Wedding Days
The unicorn has heard there’s a certain wedding on today… while my author is watching it and admiring The Dress, I thought I’d trot over here and tell you the secrets of her wedding to husband Jerry (ahem) 20 years ago:
Here she is looking radiant on the day:
And this is where it all happened - St Bridget’s church in the village of Bridstow, just across the field from their cottage. My author wanted to walk there, but it was February and muddy and she had white shoes, so she was driven there in a friend’s car decked out with ribbons for the occasion.
Here’s her walking out of the church with Jerry after the deed was done, followed by her brother Walter and Jerry’s sister Rebecca, who had her arm twisted to be bridesmaid.
After all that hard work, they enjoyed a hearty wedding roast with their families in their local pub The Red Lion at Sellack, and afterwards moved down to the village hall to celebrate with their friends at a ceilidh (“cay-lee”) - which, in case you've never been to one, is a wild night of dancing and drinking, as you can tell:
My author twisted some more arms and persuaded a brilliant band called All Blacked Up (and Nowhere to Go), part of infamous Morris dancing troupe the Ironmen and Severn Gilders, to come and play for them.
The band takes its name from the black faces of the men of the Border tradition morris. Today they wear make-up, but this used to be coal dust smeared over miners’ faces so their foremen wouldn’t recognize them when they went out dancing for extra cash on a Sunday. My author used to be in the women’s team The Severn Gilders, who fortunately didn’t have to black their faces. Here she is, caught dancing for beer money on the Ironbridge…
The wedding took place in February so they’d have an excuse to go skiing for their honeymoon, which almost ended in divorce when Jerry – who had not done quite as much skiing as my author – lost control on some ice and crashed into a tree. But all in all, it was an enjoyable wedding and the marriage did last a bit longer than the honeymoon… 14 years, in fact, before they went their separate ways.
The Muse wishes William and Kate a very happy day!
Here she is looking radiant on the day:
And this is where it all happened - St Bridget’s church in the village of Bridstow, just across the field from their cottage. My author wanted to walk there, but it was February and muddy and she had white shoes, so she was driven there in a friend’s car decked out with ribbons for the occasion.
Here’s her walking out of the church with Jerry after the deed was done, followed by her brother Walter and Jerry’s sister Rebecca, who had her arm twisted to be bridesmaid.
After all that hard work, they enjoyed a hearty wedding roast with their families in their local pub The Red Lion at Sellack, and afterwards moved down to the village hall to celebrate with their friends at a ceilidh (“cay-lee”) - which, in case you've never been to one, is a wild night of dancing and drinking, as you can tell:
My author twisted some more arms and persuaded a brilliant band called All Blacked Up (and Nowhere to Go), part of infamous Morris dancing troupe the Ironmen and Severn Gilders, to come and play for them.
The band takes its name from the black faces of the men of the Border tradition morris. Today they wear make-up, but this used to be coal dust smeared over miners’ faces so their foremen wouldn’t recognize them when they went out dancing for extra cash on a Sunday. My author used to be in the women’s team The Severn Gilders, who fortunately didn’t have to black their faces. Here she is, caught dancing for beer money on the Ironbridge…
The wedding took place in February so they’d have an excuse to go skiing for their honeymoon, which almost ended in divorce when Jerry – who had not done quite as much skiing as my author – lost control on some ice and crashed into a tree. But all in all, it was an enjoyable wedding and the marriage did last a bit longer than the honeymoon… 14 years, in fact, before they went their separate ways.
The Muse wishes William and Kate a very happy day!