For dear Alys who could not make Tom and Vickie’s wedding.
Vickie is now Mrs Warren
We arrived in Weston-Under-Redcastle at 12noon and as we drove past the church Tom was already there at the gates. He certainly was very keen. It was a whole hour before the wedding was due to start and who knows how long he had been there when we spotted him. I tried to give him a wave of excitement and encouragement all in one. I didn’t wind the window down because, as I remember myself, all these little things can cause extra stress when you are trying to concentrate on the job in hand. He looked fab by the way – very handsome.
We drove to the hotel to park and went in for a cup of tea. Steve took a few photos of the wedding suite as relatives and friends were buzzing about adding finishing touches to their outfits. We decided 12.30 was a good time to leave for the church, which was literally five minutes away as it says in the invitation.
We followed the sea of umbrellas and I noticed the mud was splashing up my tights. Poor Vickie.
The atmosphere on entering the village church was like the ultimate dream wedding. A beautiful setting and the string quartet was the icing on the cake. Somebody had even bothered to turn on the heating and, as we sat there in the pews, we started to build up quite a sweat.
The string quartet
Time ticked on and then Simon arrived with Anna and sat behind us. He thought he might have been a bit late but he was by no means the last. We waited. The vicar kept getting us all excited by walking down the aisle, but then she would just walk back up again. Where’s Alys? I asked. And then Simon told me the disappointing news that you had been held up in London.
I caught a glimpse of Simon’s watch and noticed it was 1.15pm. I hadn’t been to a wedding for ages and couldn’t remember whether it was normal for the bride to be sooooooo late. I think it must be normal because a few seconds later Vickie breezed in, cool as you like. She looked amazing! Such a beautiful bride, and she walked down the aisle as the string quartet played Pachelbel’s Canon in D. The bridesmaids all looked gorgeous in green.
Beautiful bridesmaids
Both Vickie and Tom sounded loud and clear as they made their declarations and vows. Many in the congregation were fighting back the tears but the bride and groom remained calm and confident. It was hot in there and Vickie had to ask for a glass of water.
For one of the readings Rhiannon Lee and Rebecca Moyle read the poem I’ll Be There by Louise Cuddon. This moved me to tears again!
Back at the hotel we had a lovely drinks reception and caught up with everyone while Tom and Vickie went off to have the official photos taken. Then we all moved through to the reception room which looked fantastic. Rebecca and I kept looking at the empty chair in between us and missing you. There was some talk of telling the waiters that you were ‘on your way’ or ‘in the powder room’ so that we could eat your food and wine as well. In the end we decided it would all be too stressful to keep up the facade.
Alas no Alys
We all enjoyed a leisurely meal and the food and wine was great. Then on to the speeches. I have to say it was all very entertaining and interesting. None of the speeches were particularly short but I enjoyed every minute. I loved the bit when Tom told Vickie’s dad that he would always take care of her. More tears!
The whole thing was more excitement that I’ve had in a long time so Steve and I had to make a speedy exit at about 8.30. I literally just shut down and had to get in the car. A thoroughly fantastic day to that point. I bet we missed loads more fun as the evening went on.
Mrs Warren starts as she means to go on by ordering Tom back down the aisle
