Ok – if you want to know more about the wedding, you’re going to have to talk about it somewhere else – I’m here to brag about the cake!
Seriously, yesterday was one of the nicest weddings I’ve been to – and Richard and I have been to quite a few ceremonies in our time in the choir! Jo and Drew had an amazing day – it was personal to them, and filled with laughter – although I’m not sure how Drew is going to live down some of the comments in his speech – referring to Jo’s ‘boring name’ and the ’string of pointless boyfriends’ before him caused much hilarity… But the surprise rendition of Johnny Cash’s ‘Rose of My Heart‘ by Drew to Jo during the speeches was lovely and touching – including when he forgot the words of the third verse and was making things up to fill in the space… And Claire and I used many tissues between us on the vows. We were sat in a very good spot during the ceremony, due to the fact that Richard is hobbling around with an infected foot and wanted to get there early to get a seat quickly. As a result, we were sat where we could see Jo and Drew from the front(ish) and got some lovely shots during the ceremony – this being one of my favourite…
But, of course what you’ve all been waiting for is the final rendition of the cake… Everything went to plan in the week, and despite exhaustion and a heavy teaching load I did get the cake done on Thursday as planned. What remained was getting it to the Bingham Hotel intact… Richard couldn’t drive because of his foot, so we took my car, and I drove down. It’s not actually that far from here – about 24 miles – but you do have to pass the Twickenham rugby grounds to get to Richmond, and of course there was a game yesterday afternoon… So, it was plain sailing as far as Twickenham, but then we slowed considerably as the traffic halted. But we had left in lots of time, and we actually arrived about the time that I had planned with the wedding coordinator. Helen was lovely, and as I was parked on a double yellow line with my flashers going in front of the hotel, she helped me get the cakes out of the car and into the restaurant. I had brought a runner with me that was white with a black print on one side and black on the other, thinking that there would be a white cloth on the table and I would use the black side underneath the cakes, but there was a black cloth on the table already, so I put the white side down, and put the cakes on that. I have to say that with the cake table against a black wall with an enormous mirror on it, it all looked rather stunning:
Later on, Jo put her bouquet between the cakes, which looked even better. And despite waking up at 6 am with the sudden, sure panic that the chocolate one would be raw in the middle, all was fine. They served the cake in thin slices, lemon and chocolate, to each person with the coffee. After a delicious meal of beef with carameised onions, honey-glazed chicken, pumpin risotto, broccoli, roasted potatoes, tiramisu, strawberry crumble and chocolate petit-fours, it was very nice. (If I do say so myself…) And I can’t tell you what a successful wedding cake and a few G&Ts does for your nerves… I haven’t slept so well in weeks!
So now, back to the real world of exams, marking (blech…), and the upcoming end of the year – but it was a lovely day, and I wish Jo and Drew much happiness – which, if yesterday was anything to go by, they have in spades. Be happy, you two…
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