The wedding of the decade

David’s niece, Sarah, got married a week ago today. The wedding was at Polesden Lacey and the reception was held at the RAC in Epsom. From beginning to end it was a fabulous affair. The weather was lovely, everyone looked very well scrubbed up, Sarah and Alex looked great and, to make it even better, they looked like they were having a very good time. 

The ceremony was in a marquee open to the front so the audience sat facing the beautiful Polesden Lacey manor. (I guess a side was available if the weather turned nasty.) A large number of guests arrived in a double decker bus, but some of us drove ourselves. As I entered the gates of the parking area, I did try to knock over a few English guests, on the basis that some of them may be English cricketers, but sadly they weren’t and anyway I missed …

This blog is all about me, me, me; so it's important that you know I have lost weight since I last wore this dress on our 40th anniversary back in December. Now back to the wedding - this is one entrance to Polesden Lacey. Good thing it wasn't raining as this walk down a lovely tree-lined drive would not have been so charming.

Graham, Ginny and their son Trent. Across the aisle are Alex's parents, Geoff and Carolyn.

Signing a document - the civil ceremony had taken place at a previous occasion, so this was a celebration and renewal of recent vows.

The arbor was roses and peonies

 

With Polesden Lacey in the background. One of my aunts used to come camping here in the extensive grounds with her family many years ago. I think public camping is now not allowed.

After the ceremony there were drinks on the lawn - options were Pimms and elderflower cordial before everyone made their way on to the RAC. I didn’t see Sarah and Alex leave in the fancy old car (a Rolls Royce with a roof whose front section came off - it looked pretty special) as I was off buying an icecream from the Mr Whippy van that was sited close by for the walkers and other visitors to PL. My icecream had a flake in it … Both the icecream and the chocolate were welcome in the warmth and to keep my strength up. I did share with David tho, cos I am kind and a very good wife. I was setting Sarah a good example, although she wasn't watching.

At the RAC we checked in as we were staying the night – a sharp contrast to the £8 a night room at Montgomery House, mark you, both in price (£175 – gulp!) and quality of accommodation and fit out. We had a lovely, very large room with king sized bed and a luxurious bathroom. Staying on site mercifully meant that I didn’t have to stint myself on the lovely burgundy being served – it was almost as good as an NZ chardonnay, and I could happily dance until 5 minutes of wanting to go to sleep …

But I am getting ahead of myself. At first there were drinks on one of the RAC terraces with a two piece band (does a two piece group constitute a band?) and then it was inside for a lovely meal. Food was interspersed with speeches with a few too many jokes referencing the Aussie cricketers, but given Sarah is Australian (Kiwi parents though) and a number of guests were over from Oz, it wasn’t surprising really. However if Australia wasn’t being convincingly trounced as festivities continued, I am sure there would not have been quite so much glee expressed by the English guests!

Apart from the cricketing references all the speeches were very good. And as most of Sarah’s cousins, uncles and aunts and a number of her friends who live in Oz had not been able to make it, Alex had prepared a great surprise for her. Ginny and Graham (Sarah’s mum and dad - David’s sister and b-i-l) had hosted an afternoon at their place back in Brisbane and one of Graham’s brothers who is a cameraman, had filmed people partying and had also set up a camera for people to record their own messages to Sarah and Alex. He had edited it wonderfully and I hadn’t realised quite how nuts Graham’s family is! And a number of her friends are a bit on the nutty side as well.

Food was great, music was great – mostly songs that the older people recognised, dancing was fun, David’s poorly foot was pretty good and able to take its share of the dancing load (not me standing on it, natch) and we went to bed significantly earlier than many others. Our room was mercifully well away from the music, and we slept well.

There was a breakfast the next morning as a post match function, and everyone looked surprisingly well considering. David did have to wear the trousers he’d worn at the wedding as the no denim rule applies in the dining room at the RAC. I was OK – I had my bright pink trousers!

Then it was goodbye from me and goodbye from him and back to Molly’s place we went – a midday nap was in order as we MAY have looked surprisingly well, but appearances can be deceiving, and we had my cousins to catch up with in the afternoon. More of that later!