Simon & Clare get married (at last!)

Simon & Clare's Wedding Cake

It is half term this week.  On Tuesday Tom went to nursery for a half day whilst I organised and packed the car.  We then picked him up at 1pm and we headed straight down to Aylesbury as finally Simon has agreed to get married to Clare.  It wasn't a big event.  In fact it was kept secret from all their friends, only family were invited - close family, so it was the 3 of us and Mum & Dad from Simon's side and a couple more from Clare's family - making 21 in total.

We had quite a tough journey down.  It was torrential rain on the motorway meaning it was impossible to go over 60 due to spray and there were quite a number of incidents due to the weather.  In all it took 4.5 hours to get down there - and that was without a break (other than a stop to change drivers).  We met up with Simon, Clare, Jake, Amber, Mum & Dad at the estate pub for dinner and a drink.

We had a quiet evening, the kids went to bed OK - Tom and Jake sharing a room, which went fine whilst Matt and I were downstairs on a blow up bed.

The 3 of us all dressed up

As I said this wedding was very understated, they really didn't want any fuss.  I offered to make them a wedding cake, which Clare generously accepted (Simon did his usual wrinkle of the nose and couldn't see the point at the suggestion).  The only direction I got was for it to be chocolate cake as that is the only cake Simon will eat.  I had no direction at all regarding decoration, which in a way is difficult, because I really didn't know what to do.  In the end I finally had a brainwave on Bank Holiday Monday and came up with this design.  I got the turquoise colour from their house - there is a lot of this turquoise colour in their house and as the reception was taking place at their house, I figured I might as well make something that fits in.  The design was very simple but I figured that as it was a no frills wedding that it shouldn't be too fussy.  I was quite pleased with the result.

Mum, Dad & Simon

Unfortunately it didn't dawn bright - it dawned with rain and the rain stayed for pretty much the whole day - but we were stoically British about it.  The wedding was at 1.30, the plan was to take the kids out to the park in the morning to get them out of the way, but the rain had other ideas.  They were a little bit hyper, running round and round, getting in each other's way, banging into each other.   It came to a head with Tom when Amber 'stole' his pram, he cried and cried.  Not great, so he ended up in bed for an hour to calm down.  Then it was time for the wedding so we all got dressed in our glad rags and headed to Aylesbury.

The wedding took place at the Registrar's Office, as I have said before it was understated.  Unfortunately it wasn't Clare and Simon that stole the show, it was Amber.  First of all she refused to sit  whilst the ceremony took place, and sat on Simon's knee instead.  When they announced that the most solemn part of the service was about to take place Amber piped up 'I need a wee' - everyone laughed and the Registrar had to stop the service whilst Clare's sister took Amber for a wee. Something I think she isn't going to be allowed to forget - such a shame it wasn't being filmed!  

Cutting of the cake - as I said Amber stole the show for the day

So, he went through with it, so there is now another Mrs Branch (something my Mum found quite weird - as she was the only one until now (Dad has 2 sisters).  We all headed back to Simon & Clare's house where we had a BBQ.  About 30 minutes after we arrived it started to rain, and then it stayed raining for the rest of the day.  Such a shame.  However, we were able to get most of the photos done - including some of the 3 of us.

(As you can see I don't have any of Simon & Clare, that's because Matt was official photographer for the day, meaning I was on 'keeping Tom quiet' duty and didn't get a chance to get my camera out.  I'm hoping Simon will send some my way, then I'll put some up here)

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating - there was quite a spread, and even though we all tried hard, we didn't manage to eat it all.  Everyone got on well and the kids were brilliant, playing with each other with hardly any tears or fights (there was a spread from Amber at 2 to Ella at 9 and an older girl - Sam 24, who made it her job to entertain them - fab - at her age I would have run a mile from children).  In fact I got to relax and hardly saw Tom - fantastic.

The party finally ended around 9pm, by which time we were all shattered, it didn't take long for us all to be back in bed.  Although the weather was rubbish we did manage a good day, everyone enjoyed themselves.