite a lot, rained on twice, and squished up a tiny spiral staircase...

The wedding was in a tiny but oh so pretty village. The church was really picturesque, and slightly unusual in that it had a balcony-gallery area. It soon became apparent that the bride and groom had more family and friends than there was room, so some of us were invited up to the gallery. The only thing was, the only way up was through a tiny doorway and up a stone spiral staircase...which were slightly shorter than my husband, and only a bit wider! All the ladies in our party had to take of fascinators and heels, and the men had to fold themselves almost double, but it was worth it for the wonderful view.

It was the kind of wedding that I adore...simple but elegant, with so much of the bride and the groom in the details. The church was decorated in wonderful swathes of babys breath, as there were two weddings taken place that day, and it let either bride put whatever flowers they wanted with it. One of the hymns (Lord Of All Hopefulness) was one that we had at our wedding, so I really enjoyed that! It poured with rain until the bride arrived, at which point the sun shone. It was hard to keep a straight face once or twice as the rain lashed down again, and crashed against the stained glass window behind us. It was almost like being at the seaside! Happily, it then dried up again when we left the church.

There was Pimms to drink when we arrived at the reception, and plenty of time to talk to the other guests, throw confetti and take photos. When we went back inside for dinner (a very generously portioned roast beef dinner with yorkshire pudding, followed by profiteroles) the rain began to lash down again. There was something really cosy about being inside, eating roast beef, and seeing the rain sheet down. In the centre of each table was a tall thin vase filled with white delphinium, white roses and bear grass. Each person had a tiny brown handbag made out of card and decorated with a white rose at their place, inside which were some mini chocolate eggs!

I normally don't love the disco part of weddings, but we had so many wonderful friends around us (including a boy I have known for 25 years!) we ended up staying to the very end...so late infact, that the staff were clearing away, and I was able to take home one of the table centres as they would have been thrown away otherwise. I have pressed some of the flowers, and I am going to put them on a little card and send them to Jo. I did that when I caught a bouquet at a wedding a few years ago!

We have Jo and John some money for their honeymoon, because that is what they really wanted, but I have a gift in mind for future weddings. I have just read (and adored!) Greenery Street by Denis Mackail. The marvellous Persephone Books have republished it, and it really is amazingly funny. It is the story of Ian and Felicity Foster, and their early years of marriage in a little house in the eponymous Greenery Street. It is full of wonderful domestic details (written in the 30s I believe) and is really witty. Definitely one if I am stuck for a wedding gift in future! When I wrap up wedding gifts, I like to buy one of those wind up elastic band butterflies to go in the card, and then put in plenty of glitter or confetti. The more sparkly the better!