I wasn't going to post, but I think I ought to. If I don't do it now (even though all I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep) I'll have a buildup of things to blog about and... it won't be pretty. Of course, blogging when I'm half asleep isn't the best idea. Constructing sentences and getting my fingers to type the letters in the right order is a lot harder than usual. Oh well...

Today I went to Harriet and Will's wedding. I met them at the church I go to - Ali'd been going there for years, so she knows Harriet and Will far better than I do, but still. I was invited to Harriet's Hen Day, which I talked about. And today was the occasion of their excellent wedding festivities. Honestly, I've never been to such a fantastic wedding! I've never even heard of anything quite so fantastic. It was absolutely amazing.

The day began, oddly enough, with the wedding. This took place in the "All Nations Centre" - the Leicester Christian Fellowship building - on (wait for it) Frog Island. It was an excellent service, with plenty of great Christian Rock. The band was good and loud, with raucous drumming and guitar playing to match, and the singer was really trying to make everyone clap, in an 'over the head' gig type way, but I think it was a bit too much for those who weren't used to livelier sorts of Christian worship! It was very entertaining, anyway.

After that we went to a farm in Scraptoft. First of all everyone milled around in the garden. Eventually we all sat down, ate appetiser things that came round on trays, drank, erm, drinks, and chatted. It was quite hot, and the sun came out pretty strongly. Looking at myself this evening I've definitely been a bit sunburnt. Anyway, the time soon came for the speeches!

Will's speech was very funny. He did the old 'picturing the audience naked' gag, and then proceeded to look at his new wife, Harriet. Imagining her naked, obviously. Then he turned to the audience and went, "Yeurgh!" or some other related noise of horror. There was also a hilarious double act by the two best men, one of whom writes for Graham Norton. It's impossible to write down all the things that made it funny. You'll just have to trust me when I say it was funny. Okay?

When all the speeches were over, we walked over to the farm's barn (it's a working farm), where the evening buffet was being served. Although it was clearly a barn, with concrete floor and tractors, they'd done it up really well. You walked down a red carpet, flanked by helium filled balloons tied to stones so they didn't float off. All the machinery filled parts were covered over with big white curtains. Some of Harriet's art hung from the rafters, and she'd made special banners to go on the walls. It looked really good. And when it got dark, there were fairy lights. Cool.

As we sat down, there were some exciting things on the tables. Everyone who went was given a cloth party bag, all handmade. I know they were handmade because I helped make them. I may have mentioned that. Not that I helped much. The party bag contained: a Kinder Surprise chocolate egg, a lollipop and a party popper. There was also a toy plane on each table to build (and throw at the people on other tables).

The food was really tasty. I ate too much, probably. When we'd eaten the savoury buffet food, they announced that dessert would be ice creams - from an ice cream van! How fun is that?!

Once the food was out of the way, the band started playing. I've never been to a wedding with such good music. Even the uncomfortably posh weddings I've been to have only had dodgy DJ type music at the reception. Harriet and Will had a Rhythm and Blues band, which bordered on ska a bit at times. They were really good, anyway. I think those sorts of bands are always better when they're fronted by tall, slightly scary, bald American men. ;)

So, after much dancing (not by me, I hasten to add), cake cutting, and general revelry (they'd even hired a bouncy castle), the time came for Harriet and Will to head off on their honeymoon. They walked underneath the tunnel (series of arches?) created by well wishers' arms, and made it outside. Once there, they stepped into the bucket of a digger. I'm not joking. It had a white sheet on it, and two white plastic chairs, but it was still a digger's bucket. The driver moved the bucket up so that they were way above our heads, so that Harriet could throw the bouquet, and then brought them back down to nearer the ground. Then the digger drove them to the taxi in the lane nearby, with them seated in their plastic chairs.

Wow... oh, and there were fireworks as they drove off.

I've probably missed things. I suppose Ali can fill in the things I've missed.

I'm still annoyed that someone thought I was Ali's sister, though. I know Ali's had her hair cut short (though not as short as mine), but I didn't think we looked that alike. I hate it when people think we're sisters. I don't know why it annoys me so much. It's probably more annoying when they think I'm Ali, or Ali's me. Hmm...

Hey, Daisy has a brilliant new weblog layout! Cool..!

posted by Fiery Fred @ 12:21 AM