Wedding bells!

We have a proper celebration this weekend, as we're off to a wedding. Our friend's daughter is getting married, so I'm dusting off my posh frock and preparing to shed soppy tears.
Other, smaller celebrations are that my eyes are as they were two years ago, so I don't need new glasses; I have a reader's letter in next week's My Weekly; a potential new editing job has presented itself to me; and it's comedy club night tomorrow.

Not a bad week, all in all.

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop. Visit Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week. Originated by VikLit) and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog.

Wedding bells

Best wedding cake EVER!

I went to the most remarkable wedding on Saturday. Congratulations to Becky and Pete, not just on tying the knot, but also for organising such a fabulous day. It was an astonishing mix of the traditional, the informal and the downright quirky. Bride and groom both work in the film industry - and it showed in the attention to detail and the sheer glorious theatre of it all.

After a (mostly) conventional church service, we walked through the village for the reception down by the river, a party on the theme of a meadow picnic. There were trestle tables groaning under the weight of homemade food, champagne all round, fresh flowers hanging from the ceiling of the marquee, straw bales for the guests to sit on, crazy golf and a pick 'n' mix stall.

There were, of course, speeches, but the bride's father kicked things off in fine style by singing his to the tune of 'Paddy McGinty's Goat'. It was hilarious - well, he is a writer and performer, so we expect nothing less. There were 'turns', too, from other members of the wedding party and guests, too numerous to list, but special mention must be made of Becky's sister Sarah, an actress and singer-songwriter, who played and sang beautifully. Tears, aplenty! I'm hoping someone filmed the entertainment and that it will be posted on You Tube.

But surely the quirkiests of all the quirks was the wedding cake, which was a cheese cake: that is to say, a cake made of cheese (pictured, above).

Amazing.

Wedding bells

I had another of those 'never done that before' moments yesterday when I sang at a wedding. The church choir was down on numbers so one of its regulars, who is also a leading light in the choir I belong to, asked if a handful of us would go along and swell the ranks. So, first time singing at a wedding for someone I didn't know, and first time wearing a proper chorister's gown (rather a fetching blue).

And what a lovely do it was. Before the service started, the vicar did a bit of a warm-up act. It so happened that one of the children was celebrating his birthday, so the vicar got everyone to sing 'Happy Birthday' accompanied by the organist. That broke the ice nicely. Then he rehearsed the congregation with their 'lines'. He announced that after the bride and groom had made their vows and done the 'I do', he would be turning to the assembled family and friends to ask them if they would support the couple in the years ahead, and was expecting a loud and enthusiastic 'We do!' in reply. They were tentative at first, but a couple more attempts got the volume up, and when we reached that part in the service there was a glorious outpouring of love and support. Then later, his address consisted of a couple of jokes offering advice on what not to do in married life, which went down very well.

I'm not a big church-goer, but I enjoy the elements of community spirit it can provide. For instance, I think baptisms should be incorporated into a regular service in front of the whole 'flock' rather than sneaked into a private ceremony with a handful of guests. So while this wedding might not have suited the traditionalists, I thought it was lovely. Congratulations, Dave and Jan. We all wish you well.