10.9.05

Another wedding

....And so to Devon for the weekend, for yet another wedding. Our old college friend, Patrick, and his lovely bride, Helen. Thanks to the wonderful world of retail and all weekend opening, Andy was unable to attend this one. Helen was splendidly lovely in red velvet, with hydrengeas for her bouquet...


This was a farm wedding, very informal, with homemade bunting, 'real ale' and scrumpy and enough food to sink a ship. It was a proper family occasion, and I was made to feel very welcome by complete strangers, who were generous enough to welcome me as one of Pat's friends and could not have been more hospitable.


The children had a face painter...


...and a bubble machine...


As the evening wore on, the barn dancing began, music provided by the Oggle Band, who called the dance steps. Their efforts to steer whoozy wedding guests into something resembling 'Strip the Willow' can only be applauded.



After the bridal couple left and the evening wound to a sleepy end, I found a few comfy hay bales and settled down for my own little adventure - sleeping in the dark and empty marquee. The generator was switched off, doors zipped up and the wedding was finally over. Within five minutes, I was asleep.

3 comments:

Francesca said...

Thank you so much for this story -- it sounded wonderful and made me terribly "home"sick. I love a barn dance. Ed's sister's wedding was also a barn dance wedding and it was marvellous. I like when everyone -- grannies, children, teenagers and adults can all dance together. I recently went to a wedding which was fun but no children! Apparently, this is quite common. I'm not all about having children everywhere, but weddings seem the sort of place children should be --

Oh it just looks and sounds wonderful. And what a romantic (if slightly spooky) place to sleep. Did you have strange dreams?

Gretel said...

Yes, the children were so well behaved and the older ones looked after the little ones, which was sweet. And in the dancing, all the 'big people' looked out for the 'little people', making sure they were part of the dancing too, and not getting swept away or trodden on. Great to see 'today's kids' enjoying the old dances - and not a Playstation in sight!

Gretel said...

..oh, and, no, I didn't have any strange dreams! Although it was a bit spooky at first. But I was far too tired...although I was vaguely aware of my bed of hay bales slipping away from me through the night.