A Wedding

Saturday 30 March

I woke up around 7.30am. Today is the day our neice, C, is getting married to H.

I remembered that I needed to wash Miss L's dress..the one we bought the other day and she'd worn. She chose a dress that she can wear afterwards as well, for everyday, rather than one that would hang in the wardrobe till the next "occaision". I mainly wanted to wash out the dressing that is in all new garments so I popped the dress in a bucket with some of the laundry detergent I use.

We've been using this one for a few years now. It is a little more espensive but better for the environment and also gentler on the skin. After I'd been using it for a while I went back to an ordinary laundry powder. J.L came out with a skin rash and I didn't connect the dots until the dance teacher at the time asked my older daughter if I'd changed laundry powders recently. I changed back to the Eco Store powder and the rash disappeared. That was enough for me. We'd been to the doctor and been given a big pot of hydrocortisone cream for J.L ...but I'd rather pay a bit more for the powder than have to cover him in cream.

The dress only needed 10 minutes then I put it in the washing machine for a spin before I hung it outside. Then I finished updating my blog. Not so good when you get a few days behind as it can take ages to catch up. Well, it took me ages anyway.

I got a text form DIL A asking when I'd be arriving to pick them up. J.R. and A don't have a car yet but will be getting one soon, and A doesn't drive. J.R. wasn't able to take time off work so A and Little O were travelling to the wedding with us. I arranged to be there as close to 1.45pm as I could.

DH had woken Miss L up and got her organised to go and buy some Easter eggs for tomorrow. We don't make a big fuss about the eggs as the important part for us is the message of Christ rising from his grave...not the easter bunny. However we have always given a token gesture to the children.

Once I'd finished blogging I quickly hopped into the shower. Partway through DH came and told me "Your sister's here and she needs the bathroom!" Had forgotten she was calling in with some things out of Mum's old glory box! We arranged it last weekend and for her to come before she went to Dad's for lunch then on to see Mum in the rest home.

I could hear a lot of laughter coming from the lounge and wondered what it was all about. Turns out it was over the designs of some of the things as they date from quite a long time ago!

It looks as though there is some nice stuff in there. So I'll sort through it, let the kids go through and take what they want and then donate the rest.

Dad, Mr P, is sorting through the house as the plan is for him to move in here soon. He is finding the house and grounds a bit much these days and doesn't want to spend another winter on his own. Though he is still doing well at 86 he is frailer than he used to be. And possibly a bit lonely. He commented recently that mealtimes are the hardest. Mum, Mrs P has been in the rest home 3 1/2 yrs now and Mr P has visited her nearly every day.

Once sis R and nephew R had gone on to Mr P's for lunch I finished getting ready...well mostly ready. Then I popped down to where daughter S works as she was going to do my make-up for me. I can do it, even though I don't wear it very often. My skin doesn't really like it so I tend to only use it now and again, not every day. S did a hair and make-up course when she was 15-16 so on special occaisions such as this one I get her to "do my face" as she does a lovely job.

I popped home for a quick bite to eat then went out to collect A and Little O. They were all ready so it didn't take long to put Little O's car seat in the van and we were off back home to pick up DH, Miss L and daughter C who was coming with us too. I flew inside to put on the shoes I was going to wear plus my jacket.

I made it several years ago with the help of the tutor I see from time to time so it's good to have an "occaision" to wear it to!

We all piled into the van and were off.

 The photo above is of the venue which is the Old Museum Building. The ceremony was held in the entry auditorium. It was a lovely service with the bride's niece as a very small flower girl, carried by her daddy as she is only 10months old. The bride's sisters were her bridesmaids. There was a live violinist and I really enjoyed listening to her play.

After the ceremony there was time to catch up with relatives while the bridal party was having photos taken. We caught up with our nephew, W, who we haven't seen in many years and met his wife and their small son who is 3months old.

Both of my grandbabies, Little O and Master D, were very well behaved babies. Everyone thought they were just delightful :) They enjoyed exploring The Great Hall which is in this photo below. The floor was bare though, no flowers today! There was a red carpet though :)

They crawled to either end and up the steps. I taught Little O to go down the steps and after a short time she was going up and down the two steps between the entryway, just to the left of the photo, and The Great Hall as though she'd been doing it for ages  :)  Master D has learnt how to get down off sofas and beds so was ok on a couple of stairs.

The reception was held in one of the smaller rooms, The Tea Garden. It was a lovely venue with beautiful table settings. There was a DJ and later in the evening a photo booth. There was also a fingerprint memory painting. This was a painting of a tree that you could put your fingerprint on. The brides younger sister, S, was the artist and it was a lovely painting. A talent I didn't know she has.

We enjoyed a buffet style meal and as our niece C, the bride, also has to have a GF diet there was plenty of GF food on offer. The wedding cake was a GF chocolate cake too :)

T, B and Master D headed off around 8pm as Master D had reached the end of his tether. He had been late to bed the night before and was short on sleep having had only a short nap during the day. As they had to go to their home in the Wairarapa it was around an hours drive.

We stayed a little longer socialising, congratulated the beautiful bride and groom and then wended our way home around 9.30pm. Little O had done very well, in part because she had a short nap at the beginning of the reception :)

Our children were delighted as we left the building to go out the old wooden and glass revolving doors! C and Miss L went all the way around and then out as they don't remember using them before. C may have when she was younger as the museum only went to its new site in 1996...but she may have been too young to remember clearly.

Little O was fine on the trip home, only around 15minutes. We stopped off at our place to drop DH and C off. Hmmm that may have been a mistake as I think Little O thought she was home...when we set off for A and Little O's, which is 10mins away, she protested loudly all the way home! Poor wee lass, she'd reached the end of her patience.

When we got home I could see Miss L was tired, all the people, noise and activity at an event can be tiring. She changed and climbed into our bed...so I went with her up to her room to say goodnight as she looked as though she would easily fall asleep in our bed. She's a bit too heavy to carry anymore!

Then it was bed for me as well.