Adventures in Ye Olde England- Part 3

Monday: I revisited the reception location and confirmed table layout, transplanted toparies, folded napkins, and basically banged through some of the more tedious tasks.

Tuesday: I hit up Alfie’s which is another antique market that ranges from 19th century up to the 70’s. Lots of glass, silver sets, vintage ad posters, and a post modern bench made of pencils,

Wednesday: My flowers arrived from the market and I cleaned and prepped them. The hydranga in England is seriously jumbo (each individual bloom is like 2″ accross) and the garden roses were super fragrant. With flower prep complete, I met my dad and we hit up the National Galley and British Museum. From there we met the rest of the family in Covent Garden and had a proper curry (after many proper pints to be sure).

Thursday: I met Kirsten and we went up to Cambridge and walked to the little village of Granchester to have tea in The Orchard. I studied in Cambridge for a summer when I was in school and I loved the countryside walk from Cambridge to Granchester. You walk along the river cam, the cows hang out with you on the foot path, there are weeping willows, white swans, its basically idyllic England.  Its one of my favorite places in the world and its been a hang out spot to just about every major English literary writer for the last hundred years (this is the spot called “Forever England” in Rupert Brooke’s poem.). Also, the scones there are so freaking good.

On Friday, I arranged all the flowers in the various containers we had collected over the last week, had my nails done (very necessary after you’ve been playing with flowers) and packed up all the decor.

Saturday, was wedding day! I got my hair and makeup done early so I can run over to the reception and set everything up. I met my sister over at the ceremony site and watched her marry her sweet husband. The English registry marriage service is short, but sweet. I loved the tradition of showering with confetti the bride and groom as they leave the register’s office. I might have to steal that idea. The reception was quite the party, the groom’s family is Irish and they are certainly not shy about their love of Jameson (but then neither am I).

Sunday, I flew home exhausted. I had a wedding that following Friday, 9/16, so needless to say I’m still quite tired. Its been a busy three weeks. Anyhoo, I’ll share photos of Cambridge and the wedding when I can. It was so much fun to design my sister’s wedding especially since we have similar tastes, the man she married is a total sweetheart, and  England is one of my favorite countries. A big congrats to my sister and her husband!

All photos by me and my crappy cell phone camera.