A beautiful wedding

What a whirlwind of a weekend! I recently had the enormous pleasure of seeing my dear friends get married on a stunningly gorgeous weekend in the beautiful Suffolk countryside.

The day started with the ceremony in a catholic church, something I'm not really used to, but it was very touching, with a small gospel choir from Paul's school and some lovely readings. Here's an excerpt from my favourite reading:

I Like You (by Sandol Stoddard Warburg)

I like you and I know why.

I like you because you are a good person to like.

I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it's special

And you remember it a long, long time.

You say, "Remember when you told me something special?"

And both of us remember

I noticed that all the kiddies were captivated and found the poem extremely funny. Maybe partly because my friend, John, is a great performance artist, but also because the poem really engaged them!

The bride carried a bouquet which was constructed from antique brooches, very pretty indeed. It should be noted that it was pretty heavy to carry!

Upon reaching the reception, at the wonderful Milden Hall tudor barn, we were greeted by these very dapper gentlemen who gave us a glass of prosecco and rhubarb. We were entertained by some folk music on the lawn and we greeted the happy couple with confetti. We were also served tasty canapes of torta and salmon blintzs The event was filmed in super 8 film by our friend, some of the shots involved a little engineering, like this one where confetti was thrown up in the air for an effect.

I was in love with the venue, a beautiful tudor converted barn, which had a rustic feel but was very comfortable too. We were extremely lucky with the weather, this was not an ordinary April day!!

There were stunning touches all over the site, a very cute illustration of the couple was used to accent the menus, invitations programs etc, and jars of flowers were used all over the reception venue with wonderful scents.

I was so captivated by the jars of stocks lining the dining table, which also had a really heady but not overpowering scent.

The foodies weren't disappointed, there were large plates of antipasti and bread, which we munched on with champagne during the extensive speeches, which were all just lovely and many happy tears were shed. We were treated to delicious comfort food, 'bangers and mash' for the meat eaters and mushroom wellington for the veggies. Dessert was sticky toffee pudding, which did not disappoint. I could eat that dessert every day, I think I can safely say it is my favourite!

The wedding 'cake' was a little unusual too, a stack of wheels of cheeses, which were a very welcome snack after an evening of dancing! The brides sister also made some delicious cakes to accompany it.

UPDATE! here are some stunning photos from the very talented anna marie stepney, the wonderful photographer.

Welsh Wedding

I had the enormous honor of being invited to my dear friends, Sean and Phil's wedding recently. It was a truly magical event, in the rolling welsh hills, at a manor house, Treowen. Since I was coming from so far away, I was also lucky enough to be able to snag one of the guest rooms in the house.

I arrived the day before the wedding, driving up the enormous drive to the house, I knew we'd be in for a treat of a weekend. This is the kind of place that americans dream of when they visit the uk. I found myself just speechless with the beauty of it all.

After running up and down the stairs (featured in Dr Who!) we all went for a curry, I guess an equivalent of the rehearsal dinner. One of the highlights of the evening was a reunion of old friends in the Somerfield aisles as we chose our alcoholic beverages for the evening!!!

The next day people were milling around, fussing, rehearsing, but we all got dolled up and ready for a 3pm ceremony. It was truly magical to see my two dear friends tie the knot. It was a really beautiful ceremony, and it was really wonderful to see a room full of people overflowing with love and support of the union of my two dear friends. It was particularly poignant since I met my husband at the same time as Sean and Phil got together, so this 10 year anniversary marked a change in both of our lives, bringing me back to the time when Sean and I shared a rather strange(but cheap!) flat in East London.

The food was just outstanding, Sean and Phil love good hearty food, so we had delicious canapes on the lawn with our champagne, then later were treated to a scrummy pumpkin soup, bangers and mash, then the most amazing sticky toffee which was sitting in a lovely caramelly sauce. I had to restrain myself not to lick the plate! We were later treated to bacon butties and chips, and cake (which I'll discuss in another post!!). The caterers, Charlotte Roskill and her crew were amazing, and very friendly, it really boggled my mind how they work such long hours and are still so sprightly! They worked all day feeding us, then returned the next day to make us a full english brekkie!!

Its hard for me to understand why this isnt legal in so many parts of the United States, and the world. It breaks my heart that two people who love and care for each other arent allowed to show that commitment to the world. I hope people can see this post and all the love and positivity of this wonderful occasion and maybe think it through a little more carefully.

Most of the photos on this post were by andrew miller. He did a fantastic job, and had a great sense of humour, which is really important when you're a wedding photographer! I was particularly taken with his portrait photography.