Pete and Tara's Wedding

I woke up unnecessarily early this morning (8am). The original plan was to be out of the house by 10am so I could pick up Mina and have time to drive to Felstead, get ready, and be at Leez before the 2pm ceremony. As I no longer need to do the detour, I find myself arriving at 11.30am, leaving plenty of time to get ready. The place itself is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Off the M11 at Stansted, past the airport, and ten minutes of narrow country lanes. I'm very much a city gal and don't like winding country lanes! Felstead is pretty much blink-and-you-miss-it, a tiny little lane of about 20-odd houses and two pubs opposite each other!!

I get ready, watch a little Grand Prix (go Jenson!!) and then head out to Leez Priory with two other guests at the B&B, Natalie and Gwyn. Apparently Natalie went to OLC with me for about a year and a half but for the life of me I couldn't remember her from school. She was easy to get on with and we chatted a lot about the school and the people we could remember!

The venue was gorgeous. Its an old country manor, looks like a castle, and dates back to about 1227 (or so the picture in the bar said!). The ceremony was held at the top of the tower, which was separate from the rest of the building. The entrance was up a winding staircase which proved difficult to negotiate in both directions. How Tara managed it in her long wedding gown I have no idea!! She looked very pretty in a long strapless ivory satin and lace number, and the wedding party all wore ivory and burgundy, except Tara's niece Elizabeth, who wore a little white dress and was the life and soul of the speeches over dinner!

The wedding itself was short and sweet: a reading and declaration of vows. No additional readings, hymns, sit-stand-sit again fuss - just the bare minimal legal duties and niceties. The head bridesmaid was another ex-OLC student, Jane, who I could remember!! In any case, everyone seemed to know who I was, even if I didn't know them. It was like, "You must be Clare, I'm so-and-so," and I'd be like "Oh, yeah..." and be totally confused. I'm thinking that somewhere along the line, someone has said, "Clare is tall and on her own - please talk to her!"

Andy turned up after the ceremony, just in time to get his face in all the photos (typically!). He confessed to very nearly not turning up due to illness and no local doctor to prescribe him antibiotics, but being the trooper he is, stayed until the evening before heading back to Nottingham. It was nice to have someone there who I knew and could talk to for the majority of the time in any case. There weren't many photos for the guests - most of them were just the wedding party and direct relations - so there was plenty of time to amble around the lake and take in the scenery and grounds. Wine and chocolate-dipped strawberries circulated around the crowd of guests while Tara and Pete did a tour of the grounds in a horse-drawn carriage. I thought it was a bit aimless but was pointedly told by Andrew that it was supposed to be romantic. I guess I don't have the romance gene...

Dinner and speeches came and went and everyone headed off to the bar. Andy left about 8pm (after Tara had had a chat and gawp!) and about 8.30pm, we all trooped into the small hall for the first dance. As soon as that was over, other couples started to join in but a small group of us headed back to the bar, where we stayed for the majority of the evening. More and more people drifted in and it transpired that the DJ spent most of the evening sitting on his own in the hall! But this was pretty much an Irish wedding - the bar was gonna be the highlight of the day!

Eventually it all ended at 12am and I cabbed back to the B&B in Felstead with Natalie and Gwyn. Photos will be available for people to gawp at on the couple's website here (so make a note for later!!).