Steph and Craigs Wedding (or why I hate travelling)

So on Tuesday, my little sister got married. It was a gorgeous day, the ceremony and reception were held at the Grosvenor Hotel in Pulford which is just outside of Chester.

I stayed at my Dads on Monday night, and we left Bristol at 7am. I do not travel in the car on long journeys very well because (quite embarrassingly) I still get car sick! I thought I was meant to grow out of this? Everytime we passed a service station on the motorway, I asked my dad to pull in so I could get a cup of tea – sadly he ignored me as he hates service stations, but we eventually stopped around 9am at a biker caf around Kidderminster. The lady there was pretty crazy, but very nice, and my tea quota was filled up a bit.

We got to Chester about half 10, but then had to carry on to Ellesmere Port which is another 20 mins. Not good. I think in total, we were in the car for about 4 and a half to 5 hours. Ugh. We got ready, and headed to the venue, where I went up to meet with my sister and the other bridesmaids. There was a small disaster, as Steph had forgotten her hoop underskirt, which was needed to make the net bit of her gown poof out more. Luckily it appeared 5 mins before we were meant to head downstairs, so everyone quickly helped her into it. Except me, because I was taking this picture:

Ha, she’s going to kill me for that!

Because it was so lovely out, the wedding was held at the lakeside, which was nice, except as a bridesmaid, I was inside the gazebo. And it was very windy. In shadow + wind + stupid veily decoration blowing over my face = annoyance and cold!

They didn’t have a “proper” photographer, but to be honest, I don’t think one was needed. Everyone had a digital camera, so I’m sure there will be hundreds of pictures, but its a bit of a shame that there was no coordination of them – perhaps the “master of ceremonies” from the hotel should have said “ok, group shots, family shots, etc”

The meal was a small group – maybe 35 people in total? The food was good – although nothing special. I’ve been to a few sit down meal weddings so far, and all of the meals have been average – nothing that would make me want to eat at that restaurant again anyway!

The speeches from the groom and the father of the bride were short and sweet – am very impressed with my Dad as he doesn’t do speeches, and he was coming up with some amusing (to us!) versions in the car. Luckily the best man managed to cover the points Dad wanted to and made a proper sort of speech.

We left there about 5pm, and headed back to Chester. Dad and my stepmum were staying at the Twirl of Hay Premier Inn, which is where me, my mum and my sister have all worked at some point. Apparently when Dad went to book the room, the lady on reception recognised the name, and asked if any of his family had worked there. I had been mainly restaurant based, but Steph and Mum were hotel workers, so she knew us all. Dad then tried to use this to get a discount – cheeky git!
I went into town to meet half of my Feet and finally give them their Christmas presents (Yes. In May. Shh.) then headed over to the evening do, which was held at Club Globe on the canal side. I had a quick drink before having to rush off to my train. Note to self: stop thinking “my trains at about half past”, remember to actually look at the time of the train so you don’t end up running like a special person down City Road.

The train journey was pretty boring – my iPhone had died, I didn’t have my netbook or even a note pad, so couldn’t write anything. I dozed off on the train from Birmingham to Bristol, which was a bit scary, since I didn’t have my phone to see where I was.

I got in at half midnight, and because of my earlier napnaps, I was quite awake. So glad I booked Wednesday off! Obviously best way to relax was to go shopping – but thats another story.