The long awaited wedding

Finally after 12 years together my cousin, Mark and his fiance, Leanne, got hitched yesterday.  As far as I am aware there were no hic-cups and everything ran according to plan. I thought I'd share a few photo's on here with you.

Leanne finally gets a ring on his finger.

My husband and my youngest daughter.

My eldest daughter, with her fiancee.

The bridesmaids, the two to the right are my cousins,  Laura & Sophie, so emotional as they watch their brother getting wed. The one to the left is Karen, the brides sister.

My son, Aron, in the middle, is one of 5 ushers.

Left in this picture is my cousin & brother to the groom, Drew, with another usher.

Posing with the register.

The new Mr & Mrs Marshall.

Just me.
 

Brushing off the confetti.

The ushers & best man - my son 3rd from left.

The beautiful bridesmaids (the 2 to the left are my cousins).

Me with my cousin, Mark - the groom.

My husband & myself.

My gorgeous twins.

My Midlands weekend

At last we have had some sunshine and it couldn't have come at a better time than this weekend, for my cousin's wedding in Upton, Nr Nuneaton.

The hotel we stayed in was called The Millers, which is not far, in Sibson, from the reception. It is run by Old English Inns and definitely looks the part. It was really good value for money at £55 for a double room for the night and full English, plus continental, 

breakfast the next morning.  Even the dinner the first night was really good value at £9.99 for 2 main meals. Mmmm large battered haddock, chip & peas, love it.

Whilst eating our meal we were sat next to a beautiful fireplace and in the corner of the restaurant there was a working waterwheel.

And if your looking for a wedding reception venue, this could be the place to go.

We took a drive to Tamworth to look around the shopping centre, it's about a 30 minute drive from the hotel but mostly through beautiful country lanes, so a very pleasant drive. Tamworth has an indoor shopping centre above their multi storey carpark, level 5 as well as high street shops where there was also market stalls, which I love. A nice surprise was seeing some owls, probably my favourite bird, being exhibited in order to raise money for The Midlands Wildlife Trust.

The evening wedding reception was a little unconventional, held on a farm which is also used as a lorry park, in 2 large marquees. A reception with a pink bath, 

musical instruments, dressing up clothes, masks, 

odd table decorations, 

 

massive balloons and a mini art gallery,

outside a wood burner and a bar-b-cue.  It may have been unconventional but it was so very much the style I would have expected from my cousin and her new husband.

The happy couple had made their own play list, so no DJ, which had people up dancing throughout the night and into the early morning.

I do love family gatherings and this was no exception, three of my American cousins came to celebrate, two of which I had never met before. It was lovely getting to know them, I love to listen to their accent and was amazed at the tobacco chewing, heard of it, not seen anyone doing it before. I don't think it's done much in Britain today.

It was a wonderful weekend and to top it all the sun shone the next day and amazingly, now on Monday morning it is still shining, long may it continue. 

Enterrement de vie de garçon

Having attended my future cousin-in-law's hen party last night I though I'd write a bit on the history and traditions of Stag/Hen nights.

Also know as in the UK as stag, the bachelor party saw it earliest roots as early as the 5th century B.C.  The good old ancient Spartans made a celebration out of their friend's last night as a single man by holding a dinner in the grooms honour and making toasts on his behalf.


Since the 5th century the celebrations have gradually become more, shall we say, adventurous. Many a couple have separated after rumours of what occurred on the last night of freedom. 


The word bachelor was used in the past to mean a young knight or a student with a bachelor's degree, however it's first reference to meaning an unmarried man was in Geoffrey Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' in the 14th century.  It was not used as the term bachelor party until until 1922.  A bachelor party is know in other countries by different names, in the UK, Ireland & Canada we refer to a stag party, in Australia its a buck's party, the Americans used the term bachelor however the French really have the correct words for it: the enterrement de vie de garçon the translation being "the burial of the life as a boy"  (Take note cousin Mark).


As I previously mentioned a stag party generally meant a meal hosted by the grooms friends and toasting the, soon to be, bride and groom, however today this is so different.  Today it is more common to hear about, or partake in, a night or weekend of  humiliation, debauchery & hang-overs.

It wasn't until the 1960's that women started their version of pre-wedding celebrations. The hen party was born out of the equality sexual revolution. No longer was it just a case of a bridal shower whereby gifts were made to the bride in order to acquire a dowry in preparation for the marriage. Some prefer not to be humiliated on their night of celebration, however a lot of 'hens' these days can be as raucous as the stags. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander springs to mind. If men can drink til they drop, so can the women, if men can make a weekend of it, so can the women and if men can have strippers then so can the women.  

You just have to love sexual equality.


But whichever way the stag and hen party's are celebrated they are still celebrating the same thing "fairwell single life, hello married life"  

 Good luck Mark & Leanne (Aug 17th 2012) looking forward to it x