Gismo Queen and her King

Wedding Belles

Finally, we have made it to connected location and can update you all on the past few days in the Old Country!

Well, the biggest event was the wedding on Saturday. The weather wasn't at it's best but this is England, and they say it's good luck if it rains on your wedding day! The service was at 4pm in a very quaint, tiny church in the middle of farmland! It didn't rain as Eleanor made her way down the aisle or as she and Stu emerged as Mr and Mrs Mallett! It was a lovely service conducted by her uncle who was very funny, which helped lighten the mood as the whole congretation was conscious of the fact that it should have been her father marrying them (he passed away in 2005). For the girls reading this, my pink outfit was fine in the church, and I was warm enough, although glad of the lining and the jacket sleeves! Greg also looked very suave in his new suit.

The reception was only 1km away in a marquee in the grounds of family friends of Eleanor. It was a gorgeous home, and the marquee was very well set up - very fancy in fact. We were greeted by mulled wine, which was highly appropriate on a cool English winter evening! Mingling, speeches, photos, the meal, dancing etc all followed until the bride changed into her red going away outfit (I loved it!) and they left at about midnight. We headed back to our pub shortly after for some much needed sleep! It was a great day, all very well planned and it all went off very well.

So, on the Thursday we arrived at Heathrow, and Greg's brother Doug met us at the airport and amazingly managed to fit all our luggage into his hire car! We drove down to Somerset, past Stonehenge (very close to our B&B) and set up home for the next few nights in a tiny place called Stourton. That night was Stu's buck's night so Greg headed off to that. They went to a pub called the Malet Arms (wrong spelling, but still very appropriate!) and had a meal before heading back to where Stu used to live for a poker night with plenty of drinking. Needless to say, poor Greg, after a 24 hour flight, didn't last too long and was offered a bed until the others were redy to come back! Meanwhile, us girls were the sole inhabitants at our pub but we had a great meal too.

Friday morning was started with a good English cooked breakfast, and then we all (Doug, Ruth, Marg and us) headed into Salisbury. We did the cathederal for the tourists amongst us, had a spot of shopping, had lunch and then headed to the reception venue to assist a little with the setting up. That night was a meeting of the families at a very quaint (I use that word a lot, but it is sooo appropriate!) pub and was a great night.

Saturday morning we went for a walk around the gardens of the place we were staying at (as it seems, do half of England on a weekend!) before getting ready for the wedding.

Sunday was a bit slow in the morning but then we had a lunch for close friends at the pub we were staying at before everyone went their separate directions: Marg went to stay with Eleanor's mum, Doug and Ruth headed to London as they fly home tonight, and we headed to Bournemouth to stay in Eleanor's flat.

So today, we hired a car and set about exploring this neck of England. It is very interesting, and pretty so we think we'll be able to fill the next couple of days before heading up to London.

Sorry there aren't any photos this posting - I should be able to remedy that once we hit Belgium on Friday.

posted by Tracey @ 4:09 am