Weddings

If you had a barn - why would you get married anywhere else??

RW. Fashion

I'm not quite ready to move on from the wedding yet so I thought I'd have a look at some of the fashion on the day - particularly the hats.  Gosh there were some shockers - thank god for Carole Middleton and Lady Windsor who saved the day.

William's cousins - Amelia, Eliza and Kitty                                      Carole Middleton

                     Lady Frederick Windsor (Sophie)                  Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece

                                 Princess Letizia of Spain                           Princess Michael of Kent

                          Sophie, Countess of Wessex              Santa Montifiore and sister Tara Palmer-Tomkinson

                             Zara Phillips                                                          Chelsea Davy

Jubilent Verger

Obviously there was a lot of relief mixed with jubilation when the wedding of the era went off without a hitch.  This guy in particular neded to blow off some steam and express his joy.  Good on him.

Two Cakes For The Windsors

There were two amazing cakes at Will and Kate's wedding and while I quite frankly hate cooking, I love eating and I particularly like eating cake, and even more particularly cake that is pretty!  Just one more reason I wish I had been invited.

The groom's cake was based on a recipe featuring digestive biscuits that William enjoyed as a child. 

As for the more formal of the two, the fruit cake was conceived by Kate and features an English floral theme, with each of the 17 frosting flowers representing a special quality of the marriage.
• White rose—national symbol of England
• Daffodil—national symbol of Wales, new beginnings
• Shamrock—national symbol of Ireland
• Thistle—national symbol of Scotland
• Acorns, Oak Leaf—strength, endurance
• Myrtle—love
• Ivy—wedded love, marriage
• Lily of the Valley—sweetness, humility
• Rose (Bridal)—happiness, love
• Sweet William (how cute is that)
• Honeysuckle—the bond of love
• Apple Blossom—preference, good fortune
• White Heather—protection, wishes will come true
• White Jasmine—amiability
• Daisy—innocence, beauty, simplicity
• Orange Blossom—marriage, eternal love, fruitfulness
• Lavender—ardent attachment, devotion, success and luck

This cake is an absolute work of art and I love the thought and love that was put into the designing and choosing of both these cakes. 

Keeping It Real

I love that Will and Kate drove themselves from the reception.  It's the first time it has been done and it was a lovely touch.  It will come as no surprise that Harry was in charge of decorating the car!  The front even has a learner plate.

Will drove Charles's Austin Martin from the reception at Buckingham Palace to Clarence House where they changed for the party.

Just Perfect

We Almost Forgot....

It's been 11 years - Happy Anniversary Surfer Boy!

Just Ace.

Lots of Lime

I can't quite work out if I like this or not.  Sooooo green - maybe a little too much for my liking.

Wedding at Buller

Thanks to everyone who has asked how the wedding was - it was fabulous! Bride and groom were radiant, Mt. Buller was spectacular, good friends, lots of laughs, dancing, buckets of delicious food and apparently very drinkable drinks!

Congrats to the new Mr and Mrs Shanks and thanks for sharing the day with Surfer Boy and I.

Spinning Around

I do realise how slack I've been on the posting lately. It is not through lack of things to write about but rather too much to boil down.

The truly depressing thing has been the distressing lack of adult Christmas functions and the overload of parties and events my bloody kids have been invited to. When did they become the cool ones with a packed social calender and we become the taxi service who are only invited as a means of getting Gidget and Moondoggie to events??? At this point I'm being extra nice to them because if they don't let us come with them we're stuffed - Thank god for my brother's wedding.

That was one event we had to be invited to (although I have my suspicions about that too as the kids got way more attention than we did). It was a fantastic night with the rain stopping just in time to make their garden a sparkling wonderland. Everyone had a ball, especially the bridal couple and festivities continued well into the dawn.

Thanks to everyone who wished me well with the reading. You'll be pleased to know I didn't stutter, stammer or fall over, although I did tear up a little in the middle which was not the best of timing. So now I have a sister-in-law on my side of the family which is great and helps swell our family functions to a grand total of 6 (plus the 2 kids).

I can't show you any snaps yet but here is the 'Circle of Love' as it was dubbed. Surfer Boy made it for them and they were married in front of it. I think we'll use it for kicking the footy through in the back yard!

We're off to an Australian/German GLUEHWEIN FEIER on Thursday so I'll let you know how it goes. (Finally a party we've been invited to!)

Good luck with pressie buying.

I Love Public Speaking!

My brother is getting married on the weekend and they have asked me to do a reading at the service. I'm thrilled because they had not found a reading they were happy with when I showed them one of my favourite books - Prayer For The 21st Century by John Marsden. They loved it too and have decided to use it. I'm doubly thrilled because it is short, and easy to read so hopefully will be finished before I have time to hyper-ventilate! Cross you fingers for me on Saturday.

Prayer for the Twenty First Century
John Marsden

May the road by free for the journey,
May it lead where it promised it would.
May the stars that gave ancient bearings
Be seen, still be understood.
May every aircraft fly safely,
May every traveller be found,
May sailors in crossing the ocean
Not hear the cries of the drowned.

May gardens be wild, like jungles.
May nature never be tamed,
May dangers create of us heroes,
May fears always have names.
May the mountains stand to remind us
Of what it means to be young,
May we be outlived by our daughters,
May we be outlived by our sons.

May the bombs rust away in the bunkers,
And the doomsday clock be rewound,
May the solitary scientists, working,
Remembers the holes in the ground.
May the knife remain in the holder,
May the bullet stay in the gun,
May those who live in the shadows
Be seen by those in the sun.