Kat and Grant's wedding

It was special. A lovely, loving and lively young couple who revelled in having their friends and family there. They truly embody the ideal of not sweating the small stuff!

Talking of sweating though, how bloody hot was it last Thursday and Friday??! Work was fairly hellish on Wednesday so I ended up working late and staying at home rather than driving down south after work. It was a blessing to be honest, my sister was struggling with various unexpected misfortunes so had not got her house sorted for an extra visitor and I was able to unwind with a lovely dog walk and chilled evening with Rich.

Thursday morning was an early 3 and a half hour drive to Oxfordshire straight to the church at East Hagbourne. I have more photos on my DSLR camera which I'll upload in another post, in particular some great shots of a red kite I caught on my way to the church but I snapped a few on my mobile for flavour.

My sister had plans for me. Big plans. Severeal buckets of flowers awaited me and I was required to rustle up 2 arrangements for the entry hall:

One for next to the pulpit:

Another for above the organ (it's not a coffin, honest).

A big one for the top altar:

A bonus one for the side chapel using spare flowers):

And another for the bottom of the nave. This eas rnded up down there after a tour of the church!

It was a hot, long, hard day but we had a lovely time. It was mostly Hilary, Liz and I but others bobbed in and out. Hils and Liz did some swags and we had the boys clambering around festooning beech and ivy around fonts, galleries and pillars. The church looked lovely, especially when the florist added her pew ends and big swag.

The reception hotel (where we stayed) was olde worlde and lovely.

The view of the Thames from the end of the gardens.

Kat had 9 bridesmaids so it was nice that they fitted me in for a quick up do.

And then we were off!! A long wait as 9 bridesmaids and a chilled bride does not work with an 11am start! (She was 40 minutes late to the church, tut tut.)

But that left time for a photo shoot with my lovely pa who dressed to match me!!

And the equally lovely Rich who did not (that would be weird...).

So, after a marvellous weekend we're home and back to real life. I'll do a proper post soon but wanted to let you know what we've been up to.

Stonehaven Harbour to Dunnotar Castle

I've been plotting a post holiday summary to note the good and bad stuff (preferably pre weigh in a la Seren). However today, my first day back, has been tough and loooong. Early morning, training it as my car was still in the garage, hardly any lunch break, walk to the garage from the station, quick supper (chicken salad), 90 mins with a mate sorting her lease out, dog walk, load the car for golf tomorrow, water garden. Collapse at 9.45! 

So, the summary will have to wait. In the meantime, here are pics of our last walk in Scotland on Friday. It had been a rainy morning (the perfect sort when sleeping off gin!) but turned out great.

Minty was keen to get going. Note Diesel cowering behind Liz - he was very nervous of the obstreperous Minty!

The pretty harbour at Stonehaven at low tide.

Liz, Craig and Diesel. Yes, he is hugely tall - 6 foot 8!! You never quite get used to it.

Selfie fail. Well, I look good so who cares about Liz's wink!!

The pub was showing the golf so we had several of these, and snacks!!

Such devotion.

More devotion.