Welcome
Greetings and a warm welcome to "The Wonder Year"; the web-log of Jen and Andy's honeymoon-cum-gapyear. We're glad you could join us!
Our round-the-world adventure has been some five years in the pipeline. To complicate matters however, we decided in 2005 to do the decent thing and get hitched.
Thus the plan for the wonder year was hatched. A year that would begin with BigW and end in... well, that part of the story has yet to be written. You will just have to watch this space to find out!
It will be a voyage of self -discovery, during which we will nurture the seedling of our newly sown partnership, such that it will grow and flourish into the tree of marital stability and longevity. As if! What utter tosh - it's pretty much a year of unashamed self-indulgence! Bring it on!
Big W
So, before we could go on our lengthy honeymoon, we had to get married. We did our best to plan a good party for the Big W. But the actual day far exceeded any expectations that we had had. Any fool can book caterers, a band and a venue, but not everyone has a fantastic group of friends, who really did make it the perfect day. One that we shall never forget.
The day began where all wedding days begin - in the hairdressers - at 7.30AM! With the help of some industrial back-combing and pinning, Jen's 'do was constructed. With some more premium primping, the bridal party set off for Oakham.
Breaking with tradition, Jen arrived 10 minutes early for the ceremony - much to the surprise of the last few guests arriving!
After much singing and a bit of official stuff we left Oakham castle under a shower of lavender confetti. We were still finding lavender in our hair and clothes days later!
The drizzle did little to dampen our spirits as we drove back to Cawthorpe Hall for the reception.
In the marquee at Cawthorpe, the bubbly and Pimms poured as freely as the rain! Nevertheless, by the time the barbeque buffet was dispatched, the sun had (almost) appeared.
Following the speeches, the party moved out into the pleasant evening sunshine for croquet, giant Jenga and giant Connect-4.
Later on, local band, the Hound Dogs, carried the festivities into the evening, wowing the crowd with musical acrobatics and pyromania.
DJ Dom took over where the Hound Dogs left off (the photographic evidence suggests that at least some people enjoyed the tunes!). When we had worn a hole in the dance floor, we stumbled out back to the campsite, only to find Big Purple Jeff full to the roof with hay! Who needs enemies when you have a sister-in law?
Having extricated the hay, and caught some Z's, the campsite awoke the following morning to glorious sunshine and bacon sarnies. The campers lolled in the hay awhile, soaking up sun and lard, before drifting away car by car. For us, it was the perfect end to a perfect wedding. It just couldn't have been better.
Stay tuned for the next installment - finding a ve-hicle to get us from New York to San Francisco! Whoop whoop!
