The Wedding !!!

Well the day finally arrived, glorious sunshine and a gentle breeze, perfect wedding weather.

Spent the morning titivating, nails, hair styled into a reckless curly bob all puffed up like a candyfloss. Left mum having her hair styled and set off on a 10 mile jaunt to pick up brother John. Well it was a lovely day so I thought I would go the pretty cross country way. This was mistake number one, as 20 miles later I found myself completely lost and about 15 miles the wrong side of where i should be !!! Forty five minutes later I eventually found a signpost to point me in the right general direction, and after reversing into several fields I arrived at my destination.

Headed back to mums to find her all ready and waiting and looking wonderful. Splashed some cold water on my rosy cheeks, trowelled on the polyfilla and make up, shoved my facinating facinator on my head and quickly got dressed. Mum was impressed, she actually liked the outfit, so off we went. After a quick fashion show for the neighbours who turned up to ohh and ahh we hit the road.

Norfolk Highways had decided to shove their spanner in the works by closing the main road into Norwich for 10 weeks so we took a round the houses route to arrive in good time at the hotel. After being buzzed into the locked carpark, we then negotiated a huge ramp with the wheelchair, thank goodness John was pushing, ( he also needs a crash course in wheelchair etiquette,) as I think mum moaned at every bump he found, and once into the hotel we encountered a maze of narrow corridors, and I think he scraped paint at every bend lol.

St Giles Hotel was featured on a TV makeover show and the amount they spent was quite extortionate. It was fascinating to see what they had done to it, beautiful mouldings, crystal chandeliers, wonderful original carvings had all been preserved. There was a beautiful central decking area full of colourful flowers outside where a lot of pics were taken. The photographer was extremely thorough and had a real knack for getting the best and most natural shots out of the few fractious toddlers, and an extrordinary girl mingled with the guests and produced amazing caricatures in two minutes flat. John had his done, and after much protesting we got mums done too, Johns was hilarious she really got him off to a tee, and mum had a regal air to hers, and despite her protests she really loved it..

We were allowed a quick peep at the bridal suite in all its opulence, the bathroom was huge with a king size roll top bath, and amazing tiles and furnishings, the lounge was lovely with comfy sofas, soft furnishings and mood lighting, and the bedroom !!!! well it was gorgeous.

The Pimms was on tap and we imbibed a few before making our way up to the ceremony room. Again all carved wood and crystal and beautiful white flowers. Mark and Alison each have a teenage son and daughter. It was incredible to see how these two families have come together, with all the youngsters showing a natural affection towards each other. Alisons son Danny gave the bride away, and Marks son Lewis was the best man. The two girls Charlie and Emma were stunning bridesmaids and little Amy was an exemplarary flower girl. (Her little brother handed out bags of fresh white rose petals for us to bombard the happy couple.

A lady was playing the harp and it was truly beautiful, after the ceremony she moved down to the bar and played for hours. She had an amazing repertoire from classical to modern, and she did a wonderful version of Chasing cars and other chart hits and movie soundtrack themes.

After the speeches which were perfect, short, funny and with a few tears thrown in for good measure (i did get my hanky out) we went back upstairs to eat. Food was a massive buffet of smoked salmon, prawns, thick hot rare roast beef, beautiful ham, curries rice salads and fresh baked rolls followed by white choc and raspberry cheesecake or lemon tart. It was yummy.

By 10 o clock we were flagging, and the party started to break up due to lots having work the next day, so we said our farewells and made our weary way home.

I cant say the day changed my view of weddings, and I certainly wouldnt want one of my own, but I just know that this little family will be OK second time around, and wish them every happiness from the bottom of my heart.

Now this is over, I can remove my nail extensions and continue with the Lemon fizz painting project ( well I will when my headache goes)

BEWARE !!!! I HAVE SHORT FUSE SYNDROME

This posh wedding is starting to affect my normal good humour. I have a hundred and one things to do, and really cannot afford to spend any more time on preparing for it ( its not as if anyone will be looking at frumpy old me anyway) but mum is now in overdrive. We had a trip out last week and bought feathery fascinaters (thats silly hat things for my male readers). Today I had to take mum to an out of town shopping centre because she needed a new lipstick.

We arrived at Boots the chemist, wheelchair in tow as usual, on a sweltering hot afternoon and the selection of make up was excellent. Mum picked a new foundation, and said she wanted a strawberry or raspberry shade of lippy for a change. I picked up a lovely one for me and shoved it in my basket, then tried helping her pick one, everything was either too pink, too purple, too frosted, apparently she wanted a matt lipstick. There must have been at least 500 shades and textures to chose from, but of course she couldnt find one she liked so she bought 2 packs of sticking plasters and decided she had had enough.

Driving home, she said "what i really want is a nice CORAL LIPSTICK !!!!!!! wonder if the courts are lenient in cases of matricide ? Dont get me wrong, I think its great that at 83 she is taking pride in her appearance, but I am so wishing I had the nerve to do what my sister in law did, she said she didnt like weddings and would not go lol.

Anyway I have ended up buying very fine loose linen cullotte trousers and a very pale pink polka dot tunic new shoes (thank goodness Brantano had a sale on) and a small leather handbag which is a totally inpractical size for all the junk I have to carry (blood testing kit, insulin, GTN spray, glucose, money, fags, keys etc etc. I also bought a lovely sheer wrap to cover my shoulders in case of snow !!!!!!!! Now mum seems to think we need a dress rehearsal so I can be tweaked, and to make sure my hat matches my top. Hairdresser is booked for Monday morning, and I still need to get my nails done. Maybe this was not the week to start decorating the lounge.

So far I have washed one wall, and matt is washing the ceiling, but he has decided to go visiting today, so I have a mop and a bucket of cold murky water sitting in the middle of the floor and no inclination to do anything, its just too hot. Still I expect to report that Lemon Fizz is the in colour, and it may be done by christmas.

Enough for now its gone 1 a.m. and I am hoping to fall into bed.