The day of the wedding, the sole purpose of our trip back to the UK
finally arrived! It’s been a long time in the planning, and as this is the
first London wedding I have ever attended, today dawned with a high level of
both absolute excitement and high expectations. I love a good wedding, and
knowing the lovely bride Jessica, this was going to be one hell of a good
wedding!
The actually wedding
didn’t begin until 4pm, so whilst Nick headed off bright and early to talk
about boy things (and no doubt drink whiskey and smoke cigars whilst flouncing
around in his morning suit - he loves dressing up!), I set about relocating all our luggage to the
Royal Thames Yacht Club where we would be staying for our final night, before
meeting Debbie, Philippa and Karen for a delicious brunch at my old favourite
11 Pimlico Road and then heading off to get my hair primped and pinned up.
Whenever there is even the most vague chance of a lasting photo being taken, I
have to call in the professionals – sad but true!
By the time I was
looking vaguely respectable and had made my way back to Knightsbridge to throw
on a dress, fascinator and a hell of a lot more make up it was wedding time. I
was so freaking excited!
It was, as expected,
the most beautiful, incredibly detailed, utterly gorgeous wedding arrangement
that I have seen. The flowers, the dress, the bridesmaids and the bride, the
boys, the venue – it was all arranged to perfection!
The wedding ceremony
was being held at Chelsea Old Church (the location where King Henry apparently married
one of his very unfortunate brides), with the high balcony at the back holding
the amazing choir, church bells summoning people along to the start of the
service and a lot of glorious English flowers scattered about. There were
personal touches throughout - Jessica had even written a special Monet for the
groom, to be sung in the most stunned and impressed silence you can imagine.
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| Rory's first boat ride! |
It was then time for a
gentle stroll down to the river, where we boarded a Thames riverboat for a champagne
and canapés fuelled journey down the river to Westminster, before we
disembarked at the Westminster Boating Base for a riverside reception of delicious
dinner and a jolly good dance. The food and drinks were great, the speeches
were hilarious and when Jess’s friends and father performed a pitch perfect
performance of “Somewhere over the rainbow” just before the cake cutting there
wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
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| River with a view |
What followed was a
fairly messy, utterly fantastic party, which continued well into the night and
even relocated to the groom’s mothers hose to continued into the wee small
hours, and then a little longer. It was an absolutely brilliant day, a great
celebration, and the perfect end to our jolly back to the UK.
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| Team Pickersgil hitting the dance floor |
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| Drinks by the river |
