Put up the flags!

Bunting is a great British tradition and is a perfect decoration for any celebration.

The lovely Hannah, daughter of our family friends, is a very enterprising young lady. Hannah works full time, is studying for an Open University degree, helps out with her Mum and Dad’s successful B&B and Wear Alpaca businesses, and she also runs her own business called Buttons and Bunting!

http://www.fairshawrigg.co.uk/buttonsandbunting/about.html

I had seen some bunting Hannah made for a wedding celebration last year, so had thought it might be nice to have some made for our home in the lead up for Lucy and Mark’s wedding.

Hannah came to visit and we looked through her purple and wedding-y materials. We measured up the fireplace, doorway between lounge and dining room and the conservatory for the bunting streams.

Lucy has already declared that she intends to use the conservatory (which has no heating) on 2^nd November to do all her beauty preparations in . Sensible girl as ever, Lucy knows that she will be getting hot with the hair dryer, curling tongs, straightening irons and then make up - so she will stay as cool as she can, for as long as she can in the conservatory. So we will hang the main bunting in there.

The dining room and lounge will be filled with MOTB and the 5 bridesmaids, flower girl, more hairdressers, make up and photographers. Sounds like organised chaos? Don’t worry, there is an extra page on the spreadsheet just for “on the day” logistics!

I plan to take the bunting to the Hen do, and decorate the cottage. Then when we get home, as it will only be a few weeks till the wedding, I will put it up in the house so we can enjoy it before the big day. I may even leave it up till after Christmas...Christmas (!) that reminds me, I need to be making a start on that Festive spreadsheet too. 

St Mary Magdalene, Banns, the circle of life and the incident in the Vestry!

Over 24 years ago, the lovely Lucy * was christened at St Mary Magdalene Parish Church in Prudhoe. Yesterday, the first set of Lucy and Mark’s wedding banns were read out in the very same Church. The circle of life eh?

Lucy with Godfather Kevin

Lucy with Godmothers Janet and Sharon, and Godfather Iain

So now it is for real, the first legal part of compliance with UK Civil and Church law is complete.

My friend Google tells me,

“Banns are an announcement in the local parish church of your intention to marry and a chance for anyone to put forward a reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place. Banns are read in the parish where each of the couple lives, as well as the parish church in which you are to be married. Banns are read out in church for three Sundays during the three months before the wedding.”

Lucy and Mark’s banns are being read again in Prudhoe on the 22^nd and 29^th September; and then at Hexham Abbey on the 12^th, 19^th and 26^th October

Lucy and Mark had a recent meeting with the Clergyman who will perform their wedding ceremony. Mark took an instant like to the Revd. Phil Mellor-Smith when he suggested that they meet in Weatherspoons for a pint. And even better Phil turned up in his dog collar. Needless to say they had a very productive meeting and everything is in hand regards wedding ceremony planning.

*I say the lovely Lucy, in fact Lucy’s actual Christening service in St Mary Magdalene was a bit of a nightmare for MOTB. Lucy was about 5 months old. We had dressed her in my Christening gown which had been made from material sent from Canada where my Mum’s parents had emigrated to. In those days, early 1960’s, the material was thought to be luxurious, it was all man made and had really pretty colourful pattern of pastel coloured stars.

The dress!

 The dress was altered by my Mum for Lucy to wear. Sadly, the man made fibre caused the somewhat restless babe in my arms to overheat , and resort mid service to howling like a very hungry wild animal. The Revd in Prudhoe at that time tried to continue through the service but in the end he had to ask us to leave the church, as no one could hear him. It appeared that my job was to try and get Lucy to stop screaming. I ended up in the vestry on my own with a very hot and hungry child.

I had no other option but to feed her! I had borrowed a very pretty and quite formal dress from my friend Chris, a dress which was certainly not designed for breast feeding! I ended up having to strip Lucy out of her boiling (but beautiful) outer robe, whilst stripping down halfway to the waist

myself ! As soon as she was being fed of course the noise died down, but I had to juggle - trying to keep myself half decent in case the Revd. came back into the Vestry, but without disturbing her feeding. So Lucy and I missed most of the service, but of course once home for the family and friends party, she was a delightful gurgling bundle of joy. 

Do me a favour...

There is a hint of Autumn , a beautiful time of year.  After a very long and hot summer, finally there is a coolness in the air and the children have gone back to school. That means after this half term, then the “Blackberry week” (October half term school holiday) the big day will be here. Yikes. Suddenly there are things to finalise, and the spreadsheet has been put on the desktop to speed up access..

So as I sat, sitting the other night, unusually I didn’t have much to do. I had drawn the curtains now it’s turning darker after 8pm – just a quick sketch....or “battened down the hatches”  as my Dad would say,  and decided a good job to get done was the wedding favours.

A quick google search tells me that

Wedding favours are small gifts given to guests as a token of appreciation from the Bride and Groom on their Wedding Day – they are usually given out at the Wedding Reception, and often form part of the table decorations.

The tradition of giving wedding favours goes back many years: it is thought the first wedding favour was the ‘Bomboniere’- a small trinket box made of porcelain or crystal and often decorated with precious stones. These were limited to the European Aristocracy and Upper Classes, and usually contained sugar or confectionery which symbolised wealth and royalty. At the time, sugar was an expensive delicacy which was only affordable by the wealthy (it was also thought to have medicinal qualities), but as it became more widely available to those of lesser means the tradition of giving Bombonieres became more widespread.

Over time, bombonieres were replaced with almonds – given to guests to signify good wishes for the couple’s new life together: 5 almonds to signify Health, Wealth, Happiness, Fertility and Long Life. In the 13th Century sugar coated almonds, or Confetti, were introduced, which are still popular today.

These days, the gifts given to Wedding guests are known as Wedding Favours, and the tradition is popular among a wide variety of cultures worldwide. The huge range of options now available means that although many couples may choose the traditional almond favour, those who are looking for more unusual wedding favours are sure to find something suitable.

 I don’t want to spoil the surprise for the day, so can only say Lucy and Mark have chosen a lovely alternative to traditional sugared almonds, so I was able to create the 85 or so favours in one sitting. I did draw blood out of my fingers a little but hopefully  this won’t be too noticeable on the day....