The Three F's

Once again, time has had it's own ideas about how fast to run and I increasingly feel like I am merely along for the ride! What a ride though, some tears and tantrums, some arguments but mostly just a lot of fun.

The wedding we went to was fabulous, I was definitely on the "naughty table" and was no where near as lonely as I thought I was going to be. There was quite a long wait between the service and the wedding breakfast and the free champagne was going down a treat, however with very little food in my stomach it wasn't long before I became a little silly. S was nervously waiting to do his speech and hadn't touched a drop of alcohol, he had to wait until 8:30 pm before it was his time to talk. The speech went really well and I was very proud of him, all of his friends who were on the "naughty table" with me thought it was great too so he didn't even get too much heckling!

Having recovered, it was time to head down the coast to my parents for a while. We had a couple of appointments to look at accommodation in preparation for our own wedding and in the course of chatting to hotels and B&B's made a rather annoying discovery. The weekend that S and I had chosen for our wedding is a DOUBLE bank holiday. Due to the Queen's Jubilee you get the Monday and the Tuesday off. Unfortunately because of this, most of the hotels want you to book at least 2 nights accommodation. Not what we had in mind.
So, having come up against some other problems, like bank holiday traffic, unhelpful hotels and uninterested caterers.. we had a change of heart. Yes, we are still getting married.. not that kind of change! We have decided to have a marquee on the lawn at my parent's house. In talking about it, it was obvious to see that everyone had ben stressed and worried about our original plans, with the new idea the excitement level was once again restored. It puts us back to the beginning but I would rather that than struggling on with a second rate idea.

At the weekend two of my bridesmaids came dress shopping with me, they must have tried on at least 25 dresses each and looked exhausted by the end! They were great fun to have around and it made me realise how much I miss having good friends nearby. I had got used to my own company in Scandinavia and it was nice to have some girly fun. We went to watch "Bridesmaids" at the cinema and it is hilarious. Totally inappropriate but very very funny. Even the guys who came with us enjoyed it and it certainly had the 'female psyche' correct. I am hoping that my bridesmaids will behave themselves and that we won't have any cat fights behind the scenes. I can't see it happening but I'm not going to jinx myself now!!

S and I are still getting everything sorted before our move, we have been injected, x-rayed, prodded and poked and I am starting to feel a bit like a science experiment. I had an awful reaction to a Hepatitis B vaccination and still have one of those to go. I was trying on wedding dresses with my mum and suddenly got really hot, my vision blurred and I was only saved from fainting by the speed with which the lady in the shop unlaced the dress! All I could think about was a scene from "Bridesmaids" and the fact that if I had fainted I would never have lived it down!

In what little time we have left, we are trying to see as many people as possible. We have been dog-sitting for an Auntie, living between two houses and driving North just for one dinner. On the drive North to see S's dad, we couldn't help but laugh at the very obvious divide between the weather!

As I mentioned in the last blog, staying with family and friends has it's up's and down's and while we are desperately trying to please everyone, I can't help but feel we are dropping many of the balls we are juggling. I have been fairly tearful, feeling that my time is slipping through my fingers and that I should have done so many things. The other hard part is the constant company. I never thought I would want to be alone again after Scandinavia but to go from no one to someone all the time has been a pretty big shock to the system. I am used to singing to my own tune, doing things when I want to do them, and not feeling guilty if I just want to do nothing for a while. I did say that there would be a few rough edges to wear down but I didn't think that I would find it so exhausting.

S is looking at me expectantly, and I am reminded that this is his time too. So even if I want to just chill out, have a lie in or even slope off for five minutes on my own, I have to remember all those months when I wished there was someone around to talk to. With only 11 days before we leave I am going to make the most of being surrounded before we are off on our own once again. At least it will be "us" on our own and not just me this time!