Wedding bells and babies (not together though!)

Not sure if Samantha wore anything blue for her wedding but if she didn't the sky more than made up for it. What a beautiful day! In a serene little church on the Somerset Levels, my cousin Elizabeth's eldest daughter walked up the aisle, with her sister Amy as her Chief Bridesmaid, looking more beautiful than any bride should be allowed to look. Here are just a few pictures of the wonderful day Samantha and her new husband Jamie shared with us all on Saturday. We wish them the best of times and the happiest of times - at least most of the time :-)

And here are Samantha and Amy at our wedding reception back in 1993 aged 5 and 4 respectively. Iain and I had already married on the Island of Skye (I'll write more about that next year when we celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary!) but we also had a wedding reception a few weeks later in a lovely little pub just for family. Afterwards my mother put on a 'high tea' for everyone in her local village hall. We were quite broke back then paying 15% interest on a 100%

mortgage, it really was quite a tricky time for us financially. But the plus was we got to climb Skye mountains during our 'wedding week' and then it was lovely when Liz, and her husband Dave, came along to the reception meal with their girls dressed as our 'unofficial' bridesmaids. They and the girls came to stay a lot over the ensuing years and we went to them. We had some really happy times together doing really silly things like cycling on coast paths, rowing on lakes, running about on beaches and playing loud and disorderly board games!!! Now I have embarassed them both, back to Samantha's wedding...

Here are Samantha and Jamie having their 'first dance' in the evening. The wedding celebrations took place at Ashton Court house in Bristol. It is a long time since I have been there. I had forgotten how lovely it is as a setting up in the hills above Bristol. An added bonus for us was that the parkland surrounding the house is open to the public and is dog friendly so this made it possible to take Nellie and Arch for relaxed walks during the afternoon and evening. Being such a lovely day there were many people out and about with children, dogs, cycles and many just sitting and reading or strolling or playing ball games. Nellie and Arch love that kind of place too - meeting different people, children and dogs - so we all really enjoyed the vibe.

Can I apologise to Dave - father of the bride - who isn't in any of my pictures here....He is in some of my pictures but I must have had my phone turned upside down when I took them and they are upside down or sideways on the computer. 'Well just use the 'rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise' option' I hear you cry. Well yes, I have, and it doesn't work. Iain even took my pictures to work in a folder on a memory stick to try to find a program that will sort it, and he can't do it. So Dave, sorry.

On Sunday, we made our way to my brother and Clare's house to catch up with Al and Leo who were staying for the weekend and meeting their new baby brother Hugo for the first time since he was born ten days or so ago. I won't put a picture on as little Hugo hasn't changed much really - except he has quite a mop of hair now :-) He is very tiny and very, very sweet. Aw.