NUPTIALS at St. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL ..........

We've just had a wonderful weekend in the City of London as we went to a wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral ...... our second St. Paul's wedding !!! Our first, a few years ago, was my cousin's daughter ... my cousin has the OBE which entitles your children to marry there. This time it was our friend's daughter who was married at St. Paul's ..... if there was ever a wedding venue to symbolise London greatness, it would have to be St. Paul's Cathedral. There has been a church at this site since AD 604 .....

The ceremony is held at the east end of the crypt in the OBE chapel, also known as St Faith's Chapel ..... only the official photographer is allowed to take a few photographs ..... if you are seen taking photographs, you would be ejected from the building, forth with !!!

Me in my hat !!!

The reception was held at The Banking Hall, which overlooks The Bank of England. 

The Grade 11 listed building was designed in the 1930's and has a unique Art Deco charm.

This is me, jumping up and down and making a right fool of myself to Lulu's ' Shout ' ..... well, if you don't join in, you don't have any fun do you ?!!!

images 1, 3, 4, 7 & 8 : via me, image 2: via wanderstories, image 5: via hitched, image 6: via location collective

MEXICAN FLEABANE ..... and my MEXICAN wedding dress circa 1976 !!! ..........

Mexican Fleabane ..... Erigeron Karvinskianus !!!!

Such a good little plant ..... doesn't seem to mind where you put it ..... sun or shade it seems to thrive which is great in our North facing garden !!!

I stuck this left over bit in the wall this year .....

We have some steps like this SO, I'm going to plant some in our steps today and hope they will start to look like the above !!!

All of this talk about Mexican Fleabane reminded me about my wedding dress. We got married in 1976 ..... that hot, hot, dry Summer ..... I was working in Mount Street in Mayfair, London at the time .....

In Lower Sloane Street was a shop called Mexicana { I couldn't find a photograph of the shop anywhere on the Internet } It was run by Alfredo Bouret who had previously worked as a fashion illustrator for Coco Chanel, Dior, Pierre Balmain, Valentino and Balenciaga. His inspiration was Mexican fashion and culture. NOW ..... before I show you my wedding dress just remember it was 41 years ago so don't laugh !!!!! .........

TA DAH !!!!

I bought it with my own money ..... I think it cost about £90 which was a fair bit in 1976..... I just looked it up ..... it would be £700 now ..... that's not that expensive is it, considering the average that someone spends on a wedding dress is £1,000.

What on earth would Donald Trump think of me ?!!!!

UPDATE for Cro !!! 

XXXX

images 1, 2, 3 & 6: via me, image 4: via flickr, image 5: via margot and hesse

NUPTIALS in NORFOLK ..........

Last weekend we went to a wedding in Norfolk ..... it was held at the beautiful venue of Langley Abbey ..... Langley Abbey was founded as a house of Premonstratensian canons in 1195 by Sir Robert FitzRoger. It's origins were principally religious and it was a monastery of sorts but canons were not monks and typically fulfilled the role of parish priest for many of the churches and parishes.

Considering Langley Abbey was probably one of the largest Premonstratensian houses in England, very little of the church remains. Excavations were undertaken in the 1920's and give us a general idea of it's shape and size but very little detail of the church itself. 

The Abbey boasts many features that one would expect of a monastery ..... cloisters, Almonry, infirmary and barns..

Very little is reported of life at the Abbey until 1475 ..... sadly, Langley Abbey had a poor reputation for being disorderly !!!

The 1500's were obviously a seminal period for the Abbey and Langley Abbey's dissolution took place in 1536, which meant that it's assets were seized. Twelve years later, the site was primarily seen as a quarry for stone and a reclamation yard for other materials and reports from the time suggest that the destruction of the church was very thorough.

OK ..... end of history lesson ..... 

 ..... the wedding was wonderful from the stunning venue, the food { prawns, medallions of beef and an assiette of desserts , lemon posset, chocolate torte and raspberry sorbet .... or, you could have sticky toffee pudding !!! }

to the dancing in the cloisters .....

I danced for around five hours in the above shoes ..... my feet are still recovering !!

Each wedding that I go to seems to take it's toll just a little bit more !! ..... after jumping around to Nelly the Elephant at midnight, I was done for, but, I held my own !!!

XXXX

image 1: via langley abbey, images 2 & 3: via wedding venues, images 4 & 5: via me, image 6: via wikiwand, image 7: via geography.org, image 8: via scorpian shoes

A NEW YEAR'S EVE FAMILY WEDDING, THE LONDON FIREWORKS & GUEST POSTING ..........

We are off to a family New Year's Eve Wedding today. I am so looking forward to it, as it will be lovely to be with all of our family on New Year's Eve. Must try to pace myself with the alcohol.....don't want to embarrass myself in front of everyone !!

..... and, don't forget to watch the London Fireworks that will bring in 2012 ..... for the second year running, our son, Daniel, has mixed all of the music that accompanies them. Last year the fireworks and the music were spectacular.

.... and, finally, please go over to Lou, Boo's and Shoes on New Year's Day. Her beautiful, honest and thought-provoking blog is two years old , and I am guest posting on that day, so please go over and comment and also peruse her lovely blog.... you won't be disappointed.

That just leaves me one more thing to do and that is to wish all of my supportive followers and commenter's a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year. May 2012 be filled with everything that you wish for.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !! 

image 1: via brown dress with white dots, image 2: via The Gaurdian, image 3: via Reuters, image 4: via Lou, Boo's and Shoes.

CELEBRATE ...............

We are off to a family wedding in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on Friday. The wedding is on Saturday at 1.00 p.m. and I'm looking forward to .....

Beautiful dresses ..........

Flowers ..........

A stunning venue .......... the above is where we are actually going. It looks pretty good to me......what do you think ?

Button holes ..........

Dining by candlelight ..........

Cupcakes ..........

We could possibly be needing one of these and ..........

the bride and bridegroom could be dancing in the rain !!

Looking forward to wining, dining, flowers and dresses, family and friend's, love and romance and an all round fabulous day.

Sending my best wishes to Christian and Michaela for a wonderful day and a happy life together.

images 1 & 4 : via vintage rose garden, image 2 : via french frosting, images 3 & 12: via visualize.us, image 5 : via Suffolk barn, image 6: via ruffled blog, image 7: via Elle Decoration, image 8: via Vintage Kompagniet, image 9: via shoshana loves, image 10: via so cute things, image 11: via we heart it, image 13: via Umla.