and the next day, the wedding!

but more of that later

I hope you, dear reader,
are having a lovely Sunday

XXX

so, what makes a wedding? the flowers. . .

the flowers. . . of which there were manywere totally gorgeous and in such an usual colourway
with, of course, the traditional whitey cream
it was a civil ceremony held in Richmond Park
so, no church to fill with blooms,
but some wonderful windows. . .
. . .looking west across the Thames valley;
no altar, instead a simple table

with ivy and rose petals
the chairs were tied with sashes
in the colour of the senior bridemaids' dresses
and blooms to match the bouquets. . .

so, what makes a wedding? the venue, the theme. . .

given that the whole shebang
took place in one location, the beautifully sashed chairs on which we'd sat for the ceremonywere reorganised to become the seating for the reception
(whilst we had a glass of champagne on the terrace)
(see below!)
as you might notice from the table plan
the wedding had a Knights of the Round Table
kinda thang going on (the groom's name is Gawain) the happy couple couldn't have picked
a more glorious day:
the spring sunshine beamed in thru the windows. . .

. . .and outside the Richmond Park blossom blossomedinside everything was so very, very elegant
and so very simply accomplished

so, what makes a wedding? the cake. . .

a cake to cut on top
and cupcakes on the bottomI didn't try a chocolate butterfly cake,
but the rosebudded cakes had lemon icing

YUMMY!!
(I didn't make them, but would have done if asked)

so, what makes a wedding? the guests, the hats. . .

senior bridesmaids in teal. . .. . .Mini-Teen in cream; The Mother Of The Bride in coral:The Teens in vintage and Wayfarers(Teen Too wished he'd accepted my offer of the purchase of
a bowler hat to go with his pin-stripe city suit jacket)
(The Teen was much photographed in his topper!)
(everyone envied their canes)

The Teen wasn't the only one in a hat. . .
.
my lot (!) looking rather serious

and later, laughing during the speeches

so. . . The Teen. . .

my beloved first born

(that's me in the background, peeking around the door
- I'm not allowed in his room -
hoping he'll at least pass me out
the laundry and accumulated debris and rubbish
if I ask nicely)
(notice anything wrong in this dynamic?)

he was due round at ten this morning and - somewhat amazingly - at half nine, when I was still peacefully slumbering in my place of comfy hibernation, I was brutally awoken by the sound of the front door slamming with a huge bang and Jon Stewart's Daily Show playing VERY loudly on the electrical televisual box; at a quarter to ten (it's a fifteen minute show, if you skip quickly thru the ad break) I thought it would be hilarious to text him from my cozy bed: "could you make me a cup of tea, darling?", so I do*; I hear his phone buzz and then a muffled guffaw (he wouldn't want to admit to my being able to bring a smile to his face now would he) and then my phone buzzes with his reply: "No."; I try again: "could you at least put some water in the kettle and turn it on, please?"; reply: "Get up and do it yourself."

(notice anything wrong in this dynamic?)

ok, we might pause at this moment and consider that perhaps, as his doting mother, I should have had my early morning cuppa and have been up and about already, but. . . it is Saturday, my day of rest; and I haven't revealed the reason for his weekend visit (given that he's usually with X or "out"): a purchasing trip to The Vintage Shop

if you've forgotten (and why should you remember?) I might remind you that the POVS and I have recently received an invitation to the wedding of a lovely young woman who, quite a few years ago now, was the POVS' favourite babysitter; Mini-Teen is to be a bridesmaid; not to be outdone by a girl, The Teen and Teen Too decided that they wanted to go "dressed up" and I (in a moment of somewhat foolish enthusiasm) agreed to foot the bill (for those of you without C21st teens, and unfamiliar with my XY progeny, this means I'm now obliged to kit them out in top hats, waistcoats and tails)

whilst part of me muttered "ho hum", another part of me was very chuffed that not only do the XY's want to go to the wedding (their first), they are happy to go with me, and also they want to be smartly attired (or at least attired in something other than jeans and t-shirts) (which is why I'd enthusiastically, but foolishly as it turns out, agreed to sort them out in the wardrobe departments)

anyhoo

a small (*cough splutter*) shopping trip later and I can vouch for that fact that The Teen will indeed look very smart at the wedding. . . the only thing is, now he's decided his look will not be complete without one of these - an item not included in the original wedding attire agreement:

. . .at which point I said "if only you'd made me that cuppa, sweetheart!" and felt that we had finally reached a suitable status of pax on the first drink of my day situation (when I mentioned this to him, he declared he'd make me tea every morning for the next month. . .) (too late!) (it's all in the timing, like comedy, isn't it)

(*and yes, for anyone who read the first few paragraphs of Men Are From Mars, perhaps I didn't phrase it very well - but he knew what I meant)

I promised myself never to moan here

so I'll try not to
I love it when the children are off school and chilling and having endless pajamamama days here. . . .

"it might be your house" sneered The Teen
"but it's my home"

(he warms the cockles of my heart, he does - but never intentionally, naturally) (he doesn't like my latest plans to rearrange the furniture at I,LTV Towers) (altho, all things considered, I'm just pleased he has a view on such matters, personally) (the rearrangement was only a plan, to make the most of the fact I have two tall and strong manboys at my disposal this week to help me move furniture around)

"no offence mum" spake Mini-Teen
"but noone would be seen dead with their mother at the mall"

(she's been asked to be a bridesmaid at a wedding of one of our long-grown-up babysitters; she and the bride-to-be have gone shopping together; I was involved in all the plans and the arrangements and have put up some of the funding, but wasn't invited) (I'm invited to the wedding, just not the shopping trip) (just as well - it might have been tricky) (see below)

"I love you" whisphered Teen Too,
he added "sorry" as he skulked off. . .

(I'd been asking him to clear his belongings from the stairs for the longest time, didn't notice that he hadn't as I walked down with an armfull of laundry and slipped and broke my big toe) (ouch!) (it was my fault for having procrasinated on the laundry for so long that I had too much to carry) (and I told him that)
.

the phrase
"not being able to see the wood for the trees"
comes to mind -
but the view is brilliant!