The Wedding & The Morning After

This weekend sends to have flown by. Phil was able to leave work early on Friday and we kicked off the weekend by treating ourselves to a meal at Wagamamas in the Centre. Phil opted for curry dish with duck dumplings as a side dish and I went for my usual choice of chicken chilli men. This was as always delicious but almost immediately I regretted my choice when I realised I would have garlic breath for the next 2 days. Still it was too late by then, I already cleared my plate. Phil picked up G from school and she came back to our house for a few hours as later on that evening she meeting up when mates for a birthday meal celebration in town. For once I managed to stay awake for the Big Brother evictions and was glad that Nadia & that Makosi were voted out as I’m not keen on either of these two.

Saturday morning started off fairly organised; we had breakfast and then went to the health club. Phil was really enjoying his session and for once in his life, wanted to work out for longer. This is indeed a rarity and I felt bad that I had to cut his time short because I was worried about getting home and having enough time to get ready for the wedding. All was going to plan until Phil went to put on his suit trousers only to find that the seams on both trouser legs had come apart. I was cross because I’d just picked them up from the dry cleaners and you would think that they would have spotted the gaps and said something about it. Phil tried to close up the gaps with safety pins but this didn’t work. In the end I managed to find a hotel mini sewing kit and he sewed up his seams. He struggled to thread the needle and by the time he’d finished we were nearly quarter of an hour late leaving the house. We had hardly any fuel in the Land Rover but there was no time to stop at a garage and fill up, as time was against us.

The Tom Tom took us on the M1 and then it took us right through Northampton town centre. The gods were not on our side and we got stopped at every single traffic light. The traffic was heavy and slow and it was only when we got out of the centre and onto the country roads that I just happened to ask Phil whether he’d been able to programme in the post code for the church because I couldn’t find a postcode on the invitation. He told me that he programmed the post code on the top of the invitation and it was then I realised, that in his haste, he’d programmed the postcode for the reception venue which was not no where near the church. After bringing the car to a screeching holt, he changed the Tom Tom to take us to the Church of Saint Peter and Paul in Sywell and we turned round. I might add at this point the time was 12.50pm, the wedding ceremony was at 1pm and we were 10 miles away. Somehow and I don’t how we did it but we managed to arrive at the church at the same as the wedding car with the bride inside. Thank god she was late because we just got sat in our pew before she made her grand entrance.

Sarah, the bride, looked like a million dollars as do the two best men, the 3 bridesmaids and the little flower girls. Mads had made all the dresses bar the bride’s dress and they all looked fabulous. The service was lovely, quite light and the vicar brought humour to his sermon. Because we were so late, we were sat near the back of the church which I was quite pleased about because Phil’s hymn singing had me in stitches. There were photographs outside of the church and Phil was doing his fair share of snapping. I think he thought he was the official photographer! It was great seeing Mads’ mum and her sisters who are a right laugh and also I met Carrin, Mad’s sister that lives in LA for the first time.

When photographs were finished everyone headed back to Highgate House for the reception. The reception started off with champagne and Pimms on the lawn and was very nice except for the wasps which were buzzing around. The room for the reception was laid out in a horseshoe shape and looked amazing. Mads had spent hours on the presentation of the table, icing individual gingerbread men as place settings. She’d also made the table clothes and had embroided napkins for each guest. She also done all the wedding flowers and made the wedding cake. God knows how many hours she’d spent, I can’t imagine. The wedding meal was 3 courses and probably the best wedding nosh we’ve tasted. The staff were very professional and attentive and worked very hard throughout the meal.

The father of the bride delivered a very good speech as did, the two best men. I wondered how Ed (the groom) would do but he was confident and had obviously put a lot of thought and effort into his speech. After the cutting of the cake it was time to party. When we arrived at Highgate House we checked into our room and dumped the cases. The plan was that after the ceremony I’d go up to room to unpack and freshen up but this didn’t happen; there was to many people to talk too and dancing to be done. Ed & Sarah had booked a singer who was brilliant and when he finished Graham & Sarah started with the disco. I really enjoyed talking to Carrin, she was a scream, a cross between Danni Minough Cheryl Cole. And Phil spent much of the evening to Rett, her husband. It was a great do and as usual Phil & I were one of the last to get to bed, I am told it was somewhere between 3 and 4am!

Not surprisingly we missed breakfast; in fact we also woke up after the check-out time. We were too hungover to rush so we had a cup of tea and a shower. As we were packing up I realised we had lost, my pink shoes, Phil’s mobile and Phil’s new digital camera. We checked with the reception and Mads & Steve had taken my pink shoes home with the wedding stuff but Phil’s new camera was nowhere to be seen. We bumped into Corrin & Rett as we were loading the car, but other than them, all of the wedding guests had already checked out. The Tom Tom took us a weird way home and we were desperate for a petrol station because we were already on the red light before we left Highgate House. Thankfully we found a station so we got home without incident.


Phil made fried egg, fish fingers and beans which I suppose was brunch instead of breakfast. We found Phil’s mobile in the kitchen so that was a relief but Phil’s new camera is still missing. This is a great shame because it had loads of wedding photographs. I have some on my camera and Phil took some with his Olympus but the majority of photographs he’d taken were with his digital. Let’s hope it turns up.

Sunday afternoon was a quiet one. I managed to cook a roast dinner but the majority of time was spent slobbing out on the sofas in front of the telly. We weren’t late to bed and it was a real shock to the system when the alarm went off. The trouble with partying when you are middle aged it takes you 3 days to recover. I am ashamed to say that when Phil left I actually went back to bed until half eight which is why I’m late with the blog. Normally by this time I’d be in the gym. I think I might go later this afternoon. Right now I’ve got to get posted, get dressed and sort out a broken boiler in a flat.