Wonderful Wedding Weekend

Hello All,

Oh, I have been dreadful at posting, so much has happened, so much to catch up on…Danny has turned nine years old since I last posted! But, what did we get up to this weekend?

On Friday, we travelled to Maesteg, to attend our friends, Caroline and Neil’s Wedding.

Here are the kids on the start of our journey. Yes, Rebecca is sad – she was sobbing because she would miss her Daddy. He had to work and run “the boat jumble” on the Sunday.

We stayed at Aqueduct Cottage, in Maesteg with Mum, Ceri, Jo and Cerys. It was a gorgeous cottage, we didn’t want to leave. I’m more of a camping/caravan/Travelodge (ie. cheapest accomodation possible) type of girl and only require the basics, but if there are lots of you, it works out good value to club together and share a cottage. There are some beautiful cottages in Pembrokeshire too if anyone wants to visit!

The kids were so excited the first night. The cottage was very big and there was so much to discover (lots of bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, hot tubs, saunas, games machines, gorgeous garden, swings etc) so we didn’t manage to settle them down to play games together until the following day, when they were more tired and therefore calmer!

Saturday was of course the day of the wedding! Luckily, it was an afternoon wedding so I had more time to get all the kids and myself ready, and make sure they were fed etc. Jo set up a “nail station” to get everyone’s nails done that morning. Even my “tom boy” wanted her pretty nails painted.

Here is Isabelle all ready for her first wedding.

Ignore her lopsided hairband, she was in such a cute mood I had to start snapping straight away, no time to straighten hair bands!

She even has her bib on! I meant to take photos of her later when we were all ready but she’d fell asleep by then and missed that modelling opportunity!

Here I am with the big kids all ready to go and waiting for our mini bus. We didn’t get a chance to take photos of all the adults together. It was such a busy day, a wonder any photos were taken! Thanks to Ceri for managing to get these!

Here come the girls!

Not forgetting “the boy”!

Then it was time to go!

Off into the mini bus and on our away to St Cynwyd Church. It is set within an “historical village” and is beautiful.

The choir “Take Note” entertained us while we waited for the bride. They sing a mix of traditional and contemporary songs and were brilliant. We all enjoyed them.

I didn’t take any photos inside the church, as I was holding Isabelle and watching the kids, but here is a photo of the beautiful bride later on. I love this photo as she looks soo happy! 🙂

Gorgeous! So sophisticated! I nearly didn’t recognise her without her helmet on! 😉

The church service was lovely. We sang “Amazing Grace”. This was bitter sweet for my family as we had only been singing this a few weeks ago at a family funeral. I love the song, and sing it outloud in the car or to the kids at bedtime, but whenever I try to sing it inside a church, I feel so emotional and choked up that the sounds just don’t come out. Luckily, Take Note sang along, so the singing sounded beautiful.

The last song was “Give me joy in my heart” which the kids know from school, so we could all sing along happily to this one. Especially as Caroline had asked that each child be given a percussion instrument to play along during the song. They loved that. Isabelle even had her rattle out!

I was amazed how much Isabelle enjoyed the service for a baby, but of course two of her favourite things were there, people (who wore brightly coloured clothes and often had interesting hats/fascinators on their heads!) and music (to bounce and babble along to!). She was really singing (aka babbling) along to “Hallellujah” towards the end.

After the service, I had to find toilets for my girls who were desperate. Uncle Andy told me where the toilets were in the pub, unfortunately they were the gents! I had a quick scoot looking for the ladies but the girls couldn’t wait, so Danny checked that their were no men using the facilities, when it was free, he took the girls in, while I kept watch on the door! We were in time for Rebecca, but not for Caitlyn! Luckily, I had packed a spare dress for her to wear! Phew!

After the toilet adventure, it was onto another mini bus to make our way to the reception. The girls were all tired by now after their exciting journey and stay in the cottage. So Rebecca, who had really been looking forward to the Buffet, fell asleep before eating, as did little Isabelle. Caitlyn was great company for me, while Danny immediately made friends with other kids at the wedding and was off playing with them!

The kids all had a colouring book and crayons to keep them amused, and the favour boxes were the place names. The kids were straight into their favour boxes and nibbling the lovely almonds and love hearts etc. Then, when they got to the bottom of their box, they found a lovely thoughtful surprise. Caroline had given Danny a lucky sixpence, and she had made all the female guests a beautiful beaded bracelet. I will put up photos of these on another post. Even Isabelle has a baby one to treasure. Each time we wear these precious gifts we will remember our lovely day and think of Neil and Caroline!

Isabelle decided to wake up during the “Father of the Bride’s Speech”, I quickly picked her up and started feeding her, so I hope she didn’t interrupt! Apologies if she did! I had a tear in my eye listening to her Father’s speech, I love hearing fond memories of children now grown up, I know that before I know it my own children will be “flying the nest” and their own childhood will just be magical memories.

The best man’s speech was funny, I loved hearing how Caroline met Neil again. She was working at a Petrol Station, he was buying petrol. They flirted so much that he forgot to pay for his fuel…so she had to call the police on him! Haha!

The first dance was lovely to “Looks like we made it“. Other tunes I loved: Never can tell (from Pulp Fiction) and The Galway Girl (from PS I Love You).

Caroline also had a dance with her Father, which again I found really lovely and touching.

Caitlyn went to sleep then! So no dancing with the girlies!

Rebecca did wake up later on, I thought she may have a second lease of life as she has been looking forward to the wedding for ages, but she felt tired and achey so asked to go home (well back to the cottage).

So, I left earlier with the girls…and Jo and Cerys. While Danny stayed later with Mum and Ceri.
The girls still can’t stop talking about the wedding and Caroline. Caitlyn was so touched that her bracelet was blue (her favourite colour) and she loved the buffet so much, while she was eating her tasty food, she said, “I love Caroline.”

We pass Caroline’s Mum and Dad’s house on the way home from school and they keep asking me which one it is again. Can Caroline come to tea at our house? (Rebecca: “She’ll have to sit on the settee as there’s no room for her at our table.” Caitlyn: “I will get her a pillow and a sleeping bag and she can stay the night.”) Bless them.

The cakes were lovely: