When we arrived at Caroline and Steve’s in Horsham on Monday afternoon, their previous visitors were still there, so the eight of us sat in the sunshine having lunch in the garden. Before they left, young Jamie set Skype up on Caroline’s laptop which then put Caroline into a crazy new world. She skyped us in the garden on our computer, which did seem a bit nutty when we only needed to walk indoors to talk to her. She then skyped her daughter Frances in Aberdeen, phoned her daughter Claire in Horsham and tried to put the head-set of the phone next to the laptop to see if they could talk to each other. The wine flowed, the laughter was excessive, creating tears and hiccups and after a rather late night, we knew we were going to be in for a crazy couple of days.
Early the next morning their decorators arrived, plus Caroline’s hairdresser arrived and they must have wondered what was going in with people wandering in and out of the house all day. There seemed to be an endless stream of cups of tea being made and biscuits eaten. After lunch, we left the decorators there and Caroline, Rodney and I walked in to the town centre to try and find me a pair of shoes for Jonathan and Clare’s wedding. The first three shops had nothing in my little size, but then we wandered in to Marks and Spencers. Good old M & S, I had the choice of a few styles, most of which were completely inappropriate, but they had a perfect pair of black patent sling backs with a small stiletto heel that I managed to walk in, without falling over. To add to my excitement, they were reduced to only £15, I did a little dance of joy in my new shoes! To celebrate we all went out for an Indian banquet that evening and waddled home feeling grossly stuffed, with no room left for even a beer on route.
On Wednesday morning we managed to get in the shower before the decorators arrived to complete the work in the hallway. I then strolled back in to Horsham for an eyelash tint and a pedicure; it’s all about wedding preparations this week. After a delicious home cooked moussaka dinner, Caroline and I had great fun trying on all of her hats and trying to choose a wedding outfit for her. As always, we both really enjoyed our stay at Horsham; thank you so much to both of you, it’s always fun to spend time with a couple of nutters who are just like us.
Thursday was an early start and we drove down to Rupert and Rose in Polegate for an hour of nattering and then we all went to The Old Oak near Arlington for a nice lunch together. Back at Rupert’s, I was struggling to stay awake and my back was playing up again after sitting in the car for a while, but it was so nice to see Rupert and Rose again and also to find him looking a lot better than when we had last visited.
That evening we drove down to East Grinstead, with me flat in the car again and arrived to the expected whirlwind of final wedding preparations. All day Friday was spent doing anything and everything necessary to help make the wedding the wonderful event that it was. Rodney spent two hours on a ride-on mower, cutting the grass in the field next to the marquee. By the time he got off, he was still vibrating and looked very hot and tired.
I had a cooler time in the supermarket with Jessica and then spent an hour with Clare folding about ninety cloth napkins in to fans and tying name labels on to them with ribbon. At the end of the day, while the wedding party went to the chapel for a practice run, Rodney and I cooked up chicken breasts and bacon to put together a huge caesar salad for the eight of us that were still in the house. At 11pm with Mark and Jonathan still in the garden, Rodney and I took ourselves off to bed in Eileen.
Saturday continued in the same way and late in the morning I nervously helped Lynda construct the wedding cake. Fortunately it all went well and I didn’t need to use the edible glue for any repairs, phew….! Finally at 1:30pm we arrived at Sackville College in East Grinstead all frocked up and waiting for Clare to arrive.
When she arrived, Clare looked beautiful and her choice of colours, yellow and black, was delightful. Lynda’s flowers looked absolutely stunning and George had decorated the chapel with so many of the flowers, it was lovely sight to see.
Back at the house for the reception, everything was perfect. Jonathan and Clare never seemed to stop smiling and from 3pm through to 1am there was a constant procession of food and drinks. The cake stayed upright and intact and I left the reception with two bags full of Clare’s favourite sweets from the lolly buffet. Somehow we also stayed upright and were amongst the last to leave the dance floor at 1am.
We spent around 45 minutes helping to clear up any urgent things and then thankfully we only had to haul our weary bodies across the driveway to where Eileen was parked and crawl in to our bed for six hours of sleep. It was another wonderful wedding at Lynda and Marks’ and we’re very glad we managed to be there. Thank you for inviting us and we wish the gorgeous Jonathan and lovely Clare a wonderfully long and happy life together.
