The wedding was at 1pm. They had a bag piper! It was actually a member of the family!!! He
was excellent, and really set the stage for a British wedding!
Per British wedding tradition, the bride arrived in her fancy car. These pictures aren't the best. I have so many posts to do that I'm just grabbing what I can find. This is a picture of the car with the groom's best man (his brother). I know there is a great picture of Maria in the car, but it is probably on another website and I don't have time to find it and get it uploaded. Mine didn't turn out as well. This gives you and idea of the neat car (and the best man)!
Here are the bridesmaids (another of Paul's sisters and her daughter, the bride's niece), and the cute flower girl (the groom's sister's daughter who is from Australia).
Paul's mom and dad are on the right. The best man (the groom's brother) is next to Paul's parents. The groom's mom is between the bridesmaids.
Notice the hats on Paul's mom and the groom's mom? I'm no expert, but my opinion is that hats are no longer "required" for guests at a British wedding, but the British like to wear hats to match their outfits for formal occasions. Remember all of Princess Diana's hats? Even now, you see a lot of pictures of Prince William's girlfriend in a hat. Given how I look in hats, I'm VERY THANKFUL that hats for formal occasions are no longer a strong custom anymore! Still, I thought Paul's mom, the groom Paul's mom and one of the guests looked very nice in their hats!
The ceremony was very nice. Because we didn't know how many of us were going to attend, Maria kindly didn't ask any of our children to participate. However, when we ended up with all 6 of us going, Andrew REALLY wanted to be in the wedding, so Maria and her groom (Paul - yes, there are now 2 Pauls in the family) "found" a position for Andrew. Andrew REALLY wanted to be in the wedding. Maria and Paul graciously made him a page boy. He walked down the aisle with Bonnie, the groom Paul's niece from Australia. You can say it's a really an international wedding when the flower girl is from Australia, the page boy is from America, the bride is Scottish, the groom is English, and the wedding is held in England!
We got to throw confetti as the bride and groom exited the church.
After the ceremony, we headed back to the Hook Hotel.
First of all, it was a PERFECT weather day. Some of the British even thought it was a bit warm in the sun! Second of all, the grounds on the Hook Hotel were BEAUTIFUL!
They had this wonderful swing for the kids to enjoy.
The bride and groom had their picture taken by this cut out in the hedge. So romantic!
It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL reception. The weather could not have been better. The grounds were lovely. You may recall that when Paul's youngest sister got married in 2008, we had drinks in the "library" of the venue. Here, there was a nice sitting area with doors that opened to the beautiful grounds. I didn't take any pictures, sadly, because we were so excited to see the family again! We sat and chatted with everyone and the kids ran around and played with cousins.
I don't know what I was saying in this picture, but I remember being at the back of the table (near the wall), with Paul on one side of me and Sarah (the beautiful 17 yr old bridesmaid) on the other side of me and I was trying to pay attention to the discussion at the 8 person table. Megan must have come to "report" to me 2-3 times - something about one of the bigger cousins carrying John, and John's foot accidentally kicking over a cup of tea (the purpose of this "gathering" after the wedding was to indulge in a nice cup of hot tea, among other choices). The tea had been "paid for" by "Big Andrew" (Sarah's brother). Megan looked stricken as she explained that he paid for it with his own money!
She gave several updates to her report, among them the problem that we needed to clean up the mess, and then that we needed to reimburse Big Andrew for his tea. I was reasonably sure that the Hook Hotel employees had already cleaned things up and that the tea was provided by the hotel, but I made a mental note to check out both details. I think I was giving her instructions in this picture! Sign. Never a dull moment these days!
After a nice cup of tea and a chat with the guests and relatives, we headed into the tent. It was also beautifully decorated. Paul (the groom) had proposed to Maria in Canada, and each table was named after a Canadian city. We were seated at "Montreal".
These 2 special siblings - they either get on each other's nerves, or are best friends. Andrew calls Kathryn his "Sweet Ba-boo", and Kathryn is EXTREMELY protective of Andrew. It's fun to see their special relationship.
This is the head table. It works differently in Britain. The bride, groom, parents of the bride, parents of the groom, and wedding attendants sit at the head table.
After the delicious meal, the kids filtered in and out of the tent, playing with cousins.
Another custom at British weddings - after the meal, it's time for the "speeches". The father of the bride speaks first, followed by the groom and then the best man. As part of the groom's speech, he gives out presents to the wedding participants to thank them for helping. Andrew "scored" with this excellent silver train piggy bank! He was so impressed that he took this picture himself!
This is another view of our table. The flowers were so pretty!
The kids checked out the dance floor, in anticipation of the first dance.
The music hadn't yet started but was close, when we had an "emergency". Kathryn ran to inform us that Andrew was laying on the ground and wouldn't get up. His eldest cousin, "Big Andrew" was spinning him around when our Andrew asked to go "faster" and "higher". Big Andrew tried to oblige, and suddenly our Andrew was on the ground not moving. Big Andrew explained that our Andrew DID NOT FALL, just wouldn't get up after the swing.
Paul and I were interrupted right during a lovely conversation with friends of Angela's (Paul's mom). We both jumped up, our hearts in our mouth as we saw Andrew on the ground not moving. He wouldn't get up. He could talk, and he wasn't paralyzed, but he would NOT get up. We carried him to the now quiet sitting area in the hotel and put him on 2 chairs pushed together. It was obvious that his back hurt. It was probably nothing, but 1. Andrew is really tough and isn't a sissy about falls, and 2. we had no experience in back injuries. After about 20 min, Paul got Andrew to walk about 10 feet, but he was walking very funny and was crying.
We really didn't know what to do. My instincts were gone. I just have no experience with back injuries. I would have hated if this accident effected future growth or caused lifelong back problems. One of Paul's sisters suggested giving him some Tylenol/Motrin and let him sleep it off. That sounded good, but again, what if it was something more than that? We still had12 days left in Europe. We decided to take him into the emergency room.
I stayed with my hurting boy while Paul made arrangements for someone to watch the girls and John. There were several volunteers, according to Paul.
I'll spare you the details. The short story is that the emergency room was full on a Saturday night and our wait was 3 hours! We were seen by a triage nurse first, who gave Andrew a GIANT amount (double the normal dose) of BOTH the British version of Tylenol AND Motrin. Gradually Andrew started to walk again, although still in a funny stance with his back straight and tilted backwards. Over time, though, he relaxed and finally after 2 1/2 hours seemed normal again. We left against medical advice.
It was midnight, we were starting to receive calls from people at the wedding asking about us, and we were exhausted. Andrew seemed fine. I prayed that we were making the right choice.
We missed another great reception. Every time we got a call, Paul reported the music in the background. It sounded like 80s music - something we would have enjoyed! Oh well. I would make the same choice again. A sacrifice for your child doesn't ever feel like a sacrifice. I was so glad that Andrew seemed OK!
We learned that they had this blow up guitar that John LOVED and wouldn't let go of for the majority of the reception. It sounded like a VERY nice evening, and we were so glad that they kids were able to enjoy it.
THANK YOU, Aunts and Uncles, for agreeing to watch our 3 other kids and let them have a great evening!
The next morning we had breakfast at the lovely Hook Hotel with the bride and groom and the groom's family. We were spending the week in Fleet, with Paul's parents, and were hoping for a quiet week. It was time for the tired Macs to get some rest!
No comments:
Post a Comment