country wedding

july seems to be the month of weddings around here. we have two weekends back to back! the first wedding was a co-worker of adam's who i had only met once, but i was easily convinced to go since i haven't ever been to an english wedding. i was also intrigued by the fact that it was in the country (near where adam lives) at a really old church. i love getting out and about away from london on the weekends!

i wasn't feeling great last saturday thanks to my having caught the office cold, but i figured i could do a 4-5 hour afternoon wedding no problem, especially since it started at 2 pm. what i didn't know is that english wedding events are TWICE AS LONG as american ones and i was actually in for a full day/night of festivities. ha ha.

i loaded up on cough drops and decongestants and we drove through winding country lanes (some of them one-way roads, more scary than regular english car travel) to the top of a hill, where we happened upon a beautiful old church.



adam was looking dapper in his new suit and i had SQUEEZED into my old go-to dress for these types of events. (i think this is the last summer for said dress. i must have bought the darn thing during my peak running days when i was much leaner. luckily it still fit, but adam had to zip it while i sucked in!) the ceremony was very lovely (and just long enough to feel official without being too extravagantly long), but we had some behaviour issues whist sitting in church. one of the readings was from 'the owl and the pussycat', which i vaguely remembered from my childhood.

the last time i heard this poem i either wasn't paying attention or was much more mature than i am now, because at the wedding, every time the reader said the P word, i had to fight the urge to giggle! i was really struggling to keep myself under control and the guy just KEPT SAYING IT. i stared straight ahead, trying to remain stone faced and saw that the woman in front of me (who was twice my age) was shaking with laughter. no help there. to my left, adam's eyes were squeezed shut and his face pinched in a failing attempt at self control. the woman to my right (also older) had tears of suppression streaming down her cheeks. i know it is a beautiful reading and i feel bad for laughing but it really was funny. especially when the reader had a posh dick van dyke accent and absolutely no sense of humour. oh, the humanity of it all!

we made it out of the church without making terrible fools of ourselves and then to get to the reception, the bride and groom led us down a wooded path and through a meadow to get to the bride's parent's home.







such a gorgeous place but i do wish i hadn't worn 3-inch silver strappy shoes for such a hike! the reception was in the backyard and we enjoyed refreshing pimm's, tasty canapés, and a good dose of afternoon sun before finally settling in for a fancy barbeque-style feast.







as favours, the bride and groom gave away little pots of homemade jam with custom labels. such a cute idea! swing dancing followed the meal (the newlyweds had choreographed their own first dance!) and we finally left around 9 pm. a great experience for my first english wedding, two enthusiastic thumbs up!